Mr. SUMNER. Now, Mr. President, I do not wish to be diverted from that plain proposition into any general discussion of a mof political character. I ask your attention to the simple question on which you are to Vote. And here I meet the objections which have been brought against my amendment, so for as I have been able to comprehend them. They have chiefly found a voice, unless. I am no mistaken in the Senfrom Maine, [Mr. FEssexDEN,) who is as earnest as he is unquestionably able. The Senator began with a warning, and his beginning gave a tone": that he said. He warned us not to forget lessons of the past; and he warned us also to fall under the influence of any animos". When he warned us not to forget theo of the past such was his earnestness seemed to me fresh from the study of C. cius. No learned Chinese, anxious that there should be no departure from the ancient was and filled with devotion for distant progeny could have enjoined that duty more o we were to follow what had been done in the past. Now, sir, I have a proper do 0. the past; I recognize its lessons af see to comprehend them; but I am not a C. be swathed by any traditions. I ho ires bonds and wrappers when the occasion. o I trust that the Senfrom Maine will do so likewise. The occasion now is impo". that his lesson is entirely inapplicable. ch well to regard the Past, and study. o:ings. It is well also to regard the f; is seek to provide for its necessities. plain enough. Then, sir, we are motto act under the influence of animosity. Excellent counsel; but pray what Senator on an occasion like this, when we strive to place in the statutes of the country an important land mark, can allow himself to act under any such influence? Is the Senfrom Maine the only one who can claim such immunity?.I. am sure he will not make any such exclusive claim: as he is conscious that he is free from this disturbing influence, so also am I. He is not more free from it than I am. Most precisely from my heart do I disclaim all animosity. Yi. nothing of the kind. I see nothing on this occasion but my duty. And when I speak of my duty, I speak of what I would emphatically call the duty of the hour. I tried the other day in what passed between myself and the Senfrom Maine somewhat to illustrate that idea. I said that we were not to act absolutely with reference to the past; nor absolutely with reference to the future, but we are to act in the present. Each hour has its duties and this hour has duties such as few other hours in our history have ever presented. Is there anyone who can question it? Are we not in the midst of a crisis? It is sometimes said that we are in the midst of a revolution., Call it if you will simply a crisis. It is a critical hour, having its own peculiar responsibilities. Now, if you ask me, sir, in what the duty of the hour specially centers, on what the duty of the hour specially pivots, I have a very easy reply: it is in protection to the loyal and patriotic citizen, wherever he may be. I repeat it, protection to the loyal and patriotic citizen is the imminent duty of the hour. This duty is so commanding, so engrossing, so absorbing, so peculiar, let me say in one word so sacred, that to neglect is like the neglect of every thing. It is nothing less than a general abdication. such, I say emphatically is the duty of the hour, in the presence of which it is vain for the Senfrom Maine to cite the experience of other times when no such duty was urgent. He does not meet the case. What he says is irrelevant. All that was done in the past may have been well done. For it now I have no criticism; but at this hour it is absolutely inapplicable. I return, then, to my proposition, that the duty of the hour is protection to the loyal and patriotic citizen. But when I have said this I have not completed my proposition. You may ask, protection against whom? I answer plainly, protection against the POTUS There, sir, is the duty of the hour. Ponder it well, and do not forget it. There was no such duty on our fathers; there was no such duty on our recent predecessors in this Chamber, because there was no POTUS who had become the enemy of his country.