The Eagle’s Idea of “Friendly Joke”

“Senator Sumner² has gone once more to Europe, and has addressed a valedictory letter to his constituents, in which he says he has not yet recovered from the caning he received; and that if he had thought he was to be so long under its influence he would have resigned, but he wished to “expose the hideous barbarism of Slavery,” and considered that his vacant chair would be a perpetual speech; or, in other words, that his sore head would be good Black Republican capital, and as such he would nurse it as long as possible. The fact that he drew his salary as Senator without doing any of the duties, was, we suspect, the real motive. Although the author of the assault has been removed to a higher tribunal than public opinion, Sumner’s howling has survived the event and outlived public sympathy. A man with such an exceedingly tender cranium ought to have kept a decent tongue in his head. A Democrat would have his head broken a dozen times without whimpering so much over it. Had Sumner graduated at Tammany Hall he would have taken all he got as a friendly joke.”