Mr. Sumner's speech was exceedingly insulting toward gentlemen who sit with him on the Senate floor. Comparing Senator Butler and Senator Douglas to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza — a crazy man and a fool — takes ground Massachusetts, in her dignity, never presented before.
Original passage & context
"The speech of Mr. Sumner was exceedingly insulting towards some gentlemen who sit with him upon the Senate floor. [...] When Mr. Sumner compares Senator Butler of South Carolina and Senator Douglas of Illinois to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, assimilating one to the character of a crazy man and the other to that of a fool, he takes a ground which Massachusetts, in her dignity and her ability, never presented before."
The civility-discourse pivot in its purest form, from Sumner's own state the day after: opens by calling the attack 'unmanly' and 'brutal,' then turns to indicting Sumner's rhetoric. Closes: 'a different man takes his place, with only the memory of an insulting speech and a broken head.' Fragments joined with [...].
Read it in the original — Furman Secession Era Editorials transcription ↗