Every drop of blood shed in this disgraceful affair has raised up ten thousand armed men. That blood now stains the Senate floor, and not all the water of the Potomac can wash it out. They may cry, with the tragic queen, 'Out, damned spot!' — but no water can ever efface it.
Original passage & context
"Every drop of blood shed by him in this disgraceful affair has raised up ten thousand armed men. [...] that blood now stains the Senate floor; and let me tell you, that not all the water of the Potomac can wash it out. They may cry, with the great tragic queen, "Out, damned spot!" but no water of this world can ever efface it."
A self-described political opponent of Sumner ('For more than one half that period I have been his political opponent') converted by the bludgeon — the hostile-witness register that made the Faneuil Hall meeting land. Text from the authorized Works appendix; no contemporary standalone pamphlet found openly digitized. Fragments joined with [...].
Read it in the original — Sumner Complete Works vol. 5 (Project Gutenberg) ↗