Again it stalks into this Chamber, like the majesty of buried Denmark,--“in the same figure, like the king that’s dead,”--and then, like this same ghost, it cries out, “Swear!” and then again, “Swear!”--and Senators pledged to Freedom take up the old pretension and swear it anew.
Sumner uses a metaphor to illustrate how slavery resurfaces in political discussions, demanding attention and affirmation.
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They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
Let loyalty to one man be exchanged for Love to Man.
Rather would I arouse you to renewed and incessant exertion.
They are but leaders of the two contending factions into which the Slave Power is divided.
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