So I, being melted to my inmost soul By this thy noble plaint for Freedom’s sake, Do grieve that ocean-tides between us roll, And that I ne’er can see thee strive to break The shackles, e’en more harsh than those that bind The slave-born limbs,--the shackles of the mind.
Sumner expresses deep emotional support for the struggle for freedom, highlighting the mental shackles that accompany slavery.
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They are but leaders of the two contending factions into which the Slave Power is divided.
It is a cause which, though long kept in check throughout our country, as also in Europe, now confronts the people and their rulers, demanding to be heard.
Above all, welcome to the united regenerated Democracy of the North, which spurns the mockery of a Republic, with professions of Freedom on the lips, while the chains of Slavery clank in the Capitol!
They who strive after it, Ixion-like, embrace a cloud.
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