Let me tell the member
from New Jersey that it was expressly to avoid taking life that I used
an ordinary cane, presented to me by a friend in Baltimore, nearly three
months before its application to the "bare head" of the Massachusetts
Senator. I went to work very deliberately, as I am charged--and this
is admitted,--and speculated somewhat as to whether I should employ a
horsewhip or a cowhide; but knowing that the Senator was my superior
in strength, it occurred to me that he might wrest it from my hand, and
then--for I never attempt anything I do not perform--I might have been
compelled to do that which I would have regretted the balance of my
natural life.
The question has been asked in certain newspapers, why I did not invite
the Senator to personal combat in the mode usually adopted. Well, sir,
as I desire the whole truth to be known about the matter, I will for
once notice a newspaper article on the floor of the House, and answer
here.
My answer is, that the Senator would not accept a message; and having
formed the unalterable determination to punish him, I believed that the
offence of "sending a hostile message," superadded to the indictment
for assault and battery, would subject me to legal penalties more severe
than would be imposed for a simple assault and battery.
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