Note 290 — LOYALTY IN THE SENATE: THE IRON-CLAD OATH FOR SENATORS.

Only a few days before, Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, had touched the same key. After alluding to the aid supplied by the President in enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, he said: “It matters not who did the deed. It was a noble one, and I only wish the Senator from Massachusetts could even approximate to the true loyalty of such deeds.” Mr. Sumner. “I hope I never shall.” Mr. Davis. “Yes, Sir; and yet you advance to that seat [the seat of the President of the Senate], and, with that treason in your heart and upon your lips, you take the oath to support the Constitution of the United States.”—Congressional Globe, 38th Cong. 1st Sess., p. 179, January 13, 1864.