"Sir, England herself," he assented gravely, "is the oldest of
slavers. The Saxons, of whom we speak as the fathers of freedom,
were the worst slave masters in the world--they sold their very kin
into slavery at times."

The Honorable William Jones was impatient of interruption. "Comin'
to our own side of the sea, gentlemen, what do we find? New
England foremost in the slave trade! New York, ownin' onct more
slaves than Virginny ever did! Georgia was fo'ced to take on slave
labor, although she had tried to do without it. _Every_ race,
_every_ nation, sirs, has accepted the theory of slave labor. What
says Mr. Gibbon in his great work--in his remarkable work, his
treasure house of learnin'--_The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire_--if I had my copy here I could put my finger on to the very
place where he says it, sirs. Why, sirs, in the _Decline and
Fall_--I could show you the very line and chapter if I had my copy
here--but it's up in my room--I could show you the very chapter on
slavery, by the Lord Harry! sir, where Mr. Foote, of the state of
Mississippi, in his last speech down in that country, sirs,--"

"Now, now, Jones," Dunwody raised a restraining hand at length,
"just sit down. Don't go get your copy of the _Decline and Fall_.
We're willing to take some of that for granted. Let's get at the
pleasant task of taking away all the money of this Free Soil
gentleman from the North. _Non_ politics, _non_ religion, _sed_
poker! That's why we're here."

The Honorable William Jones, his eloquence thus dammed up, seemed
to experience a sudden restriction of the throat, and coughed once