It's child's play compared to this.
It is a common complaint, especially in election years, that politics has become too divided. Today even slight criticisms are thought to be devastating. In the past politics was a lot less dainty. When Senator Sumner made a speech attacking “the harlot Slavery” Senator Preston Brooks, representing the pro-slavery South Carolina, took offense. Two days later, on the floor of the senate chamber, Brooks approached Sumner and began to thrash him with a heavy walking stick. When other senators attempted to stop the beating, an accomplice of Brooks held them off with a pistol. Sumner was beaten unconscious, the injuries he suffered affecting him for the rest of his life. It was three years before Sumner was able to return to his duties. Brooks was re-elected and hailed as a hero in the pro-slavery south.
And here's the kicker.
Because Brooks had broken his cane in the attack he was inundated with gifts of replacement walking sticks by admirers.
Hmmmm...... Beating on Senators. Could be a trend.
2 comments:
Also note Number 3 at the link:
The Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896 is the shortest war on record lasting an exhausting 38 minutes. After the death of the pro-British sultan Hamad he was succeeded by his nephew Bargash. The British favored another candidate. With Bargash in the sultan’s palace refusing to abdicate the British gathered a fleet in the harbor beside it. An ultimatum was delivered requiring Bargash to step aside by 9am on the 27th of August. When no reply was received the British opened fire at 9:02. The entire fleet of Zanzibar, a single royal yacht, was sunk and the palace caught fire. The sultan’s flag was removed and the firing stopped at 9:40. By the afternoon the pro-British Hamud bin Muhammed was in place as the new sultan. The supporters of Bargash’s short sultanate were forced to pay for the cost of the shells shot by the British.
sumner never really recovered,, either
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