Chapter 12

“We are not satisfied with a contemporary who chooses to describe the noble oration of Senator Sumner as ‘a vituperative attack,’ as ‘a bitter, galling, personal assault.’ It is full of noble and manly thoughts, expressed in terms of becoming strength, but not too strongly, considering the magnitude of the evil against which it is directed, and the determination of the party by whom it is maintained.”The LondonDaily News, of June 22, followed.“The barbaric character of Slavery, and of its supporters, has been abundantly exhibited through the press of some Northern States, but it has never before been displayed in the Senate; and all criticism of it is excluded from the Southern press, and from most of the Northern. In the progress of the revolutionary conflict, the moment has arrived for the truth to be told in the Senate; and Mr. Sumner, as the representative of the most venerable State of the Union, was the man to utter it. He described the character of Slavery; he proved its operation upon the liberties of communities and the character of individuals; and he declared the resolution of the Free States to get rid of the evil of being implicated in such a barbarism, and to save every new community from being cursed with it against its will.”Then camePunch, July 21st, which said:—“Mr. Summer’s speech was chiefly characterized by its closeness of argument and lucidity of diction; but he occasionally introduced a passage of highly wrought eloquence, or an image of singular vividness; and in England, however the orator’s sentiments might have been objected to by a political antagonist, Mr. Sumner would have received the compliments of gentlemen of both sides upon so remarkable an exhibition of sustained power and intellectual skill.…“Mr. Punch begs leave to offer his respectful congratulations to Mr. Sumner upon his magnificent speech, and even more earnestly upon the ample and perfect testimony that was instantly given by the besotted slave-owners to the truth of his assertion of the Barbarism of Slavery. It is not often that an orator’s enemies are in such a desperate hurry to prove his case for him. But here he was scarcely down, when the Slave party rushed together to proclaim themselves the ruffians he had painted them, and in the published copy of the oration Mr. Sumner has given at once the calmest and the deadliest blow to the system he denounces,—for he prints Mr. Chesnut’s speech. All the bludgeons in the hands of all the ‘chivalry of the South’ cannot beat that demonstration of Mr. Sumner’s case out of the heads of the public in and out of the States. The speech should be reprinted in England, and circulated in thousands. What is the Antislavery Society about?”To these London articles may be added passages from Miss Martineau’s correspondence with theAntislavery Standard, of New York. In a letter under date of July 2, the eminent writer said:—“I may just say that Senator Chesnut’s commentary on Mr. Sumner’s speech is very amusing here. He cannot know much of the English aristocracy, if he supposes that strangers can get at them by their back doors. Their back doors are well looked to; but in Mr. Sumner’s case there was no question of back door or front. Our aristocracy went out to seek him,—not he them. I need not say that we heartily rejoice in the full truth having been spoken in Congress. The occasion brings back vividly to my memory Mr. Calhoun’s countenance and voice, when he insisted to me, peremptorily putting down all argument, that that day would never come: there would be silence about Slavery in Congress world without end. This was in 1835. It must be also needless for me to say that no unprejudiced man or woman here really supposes that any terms can be kept with Slavery and Slaveholders. The crisis of your revolution may be precipitated by such open defiance in the Federal Legislature; but we see that it was the South which brought on the revolution and uttered the defiance, and that the only course for the Senator from Massachusetts is to take care that the revolution is steered straight by compass while there is such a fearful tampering with the helm. To speak gingerly of Barbarism, when his business was to set before his country the choice between Barbarism and Civilization, was, of course, impossible; and there could be no fidelity short of such a thorough exposure and denunciation as he has offered.”Then, under date of July 16, Miss Martineau wrote again:—“Since I wrote last, we have had the opportunity of reading Mr. Sumner’s speech entire. I know no instance in which it was so necessary to have read the whole in order to understand any part; and certainly I can recall no case in which careless and conceited critics have cut a more wretched figure in condemning a production before they understood it. They supposed themselves on safe ground, when they cited passages of denunciation, leaving (as such isolated passages must) an impression that the speaker had outraged the principles and spirit of legislative debate by personal imputation and provocation to passion. Mr. Sumner’s own friends here regretted what they saw, simply because personal accusation and insult can never do any good, and must, in a crisis like that of your polity, render a complete rupture inevitable. As soon as we got the whole speech, however, the aspect of the quoted paragraphs was entirely changed. Instead of a piece of stimulating invective, we find the speech to be a chapter of history, and an exposition, calm and rational, of the workings of a social institution which is brought forward for discussion, and so placed on its trial, by Mr. Sumner’s opponents. To me it appears a production of altogether incalculable importance, apart from its merits in detail. Till now, if we could have met with such a phenomenon in England as a person who was not convinced of the wickedness and folly of Slavery, we should not have known where to turn for a compact, reliable, serviceable statement of the modern case of slave and free labor.”Another testimony, purporting to be “by a distinguished writer of England,” appeared in the American papers at the time.“Thanks, many thanks, for Sumner’s noble speech. It has been read with swelling throats and tearful eyes. It is a mighty effort towards wiping out the monstrous blot that disfigures your fair country. I like well the way in which he takes head after head of the foul Hydra, and severs each as completely as ever Hercules did; yet his labor was child’s play in comparison.”To this English list may be joined a poem prompted by this speech. The New YorkIndependent, where it first appeared in our country,announced that the initials subscribed to it were those of Mrs. L. W. Fellowes, a daughter of Rowland Hill, originator of the cheap postage system in England.“TO CHARLES SUMNER.“As one who wandering lone is sudden stirredWith a wild gush of hidden woodland singing,Doth picture to himself the beauteous birdThat with sweet concord sets the greenwood ringing,And gazes eager round, and is full fainTo mark the warbler fair, yet gazes still in vain,—“So I, being melted to my inmost soulBy 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 breakThe shackles, e’en more harsh than those that bindThe slave-born limbs,—the shackles of the mind.“Go on, brave heart! and faint not, though thy wayBe rough and rude, and torn with many a thorn:All England would thee hail, if some white dayThou, harassed by thy country’s bitter scorn,Shouldst seek our friendly shore, and rest awhileThy wearied soul in this our happy Isle.“L. W. F.“Wolverhampton, England.”This speech took its place in foreign bibliography. French writers who discussed American Slavery cited it, among whom was that excellent ally of our country, M. Édouard Laboulaye, who wrote always with equal knowledge and friendship. After quoting the famous words by which Wesley describes and blasts Slavery, he gives a definition from this speech.“The Americans of the North, who calculate even to the beatings of the heart, have summed up this multifold crime in five axioms. It is, say they, man become the property of his fellow-man, marriage abolished, paternity destroyed, intelligence systematically stifled, labor forced and unpaid,—in other terms, tyranny, confiscation, and robbery. Such are the essential vices of Slavery, vices independent of the goodness or the wickedness of the master, vices irremediable,—for to correct them is to acknowledge that the Slave has some rights, it is to make a man of him, it is to commence emancipation. Such, without exaggeration and without declamation, is the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ as the eloquent Senator of Massachusetts has justly called it.”The able Frenchman then adds in a note:—“Mr. Sumner is the Senator who was struck down in the Senate Chamber by a colleague from the South, for which the assailant received a cane of honor, awarded by his admirers at the South. The welcome which Mr. Sumner in turn received in England and France, where he came to reëstablish his health, must have proved to him how much on the Old Continent are still esteemed courage and talent put forth in the service of humanity.”[140]CORRESPONDENCE.The testimony of correspondents was in harmony with the Antislavery press. Both in character and number, their letters were of singular authority. They show the sentiments of good men, and the extent to which the country was absorbed by the question of Slavery, although politicians sought to put it out of sight. And since this discussion, culminated in war, they throw light on the origin of that terrible conflict, and therefore belong to history. Brief extracts are given from a portion of the letters within reach.There can be no better name for the beginning than John G. Whittier, the poet, who wrote from his home at Amesbury, Massachusetts:—“I have just finished readingthespeech. It is all that I could wish for. It takes the dreadful question out of the region of party and expediency, and holds it up in the clear sun-blaze of truth and reason, in all its deformity, and with the blackness of the pit clinging about it. In the light of that speech the civilized world will now see American Slavery as it is. There is something really awful in its Rhadamanthine severity of justice; but it was needed.“It especially rejoices thy personal friends to see in the speech such confirmation of thy complete restoration to health and strength of body and mind. It was the task of a giant.”Frederick Douglass, once a slave, wrote from Rochester, New York:—“I wish I could tell you how deeply grateful I am to you, and to God, for the speech you have now been able to make in the United States Senate. You spoke to the Senate and the nation, but you have a nobler and a mightier audience. The civilized world will hear you, and rejoice at the tremendous exposure of the meanness, brutality, blood-guiltiness, hell-black iniquity, and barbarism of American Slavery. As one who has felt the horrors of this stupendous violation of all human rights, I venture thus far to trespass upon your time and attention. My heart is full, Sir, and I could pour out my feelings at length, but I know how precious is your time. I shall print every word of your speech.”Hon. S. P. Chase, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States, wrote from Columbus, Ohio:—“Your great speech came to me, under your frank, this morning. I had read it all—in theBulletinof Philadelphia, in theTimesof New York, and in theGlobe—before I received the pamphlet copy. It is gratifying to know that theNew York Heraldalso prints it, and that, through various channels of publication, it will reach every corner of the land, ‘cogens omnes ante thronum.’ ‘C’est presqu’un discours antique,’ said a French gentleman to me last Saturday. I say, ‘C’est bien plus.’”Hon. Francis Gillette, an Abolitionist, and formerly Senator of the United States from Connecticut, wrote from Hartford:—“I cannot tell you how pleased I am with your late speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ It makes a lustrum in the Senate, and an era in the history of the Antislavery cause. But I am afraid the bloodthirsty barbarians are intent on assassinating you. Look out for them, and when they apologize to you with the pretension of drunkenness, understand them to mean they are drunk with rage. Do not believe them.”Hon. Carl Schurz, the German orator, afterwards Senator of the United States from Missouri, wrote from Milwaukee, Wisconsin:—“Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your great speech. It did me good to hear again the true ring of the moral Antislavery sentiment. If we want to demolish the Slave Power, we must educate the hearts of the people no less than their heads.”Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, so long a champion of Freedom in Congress, wrote from his home at Jefferson, Ohio:—“Permit me to congratulate you. My heart swells with gratitude to God that you are again permitted to stand in the Senate and maintain the honor of a nation and of mankind. I dared not say to you how much I feared the effect of that excitement which I knew must attend you while speaking in the Senate. But now you have passed the most trying point, I hope no evil effects will result to your health; but, however health or life may be affected, you have again spoken.”Then again the veteran champion wrote:—“Of all the subjects before you, no one was so well adapted to the occasion as the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ And no man was so well adapted to the subject as yourself. I was profoundly grateful that you succeeded in pronouncing the speech,—and still more so, when I read it. It is worthy of yourself. Thus far my desires and prayers in regard to you have been fully met. May your services to your country and mankind continue so long as life continues!”Hon. George W. Julian, another champion in Congress, wrote from his home at Centreville, Indiana:—“I am exceedingly rejoiced that you have made your great speech, and said just what I understand you have said about the whole question of Slavery. But I grow sick, indignant, and nervous, on reading the cowardly notices of the speech by windy Republican journals.”Hon. John Jay, afterwards Minister to Austria, wrote from New York:—“I wrote you hastily my congratulations and thanks on your last powerful effort, the effect of which I think will be stupendous and permanent, giving a vigor to the cause, and a definiteness to the opinion of the North, and an example of pluck more powerful in its persuasive influence than a thousand essays.”Hon. Gerrit Smith, always champion of the slave, wrote from his home at Peterborough, New York:—“I have this day read your speech as it appeared in theNew York Timesof the 5th. God be praised for the proof it affords that you are yourself again,—ay, more than yourself! I say more,—for, though the ‘Crime against Kansas’wasthe speech of your life, thisisthe speech of your life. This eclipses that. It is far more instructive, and will be far more useful, and it is not at all inferior to the other in vigor or rhetoric.“The slaveholders will all read this speech, and will all be profited by its clear, certain, and convincing truths. The candid among them will not dislike you for it; not a few of them will, at least in their hearts, thank and honor you for it. Would that they all might see that there is no wrong, no malice whatever, in your heart! Would that they all might see that you do not hate the slaveholder, but pity him as the victim of a false education!…“I have read the editorial of theTimeson your speech. It is more than unjust, it is wicked. Nor has theTribune, so far as I have seen, any praises for you. But this is their way, or rather one of their ways, for promoting the interests of your Republican party.”Mr. Smith added in a subsequent letter:—“I am scattering through my county the great speech of your life: I mean your speech on the Barbarism of Slavery. It is just to the taste of Republicans here,—for the Republicans here are nearly all Abolitionists.”Rev. John Pierpont, lifelong Abolitionist, and poet, wrote from the home of Gerrit Smith, whose guest he was:—“I finished the reading of your great speech in the car on my way hither, and, permit me to say, thank you for it with my whole soul,—notwithstanding the qualified commendations of it that may have found their way into some of the Republican papers.”Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, another lifelong Abolitionist, and able lawyer, wrote from Boston:—“I rejoice that you have had the courage to exhibit in a systematic manner the essential barbarism of the institution. Everywhere I hear your speech spoken of in the highest terms of admiration. Even the most desperate conservatives are compelled to acknowledge your eloquence and ability. Nor do they deny the justice of your attack on the system of Slavery. But they say the time you chose for making this assault was inopportune and ill-judged, that it could only retard the admission of Kansas, that it is likely to have a bad effect on slaveholders, etc., etc., etc. It seems to me, however, that no occasion for denouncing an institution which is the ruin and disgrace of our nation can be inopportune.”William Lloyd Garrison, who gave his name to a school of Abolitionists, and was himself a host in constancy and lofty principle, wrote from Boston:—“Allow me warmly to congratulate you upon your complete restoration to health, and upon the successful delivery of your great speech in Congress, the potency of which is seen in the writhings and denunciations of the slaveholding oligarchy and their base Northern allies, quite as much as in the commendations and rejoicings of your numerous friends and admirers.”Wendell Phillips, the orator of Freedom, and early friend, wrote:—“I rejoice with a full heart, not only, not so much perhaps, in your glorious speech, as in what we so longed for and hoped, that you are again on your feet, again in harness,—it is so heart-stirring and cheering to hear your voice once more along the lines, and just now, too, when you and a very few others seem to embody all the real Antislavery there is in politics. Those were ‘four’ nobly used hours. ’Twas a blast of the old well-known bugle, and fell on welcoming ears, and thankful ones.”Edmund Quincy, the accomplished writer and determined Abolitionist, wrote from Dedham:—“The spirit moveth me to tell you how much I admired your speech of last Monday, the rather that I see that the dishes of skim-milk that you are trying to stir to an honorable action are turning sour to your word. The fact is, the leading Republicans not only don’t know enough to go in when it rains, but they quarrel with the man that offers them an umbrella.… I beg you to believe that the editors do not express the real feeling of the Republicans about your speech, as far as I have talked with them. The common people received it gladly; and its great power, eloquence, and exhaustive and unanswerable quality everybody acknowledges, even the enemy. You have done a good service to the country, and a great one to your party, if they have the sense to make use of it.”Lewis Tappan, the ancient and leading Abolitionist, wrote from New York:—“The speech is timely and valuable. Everywhere I have heard it highly commended. Still some Republicans dislike it, at this crisis. But the party needs having their attention directed to the moral aspects of the question. May the good Lord protect and bless you, and enable you to feel a consciousness of his presence and inspiration!”J. Miller M’Kim, an active Abolitionist, who did much for the cause, wrote from Philadelphia:—“The speech is in great demand here. Twenty-five cents a copy have been offered for theHeraldorBulletincontaining it. I am disgusted with the notices of it which have appeared in some of the leading Republican prints. Maugre them all, I say, and all right-minded men will say, it wasjudicious,well-timed, andgerman to the question before the country.”Rev. Parker Pillsbury, the Garrisonian Abolitionist, who thought the Republican party too feeble, wrote from Cumington, Massachusetts:—“Amid the profusion of epistolary plaudits you will doubtless receive for your late powerful protest against Slavery, a voice humble as mine can be to you only of slight account. And yet I cannot forbear my congratulations at your so far recovered vigor and health, and the cause of Freedom and Humanity, that it still receives the powerful aid and advocacy of your voice and influence. I only regret that a speech of such power as your last must be laid on the altar of Republicanism, while to the leaders of the party your utterances are distasteful, if not absolutely terrific.”Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman, the courageous Abolitionist, always faithful and intelligent, wrote from Boston:—“Will you accept my hearty thanks for your speech? Exciting, as it must, a rage of hatred in some, proportionate to the love and gratitude it secures from others, I am sure your life is in danger; but with you, the greater the danger, the greater the courage,—and courage is preservative. No need to bid you be of good cheer: one in your place cannot help being so.”Rev. George B. Cheever, whose soul was in the Antislavery cause, wrote from New York:—“I bless you from the bottom of my heart, and praise God for his goodness in sparing you and returning you to your place in the Senate for that great work. It is a mighty blow, struck just at the right time, with a severity, pungency, and hearty earnestness that it does one’s very soul good to witness. God bless you, and keep you, my dear friend and brother!—for you must allow me to use this language, since you have endeared yourself to every lover of freedom and justice, of truth and righteousness, and to every friend of the slave, more than ever; and your noble course might justify even a personal stranger in addressing you thus. You are very dear to us all.”Rev. William H. Furness, the Unitarian preacher, whose gentle nature was always aroused by Slavery, wrote from Philadelphia:—“I have just read the telegram of your speech, and I must tell you that I have no words to express my admiration, gratitude, love. It is a grand justification of your non-resignation of your seat. The grace of God is on you,—his special favor, in that you have had the will and the opportunity for so faithful, so noble an utterance. It is a planetary space beyond and above the Republican party.”In another letter he wrote further:“I have no words to describe the blessed work you have done. Never for one instant mind the ‘cold-shoulderism’ of theTribune, or the heartlessness around you; but rest assured that you have sent the truth into the inmost being of the Southern men who heard you. They may affect contempt by their silence, or they may rail and foam like Chesnut, but they know that you have spoken the bitter and biting truth without bitterness and without fear, as became a Christian gentleman. I declare to you that I consider that you are paid for the inaction and suffering of the last four years, and so are we. You cannot, no one can, begin to estimate the substantial work that you have done, both in regard to the essential truth, which you have demonstrated, and more to the perfect spirit and manner of the work.”Rev. O. B. Frothingham, the courageous clergyman and reformer, wrote from New York:—“Expressing my satisfaction and delight with your recent speech in the Senate, I do not know which most to be thankful for,—the complete restoration of your physical and mental power indicated by it, or the unabated courage it manifests, or the undazzled moral vision it displays in every sentence. To read it is like inhaling a draught of air in midsummer from the cliffs of Nahant or the hills of New Hampshire. It gives a conscience to legislation, and sets us all back upon the everlasting truth and rectitude.”Rev. Nathaniel Hall, an excellent clergyman, beloved by all who knew him, wrote from Dorchester, Massachusetts:—“Nobly you have dared to speak the truth, where to speak the truth, as you well knew, was to imperil life: I do not know in our day a nobler instance of moral bravery. And the speech itself, so clear, so strong, so impregnable in its arguments, so unanswerable in its facts, so unexceptionable in its tone, so free from personalities (save where for truth’s sake and the cause they must have been), so comprehensive, so conclusive, so great, so good, so Christian, so worthy,—yes, of a Christian statesman,—so lifted in tone and character above the utterances of that place,—my soul thanks you for it,—thanks God with added fervor, that he spared your life, and brought you back to your honored seat, and enabled you to such fidelity. It richly pays for these years of waiting.… Whatever a partisan press may say, whatever political opponents and politicalfriendsmay say, whatever of coolness and mistrust may be expressed, where you had a right to expect sympathy and support, be assured that deep in the hearts of multitudes of all parties you are honored, and will be by increasing numbers. I know it from what I know of human nature in myself. I know that my feelingsmustbe shared. I know that the secret reverence not only of the true-hearted, but of all who have not sunk below the mark where appreciation of true-heartedness is impossible, must be given to him who has stood forth in the intrepidity of a Christian manliness, to declare, in the face and beneath the power of its violators, strong in power and reckless in deed, the eternal law of rectitude and mercy.”Rev. Convers Francis, the learned professor and stanch Abolitionist, wrote from Harvard University:—“Thanks, many and most hearty thanks, for that great, very great speech, and for your kindness in sending it to me. What a portraiture of the Barbarism of Slavery! And what a master hand to draw it! Such a picture none but an artist of the highest order could paint. I must tell you, Mr. Sumner, that nothing on this great and fearful subject has ever so filled and satisfied my whole soul. ‘Too severe,’ say some; ‘not good policy to irritate the South.’ I tell them, Not an iota too strong. I would not have a single sentence or word less pungent or forcible, if I could; because every sentence and every word are loaded deep with truth, such truth as I rejoice that somebody is found in our Congress to give utterance to.… You have done great and excellent things before, Mr. Sumner, but this, I must say, seems to me the greatest and most excellent of all. The abundance of facts from the most unquestionable sources, the admirable arrangement, the keen and searching application of the argument, the masterly logic, and the manly eloquence of the speech will make it a document of truth and righteousness for all coming time.”[141]Rev. John T. Sargent, Abolitionist and faithful reformer, wrote from Boston:—“Every column of the paper, as I took it up, seemed to gleam on me like the golden lamps of the Apocalypse. How irresistible are your arguments! How pungent, and yet how Christian, your rebuke of this sore iniquity of our time! How sharp and clear goes the sword of your spirit through all the sophistry of your opponents! My soul has been in a glow all through the reading, and over the pathos of parts I have cried as if my heart would break.”Rev. Frederick Hinckley, Free-Soiler from the start, wrote from Lowell:—“I write this hasty note to tell you how much I thank you (and I think the heart of New England thanks you, too) for your recent speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ in its moral tone and outspoken truthfulness so far above all other Republican speeches in Congress or Convention, carrying us back to the remembrance of the old Free-Soil times, when the party had more moral than political power, and, not expecting success, could speak right out.”Rev. Beriah Green, one of the most devoted among Abolitionists, wrote from Whitesborough, New York:—“Such massive, enduring truth! uttered so clearly, definitely, fully! The argument so perspicuous, compact, conclusive! The illustrations so apt, so fresh, so sparkling! The conclusions so weighty, grand, impressive! Every paragraph pervaded, radiant, with scholarly beauty. When did literature, our own or other, ever more willingly, more generously, come, all vigorous and graceful, to the aid of any of her sons?“I bless God, and thank you, for the deep-toned, comprehensive humanity which pervades, which consecrates and hallows your paragraphs. I found myself, as I moved on step by step through your trains of thought, quickened and encouraged, inspired and refreshed. The impression which the speech as a whole made upon my innermost spirit it is my privilege to cherish and retain. I shall, I trust, be more fraternal in my regards for all my fellows forever, for your brave, manly utterances. Blessings on your head, heart, and estate!”Rev. Thomas C. Upham, author, professor, and devoted friend of Peace, wrote from Bowdoin College, in Maine:—“Your history in Congress has been a providential one. I do most fully believe that the hand of God has been in it from the beginning. I thought that the blow which struck you down in the Senate was destined, through the overrulings of Providence, to break the chains of the slave, and I think so still. Allow me to congratulate you, in connection with multitudes of others, on your return to the country and the Senate, and on the utterance of great and true and kind words which will have an influence on the hearts of thinking men throughout the nation.”Rev. Henry M. Dexter, religious editor, and zealous historian of the Plymouth Pilgrims, wrote:—“I cannot help feeling, my dear Sir, that you have made the most effective argument which the country has yet listened to on the general subject of the evils of that horrible system under which our nation is reeling like a giant poisoned by an adder. God bless you for your faithfulness, so calm, so dignified, so just, so overwhelming in its logical results, and grant that in ‘the good time coming’ your voice may often be lifted in that Senate House to more appreciative and coöperative auditors!”Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, the eminent divine and eloquent preacher, wrote from New York:—“My first duty as a Christian is to thank God that he has restored you to the Senate with physical and mental vigor equal to the great debate in which you have just borne so noble a part. My first duty as a patriot is to thank you for a speech which meets fully, squarely, ably, eloquently, conclusively, the one issue upon which our national welfare now depends. My first duty as a friend is to express the high satisfaction with which I have read the speech throughout, every line and letter of it, and the peculiar pleasure with which I have observed your self-control and avoidance of personalities under provocation, and your fearless and searching exposure of the barbarism and criminality of Slavery under the very eye of its bullying champions and in the very place where you had suffered its deadly malice. I am ashamed of the timid comments, almost deprecating indeed, of theTribuneandPostupon the only speech in the Senate which has reached the core of the question. If the Republican party is to seek success by blinking the real issue of the right or wrong of Slavery, I am prepared to witness its defeat without regret.”Rev. Thomas T. Stone, the persuasive preacher, and student of Plato, wrote from Bolton, Massachusetts:—“It is scarcely necessary that I should tell you how much I thank you for your public deeds. I was one who wished your seat in the Senate empty, till either you filled it, or the inevitable doom removed you from the possibility of doing it. May the words which have ennobled it go forth as thunders, arousing souls now deadened by the barbarisms of our country and our age!“‘Quo bruta tellus et vaga flumina,Quo Styx et invisi horrida TænariSedes, Atlanteusque finisConcutitur.’”[142]Rev. Caleb Stetson, the Liberal clergyman, and early foe of Slavery, wrote from Lexington, Massachusetts:—“It is the best and completest word that has yet gone forth on the subject. If another as good can be made, it must be by yourself.”Rev. Rufus P. Stebbins, the Unitarian divine, wrote from Woburn, Massachusetts:—“I have read your last speech in the Senate on ‘The Barbarism of Slavery’ with admiration and gratitude. As a citizen, a constituent, I thank you from my heart’s core. It was a glorious triumph, such as no Roman consul or general ever won, to stand in your place, after such a long absence, for such a cause, and through four long hours proclaim such holy truth in such distinct language as was never before heard on that floor. It is glory enough for one life.”Rev. William C. Whitcomb, an earnest clergyman and Abolitionist, wrote from Lynnfield Centre, Massachusetts:—“A thousand thanks to you for your speech in Congress this week. ’Tis the most thorough, satisfactory, and powerful speech I have ever read on the subject of Slavery, or any subject. ’Twill secure millions of readers, and I trust open the eyes of the nation to the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ Ever think of me, and the people to whom I preach, as among your warmest admirers, lovers, and sympathizers.”Rev. David Root, retired clergyman and Abolitionist, wrote from Cheshire, Connecticut:—“Though approaching seventy, such is my heartfelt interest in the cause you advocate, that I could cry with joy over the thought that there is at least one member in Congress who is able, and who has the moral courage, to do justice to that great enormity, that atrocious wickedness, that deep and damning crime of Slaveholding. You seem to have embraced in your speech the whole subject, in all its important departments, and with a plainness, directness, pith, force, and pungency worthy of the highest commendation. It should be a permanent and standard document on that subject, and be perpetuated through all coming time, that other generations may look at it and learn to hate Slavery and love Liberty.… Mind not what some timid croakers may say about being ill-timed or calculated to injure our Republican campaign. It is not so. You have given us just the document we needed, going down to the foundation.”Rev. Edgar Buckingham, an early schoolmate of Mr. Sumner, wrote from his parish at Troy, New York:—“I congratulate you upon the fidelity and the courage which you have manifested; and though I do not rejoice in all severity, I rejoice always in the severity of truth, and I trust that the leaders of the Republican party will unanimously decide, that, not their expediencies, but God’s opportunity, is always the test of the time in which truth is to be spoken.”Rev. J. S. Berry wrote from New York:—“Allow me, though a stranger, to thank you in the name of Humanity for the noble speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery’ just delivered by you in the Senate, so just, so truthful, and sotimely. I bless God that he has so far restored you, and brought you to ‘this hour.’ Thousands of hearts thrill with intense hatred of Slavery, as they read your startling disclosures of its workings; and the prayers of these same thousands, nay, millions, ascend to the Father of us all, that you may be long spared to show up the wickedness and inhumanity of the institution. I rejoice that not alone on political grounds do you attack the system.”Rev. Daniel Foster, pastor, Abolitionist, and pioneer in Kansas, wrote from the town of Sumner there:—“I rise from the perusal of your speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery’ with such feelings of affection and reverence for you that I must give my feelings and emotion vent by a word of thanks to you. I was grievously disappointed in ——’s speech. Yours fully satisfies me, it is so thorough, exhaustive, forcible, and withal so lofty and noble and patriotic in its spirit.”T. Dwight Thacher, journalist, and Kansas pioneer, wrote from Lawrence:—“Allow me, though an entire stranger, to express my thanks for the delivery of your recent great speech in the Senate of the United States. You may rest assured that the true, radical, Free State men of Kansas have no kind of sympathy with those who are so solicitous lest that speech should have injured our prospects for admission. We have learned the Slave Power well enough to know that its schemes of injustice toward us are not the offspring of sudden and transient excitements, but are the deep and well-settled purpose of years. And for one I would rather that we should remain out of the Union forever than that a single utterance in favor of Freedom should be suppressed in the Senate.”H. R. Helper, of North Carolina, afterwards Consul at Buenos Ayres, author of the work entitled “The Impending Crisis,” wrote from New York:—“I am in ecstasies with your speech of yesterday. Every word is put just where it was most needed. One such speech at intervals of even four years is worth incomparably more than aGlobeof ordinary debate every day.”Theodore Tilton, the eloquent lecturer and journalist, sent this good word from New York:—“I hasten to offer you my congratulations, not merely as a personal friend, but as a citizen, for your vindication of Liberty. Since the Senate began its sessions, no speech has been made on the floor which has satisfied me except this. I am glad that you have been neither intimidated to silence nor hallucinated by ‘expediency’ into speaking only half the truth.”Francis H. Upton, lawyer, and author of the work on “The Law of Nations affecting Commerce during War,” wrote from New York:—“Thank God that you are yet stanch and strong, and in all things fit for the fight that is before us. I have no sympathy with those who prate of theimpolicyof your present utterance, and also suggest the possibility of its influencing Senators to obstruct or postpone the admission of Kansas. It seems to me that he is but an ill observer of the signs of the times, and has not his finger upon the nation’s pulse, who fails to perceive that the day of soft words and bated breath and candy-tongued conciliation is gone, and gone forever. Slavery has seen its last triumph, and henceforth should receive no quarter.”Hon. William Curtis Noyes, the eminent lawyer and exemplary citizen, wrote from New York:—“I thank you cordially for your speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery’; and I thank you still more for having delivered it in the Senate, where you had a right to speak, and were bound to speak upon that subject first of all upon your restoration to health. Allow me also to congratulate you on that event, so auspicious to yourself and your country.”Hon. John Bigelow, the able journalist, and afterwards Minister to France, wrote from New York:—“I have not found an opportunity until to-day of reading your speech about the Barbarism of Slavery. It is the best arranged and by far the most complete exposure of the horrid rite of Slavery to be found within the same compass in any language, so far as known.”Hon. Hiram Barney, for many years an Abolitionist, Collector of the Port of New York under President Lincoln, wrote from New York:—“I was mortified to see in some of our Republican papers unkind criticisms on the expediency of such a speech at this time. In my judgment it is the best speech you have ever made. It was made at the best moment practicable to make it, and it would have been a wrong to the country and the cause to have withheld it. Moreover, it was made by the right man in the right place. It is the most valuable Antislavery document that I have ever seen.”Thomas Hicks, the artist, wrote from New York:—

The LondonDaily News, of June 22, followed.

“The barbaric character of Slavery, and of its supporters, has been abundantly exhibited through the press of some Northern States, but it has never before been displayed in the Senate; and all criticism of it is excluded from the Southern press, and from most of the Northern. In the progress of the revolutionary conflict, the moment has arrived for the truth to be told in the Senate; and Mr. Sumner, as the representative of the most venerable State of the Union, was the man to utter it. He described the character of Slavery; he proved its operation upon the liberties of communities and the character of individuals; and he declared the resolution of the Free States to get rid of the evil of being implicated in such a barbarism, and to save every new community from being cursed with it against its will.”

Then camePunch, July 21st, which said:—

“Mr. Summer’s speech was chiefly characterized by its closeness of argument and lucidity of diction; but he occasionally introduced a passage of highly wrought eloquence, or an image of singular vividness; and in England, however the orator’s sentiments might have been objected to by a political antagonist, Mr. Sumner would have received the compliments of gentlemen of both sides upon so remarkable an exhibition of sustained power and intellectual skill.…“Mr. Punch begs leave to offer his respectful congratulations to Mr. Sumner upon his magnificent speech, and even more earnestly upon the ample and perfect testimony that was instantly given by the besotted slave-owners to the truth of his assertion of the Barbarism of Slavery. It is not often that an orator’s enemies are in such a desperate hurry to prove his case for him. But here he was scarcely down, when the Slave party rushed together to proclaim themselves the ruffians he had painted them, and in the published copy of the oration Mr. Sumner has given at once the calmest and the deadliest blow to the system he denounces,—for he prints Mr. Chesnut’s speech. All the bludgeons in the hands of all the ‘chivalry of the South’ cannot beat that demonstration of Mr. Sumner’s case out of the heads of the public in and out of the States. The speech should be reprinted in England, and circulated in thousands. What is the Antislavery Society about?”

“Mr. Punch begs leave to offer his respectful congratulations to Mr. Sumner upon his magnificent speech, and even more earnestly upon the ample and perfect testimony that was instantly given by the besotted slave-owners to the truth of his assertion of the Barbarism of Slavery. It is not often that an orator’s enemies are in such a desperate hurry to prove his case for him. But here he was scarcely down, when the Slave party rushed together to proclaim themselves the ruffians he had painted them, and in the published copy of the oration Mr. Sumner has given at once the calmest and the deadliest blow to the system he denounces,—for he prints Mr. Chesnut’s speech. All the bludgeons in the hands of all the ‘chivalry of the South’ cannot beat that demonstration of Mr. Sumner’s case out of the heads of the public in and out of the States. The speech should be reprinted in England, and circulated in thousands. What is the Antislavery Society about?”

To these London articles may be added passages from Miss Martineau’s correspondence with theAntislavery Standard, of New York. In a letter under date of July 2, the eminent writer said:—

“I may just say that Senator Chesnut’s commentary on Mr. Sumner’s speech is very amusing here. He cannot know much of the English aristocracy, if he supposes that strangers can get at them by their back doors. Their back doors are well looked to; but in Mr. Sumner’s case there was no question of back door or front. Our aristocracy went out to seek him,—not he them. I need not say that we heartily rejoice in the full truth having been spoken in Congress. The occasion brings back vividly to my memory Mr. Calhoun’s countenance and voice, when he insisted to me, peremptorily putting down all argument, that that day would never come: there would be silence about Slavery in Congress world without end. This was in 1835. It must be also needless for me to say that no unprejudiced man or woman here really supposes that any terms can be kept with Slavery and Slaveholders. The crisis of your revolution may be precipitated by such open defiance in the Federal Legislature; but we see that it was the South which brought on the revolution and uttered the defiance, and that the only course for the Senator from Massachusetts is to take care that the revolution is steered straight by compass while there is such a fearful tampering with the helm. To speak gingerly of Barbarism, when his business was to set before his country the choice between Barbarism and Civilization, was, of course, impossible; and there could be no fidelity short of such a thorough exposure and denunciation as he has offered.”

Then, under date of July 16, Miss Martineau wrote again:—

“Since I wrote last, we have had the opportunity of reading Mr. Sumner’s speech entire. I know no instance in which it was so necessary to have read the whole in order to understand any part; and certainly I can recall no case in which careless and conceited critics have cut a more wretched figure in condemning a production before they understood it. They supposed themselves on safe ground, when they cited passages of denunciation, leaving (as such isolated passages must) an impression that the speaker had outraged the principles and spirit of legislative debate by personal imputation and provocation to passion. Mr. Sumner’s own friends here regretted what they saw, simply because personal accusation and insult can never do any good, and must, in a crisis like that of your polity, render a complete rupture inevitable. As soon as we got the whole speech, however, the aspect of the quoted paragraphs was entirely changed. Instead of a piece of stimulating invective, we find the speech to be a chapter of history, and an exposition, calm and rational, of the workings of a social institution which is brought forward for discussion, and so placed on its trial, by Mr. Sumner’s opponents. To me it appears a production of altogether incalculable importance, apart from its merits in detail. Till now, if we could have met with such a phenomenon in England as a person who was not convinced of the wickedness and folly of Slavery, we should not have known where to turn for a compact, reliable, serviceable statement of the modern case of slave and free labor.”

Another testimony, purporting to be “by a distinguished writer of England,” appeared in the American papers at the time.

“Thanks, many thanks, for Sumner’s noble speech. It has been read with swelling throats and tearful eyes. It is a mighty effort towards wiping out the monstrous blot that disfigures your fair country. I like well the way in which he takes head after head of the foul Hydra, and severs each as completely as ever Hercules did; yet his labor was child’s play in comparison.”

To this English list may be joined a poem prompted by this speech. The New YorkIndependent, where it first appeared in our country,announced that the initials subscribed to it were those of Mrs. L. W. Fellowes, a daughter of Rowland Hill, originator of the cheap postage system in England.

“TO CHARLES SUMNER.“As one who wandering lone is sudden stirredWith a wild gush of hidden woodland singing,Doth picture to himself the beauteous birdThat with sweet concord sets the greenwood ringing,And gazes eager round, and is full fainTo mark the warbler fair, yet gazes still in vain,—“So I, being melted to my inmost soulBy 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 breakThe shackles, e’en more harsh than those that bindThe slave-born limbs,—the shackles of the mind.“Go on, brave heart! and faint not, though thy wayBe rough and rude, and torn with many a thorn:All England would thee hail, if some white dayThou, harassed by thy country’s bitter scorn,Shouldst seek our friendly shore, and rest awhileThy wearied soul in this our happy Isle.“L. W. F.“Wolverhampton, England.”

“TO CHARLES SUMNER.

“As one who wandering lone is sudden stirredWith a wild gush of hidden woodland singing,Doth picture to himself the beauteous birdThat with sweet concord sets the greenwood ringing,And gazes eager round, and is full fainTo mark the warbler fair, yet gazes still in vain,—

“As one who wandering lone is sudden stirred

With a wild gush of hidden woodland singing,

Doth picture to himself the beauteous bird

That with sweet concord sets the greenwood ringing,

And gazes eager round, and is full fain

To mark the warbler fair, yet gazes still in vain,—

“So I, being melted to my inmost soulBy 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 breakThe shackles, e’en more harsh than those that bindThe slave-born limbs,—the shackles of the mind.

“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.

“Go on, brave heart! and faint not, though thy wayBe rough and rude, and torn with many a thorn:All England would thee hail, if some white dayThou, harassed by thy country’s bitter scorn,Shouldst seek our friendly shore, and rest awhileThy wearied soul in this our happy Isle.

“Go on, brave heart! and faint not, though thy way

Be rough and rude, and torn with many a thorn:

All England would thee hail, if some white day

Thou, harassed by thy country’s bitter scorn,

Shouldst seek our friendly shore, and rest awhile

Thy wearied soul in this our happy Isle.

“L. W. F.

“Wolverhampton, England.”

This speech took its place in foreign bibliography. French writers who discussed American Slavery cited it, among whom was that excellent ally of our country, M. Édouard Laboulaye, who wrote always with equal knowledge and friendship. After quoting the famous words by which Wesley describes and blasts Slavery, he gives a definition from this speech.

“The Americans of the North, who calculate even to the beatings of the heart, have summed up this multifold crime in five axioms. It is, say they, man become the property of his fellow-man, marriage abolished, paternity destroyed, intelligence systematically stifled, labor forced and unpaid,—in other terms, tyranny, confiscation, and robbery. Such are the essential vices of Slavery, vices independent of the goodness or the wickedness of the master, vices irremediable,—for to correct them is to acknowledge that the Slave has some rights, it is to make a man of him, it is to commence emancipation. Such, without exaggeration and without declamation, is the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ as the eloquent Senator of Massachusetts has justly called it.”

The able Frenchman then adds in a note:—

“Mr. Sumner is the Senator who was struck down in the Senate Chamber by a colleague from the South, for which the assailant received a cane of honor, awarded by his admirers at the South. The welcome which Mr. Sumner in turn received in England and France, where he came to reëstablish his health, must have proved to him how much on the Old Continent are still esteemed courage and talent put forth in the service of humanity.”[140]

The testimony of correspondents was in harmony with the Antislavery press. Both in character and number, their letters were of singular authority. They show the sentiments of good men, and the extent to which the country was absorbed by the question of Slavery, although politicians sought to put it out of sight. And since this discussion, culminated in war, they throw light on the origin of that terrible conflict, and therefore belong to history. Brief extracts are given from a portion of the letters within reach.

There can be no better name for the beginning than John G. Whittier, the poet, who wrote from his home at Amesbury, Massachusetts:—

“I have just finished readingthespeech. It is all that I could wish for. It takes the dreadful question out of the region of party and expediency, and holds it up in the clear sun-blaze of truth and reason, in all its deformity, and with the blackness of the pit clinging about it. In the light of that speech the civilized world will now see American Slavery as it is. There is something really awful in its Rhadamanthine severity of justice; but it was needed.“It especially rejoices thy personal friends to see in the speech such confirmation of thy complete restoration to health and strength of body and mind. It was the task of a giant.”

“It especially rejoices thy personal friends to see in the speech such confirmation of thy complete restoration to health and strength of body and mind. It was the task of a giant.”

Frederick Douglass, once a slave, wrote from Rochester, New York:—

“I wish I could tell you how deeply grateful I am to you, and to God, for the speech you have now been able to make in the United States Senate. You spoke to the Senate and the nation, but you have a nobler and a mightier audience. The civilized world will hear you, and rejoice at the tremendous exposure of the meanness, brutality, blood-guiltiness, hell-black iniquity, and barbarism of American Slavery. As one who has felt the horrors of this stupendous violation of all human rights, I venture thus far to trespass upon your time and attention. My heart is full, Sir, and I could pour out my feelings at length, but I know how precious is your time. I shall print every word of your speech.”

Hon. S. P. Chase, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States, wrote from Columbus, Ohio:—

“Your great speech came to me, under your frank, this morning. I had read it all—in theBulletinof Philadelphia, in theTimesof New York, and in theGlobe—before I received the pamphlet copy. It is gratifying to know that theNew York Heraldalso prints it, and that, through various channels of publication, it will reach every corner of the land, ‘cogens omnes ante thronum.’ ‘C’est presqu’un discours antique,’ said a French gentleman to me last Saturday. I say, ‘C’est bien plus.’”

Hon. Francis Gillette, an Abolitionist, and formerly Senator of the United States from Connecticut, wrote from Hartford:—

“I cannot tell you how pleased I am with your late speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ It makes a lustrum in the Senate, and an era in the history of the Antislavery cause. But I am afraid the bloodthirsty barbarians are intent on assassinating you. Look out for them, and when they apologize to you with the pretension of drunkenness, understand them to mean they are drunk with rage. Do not believe them.”

Hon. Carl Schurz, the German orator, afterwards Senator of the United States from Missouri, wrote from Milwaukee, Wisconsin:—

“Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your great speech. It did me good to hear again the true ring of the moral Antislavery sentiment. If we want to demolish the Slave Power, we must educate the hearts of the people no less than their heads.”

Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, so long a champion of Freedom in Congress, wrote from his home at Jefferson, Ohio:—

“Permit me to congratulate you. My heart swells with gratitude to God that you are again permitted to stand in the Senate and maintain the honor of a nation and of mankind. I dared not say to you how much I feared the effect of that excitement which I knew must attend you while speaking in the Senate. But now you have passed the most trying point, I hope no evil effects will result to your health; but, however health or life may be affected, you have again spoken.”

Then again the veteran champion wrote:—

“Of all the subjects before you, no one was so well adapted to the occasion as the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ And no man was so well adapted to the subject as yourself. I was profoundly grateful that you succeeded in pronouncing the speech,—and still more so, when I read it. It is worthy of yourself. Thus far my desires and prayers in regard to you have been fully met. May your services to your country and mankind continue so long as life continues!”

Hon. George W. Julian, another champion in Congress, wrote from his home at Centreville, Indiana:—

“I am exceedingly rejoiced that you have made your great speech, and said just what I understand you have said about the whole question of Slavery. But I grow sick, indignant, and nervous, on reading the cowardly notices of the speech by windy Republican journals.”

Hon. John Jay, afterwards Minister to Austria, wrote from New York:—

“I wrote you hastily my congratulations and thanks on your last powerful effort, the effect of which I think will be stupendous and permanent, giving a vigor to the cause, and a definiteness to the opinion of the North, and an example of pluck more powerful in its persuasive influence than a thousand essays.”

Hon. Gerrit Smith, always champion of the slave, wrote from his home at Peterborough, New York:—

“I have this day read your speech as it appeared in theNew York Timesof the 5th. God be praised for the proof it affords that you are yourself again,—ay, more than yourself! I say more,—for, though the ‘Crime against Kansas’wasthe speech of your life, thisisthe speech of your life. This eclipses that. It is far more instructive, and will be far more useful, and it is not at all inferior to the other in vigor or rhetoric.“The slaveholders will all read this speech, and will all be profited by its clear, certain, and convincing truths. The candid among them will not dislike you for it; not a few of them will, at least in their hearts, thank and honor you for it. Would that they all might see that there is no wrong, no malice whatever, in your heart! Would that they all might see that you do not hate the slaveholder, but pity him as the victim of a false education!…“I have read the editorial of theTimeson your speech. It is more than unjust, it is wicked. Nor has theTribune, so far as I have seen, any praises for you. But this is their way, or rather one of their ways, for promoting the interests of your Republican party.”

“The slaveholders will all read this speech, and will all be profited by its clear, certain, and convincing truths. The candid among them will not dislike you for it; not a few of them will, at least in their hearts, thank and honor you for it. Would that they all might see that there is no wrong, no malice whatever, in your heart! Would that they all might see that you do not hate the slaveholder, but pity him as the victim of a false education!…

“I have read the editorial of theTimeson your speech. It is more than unjust, it is wicked. Nor has theTribune, so far as I have seen, any praises for you. But this is their way, or rather one of their ways, for promoting the interests of your Republican party.”

Mr. Smith added in a subsequent letter:—

“I am scattering through my county the great speech of your life: I mean your speech on the Barbarism of Slavery. It is just to the taste of Republicans here,—for the Republicans here are nearly all Abolitionists.”

Rev. John Pierpont, lifelong Abolitionist, and poet, wrote from the home of Gerrit Smith, whose guest he was:—

“I finished the reading of your great speech in the car on my way hither, and, permit me to say, thank you for it with my whole soul,—notwithstanding the qualified commendations of it that may have found their way into some of the Republican papers.”

Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, another lifelong Abolitionist, and able lawyer, wrote from Boston:—

“I rejoice that you have had the courage to exhibit in a systematic manner the essential barbarism of the institution. Everywhere I hear your speech spoken of in the highest terms of admiration. Even the most desperate conservatives are compelled to acknowledge your eloquence and ability. Nor do they deny the justice of your attack on the system of Slavery. But they say the time you chose for making this assault was inopportune and ill-judged, that it could only retard the admission of Kansas, that it is likely to have a bad effect on slaveholders, etc., etc., etc. It seems to me, however, that no occasion for denouncing an institution which is the ruin and disgrace of our nation can be inopportune.”

William Lloyd Garrison, who gave his name to a school of Abolitionists, and was himself a host in constancy and lofty principle, wrote from Boston:—

“Allow me warmly to congratulate you upon your complete restoration to health, and upon the successful delivery of your great speech in Congress, the potency of which is seen in the writhings and denunciations of the slaveholding oligarchy and their base Northern allies, quite as much as in the commendations and rejoicings of your numerous friends and admirers.”

Wendell Phillips, the orator of Freedom, and early friend, wrote:—

“I rejoice with a full heart, not only, not so much perhaps, in your glorious speech, as in what we so longed for and hoped, that you are again on your feet, again in harness,—it is so heart-stirring and cheering to hear your voice once more along the lines, and just now, too, when you and a very few others seem to embody all the real Antislavery there is in politics. Those were ‘four’ nobly used hours. ’Twas a blast of the old well-known bugle, and fell on welcoming ears, and thankful ones.”

Edmund Quincy, the accomplished writer and determined Abolitionist, wrote from Dedham:—

“The spirit moveth me to tell you how much I admired your speech of last Monday, the rather that I see that the dishes of skim-milk that you are trying to stir to an honorable action are turning sour to your word. The fact is, the leading Republicans not only don’t know enough to go in when it rains, but they quarrel with the man that offers them an umbrella.… I beg you to believe that the editors do not express the real feeling of the Republicans about your speech, as far as I have talked with them. The common people received it gladly; and its great power, eloquence, and exhaustive and unanswerable quality everybody acknowledges, even the enemy. You have done a good service to the country, and a great one to your party, if they have the sense to make use of it.”

Lewis Tappan, the ancient and leading Abolitionist, wrote from New York:—

“The speech is timely and valuable. Everywhere I have heard it highly commended. Still some Republicans dislike it, at this crisis. But the party needs having their attention directed to the moral aspects of the question. May the good Lord protect and bless you, and enable you to feel a consciousness of his presence and inspiration!”

J. Miller M’Kim, an active Abolitionist, who did much for the cause, wrote from Philadelphia:—

“The speech is in great demand here. Twenty-five cents a copy have been offered for theHeraldorBulletincontaining it. I am disgusted with the notices of it which have appeared in some of the leading Republican prints. Maugre them all, I say, and all right-minded men will say, it wasjudicious,well-timed, andgerman to the question before the country.”

Rev. Parker Pillsbury, the Garrisonian Abolitionist, who thought the Republican party too feeble, wrote from Cumington, Massachusetts:—

“Amid the profusion of epistolary plaudits you will doubtless receive for your late powerful protest against Slavery, a voice humble as mine can be to you only of slight account. And yet I cannot forbear my congratulations at your so far recovered vigor and health, and the cause of Freedom and Humanity, that it still receives the powerful aid and advocacy of your voice and influence. I only regret that a speech of such power as your last must be laid on the altar of Republicanism, while to the leaders of the party your utterances are distasteful, if not absolutely terrific.”

Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman, the courageous Abolitionist, always faithful and intelligent, wrote from Boston:—

“Will you accept my hearty thanks for your speech? Exciting, as it must, a rage of hatred in some, proportionate to the love and gratitude it secures from others, I am sure your life is in danger; but with you, the greater the danger, the greater the courage,—and courage is preservative. No need to bid you be of good cheer: one in your place cannot help being so.”

Rev. George B. Cheever, whose soul was in the Antislavery cause, wrote from New York:—

“I bless you from the bottom of my heart, and praise God for his goodness in sparing you and returning you to your place in the Senate for that great work. It is a mighty blow, struck just at the right time, with a severity, pungency, and hearty earnestness that it does one’s very soul good to witness. God bless you, and keep you, my dear friend and brother!—for you must allow me to use this language, since you have endeared yourself to every lover of freedom and justice, of truth and righteousness, and to every friend of the slave, more than ever; and your noble course might justify even a personal stranger in addressing you thus. You are very dear to us all.”

Rev. William H. Furness, the Unitarian preacher, whose gentle nature was always aroused by Slavery, wrote from Philadelphia:—

“I have just read the telegram of your speech, and I must tell you that I have no words to express my admiration, gratitude, love. It is a grand justification of your non-resignation of your seat. The grace of God is on you,—his special favor, in that you have had the will and the opportunity for so faithful, so noble an utterance. It is a planetary space beyond and above the Republican party.”

In another letter he wrote further:

“I have no words to describe the blessed work you have done. Never for one instant mind the ‘cold-shoulderism’ of theTribune, or the heartlessness around you; but rest assured that you have sent the truth into the inmost being of the Southern men who heard you. They may affect contempt by their silence, or they may rail and foam like Chesnut, but they know that you have spoken the bitter and biting truth without bitterness and without fear, as became a Christian gentleman. I declare to you that I consider that you are paid for the inaction and suffering of the last four years, and so are we. You cannot, no one can, begin to estimate the substantial work that you have done, both in regard to the essential truth, which you have demonstrated, and more to the perfect spirit and manner of the work.”

Rev. O. B. Frothingham, the courageous clergyman and reformer, wrote from New York:—

“Expressing my satisfaction and delight with your recent speech in the Senate, I do not know which most to be thankful for,—the complete restoration of your physical and mental power indicated by it, or the unabated courage it manifests, or the undazzled moral vision it displays in every sentence. To read it is like inhaling a draught of air in midsummer from the cliffs of Nahant or the hills of New Hampshire. It gives a conscience to legislation, and sets us all back upon the everlasting truth and rectitude.”

Rev. Nathaniel Hall, an excellent clergyman, beloved by all who knew him, wrote from Dorchester, Massachusetts:—

“Nobly you have dared to speak the truth, where to speak the truth, as you well knew, was to imperil life: I do not know in our day a nobler instance of moral bravery. And the speech itself, so clear, so strong, so impregnable in its arguments, so unanswerable in its facts, so unexceptionable in its tone, so free from personalities (save where for truth’s sake and the cause they must have been), so comprehensive, so conclusive, so great, so good, so Christian, so worthy,—yes, of a Christian statesman,—so lifted in tone and character above the utterances of that place,—my soul thanks you for it,—thanks God with added fervor, that he spared your life, and brought you back to your honored seat, and enabled you to such fidelity. It richly pays for these years of waiting.… Whatever a partisan press may say, whatever political opponents and politicalfriendsmay say, whatever of coolness and mistrust may be expressed, where you had a right to expect sympathy and support, be assured that deep in the hearts of multitudes of all parties you are honored, and will be by increasing numbers. I know it from what I know of human nature in myself. I know that my feelingsmustbe shared. I know that the secret reverence not only of the true-hearted, but of all who have not sunk below the mark where appreciation of true-heartedness is impossible, must be given to him who has stood forth in the intrepidity of a Christian manliness, to declare, in the face and beneath the power of its violators, strong in power and reckless in deed, the eternal law of rectitude and mercy.”

Rev. Convers Francis, the learned professor and stanch Abolitionist, wrote from Harvard University:—

“Thanks, many and most hearty thanks, for that great, very great speech, and for your kindness in sending it to me. What a portraiture of the Barbarism of Slavery! And what a master hand to draw it! Such a picture none but an artist of the highest order could paint. I must tell you, Mr. Sumner, that nothing on this great and fearful subject has ever so filled and satisfied my whole soul. ‘Too severe,’ say some; ‘not good policy to irritate the South.’ I tell them, Not an iota too strong. I would not have a single sentence or word less pungent or forcible, if I could; because every sentence and every word are loaded deep with truth, such truth as I rejoice that somebody is found in our Congress to give utterance to.… You have done great and excellent things before, Mr. Sumner, but this, I must say, seems to me the greatest and most excellent of all. The abundance of facts from the most unquestionable sources, the admirable arrangement, the keen and searching application of the argument, the masterly logic, and the manly eloquence of the speech will make it a document of truth and righteousness for all coming time.”[141]

Rev. John T. Sargent, Abolitionist and faithful reformer, wrote from Boston:—

“Every column of the paper, as I took it up, seemed to gleam on me like the golden lamps of the Apocalypse. How irresistible are your arguments! How pungent, and yet how Christian, your rebuke of this sore iniquity of our time! How sharp and clear goes the sword of your spirit through all the sophistry of your opponents! My soul has been in a glow all through the reading, and over the pathos of parts I have cried as if my heart would break.”

Rev. Frederick Hinckley, Free-Soiler from the start, wrote from Lowell:—

“I write this hasty note to tell you how much I thank you (and I think the heart of New England thanks you, too) for your recent speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ in its moral tone and outspoken truthfulness so far above all other Republican speeches in Congress or Convention, carrying us back to the remembrance of the old Free-Soil times, when the party had more moral than political power, and, not expecting success, could speak right out.”

Rev. Beriah Green, one of the most devoted among Abolitionists, wrote from Whitesborough, New York:—

“Such massive, enduring truth! uttered so clearly, definitely, fully! The argument so perspicuous, compact, conclusive! The illustrations so apt, so fresh, so sparkling! The conclusions so weighty, grand, impressive! Every paragraph pervaded, radiant, with scholarly beauty. When did literature, our own or other, ever more willingly, more generously, come, all vigorous and graceful, to the aid of any of her sons?“I bless God, and thank you, for the deep-toned, comprehensive humanity which pervades, which consecrates and hallows your paragraphs. I found myself, as I moved on step by step through your trains of thought, quickened and encouraged, inspired and refreshed. The impression which the speech as a whole made upon my innermost spirit it is my privilege to cherish and retain. I shall, I trust, be more fraternal in my regards for all my fellows forever, for your brave, manly utterances. Blessings on your head, heart, and estate!”

“I bless God, and thank you, for the deep-toned, comprehensive humanity which pervades, which consecrates and hallows your paragraphs. I found myself, as I moved on step by step through your trains of thought, quickened and encouraged, inspired and refreshed. The impression which the speech as a whole made upon my innermost spirit it is my privilege to cherish and retain. I shall, I trust, be more fraternal in my regards for all my fellows forever, for your brave, manly utterances. Blessings on your head, heart, and estate!”

Rev. Thomas C. Upham, author, professor, and devoted friend of Peace, wrote from Bowdoin College, in Maine:—

“Your history in Congress has been a providential one. I do most fully believe that the hand of God has been in it from the beginning. I thought that the blow which struck you down in the Senate was destined, through the overrulings of Providence, to break the chains of the slave, and I think so still. Allow me to congratulate you, in connection with multitudes of others, on your return to the country and the Senate, and on the utterance of great and true and kind words which will have an influence on the hearts of thinking men throughout the nation.”

Rev. Henry M. Dexter, religious editor, and zealous historian of the Plymouth Pilgrims, wrote:—

“I cannot help feeling, my dear Sir, that you have made the most effective argument which the country has yet listened to on the general subject of the evils of that horrible system under which our nation is reeling like a giant poisoned by an adder. God bless you for your faithfulness, so calm, so dignified, so just, so overwhelming in its logical results, and grant that in ‘the good time coming’ your voice may often be lifted in that Senate House to more appreciative and coöperative auditors!”

Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, the eminent divine and eloquent preacher, wrote from New York:—

“My first duty as a Christian is to thank God that he has restored you to the Senate with physical and mental vigor equal to the great debate in which you have just borne so noble a part. My first duty as a patriot is to thank you for a speech which meets fully, squarely, ably, eloquently, conclusively, the one issue upon which our national welfare now depends. My first duty as a friend is to express the high satisfaction with which I have read the speech throughout, every line and letter of it, and the peculiar pleasure with which I have observed your self-control and avoidance of personalities under provocation, and your fearless and searching exposure of the barbarism and criminality of Slavery under the very eye of its bullying champions and in the very place where you had suffered its deadly malice. I am ashamed of the timid comments, almost deprecating indeed, of theTribuneandPostupon the only speech in the Senate which has reached the core of the question. If the Republican party is to seek success by blinking the real issue of the right or wrong of Slavery, I am prepared to witness its defeat without regret.”

Rev. Thomas T. Stone, the persuasive preacher, and student of Plato, wrote from Bolton, Massachusetts:—

“It is scarcely necessary that I should tell you how much I thank you for your public deeds. I was one who wished your seat in the Senate empty, till either you filled it, or the inevitable doom removed you from the possibility of doing it. May the words which have ennobled it go forth as thunders, arousing souls now deadened by the barbarisms of our country and our age!“‘Quo bruta tellus et vaga flumina,Quo Styx et invisi horrida TænariSedes, Atlanteusque finisConcutitur.’”[142]

“‘Quo bruta tellus et vaga flumina,Quo Styx et invisi horrida TænariSedes, Atlanteusque finisConcutitur.’”[142]

“‘Quo bruta tellus et vaga flumina,

Quo Styx et invisi horrida Tænari

Sedes, Atlanteusque finis

Concutitur.’”[142]

Rev. Caleb Stetson, the Liberal clergyman, and early foe of Slavery, wrote from Lexington, Massachusetts:—

“It is the best and completest word that has yet gone forth on the subject. If another as good can be made, it must be by yourself.”

Rev. Rufus P. Stebbins, the Unitarian divine, wrote from Woburn, Massachusetts:—

“I have read your last speech in the Senate on ‘The Barbarism of Slavery’ with admiration and gratitude. As a citizen, a constituent, I thank you from my heart’s core. It was a glorious triumph, such as no Roman consul or general ever won, to stand in your place, after such a long absence, for such a cause, and through four long hours proclaim such holy truth in such distinct language as was never before heard on that floor. It is glory enough for one life.”

Rev. William C. Whitcomb, an earnest clergyman and Abolitionist, wrote from Lynnfield Centre, Massachusetts:—

“A thousand thanks to you for your speech in Congress this week. ’Tis the most thorough, satisfactory, and powerful speech I have ever read on the subject of Slavery, or any subject. ’Twill secure millions of readers, and I trust open the eyes of the nation to the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ Ever think of me, and the people to whom I preach, as among your warmest admirers, lovers, and sympathizers.”

Rev. David Root, retired clergyman and Abolitionist, wrote from Cheshire, Connecticut:—

“Though approaching seventy, such is my heartfelt interest in the cause you advocate, that I could cry with joy over the thought that there is at least one member in Congress who is able, and who has the moral courage, to do justice to that great enormity, that atrocious wickedness, that deep and damning crime of Slaveholding. You seem to have embraced in your speech the whole subject, in all its important departments, and with a plainness, directness, pith, force, and pungency worthy of the highest commendation. It should be a permanent and standard document on that subject, and be perpetuated through all coming time, that other generations may look at it and learn to hate Slavery and love Liberty.… Mind not what some timid croakers may say about being ill-timed or calculated to injure our Republican campaign. It is not so. You have given us just the document we needed, going down to the foundation.”

Rev. Edgar Buckingham, an early schoolmate of Mr. Sumner, wrote from his parish at Troy, New York:—

“I congratulate you upon the fidelity and the courage which you have manifested; and though I do not rejoice in all severity, I rejoice always in the severity of truth, and I trust that the leaders of the Republican party will unanimously decide, that, not their expediencies, but God’s opportunity, is always the test of the time in which truth is to be spoken.”

Rev. J. S. Berry wrote from New York:—

“Allow me, though a stranger, to thank you in the name of Humanity for the noble speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery’ just delivered by you in the Senate, so just, so truthful, and sotimely. I bless God that he has so far restored you, and brought you to ‘this hour.’ Thousands of hearts thrill with intense hatred of Slavery, as they read your startling disclosures of its workings; and the prayers of these same thousands, nay, millions, ascend to the Father of us all, that you may be long spared to show up the wickedness and inhumanity of the institution. I rejoice that not alone on political grounds do you attack the system.”

Rev. Daniel Foster, pastor, Abolitionist, and pioneer in Kansas, wrote from the town of Sumner there:—

“I rise from the perusal of your speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery’ with such feelings of affection and reverence for you that I must give my feelings and emotion vent by a word of thanks to you. I was grievously disappointed in ——’s speech. Yours fully satisfies me, it is so thorough, exhaustive, forcible, and withal so lofty and noble and patriotic in its spirit.”

T. Dwight Thacher, journalist, and Kansas pioneer, wrote from Lawrence:—

“Allow me, though an entire stranger, to express my thanks for the delivery of your recent great speech in the Senate of the United States. You may rest assured that the true, radical, Free State men of Kansas have no kind of sympathy with those who are so solicitous lest that speech should have injured our prospects for admission. We have learned the Slave Power well enough to know that its schemes of injustice toward us are not the offspring of sudden and transient excitements, but are the deep and well-settled purpose of years. And for one I would rather that we should remain out of the Union forever than that a single utterance in favor of Freedom should be suppressed in the Senate.”

H. R. Helper, of North Carolina, afterwards Consul at Buenos Ayres, author of the work entitled “The Impending Crisis,” wrote from New York:—

“I am in ecstasies with your speech of yesterday. Every word is put just where it was most needed. One such speech at intervals of even four years is worth incomparably more than aGlobeof ordinary debate every day.”

Theodore Tilton, the eloquent lecturer and journalist, sent this good word from New York:—

“I hasten to offer you my congratulations, not merely as a personal friend, but as a citizen, for your vindication of Liberty. Since the Senate began its sessions, no speech has been made on the floor which has satisfied me except this. I am glad that you have been neither intimidated to silence nor hallucinated by ‘expediency’ into speaking only half the truth.”

Francis H. Upton, lawyer, and author of the work on “The Law of Nations affecting Commerce during War,” wrote from New York:—

“Thank God that you are yet stanch and strong, and in all things fit for the fight that is before us. I have no sympathy with those who prate of theimpolicyof your present utterance, and also suggest the possibility of its influencing Senators to obstruct or postpone the admission of Kansas. It seems to me that he is but an ill observer of the signs of the times, and has not his finger upon the nation’s pulse, who fails to perceive that the day of soft words and bated breath and candy-tongued conciliation is gone, and gone forever. Slavery has seen its last triumph, and henceforth should receive no quarter.”

Hon. William Curtis Noyes, the eminent lawyer and exemplary citizen, wrote from New York:—

“I thank you cordially for your speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery’; and I thank you still more for having delivered it in the Senate, where you had a right to speak, and were bound to speak upon that subject first of all upon your restoration to health. Allow me also to congratulate you on that event, so auspicious to yourself and your country.”

Hon. John Bigelow, the able journalist, and afterwards Minister to France, wrote from New York:—

“I have not found an opportunity until to-day of reading your speech about the Barbarism of Slavery. It is the best arranged and by far the most complete exposure of the horrid rite of Slavery to be found within the same compass in any language, so far as known.”

Hon. Hiram Barney, for many years an Abolitionist, Collector of the Port of New York under President Lincoln, wrote from New York:—

“I was mortified to see in some of our Republican papers unkind criticisms on the expediency of such a speech at this time. In my judgment it is the best speech you have ever made. It was made at the best moment practicable to make it, and it would have been a wrong to the country and the cause to have withheld it. Moreover, it was made by the right man in the right place. It is the most valuable Antislavery document that I have ever seen.”

Thomas Hicks, the artist, wrote from New York:—

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