Part 21

E. M. Davis, merchant and constant Abolitionist, wrote from Philadelphia:--

“So many people will thank you for your timely, noble, and courageous speech that my thanks will hardly reach your ear; yet I must thank you for my own sake. Our family here spent the last three evenings in reading it out aloud, my son Henry being the reader, and you ought to know how sure we are now that you _are_ well, and how thankful we are for it, and how much good this greatest of all your efforts will do.”

Daniel L. Eaton, journalist, wrote from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania:--

“You must permit me, a perfect stranger, to express my cordial thanks to you for the noble, scathing speech on the ‘sum of villanies’ with which you enriched our literature on Monday last in the Senate. This contest is no holiday battle, but the irrepressible conflict between Right and Wrong. I thank my God that he has spared your life to tell the world that the bludgeon of Barbarism did not silence your tongue nor subdue your spirit. ‘Let the Heathen rage.’ Behind you stand a million of your fellow-citizens in whose hearts your speech finds an echo. After reading it through with scrupulous care, I could not resist the impulse to tell you what I have.”

Thomas MacConnell, lawyer, wrote from Pittsburg:--

“I hold Slavery to be a curse and a disgrace to our country and to mankind; and I rejoice to know that we have one man who is not afraid to denounce it as such, in plain Anglo-Saxon, on the floor of the Senate, and in the face of the Slaveholders.”

C. B. M. Smith, another lawyer, wrote from Pittsburg:--

“Will you permit a private in the Republican ranks to thank you for your great speech on the Barbarism of Slavery? I do not believe that it was ill-timed, or too severe. It was just what the occasion and the times called for.”

Rev. N. Warren Everett wrote from Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania:--

“I have just been reading your masterly and unanswerable speech of the fourth instant with thrills of delight. Massachusetts can afford to let one of her Senatorial chairs remain vacant, if we can have such a speech as that once in four years. I feel like thanking God from the bottom of my heart that you have been restored to health, and have the nerve, or, as you once expressed yourself, the ‘backbone,’ to stand as one of God’s noblemen and give utterance to truth.”

Edward Corner wrote from Columbus, Ohio:--

“It is worth its bulk in gold. I honor the heart and give large credit to the head that combined to send forth such a document. If it could but reach the eyes and ears of the South generally, it would tell upon even that dark and ignorant people; but it cannot; a few may see it. There is not brass enough, nor yet iron, nor steel, in the Southern Senators to ward off such a blow. They will never forget it. There are some weak-kneed Republicans who wish the speech had been less severe. I believe in the entire speech. As you undertook to give the truth, why not tell the whole truth? It is time they were exposed; it is time to hold up Slavery’s mirror, not only to the South, but before the world.”

Alanson St. Clair wrote from Muskegon, Michigan:--

“And if my memory is not greatly at fault, you are the first Member of Congress who has entered the penetralia of the Pandemonium, and fully exposed the diabolical character of the system, and the true character of its supporters. Such efforts are telling.

“The efforts of many noble patriots have been manly, self-denying, and praiseworthy, and should not be disparaged; and yet I know of no one who has taken the high moral ground on this subject which you have from the first. This, during your whole Senatorial career, has made you the hope of the reliable Antislavery men in America; and your last effort will increase not a little their reliance on and their affection for you. It is a godlike effort, a stunning blow, a blow in the right direction and upon the right spot, which has inflicted a fearful, if not a deadly wound.… I pray God that you may live, and retain your place, to pronounce the funeral oration of Slavery, and to receive the exultant blessings of the millions to be set free.”

Nathan C. Meeker wrote from Dongola, Illinois:--

“Notwithstanding what Mr. Greeley said as to its not being proper at this time, I think it timely, and that Mr. Greeley is not aware of the great prevalence of Antislavery sentiment, although he as much as any one has contributed to create it. I thank you for the bold words, and also for the pleasure I have received in reading a correct performance, since there are so many which are hard for me to read. I think your speech will long be referred to, as embracing all that has been and well can be said on this question, and forever cause men to wonder why it was listened to in silence.”

Horace White, the able journalist, afterwards editor of the _Chicago Tribune_, wrote from Chicago:--

“I take pleasure in saying that in my opinion your recent effort ranks with Demosthenes on the Crown, and with Burke on Warren Hastings.”

John H. Rolfe wrote from Chicago:--

“Nobly and well have you met the expectations of those who, like myself, have waited through four years of silence for your next utterance on the great sin of our times. Highly as I prize the speech, I think your brief and pointed reply to Senator Chesnut fully doubles its value, for all practical purposes.”

W. H. Herndon, the able lawyer, associated in business with Abraham Lincoln, wrote from Springfield, Illinois:--

“I have received and read your most philosophic, logical, and classical speech, made in the Senate of the United States. The speech is a withering one to Slavery. It is worthy of you, and you of it. I thank you very, _very_ much for it.… We feel well out here; are confident of success. We hope the East will do as well as the West.”

S. M. Booth, journalist, who, spurning the Fugitive Slave Act, helped fugitive slaves, and was sentenced to imprisonment, wrote from “U. S. Custom-House Prison” at Milwaukee:--

“I bless God for the utterance. It is timely and needed at this juncture. I have no sympathy with that craven policy which would suppress such a speech, lest it might prejudice the rights of Kansas or endanger the election of Lincoln.… Your portrait of Slavery is true; its character and effects are all you describe it; and the nation needs to have its own sin and shame mirrored as you have done it. I see, too, the assassins have since sought your life.… You have struck a mighty blow at the very _existence_ of Slavery. You have laid the axe at the root of the tree. We never can reach the evil as long as we fight on the defensive. But if the doctrines of your speech are true, it is no longer a question _where_ or _how far_ Slavery shall go, but whether it shall be allowed to go or to be _anywhere_.… In God’s name let it perish, and the sooner the better.”

Hon. A. A. Sargent, delegate from California to the Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln as President, and afterwards Representative in Congress from California, wrote from Newburyport, Massachusetts:--

“You go back of mere political distinctions to lay bare the sin and barbarousness of a hoary iniquity, falsely assuming to be a form of Civilization. You have taken up a train of thought, and pursued it well, which I have long wished to have developed, and filled a void in the system of declared truths upon which Republicanism is based, too long neglected. Your speech stirred my heart with feelings of pride for the representative of my native State.”

Hon. Neal Dow, eminent in the cause of Temperance, and afterwards a general in the War, wrote from Portland, Maine:--

“You will be glad to know that among all thoughtful men of our side your speech is commended without a qualification. There is no sympathy with the cowardice of the mere politicians, in the fear that it may excite the bad passions of the South, and provoke them to do some dreadful thing. I think the general wish is that _the whole truth_ should be boldly spoken, and that the crisis, whatever it may be, may come soon. The indications now are that the South will have an opportunity to make up its mind what it will do about it.”

John Neal, the veteran of American literature, wrote from the same city:--

“I have just finished the reading of your great and conclusive speech upon the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ and I have only to say that I go with you heart and soul, and that I concur entirely in the opinion expressed by the venerable Josiah Quincy of your argument.

“Your manliness, your Christian forbearance, your plainness of speech, and your unexaggerating truthfulness are all of a piece, and I desire to thank you in the name of this whole generation for what you have done and suffered and said.”

Hon. James S. Pike, also of Maine, for many years a journalist, afterwards Minister of the United States at The Hague, wrote from Cape May:--

“I think you have got hold of a heavy sledge, and hit between the horns at every lick. The style of treatment will do as much towards bringing the beast upon his knees as any other, and the duty is peculiarly appropriate at your hands. I am very sure you are right, and feel prompted to say so.”

Hon. John Appleton, the learned jurist, and Chief Justice of Maine, wrote from Bangor:--

“I owe you thanks for your able and unanswerable speech, which came in my absence. More truth was never condensed in one speech. But woe to those by whom it so becomes the truth!”

Hon. Moses Emery, an eminent citizen, wrote from Saco, Maine:--

“Permit me to say I have read it through twice, and parts of it many times, and that I consider it the most glorious and most needed speech ever made in the United States. I rejoice that you have been spared to make it. But be on your guard. The Demon of Slavery will be revenged, if possible.”

Thomas H. Talbot, a lawyer, who argued well against the Fugitive Slave Act, wrote from Portland, Maine:--

“I rejoice at your determination to tell the whole truth, so much needed now, when many acting with you either do not perceive it or are willing to withhold it, for reasons of false, fleeting policy. So far you seem not seriously to have been molested; and yet that you have really achieved freedom of speech in Washington upon that subject, and to the extent of your speech, seems almost too much to hope for at present.”

Hon. Woodbury Davis, an earnest Republican, afterwards Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine, wrote from Portland:--

“Your friends here were alarmed on Sunday evening by a rumor that you had been attacked again by Southern ruffians. I felt thankful yesterday morning, when the despatches were published, to learn that it was no worse. I do not believe there is another man in the world for whose personal safety so much real prayer ascends to Heaven.…

“Allow me, as one of the people, though not one of your immediate constituents, to thank you for your great speech. In these times, when there is a tendency to _let down_ the great principles of Universal Liberty in order to gain a temporary triumph, it was so refreshing to have them so nobly and faithfully advocated in the great forum of the nation, that I felt truly grateful to you, and to Him who has preserved you for such a service. If Slavery is to be restricted, it is because of its own inherent wrong, _wheresoever_ and upon _whomsoever_ it rests. And if wrong, we are bound not only to resist its extension, but by whatever powers we have to seek its extinction.”

Professor Benjamin Silliman, distinguished in science and venerable in years, wrote from Yale College:--

“It is a terrible indictment, and supported by such an array of facts, that, having now gone to the jury, there can be no doubt as to the verdict, and a verdict without appeal, except to violence,--against which, as regards yourself personally, I trust you will exercise a ceaseless, although not a timid vigilance.”

Cyrus R. Sanborn wrote from Rochester, New Hampshire:--

“After the many anxious inquiries during your long absence in a foreign land, your return to the Senate has been a topic of not much less interest. Upon the question often being asked, ‘Shall we again hear from Mr. Sumner on the question of Slavery?’ as often it would be answered either in the affirmative or negative. Not too late, just at _the_ time, you have answered the whole question in your recent elaborate speech. Happy and delighted are freemen that the bludgeon and threats have not daunted your courage and freedom of speech upon the great question of Slavery.”

John A. Andrew, afterwards the great Governor of Massachusetts, wrote from Boston:--

“Among the numerous congratulatory letters which your recent brilliant Senatorial effort is doubtless bringing to you, I doubt not you will derive some pleasure in being remembered at No. 4, Court Street.

“‘The Philosopher’[143] and myself, as you know, always read you promptly and carefully. In this recent triumphant success I recognize the ‘wonted fires’ which have now these dozen years illumined our heavens. And I rejoice at the evidence of confirmed physical vigor which is assured by your encounter of the fatigues and excitement of such an intellectual exercise. May you live a thousand years!”

Hon. Francis W. Bird, one of the ablest and honestest politicians in Massachusetts, for many years an Abolitionist, and of peculiar influence, wrote from East Walpole:--

“You do not need that I should thank you for your speech. I confess I considered the risk to your health and life so great that I hoped you would keep silent. But I thank God you have gone through it, for now we may rest assured your health is established. But how I dreaded the test! I rejoice especially that you have placed yourself where the next step logically is, Slavery has no rights, no recognition (except as an existing fact), and no political existence under the Constitution. Then comes the end. And you are to be the leader in that final fight.”

George L. Stearns, so faithful as Abolitionist, who did so much for the organization of colored troops during the War, wrote from Boston:--

“I cannot wait until I have finished your speech to tell you how perfectly it meets my most sanguine expectations. It is the morning star that heralds the coming day when the vile institution shall only live in the history of the Past. Your word will become the battle-cry in the coming conflict, showing that it is indeed irrepressible, and will not be put down, even when the leaders in the fight fall back in terror.”

Hon. James M. Stone, afterwards Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and a reformer, wrote from Charlestown:--

“I am delighted with your admirable speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ and I desire to unite with the millions of the freemen of the country in tendering you thanks for this effort to arouse the attention of the people to the terrible evils of Slavery. The power of your facts and logic is unanswerable and irresistible. The speech comes just at the right time, too; for there was great danger of too much forgetfulness of the great fundamental principle of Human Freedom, without which the Republican party would never have obtained its present power and prospects for the future, and without which it will surely and speedily go to destruction.”

William I. Bowditch, the well-known conveyancer, and among the strictest of Abolitionists, wrote from Boston:--

“As to the speech, the more I think of it, the heavier I think the blow was which you have given. And I am glad to find you yourself again.”

Nathaniel I. Bowditch, author, as well as eminent conveyancer, remarkable also for goodness and moral principle, wrote from Brookline:--

“I had not the least conception of the immense differences effected by Freedom and Slavery. Your statistics were truly astonishing. Some of my visitors, friendly in the main to the Republican cause, have expressed their doubts as to the expediency of your speech,--considering that its effect must be to exasperate the slaveholders; but when I find that Bell, nominated by the Union party, actually eulogized Slavery as the corner-stone of the material prosperity of the country, I think that it is well that the true picture should be held up to their inspection, however repulsive it may be. As in some homely picture of the Dutch school, such as that of _The Dentist pulling out a Tooth_, the subject may be distasteful, but all must acknowledge the skill of the artist, so I think no one can deny the thoroughness of your researches or the ability with which you have presented their results. Even your opponents cannot fail to acknowledge the manly and fearless tone of your remarks.”

George Livermore, a Boston merchant, who loved books, and was always true to his convictions, wrote from Boston:--

“I have waited almost a fortnight since the first reading of your speech, and have read it again and again, before saying anything about it. I have heard the various remarks of many persons whom I have met, and have read the contradictory criticisms of politicians, philanthropists, and religionists. But the first thoughts and the first impressions on reading the speech have been strengthened by reflection. I could then find no words of my own so suitable to express my views respecting it as the words of the wise man of Israel, and I said more than once to my nearest friends, ‘Here are _apples of gold in pictures of silver_.’ For if ever words were _fitly spoken_, it was when you so bravely, truly, and eloquently lifted up your voice in the Senate, and shamed the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ I thank you for it.”

Charles W. Slack, able editor, and ever earnest against Slavery, wrote from Boston:--

“If the truth must be suppressed, if every honest aspiration must be crushed, if everything manly and heroic is to be tamed down, to win a Presidential contest, better be without the success, I say, than purchase it at such a sacrifice. Again I thank you, over and over again.

“Let me say that I know the newspapers don’t represent the current tone of the Republicans in this community, even where bold and brave utterances heretofore have not been popular.”

William S. Robinson, for many years Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and able journalist, who uttered what he thought, wrote from Boston:--

“I suppose that you are not disappointed that timid Republicanism in some quarters objects to the time and occasion of your speech. Of course its real objection is to the speech itself. But I assure you that the Antislavery men gladly welcome it. I regard it as your best speech, and as calculated to do immense good.”

J. P. Blanchard, clear-headed, and vowed against Slavery and War, wrote from Boston:--

“I need hardly say that I share in the high admiration and satisfaction with which it is received by all intelligent persons here, except those few who have sold their souls for office, or who have not yet awoke from the political sleep of half a century. I esteem it especially, not so much for its great research and ability, which were expected, as because it discusses the true fundamental question of the wrong as well as evil of holding property in man, which, though the real issue between the parties, has hitherto been too much slurred over on both sides.”

Seth Webb, Jr., appointed by President Lincoln Consul at Port-au-Prince, Hayti, a Republican of the best quality, and always Antislavery, wrote from his home in Scituate, Massachusetts:--

“I have read it with care. It is magnificent, and I am glad on every account that it was made. It was all needed,--needed now and from you. It not only expresses my own opinions fully, but in it you have written on the walls of Eternity the adamantine convictions of Massachusetts.

“That there are some timeserving and tremulous men and presses in our ranks who treat the speech coolly only shows that Republican leaders do not understand Republicanism, and that it is a mighty work to regenerate a nation.

“The strength of the Republican party lies in the fearless utterance of its opinions; its weakness, in the suppression of them. A timid policy will be our ruin; a bold one wins friends and awes enemies.”

Hon. Amasa Walker, afterwards Representative in Congress, writer on Currency and Political Economy, and enlisted against Slavery and War, wrote from his home at North Brookfield, Massachusetts:--

“I do think it excellent and well-timed, just what you ought to say, and no more,--but what no other man in the Senate would have dared to say.”

Hon. Willard Phillips, for many years Judge of Probate in Boston, and author of the excellent work on the Law of Insurance, wrote from Boston:--

“I was not a little chagrined and mortified by ----’s notice of it, as I expressed to him in a note the moment I had read his leader respecting it. Brutality, no less than vice, is a monster, and whoever paints it fair, or wishes others to, by the false character he gives betrays his own true character. I have great faith in plain-spoken truth; and the railing and gnashing of teeth in anger by the Southern preservers of the Union, and what John Randolph denominated as the white slaves of the North, who second them, is a plain confession of the truth as you have spoken it.”

Hon. Albert G. Browne, prominent in the politics of Massachusetts, and ever foe to Slavery, wrote from Boston:--

“No poor words of mine can convey to you my admiration and hearty approbation of your speech. I greatly err in judgment, if it is not by universal consent considered your best effort in this direction. To my mind it is exhaustive of the subject.”

Daniel Henshaw, a venerable citizen, once a journalist and always a reformer, wrote from Boston:--

“I have read your speech on the Barbarism of Slavery attentively, having devoted seven hours thereto yesterday, and I cannot refrain from offering you my humble thanks, although words cannot express my feelings on the subject. You know something of my views on Slavery. For thirty years I have considered it the leading and most important subject before the nation.”

Charles M. Ellis, the lawyer, and always against Slavery, wrote from Boston:--

“Especially allow me to thank you for the discourse of the Barbarism of Slavery; for it shows you _well_ again, and leading on the good fight. It is needed now, when men at the South seek to justify the thing,--needed, I think, more than anything,--and leaves little to be done in that direction.”

Warren Sawyer, a merchant and active Republican, wrote from Boston:--

“I have looked over the newspaper reports, and have thanked God your life was spared to prepare such a masterly production, so full of facts, so happily arranged, so glowingly knit together, and that you were able in strength to stand up in the Senate and deliver it.