Part 23

“I am surprised and disappointed at the temper shown by the Republicans. Before the Worcester Convention I was ready to declare that the people were only waiting to have the word Emancipation strongly pronounced to repeat it with the aggrandizement of a hundred thousand votes. I am deeply pained to see how the newspapers receive your declarations. They thinly veil a spirit which is ready at the first opportunity to forget the Past, and to sacrifice its living representatives,--the men who alone preserve the glorious Antislavery idea, and whose prophecies can alone secure the Future.… ‘Cry aloud, and spare not.’ Reiterate more flatly and unsparingly, that the war must destroy the evil which engendered it. Give the bullets their billet, and the bayonets something to think about, and lend them a manifesto of Freedom to punctuate. What a Congress will next winter’s be! Compromise will seek to make War its missionary.”

Orestes A. Brownson, Catholic thinker and writer, wrote from Elizabeth, New Jersey:--

“I have re-read your speech at Worcester, and I’m even better pleased with it than I was at the first reading. You have struck the right chord, as the manner in which my own article has been received sufficiently indicates. Our venerable President and his rhetorical adviser, whatever their timidity, or their reluctance, or attachment to the ‘Rule of Three,’ must come to the policy you recommend. It is clear to me that it is impossible to save both the integrity of the Nation and Southern Slavery, and the great question before us now is, whether we shall sacrifice the Nation to Slavery, or Slavery to the Nation. This is the issue before the people, and this issue we must meet.”

Rev. R. S. Storrs, the eminent Congregational divine, wrote from Braintree, Massachusetts:--

“Your admirable speech before the Worcester Convention ought to have been sooner acknowledged, with the fervent gratitude of my heart, to Heaven and you, for its delivery. The spirit that condemns its argument or author is either the spirit of blind infatuation, or of treachery as foul as marks the Southern Confederates themselves. It surprises and grieves me that _Republicans_ wince and scold at the _just_ lashing given to the grand conspirator against Liberty and Religion,--for in this contest they are identical. The timeserving policy of multitudes who have hitherto acted with us, and, as it seems to me, of the Administration itself, is revolting, and puts far away the day of peace and prosperity.”

Rev. Francis LeBaron, afterwards of Ohio, earnest against Slavery, wrote from Dighton, Massachusetts:--

“Let me take this opportunity to thank you most heartily for your Worcester speech, and for your Boston lecture. Such noble words dwarf other men’s actions, and make me glad that the feeling of hero-worship is still strong at my heart. I can see honor and victory and glory and permanence on no other path than that by which you would lead the nation. If you will touch men’s hearts so nobly, you must not be surprised that they leap toward you; and when men move my deepest respect and admiration, I must tell them so.”

Rev. Moncure D. Conway, the Reformer, so admirable with his pen, wrote from Cincinnati:--

“Allow me to thank you for the exquisite presentation of the law and the truth in your Worcester speech, which I read in the _Tribune_, to the million of readers guarantied it there, and the million others by the Boston press. I shall secure a large circulation in this city’s press. It is a perfect code for the hour.”

Rev. Rufus P. Stebbins, who sympathized so strongly with the speech on the Barbarism of Slavery, wrote now from Woburn, Massachusetts:--

“Accept a ‘thousand thanks’ for your speech at Worcester. It was a calm, solid, irresistible word. Adoption or no adoption by that Convention was of little consequence. Perhaps _delay_ by _such_ bodies is wise; but _the people are coming_, and the hour is at hand.”

Rev. Elnathan Davis, the friend of Peace, wrote from Fitchburg:--

“That the position taken in your speech is true I believe the judgment of Massachusetts and the country bears full testimony to-day; and that it is taken in due season I think the very _howl_ of a Hunker political press clearly testifies. God give you strength for _this_ battle, and, amidst the shifting experiences of the Government, and above ‘the confused noise of the warrior,’ make your word ‘_On to Freedom_’ clearly and widely heard by our countrymen.”

Rev. Moses Thacher, the venerable clergyman, formerly of Massachusetts, wrote from Fort Covington, New York:--

“_God bless you!_ Your Worcester speech of the 1st inst. is invaluable. It states the _cause_, the _issue_, and the _remedy_ of the war.”

Rev. W. H. Cudworth, chaplain in the army, in a letter from Hooker’s Brigade, Camp Union, wrote:--

“If I bore you, pardon me,--but, sympathizing most heartily in your uncompromising hostility to Slavery, and yet placed by the laws in an embarrassing, if not helpless position, what can I do, in the way of preventing the rendition of fugitives? For instance, one was hidden in our regimental barn. I knew and encouraged it, intending to trot him off, if a favorable chance offered. The owner came, but could not accomplish anything. He came next day with a United States warrant and the Provost Marshal. It wrung my heart, but what could I do?… Meantime let me thank you, as a servant of God and in the name of my brother man, for your Worcester speech, which I have just read, for your magnificent broadside called the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ and for all your efforts to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free.”

Hon. Charles W. Slack, connected with the press, and always Antislavery Republican, wrote from Boston:--

“Whether speaking for others or myself individually, I only express a general acknowledgment among all Liberty-loving men, when I say that to you preëminently is assigned the responsible, yet honorable, task of indicating the advance of public sentiment upon the living, overtopping, gigantic question of the day. I thank God daily that we have so earnest, steadfast, and persistent an exponent in the Senate Chamber. May you, then, be delivered and preserved from all harm for even greater achievements!”

John P. Jewett, bookseller, original publisher of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, wrote from Boston:--

“I am more than provoked with the unmitigated flunkeyism of the Boston ---- and ---- in their criticisms of your manly and excellent speech at Worcester. Posterity will do you justice, even if the sneaking toadyism of the day refuse it to you. I cannot refrain from writing you a word of sympathy, although perhaps you do not feel the need of it. Rest assured, my noble friend, that God and all truly great and good men are with you, therefore you have nothing to fear from the malice of cowardly time-servers.”

William Kenrick, the horticulturist, wrote from Newton, Massachusetts:--

“I must thank you for your most timely, outspoken speech at the Convention at Worcester. It exactly meets my views,--the views I have long entertained. Yes, here are our natural allies, amongst the slaves.”

Frank B. Sanborn, most earnest where Freedom is in question, wrote from Concord:--

“I have to-day read for the second time your speech before the Worcester Convention, and I am renewedly glad that you made it then and there. I am sure that every passing day will but strengthen its positions, and that they must soon be accepted by the whole Northern people. Indeed, I believe that the people are of that mind now; it is the politicians, and those most timid of all created things, the Republican partisan leaders, who shiver at the thought of raising a _real_ issue to displace their shams.… Happily, no great principle like this rests on the turn of a period or the position of a comma; and if Boston scribblers could show that Marius did not know a slave from a barrel of salt-fish, they would not weaken the argument of your speech.”

Hon. Adin Thayer, a strong Republican, wrote from Worcester:--

“I cannot refrain from expressing to you, even at this late day, my hearty thanks for your brave, earnest speech at the State Convention. Be assured that neither you nor the great truths you advocate will be at all harmed by the malignant attacks of the Hunker press.”

Rev. William Tyler wrote from Pawtucket:--

“Republicans self-styled Conservative do not like your Worcester speech; and yet I meet with some such who admit that the liberation of the slaves of the Rebels must yet be a war policy,--only that the time has not come for its adoption. Well, some must be pioneers, and others will follow at a carefully considered distance: editors and office-seekers will be farthest in the rear. I was not so much surprised at the dissent in yesterday’s _Boston Journal_ as at the character of the assault on your speech and on you.”

Hollis Loring, a good Republican, wrote from Marlborough, Massachusetts:--

“Some of our public journals seem disposed to criticize your speech at Worcester on Tuesday, as not reflecting the sentiments of your State. For one, I will say that I listened to your speech with much pleasure. I believe you take the only correct view of the subject; and I know you reflect the sentiment of a large majority of the people in this town. Even some of the most Proslavery Democrats of the past are fully up to your ground to-day.”

James Means, a teacher, always against Slavery, wrote from Auburndale, Massachusetts:--

“I have read with great interest and pleasure your speech at the late Convention in Worcester. And as it has called forth unfriendly criticism, I cannot forbear to express to you my cordial thanks for it.”

Dr. Luther B. Morse, a physician and Republican, wrote from Lowell:--

“I thank you for those manly, true, and earnest words, which it would be well for our country--Government and people--to consider. They involve principles of political economy of unequalled importance to our country, especially in its present condition.”

William W. Thayer, an earnest Republican, wrote from Boston:--

“All honor, then, to the man who _dares_ to risk his reputation in representing the Emancipation sentiment of the country! All honor to you, Sir, for taking the leadership of the Emancipationists, who will sooner or later be called upon to march to the ballot-box and there fight Freedom’s battles!… For one, I am glad that you ‘have dragged the eternal Slavery Question’ into politics again, and I feel so glad that I had to write and tell you so.”

Josiah H. Carter, a Boston constituent, wrote:--

“Allow me to congratulate you on the position you took in your speech delivered at Worcester on the first instant. You have now struck the _key-note_. I honor you for it. May the time soon come, when our military, judicial, and executive heads may take their tone from that key! Then, and not till then, can we begin to subdue Rebellion and put a stop to this bloodshed and enormous expenditure.”

Dr. Dio Lewis wrote from Boston:--

“I am more gratified than I can express for your wise, noble, patriotic speech at Worcester.”

Thomas Gaffield, an excellent business man and alderman, wrote from Boston:--

“As you have had, and will have much more, opposition on the part of some newspapers and some men, I have felt it my duty, although only a humble constituent, to give my word of comfort and good cheer, though I doubt not you foresaw all which has followed, and find your comfort in the sense of duty well and fearlessly done. I have no doubt that your speech is prophetic, and of events and ideas not very far in the future.”

Dr. Henry A. Hartt wrote from New York:--

“I am greatly pleased with your speech at Worcester, and it seemed to me a fitting key-note to a general appeal to the masses.”

J. W. Alden, an early Abolitionist, wrote from New York:--

“Cheered and encouraged by your noble speech at Worcester yesterday, which causes a thrill of joy to run through the hearts of the friends of Emancipation in this city, warned by the action of the President in regard to General Fremont’s proclamation, and seeing a disposition in various quarters to put down Rebellion without wiping out its cause, we have come to the conclusion that there is no time to be lost in organizing our committees and inaugurating a movement in the direction indicated above.”

J. P. Lesley, the eminent geologist, wrote from Philadelphia:--

“Why can’t the golden chance be clutched to say to the whole South, ‘Good!--you rebel,--you are no longer slaveholders, nor can you ever be again.’ How it would ring round the world, and transcendently through Heaven! One would think that Abraham Lincoln would be fired at the thought of the unrivalled fame that would succeed the act. Has he not thought of immortality? Or does he wait for Congress to take away the glory from him, or an accident to take away the opportunity?”

Lyman S. Hapgood, paymaster in the army, and a good Republican, wrote from Washington:--

“I have just been reading your speech which was made to the Massachusetts Republicans, at their State Convention, on the first instant; and the policy therein so fully declared, which, in your opinion, it is the duty of the National Government to pursue, agrees so completely with my own views of our country’s difficulties, and her only way of permanent and successful escape, that I could not refrain from expressing to you my gratitude, as a citizen of the good old Commonwealth, that she has one son, at least, who, regardless of all personal misrepresentations from political enemies or professed friends, has the moral courage to stand up, upon all occasions and under all circumstances, and proclaim what he sincerely believes to be the true and just policy for the Government to adopt.”

A. B. Johnson, of the Treasury Department, wrote from Washington:--

“I thank you from my heart for that noble speech at Worcester. That trumpet gave forth no uncertain sound. Hints have come up from the West, and intimations, vague, undetermined, from the East, before; but it has been left for you to define, announce, and defend a logical policy, and you have accomplished your task.”

H. Catlin, editor of the _True American_, wrote from Erie, Pennsylvania:--

“How lamentable that we should make Human Slavery the one sacred thing under the heavens! Everything else must give way,--every other property may be confiscated, every other right suspended,--but _Slavery_ cannot be touched! Our Proslavery education is costing a great deal,--it threatens to cost us our country! Thanks that Senator Sumner so fully appreciates the real issue of the hour, and that, _though a Senator_, he proclaims it manfully and boldly! The masses of the people are with you.”

A. T. Goodman wrote from Cleveland:--

“Your speech of October 1st is before me, and I have read and read it through and through again, no less than three times. There is something about your speeches that has endeared your name to me, and something in their tone and in their teachings that tells me they are right in their meaning, and right in every point, and are very true.”

Thus, from correspondence, as also from the press, it appears that Mr. Sumner was not alone. Others were glowing in the same cause, and their number increased daily. But the great salvation was postponed. Almost a full year was allowed to elapse before the Proclamation of Emancipation. And what a year, whether for those in the tented field and Rebel prisons, or those others waiting, longing, struggling for Union and Peace through Liberty! Nobody could espouse such a cause, and feel that its triumph was essential to save the country from prolonged bloodshed, without effort and anxiety corresponding in some measure to the transcendent interests involved.

From this time forward Mr. Sumner never missed an opportunity of urging Emancipation, whether in addresses before the people and in the Senate, or in direct personal appeal to the President. In the last he was constant, rarely seeing the President without in some way presenting the all-absorbing question. These volumes will show the continuity of his public efforts.

THE REBELLION: ITS ORIGIN AND MAINSPRING.

ORATION, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE YOUNG MEN’S REPUBLICAN UNION OF NEW YORK, AT COOPER INSTITUTE, NOVEMBER 27, 1861. WITH APPENDIX.

_Cassius._ Some to the common pulpits, and cry out, _Liberty, Freedom, and Enfranchisement!_

SHAKESPEARE, _Julius Cæsar_, Act III. Scene 1.

The natural strength of the country, in point of numbers, appears to me to consist _much more in the blacks than in the whites_. Could they be incorporated and employed for its defence, it would afford you double security. That they would make good soldiers I have not the least doubt; and I am persuaded the State has it not in its power to give sufficient reinforcements, without incorporating them, either to secure the country, if the enemy mean to act vigorously upon an offensive plan, or furnish a force sufficient to dispossess them of Charleston, should it be defensive.--MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANIEL GREENE, _Letter to Governor Rutledge of South Carolina_. Life and Correspondence, by William Johnson, Vol. II. p. 274.

* * * * *

The assemblage before which this oration was delivered was remarkable in numbers and in character.[204] Long before the hour for the meeting, the immense hall was crowded; and notwithstanding the stormy evening, the proportion of ladies present was larger than ever before seen in New York on such an occasion.

Upon the platform were seated many distinguished citizens, among whom may be named Hon. William Pennington, ex-Governor of New Jersey and ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, Hon. Lot M. Morrill of Maine, Charles King, LL. D., President of Columbia College, Professor Francis Lieber, David Dudley Field, Esq., William M. Evarts, Esq., John Jay, Esq., Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D. D., Rev. William Hague, D. D., Rev. George B. Cheever, D. D., Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, Rev. Alfred Cookman, John H. Griscom, M. D., Hon. John W. Edmonds, General Prosper M. Wetmore, Lewis Tappan, Esq., Rev. William Goodell, Hon. Charles A. Peabody, Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., Rev. Henry M. Field, Hon. Thomas B. Stillman, Hon. Benjamin F. Manierré, R. M. Blatchford, Esq., William Pitt Palmer, Esq., D. A. Harsha, Esq., George P. Putnam, Esq., Elliot C. Cowdin, Esq., Hon. William B. Taylor, Postmaster of New York, Hon. Rufus F. Andrews, Surveyor of the Port, Hon. H. B. Stanton, Deputy Collector, Hon. Joseph Hoxie, Major A. A. Selover, U. S. Army, Oliver Johnson, Esq.

Charles T. Rodgers, Esq., President of the “Union,” introduced William Curtis Noyes, Esq., as presiding officer of the meeting, and a list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries was unanimously adopted.

Mr. Noyes, upon taking the chair, delivered the following address.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--Thanking you, as I do, gratefully, for the kindness which has called me to preside over this meeting, let me remind you that within the modest chapel which impresses with devotional emotions every visitor to Mount Auburn, that most beautiful of American cemeteries, stands a marble statue of one of the patriot leaders of the American Revolution. Its simple dignity arrests attention and commands admiration and respect. Stern resolve and unflinching courage are depicted in lineament and attitude. We see him voluntarily renouncing a high professional office under the crown to take his place in the forum as a private citizen, to oppose, without reward, the odious violations of the liberties of the people by means of Writs of Assistance. His exordium startles the prejudiced judges:--

“‘Let the consequences be what they will, I am determined to proceed. The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of country. These principles, in private life, make the good citizen,--in public life, the patriot and the hero.’

“Then, rising with the progress of his great theme, he continues:--

“‘Every man in a state of Nature is an independent sovereign, subject to no law but the law written upon his heart and revealed to him by his Maker. His right to his life, his liberty, and his property no created being can rightfully contest; these rights are inherent and inalienable.’

“We watch the effect of his indignant words. They convince and awe, and yet the royal tribunal dare not decide. It prevaricates and postpones; but the victory is won, the odious measure is abandoned forever, and the orator’s utterances have lighted up a flame which Independence alone can ever quench.

“We go with him from this first theatre of triumph, through many long years of toil and anxiety in shaping the measures which led to the great conflict with the mother country, to the General Court guided by his skill and political sagacity, to the popular assembly alike aroused to turbulence and hushed to repose by his burning eloquence. We see him hurling defiance at the minions of power who with secret malevolence assailed his reputation. We witness their malignant hatred, and their deadly assault upon his person, when alone and unarmed. We see him fall, covered with wounds, and carried bleeding to his home.