Part 19

“Charles Sumner’s argument for the Rights of Men ought to be printed by the hundred thousand, and scattered like seed-grain throughout the nation. It is a speech worth a lifetime to have achieved,--the greatest of all Mr. Sumner’s great speeches. Standing in some respects almost alone in the Senate, his position is all the more morally grand for his isolation, and his plea all the more eloquent for his moral heroism. Generous readers will overlook their minor differences of opinion from Mr. Sumner, for the sake of agreeing with him to the full in the masterly, unanswerable, and incomparable argument which he has made in behalf of securing to every American citizen his just rights before the law.”

The New York _Tribune_ said:--

“Mr. Sumner concluded yesterday a great speech on the true basis of a Republic. We believe it will exalt his reputation as a statesman, a scholar, and a devotee of Liberty. It is elaborate; but his theme demanded thorough treatment, and we think very few who read the speech will find it too long. He will not convince the majority that the Federal Constitution, as it stands, empowers Congress to extend and guaranty the right of suffrage in the States lately in revolt to the black race, and especially to the freedmen; but he has very clearly demonstrated that it _ought_ to be so extended,--that the rights of the humble, the hated, the scorned ought especially to be protected by their right to vote. Hear what he says on this point.”

The Boston _Daily Advertiser_ said:--

“There has been a good deal of amusement expressed at the evidence of industry, during the recess of Congress, presented by the sheaf of bills and resolutions offered by Mr. Sumner at the opening of the session. The copious use of authorities in his speech of this week shows that these numerous measures were not prepared without a careful survey of the ground upon principle and in history, nor without very profound inquiry into the underlying doctrines upon which the true glory of our institutions is established.”

The Adams _Transcript_, of Massachusetts, said:--

“In this work of clearing away the rubbish of lies which Slavery has heaped upon the real doctrines and purposes of the Fathers, and bringing out into clear, glorious relief the great truth and work of the Revolution, Mr. Sumner has performed a service which no public man of our politics has equalled. The whole of our history is searched and illumined, and the most overwhelming mass of evidence produced to the point, that a true construction of the Constitution gives all men who pay taxes representation and the ballot, thus basing free government upon the consent of the governed. No such argument for free government has been made in our day. For learning, cogency of logic, wealth of illustration, felicity and splendor of diction, nobility of tone and sentiment, and genuine eloquence, it will take rank with the highest of forensic efforts. Already its effect is visible in the political atmosphere. The public feeling and thought have received an obvious elevation.”

The Rochester _Democrat_, of New York, said:--

“It will be observed, as a remarkable characteristic of this great speech, that it is but slightly controversial in its character, but is devoted mainly to the elucidation of the general principles of republican government, which are discussed with an elevation of sentiment, a depth of learning, and a power of logic that entitle it to a place far above the transient expressions of the views and passions of the hour. It will stand for ages, a noble and enduring monument of the highest range and scope of American statesmanship, and will be read with profit and admiration long after the questions of the day have been settled and forgotten, or remembered only by students of history. Its immediate effect, however, on public sentiment cannot fail to be vast and beneficial.

The Dayton _Journal_, of Ohio, said:--

“As an exposition of the American theory of Republicanism, this speech is unsurpassed in the history of American oratory. It is a magnificent contribution to our political literature. It is candid and temperate, the speech of a statesman and patriot who earnestly seeks the welfare of all his countrymen. It abounds in splendid passages, and is a model of classic strength and elegant style. The partisan sneers of demagogues cannot prevail against it.”

The Portland _Daily Press_, of Maine, said:--

“It is not only _the_ great speech of Charles Sumner’s life, but it is the great speech of the age. It is perfectly exhaustive, free from all personalities, free from all idiosyncrasies, statesmanlike, philosophical, and calculated to become a lasting memorial of its author’s research, patient investigation, power of analysis, and, above all, his undying devotion to the cause of popular liberty and human rights.”

The _Progressive Age_, of Belfast, Maine, said:--

“It is beyond question the greatest effort of our most distinguished New England statesman, and will make his name dear to every friend of freedom and equal rights in all coming time. It is throughout the language of the calm, conscientious statesman. Avoiding all mere expedients and controversies concerning details, it fixes the attention upon the great principles of a free republican government; and never in our history have those principles been so clearly and forcibly elucidated.”

The Bangor _Jeffersonian_, also of Maine, said:--

“In the United States Senate, on Monday and Tuesday of last week, Mr. Sumner made a speech which will occupy a very conspicuous place in the history of the American Union, not so much for its advocacy of any merely formal plan or scheme of national legislation for Reconstruction as for its closer relations to the great fundamental principles which constitute the ideal of a truly republican government It goes to the very foundation of things.”

In a leading article of more than two columns, the New York _Herald_ said, in a different vein:--

“MR. SUMNER’S ORATION.--NEGRO SUFFRAGE THE WHOLE DUTY OF THE NATION, AND THE ONLY ESCAPE FROM OUR DIFFICULTIES.--Mr. Sumner, in his Senatorial pleading in the case of the negro, has given to the country an elaborate evidence of the utterly impracticable and visionary character of his political views. His oration is admirable in all purely literary respects, and indicates an abundant industry and research; but its theories of society, its interpretations of the Constitution, and its assumptions as to the history of the country and of the war are inadmissible, excepting only what is said of the Constitutional Amendment.…

“Those parts of the oration which claim suffrage for the negro, as a necessary policy of the nation, will require but little answer by argument; for the country and the world--all men outside the Radical Republican party--will completely deny the truth of the points from which they start.…

“We quite agree with Mr. Sumner in the grand fact that the Constitutional Amendment gives Congress full power to settle the position of the negro in the Southern States, and even to give him the suffrage. We are quite sure that this oration has not shown the necessity, the justice, or even the expediency of this gift. Still it may be expedient, necessary, and just.”

The speech attracted attention in Europe. In the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, of Paris, which is so comprehensive a representative of the French mind, a leading article by M. Forcade presents a parallel between Mr. Sumner’s speech and the famous speech of the time in the French Assembly by M. Thiers, where Liberty was the theme.

“The very day when M. Thiers delivered his speech we were occupied in reading the remarkable speech which Mr. Sumner has just pronounced in the Senate at Washington, and which the last mail from America has brought us. The speech of Mr. Sumner is the recent political event in the United States.

“The illustrious American Senator, the chief of the radical party in the Senate, proposed to himself to deduce from the most careful examination of the Constitution of his country those principles according to which should be settled that difficult problem which the Americans call Reconstruction,--that is to say, the return of the Rebel States into the Union. We shall not undertake to judge the practical bearing of the opinions of Mr. Sumner on the great question which agitates the United States; but it is impossible for us not to render homage to the patriotic piety which breathes in his beautiful discourse. As M. Thiers wished to derive the liberal destinies of France from the great principles of the Revolution, so Mr. Sumner applied himself to exhibit in the origin of the Constitution of the United States the fundamental principles of republican government of modern times.…

“Is it not a remarkable coincidence, that these voices of two great patriots, who, almost at the same moment, without any concert, obey instinctively the mysterious law which moves the people destined to guide civilization, answer to each other with so much splendor from opposite sides of the Atlantic? All the news from the United States show that the effect produced by the speech of Mr. Sumner has been immense.… The habitual adversaries of Mr. Sumner, the Democrats in Congress, covered themselves with honor in uniting in the testimonials of respect which were so universally rendered to the radical Senator. In the pride inspired by this beautiful and good oratorical plea, the Americans turn in a friendly spirit toward our Old World, and do not dissemble the hope that this speech will do them more honor in Europe than any public act in their country since the decree of Emancipation. We are charmed, for our part, to justify this hope.”[204]

CORRESPONDENCE.

Numerous letters, from various persons and quarters, attest the general interest, marked in many cases by feeling and personal gratitude seeking to express itself. Brief extracts from a portion only are given.

* * * * *

Theodore Tilton, editor of the New York _Independent_, wrote just before the speech:--

“I protested with all my heart against the Amendment offered by the Committee of Fifteen. It don’t execute justice. It leaves the negro to the decision of the Rebel. It proves that a republic is ungrateful.

“I am glad to notice by the _Tribune_ of this morning that you are to move an Amendment, or rather a substitute for that Amendment.”

[FROM MASSACHUSETTS.]

William Lloyd Garrison, the early Abolitionist, always persistent against Slavery, wrote from Boston:--

“I have perused your eloquent and unanswerable speech on the Suffrage question, and need not say that it contains the noblest sentiments, to which all the faculties and powers which God has given me thrillingly respond. It will doubtless be more efficacious out of the Senate than in it, as it will help to educate the popular mind up to the point of abolishing all complexional distinctions before the law, North and South.… Your speech, based as it is upon absolute justice and eternal right, is an admirable elementary treatise, and I trust will have the widest circulation.…

“What assiduity and perseverance, what courage and determination, what devotion and inflexible purpose you have shown, through fiery trials and at the risk of martyrdom, ‘in season and out of season,’ to effect the downfall of the atrocious slave system, and thereby elevate and save the Republic! If to this extent the year of jubilee has come, you have done much towards ushering it in, and have a right to be specially glad and grateful that Heaven has been pleased to make you so potential an instrumentality in bringing about its beneficent designs.”

Wendell Phillips, who never failed to sympathize with efforts for Human Rights, wrote from Boston:--

“We are all inexpressibly grateful for your brave position and words. You and half a dozen others redeem Congress. Your arguments have been grand and exhaustive. You never linked so many hearts to you as during the last two months.”

Elizur Wright, the veteran Abolitionist, wrote from Boston:--

“Your speech and vote on the Blaine Amendment ought to produce a thrill of life and joy and hope through every spinal column that supports a loyal soul. We can’t afford any of the old nonsense. We took our sable friends into our boat when it was _bulleting_; and if we allow them to be thrown overboard by the traitors now it is _balloting_, we sink, in short.”

George Bemis, the eminent lawyer and publicist, wrote from Boston:--

“I think that you may justly rank it among your greatest efforts, and that it will go into history as the great statement of the Freedman’s claim to participate in the government of the country of which he makes part. The general student of governmental law and civil polity will also constantly refer to it as a new and important development of the connection between representation and executive sovereignty, and as a powerful _exposé_ of the true basis of republican institutions. You have done a great service to the colored race, to the science of statesmanship, and to your country, all at once.”

Hon. Charles P. Huntington, for some time an able Judge of the Superior Court, wrote from Boston:--

“If your opposition does not just now reflect the feeling of New England Republicans, it anticipates their sober judgment. Theoretically, at least, it deprives the black race of representation, and punishes them for acts of legislation in which they have no voice.”

Hon. Theophilus P. Chandler, able lawyer and Assistant Treasurer, wrote from the United States Treasury, Boston:--

“Eloquent, exhaustive, unanswerable.”

Hon. George B. Loring, afterwards Chairman of the State Committee of the Republican party in Massachusetts, and President of the Massachusetts Senate, wrote from Salem:--

“Your masterly speech will one day be reached by Congress and the people,--I trust, in your day and mine. The best minds believe in it; the best hearts take courage from it.”

Hon. E. L. Pierce, afterwards Secretary of the Board of Charities in Massachusetts, wrote from Boston:--

“I read last evening, at one session, your last speech in the Senate. It is a noble one, and right in all respects. One passage near the close reminds me of the famous passages of Curran and Brougham about Freedom. I agree with you about the proposed Amendment.”

Thomas Sherwin, head master of the Boston High School, father of General Sherwin, and a tutor of Mr. Sumner at Harvard College, wrote from Dedham:--

“Allow me, as an old friend, to congratulate you and to thank you for your noble speech in the Senate on the 5th. I obtained it last evening, and read the whole before I slept. In humanity of sentiment, in true patriotism, in completeness of argument, in fulness of illustration, you have left nothing to be desired.

“This Reconstruction is, indeed, a momentous affair, and I feel a greater doubt of its just determination than I felt for that of arms while the war raged.”

Rev. John T. Sargent, always swift to sympathize with Mr. Sumner, wrote from Boston:--

“It is emphatically _the_ speech of the time and crisis, absorbing, superseding, and transcending every other. God bless you for these timely words! They ought to be widely circulated, and reprinted in every corner of our land, East, West, North, and South.”

Rev. George C. Beckwith, Congregational clergyman, and Secretary of the American Peace Society, wrote from Boston:--

“Nothing but the constant feeling that you are constantly overtasked has kept me from writing you on several occasions. I will only just say now, that I owe you a thousand thanks for the great and noble services you are rendering. God give you strength and life and full opportunity to complete your work!”

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

“I am sure that I express but the common sentiment of the people all about me, when I say that your own course meets with more than a hearty approval, even admiration and gratitude. May God give you wisdom and firmness equal to the emergency, and crown your arduous labors with the success they deserve!”

E. E. Williamson, one of the earnest men of Massachusetts, wrote from Boston:--

“Your whole argument is founded upon righteousness and justice, and cannot be overthrown. What a glorious record you are making for future generations to peruse with gladness, and by which record your name is made as imperishable as the hills of your native State! I hope God will spare you to finish the good work you are in, and many years after to reap a slight portion of your reward.”

Nathaniel C. Nash, a merchant devoted to the national cause, wrote from Boston:--

“The multitude who thronged to the Senate Chamber, together with the representatives of foreign governments, to listen to your speech (which I term the New Testament of the Nineteenth Century), was an exhibition of the world’s interest in how well or ill you finish the great battle for human freedom, not for one continent, but for civilized man.”

Hon. Charles G. Davis, a stanch Antislavery Republican, wrote from Plymouth:--

“Your course is fully approved here by a majority of the Republicans, and by all who have opinions. Besides all this, you will be historically right, now that the Amendment is defeated.… It is the greatest work of your life, unless your opposition to Lincoln’s Louisiana scheme may prove such, if you even succeed in keeping out the mongrel States.”

Augustine G. Stimson, desiring to express his sympathies as a constituent, wrote from Boston:--

“Last evening I read your speech from beginning to end, with an interest that awakened admiration and gratitude. The Equal Rights of All is the only sure guaranty for the present and future of mankind.”

William E. Chase, formerly a private in the national army, wrote from North Uxbridge:--

“Please accept the thanks of a poor private for your noble, courageous, and Christian efforts in the great cause of Right, Justice, and Liberty, when Justice is unpopular, and you are obliged by duty to meet both friend and foe in this conflict.”

F. W. Pelton wrote from Boston:--

“I desire to thank you for your late noble speech in favor of legal equality in this country. I read it with deep interest. Your propositions are sound, and the great lights of history you marshal up to sustain them impressed me forcibly.”

William Plumer wrote from Lexington:--

“Please accept my thanks for the copies of your very able and learned speech on the right of universal suffrage. Whatever may be the practicability of this principle at the present time, and however the country or Congress may settle the question in the future, your arguments are certainly unanswerable, and will ever remain an enduring monument of your earnest labors in behalf of the Freedman.”

Richard L. Pease, Clerk of Courts, wrote from Edgartown:--

“It was with feelings of intense satisfaction that I read the report of your recent speech on equal suffrage, as it appeared in the Boston _Journal_. The argument is so clear and able that it would seem that no intelligent man of candor could deny the conclusions. Adherence to the Right because it is the Right will never fail to commend itself to all right-thinking men.”

Rev. Robert Crawford wrote from Deerfield:--

“I thank you for that noble speech, … so logical, so happily illustrated, so full of earnestness and soul, and withal so convincing. I rejoice that there is one in our highest councils who feels as you do on the subject, and who has the ability and the courage to make such a speech.”

Rev. Patrick V. Moyce, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, wrote from Northampton:--

“I am often reading your admirable speech of March 7th, and so much am I impressed with the justice of the principles it inculcates with so much classical ability and statesmanly wisdom and foresight, that I cannot possibly deny myself the honor of taking this method of testifying to you my heartfelt congratulations. You are the one man among many who seems to have studied the present exigencies of your noble country, and to have judged aright the requirements of the age you and we all live in at present. The benevolent qualities of heart which distinguish you in this great speech are in perfect keeping with the towering majesty of your well-cultivated intellect. Go on. Lead and triumph, and accept the blessing and prayers of a Roman Catholic priest, who begs to subscribe himself, with profound esteem and high consideration, your most humble and devoted servant.”

The New England Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting at Chicopee, Massachusetts, March 28th, adopted a resolution, officially communicated to Mr. Sumner, which, after declaring approbation of both Houses of Congress, proceeds:--

“Especially do we offer our sympathies and prayers for our own honored Senators, one of whom has endured in the past, with a martyr’s fortitude, the barbarous assaults upon his person of the champion of Slavery, and has lately been called to endure an equally unjustifiable assault upon his reputation by the present Chief Magistrate of the United States.”

[OUT OF MASSACHUSETTS.]

Hon. Israel Washburn, Collector of the port of Portland, formerly Governor of Maine and a distinguished Representative in Congress, wrote from Portland:--