Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

More than five months have passed since I was disabled from the performance of my public duties. During this weary period I have been constrained to repeat daily the lesson of renunciation,--confined at first to my bed, and then only slowly regaining the power even to walk. But, beyond the constant, irrepressible grief which must well up in the breast of every patriot, as he discerns the present condition of his country, my chief sorrow has been caused by the necessity, to which I was doomed, of renouncing all part in the contest for human rights, which, beginning in Congress, has since enveloped the whole land. The Grecian chief, grievously ill of a wound from the stealthy bite of a snake, and left behind while his companions sailed to the siege of Troy, did not repine more at his enforced seclusion. From day to day and week to week I vainly sought that health which we value most when lost, and which perpetually eluded my pursuit. For health I strove, for health I prayed. With uncertain steps I sought it at the seashore and I sought it on the mountain-top.

“Two voices are there: one is of the sea,
One of the mountains; each a mighty voice:
In both from age to age thou didst rejoice,
They were thy chosen music, Liberty!”[3]

I listened to the admonitions of medical skill, and I courted all the bracing influences of Nature, while time passed without the accustomed healing on its wings. I had confidently hoped to be restored so as to take my seat in the Senate, and to be heard there again, long before the session closed. But Congress adjourned, leaving me still an invalid. My next hope was, that I might be permitted to appear before the people during the present canvass, and with heart and voice plead the great cause now in issue. Here again I have been disappointed, and the thread of my disability is not yet spun to the end. Even now, though happily lifted from long prostration, and beginning to assume many of the conditions of health, I am constrained to confess that I am an invalid,--cheered, however, by the assurance that I shall soon be permitted, with unimpaired vigor, to resume all the responsibilities of my position.

* * * * *

Too much have I said about myself; but you will pardon it to the occasion, which, being personal in character, invites these personal confessions. With more pleasure I turn to other things.

* * * * *

I should feel that I failed in one of those duties which the heart prompts and the judgment confirms, if I allowed this first opportunity to pass without sincerest acknowledgment to my able, generous, and faithful colleague, Mr. Wilson. Together we labored in mutual trust, honorably leaning upon each other. By my disability he was left sole representative of Massachusetts on the floor of the Senate, throughout months of heated contest, involving her good name and most cherished sentiments. All who watched the currents of debate, even as imperfectly as I did in my retirement, know with what readiness, courage, and power he acted,--showing himself, by extraordinary energies, equal to the extraordinary occasion. But it is my especial happiness to recognize his unfailing sympathies for myself, and his manly assumption of all the responsibilities of the hour.

I am not here to indulge in eulogy, nor to open any merit-roll of service; but the same feeling which prompts these acknowledgments to my colleague embraces also the Commonwealth from whom we have received our trust. To Massachusetts, mother of us all,--great in resources, great in children,--I now pledge anew my devotion. Never before did she inspire equal pride and affection; for never before was she so completely possessed by those sentiments which, when manifest in Commonwealth or citizen, invest the character with its highest charm, so that what is sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body. My filial love does not claim too much, when it exhibits her as approaching the pattern of a Christian Commonwealth, which, according to the great English Republican, John Milton, “ought to be but as one huge Christian personage, one mighty growth and stature of an honest man, as big and compact in virtue as in body.”[4] Not through any worldly triumphs, not through the vaults of State Street, the spindles of Lowell, or even the learned endowments of Cambridge, is Massachusetts thus,--but because, seeking to extend everywhere within the sphere of her influence the benign civilization which she cultivates at home, she stands forth the faithful, unseduced supporter of Human Nature. Wealth has its splendor, and the intellect has its glory; but there is a grandeur in such service which is above all that these can supply. For this she has already the regard of good men, and will have the immortal life of history. For this she has also the reproach and contumely always throughout the ages poured upon those who have striven for justice on earth. Not now for the first time in human struggles has Truth, when most dishonored, seemed most radiant, gathering glory even out of obloquy. When Sir Harry Vane, courageous champion of the English Commonwealth, was dragged on a hurdle up the Tower Hill to suffer death by the axe, one of the multitude cried out to him, “That is the most glorious seat you ever sat on!”[5] And again, when Russell was exposed in the streets, on his way to a similar scaffold, the people, according to the simple narrative of his biographer, imagined they saw Liberty and Virtue sitting by his side. Massachusetts is not without encouragement in her own history. She has seen her ports closed by arbitrary power,--has seen her name made a byword of reproach,--has seen her cherished leaders, Hancock and Adams, excepted from all pardon by the crown; but then, when most dishonored, did Massachusetts deserve most, for then was she doing most for the cause of all. And now, when Massachusetts is engaged in a greater cause than that of our fathers, how serenely can she turn from the scoff and jeer of heartless men! Her only disgrace will be in disloyalty to the truth which is to make her free.

Worse to bear--oh, far worse!--than the evil speaking of others is the conduct of some of her own children. It is hard to see the scholarship which has been drawn from her cisterns, and the riches accumulated under her hospitable shelter, now employed to weaken and discredit that cause which is above riches or scholarship. It is hard, while fellow-citizens in Kansas plead for deliverance from a cruel Usurpation, and while the whole country, including our own soil, is trodden down by a domineering and brutal Despotism, to behold sons of Massachusetts in sympathy, open or disguised, with the vulgar enemy, quickening everywhere the lash of the taskmaster, and helping forward the Satanic carnival, when Slavery shall be fastened not only upon prostrate Kansas, but upon all the Territories of the Republic,--when Cuba shall be torn from a friendly power by dishonest force,--and when the slave-trade itself, with all its crime, its woe, and its shame, shall be opened anew under the American flag. Alas, that any child of Massachusetts, in wickedness of heart, or in weakness of principle, or under the delusion of partisan prejudice, should join in these things! With such I have no word of controversy at this hour. But, leaving them now, in my weakness, I trust not to seem too severe, if I covet for the occasion something of the divine power

“To bend the silver bow with tender skill,
While, void of pain, the silent arrows kill.”[6]

Gladly from these do I turn to another character, yet happily spared to Massachusetts, whose heart beats strong with the best blood of the Revolution, and with the best sentiments by which that blood was enriched. The only child of one of the authors of American Liberty, for many years the able and courageous Representative of Boston on the floor of Congress, where his speeches were the masterpieces of the time, distinguished throughout a long career by the grateful trust of his fellow-citizens, happy in all the possessions of a well-spent life, and surrounded by “honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,” with an old age which is second youth, JOSIAH QUINCY, still erect under the burden of eighty-four winters, puts himself at the head of our great battle,--and never before, in the ardor of youth, or the maturity of manhood, did he show himself so grandly conspicuous, and add so much to the heroic wealth of our history. His undaunted soul, lifted already to glimpses of another life, may shame the feebler spirits of a later generation. There is one other personage, at a distant period, who, with precisely the same burden of winters, asserted the same supremacy of powers. It is the celebrated Dandolo, Doge of Venice, at the age of eighty-four, of whom the historian Gibbon has said, in words strictly applicable to our own Quincy: “He shone, in the last period of human life, as one of the most illustrious characters of the times: under the weight of years he retained a sound understanding and a manly courage, the spirit of an hero and the wisdom of a patriot.”[7] This old man carried the Venetian Republic over to the Crusaders, and exposed his person freely to all the perils of war, so that the historian describes him, in words again applicable to our day, saying: “In the midst of the conflict, the Doge, a venerable and conspicuous form, stood aloft, in complete armor, on the prow of his galley,” while “the great standard of St. Mark was displayed before him.”[8] Before the form of our venerable head is displayed the standard of a greater republic than Venice, thrilling with its sight greater multitudes than ever gazed on the standard of St. Mark, while a sublimer cause is ours than the cause of the Crusaders; for our task is not to ransom an empty sepulchre, but to rescue the Saviour himself, in the bodies of his innumerable children,--not to dislodge the Infidel from a distant foreign soil, but to displace him from the very Jerusalem of our Liberties.

* * * * *

May it please your Excellency, I forbear to proceed further. With thanks for this welcome, accept also my new vows of duty. In all simplicity let me say that I seek nothing but the triumph of Truth. To this I offer my best efforts, careless of office or honor. Show me that I am wrong, and I stop at once; but in the complete conviction of right I shall persevere against all temptations, against all odds, against all perils, against all threats,--knowing well, that, whatever may be my fate, the Right will surely prevail. Terrestrial place is determined by celestial observation. Only by watching the stars can the mariner safely pursue his course; and it is only by obeying those lofty principles which are above men and human passion that we can make our way safely through the duties of life. In such obedience I hope to live, while, as a servant of Massachusetts, I avoid no labor, shrink from no exposure, and complain of no hardship.

The cavalcade then moved rapidly away, escorting Mr. Sumner to
his home in Hancock Street.

On arriving there, he was again welcomed with unbounded
enthusiasm by a large crowd assembled in the street and on the
sidewalks, the windows being filled on both sides up and down
the street. The crowd cheered vociferously for Mr. Sumner, his
mother, the Governor, Hon. Josiah Quincy, Hon. N. P. Banks, and
Hon. Anson Burlingame. Mr. Sumner and his mother appeared at
the window and bowed their acknowledgments, which called forth
general and enthusiastic plaudits. The multitude then, giving
three parting cheers for the distinguished Senator, separated,
and the ceremonies of reception terminated.

Many of the business firms closed their stores during the
afternoon. The paper agreeing to do so was headed by A. & A.
Lawrence & Co., Gardner Brewer & Co., Parker, Wilder, & Co.,
Denny, Rice, & Gardner, Wilkinson, Stetson, & Co., Blake,
Bigelow, & Co., Pierce Brothers & Flanders, &c.

AID FOR KANSAS.

LETTER TO HON. M. F. CONWAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1856.

HON. M. F. CONWAY, afterwards Representative in Congress from
Kansas, in communicating this letter to the public, reported
that it “was of great value in securing the appropriation of
twenty thousand dollars by the Legislature of Vermont in aid of
Kansas.”

BOSTON, November 17, 1856.

DEAR SIR,--I wish that I could aid your efforts to interest the
State Legislatures for Kansas. To these Legislatures I look at
this exigency for something worthy of the cause which is now in
jeopardy. They have the power, and this is the very moment to
exert it. God bless the State which begins!

Surely liberty in Kansas, involving our own liberty also, is
worthy of every effort. To its security every citizen should
contribute according to his means; and I know no better rule for
the State Legislatures than for the citizen. These Legislatures
should all contribute according to their means,--the more, the
better. And such contributions, like every other charity, will be
twice blessed.

Accept my best wishes for Kansas, and believe me, dear Sir,

Faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

JUDGE CONWAY, of Kansas.

CONGRATULATION ON REËLECTION OF ANSON BURLINGAME AS REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS.

LETTER TO A BANQUET AT FANEUIL HALL, NOVEMBER 24, 1856.

HANCOCK STREET,
Monday Evening, November 24, 1856.

DEAR SIR,--I am sorry to renounce any opportunity of doing honor
to Mr. Burlingame; but my careful physician does not allow me yet
to take part in the excitement of a public meeting, and I yield
to his prescription.

My best wishes attend your distinguished guest to-night and
always. His recent triumph is the occasion of special joy, not
only in Massachusetts, but everywhere throughout the free North.
Many who voted against him must, in their better moments, condemn
themselves,--as much as they have been condemned by others. If
not entirely dead to generous impulses, they must be glad that
they failed. If not entirely insensible to appearances, they
must look with regret at the means employed to accomplish the
end proposed. If not entirely indifferent to principles, they
must look with amazement at the unprecedented, incongruous, and
eccentric political conglomerate of which they constituted a part.

It was natural that the propagandists of Slavery, acting under
dictation from Washington, should vote against Mr. Burlingame. It
was natural that others, who allow themselves to be controlled
by the rancors and jealousies of party, should do likewise.
But it was hard that this blow at Freedom should be attempted
in the name of Trade, and that merchants of Boston should
be rallied against a candidate who had done so much to make
Boston respectable. And yet this extraordinary conduct is not
without parallel in history. The earliest antislavery effort of
England was against the Barbary corsairs, and this, it is well
known, was opposed by “the mercantile interest.” And this same
“mercantile interest,” as you also know, set itself against the
great antislavery enterprise of Clarkson and Wilberforce, when
they demanded the suppression of the slave-trade. Such examples
teach us not to be disappointed, when this interest is invoked
against our efforts. But I rejoice to know that in Boston there
are honorable exceptions, and, if anything be expected from me
to-night, let it be a tribute to one of these. I propose the
following toast.

_The Merchants of Boston._--May they all appreciate the
spirit of him among their number, who, when pressed to vote
against Mr. Burlingame on mercantile grounds, nobly replied
at once, “I am a merchant, but at the polls I mean to be a
patriot.”

Accept my thanks for the honor of your invitation, and believe
me, dear Sir,

Faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

JOSEPH STORY, Esq.

THE LATE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OUR BUNKER HILL.

LETTER TO A COMMITTEE AT WORCESTER, NOVEMBER 24, 1856.

BOSTON, November 24, 1856.

MY DEAR SIR,--Not willingly do I give up the opportunity of
uniting with the gallant Republicans of Worcester in celebrating
our recent victories; but my health, though vastly improved,
has limitations which I cannot with prudence neglect, and these
forbid the indulgence to which you kindly invite me. Please
tender to the Republicans my cordial congratulations. Clearly
do I see the beginning of the end. All New England, with New
York, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, constitute an
irresistible phalanx for Freedom, while our seeming reverse in
the Presidential election is only another Bunker Hill. If toasts
are in order at your festival, let me propose the following.

_The late Presidential Election._--Like Bunker Hill, it
teaches us our strength, and gives assurance of speedy
triumph.

Believe me, my dear Sir, faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

LET MASSACHUSETTS HELP KANSAS.

LETTER TO JAMES REDPATH, ESQ., JANUARY 10, 1857.

HANCOCK STREET, January 10, 1857.

MY DEAR SIR,--I am happy that you are still active for Kansas.
Much remains to be done. Indeed, I think that no effort can be
safely relaxed, until the Territory is admitted into the Union as
a Free State.

The Slave Oligarchy has not yet abandoned its darling idea of a
new Slave State, and this can be defeated only by vigilance. The
lull which seems now to prevail does not persuade me to repose.
Too much is at stake. Besides, I have read the fable of the cat
in the meal.

Of course, emigrants who love Freedom, and, if need be, are
willing to die in her cause, must be encouraged to plant
themselves in the Territory. But we who stay at home must
contribute to their comfort and protection, and, since this can
be done most effectively through State Legislatures, these must
be enlisted. The name of a State Legislature will be a tower of
strength.

Massachusetts, which, throughout our history, has led in every
liberal movement, must lead now by a generous appropriation,
which, if not needed, may not be used, but which, in any
alternative, will be an irresistible token of her sincerity, an
example to other States, and a fountain of encouragement to
distant fellow-citizens. I cannot believe that Massachusetts will
hesitate. Her people have already opened their hearts to Kansas,
and the public treasury should be opened as wide as their hearts.

Accept my thanks for the good you have done and the good you are
still doing, and believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard,

Faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

JAMES REDPATH, Esq.

ACCEPTANCE OF SENATORSHIP, ON REËLECTION.

LETTER TO THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, JANUARY 22, 1857.

In the winter of 1856, the American party having the control of
the Legislature of Massachusetts, members of this party were
reported as entering into a plan to choose a Senator in place
of Mr. Sumner at the expiration of his term, March 4, 1857,
thus anticipating the action of the Legislature to be chosen in
the autumn following. The plan was discussed in newspapers and
in contemporary letters. It excited the anxiety of Mr. Sumner’s
political friends so far, that, at their request, he was
induced to obtain from the Secretary of the Senate the adverse
precedents, which were published at the time in the newspapers.
The discussion of the question was arrested by the event which
soon followed, turning all eyes to him, and making him more
than ever the representative of Massachusetts.

The new Legislature seemed to have been constituted for the
reëlection of Mr. Sumner. It came together January 7, 1857,
when, even before the message of the Governor, it was insisted
that the election should be proceeded with, and January 9th was
fixed upon for this purpose. On that day, in pursuance of an
order of the House, the Clerk called the roll of members, when
each responded _viva voce_ with the name of the person for whom
he voted, as follows.

Charles Sumner, of Boston, 333
Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, 3
Nathaniel J. Lord, of Salem, 2
George W. Gordon, of Boston, 1
Erasmus D. Beach, of Springfield, 1
Charles B. Goodrich, of Boston, 1
Otis P. Lord, of Salem, 1
Edward Everett, of Boston, 1
William Appleton, of Boston, 1
Rufus Choate, of Boston, 1
----
Total vote, 345
Members absent or not voting, 10
----
Whole number of members, 355

The announcement of the vote was received with applause.

In the Senate the vote was taken in the same way, January 13th,
and every member responded with the name of “Charles Sumner, of
Boston,” the vote being unanimous, when the President announced
that “Hon. CHARLES SUMNER, of Boston, having received the
entire vote of the Senate, in concurrence with the House, is
elected United States Senator from this State for the term of
six years from the fourth of March next.”

The _Boston Daily Advertiser_ noticed this event as follows.

“It is impossible to refrain from comparing the election
of yesterday with Mr. Sumner’s previous election in the
same place six years ago. _Now_ he receives nearly all the
votes, on the first ballot, taken on the third day of the
session, every member speaking aloud his vote. _Then_ he
received only the exact number necessary for a choice,--one
more than half the whole number; and the election was not
effected until the twenty-sixth ballot, taken on the one
hundred and fourteenth day of the session (April 24, 1851),
and the votes were thrown in sealed envelopes. _Then_ he
was the candidate of a party which threw 27,636 votes in
the State, at the preceding popular election, or about one
fifth of the whole number. _Now_ he is the candidate of a
party which threw 108,190 votes in the State, at the last
popular election, or about two thirds of the whole number.
_Then_ he was chosen to a body where he could expect to
find but two or three associates sympathizing with his
sentiments. _Now_ he is a member of a party which has a
majority in the lower House of Congress, and numbers a
quarter of the members even of the Senate of the United
States. Truly, _tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis_.”

The _New York Tribune_ had the following comment.

“We need not, in view of recent events, point out the
change which has taken place in the public sentiment of
Massachusetts. It is not too much to say that Mr. Sumner
is at this moment the most popular man in the State, the
opinions of which he so truly represents. Nor will it
do to attribute this general love, honor, and sympathy
entirely to the felonious assault made upon Mr. Sumner. Had
he been less true to the cause committed to his keeping,
had he trimmed and temporized, and spoken softly when he
should have spoken sharply, he would have been safe from
the bludgeon of the bully, and might have won the smiles
instead of the expectorations of a certain servile Senator.
The people of Massachusetts have estimated Mr. Sumner’s
service in all its length and breadth; they have duly
weighed all its incidents and indignities,--what he has
suffered, what he has accomplished, and what he has failed
to accomplish; and their verdict, expressed in yesterday’s
almost unanimous vote in the House of Representatives,
bestows upon him a crown of honor which may well assuage
the hope deferred of a tardy convalescence. Few public men
have had such large opportunities, few public men have so
nobly improved them.”

On the 23d of January, 1857, Hon. Charles A. Phelps, Speaker
of the House of Representatives, laid before the House the
following letter, which was read, and, on motion of Hon.
Charles Hale, of Boston, entered at large upon the Journal.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,--

I have been officially notified that the people of
Massachusetts, by concurrent votes of both branches of the
Legislature, have charged me with the duty of representing
them in the Senate of the United States for another term of
six years, on the expiration of that which I now have the
honor to hold. This renewed trust I accept with gratitude
enhanced by the peculiar circumstances under which it is
bestowed. But far beyond every personal gratification is
the delight of knowing, by this sign, that the people of
Massachusetts, forgetting ancient party hates, have at
last come together in fraternal support of a sacred cause,
compared with which the fate of any public servant is of
small account.

When first selected for this eminent trust, I was a
stranger to all official life. Untried in public affairs,
I was taken up, and placed, without effort of my own, and
even without antecedent aspiration, in the station where,
after an experience of nearly six years, you now, with
spontaneous unanimity, bid me remain. About to commence a
fresh term of service, I turn with honest pride to that
which is about to close, while I greet anew the duties
and responsibilities of my position,--hoping, that, by
conscientious endeavor, I may do something in the future
better than in the past, and mindful that “he that girdeth
on his harness should not boast himself as he that putteth
it off.”

The duties of a public servant are not always conspicuous.
Much of his time is absorbed in cares which, if not
obscure, are little calculated to attract public attention.
Massachusetts justly expects that no such interests
shall be neglected. But, by solemn resolutions of her
Legislature, by the votes of her people, and by the voice
of her history, Massachusetts especially enjoins upon her
representatives to see, that, at all hazards, and whatever
else may suffer, Freedom shall prevail. I cannot neglect
this injunction.

Alike by sympathy with the slave and by determination to
save ourselves from wretched thraldom, we are all summoned
to the effort now organized for _the emancipation of the
National Government_ from a degrading influence, hostile
to civilization, which, wherever it shows itself, even
at a distance, is brutal, vulgar, and mean, constituting
an unnatural tyranny, calculated to arouse the generous
indignation of good men. Of course, no person, unless
ready to say in his heart that there is no God, can doubt
the certain result. But this result, like every great
good, can be accomplished only by well-directed effort. I
know something of the labor and trial which such service
imposes; I also know something of the satisfaction it
affords, giving to all who truly espouse it a better joy
than anything in office or honor. In the weary prostration
of months, from which I have now happily risen, the
sharpest pang came out of my enforced separation from
the cause which was so dear to me; and now my content is
in the assurance that to this service I may dedicate the
vigorous health which, through medical care and the kindly
ministrations of Nature, I am permitted to expect. In this
well-founded assurance, I welcome the trust which has been
again conferred upon me, while I once more bespeak the
candid judgment of my fellow-citizens, and once more invoke
the guardianship of a benignant Providence.

I have the honor to be, fellow-citizens, with grateful
regard,

Your faithful servant and Senator,

CHARLES SUMNER.

BOSTON, January 22, 1857.

The following tribute, taken from contemporary newspapers,
attests a feeling much above that of ordinary politics, and
therefore illustrates this record.

“‘CHARLES SUMNER, OF BOSTON.’

“‘Three hundred and thirty-three members answered to their
names, with the words, “CHARLES SUMNER, of Boston”; and
as the Clerk responded with the same words to each vote,
they rang upon the ears of the large assembly more than six
hundred times during the hour occupied with calling the
roll.’

“‘It is said, no sound is ever lost,--that every word
uttered upon earth is echoed and reëchoed through space
forever.’

“Old Massachusetts! nobly thou
This day thy work hast done;
Proudly thou speakest for the Right,
And for thy honored son:

“Three hundred voices on the air,
Ringing the loved name forth;
Three hundred voices echoing back,
‘CHARLES SUMNER, of the North!’

“Throughout the land, beyond the sea,
The voices will be heard;
His name shall stand for Liberty,
The freeman’s rallying word.

“Throughout the land, beyond the sea,
Above, in arches high,
Voices are ever echoing
A name that ne’er will die.

“Unfurl the banners! even now
The stars more brightly shine:
Is one more glorious than the rest?
Old Bay State, it is thine!

“Gather fresh laurels, twine two wreaths,
Wreaths for a victory won,--
Loved Massachusetts, one for thee,
One for thy chosen son!”

GRATITUDE FOR SYMPATHY OF THE PEOPLE OF VERMONT.

LETTER TO HON. RYLAND FLETCHER, GOVERNOR OF VERMONT, MARCH 7, 1857.

The Legislature of Vermont, at its recent session, passed
a series of joint resolutions, highly complimentary, and
indorsing Mr. Sumner’s last speech in the Senate. On receiving
a copy, Mr. Sumner wrote the following reply.

NEW YORK, Saturday, March 7, 1857.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY, RYLAND FLETCHER, GOVERNOR OF VERMONT.

SIR,--At the last moment before leaving for foreign lands in
quest of that vigorous health which for nearly ten months has
been taken from me, I have received notice of the resolutions
adopted by the Legislature of Vermont, and approved by your
Excellency, which give the official sanction of a generous,
virtuous, and intelligent State to my speech in the Senate on the
19th and 20th of May last, exposing the Crime against Kansas.
Such a token is precious to me in every respect,--not only
because it assures me of the personal sympathy of the people of
Vermont, declared through their representatives, but because it
attests their interest in that cause which is more important than
any person.

I cannot accept this public approval of my speech without seizing
the occasion to express a heartfelt joy that I was permitted
to make it, and also my humble determination, with returning
strength, to do something that shall still further unmask the
portentous _Barbarism_ which has fastened on our Republic, and
installed itself in all the high places of power.

I have the honor to be, Sir, with much respect,

Your faithful servant,

CHARLES SUMNER.

A LAST WORD FOR KANSAS, ON SAILING FOR EUROPE.

LETTER TO JAMES REDPATH, ESQ., MARCH 7, 1857.

ON BOARD STEAMSHIP FULTON, March 7, 1857.

MY DEAR SIR,--I trust that you and our friends will not be
disheartened in efforts for Kansas. Much must still be done, or
the night of Slavery will settle down on that beautiful Territory.

Surely the Legislature of Massachusetts will feel the inspiration
of a great cause, and pledge itself by a generous appropriation
to its support. I hear of constitutional impediments, but I
believe that all such will be found to have bottom in the
lukewarm hearts of objectors rather than in the Constitution.

There are some who think that anything for Slavery is
constitutional, but nothing for Freedom. With me the opposite
rule prevails, and I venture to say that any other rule must
bring discredit upon a country calling itself a Commonwealth.

I trust, also, that the people of Kansas will stand firm, and
that, if need be, they will know how to die for Freedom. Do any
sigh for a Thermopylæ? They have it in Kansas, for there is to
be fought the great battle between Freedom and Slavery,--by the
_ballot-box_, I trust; but I do not forget that all who destroy
the ballot-box madly invoke the _cartridge-box_.

With a farewell to my country, as I seek a foreign land, hoping
for health long deferred, I give my last thoughts to suffering
Kansas, with devout prayers that the ruffian Usurpation which now
treads her down may be peaceably overthrown, and that she may be
lifted into the enjoyment of freedom and repose.

Ever faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

P. S. I entrust this to the pilot, and hope it may reach you.

JAMES REDPATH, Esq.

INVITATION TO DINNER BY AMERICAN MERCHANTS IN PARIS.

LETTER TO THE AMERICAN MERCHANTS AT PARIS, APRIL 20, 1857.

The following correspondence, with its brief introduction, is
copied from _Galignani’s Messenger_ at Paris.

“SENATOR SUMNER, OF MASSACHUSETTS.--This distinguished
American statesman and orator has been tendered a public
dinner by the American merchants residing at Paris, in the
following complimentary terms.

“PARIS, April 28, 1857.

“DEAR SIR,--The American merchants residing in Paris,
desirous of expressing their high regard and admiration
for your noble independence and distinguished services as
a Senator of the United States, respectfully invite you to
meet them at a public dinner, to be given at such a time
during your sojourn in Paris as may be most convenient to
yourself.

“Though well aware that you are habitually accustomed to
decline all similar requests, we earnestly hope you will
yield to our wishes.

“As citizens of the great Republic, representing many
States, and all actively engaged in commercial life, we
tender you this tribute, as an evidence of our appreciation
of your elevated patriotism, unbending integrity, and
spotless honor.

“With the highest esteem, we have the honor to be your
friends and fellow-citizens.

“JOHN MUNROE,
B. G. WAINWRIGHT,
ELLIOT C. COWDIN,
SAMUEL P. HOLMES,
A. P. MONTANT,
THOMAS N. DALE,
G. F. T. REED,
JAMES W. TUCKER,
GEORGE T. RICHARDS,
A. K. P. COOPER,
GEORGE MILNE,
C. L. SHARPSTEEN,
HENRY WOODS,
W. ENDICOTT, JR.,
JOHN C. MARTIN,
WALTER H. LEWIS,
GEORGE L. TODD,
DAVID LANE,
V. MUMFORD MOORE,
J. H. DEMING,
JOS. D. B. CURTIS.”

To this invitation Mr. Sumner returned the following reply.

HÔTEL DE LA PAIX, RUE DE LA PAIX,
April 30, 1857.

GENTLEMEN,--I have been honored by your communication of
the 28th April, where, after referring to my services
as Senator of the United States, in language generous
beyond the ordinary experience of political life, you are
pleased to invite me, in the name of the American merchants
residing in Paris, to a public dinner, at such time as may
be most convenient to myself.

The voice of hospitality is pleasant in a strange land.
But the hospitality which you offer is enhanced by the
character and number of those who unite in it, among whom
I recognize well-known names, intimately associated with
the commerce of my country in one of its most important
outposts.

There is one aspect in which your invitation is especially
grateful. It is this. If I have been able to do anything
not unworthy of your approbation, it is because I never
failed, whether in majorities or minorities, against all
obloquy, and at every hazard, to uphold those principles of
Liberty which, just in proportion as they prevail under our
Constitution, make us an example to the nations. And since
my public course cannot be unknown to you, I am permitted
to infer that the public testimony with which you now honor
me is offered in some measure to those principles,--dearer
to me than any personal distinction,--with which I am proud
to know that my name is associated.

The invitation you send me, coming from such a source,
couched in terms so flattering, and possessing such an
import, presents a temptation difficult to resist. But
I am admonished by the state of my health, which is yet
far from its natural vigor, that I must not listen to it,
except to express my gratitude. In making this excuse,
let me fortify myself by the confession that I left home
mainly to withdraw from the excitements of public life, and
particularly from all public speaking, in the assurance
that by such withdrawal, accompanied by that relaxation
which is found in change of pursuit, my convalescence would
be completed. The good physician under whose advice I have
acted would not admit that by crossing the sea I had been
able at once to alter all the conditions under which his
advice was given.

I cannot turn coldly from the opportunity you offer
me. My heart overflows with best wishes for yourselves
individually, and also for the commerce which you conduct,
mingled with aspirations that your influence may always add
to the welfare and just renown of our country. As American
merchants at Paris, you are representatives of the United
States on a foreign mission, without diplomatic salary or
diplomatic privilege. But it belongs to the felicity of
your position that what you do well for yourselves will be
well for your country, and, more than any diplomacy, will
contribute to strengthen the friendly ties of two powerful
nations. Pardon the allusion, when I add that you are
the daily industrious workmen in that mighty loom whose
frame stands on the coasts of opposite continents, whose
threads are Atlantic voyages, whose colors are the various
enterprises and activities of a beneficent commerce,
and whose well-wrought product is a radiant, speaking
tissue,--more beautiful to the mind’s eye than any fabric
of rarest French skill, more marvellous than any tapestry
woven for kings,--where every color mingles with every
thread in completest harmony and on the grandest scale, to
display the triumphs and the blessings of Peace.

Accept the assurance of the sincere regard with which I
have the honor to be, Gentlemen,

Your faithful servant and fellow-citizen,

CHARLES SUMNER.

To JOHN MUNROE, B. G. WAINWRIGHT, ELLIOT C. COWDIN, Esqrs.,
and others, American merchants at Paris.

The vigilant spirit of Slavery did not fail to note this
correspondence. Immediately upon its appearance, a well-known
Virginian, the reputed owner of large plantations in right of
his wife, and long resident in Paris, addressed a letter to
_Galignani’s Messenger_, in which he undertook to set forth
what he called Mr. Sumner’s mission in Europe. Here is a
specimen.

“That mission, certainly ‘without any diplomatic
privilege,’ but peradventure not without perquisites, is
to initiate, and, if the exigencies of the cotton market
and manufacture do not forbid it, to organize, a systematic
agitation in this and the British capital against the
Southern States of the Confederacy, and that ‘peculiar
institution’ of theirs, so tenderly nursed of yore, and
transmitted to them by dear Old Mother England, and which
in very modern times has been not less cherished and
sustained by the ‘enterprise and activity’ on the coast
of Africa of some of her Puritanical progeny in the New
World. Under these circumstances can any such subdolous
plea as that put forward excuse these ‘American merchants’
from lending themselves to such agencies and influences? If
they were sordid and self-seeking adventurers, in pursuit
of _political_ capital, rather than the honorable rewards
of a liberal and enlightened trade, one could understand,
or rather would not marvel at, this pseudo-patriotic
partisanship, this unfraternal display of their _sectional_
colors in a foreign land.”

Thus was the invalid in search of health pursued by the same
malign spirit from which he had originally suffered.

OUR POLITICS SEEN FROM A DISTANCE.

LETTER TO A FRIEND, DATED HEIDELBERG, SEPTEMBER 11, 1857.

The following letter found its way into the papers of the time.

HEIDELBERG, September 11, 1857.

MY DEAR ----,--Weeks have now passed since I have seen a letter
or newspaper from home. During this time I have been travelling
away from news, and am now famished. On arrival at Antwerp, I
trust to find letters at last.

I have been ransacking Switzerland; I have visited most of its
lakes, and crossed several of its mountains, mule-back. My
strength has not allowed me to venture upon any of those foot
expeditions, the charm of Swiss travel, by which you reach places
out of the way; but I have seen much, and have gained health
constantly.

I have crossed the Alps by the St. Gothard, and then recrossed by
the Grand St. Bernard, passing a night with the monks and dogs.
I have spent a day at the foot of Mont Blanc, and another on the
wonderful Lake Leman. I have been in the Pyrenees, in the Alps,
in the Channel Isles. You will next hear of me in the Highlands
of Scotland.

I see our politics now in distant perspective, and I am more
than ever satisfied that our course is right. It is Slavery
which degrades our country, and prevents its example from being
all-conquering. In fighting our battle at home we fight the
battle of Freedom everywhere. Be assured, I shall return, not
only with renewed strength, but with renewed determination to
give myself to our great cause.

Ever sincerely yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

FAREWELL ON SAILING FOR EUROPE A SECOND TIME IN QUEST OF HEALTH.

LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS, ON BOARD STEAMER VANDERBILT, NEW YORK HARBOR, MAY 22, 1858.

TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS:--

Two years have now passed, since, when in the enjoyment of
perfect health, I was suddenly made an invalid. Throughout this
protracted period, amidst various vicissitudes of convalescence,
I seemed to be slowly regaining the health that had been taken
from me, until I was encouraged to believe myself on the verge of
perfect recovery.

But injuries so grave as those originally received are not
readily repaired; and a recent relapse painfully admonishes me,
that, although enjoying many of the conditions of prosperous
convalescence, I am not yet beyond the necessity of caution. This
has been confirmed by the physicians in Boston and Philadelphia
most familiar with my case, who, in concurrence with counsels
previously given by medical authorities in Europe, have enjoined
travel as best calculated to promote restoration. Anxious to
spare no effort for this end, so long deferred, I to-day sail for
France.

To the generous people of Massachusetts, who have honored me with
an important trust, and cheered me by so much sympathy, I wish to
express the thanks which now palpitate in my bosom, while I say
to them all collectively, as I would say to a friend, Farewell!

These valedictory words would be imperfect, if I did not seize
this occasion to declare, what I have often said less publicly,
that, had I foreseen originally the duration of my disability,
I should at once have resigned my seat in the Senate, making
way for a servant more fortunate in the precious advantages of
health. I did not do so, because, like other invalids, I lived
in the belief that I was soon to be well, and was reluctant to
renounce the opportunity of again exposing the hideous Barbarism
of Slavery, now more than ever transfused into the National
Government, infecting its whole policy and degrading its whole
character. Besides, I was often assured, and encouraged to feel,
that to every sincere lover of civilization my vacant chair was a
perpetual speech.

CHARLES SUMNER.

ON BOARD STEAMER VANDERBILT, NEW YORK HARBOR, May 22, 1858.

HONOR TO THE INVENTOR OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

LETTER TO PROFESSOR MORSE, IN EXCUSING HIMSELF FROM A DINNER AT PARIS, AUGUST 17, 1858.

HÔTEL AND RUE DE LA PAIX, PARIS,
Tuesday, August 17, 1858.

MY DEAR SIR,--I have fresh occasion to be unhappy that I am
still an invalid, because it prevents me from joining in the
well-deserved honors which our countrymen here are about to offer
you.

As I would not be thought indifferent to the occasion, I seize
the moment to express in this informal manner my humble gratitude
for the great discovery with which your name will be forever
associated. Through you Civilization has made one of her surest
and grandest triumphs, beyond any ever won on a field of battle;
nor do I go beyond the line of most cautious truth, when I add,
that, if mankind had yet arrived at a just appreciation of its
benefactors, it would welcome such a conqueror with more than a
marshal’s baton.

I write to you frankly, and with a still cordial memory of that
distant day, when, in the company of a friend who is no longer on
earth, I first had the happiness of taking you by the hand.

Believe me, my dear Sir, with much regard,

Ever sincerely yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

PROFESSOR MORSE.

LONGING FOR DUTIES OF POSITION.

FROM A LETTER TO A FRIEND, DATED AT AIX, SAVOY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1858.

This extract is taken from the public papers of the time.

AIX, SAVOY, September 11, 1858.

…

Look at the map of Europe, and you will find, nestling in the
mountains of Savoy, between Switzerland and France, the little
village of Aix, generally known as Aix-les-Bains, from the baths
which give it fame. There I am now. The country about is most
beautiful, the people simple and kind.

My life is devoted to health. I wish that I could say that I am
not still an invalid; yet, except when attacked by the pain on my
chest, I am now comfortable, and enjoy my baths, my walks, and
the repose and incognito which I find here.

I begin the day with _douches_, hot and cold,--and when
thoroughly exhausted, am wrapped in sheet and blanket, and
conveyed to my hotel, and laid on my bed. After my walk, I find
myself obliged again to take to my bed for two hours before
dinner. But this whole treatment is in pleasant contrast with the
protracted suffering from fire which made the summer a torment.
And yet I fear that I must return to that treatment.

It is with a pang unspeakable that I find myself thus arrested
in the labors of life and in the duties of my position. This is
harder to bear than the fire. I do not hear of friends engaged in
active service--like Trumbull in Illinois--without a feeling of
envy.

…

CHARLES SUMNER.

INDEPENDENCE AND UNITY OF ITALY.

LETTER TO A PUBLIC MEETING AT NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 17, 1860.

This meeting was at the City Assembly Rooms, and was addressed
by Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, Hon. Charles King, Rev. H. W.
Bellows, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Hon. Joseph Hoxie, and
Professor O. M. Mitchel. According to the _New York Tribune_,
the letter of Mr. Sumner “was received with much enthusiasm.”

SENATE CHAMBER, February 16, 1860.

GENTLEMEN,--You do me no more than justice, when you suppose
that my sympathies are with Italy in her present noble struggle.
If I do not attend the meeting at New York, according to the
invitation with which I am honored, it is because other duties
here keep me away.

To the cause of Human Freedom everywhere I am bound by all ties,
whether of feeling or principle. To Italy also--venerable, yet
ever young, with that fatal gift of beauty which from all time
she has worn--I confess a sentiment of love and reverence; I am
sorrowful in her sorrow, and happy in her happiness.

Surely, by her past history, and all that she has done for human
improvement, we are her debtors. Without Italian genius what
now were modern civilization? There is no art, or science, or
activity, or grace, in which she has not excelled or led the
way. If I went into detail, I must mention not only sculpture,
painting, engraving, and music, but also astronomy, navigation,
bookkeeping, and jurisprudence; and I must present an array of
great names, such as no other country can boast. And to all these
I must add the practical discoveries of the mariner’s compass,
the barometer, the telescope applied to astronomy, and the
pendulum as a measure of time.

To the political skeptics and infidels who affect to doubt the
capacity for freedom of this illustrious people I would say,
that Italy, in modern times, was the earliest home of political
science, and the earliest author of some of those political
truths which have since passed into principles. Besides, divided
into separate, sovereign States, with separate systems of
legislation, her condition is coincident with our own, to the
extent of possessing those local facilities for self-government
which are our boast. And then there is the spirit of her sons, as
shown in recent efforts, giving assurance of courage, and of that
rarer wisdom which knows how to guide and temper courage, both of
which shone so conspicuous in the Venetian Manin, worthy compeer
of our own Washington.

Allow me to add, that I confidently look to the day when we
may welcome into the fellowship of nations a community new in
external form, but old in constituent parts,--separate in local
governments, but bound in perfect union, with one national flag,
one national coin, and one national principle, giving to all the
strength of unity,--_E Pluribus Unum_,--and constituting the
United States of Italy. And may God speed this good time!

Accept the assurance of the respect with which I have the honor
to be, Gentlemen,

Faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

TWO LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON.

LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE FIRST SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 21, 1860.

SENATE CHAMBER, February 21, 1860.

DEAR SIR,--It would be a pleasure to be with you at your
celebration of the Birthday of Washington, according to the
invitation with which you have honored me. But other duties will
keep me away.

It is always a delight to listen to the praise of Washington,
particularly when his full life is set forth, and he is shown
in his real character, ever wise, firm, and true, teaching two
commanding lessons: first, by the achievements and trials of
a seven years’ war, that his fellow-countrymen should not be
willing to be slaves; and, secondly, by the repeated declarations
of his life, and especially by his great example in his last will
and testament, that his fellow-countrymen should not be willing
to be slave-masters. I do not know for which he is to be most
honored.

Accept my thanks for the personal kindness of your letter, and
believe me, dear Sir,

Faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER.

GEORGE F. GORDON, Esq.

MACAULAY ON SLAVERY.

COMMUNICATION TO THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE, MARCH 3, 1860.

The same paper contained the article of Macaulay entitled “The West Indies,” from the _Edinburgh Review_, January, 1825, Vol. XLI. pp. 464-488. The day after its appearance, the New York Herald, in a leader with the caption, “_Macaulay, Sumner, and Slavery,_” sought to disparage the testimony, saying, among other things:--

“What Mr. Sumner now introduces is a proof how badly off the
party must be for weapons, when they rake them up from the
dead magazines of another generation, and written by a youth
a little over twenty years of age; or Mr. Sumner has not yet
recovered his usual strength of mind, since the injury he
received a few years ago at the Capitol. And what does his
article amount to? That the British planters in the West Indies
treated their slaves very badly, which may or may not be true.
But from the abuse of the institution in one place he argues
against the policy of its continued existence in any other
part of the world. He might as well conclude, that, because
many of the English are cruel to their horses, and that it was
necessary to pass an Act of Parliament for their protection,
therefore horses ought to be emancipated in the United States,
and let loose through the country. An argument from the abuse
to the disuse of anything is the poorest kind of logic.”

Such was the tone of discussion on the eve of the Presidential election destined to decide the fate of American Slavery.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE:--

SIR,--I ask attention to an eloquent and characteristic article
on Slavery, by Macaulay, never yet printed in our country with
his name. It is in an old number of the “Edinburgh Review,”
while Jeffrey was its editor, and in point of time preceded
the famous article on Milton. It is, indeed, the earliest
contribution of the illustrious writer to that Review, of
which he became a chief support and ornament. As such, it
belongs to the curiosities of literature, even if it did not
possess intrinsic interest from subject and style.

Here are seen, no longer in germ, but almost in perfect
development, those same great elements of style which appear
in the maturer essays and the History,--mastery of language,
clearness of statement, force, splendor of illustration, an
irrepressible sequence of thought and argument, and that same
whip of scorpions which he afterward flourished over Barère:
all these are conspicuous in this first effort, where he utters
the honest, gushing indignation of his soul. Never has Slavery
inspired speaker or writer to more complete and scornful
condemnation.

The article was called forth by British Slavery in the West
Indies; but it is just as applicable to American Slavery.
_Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur._ Every line bears upon
the slave-drivers of our country, with greater force even than
upon the slave-drivers of the West Indies; for audacity here
goes further than it was ever pushed in the British dominions.
It is interesting to find how exact the parallel becomes. In
the picture of illiberal men conspiring to support Slavery
Macaulay seems to delineate us.

“The slave-drivers may boast, that, if our cause has
received support from honest men of all religious and
political parties, theirs has tended in as great a
degree to combine and conciliate every form of violence
and illiberality. Tories and Radicals, prebendaries and
field-preachers, are to be found in their ranks. The only
requisites for one who aspires to enlist are a front of
brass and a tongue of venom.”[9]

Aiming to exhibit Slavery in its laws, without dwelling on
the accumulated instances of cruelty, he puts the case on the
strongest ground; and here his unimpeachable witness is the
statute-book itself. But this same argument bears with equal
force upon _our_ Slavery; so that, in reading his indignant
exposure of the West India jurisprudence, we see rising
before us the kindred enormities of our own Slave States, and
acknowledge the truth of his generous words.