Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
Sir, it has not the honor of being an Abolition Society, or of
numbering Abolitionists among its officers. Its President[87] is a
retired citizen, of ample means and charitable life, who has taken no
part in the conflicts with Slavery, and never allowed his sympathies
to be felt by Abolitionists. One of its Vice-Presidents is a gentleman
from Virginia,[88] with family and friends there, who has always
opposed the Abolitionists. Its generous Treasurer,[89] now justly
absorbed by the objects of the Company, has always been understood as
ranging with his extensive connections, by blood and marriage, on the
side of that quietism which submits to all the tyranny of the Slave
Power. Its Directors are more conspicuous for wealth and science than
for any activity against Slavery. Among these is an eminent lawyer of
Massachusetts, Mr. Chapman,[90]--personally known, doubtless, to some
who hear me,--who has distinguished himself by an austere conservatism,
too natural to the atmosphere of courts, which does not flinch even
from the support of the Fugitive Slave Bill. In a recent address at a
public meeting in Springfield, this gentleman thus speaks for himself
and his associates:--
“I have been a Director of the Society from the first, and
have kept myself well informed in regard to its proceedings.
I am not aware that any one in this community ever suspected
me of being an Abolitionist; but I have been accused of being
Proslavery, and I believe many good people think I am quite
too conservative on that subject. I take this occasion to
say that all the plans and proceedings of the Society have
met my approbation; and I assert that it has never done a
single act with which any political party or the people of any
section of the country can justly find fault. The name of its
President, Mr. Brown, of Providence, and of its Treasurer,
Mr. Lawrence, of Boston, are a sufficient guaranty, in the
estimation of intelligent men, against its being engaged in
any fanatical enterprise. Its stockholders are composed of
men of all political parties except Abolitionists. I am not
aware that it has received the patronage of that class of our
fellow-citizens, and I am informed that some of them disapprove
of its proceedings.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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