Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
“Amid the profusion of epistolary plaudits you will doubtless
receive for your late powerful protest against Slavery, a voice
humble as mine can be to you only of slight account. And yet
I cannot forbear my congratulations at your so far recovered
vigor and health, and the cause of Freedom and Humanity, that
it still receives the powerful aid and advocacy of your voice
and influence. I only regret that a speech of such power as
your last must be laid on the altar of Republicanism, while to
the leaders of the party your utterances are distasteful, if
not absolutely terrific.”
Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman, the courageous Abolitionist, always faithful
and intelligent, wrote from Boston:--
“Will you accept my hearty thanks for your speech? Exciting, as
it must, a rage of hatred in some, proportionate to the love
and gratitude it secures from others, I am sure your life is in
danger; but with you, the greater the danger, the greater the
courage,--and courage is preservative. No need to bid you be of
good cheer: one in your place cannot help being so.”
Rev. George B. Cheever, whose soul was in the Antislavery cause, wrote
from New York:--
“I bless you from the bottom of my heart, and praise God for
his goodness in sparing you and returning you to your place in
the Senate for that great work. It is a mighty blow, struck
just at the right time, with a severity, pungency, and hearty
earnestness that it does one’s very soul good to witness. God
bless you, and keep you, my dear friend and brother!--for you
must allow me to use this language, since you have endeared
yourself to every lover of freedom and justice, of truth and
righteousness, and to every friend of the slave, more than
ever; and your noble course might justify even a personal
stranger in addressing you thus. You are very dear to us all.”
Rev. William H. Furness, the Unitarian preacher, whose gentle nature
was always aroused by Slavery, wrote from Philadelphia:--
“I have just read the telegram of your speech, and I must tell
you that I have no words to express my admiration, gratitude,
love. It is a grand justification of your non-resignation of
your seat. The grace of God is on you,--his special favor, in
that you have had the will and the opportunity for so faithful,
so noble an utterance. It is a planetary space beyond and above
the Republican party.”
In another letter he wrote further:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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