Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 07 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 07 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
“Mr. Sumner’s speech at Worcester yesterday was in
direct opposition to the policy of the Administration,
the declaration of Congress, and the avowed purpose of
the war,--overflowing with the same narrow, bitter, and
unconstitutional sentiments that have done so much to bring
our present misfortunes upon us, and which tend to render
the restoration of the Union impossible. If such views as
he advances governed the action of the Administration, _not
a brigade could be kept in the field_, or money enough
raised by the Secretary of the Treasury to buy breeches and
gaiters for a demagogue Senator. For such men as Sumner and
his ilk do not fight nor pay; they only brawl, and deserve
to be treated as were old scolds in days past,--_ducked in
a horse-pond_.”
Then in another article:--
“The error of having listened to this speech cannot be
repaired. The Republicans can set the matter right, as to
this being indorsed by the friends of the Administration
in Massachusetts; and it would seem to be incumbent on the
Republican State Committee to make a statement of facts,
going to show, that, as a body, it did not invite Mr.
Sumner to speak,--that, though the noisy Abolitionists
shouted, yet the main body of the Convention evidently and
notoriously heard him with sorrow.”
And again, by a correspondent, the same Democratic organ said:--
“Can any patriot read the rodomontade of this classic
fanatic at the Worcester Convention, without a sense of
pain, nausea, and disgust? He certainly ought to be put in
a strait-jacket.”
The _Boston Courier_ promptly said:--
“The sincerity of the Republican managers, in appealing to
Union men of all parties to meet with them in Convention,
is not certainly placed beyond question by the fact
that Mr. Sumner (not without invitation, we apprehend)
comes forward as the organ of the assembly, and makes
the principal speech of the occasion, as he did at the
Convention last year. At that period this was felt
as at least an awkward circumstance, considering the
unquestionable Antislavery ultraisms of Mr. Sumner. Of all
men in the community, this, and this alone, was the special
vocation of this Senator,--to denounce a domestic usage
of a part of the country, which, whether good or bad, is
protected by its Constitution and laws.”
In another issue the same paper characterized the speech as
one, “the insane counsels of which considerate men of all
parties regard with such dislike and indignation.”
The _Newburyport Herald_ said:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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