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
“Now we beg leave to submit, that this speech, from this
Senator, at this crisis, comprehends an Abolition warning
to the Administration, and a warning to the States involved
in this Rebellion. Mr. Sumner is supported in his views by
an active Abolition faction, extending from Massachusetts
to Missouri, and with this faction an exterminating
crusade against Slavery is the all-absorbing idea. Let the
President and his Cabinet, then, exert their energies to
the uttermost for a speedy blow or two which will break
the backbone of this Rebellion, or we know not what may be
the consequences to the Administration from the fanatical
hostility of this Abolition faction to the conservative
policy of Mr. Lincoln. On the other hand, we would appeal
to the Union men of the Border Slave States to turn out
at once, and en masse, to the active support of the
Government, and thus restore the Union in its integrity,
including the integrity of Southern institutions, in the
speedy expulsion of the Rebels into the Cotton States. With
the Border Slave States rescued, this whole Rebellion will
soon fall to pieces from its own weight; but every day
that the Rebels continue to menace Washington, to desolate
Missouri, and to hold a threatening lodgement in Kentucky,
the danger to Southern Slavery is increased, and of a
protracted and desolating war of sections, factions, and
races.”
* * * * *
Against these voices were others very different in tone.
The _National Antislavery Standard_ of New York, in an
elaborate leader, united with Mr. Sumner.
“We lay before our readers to-day the admirable speech of
Mr. Sumner before the Republican Convention at Worcester,
Massachusetts. We shall not invite their attention to it,
for we are sure they cannot keep their attention away from
it, and it will well repay all that they have to bestow. It
is a bold, clear, and conclusive exposition of the policy
which the United States Government should adopt, and make
the vital principle of their action, in the present war.
Mr. Sumner is the first public man of eminent station who
has dared to indicate the true and only way of escape for
this nation out of its dangers; and whether his counsel be
hearkened unto or mocked, he will go into history as the
first man of high political rank who has discerned and not
shrunk from proclaiming this saving truth.”
The New York _Independent_ published the speech promptly upon
its delivery, with the remark:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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