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
“They are not only eloquent tributes to the dead, but
powerful appeals to the living.”
Epes Sargent, the friend and writer, showed his sympathy in a
letter from Boston.
“Your remarks in the Senate on Senator Baker pleased me
so much that I could not forbear speaking my pleasure in
print. They are level with the theme and the time, and the
trumpet-note at the close is in just the right key. Oh, if
it were not for Kentucky, that neither hot nor cold State,
we might hope for a policy up to the height of this great
argument! ‘I would she were hot or cold.’
“Our Boston papers do not yet speak out, as I would like to
see them, on this question of proclaiming emancipation to
the slaves of Rebels. We need another disaster to carry us
forward a little further.”
William Lloyd Garrison declared himself with his accustomed
directness in a letter from Boston.
“Thanks for your eloquent eulogy upon the late Senator
Baker, (which I have published in the _Liberator_ this
week,) and its forcible application to Slavery as the
primary cause of his untimely death, as it is of all
our national woes. Be in no wise daunted, but rather
strengthened and stimulated, by the abusive clamors and
assaults following all your efforts, on the part of the
‘Satanic press,’ and unprincipled demagogues generally.
These are surer evidences of the wisdom, goodness, and
nobility of your cause than all the praises of your
numerous friends and admirers. You may confidently make
‘the safe appeal of truth to time,’ and rely upon a
universal verdict of approval at no distant day. To be in
the right is as surely to be allied to victory as that God
reigns. When there is howling in the pit, there is special
rejoicing in heaven.”
FOOTNOTES
[1]
“Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.”
TERENT., _Heaut._ Act. I. Sc. i. 25.
[2] New England’s First Fruits: Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., Vol. I. p. 242.
[3] Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, Vol.
II. p. 6, June 14, 1642.
[4] Ibid., p. 203, November 11, 1647.
[5] Enquiries to the Governor of Virginia by the Lords Commissioners of
Foreign Plantations, with the Governor’s Answers: Hening, Statutes at
Large of Virginia, Vol. II. p. 517.
[6] Oldmixon, British Empire in America, 2d ed., Vol. I. p. 195.
[7] 4 Mass. R., 128, note; 16 Mass. R., 75; 10 Cushing, R., 410; 14
Allen, R., 562. See, _ante_, Vol. III. p. 384.
[8] New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. VI. p. 156.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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