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
“The People’s Literary Institute Lecture, at Concert Hall,
last evening, was by that perfect ensample of Abolitionism,
Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts. The hall was crowded,
negroes occupying the front seats and other prominent
places. Sumner’s nominal subject was ‘Lafayette,’ but he
made his sketch of the noble Marquis a vehicle for the
expression of the most ardent wishes and aspirations after
negro equality. The audience applauded the most radical
passages, although a stray hiss now and then betrayed the
whereabouts of a ‘Conservative.’”
ADDRESS.
MR. PRESIDENT,--I am to speak this evening of one who early
consecrated himself to Human Rights, and throughout a long life became
their representative, knight-errant, champion, hero, missionary,
apostle,--who strove in this cause as no man in history has ever
striven,--who suffered for it as few have suffered,--and whose
protracted career, beginning at an age when others are yet at school,
and continued to the tomb, where he tardily arrived, is conspicuous
for the rarest fidelity, the purest principle, and the most chivalrous
courage, whether civil or military. There is but one personage to whom
this description is justly applicable, and you have anticipated me when
I pronounce the name of Lafayette. As in Germany Jean Paul is known as
“the Only One,” so would I hail Lafayette as “the Faithful One.” If
Liberty be what philosophy, poetry, and the human heart all declare,
then must we treasure the example of one who served her always with a
lover’s fondness and with a martyr’s constancy, nor demand perfections
which do not belong to human nature. It is enough for unstinted
gratitude that he stood forth her steadfast friend, like the good
angel,--
“unmoved,
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,--
trampling on all the blandishments of youth, of fortune, and of power,
keeping himself sternly aloof whether from King or Emperor, and always
insisting upon the same comprehensive cause,--with a soul as fearless
and irreproachable as Bayard, from whom generals and kings received
knighthood, as unbending as Cato, who singly stood out against Cæsar,
and as gentle as that best loved disciple, who leaned on the bosom of
the Saviour, and alone of all the Twelve followed him to the Cross.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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