--      - - - - - - - - - - -




LIFE
OF
CHARLES SUMNER.
BY
JEREMIAH CHAPLIN
AND
J. D. CHAPLIN.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
HON. WILLIAM CLAFLIN.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY D. LOTHROP & CO.
DOVER, N. H.: G. T. DAY & CO.
8 74.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874,
BY D. LOTIROP & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
19 Spring Lane.




PREFACE.
IN the belief that a Life of Charles Sumner, our
great Senator, written in a somewhat popular style,
would be welcomed by the public, this work has
been carefully prepared from  the most authentic
sources.
The writers have had access to private papers,
and  other sources of information, which  have
enabled them  to give some hitherto unpublished
incidents and letters.
The works of Mr. Sumner have been carefully
examined, and fitting selections from  his speeches
have been incorporated in the biography.  His
addresses are an integral part of the history of
the times in which he lived, and they largely
reveal his character.
A full survey of Mr. Sumner's public career has
not been attempted. To do that, would have been
to transcend the limits of our plan, which was,
iii




iv                  PREFACE.
rather, to dwell upon his connection with the one
great subject which, above all others, called out
his powers and developed his character.  To the
overthrow  of American Slavery he gave his most
earnest thought, and it was in this, his chief work,
that his distinguished qualities of mind and heart
are most conspicuous.  He was a statesman in
no narrow sense; he was not a man of but one
idea; he was at home in all the business of legislation, in all foreign and domestic affairs.  But he
will be chiefly remembered as a philanthropist.
Intellectually great, he was pre-eminently distinguished  as a lover of justice, a  defender of
humanity.  His moral endowments and humane
achievements will chiefly endear him to mankind.
From  these are to be gathered the most valuable lessons, especially for the young.
Happy will it be for our country if her young
men study his life, and emulate his example of
unselfish devotion to the cause of humanity.  Happy for her if her coming legislators believe that
to be upright is to be practical, to be just is to be
patriotic.
Properly to present Mr. Sumner's philanthropic
services, it has been necessary briefly to sketch the




PREFACE.                   V
progress of the anti-slavery enterprise up to the
time when  he became  its foremost champion.
Three chapters have, therefore, been given to the
pioneers in that cause, and to the state of public
sentiment upon the slavery question prior to Mr.
Sumner's public life.
In sketching his career, it has been almost a necessity to cast his co-laborers into the shade. As
we have not attempted a history of his times, but
only of his special relation to the great question
of the times, he seems to absorb to himself more
than his share of attention.  He was, indeed, a
most conspicuous figure, great among the great,
in some respects without a peer; but the names
of many men and women will come to mind who
gave the full measure of noble talents and sweet
charity to  the  cause  of the  humble  and  oppressed -names that will never die.  Without
these to prepare the way, or to furnish the contemporary support of sympathy, of encouragement,
of prayer, of sacrifice, Mr. Sumner could never
have achieved those deeds which will make his
name immortal.
The writings of Mr. Sumner abound in noble
sentiments, and in the fruits of rich and varied cul



vi                   PREFACE.
ture.  They are eminently worthy of perusal by
the rising generation. But above all, his life, in
which those sentiments found their most consistent and best illustration, deserves to be studied
for its example of unwavering devotion to duty.
To do right, to serve mankind, to obey God, was
the high purpose for which he wrought.  Such a
life, in the inspiration which it imparts, in the
lessons which it teaches, must be an abiding and
ever-widening power in the world.  It is grandly
practical. It shows the path of true success.
To friends who have kindly and greatly aided
our work by letters of Mr. Sumner, and by various valuable  information, we here  express our
grateful appreciation of their help.
The invaluable work of Vice-President Wilson,
Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America,
has been consulted in preparing a portion of this
volume.
J. C.
J. D. C.




INTRODUCTION.
THE people of the whole country realize, now,
the loss they have sustained by the death of Senator Sumner.' His place in the Senate cannot be
filled from his native State, or any other.
While he lived, the people felt that there was
one man in the national councils whose voice was
ever ready in defence of the right, and in opposition to injustice or wrong.  That voice is forever hushed.
The fame of the great statesman, orator, and
philanthropist reaches all civilized lands; and all
classes, here, desire to know his history from  the
beginning to the end of his life.  This is not
strange, when it is remembered  that only two
men exceeded his term  of service in the Senate,
and that neither of them held the position during
a very eventful period in the history of the counvii




Viii             INTRODUCTION.
try, or made himself especially distinguished beyond his own immediate locality.
Few persons have used their opportunities for
obtaining an education so faithfully as Mr. Sumner.  Endowed by nature with great intellectual
powers, possessing  a genius for statesmanship
and philanthropy of the first order, he early devoted himself to most diligent study of all matters relating to jurisprudence, international law,
and the principles of government.
In the order of Providence he was kept from
the first struggles of the party of freedom.  He
was preparing  for the great work before him.
When, therefore, he entered upon his career in
the Senate, he was better fitted than any one of
his associates to meet the tremendous responsibilities which soon pressed upon him.
Ile gave himself to the cause dear to him and to
every lover of liberty, without the least reserve or
hesitation.  All private business was laid aside,
that he might devote himself to the accomplishment of the object for which the people of his
State sent him to the Senate.
The great political struggle in the legislature
which resulted in his election had drawn the atten



INTRODUOTION.                ix
tion of the country to him. Nor were the people
long kept in ignorance of his purposes and power.
His first great speech showed the depth of his
moral convictions, and his determination to leave
nothing undone to free the land from the blighting curse of slavery.
Thenceforth there was no cessation of hostility
to him  and his measures on the part of the upholders of that system. All their denunciations,
however, had no effect upon him.  He was one
of the foremost of the noble band of statesmen
who deemed all other questions subordinate while
slavery existed.
Although its abolition was paramount with him,
yet there never was a greater mistake than to
suppose that he was not a practical man in matters pertaining to his office.  He was familiar with
the whole machinery of government, and knew how
to accomplish an object in the shortest possible
time.  This was attested, again and again, by those
having business before Congress or the departments, in which it was proper to ask his influence
and co-operation.
But if a doubtful scheme or claim was to be
carried through, he was the most impractical of




X                 INTRODUCTION.
men.  Professional lobbyists knew, well enough,
that if a thing was right, he would favor it, but
if questionable, no tactics, however skilful, would
secure his support.
In all his long official life no one dared to impeach his integrity or question his motives. Entire devotion to duty, undeviating rectitude, and
high moral convictions guided and controlled him.
The sudden termination of a life so intimately
connected with the government, and so potent in
its influence, makes impressive these traits, rarely
found in the most distinguished statesmen of the
world.
That a character so noble may be clearly brought
before the masses, and especially before the young
men who are soon to hold positions of honor and
trust in the State and Nation, is the purpose of
this volume.








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" Humbly do I recognize the authority of Him who, when
reviled, reviled not again; but His divine example teaches
me to expose crime, and not to hesitate, though the Scribes
and Pharisees, chief priests and money-changers, cry out."
"Liberty has been won; the battle for Equality is still
pending."
"To be a man is a sufficient title-deed for the rights of
man."
" Say, in lofty madness, that you own the sun, the stars,
the moon; but do not say that you own a man, endowed with
soul to live immortal, when sun, and moon, and stars have
passed away."
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LIFE OF CIARLES SUMNER.
CIIAPTER  I.
Birth of Uaiarles Sumcner. - His Ptarets. --  is
Ancestry.
AN event so common as the birth of, a, child
makes little stir in the busy world; and even
when Heaven is so lavish of its blessings as to
send two little ones to the same home at once, it
brings joy only to the limited circle of relatives
and friends who can enter into the happiness of
the parents.
On the 6th day of January, 181.1,  Charles
Pinciiny Sumner and Relief; his wife, were gladdented by the birth of their first childrern, Charles
and Matilda.
The little new-comners to the great, strange
2                          17




18             LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
world were frail and tiny specimens of humanity.But they were born to live; one of them  to grow
to maidenhood, and to grace her home a few  short
years, and then  to  pass away like a flower; the
other, with  a  frame  scarcely  large  enough  to
carry  life, was to  develop  into  a  strong  man,
whose name was to  be a power in the  land  for
whose freedom  his fathers had fought.
The men  of Boston  read  their papers on that
6th cay of January, and  discussed the plans and
the  broils at the seat of government, just as the
men of Boston do to-day.  They passed  and  re* Mrs. Winslow, a very aged widow, a member of the First
Baptist Church, living in Charter Street, gives the following interesting facts: -
The Sumner family were neighbors of hers at the time their
twins were born. She knew MIrs. Sumner well, and speaks of her
as an excellent, kind person, and remembers when she made a
public profession of religion. She states that on the third day
after the birth of the twins, she (Mrs. Winslow) said to a neighbor,
"Let us go over and see Mrs. Sumner's babies.'  They went,
and were shown into the chamber where they lay. They wer the
smallest infants she had ever seen, weighing but three pounds and
a half each. The clothes which would have fitted ordinary babies
were so much too large that the little ones were simply wrapped up,
and not dressed, at that time. Mrs. Winslow says she took both
babes in her arms, and held them while there.
The house in which they were born was in May Street (now ikeverc Street), on the site now occupied by the Bowdoin School build.
ing. The family afterwards removed to 20 IHancock Street, which
was long their home, and where Mrs. Smnier (died.




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RESIDENCE OF SIR. SU~~~~~~~~iNE{SFi            IR        ACC   T~BSO








LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         19
passed the house where lay sleeping the future
senator-the little Samson, who was to take so
large a part in slaying the lion that was threatening the life of the nation, and in pulling down the
gates with which oppression had guarded her
strong cities.
One of God's anointed had come to do a mighty
work for him and for humanity. But he had
appeared without the prophecy of seer, or the
heralding song of rejoicing angels; and he lay
there as little an object of terror to Southern oppression, as was the Babe of Bethlehem, on the
night of his advent, to the imperious rulers of the
East. And yet the birth of Charles Sumner was a
great event to Massachusetts, to America, and,
more than all, to millions of slaves groaning under
the lash and trembling before the auction-block.
America had broken her own fetters, but she
had gathered up the links and welded them anew
on the limbs of defenceless strangers. But she
was not quite at ease in her oppression. She was
beginning to hear the voice of God —to be
afraid.
Some men affect to despise ancestry, and even
regard it as Democratic to boast of a low origin.




20          LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Men of noble heart and earnest life have, idceed,
come up to bless the world from coarse and ignorant families; but their success has been in
spite, rather than in consequence, of their origin.
The Scriptures, which teach the truest humility,
hold up to us the great blessing of an upright
and godly ancestry. Wealth does not settle the
question of pedigree.  The noble of the earth
are those who are moved by high moral principle
and unselfish aims, let their worldly condition
be what it may. We often see nobility under the
garb of toil, and meanness beneath purple and
fine linen.
The greatest and grandest specimen of humanity that ever walked the earth (for Jesus was
as truly human as divine) wrought with the tools
of the artisan, ate the bread of toil, and slept the
sleep of the laboring man, which is sweet.
Decker, an old English poet, says, 
"the best of men
That e'er wore earth's garb about him -
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit;
The first true gentleman that ever breathed."
None will deny that it is a great blessing to
have come of a long line of noble and honorable




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          21
men, who, having served God and their genera.
tion, left to their descendants an inheritance of
moral, physical, and intellectual strength.  In
such a parentage Charles Sumner was singularly
blessed.
The ancestor who emigrated to this country
was William Sumner, a sturdy Puritan, born in
Kent, England, in 1605, and "made a freeman,"
that is, admitted to the privileges of citizenship,
in Massachusetts, in 1637. Next comes his son
Roger, and his grandson Seth, and then Job, the
grandfather, and Charles Pinckney, the father of
the great senator who has just passed away.
Job Sumner was a student at Harvard when
the revolutionary war broke out. He dropped
his books, gave up all his literary plans, at his
country's call, and, immediately after the battle
of Lexington, joined the army, in which he rose
to the rank of major, and where he remained until
the close of the war.
Charles Pinckney Sumner was a graduate of
Harvard, a gentleman of high culture and stern
integrity, accomplished in all the etiquette of
society in his day, and noted for his free and
genial hospitality. He was a lawyer of eminence,




22         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and was for some years sheriff of Suffolk County.
It was during his term that Boston was disgraced
by the anti-slavery riots, which opened her eyes
to the true character of the slave power, and
brought her into the front ranks in the battle for
freedom.
In the year 1810 Mr. Sumner married Relief
Jacobs, daughter of a substantial farmer of Hanover, in "the  Old Colony," who- became the
mother of nine children.
She had many and deep afflictions. Two of
her beautiful children fell at her side in their
early years; two were lost at sea; others died in
their full manhood; and for many years she knew
the heart of a widow.  But she bore her sorrows with strong trust and fortitude. Rev. Mr.
Foote, of King's Chapel, who was her pastor in
her declining years, says of her,"Mrs. Sumner was a woman of retiring simplicity of life, but of strong and heroic traits of
character; and those who knew her could trace
in the senator's noblest characteristics a direct
inheritance from  her. The lofty and resolute
sense of duty by which she was governed was
strikingly illustrated by the following incident,




LIFE  OF CHARLES SUMNER.                      23
which occurred while she was on her death-bed.
A  few  days before she died, as a friend bent over
her to receive what she supposed to be her dying
message  to her son, then  at Washington, during
the  session of Congress, she caught these words
from  the failing lips:'Tell him  his country needs
him  more than  his mother  does now.'  He  returned, however, instantly, on receiving tidings
of her fatal illness, and  had  the  satisfaction of
being with her when she died." *
* Matilda (twin sister with Charles) died in March, 1832, aged 21
years; Jane died in October, 1837, aged 17 years; Mary died in
October, 1844, aged 22 years; Horace was drowned in the wreck of
the ship Elizabeth, on Long Island, July 16, 1850, on his return
firom abroad; Albert was lost with his family in the wreck of the
Lyonnais, November, 1856; Henry died at Orange, N. J., in 1856;
George died October 6, 1863, in Boston, aged 46 years. One child,
Mrs. Julia Hastings, of San Francisco, is still living.
George Sumner was a man of varied accomplishments. He enjoyed the advantages of study at the foreign universities of Berlin
and Heidelberg, and travelled in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Like
his brother Charles, he was much interested in international law,
and in the political, social, and philanthropic institutions of different countries. He was a strong foe to war and slavery. He wrote
in favor of the Philadelphia Penitentiary System. In connection
with Dr. S. G. Howe, he introduced into the United States the education of idiots. He wrote articles, not only for American, but for
English, French, and German periodicals. He spent many years
abroad, and was often consulted by foreign governments on questions of political economy. De Tocqueville spoke of him " as know..
ing the different parties and politics of Europe much better than
any European with whom he was acquainted."
In 1859, within less than five months, he gave one hundred and




24          LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
One who knew Mrs. Sumner, and who saw her
when her son was rising to eminence, noticed the
motherly  pride  which  she would  not conceal.
When asked how he gained so many and great
acquirements, she replied, " Charles, when a boy
was a good scholar, and always diligent in his
studies."  Her pride was not vanity.  She did
not boast of his genius, but only of application
and industry.  Mrs. Sumner died in June, 1866,
aged eighty-one.
But not to  his mother alone  belongs  the
glory of rearing such a son for his country and
for humanity.  His father was not only a gentleman and a scholar, but also a philanthropist of
the purest type, whose talents were not spent for
self-adulation or ambition, but were laid on the
altar to whose smoking fagots the boy that bore
his name was a new torch, to alarm the oppressor,
and burn up, like chaff, his imaginary wealth. He
was a strong anti-slavery man, when anti-slavery
men were few and their principles unpopular.
two lectures in towns and cities of the United States. On July 4
of that year he delivered the Annual Oration before the municipal
authorities of Boston, which was spoken of as an "admirable
address." The orator censured in severe terms the Dred Scott decision of Chief Justice Taney.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.                 25
He was also a great advocate of peace principles.  From  " The Compass, a Poetical Performance," delivered by him at a Literary Exhibition,
in September, 1795, at Harvard University, we
extract the following, which shows the seed that
bore such rich fruits of justice, philanthropy, and
peace in the heart of his son: —
" We antedate the time
When futile war shall cease through every clime,
No sanctioned slavery Afric's sons degrade,
But equal rights shall equal earth pervade:
When fearless Commerce, by the compass led,
On every wave her sacred flag shall spread;
With liberal course to either pole shall run,
Or round the zodiac travel with the sun;
No narrow treaty sell the boundless sea,
Which Nature's charter to the world made free;
When all the compact which this globe shall bind
Shall be the mutual good of all mankind."
Charles Pinckney Sumner was the last high
sheriff who wore the antique dress which was till
then here, as in England, the badge of office; and
it is said that it accorded well with his commanding person and dignified bearing.
Descended from a hardy stock of old Kentish
yeomanry, men noted for their fine physical development, their powers of endurance, their skill
in athletic games, and their bravery in battle, —




26         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and in later times from men who, to these advantages and qualities, added the learning of the
schools and the graces of society, - Charles Sumner belonged to the aristocracy of nature and of
education, rather than to that of blood or of
wealth.
Increase Sumner, an eloquent man, an able
judge, and one of the governors of Massachusetts, shows the principles of the Sumners, in
which this one, their brightest ornament, was
reared.  Just before the revolutionary war he
wrote, 
" The man who, regardless of public happiness,
is ready to fall in with base measures, and sacrifice conscience. honor, and his country merely for
his own advancement, must (if not wretchedly
hardened) feel a torture the intenseness of which
nothing in this world can equal."
In one of his charges as judge, he  said,
"America furnishes one of the few instances of
countries where the blessings of civil liberty and
the rights of mankind have been the primary objects of their political institutions; in which the
rich and poor are equally protected; where the
rights of conscience are fully enjoyed; and where




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        27
merit and ability can be the only claim to the
favor of the public. May we not, then, pronounce
that man destitute of the true principles of liberty, and unworthy the blessing of society, who
does not, at all times, lend his aid to support and
sustain a government?"
This man - who was a prince and a ruler in the
land in early times-was a cousin of Charles
Pinckney Sumner, and was the son of a yeoman
of Roxbury, who was noted, like the others of the
name, for his physical strength, and also for his
untiring energy and ambition in the sphere
where God had placed him.




28        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER  II.
Childhood. - School Days. - Story of a Stick.Enters Harvard University. - Severe application to Study and Reading. - Trip to a Brighton Cattle Show.
CHARLES SUMNER does not come before us in
his boyhood as one of those preoocious little
book-worms or baby philosophers who now and
then startle the world as intellectual monstrosities, but as a vigorous boy, naturally studious
and thoughtful.
His splendid physical development, which
made him, in manhood, a Saul among his fellows,
proves conclusively that he did not in boyhood
sit bowed and moping over his school books
without exercise or recreation.  He ran, full
of glee, down Beacon Hill, and over the Common,
drawing his sled to the coasting-ground or carrying his boat to the pond; shouting and hallooing
at his success, just as the boys of to-day do in
the same play and at the same places.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         29
A story is told of him that illustrates one trait
of his character, which "grew with his growth
and strengthened with his strength."
There had been a dispute between him and
some other boys about a stick of which he had
possession, and a sharp contest ensued. The
world was full of sticks, but that particular one
was his by right, and he meant to keep it.
The others pulled, but he tightened his little
fists about it, and held bravely on. One of his
antagonists then tried a new game. He caught
up a stone, and'began pounding his knuckles,
sure that the pain would cause him to relax his
grip.
But little Sumner pressed his lips together,
and still held on. Blow after blow fell on the
delicate hands till the blood began to flow.
At sight of this, the little assailant fled in
terror, and left Sumner in possession of the precious stick, and of the consciousness of having
maintained his rights.
Little Sumner attended both private and public
schools in Boston until he was ten years of age.
He read history, which was his delight, and,
without advice or urgency from  any one, he




30        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
bought with his spending-money a Latin Grammar and Reader, and had made some little proficiency in the rudiments of that language before
his parents knew that the books were in his
possession. He studied for his own pleasure,
rather than that he might stand well in his
classes.
In his eleventh year, he entered the Boston
Latin School, where his diligence soon gave him
a high standing, under the instruction of Benjamin Gould, an eminent man of that day in his
profession. Here young Sumner took prizes for
English composition and Latin poetry, and on
graduating received the Franklin medal.
He entered Harvard when only fifteen years
of age, a strong, finely-developed and elegantlooking boy, and gave himself up to hard study
with as much earnestness and zeal as if there
was no such thing as boyish play in the world.
We should naturally expect that a youth of
such striking' appearance and studious habits
would become at once a prodigy in college.
But it was not so. He seems to have been remarkable there only for his correct deportment
and his severe application to his chosen studies.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         31
His aim was not for the first place in his class,
but for a thorough education; else he might have
gone up with the light of the rocket, and then
vanished in sudden darkness, as do not a few
who are much talked of in college, but are
never heard of afterwards.
He applied himself not alone to his text-books;
he read very widely, storing his mind with the
history and the literature of many lands, thus
transplanting into his wondrous memory the
flowers with which the writings and speeches
of future years are graced.
To these pursuits, which were foreign to his
class studies, he devoted the early hours of
morning, pilfering no time from the requirements
of the appointed course for studies more congenial to his taste.
He also read far into the night, and when
his less studious companions returned late from
Boston, where they had been on social visits or
to public entertainments, they always saw the
light in Sumner's window, reminding them that
there was one earnest student who could not be
drawn away from his books by the allurements
of pleasure. He was so wedded to his studies




32         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
as to have almost no time for what is called
"society" by collegians.
There were at Harvard at the same time with
him several men who have since become distinguished as reformers, philanthropists, and in the
world of letters; men, with whom  the boyish
friendship of that time deepened into a strong
and sympathetic love, which encouraged and
strengthened him in his subsequent battles for
the right.
While we have no record  of remarkable
brilliancy at college, we know  that he was
studying with a purpose, and also that he kept
himself entirely aloof from the follies and vices
which were then regarded as almost inseparable
from college life, but which social advance is now
putting in their right place. His natural dignity, as well as his high principles, kept him from
everything that would wound others or degrade
himself.
He was the same gentleman at heart then as
afterwards in the Senate, when he had acquired
that perfect knowledge of society and its subtile
etiquette for which he was so remarkable.
At that early period he was as considerate as




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       33
he was in after years. He tried every action by
the standard of right. For example, while he
was ever kind and obliging to his college mates,
and ready to do any one of them a favor, there
was one positive exception —no lazy fellow
could persuade him to help his preparation for
the recitations in Greek and Latin by translating
his lessons for him. He thought it wrong to encourage laziness. A worker himself,- he was
ready to help others work in a good cause; but
farther he would not go. In after years he had
little patience with shirks and shams. He was
genuine, and he honored genuine worth as above
all price.
The only time we hear of his breaking college
rules was when, very desirous of attending a
cattle show at Brighton, he set out with a friend
without permission.
On their way, the truants unfortunately were
overtaken by two gentlemen bound in the same
direction, who proved to be their fathers I
"Why, Charles," asked Mr. Sumner in surprise, "how came you here? "
" I wanted to go to the cattle show," was the
reply of the young culprit.
3




34         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
" Had you permission to leave your classes?"
asked the father.
" No; but we shall lose no recitations by our
absence," replied the student.
And, like wise men, the fathers made no
further objections. So the boys saw the cattle,
and got back to Cambridge in season to avoid
any trouble with the faculty.
There was, doubtless, then, in his nature, the
incipient seeds of that delight in cattle which
made him  in after years such an adept in
the science of stock-raising- a branch of study
so widely differing from his life's work.
^^^^~Aq




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        35
CHAPTER  III.
Sumner's Law Studies. —Literary Work.- His
First Great Sorrow. - Seekingfor a Compliment. - Students changing Plans.- Failing
RHealth.
CHARLES SUMNER graduated from Harvard in
1830, being then nineteen years old.
The following year was spent at home in private study and reading, and in preparation for
his next step in life.
He entered the Cambridge Law School in
1831. Judge Story was not long in discovering
those rare qualities and that untiring diligence
which afterwards made him so great a favorite
with that eminent jurist.
It would seem that the literature and principles of his future profession, rather than its
practice, were the alluring charm to him, and to
these he applied himself with characteristic
ardor, amounting almost to a passion.




36        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
He was never satisfied with accepting anything
second-hand, but invariably went to the original
sources for the facts and arguments.
He read Kent's Commentaries in a way peculiar
to himself, carefully looking up and examining
every case referred to.
He began his researches in the law far back in
the rude Norman, proceeding downward to the
most recent authorities.
So familiar was he with the Law Library at
Cambridge (of which he was librarian), that it is
said he could go into it in the dark, and take any
book he wanted from a shelf.
His great power of acquiring and retaining
knowledge soon distinguished him  above his
fellows.
While yet a student, Mr. Sumner became a
contributor to the literature of his profession,
and published several articles in the " American
Jurist" and "Boston Law  Quarterly," all of
which were marked by deep research, breadth
of thought, and subtile ingenuity, which gave
great promise of future usefulness.
In 1832 Mr. Sumner met the first great sorrow
of his life. The sister, whose being was almost




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        37
one with his own, who had been his playmate in
babyhood and in childhood, his admiration, his
pride, and his good angel in youth and dawning
manhood, a girl remarkable for her personal
beauty and for her loveliness of character, was
removed by death, leaving a void such as is seldom felt in the heart and the life of a man by the
loss of a sister.
We can imagine how dark a shadow the wing
of death cast over every page of his books, and
how the brightness of the future he had pictured
for himself faded, now that his other self was no
longer there to sympathize in his labor and to
triumph in his success. Their double heart was
divided, with bitter pangs to the living; and even
when the keenness of the pain had passed away,
and time had healed - as it always does in mercy
-the gaping wound, the memory of that sweet
face and that pure life was enshrined, almost as
an idol, in the heart of the great man, coming
back to him  in his dreams, and softening the
spirit which was in danger of being hardened
by intercourse with bitter foes and wavering
friends in his mighty struggle for principle.
Like most brilliant and ambitious students,




38        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Sumner was possessed by a strong love of approbation; so marked at this time as to amount to
almost a weakness.
A classmate, now one of the leaders of the
Suffolk Bar, relates the following, which shows
that, high as he stood with his instructors, he
was not above the reach of an occasional rebuff
from them.
The two students were together one day in
Sumner's room, when they saw Professor Ashmun approaching. Sumner playfully remarked,
" Now I am going to get a compliment from
the professor."
He gave his teacher a polite reception, and
when he was seated, offered him a cigar. As soon
as Professor Ashmun was in a happy mood, Sumner
began by saying, " There is a lawyer down on
the Cape who says he can beat any man in the
state at special pleading, but that - Ashmun."
An expression of pleasure passed over the professor's countenance, and Sumner proceeded.
He passed his hand over his forehead, with an
air of discouragement, and said, " As for myself,
I feel that I don't know anything, " and then
paused for the expected reassuring compliment;




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         39
when, to the amazement of both, the professor
cried out, in a stern voice, "No, you don't
know  anything; and what's more, you never
will."
This rebuke was so unlooked for and so
crushing, that, although he must have known that
it was spoken in the spirit of a joke, Sumner felt
it keenly. His classmate, seeing this, came to his
relief by changing the subject. That classmate
never knew him to fish for a compliment again
while in the Law School.
Mr. Sumner had a classmate who was from one
of our most cultivated and wealthy families, and
with whom  he was on terms of the closest
intimacy.
The difference in their circumstances-although Mr. Sumner was by no means poorwas very great. Not long before his death,in
speaking of that friend, who was still a friend, he
said, " I well remember the feelings I had when's mother used to drive over to Cambridge to
see her son in her fine carriage, as my mother
could not do."
This friend had at that time a high ambition
for being a statesman, and used to dwell on his




40        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
plans, when Sumner's desire was to be a jurist,
with no dream of the popular favor or the popular
fickleness which he was afterwards to enjoy and to
suffer, and which cried for years, " A god has come
down to us in the likeness of a man;" and again,
"He hath a devil," and almost robbed him of the
coveted name of "patriot."
The young aspirant for honor in the higher
walks of law became a statesman, and he who
desired to shine in the forum has filled the no
less noble sphere of a philanthropist; and although both changed their plans, they wrought
through life, hand in hand, and shoulder to shoulder, in the mighty work for liberty and equality,
and the living one now mourns for the dead as
for a brother.
Mr. Sumner's fine constitution was not proof
against the heavy burdens he was laying upon it
by his close and unremitting study. At the first
peep of day he was poring over his books, which
he never closed till the small hours of the next
morning sounded out their warnings from the
clocks in the towers. He confessed afterwards
that he always studied eighteen hours out of
the twenty-four; so we need not wonder, espe



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       41
cially when we know that members of his family
have died with pulmonary disease, that his health
gave way, and that he at one time seemed drawing near to the grave, with every symptom of consumption. This involved a suspension of study,
and months of quiet and rest; after which he was
able again to return to his work at Cambridge.




42        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER IV.
Returning Health. —  Graduates from  the Law
School. - Enters the Law Office of Rand and
Fiske. - His Aim in Life. - A Winter in Washington. - Attentions from prominent Men at the
Bar.- Editorial Work. - Admission to the
Bar. - Testimony by a Fellow-Student. - Love
of Approbation. - Declines a Professorship at
the Law School.
WITH the passing years, Mr. Sumner gained
that great physical strength and vigor for which
he was remarkable through life.
On leaving the Law  School, he entered the
office of Rand and Fiske. Mr. Rand was a profound lawyer and a voracious reader of law
books.  The Hon. G. W. Warren, a fellowstudent in that office, speaks of Mr. Sumner as
diligently improving the rare opportunities there
afforded him of perfecting his legal knowledge,
and in particular of becoming acquainted with




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         43
the latest English law publications, which Mr.
Rand regularly procured from abroad.
Judge Story was now a frequent visitor at the
office, and there he and Mr. Rand discussed the
contents of these publications and other legal
questions.
A mind so earnest and receptive as Sumner's
of course drank in with avidity the opinions
of these masters in the law; his special object
being at this time to acquire a knowledge of the
practice of the law, which was, as we have seen,
much less attractive to him than the study of
principles.
His ambition was still to be a jurist. In his
eulogy on Judge Story, delivered some twelve
years after this, he reveals his own aspirations.
He says, " The function of a lawyer or judge —
both practising law - is unlike that of a jurist,
who, whether judge or lawyer, examines every
principle in the light of science, and, while doing
justice, seeks to widen and confirm the means of
justice hereafter....
"Such a character does not live for the present
only, whether in time or place. Ascending above
its temptations, yielding neither to the love of




44        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
gain nor to the seductions of ephemeral praise,
he perseveres in those serene labors which help
to build the mighty dome of justice, beneath
which all men are to seek shelter and peace."
With these views, Mr. Sumner studied as a
philosopher rather than as a lawyer, and looked
on the law not so much as it is, but as it should
be. The common law, though in its spirit favoring personal freedom, originated in a comparatively rude period, and was based not so much
on the principles of right and justice as on convenience and expediency; and its rules are often
arbitrary.
Mr. Sumner, in his philosophical spirit, seeking
for the foundation of rules and statutes in justice, would almost certainly have failed to attain
the highest distinction in the technical practice
of the profession. Such men as he have a grand
and beneficent work to do, which is more and
more inspiring the higher class of students of
the law, namely, to bring statutes and rules into
closer harmony with the principles of right, and
to infuse into the whole practice a higher and
nobler spirit.
Although Mr. Sumner was, a few years after




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        45
this, summoned from his chosen path of serene
speculation to the public strife of politics, yet he
carried with him his lofty ideal of justice, and, as
a statesman, rather than as a politician, gave
the weight of his great and well-furnished mind
to bring the national statutes and practice, both
in our domestic and foreign relations, up to the
standard of eternal right. This was his test of
all laws and all measures.
About this time he spent a winter in Washington, little dreaming of the scenes through which
he was there to pass, or the mighty work he was
to accomplish in the halls of legislation. His
personal presence and fine address won friends
and admirers for him, young as he was, among
the lights of the bar.
Much attention was shown him by the judges
and practitioners in the Supreme Court. Even
Chief Justice Marshall extended to him civilities very unusual for a man in his position to
tender to a mere law student. He doubtless saw
his future greatness through the veil of his youth.
Before being admitted to the bar, Sumner became chief editor of the " American Jurist," and
conducted it with singular ability for a period of




46        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
three years, doing much of the writing himself;
bringing forth in his reviews of law books the
varied stores of learning he had been gathering
during his early and late hours of research at
Cambridge.
He was only twenty-three years of age when,
in 1834, he was admitted to the bar in Worcester,
with the reputation of being the most learned
young lawyer in the country.
He now opened an office in Boston, and set sail
on the sea of life with a favoring breeze, and
with a strong hand on the helm.
Not long after this he became reporter of the
United States Circuit Court, and published three
volumes of reports, the decisions being those of
Judge Story, and known as " Sumner's Reports."
He had now formed an idea of going abroad,
and, with this in view, held himself aloof from any
engagements that would interfere with his purpose.
During three years he filled the place of Judge
Story at the Law School, hearing recitations (for
lectures had not yet been introduced in the Law
School), and also performed, for a time, the duties
of Professor Greenleaf, in his absence.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         47
All this time he was unremitting in his labors,
making constitutional law and the law of nations
a specialty.
Soon after his service in the Law School, he was
invited to a professorship at Harvard; and on his
declining to accept it, the offer was repeated, with
the additional inducement of a chair in the law
faculty.
But much as Mr. Sumner appreciated the honor
and usefulness of the position, he shrank from
confining himself to those regular duties of a professorship which would interfere with the course
of study and travel he had laid out for himself.
A lawyer, who was a student of Sumner's at
this time, speaks of him as an admirable teacher,
kind and fascinating in his manner, and possessed
of a natural dignity, which had in it no trace of
affectation. His ample store of learning, his rare
power of communication, and his genial spirit
won the respect and affection of the students.
There was observable at the same time a measure
of vanity, which, in his case, seemed to heighten
one's estimate of his character, because it revealed
that simplicity and truthfulness which could not
conceal the pardonable weakness. In his subse



48        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
quent life we shall have frequent occasion to see
the real greatness of the man in that, while so
desirous of the good opinion of others, he could
sacrifice the dearest friendships and the most
enticing social position, and incur odium and contempt, for the sake of his convictions; so overpowering was his regard for truth and justice.
We cannot doubt but the stand which he felt
compelled to take, at different times in after years,
against the wishes and expectations of his friends,
and against his own seeming good, cost his sensitive spirit many a pang of agony; for he was not
the cold, calculating, overbearing man that some
have taken him to be. He loved to stand high
in public esteem, to be caressed and honored;
but he loved more to be true to conscience and
to God.
Those who knew him in his youth and early
manhood, who saw him in his most familiar hours,
when his true character appeared without any
temptation to disguise, assure us that he was
singularly simple hearted and guileless. And as
he was in his youth, so he was, in all his subsequent career. In this view we can hardly call
his love of approbation an infirmity.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        49
There are those who affect to disregard what
others think of them, and glory in their independence of public opinion. But this, so far from
being a virtue, or even an infirmity, is a grievous
defect, and may become a vice. It is a sign of
nobleness to desire the good opinion of the good;
and he who really disregards it has a mean and
despicable character. When, as in the case of
Lord Bacon, vanity becomes an idol, demanding
the incense which should be offered to honor and
justice, it deserves only reprobation and contempt. But when a man is doing right, and desires that other men should know and appreciate
his efforts, and honor him for them, it is, to say
the least, pardonable, especially when his work,
and not himself alone, is kept prominent.
4




50        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER V.
Visit to Europe. - Letter of Judge Story. - Incident in Westminster Hall. - Testimony of English Judges. - Baron Parke's Appreciation of
Mr. Sumner's Learning. - In Paris. - In Germany. - In Italy.
FORTY years ago foreign travel for the purposes of enjoyment and study was the lot of a
favored few, and not, as now, an event in the
life of almost every literary and professional man.
In the fall of 1837, Mr. Sumner, then twentysix years old, carried out his long-cherished plan
of visiting Europe.
His previous studies had formed a fitting preparation for foreign travel. He was well read in
the literature, the history, and the political institutions of England and the countries on the continent. In matters of art he had formed a taste,
and knew what were the masterpieces and where
they were to be found.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         51
Full of scholarly enthusiasm, he longed to visit
the world-renowned universities of Europe, to see
and converse with its great men, - its scholars, its
jurists, its statesmen, to examine its libraries
and art treasures, and to inform himself more
thoroughly as to the peculiar features of its civilization. The reputation for scholarship which he
carried with him, his gentlemanly bearing, his unassuming modesty, his rare conversational powers,
and the valuable letters he took from Judge Story
and other gentlemen of European fame, gave him
at once such access to the highest circles of society as is rarely enjoyed by so young a man in a
foreign land.
The following is an extract from one of Judge
Story's letters addressed to a gentleman in London, dated November 3, 1837:"Mr. Sumner is a practising lawyer at the
Boston bar, of very high reputation for his years,
and already giving the promise of the most eminent distinction in his profession; his literary and
judicial attainments are truly extraordinary.
"His private character, also, is of the best kind
for purity and propriety; but to accomplish himself more thoroughly in the great objects of his




52         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
profession —not merely to practise, but to extend the boundaries in the science of law, -I am
anxious that he should possess the means of visiting the courts of Westminster Hall under favorable auspices; and I shall esteem it a personal
favor if you can give him any facilities in this
particular."
Mr. Sumner first visited England, where he
spent nearly a year, improving every moment in
study, in careful observation of men and things,
in attendance upon the debates of Parliament, the
courts, and scientific associations; finding elegant
and most congenial relaxation in the circles of
the great and titled, where he was ever welcome.
More than once he was invited to sit with the
judges in Westminster Hall. At one time, during the progress of a trial, a point arose where
there seemed to be no precedent.  The lord
chief justice, turning to Sumner, said, " Can you
inform me whether there are any American decisions upon the point in question?"  "No, your
lordship," was the reply; " but this point has been
decided in your lordship's own court in such a
case," giving him the citation. This remarkable




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        53
readiness gave him cdlat throughout the kingdom.
The above is related by a former classmate, now
a gentleman of standing in this city.
The letters which so close an observer wrote
to his friends at home must have been full of
interest. That they were of this character appears from the following letter written by Judge
Story to Mr. Sumner, August 11, 1838:" I have received all your letters, and have devoured them with unspeakable delight. All the
family have heard them read aloud, and all join
in their expressions of pleasure. You are now
exactly where I should wish you to be - among
the educated, the literary, the noble, and, though
last, not least, the learned of England, of good
Old England, our mother-land, God bless her!"
Mr. Sumner spent several months in Paris,
where, as in England, he was industriously employed in study and in converse with men eminent in literature and law. It was here that he
met our distinguished countryman, Mr. Wheaton,
with whom he had much conversation upon international law, and to whom he suggested the plan
of the great work on that subject afterwards written by that eminent jurist.




54        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
It was there that he prepared an essay upon a
subject then much discussed in foreign circles,
namely, the north-eastern boundary of the United
States, which was then in dispute between this
country and Great Britain. The paper was, like
all Mr. Sumner's efforts, exhaustive and satisfactory, and attracted much attention at home
and abroad.
In Germany, and in particular at Heidelberg,
he spent some time, and formed the acquaintance
of eminent jurists and scholars, such as Savigny,
Humboldt, and Ritter.
His visit to Italy was to him one of peculiar
delight. It is said that here he used to spend
all the day in the libraries and galleries of art, and
nearly all the night in study, perfecting himself
in the rich literature which had attracted Milton
before him, a young and enthusiastic student like
himself. One can easily imagine the pleasure
which such classic scenes, where the ancient and
the modern combine to make Italy, and especially
Rome, so conspicuous in the annals of the world,
in poetry, history, law, government, and art, must
have awakened in Mr. Sumner's mind. He had
all the tastes and instincts of a scholar, and in




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         55
the serene pursuits of literature and law he was
here, in his own purpose, laying the foundation
of a career devoted to the quiet enlargement of
human knowledge and human happiness.
Little did he then imagine that this cultivation
of literature and art was to furnish but the bright
gilding of a sterner life, engaged in heroic battling with the greatest wrong of the age, as the
foremost champion of the poor and oppressed.
But so it was appointed, that Liberty, outraged
in millions of slaves, was preparing for herself a
leader, like Moses, " learned in all the wisdom"
of the age, who should compel respect and consideration for a cause then intensely unpopular.
The reputation which Mr. Sumner left behind
him in England appears from the following incident, referred to in Loring's "Hundred Boston
Orators ":On an insurance question before the Court of
Exchequer, one of the counsel having cited an
American case, Baron Parke, one of the oldest of
the English judges, asked him from what book he
quoted. "Sumner's Reports," he replied. "Is
that," asked Baron Rolfe, " the Mr. Sumner who
was once in England?"  Being answered in the




56         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
affirmative, Baron Parke replied, "We shall not
consider it entitled to less attention because reported by a gentleman whom we all knew and
respected."
The year after his return from England, the
"London Quarterly Review," alluding to his visit,
said, " He presents in his own person a decisive
proof that an American gentleman, without official rank or wide-spread reputation, by dint
of courtesy, candor, an entire absence of pretension, an appreciating spirit, and a cultivated mind,
may be received on a perfect footing of equality
in the best circles, social, political, and intellectual; which, be it observed, are hopelessly inaccessible to the itinerant note-taker, who never
gets beyond the outskirts of the show-houses."
In the year 1840, Mr. Sumner returned home.
As might be expected from his antecedents and
his rare personal accomplishments, he was a welcome guest in the most refined circles. The
literary notables of Boston and vicinity were
proud of his acquaintance and friendship.
His foreign studies, especially in literature and
art, had rendered the practice of the law still less
attractive to him than before; and he was now




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         57
chiefly known as an elegant scholar, and a dev.
otee of the law in its literature and principles.
His edition of Vesey's Reports, in twenty volumes, published from 1844 to 1846, show the bent
of his mind and the affluence of his learning.




58        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER VI.
State of the Country. - Slave- Trade. - Missouri
Compromise. -  Change in Southern Sentiment.
-  Opposition at the North. - Change at the
North. - Anti-Slavery Feeling.
BEFORE entering upon the public life of Mr.
Sumner, it will be proper to consider the state of
the country, as regards the institution of slavery,
previous to that period; for to the overthrow of
that system his public life was mainly devoted.
Where was the slavery question when he took it
to his great heart?
Three years before his birth, the foreign slavetrade had ended. As it was still clandestinely
carried on, the importation of slaves into the
United States was, twelve years after, declared
to be piracy, and made punishable with death.
But the domestic slave-trade -that is, between
the slave states —was still carried on, and with




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         59
increasing vigor. It was attended with many
horrors. Many free negroes fell a prey to kidnappers, and were reduced to slavery. No less
than fifteen thousand slaves were annually imported from the more northern of the slave states
into the distant South. Virginia, especially, became the "negro-raising state for other states."
After the war of 1812, " the demand for slave
labor greatly increased, and the price of slaves
was much advanced."  The conscience of the
South, which, in spite of slavery, had been, to
no small extent, on the side of freedom, began
rapidly to harden. As slavery became more profitable, it was viewed with less abhorrence, and
its removal, which had been talked of even at the
South as a most desirable event, at some future
day, was now indefinitely postponed. Ere long
slavery was declared to be a blessing to the negro race. It was a " patriarchal," it was a " missionary " institution. By these cheats practised
upon conscience, the South became more and
more wedded to slavery. The great curse of
our nation was gaining new strength every day.
When young Sumner was nine years old, an
important event occurred, which afterwards,




60        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
when the lad had grown to be a man, and was a
senator at Washington, became the occasion of
calling forth his indignant eloquence. We refer
to the Missouri Compromise, as it was called,
which was effected in 1820. This Compromise
was the result of a mighty struggle between
the free North and the slaveholding South. The
Territory of Missouri had applied for admission as
a state. The North wished to exclude slavery,
the South to allow it. The contest was waged
long and fiercely. It ended in a compromise, by
which something was granted to freedom, but
much more was gained by slavery. Missouri came
in as a slave state, and slavery was forever prohibited north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes
north latitude; but this did not express the whole
result. The Compromise was a real triumph for
the South. It was simply a politic measure on
their part for effecting a new  extension of
slavery. When another extension was desired, a
new compromise could be concocted, or the old
one annulled   which was actually done in 1850.
"The Missouri struggle, which so aroused and
called into action the vital forces of freedom and
slavery, demonstrated the startling fact that the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          61
race of Southern statesmen who believed slavery
to be a temporary evil, to be abolished at some
future day, and in some unforeseen way, had
passed away." Even Jefferson, who had pictured
the evils of slavery in the darkest colors, and who
"had once prepared a plan for the prohibition of
slavery in all the territory from the Lakes to the
Gulf, became alarmed, and shrunk appalled before the fury of the strife, declaring that it fell
upon his ear'like the fire-bell at midnight.'  *
So with Madison and Monroe.
On the other hand, the people of the entire
North, without respect to party, were aroused by
this new  attitude of the slave power.  They
were alarmed by the further extension of a system which they had fondly hoped would gradually disappear.  The future assumed a more
gloomy aspect.
" The legislature of Pennsylvania unanimously opposed the existence of slavery in Missouri.  Their resolutions declared'that they
are persuaded that to open the fertile region
of the West to a servile race would tend to increase their number beyond all past example,
* Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, by Henry Wilson.




62        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
would open a new and steady market for the lawless venders of human flesh, and render all
schemes for obliterating this foul blot upon the
American character useless and unavailing.'.. 
And they invoked the several states,' by the duty
they owe to the Deity, by the veneration which
they entertain for the memories of the founders of
the republic, and by a tender regard for posterity, to protest against its adoption, to refuse to
covenant with crime, and to limit the range of an
evil that already hangs in awful boding over so
large a portion of the Union.'"
These remonstrances against the organization
of new slave states, and the extension of the
curse of slavery, were sincere and earnest;
but when, after a struggle, victory fell to the
South, the moral effect was disastrous. The free
sentiment of the North, thus baffled and humiliated, began to show signs of weakness and discouragement.  "Freedom  became timid, hesitating, yielding; slavery became bolder, more
aggressive, and more dominating. Freedom retreated from one lost position to another; slavery
advanced from  conquest to conquest. Several
years of unremitted despotism of the slave power




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         63
followed the consummation of the Missouri Compromise. The dark spirit of slavery swayed the
policy of the republic. Southern legislatures repealed the more humane acts of their slave codes,...and enacted statutes still more inhuman."
But the spirit of freedom and humanity was still
alive and growing in many hearts. Amidst general defection there was a precious remnant.
There were men and women who learned their
duty at a higher source than shifting public opinion, who listened to the "still small voice" of
God, the Father of all. Their hearts were saddened- overwhelmed by the condition of the
country. The cries of millions of slaves were to
them an irresistible appeal for help. They pondered the question of duty, they prayed for light
and strength, and then they went fearlessly forward in open and direct resistance to slavery.
To human sight theirs was an unequal, almost
profitless task. They were a handful of weak, obscure individuals, against a power which seemed
well nigh omnipotent. But they were inspired
and sustained by a serene faith in the ultimate
triumph of truth.
Among the pioneers of direct anti-slavery ef



64        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
fort, Benjamin Lundy, a native of New Jersey,
of Quaker parentage, deserves the foremost place.
He was a true philanthropist- tender-hearted,
self-sacrificing, fearless, and yet prudent. " His
heart was troubled at the sad condition of the
slave. He enjoyed, he said, no peace of mind,
and came to the conclusion that he must not only
feel, but act, for the suffering bondmen. Calling a few friends together at his house, he unbosomed his feelings.  An anti-slavery organization was formed, called'the Union Humane
Society.' "
This was in 1815, when Charles Sumner was a
boy of four years.  Six years later, in 1821,
Lundy commenced, in Ohio, a monthly paper, The
Genius of Universal Emancipation. In 1824 he
transferred his paper to Baltimore. In 1828, on
a visit to the Eastern States, he accomplished perhaps the greatest work of his life; he formed the
acquaintance, in Boston, of a young man of twenty-three, and won him at once to his views. The
young man was William Lloyd Garrison.
Charles Sumner was then in his second college
year, seventeen years of age.
When Lundy returned to Baltimore, he did not




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        65
forget young Garrison. Evidently the acquaintance had deeply impressed his mind. He came
back to Boston in search of his friend. But Garrison had left the city, and was editing a paper in
Vermont. Thither Lundy pursued him. Mr. Garrison, afterwards writing of this visit, said, "He
had taken his staff in hand, and come all the way
to the Green Mountains. He came to lay it on
my conscience and my soul that I should join him
in this work of seeking the abolition of slavery."
Lundy prevailed.  The next year they joined
hands in Baltimore in the warfare against slavery.
Mr. Garrison outstripped his partner —not in devotion to the cause of emancipation, but in the
fiery energy with which he assailed slavery. " In
his first issue, he insisted on immediate and unconditional emancipation as the right of the slave
and the duty of the master, and disclaimed all
temporizing, all make-shifts, all compromises, condemning colonization, and everything else that involved or implied affiliation or sympathy with
slaveholders."  The Democratic slave-trade he
denounced as " Democratic piracy." He branded
as pirates the men- calling them by name - who
carried on this traffic between Baltimore and New
5




66         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Orleans. The result was a fine, and imprisonment
for forty-nine days. Released by the generosity
of a friend, who paid the fine and costs, Mr. Garrison returned to Boston, to resume his weapons
against slavery.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        67
CHAPTER,VII.
" The Liberator " established by Mr. Garrison. -
Its Boldness. - Excitement at the South.Demand on the lMayor of Boston.
WHILE Mr. Sumner was engaged in his quiet
studies, the year after his graduation from
college, Mr. Garrison, six years his senior, commenced the publication of The Liberator, in Boston. The first number appeared in January,
1831.
The history of this newspaper teaches us
"not to despise the day of small things."  No
beginning could be more humble. No funds, not
a single subscriber, the partner, Mr. Knapp, who
was the printer, as poor as the editor, " a dingy
room of sixteen feet square, at once his sanctum,
workshop, and home."  What could be more unpromising or insignificant? But behind all this
poverty and meanness was an ardent, indomi



68        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
table soul, conscious of a great mission, resolved
to be heard.
We have seen Mr. Garrison's spirit, truth-loving
and fearless, in Baltimore. From prison he came
to Boston to deal heavier blows against the greatest wrong of the age. The establishment of The
Liberator was the inauguration of a new era in the
anti-slavery cause. It was the era of calling
things by their right names. Listen to the introductory announcement:
"During my recent tour for the purpose of
exciting the minds of the people by a series of
discourses on the subject of slavery, every place
that I visited gave fresh evidence of the fact
that a greater revolution in public sentiment was
to be effected in the free states -and particularly in New England —than at the South. I
found contempt more bitter, opposition more
active, detraction more relentless, prejudice more
stubborn, and apathy more frozen than among
slaveholders themselves. Of course there were
individual exceptions to the contrary. This state
of things affected but did not dishearten me.
I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the
standard of emancipation in the eyes of the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         69
nation, within sight of Bunker Hill, and in the
birthplace of liberty. That standard is now unfurled; and long may it float, unhurt by the
spoliations of time or the missiles of a desperate
foe; yea, till every chain be broken, and every
bondman set free.  Let Southern oppressors
tremble; let their abettors tremble; let all the
enemies of the persecuted blacks tremble.
" I am aware that many object to the severity
of my language; but is there not cause for
severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as
uncompromising as justice. On this subject I
do not wish to think, or speak, or write with
moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house
is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to
moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the
ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate
her babe from the fire into which it has fallen;
but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like
the present. I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat an inch.
AND I WILL BE HEARD! The apathy of the people
is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.
"It is pretended that I am retarding the cause




70           LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of emancipation by the coarseness of my invective,
and the precipitancy of my measures. The charge
is not true. On this question, my influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable extent; and it shall be felt in coming years
— not perniciously, but beneficially-  not as a
curse, but as a blessing; and  POSTERITY WILL
BEAR  WITNESS THAT I WAS RIGHT.   I desire  to
thank God that He enables me to disregard the
fear of man, which bringeth a snare, and to speak
truth in its simplicity and power; and I here
close with this dedication: -'Oppression! I have seen thee, face to face,
And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow;
But thy soul-withering glance I fear not now -
For dread to prouder feelings doth give place
Of deep abhorrence! Scorning the disgrace
Of slavish knees that at thy footstool bow
I also kneel-but with far other vow
Do hail thee and thy herd of hirelings base;
I swear, while life-blood warms my throbbing veins,
Still to oppose and thwart, with heart and hand,
Thy brutalizing sway - till Afric's chains
Are burst, and Freedom rules the rescued land,
Trampling Oppression and his iron rod.
Such is the vow I take -so help me God!  "
When were braver words ever spoken —to
be  followed  up  by  corresponding  words  and
acts?




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        71
When accused of using hard language, he replied: "I admit the charge.  I have not been
able to find a soft word to describe villany, or
to identify the perpetrator of it. The man who
makes a chattel of his brother -what is he?
The man who keeps back the hire of his laborers
by fraud - what is he? They who prohibit the
circulation of the Bible - what are they? They
who compel three millions of men and women
to herd together, like brute beasts- what are
they? They who sell mothers by the pound, and
children in lots to suit purchasers —what are
they?  I care not what terms are applied to
them, provided they do apply. If they are not
thieves, if they are not tyrants, if they are not
men-stealers, I should like to know what is their
true character, and by what names they may be
called. It is as mild an epithet to say that a
thief is a thief, as it is to say that a spade is a
spade."
Mr. Garrison had said, "I will be heard;"
"Let Southern oppressors tremble."  He was
heard, and that speedily.  The sound of his
trumpet, issuing from that dingy attic, reached
even Southern ears. There was alarm through



72        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
out Slavedom. Southern fears at once comprehended the full measure of this new foe. While
as yet quite unnoticed at the North, he was
famous at the South. Southern ears, accustomed
to alarms, were quicker to discern coming danger.
There was something in these clear, ringing
tones that told of " a Daniel come to judgment."
There was a spirit in the man which they felt
could not be intimidated or blinded. Accordingly, measures were taken to avert the threatened
peril.
" Before the close of the first year, the Vigilance Association of Columbia, S. C.,' composed
of gentlemen of the first respectability,' offered
a reward of fifteen hundred dollars for the apprehension and conviction of any white person
detected in circulating in that state' the newspaper called The Liberator."'
The corporation of Georgetown, D. C., passed
an ordinance rendering it penal for any free person of color to take from  the post-office -the
paper, published at Boston, called The Liberator,
the punishment for each offence to be twenty
dollars fine, or thirty days imprisonment. In
case the offender was not able to pay the fine, or




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         73
the fees for imprisonment, he was to be sold into
slavery for four months. The grand jury of
Raleigh, N. C., at the instigation of the attorney
general, made an indictment against the editor and
publisher of The Liberator for its circulation in
that county. The legislature of Georgia passed
an act offering a rewardof five thousand dollars
for the arrest, prosecution, and trial to conviction,
under the laws of the state, of the editor or
publisher of a certain paper called The Liberator,
published in the town of Boston, and State of
Massachusetts.
Truly compliments were showered upon our
poor editor!
A certain Southern magistrate thought to beard
the Northern lion in his very den. He requested the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, " the wealthy and
aristocratic Mayor of Boston," to suppress The
Liberator.   The mayor had  probably never
heard of, certainly never read, the paltry abolition sheet. But, as a good and faithful peacemaker, he set about the task  demanded of
him.  In due time he reported that his officers " had ferreted out the paper and its editor,
whose office was an obscure hole, his only visible




74        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
auxiliary a negro boy, its supporters a few
insignificant persons of all colors," &c., &c.; and
he assured the complainant that there was no
possible cause for alarm   The South knew
better, and kept up a standing premium on his
head.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        75
CHAPTER  VIII.
Fears of Slaveholders. —Slave  Conspiracy at
Charleston. - Nat Turner's Insurrection. - His
Execution. - Abolitionists in the Virginia Legislature. - Pro-Slavery at the North. - American Anti-Slavery Society. - Riots in New York
and elsewhere. - Mr. Garrison Mobbed in Boston. -  Wendell Phillips. — lobs.-  Elijah P.
Lovejoy. - A human Ear.- Rifling the Mails.
- Right of Petition. - John Quincy Adams.
THE South was disturbed not only by Northern fanatics; within in her own border, the spirit
of liberty, which dwells in every human heart,
an inextinguishable spark from heaven, not seldom roused her bondmen to recover their stolen
rights. As far back as 1812, John Randolph,
of Virginia, in opposing the proposed invasion
of Canada, lest it might expose the Southern
coast to British troops, and stir up a servile insurrection, said, " While talking of Canada, we




76         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
have too much reason to shudder for our own
safety at home. I speak from facts, when I say
that the night bell never tolls for fire in Richmond, that the frightened mother does not hug
her infant more closely to her bosom, not knowing what may have happened."
In Charleston, S. C., years after, an extensive
conspiracy was formed for murdering the whites,
and only the fortunate betrayal of the plot,
almost at the last moment, by a female slave to
her mistress, to whom and her family she was
much attached, prevented its execution. The
inhabitants of that city trembled when they
learned how very near to them had come a terrible tragedy.
A slaveholder said to the writer, many years
since, "We are dwelling on the sides of a volcano, which may burst upon us at any moment."
In 1831 occurred the Southampton insurrection in Virginia. It was headed by Nat Turner,
a religious fanatic, who had been possessed from
childhood with the idea that he was a prophet
of the Lord, charged, like Moses, with the mighty
work of delivering his people from  bondage.
His austerity of life and manners, and the magic




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         77
power he exercised over his associates, influenced not a few of them to believe that he
was indeed divinely inspired. In his statement
before his execution, he said, " On the 12th day
of May, 1828, I heard a loud noise in the heavens;
and the Spirit instantly appeared to me, and
said,' The serpent is loosened, and Christ has
laid down the yoke he bore for the sins of men,
and I should take it up and fight against the
serpent, for the time is fast approaching when
the first shall be last and the last shall be
first, and that by signs in the heaven that He
would make known to me when I should commence the great work, and until the first sign
should appear, I should conceal it from  the
knowledge of men.'"
The eclipse of February, 1831, he regarded
as the token that the seal was removed from his
lips, and that he was to call his forces together,
slay the whites around them, and so give liberty
to the enslaved. This was to take place on the
4th of July; but he fell sick in view of the awful
task laid upon him, and the day passed by. But
" the sign" appeared again, and on the 21st of
August he and some fifty associates, mounted,




78         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and armed with guns, swords, axes, and clubs,
went from house to house, and beginning with
the owner of Nat Turner, massacred some sixty
whites. They were, however, soon fired upon.
As the result of the insurrection, one hundred
negroes were either shot or captured.
The whole state was thrown into alarm, which
ran like wildfire through all the slave states.
The next session of the legislature of Virginia
was occupied with speeches, and plans, and arguments, called forth by this shocking event. Governor Floyd asserted that the plans for treason,
insurrection, and murder had been  designed
and matured by unrestrained  and designing
fanatics in the neighboring states.  He also
denounced the negro preachers as instigators of
revolt, and expressed his conviction that the
safety of the public required that they should
be silenced, and the free people of color banished
from the state.
Petitions now began to pour into the legislature. Some of them  were from  slaveholders,
praying for the removal of the free negroes; and
others from the Quakers, asking for the emancipation of the slaves.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         79
The discussions which followed woke up a
spirit little looked for, and developed the fact
that there were many anti-slavery slaveholders
in the body. One member asserted that "the
free negro  population was a nuisance," but
added, " There is another and a greater nuisance
— slavery itself."  He called the system "the
greatest curse that God, in his wrath, had ever
inflicted on a people."  He asserted that men
were forced to lock their doors at night and
to open them in the morning to let their servants
in to light the fires, with a pistol in their hand,
and said, " Under such circumstances, life is a
burden, and it were better to seek a home in
some distant realm, and leave the graves of our
fathers, than endure so precarious a condition."
Another member called slavery " the greatest
curse ever inflicted upon the state," while yet
another, using still stronger language, spoke of
"its irresistible tendency to  undermine  and
destroy everything like virtue  and morality
in the community," and declared that the purpose of the master was to see that the ignorance of his slaves shall be as profound as
possible; and he vowed to do henceforth all in




80         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
his power to restore to this oppressed people,
their God-given rights. Another member called
slavery " the bitterest drop from the chalice of
the destroying angel."
It might seem that Virginia, at least, was on
the eve of an act of emancipation. But the
anti-slavery sentiment, which was so strong in
Western Virginia, among the mountains, where
freedom is wont to dwell, was overpowered by
the eastern portion of the' state, where lived
the great slaveholders. The danger from which
they had just escaped made these men only the
more fanatical in their defence of slavery, and
the more bitter in their hostility to those who
sought its overthrow. New safeguards must be
thrown around  the "patriarchal" institution,
new and more stringent laws enacted, a sharper
watch maintained against abolition emissaries,
and the national government made to take
slavery more directly under its protection.
The free North, united  to  the  South by
social, political, commercial, and ecclesiastical
ties, departed, to a fearful extent, from her
better traditions, and joined in the crusade
against abolitionists. " Great is Diana of the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        81
Ephesians   Great and ever to be defended is
American slavery I
From  that time onward, the opposition to
anti-slavery increased in intensity both at the
North and South. For several years mob-law
had the ascendency.  Free speech was put
under the ban. Slavery must not be mentioned
in sermons and orations, except in terms of
commendation or extenuation. The press was
muzzled. Public prayers for those who were in
bonds was treason against the government.
These mandates of slavery were enforced with
unrelenting rigor. Abolitionists were the objects of constant abuse, and often their lives
were in peril.
But, nothing daunted, these peaceable friends
of human liberty resolved to proceed to more
effective measures in the cause to which they
had sacredly sworn themselves. In the winter
of 1833, a convention assembled in Philadelphia
for the formation of an American Anti-slavery
Society. This meeting has been recently described in a very graphic manner by John G.
Whittier, himself an active participator in the
proceedings. Sixty-two delegates were in at6




82        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
tendance, among whom  were Beriah Green,
William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel J. May, Lewis
Tappan, and John Rankin.
The society was organized under circumstances of peculiar solemnity. Their work completed, the president, the Rev. Mr. Green, addressed the members, as they were about to
separate, in touching  and  prophetic  words.
"Brethren," he said, "it has been good to be
here. In this hallowed atmosphere I have been
revived and refreshed.... But we must now
retire from these influences and breathe another
atmosphere. The chill hoar-frost will be upon us.
The storm and tempest will rise, and the waves of
persecution will dash against our souls. Let us
be prepared for the worst. Let us fasten ourselves to the throne of God as with hooks of
steel.... Let us be assured that our only hope
in grappling with the bony monster is in an Arm
that is stronger than ours. Let us fix our gaze
on God, and walk in the light of his countenance. If our cause be just, - and we know it is,
-his omnipotence is pledged to its triumph.
Let this cause be entwined around the very
fibres of our hearts. Let our hearts grow to it,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        83
so that nothing but death can sunder the
bond."
Mr. Whittier adds, "He ceased, and then,
amidst a silence broken only by the deep-drawn
breath of emotion in the assembly, lifted up his
voice in a prayer to Almighty God, full of fervor
and feeling, imploring his blessing and sanctification upon the convention and its labors. And
with the solemnity of this supplication in our
hearts, we clasped hands in farewell, and went
forth each man to his place of duty, not knowing
the things that should befall us, as individuals,
but with a confidence, never shaken by abuse
and persecution, in the certain triumph of our
cause."
Thus was born into life the first national antislavery organization.
The "storm  and tempest" did rise.  There
had been pro-slavery mobs in New York city.
The cry was raised in 1833, " Ten thousand dollars for Arthur Tappan."  Valuable men were
those abolitionists! But in 1834 the " waves of
persecution" dashed more furiously. An antislavery celebration on the 4th of July was
broken up by ruffians, crying, " Treason, treason!




84        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Hurrah for the Union!"  Alas that the United
States were reduced to the humiliation of having
such defenders I The leading journals of the city
praised the rioters, who, for several days, committed their outrages unrebuked. At midnight,
on the 9th, the dwelling of Lewis Tappan was
broken open by a mob, his furniture carried into
the street and consigned to the flames.  The
next day several churches had their doors and
windows broken; one was "badly shattered, and
one nearly destroyed, as were a school-house for
colored children, and many dwellings inhabited
by negroes. None of the rioters were ever punished."  It was a reign of terror. In Philadelphia
there was a three-days' riot, in which the colored
people suffered terribly by assaults upon their
persons and dwellings.
New England was disgraced by similar scenes;
for the slave-fiend had poisoned the moral atmosphere of the whole country. In Massachusetts,
at Worcester, in 1835, an anti-slavery lecturer
was assaulted in the midst of the meeting. Similar disturbances occurred in many villages. At
Boston, October 21, 1835, a large and most respectable mob, composed in good. part of merchants,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          85
assailed a meeting of the Female Anti-slavery
Society, while its president was at prayer, and
dispersed it.*  Brave men were they    Mr.
Garrison, being discovered, " was seized, a rope
put round him, his hat knocked off his head
and cut in pieces, and his clothes torn from his
body. Dragged through Wilson's Lane into State
Street, he was rescued by the mayor, his posse,
and several respectable citizens, and taken into
the mayor's room in the Old State House. From
this place he was conveyed in a carriage to Leverett Street Jail, to save him from the fury of the
mob."  In order to effect Mr. Garrison's admission to the jail, the kind-hearted deputy-sheriff,
Mr. Parkman, got out a warrant against him as " a
disturber of the peace." Mr. Parkman attempted
to get into the carriage with the criminal, but
could not for the crowd. Hastening to his own
carriage, he fortunately reached the jail just as Mr.
Garrison arrived. The warrant was presented,
the jail door was thrown quickly open, and Mr.
Garrison was safe from the howling mob. There
he remained  for the night.  As he was a
prisoner for no crime, he could not be detained,
* The American Conflict, by Horace Greeley.




86        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and the next day an order was issued for his
appearance before the court, to secure his release. But it was not considered safe that so
much publicity should be given to the affair; and
accordingly, as Mr. Garrison could not go to the
court, the court came to him  The judge went
to the jail, and informed Mr. Garrison that he was
free to go "as a blameless citizen."  But before
departing, he inscribed these words upon the
walls of the prison: " William Lloyd Garrison was
put into this cell on Monday afternoon, October
21, 1835, to save him from the violence of a respectable and influential mob, who sought to
destroy him for preaching the abominable and
dangerous doctrine that all men are created
equal, and that all oppression is odious in the
sight of God."
Among the spectators of that riot of the 21st was
a young lawyer, of rare gifts, and of high promise
-Wendell Phillips. Up to that day he had had no
thought of linking himself with the abolitionists.
His only ambition was eminence in his profession
or as a statesman. That sight of savage brutality
suddenly changed the whole purpose and current
of his life. From that time he became a reader




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.               87
of The Liberator, and a co-laborer with its hounded editor, in the anti-slavery cause.
The same year, in November, at Northfield,
N. H., Rev. George Storrs, while in prayer, preliminary to an anti-slavery lecture, was dragged
from his knees, on a warrant issued by a justice
charging him with being "a common rioter and
brawler." *
In 1837, in Alton, Illinois, Elijah P. Lovejoy, a
man of culture and much moral worth, an editor
of an anti-slavery paper, was subjected to a series
of annoyances and persecutions, resulting in the
destruction of his press and type, and finally his
murder by a mob.  These are a few specimens
of the pro-slavery spirit in the free states.
At the South, abolitionism was the unpardonable sin, to be visited with summary vengeance.
A New Orleans paper declared that every antislavery emissary of the South would "be burned
at the stake." Such was the voice from Georgia,
* The year 1835 may be called the year of mobs. Many had occurred the preceding year, but this was the culminating period.
" A reign of terror prevailed throughout the free states. Churches
and public halls were assaulted, life and limb were endangered,
anti-slavery speakers were roughly handled, and often placed in
circumstances of imminent peril."




88        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Mississippi, and everywhere else. In the United
States Senate, in 1838, a member from  South
Carolina said, " Let an abolitionist come within the
borders of South Carolina, if we can catch we
will try him, and, notwithstanding all the interference of all the governments of the earth, including the federal government, we will HANG him."
So great was the hatred and dread of abolitionists at the South, that the mails were searched,
and rifled of anti-slavery documents; and the
postmaster general, in a letter to the postmaster
of Charleston, S. C., said, " I cannot sanction, and
will not condemn, the step you have taken."
The writer remembers being once at the house
of a gentleman of high standing, whose name was
then an abomination at the South, when a large
letter arrived from South Carolina. It contained
a dead and withered human ear and a bit of roe!
The letter read something like this: " Knowing
that you are much interested in our negroes, I
send you the ear of a slave, cut off for attempting
to escape to the North. The rope is a hint of
what awaits you if we can get you in our power."
Further, in order to effect its purpose, the slave
power trampled on the sacred right of petition.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         89
The existence of slavery and the slave-trade in
the District of Columbia was especially offensive
to the North. That horrid traffic was carried on
in sight of the national Capitol, and under circumstances of extreme cruelty. Slave-pens were
there, filled with human merchandise, and gangs
of slaves, handcuffed and chained, were a spectacle of constant occurrence.
Liberty was outraged in the sight of the whole
world. The United States were disgraced by
such unspeakable hypocrisy   a free republic
legalizing the buying and selling of human beings. It was not ashamed to expose its nakedness.
It was natural that such a state of things should
provoke indignation in the free North. In the
name of decency, as well as of humanity, let slavery
cease to flaunt its flag at the common capital of
the nation. Such was the growing feeling at the
North. Numerous petitions were sent to Congress, in 1835, for the removal of these abominations. But the right of petition was denied by
Congress, and a rule was passed excluding antislavery petitions.
In 1842, John Tyler being president, John




90        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Quincy Adams, representative from  Massachusetts, who had, in previous years, manfully defended the right of petition, secured a great
triumph over the slave power. The subject was
discussed for nearly two weeks, amidst the most
intense excitement. The boldness and persistency of Mr. Adams were intolerable. A resolution censuring his conduct was introduced. But
as it was a very serious matter, the pro-slavery
members decided to take further thought before
final action. A meeting for deliberation was held
in the evening, and a chivalrous young member,
Thomas Marshall, of Kentucky, was selected to
bring forward resolutions. The wish was, to expel the venerable ex-president; but they feared
to take that step. It was decided to be content
with something less. The next morning, after
the reading of the journal, Mr. Marshall submitted,
according to the programme, three resolutions,
declaring that the act of Mr. Adams might be
held to merit expulsion; that the House deemed it
an act of mercy and grace when they only inflicted upon him the severest censure for conduct
so unworthy of his past relations to the state and
his present position, and that this they did for the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         91
maintenance of their purity and dignity; and for
the rest, they turned him over to his own conscience
and the indignation of all American citizens I The
resolutions in which Mr. Marshall charged Mr.
Adams with high treason were followed by an
eloquent and forcible speech. But the "old man
eloquent" was far more than a match for the
brilliant young orator and all his associates. With
irresistible power of argument and sarcasm, he
vindicated the right of petition, charged the
South with aiming at the subversion of the fundamental rights of freemen, and assailed slavery
itself as a tremendous evil. Southern members
used every parliamentary artifice to stop him, but
in vain. No one understood parliamentary usages
and rights so well as he. He replied to his assailants with terrible severity. Referring to the
charge of treason, he thanked God that it was
not left to the "puny" mind of the gentleman
from Kentucky to define that crime-the Constitution had done it. He said that if he were
Mr. Marshall's father, he would "advise him to
return to Kentucky, and take his place in some
law school, and commence the study of that profession he had disgraced."  Mr. Adams " carried




92        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the war into Africa" with such vigor that he
overwhelmed his opponents. They had begun
the onset with the full purpose to humble him.
For several days the contest raged. But the
veteran statesman, conscious of his innocence,
and resolved to maintain the right, fearlessly
stood his ground, and compelled his enemies to
surrender. They dared not carry out their plan.
Their carefully concocted resolutions were laid on
the table! It was a grand triumph of liberty.
At the next session, Mr. Adams, as chairman
of a committee on rules for the government of the
House, omitted in his report the twenty-first rule
-the rule which excluded anti-slavery petitions.
Weeks were spent in discussing the subject, and
Mr. Adams was violently assailed. "Mr. Dillett,
of Alabama, quoted these words from a speech of
Mr. Adams's to the colored people of Pittsburg:' We know that the day of your redemption must
come. The time and manner of its coming we
know not. It may come in peace, or it may come
in blood; but whether in peace or in blood, let it
come.' Mr. Adams said, with emphasis,'I say
now, let it come.' Mr. Dillett replied,' Yes, the
gentleman now says, Let it come, though it costs




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          93
the blood of thousands of white men.' Mr. Adams
quickly responded,' Though it cost the blood of
millions of white men, let it come!' " *
The right of petition was not, however, now
secured. At length, after ten years' struggle, Mr.
Adams, in the second session of the twenty-eighth
Congress, in 1844, effected the abolishment of the
tyrannical " rule."
During all this time the friends of freedom
were gaining strength and influence. In 1840
the Liberty party was organized, and in 1844,
with James G. Birney as its candidate for president of the United States, it cast more than sixty
thousand votes. It was a small beginning, but it
led on to great results.
* Wilson.




94        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER IX.
Annexation of Texas. - Mr. Sumner's First Public
Appearance.- Fourth of July Oration on "The
True Grandeur of Nations." - Its Effect.Scene at the Dinner. - Extracts from the Oration. - Opinions of John A. Andrew and John
Quincy Adams.
THE year 1845 found Mr. Sumner quietly engaged in the pursuits of literature and the-practice of his profession. Early in that year occurred
an event which was destined to agitate the whole
country- the annexation of Texas. That region
was claimed by Mexico as a part of her territory,
even after it had proclaimed independence as a
republic, bearing on its flag a "lone star." The
people of Texas, large numbers of them colonists
from the Southern States, and slaveholders, at
length desired to be united with the United
States - a project into which the South entered
with all its heart. To receive it would be to risk




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       95
a war with Mexico; but its annexation was a foregone conclusion, provided its friends could secure
the sanction of Congress. At the South it was
not a subject of discussion, but of desperate determination. The area of slavery must be extended, its power strengthened. Every possible
influence was brought to bear upon the two great
political parties to commit them to the measure.
As was usual then, the slave power carried the
day. Thenceforth it became more defiant and exacting, more unscrupulous and domineering.
The North was beginning to be aroused, fearing whereunto all this would grow. But abolitionism was an unpopular doctrine.
As yet Mr. Sumner had taken no active part in
the cause to which, not long after, he dedicated his
life. But he had been doing a great deal of thinking. And he was not without deep convictions,
even then, upon the stirring questions of the day.
The great principles of right, which so early took
deep root in his nature, were already working out
their legitimate results. We know that from the
year 1834 he had been a reader of Mr. Garrison's
Liberator - a course of tuition decidedly stimulating to ardent and thoughtful minds.  Horace




96         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Mann, fifteen years his superior in age, also had
no little influence in shaping young Sumner's
course of thought and life. The two were always
warm friends, of kindred opinions and sympathies.
The friends of anti-slavery in the city were
aware of Mr. Sumner's principles. They had listened to his earnest, generous utterances in private, and knew that if an  opportunity were
given him for a fuller expression of his views, he
would employ no uncertain words. It so happened that two, at least, of the board of aldermen
of the city of Boston at this time, Deacon S. G.
Shipley and Dr. Ayer, were abolitionists. They
were on the committee to procure an orator for
the anniversary of the Fourth of July, under the
direction of the city government. They thought
of Charles Sumner, the pride of Boston, who was
as yet known to the general public only as a most
promising young lawyer, of extraordinary attainments, literary and legal, and to a select circle as a
gentleman of refined tastes, elegant manners, and
fascinating social qualities.
But the committee knew him as more than this.
Calling upon him, they obtained his consent —
much to their delight. To a friend whom they




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        97
met just after this, they said, " We have succeeded in getting Charles Sumner, a grand fellow, and
a sturdy abolitionist." Had the board of aldermen known this, perhaps they would have had
some misgivings.
And now is to be revealed to the world what
Mr. Sumner had been deeply pondering in his
mind during the past quiet years.
At last, full-armed in principles and purpose, he
steps forth into public life. The city fathers are
in their place of honor in the church; the solid
men, the aspiring young men, the children of the
public schools, are there, the last, to sing the songs
of freedom. The flag that floats proudly that day
bears the motto, " Ense petit placidam sub libertate
quietem " —the glory of the sword. The assembly are sure of a rich treat from the learned and
eloquent young lawyer. He announces his theme
"The True Grandeur of Nations."  The occasion is one which, by the grace of long and honored custom, is to call forth a patriotic eulogy of
the heroes of'76.
Mr. Sumner soon undeceived the expectant multitude- all but that committee. He had girded
himself for a mighty onset upon war, and through
7




98         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
a long and elaborate discourse he exposed that
system as cruel, wasteful, irrational, repugnant to
Christianity. He seriously proposed that all nations, our own setting the example, should disband
their armies, and agree to settle their mutual disputes by friendly arbitration.
The audience sat respectfully through the delivery, but the feelings with which many of them
entered the church, and the feelings with which
they went out, were about as wide asunder as
possible. The wiseacres, the leaders of the ton,
the political managers, shook their heads at the
rashness of the orator. He had got altogether
too far out of the beaten track. He had put the
presumptuous question, "Who believes that the
national honor would be promoted by a war
with Mexico?" and had added, "A  war with
Mexico would be mean and cowardly;  and
again, towards the close, had said, "And when
the day shall come (may these eyes be gladdened
by its beams!) that shall witness the peaceful
emancipation of three million fellow-men, guilty
of a skin not colored as our own, now, in the land
of jubilant freedom, bound in gloomy bondage,then will there be a victory by the side of which




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         99
that of Bunker Hill will be as the farthing-candle
held up to the sun." He had seemed to manifest
a leaning towards the ranting abolitionists. He
had virtually said to the great Whig party, of
which he was a hopeful scion, You must set yourself against the extension of slavery, against the
retention of Texas; you must declare for emancipation, - which the great Whig party was not at
all inclined to do, regarding even the suggestion
as most disloyal to the party and unpatriotic to
the country. And so, when the great men of the
city met, after the oration, at the dinner table in
Faneuil Hall, they gave vent to their displeasure.
The Daily Advertiser of that time gives a brief
account of the scene. One speaker said that he
could not fully sustain the doctrines of the oration. Wars were sometimes necessary. Robert
C. Winthrop, then a Whig representative in Congress, having in mind the annexation of Texas,
and a probable war with Mexico, proposed as a
toast, " Our country - however bounded, still our
country- to be defended at all hazards."  John
C. Park took occasion to vindicate the military institutions of the country, against what he considered the doctrines of the oration. Judge Rogers




100       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
gave as a sentiment, " That high and honorable
feeling which makes the citizen a soldier, and the
soldier a citizen." Not a word in commendation
of the young orator. He stood alone. But he
does not appear to have been at all daunted. He
calmly rose, and, in a spirit in harmony with his
theme, said that he would not follow with a single
word the apple of discord which he seemed to
have thrown that day, but would call their attention to that part of the performance in the church
with regard to which there could be no difference
of opinion, referring to the part taken by the children, and would speak of the public schools of
the city.
It may be remarked that Mr. Sumner does not
seem to have taken a stand against war as a defence in case of actual aggression, but against it
as an established method for the settlement of
international difficulties.  Who can refuse his
assent to such sentiments as these, from the oration?
"Stripped of all delusive apology,... war
falls from glory into barbarous guilt, taking its
place among bloody transgressions, while its flaming honors are turned into shame.... Amidst




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        101
the thunders of Sinai God declared,'Thou shalt
not kill;' and the voice of these thunders, with
this commandment, is prolonged to our day in the
echoes of Christian churches."  Referring to the
maxim, "Our country, right or wrong," and to
another, "Our country, our whole country, and
nothing but our country," he said, "Cold and
dreary, narrow and selfish would be this life, if
nothing but our country occupied the soul; if the
thoughts that wander through eternity, if the infinite affections of our nature, were restrained to
that place where we find ourselves by the accident of birth.... In the faithful record of the
future, recognizing the true grandeur of nations,
the Muse of history, inspired by a loftier justice,
and touched to finer sensibilities, will extend to
universal man the sympathy now  confined to
country, and no war will be waged without arousing everlasting judgment."
He boldly proposed that the enormous sums
expended in preparation for war in the time of
peace should be devoted to objects of beneficence
- to schools, colleges, churches, hospitals, libraries, - and that our army should be, not soldiers,
but the teachers of youth and the ministers of




102        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
religion. "This is the cheap defence of nations.
In such intrenchments, what Christian soul can be
troubled with fear?  Angels of the Lord will
throw over the land an invisible but impenetrable
panoply:-'Or, if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.'"
And again: " True greatness consists in imitating, as nearly as possible to finite man, the perfections of an Infinite Creator, -above all, in cultivating those highest perfections, justice and love...   The true grandeur of humanity is in moral
elevation, sustained, enlightened, and decorated
by the intellect of man. The surest tokens of this
grandeur are that Christian beneficence which
diffuses the greatest happiness among all, and that
passionless, godlike justice which controls the
relations of the nation to other nations, and to all
the people committed to its charge."
If the general voice was adverse to the doctrines of Mr. Sumner, John A. Andrew was not
slow to write to his friend his hearty indorsement: "I cannot help expressing my gratitude
that here, in our city of Boston, one has at last
stepped forward to consecrate to celestial hopes




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        103
the great day which Americans have, at least
heretofore, held sacred only to memory." And
from his home in Quincy, the venerable John
Quincy Adams, some months later, wrote to Mr.
Sumner these remarkable words: "Casting my
eyes backward no farther than the Fourth of July
of last year, when you set all the vipers of Alecto
a-hissing by proclaiming the Christian law of universal peace and love; and then casting them forward, perhaps not much farther, but beyond my
own allotted time, I see you have a mission to perform. I look from Pisgah to the promised land;
you must enter upon it."
From England, Richard Cobden, the great Liberal leader, wrote to Mr. Sumner, with reference
to that oration, " You have made the most noble
contribution of any modern writer to the cause of
peace."
In a letter to the author, the poet Samuel
Rogers wrote, "What can I say to you in return for your admirable oration? I can only say
with what pleasure I have read it, and how truly
every pulse of my heart beats in accordance with
yours on the subject....  Again and again must
I thank you."




104       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER X.
Meeting in Faneuil Hall.-Speech against the
Admission of Texas as a Slave State. - Lyceum
at New Bedford. — Lecture before the Boston
Lyceum. - Eulogy on Pickering, Story, Channing, and Allston, before the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, at Harvard  College. -  Washington
Allston.- " No Battle-Piece  "-  True Province
of Art.
MR. SUMNER was now fairly before the public,
and had given no doubtful indication of the drift
of his future course. His lofty ideal was Right
Right, as applied to the improvement of mankind. He had already tried War by this test,
and found it wanting; he was now to assail
Slavery as radical injustice. He wanted Peace
and Freedom for the whole world- nothing less.
He would cry aloud and spare not, against all
forms of oppression and cruelty.
In doing so he had no desire for political




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       105
office, and several years were yet to elapse ere
he should be forced into such a position. But he
had openly committed himself to the stream of
conflict, which was every day growing more
troubled and tempestuous; and he was not the
man to desert the ship, or to haul down his flag.
And so, four months after his disquieting oration against war, we find him lifting up his voice
in opposition to the admission of Texas as a slave
state. The slave power had become alarmingly
defiant. Having secured Texas as a Territory, it
was resolved to have it fully equipped as a
champion of slavery on the floor of Congress,
and in the government of the nation. A meeting
of all who were opposed to this movement was
held in Faneuil Hall, November 4, presided
over by Charles Francis Adams. There Charles
Sumner stood beside William Lloyd Garrison and
Wendell Phillips. Among the resolutions, which
were drawn up by Mr. Sumner was the following:
" Be it resolved, in the name of God, of Christ,
and of humanity, that we, belonging to all political parties, and reserving all other reasons of
objection, unite in protest against the admission
of Texas into the Union as a slave state."




106       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Mr. Sumner followed with a speech, in which
he said, " Congress is asked to sanction the constitution  of Texas, which not only supports
slavery, but contains a clause prohibiting the
legislature of the state from abolishing slavery.
In doing this, it will give a fresh stamp of legislative approbation to an unrighteous system; it
will assume a new and active responsibility for
this system; it will again become a dealer in
human flesh, and on a gigantic scale. At this
moment, when the conscience of mankind is at
last aroused to the enormity of holding a fellowman in bondage, when, throughout the civilized
world, a slave-dealer is a by-word and a reproach,
we, as a nation, are about to become proprietors
of a large population of slaves."
In answer to the objection that Massachusetts
might stand alone in her opposition, he said, -
" But we cannot fail to accomplish great good.
It is in obedience to a prevailing law of Providence, that no act of self-sacrifice, of devotion
to duty, of humanity can fail. It stands forever
as a landmark, from which, at least, to make
a  new  effort....    Massachusetts  must  continue foremost in the cause of freedom; nor




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         107
can her children yield to deadly dalliance with
slavery."
It was a stormy night on which this meeting
was held, and the slave power took occasion from
that circumstance, the next day, to growl out its
wrath against those who had dared to question
its infallibility, through the Daily Times, a Democratic paper of Boston. " The elements seemed
determined not to sanction any such traitor-like
movement, and interposed every obstacle to its
success. It was proper that such a foul project
should have foul weather as an accompaniment."
A few weeks later, Mr. Sumner was invited to
lecture before the Lyceum at New Bedford; but
he refused to go, as Mr. Phillips and George William Curtis had done before this, for the reason
that colored persons were not allowed to purchase
tickets, and were only admitted, free of expense,
provided they would sit in "the north gallery."
In his letter to the committee, Mr. Sumner said,
"One  of the cardinal truths of religion and
freedom is the equality and brotherhood of man.
In the sight of God and of all just institutions,
the white man can claim no precedence or exclusive privilege from his color. It is the accident




108       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of an accident that places a human soul beneath
the dark shelter of an African  countenance,
rather than beneath our colder complexion. Nor
can I conceive any application of the divine
injunction,' Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you,' more pertinent than to the man
who founds a discrimination between his fellowmen on difference of skin. It is well known that
the prejudice of color, which is akin to the stern
and selfish spirit that holds a fellow-man in
slavery, is peculiar to our country. It does not
exist in other civilized countries. In France,
colored youths at college have gained the highest
honors, and been welcomed as if they were white.
At the law school there, I have sat with them
on the same bench.... All this was Christian;
so it seemed to me."
This rule was soon after rescinded.
In February of the next year, Mr. Sumner
lectured before the Boston Lyceum on the Employment of Time - a paper replete with valuable suggestions.
"The hours spent in listlessness or squandered
in unprofitable dissipation, gathered into aggregates, are hours, days, weeks, months, years.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        109
The daily sacrifice of a single hour during a
year comes, at its end, to thirty-six working days,
allowing ten hours to the day — an amount of
time, if devoted exclusively to one object, ample
for the acquisition of important knowledge, and
for the accomplishment of inconceivable good.
Imagine a month dedicated, without interruption,
to a single purpose, - to the study of a new language, an untried science, an unexplored field of
history, a fresh department of philosophy, or to
some new sphere of action, some labor of humanity, some godlike charity, - and what visions must
not rise of untold accumulations of knowledge,
of unnumbered deeds of goodness! "
Referring with praise to the valuable precepts
of Franklin, in favor of industry and economy, he
adds, 
" It cannot fail to be regretted, that the lessons
taught by Franklin are so little spiritual in their
character —that they are so material, so mundane, so full of pounds, shillings, and pence.'The almighty dollar,' now  ruling here with
sovereign sway and masterdom, was placed on
the throne by Poor Richard. When shall it be
dethroned? When shall the thoughts, the aspira



110       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
tions, the politics of the land be lifted from the
mere greed of gain, with an appetite that grows
by what it feeds on, into the serene region of
inflexible justice and universal benevolence?"
Addressing the young, he said, -
"The image of God is in the soul, and the
young must take heed that it is not effaced by
the neglect of any of the trusts they have secured. They must bear in mind that there are
debts other than to their profession or business,
which, like gratitude, it will ever be their pleasure,'still paying, still to owe,' which can be
properly discharged only by the best employment of all the faculties with which they are
blessed, so that life shall be improved by culture
and filled with works for the good of man."
On the 6th of August, Mr. Sumner pronounced
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard
College, a eulogy on four distinguished Americans, John Pickering, the scholar, Joseph Story,
the jurist, Washington Allston, the artist, and
William Ellery Channing, the philanthropist. It
was an elegant and eloquent tribute to their
worth. But it is particularly interesting as showing how  thoroughly Mr. Sumner's mind was




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         111
possessed by the idea of justice, and how clearly
it perceived the grand duty of men of culture to
consecrate their acquisitions to the good of the
race. These great men, of whom he was speaking, "lived for knowledge, justice, beauty, love.... They were all philanthropists, for the labors
of all were directed to the welfare and happiness
of man."
In that part of the address which speaks of
Allston, we notice how  eagerly Mr. Sumner
seized the opportunity to expatiate on the highest
aim and duty of Art. Before a literary audience,
he still presses the paramount claims of humanity.
The assault on war, which, a year before, had
exposed him  to sharp and vipery criticism, he
now renews in a selecter presence with equal
earnestness: "Allston was a Christian artist;
and the beauty of expression lends uncommon
charm  to his colors. All that he did shows
purity, sensibility, refinement, delicacy, feeling,
rather than force. His genius was almost feminine. As he advanced in years, this was more
remarked. His pictures became more and more
instinct with those sentiments which form the
true glory of art. Early in life he had a partiali



112       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
ty for pieces representing banditti; but this taste
does not appear in his later works. And when
asked if he would undertake to fill the vacant
panels in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington,... he is reported to have said,'I will
paint only one subject, and choose my own.
No battle-piece!'
" Admitting the calamitous necessity of war,
it can never be with pleasure-it cannot be
without sadness unspeakable —that we survey
its fiendish encounter. The artist of purest aim,
sensitive to these- emotions, withdraws naturally
from the field of blood, confessing that no scene
of battle finds a place in the highest art, - that
man, created in the image of God, can never be
pictured  degrading, profaning, violating that
sacred image.... There are tragedies which
History enters sorrowfully, tearfully, in her faithful record; but this generous Muse, with too attractive colors, must not perpetuate the passions
from which they sprang, or the griefs which they
caused. Be it her duty to dwell with eulogy and
pride on all that is magnanimous, lovely, beneficent; let this be preserved by votive canvas, and
marble also. But No battle-piece!... The time




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        113
is at hand when religion, humanity, and taste will
concur in rejecting any image of human strife.
Lais and Phryne have fled. Bacchus and Silenus
are driven reeling from  the scene. Mars will
soon follow, howling, as with that wound from the
Grecian spear before Troy.... In the mission of
teaching to nations and to individuals wherein is
true greatness, Art has a noble office.  If not
herald, she is at least handmaid of Truth. Her
lessons may not train the intellect, but they cannot fail to touch the heart. Who can measure
the influence from an image of beauty, affection,
and truth? The Christus Consolator of Scheffer,
without a word, wins the soul."
It is worthy of mention, that among the pictures with which, years after, Mr. Sumner adorned
his house at Washington, no battle-scene had
a place, but there was a St. Mark descending
from the skies to rescue a slave in the slavemarket.
When Mr. Sumner came to speak of Channing, he came again upon war and slavery. He
well knew  that many present would consider
those subjects wholly out of place at such a
time, and hence he said, with what seems like a
8




114       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
kind of grim humor, " All will see that I cannot
pass these on this occasion; for not to speak of
them would be to present a portrait in which the
most distinctive features were wanting."  With
that graceful excuse he dealt some more lusty
blows at " those'two terrible scourges," including
a reference to the annexation of Texas, a war
with Mexico, and the extension of slavery.
Towards the end of the oration, Mr. Sumner,
having spoken of the subjects of his eulogy as all
philanthropists, added, -
"In their presence how truly do we feel the
insignificance of office and wealth, which men
so hotly pursue! What is office? and  what
is wealth? Expressions or representatives of
what is present and fleeting only, investing the
possessor with a brief and local regard....
They who live for wealth, and the things of this
world, follow shadows, neglecting realities eternal
on earth and in heaven. After the perturbations
of life, all its accumulated possessions must be
resigned, except those only which have been
devoted to God and mankind. What we do for
ourselves perishes with this mortal dust; what we
do for others lives coeval with the benefaction."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.                 115
A  marked quality of Mr. Sumner's character
was hopefulness as to the triumph of truth and
justice.. However dark the present aspect, or
bitter the strife, he never doubted that success
would come to the right. A short poem which he
introduced into this oration well indicates this
firm, serene faith in the good and the true: —
"There's a fount about to stream,
There's a light about to beam,
There's a warmth about to glow,
There's a flower about to blow,
There's a midnight blackness changing
Into gray:
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen!
Aid it, hopes of honest men!
Aid it, paper! aid it, type!
Aid it, for the hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slacken
Into play:
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way! "
Such was Mr. Sumner's message to the then.conservative Harvard and conservative Boston, and
such his endeavor to kindle a generous enthusiasm for humanity among the young scholars of
the land. Those ringing words, " Clear the way,"
were as the sound of a trumpet. With what dis



116       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
may must they have fallen upon the ears of men
who loved soft words of compromise, and dreaded
above all things agitation! Doubtless they inspired some younger hearts with a noble ambition to " clear the way " for liberty throughout
the land.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       117
CHAPTER  XI.
Wi7ig State Convention.- Duty of the Whig
Party. - Appeal to Daniel Webster. - Mr.
Winthrop. -  White Slavery. - Public Schools.
- Prison Discipline.
WE have seen Mr. Sumner making a literary
festival serve the great interests of humanity.
Letters, with him, were not an end; they were
an elegant accomplishment and recreation, the
ornament and grace of life, and helps to more
complete and effective work in the great field
of human improvement. And so he gracefully
passes from the Academy to the Forum.
About a month after this, September 23, 1846,
his voice is heard at a Whig State Convention in
Faneuil Hall. He was a member of the Whig
party, and anxious to have it maintain its integrity. His associations with it had been of
the most friendly character. In his opinion, it
had been the party of freedom  and progress.




118        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
He still believed that it might be kept true to
its patriotic and liberal principles.
But, in order to that, the friends of freedom must bestir themselves. The time for neutrality was past. The Whig party must demand
the repeal of slavery under the constitution and
laws of the national government. They must
"choose men who will devote themselves earnestly, heartily to the work,-who will enter
upon it with awakened conscience, and with
that valiant faith, before which all obstacles disappear, - who will be ever loyal to truth, freedom, right, humanity, - who will not look for
rules of conduct down to earth, in the mire of
expediency, but with heaven-directed countenance seek those great'primal duties' which'shine aloft like stars,' to illumine alike the path
of individuals and of nations. They must be
true to the principles of Massachusetts. They
must not be Northern men with Southern principles, nor Northern men under Southern influences. They must be courageous and willing on
all occasions to stand alone, provided right be
with them....  There are a few  such now in
Congress. Massachusetts has a venerable rep



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        119
resentative, whose aged bosom still glows with
inextinguishable fires, like the central heats of
the monarch mountain of the Andes beneath its
canopy of snow. To this cause he devotes the
closing energies of a long and illustrious life.
Would that all might join him! "
All which was like a bracing north wind.
Would the Whig party turn towards it its already
feverish face, and be quickened to a new life?
Alas for the fond dreamer! He was piping to
a party that would call him an enthusiast, and
before long a fanatic. Its very tower of strength
had already become a leaning tower, destined to
an ignominious fall.
But as yet there was hope. And Mr. Sumner
pleaded with Daniel Webster to be true to freedom. "There is," said he, "a senator of Massachusetts we had hoped to welcome here to-day,
whose position is of commanding influence. Let
me address him  with the respectful frankness
of a constituent and friend. Already, sir, by
various labors, you have acquired an honorable
place in the history of our country. By the
vigor, argumentation, and eloquence with which
you upheld the Union, and that interpretation of




120        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the constitution which makes us a nation, you
have justly earned the title of Defender of the
Constitution.... Pardon me if I add that there
are yet other duties claiming your care, whose
performance will be the crown of a long life in the
public service. Do not forget them. Dedicate,
sir, the years happily in store for you, with all
that grand experience which is yours, to grand
endeavor in the name of human freedom, for the
overthrow of that terrible evil which now afflicts
our country... Do not shrink from the task....
Assume, then, these unperformed duties. The
aged shall bear witness to you; the young shall
kindle with rapture, as they repeat the name of
Webster; the large company of the ransomed
shall teach their children and their children's
children, to the latest generation, to call you
blessed; you shall have yet another title, never
to be forgotten on earth or in heaven,- Defender
of Humanity, - by the side of which the earlier
title will fade into insignificance, as the constitution, which is the work of mortal hands,
dwindles by the side of man, created in the
image of God."
We cannot wonder that this eloquent and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.                  121
faithful appeal to Webster was "received  with
great applause." Would that its admonitions had
been heeded  by  the great statesman to  whom
they were addressed.*
They  are remarkable words, as describing to
the life his own course in after years as the successor of Webster, and the glorious reward of
his faithful service for humanity, of which the
earnest has  already  come.  The  blessings  of
"the ransomed," which he hoped might crown
another's head, have fallen upon his own. The
nation, regardless of party, delights to honor him
as the Defender of Humanity.
This speech, with  its  warning  to  the  great
senator, was followed, a month later, by a letter
to another distinguished Massachusetts Whig,
* This warning proved not to he unnecessary. For it is useless
to deny that Daniel Webster did falter in his duty in the treatment
of the slavery question, and that he was guilty of a great error and
wrong, when, in an hour of temptation, he suffered himself to be
betrayed into that most unfortunate speech in the United States
Senate, March 7, 1850, in which he advocated the infamous Fugitive Slave Bill. It was against all the better instincts of his heart
and the real convictions of his judgment. In this he was false to
himself. He had done grand service to his country. His previous
speeches abound with noble sentiments, powerfully and eloquently
expressed, and are well worth the study of every American. His
life, by Rev. Joseph Banvard, D. D., is a very interesting and instructive volume for the young.




122           LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
then  a  representative in Congress-Robert C.
Winthrop.
As a  consequence  of annexing  Texas, war
with Mexico had come, and Mr. Winthrop  had
voted for the Mexican War Bill, and defended
it with much  ardor.  As a brother Whig, as a
constituent, as a friend, Mr. Sumner administers
what he believes  to  be a wholesome rebuke.*
He wonders that a son of Massachusetts could
have sanctioned an aggressive war upon Mexico,
and in the interests of slavery.
To the question, What shall be done? Mr. Sumner is at no hesitation for an answer. Retreat,
recall the troops, acknowledge our wrong to an
unoffending neighbor.
Such was the lofty Christian morality which
Mr. Sumner brought to bear upon the subject.
He saw  no shame in doing right, in confessing
and repairing a wrong. It was noble and Chris* Mr. Winthrop is well known as a gentleman of eminent ability
and culture, of great private worth, and of pure and patriotic purposes; but his political course, like that of,other public men, is
open to criticism. Mr. Sumner - and in this he was far from being
alone - believed Mr. Winthrop to have made a sad mistake in his
treatment of slavery, especially as connected with the Mexican
war. But that gentleman has lately borne generous testimony to
Mr. Sumner's worth, and has said that their differences of opinion
related more to measures than to ends.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       123
tian. " Aloft on the throne of God, and not below
in the footsteps of a trampling multitude, are
the sacred rules of right, which no majorities
can displace or overturn."
Mr. Sumner's bold opposition to the war for
slavery awakened a desire, among those who
sympathized with his views, that he would allow
himself to be a candidate for representative
against Mr. Winthrop. His name was proposed,
but he would not consent to let it stand. He did
not wish for office, and he would not " suffer the
force of his denunciations of the war and of
slavery to be weakened by the suspicion that he
was influenced by selfish motives." He would
not have it said that he used pious words as a
cloak for ambition. This was in 1846. And for
five years longer he fought with the wild beasts
of war and slavery in a private capacity. If ever
there was a man who was not a demagogue, Mr.
Sumner deserves that honor.
Mr. Sumner had put his hand to the plough,
and would not look back. Being invited to lecture before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, which he did early in 1847, he chose for his
theme, " White Slavery in the Barbary States."




124        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
So long as slavery existed in our country, he felt
that its suppression ought to be the one great
idea with every American. But " before a promiscuous audience, it was at that time a subject
too delicate to be treated directly," and Mr.
Sumner ingeniously discussed white  slavery,
which, of course, every white person, of whatever party, or of whatever opinion about negroes, was ready to condemn. Thus would he
catch his hearers "by guile."  The transition
was not difficult from white slavery to black
slavery.
Mr. Sumner cited instances of efforts to escape from Algerine captivity, as for instance, that
of Cervantes, the illustrious author of Don
Quixote, and also those of American  citizens
- for Americans were reduced to slavery, down
to the year 1816. What hearer, with such cases
before him, would not sympathize with these
glowing words?-" Endeavors for freedom are
animating; nor can any honest nature hear of
them  without a throb of sympathy. Dwelling,
on the painful narrative of unequal contest between tyrannical power and the crushed captive,
we resolutely enter the lists on the side of free



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        125
dom; and beholding the contest waged by a few
individuals, or, perhaps, by one alone, our sympathy is given to his weakness as well as to his
cause. To him we send the unfaltering succor
of good wishes. For him we invoke vigor of
arm  and fleetness of foot to escape.  Human
enactments are vain to restrain the warm tides of
the heart."
The lecture was repeated in many parts of
Massachusetts, and was an important means of
training the people, in a way not calculated to
arouse their prejudices, for the struggle that was
before the country.
But Mr. Sumner's thoughts were not wholly
given to slavery. He was a philanthropist in
the broadest sense. Hence we find him giving
much attention to the cause of Education, especially in the public schools of Boston, whose
improvement he earnestly favored.
At this time there prevailed what was called
the " double-headed system "- two masters over
each school. Now, it has always been found difficult, from ancient times to our own, to have " two
Caesars in Rome."  It was so in Boston. The
masters often disagreed, and as each was the




126       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
equal of the other, confusion and trouble were
the result.
Rev. Rollin H. Neale, D. D., a member of the
school committee, was the first to propose and
advocate a change of system. He would cut off
one of the heads, leaving a single one to be
" master of the situation."  He also urged the employment, to a large extent, of female teachers.
Both these proposals were for a time received
with much disapprobation, by a majority of the
directors of the schools. The innovation was
preposterous. But among the advocates of the
change was Charles Sumner.  His voice was
ever on the side of improvement. Tradition and
prescription had no charm for his active and enlightened mind.
Mr. Sumner was also much interested in Pauperism and Prison Discipline. Upon the latter
subject he wrote an able article for the Christian
Examiner.
To this, as to every benevolent cause in which
he was engaged, he brought that strong sense of
right, that earnest love of truth, which we have
seen to characterize his political action. And
thus it happened, that, as in the Whig party, so




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        127
in the Boston Prison Discipline Society, he was
regarded by many very much as a " thorn in the
flesh." His idealism was troublesome. He was
not content that the annual report of the secretary
should be meekly received with an annual satisfaction. He thought that the spirit of the secretary
was narrow and illiberal, and he said so. It was
wedded to a particular system, and would give
no ear to arguments in favor of any other. This
was offensive to his progressive and liberal mind.
He wanted the society to be more active and
more open to conviction, to be ready for information and advice from any quarter.
It seems strange to us that so reasonable a demand should have provoked so much opposition,
controversy, and ill-feeling for a series of years.
But so it was. The secretary favored the Auburn
or social system, Mr. Sumner the Philadelphia
or separate system. Boston was proud of her
method, and was not willing to learn from Philadelphia. Mr. Sumner was a Bostonian, but he
did not believe that Boston was all the world.
He wanted fair play, and an open, generous
policy. And so, parties were formed, there was
private and public controversy, the newspapers




128       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
took up the quarrel, and foreign countries became
interested in the debate.
Among those who sympathized with Mr. Sumner were Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Mr. Hillard, and
Dr. Francis Wayland, president of Brown University, and these were styled "intruders."
The difficulty began early in 1845, and in
June, 1847, at a public meeting of the society
in Tremont Temple, a committee, of which Mr.
Sumner was one, brought forward a report embodying his views. These were explained and
defended in a speech, courteous but plain-dealing.
The system which Mr. Sumner favored he thus
briefly described: " 1. Separation of the prisoners
from each other; 2. Labor in the cell; 3. Exercise in the open air; 4. Visits; 5. Books; 6. Moral
and religious instruction. Its fundamental doctrine, and only essential element, is separation of
prisoners from  each other, on which may be ingrafted solace of any kind needful to health of
body or mind."
Alluding to the practical working of the society,
Mr. Sumner said, " Look at our grandiose organization. We have a president, with forty vicepresidents, or, borrowing an illustration from




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         129
Turkey,' a pacha with forty tails.'  Then we
have a large body of foreign correspondents,
whose names we print in capitals,  fancy men,
as they have been called, because they are for
show, I suppose, like our vice-presidents. Then
there are scores of directors, and a board of managers. Now, I know full well, that, of these, very
few interest themselves so much in our society
as to attend its sessions. At the meeting last
year for the choice of officers, there were ten
present. We ten chose the whole army of vicepresidents and all. And then, too, the secretary
politely furnished us printed tickets bearing their
names and his own. Certainly, sir, something
should be done to mend this matter. We must
cease to have so many officers, or they must participate actively in the duties of the society."
Who does not sigh for such an inspector of
some of our more modern " grandiose " organizations? Would he be deemed an "intruder "?
Such Mr. Sumner did not cease to be considered
when he transferred his investigations from the
Boston society to the nation. That sentiment
of Right was destined to startle conservatives
out of their propriety, and to be a terror to
9




130       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
evil doers.  He was indeed a terrible "intruder."
It should be added, that doubtless the men
who stood in the opposition to Mr. Sumner, in the
above controversy, were as honest and honorable as himself. They were good and true men.
But, like many other good and true men, they
were, it would appear, morbidly conservative.
There was needed a new element, and Mr. Sumner's treatment of the case, though not for the
present joyous but grievous, was calculated to
work the peaceable fruits of less parade of names,
and more liberality and energy.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       131
CHAPTER XII.
Address at Amherst College. -" Fame and Glory."
- Young Men. - True Object of Life. -  Whig
Meeting at Boston.- Whig State Convention. -
The Whig Party "found wanting." - Party of
Freedom. - Enthusiastic Meeting at Worcester.
- At Union College. -" Law of Human Progress."
MR. SUMNER'S heart and hands were now full
of work. Less than two months after intruding
upon the Prison Discipline Society, he responded
to a call from the young men of Amherst College
to address them at Commencement. What more
could he desire? The year before, he had spoken
at Harvard no uncertain words; now, to another
company of young scholars, he would repeat the
cry, "Clear the way."  His theme was, Fame
and Glory —a theme hackneyed enough, often
written about by school-boys and sophomores;
but how, under the master's touch, it glows with
new brightness!




132        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
The times were stirring, great events were at
hand, there was an open field for generous ambition, and Mr. Sumner wished to tune the spirits
of his auditors, the future hope of the country, to
the demands of the times.
Some words of his, written at a later period,
well express his present feelings: " Especially
do I invoke the young.  They are the natural
guardians of liberty. Thus has it been throughout all history; and never before in history did
liberty stand in greater need of their irresistible
aid. It is the young who give spontaneous welcome to Truth, when she first appears an unattended stranger. It is the young who open the
soul with instinctive hospitality to the noble
cause."
Having this end in view, he showed that the
love of fame, a divinely implanted principle, was
peculiarly liable to perversion.  He pointed out
the dangers to be avoided, the true use and end
of the desire for glory, how it was to be controlled
by, and subordinated to, higher principles.
"Whatever," he said, "may be temporary applause, or the expression of public opinion, it may
be asserted, without fear of contradiction, that no




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         133
true and permanent fame can be found except in
labors which promote the happiness of mankind.
If these are by Christian means, with disinterrested motives, and with the single aim of doing
good, they become that rare and precious virtue
whose fit image is the spotless lily of the field,
brighter than Solomon in all his glory."
Referring to several military heroes, he said,
"There is little of true grandeur in any such
career. None of the beatitudes showered upon
them a blessed influence. They were not poor
in spirit, or meek, or merciful, or.pure in heart.
They were not peacemakers.  They did not
hunger and thirst after justice. They did not
suffer persecution for justice's sake."
In honorable contrast to these men, and to all
the fame of military achievements, he referred to
John Howard, who said, "Hearing the cry of the
miserable, I devoted my time to their relief; " and
to Clarkson, who, while yet in the university, his
heart stirred by the horrors of the slave-trade,
exclaimed, " It is time some person should see these
calamities to their end!"  "Such are exemplars
of true glory. Without rank, office, or the sword,
they accomplished immortal good. While on earth




134        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
they labored for their fellow-men; and now, sleeping in death, by example and works they continue the same sacred office. To all, in every
sphere or condition, they teach the universal
lesson of magnanimous duty.  From the heights
of their virtue they call upon us to cast out the
lust of power, of office, of wealth, of praise, of a
fleeting popular favor, which' a breath can make,
as a breath has made,' -to subdue the constant,
ever-present suggestions of self, in disregard
of neighbors, near or remote, whose welfare
should never be forgotten, -to check the madness of party, which, so often, for the sake of
success, renounces the very objects of success, -
and, finally, to introduce into our lives those sentiments of conscience and charity which animated
them to such labors.
" Nor should these be holiday virtues, marshalled
on great occasions only. They must become part
of us, and of our existence, — present on every
occasion, small or great, -in those daily amenities which add so much to the charm of life, as
also in those grander duties which require an ennobling self-sacrifice. The former are as flowers,
whose odor is pleasant, though  fleeting; the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         135
latter are like the costly spikenard poured from
the box of alabaster upon the head of the Lord.... Their [men's] worship in the future must be
the true God, our Father, as he is in heaven, and
in the beneficent labors of his children on earth.
Then farewell to the siren song of a worldly
ambition! Farewell to the vain desire of mere
literary success or oratorical displayI Farewell
to the distempered longing for office!"
A few weeks later, and we find Mr. Sumner in
a Whig meeting at Boston, urging the adoption of
resolutions against the annexation of any territory
by conquest, and against the extension of slavery.
They were laid on the table I
A  fortnight after, a Whig state convention
was held in Springfield (September 29).  Mr.
Webster was there, Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Palfrey,
Mr. Charles F. Adams, Mr. Sumner, and other
notables. It was the last time of Mr. Sumner's
appearance at a Whig meeting. The strong current of the party was proved to be in the direction of compromise. All real heart had gone out
of it. It refused to place itself across the path
of the slave power. It was in fact joining hands
with it, and becoming partaker of a great crime.
Its days were numbered.




136        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
But Mr. Sumner was hopeful, and made one
more appeal. In support of the resolution of Mr.
Palfrey, " That the Whigs of Massachusetts will
support no men for the office of President and
Vice-President but such as are known by their
acts or declared opinions to be opposed to the
extension of slavery," Mr. Sumner said: " Be assured, sir, whatever the final determination of this
convention, there are many here to-day who will
never yield support to any candidate who is not
known to be against the extension of slavery,
even though he have freshly received the sacramental unction of a'regular nomination.' We
cannot say, with detestable morality,  our party,
right or wrong.' The time has gone by when
gentlemen can expect to introduce among us the
discipline of the camp. Loyalty to principle is
higher than loyalty to party. The first is a
heavenly sentiment, from God, the other is a device of this world. Far above any flickering light
or battle-lantern of party is the everlasting sun
of Truth, in whose beams are the duties of men."
Having borne his testimony, but in vain, he felt
himself free to act in any new direction which
duty should point out. He that day ceased to




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        137
be a Whig. And the "old line " Whigs gave him
up as a disagreeable "intruder," an incorrigible,
impracticable fanatic.
The Whig party was proved to be unequal to
the emergencies of the hour. A new step was
necessary. There must be a party of freedom,
which should represent the moral sentiments
of the country, which should gather within its
ranks all, of whatever previous political name,
who would not bow the knee to the Baal of
slavery. There must be a party to represent
the fundamental ideas of justice and human
equality declared in the Declaration of Independence. The time for such an organization
had now fully come.  Accordingly, about one
month after the unsuccessful attempt at Springfield to commit the Whig party to the cause of
freedom, a mass convention was held in Worces.
ter (June 28, 1848), to effect a union among men
of all parties against the slave power and the
extension of slavery.
It was an enthusiastic gathering, in every respect most memorable. It was the dawn of a
new day for America, and for the world. Five
thousand people were assembled on the Common,




138        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
for no hall could hold the multitude, brought
there by a common and resolute purpose to resist the further encroachments of slavery. Many
of the most prominent Whigs were there, ready
to cut loose from the past, and take a fresh start
in the interest of freedom and humanity. The
words that were spoken that day were not the
stale, stereotyped, guarded phrases learned in
party schools, but the free, fresh, warm utterances of souls inspired by noble sentiments. It
was as if a new gift of tongues had been vouchsafed.  Men spoke freely, boldly, grandly, as
reason and conscience prompted. Once more
politics and morals joined hands. There was a
feeling of responsibility to God. There was a new
love for humanity. " All the speakers," it is said,
" united in renouncing old party ties." None did
this better than Charles Francis Adams, who concluded his remarks by saying, "Forgetting the
things that are behind, I propose that we press
forward to the high calling of our new occupation; and, fellow-citizens, whatever may be the
fate of you or me, all I can now add is, to repeat
the words of one with whom I take pride in remembering that I have been connected:' Sink or




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        139
swim, live or die, survive or perish,' to go with
the liberties of my country is my fixed determination."
Mr. Sumner said, "In the coming contest I
wish it understood that I belong to the party of
freedom — to that party which plants itself on
the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States."
In answer to the objection that by voting for
a separate candidate,- rejecting Cass and Taylor, -the new party, as being now small, would
throw away its votes, and its opposition would
fail, Mr. Sumner said, " Fail, sir! No honest,
earnest effort in a good cause can fail. It may
not be crowned with the applause of men;
it may not seem to touch the goal of immediate worldly success.  But it is not lost.  It
helps to strengthen the weak with new virtue,... to animate all with devotion to duty, which
in the end conquers all. Fail! Did the martyrs fail, when, with precious blood, they sowed
the seed of the church?  Did the discomfited
champions of freedom fail who have left those
names in history that can never die?... Assurances here to-day show that we need not




140        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
postpone success. It seems already at hand.
The heart of Ohio beats responsive to the heart
of Massachusetts, and all the Free States are
animated  with  the vigorous breath of freedom..... From  this demonstration  to-day,
and the acclaim  wafted to us from  the Free
States, it is easy to see that the great cause
of liberty, to which we now dedicate ourselves,
will sweep the heart-strings of the people. It
will smite all the chords with a might to draw
forth emotions such as no political struggle ever
awakened before. It will move the young, the
middle-aged, and the old. It will find a voice
in the social circle, and mingle with the flame
of the domestic hearth. It will touch the souls
of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters, until
the sympathies of all swell in one irresistible
chorus of indignation against the deep damnation
of lending new sanction to the enslavement of
our brother man."
Thus was born the Free Soil party, from
whose loins afterwards sprang the Republican
party.
Before saying more about this important movement, we will follow Mr. Sumner to another col



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       141
lege anniversary -this time at Union College,
Schenectady, N. Y.
These literary festivals were times of seedsowing. And it was a cheering indication of
better, wholesomer days, that the young men
of the country were ready to listen to such
a teacher as Mr. Sumner.  The high-toned,
Christian morality which  he inculcated, and
which he insisted should be applied to politics, as everywhere else, was welcomed by young
and ingenuous minds not yet blinded and hardened by the maxims of worldly expediency.
Having spoken at Harvard and Amherst, now
again in July, 1848, having just assisted in
forming a new party of progress, he discourses
at Union on the Law of Human Progress. "I
would, if I could," he said, "utter truth which,
while approved by the old, should sink deep
into the souls of the young, filling them with
strength for all good works." Mr. Sumner had
before him  a grand ideal of truth and right,
and also of humanity.  He would teach the
young not to be content with present attainments and the present condition of the world.
There was a divine law of human progress run



142        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
ning through and shaping all history, and working out a glorious future. " The earnest soul,
enlightened by history, strengthened by philosophy, nursed to childish slumber by the simple
prayer,' Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is done in heaven,' confident in the
final, though slow, fulfilment of the daily fulfilling promises of the future, looks forward to the
continuance of this progress during unknown
and infinite ages, as a law of our being....
" Christianity is the religion of-progress. Here
is a distinctive feature which we vainly seek in
any heathen faith professed upon earth. Confucius, in his sublime morals, taught us not to do
unto others what we would not have them do to
us; but the Chinese philosopher did not declare
the ultimate triumph of this law. It was reserved for the Sermon on the Mount to reveal
the vital truth, that all the highest commands
of religion and duty, drawing in their train
celestial peace, and marking the final goal of all
progress among men, shall one day be obeyed.'For verily I say unto you,' says the Saviour,'till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
shall in no wise pass from the law till all be
fulfilled.' 




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        143
This progress of humanity embraces people of
every race, and demands for all the means of
every kind of improvement. Bigotry, or conservatism, opposes this movement; but in vain.
" Thus ever has Truth moved on -though opposed and reviled, still mighty and triumphant.
Rejected by the rich and powerful, by the favorites of fortune and place, she finds shelter with
those who often have no shelter for themselves.
It is such as these that most freely welcome
moral truth, with its new commandments. Not
the dwellers in the glare of the world, but the
humble and lowly, most clearly perceive this
truth, -as watchers placed in the depths of a
well observe the stars which are obscured to
those who live in the effulgence of noon. Free
from  egotism  and prejudice, whether of selfinterest or of class, without cares and temptations, whether of wealth or power, dwelling in
the mediocrity or obscurity of common life, they
discern the new  signal, and surrender unreservedly to its guidance. The Saviour knew
this. He did not call upon priest, or Levite, or
Pharisee to follow him, but upon the humble
fishermen by the Sea of Galilee."




144        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Mr. Sumner warned his hearers against impatience and rashness. " Cultivate a just moderation. Learn to reconcile order with change,
stability with progress. This is a wise conservatism; this is a wise reform. Rightly understanding these terms, who would not be a
conservative? who would not be a reformer? -
a conservative of all that is good, a reformer of
all that is evil, -a conservative of knowledge,
a reformer of ignorance,- a conservative of
truths and principles whose seat is in the bosom
of God, a reformer of laws and institutions
which are but the wicked or imperfect work of
man, - a conservative of that divine order which
is found only in movement, a reformer of those
earthly wrongs and abuses which spring from a
violation of the great law of human progress? "
Thus did Mr. Sumner seek to build up a new
party on the highest grounds, and to enlist in its
support the young men of the land.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        145
CHAPTER XIII.
Object of the Free Soil Party. - Free Soil Convention at Buffalo. — Martin Van Buren and
Charles Francis Adams. - Speech by Mr. Sumner. - Address on Peace.    Colored Children
in Public Schools. - Mr. Sumner's Argument before the Supreme Court. -- Mr. Clay's Compromise Measures.- Fugitive  Slave Bill. - Its
Effect in the Free States.- Meeting of Protest
in Faneuil Hall. - Terror of the Colored People. -  William and Ellen Crafts. -   ir. Sumner's Opinion of Slave-Hunters.
THE Free Soil party now entered fully upon its
work. Its purpose was to prevent the further
extension of slavery, and to secure its abolition
wherever it existed within the national domain,
as distinguished from State jurisdiction. It did
not propose to touch slavery in the States.
A large number of persons, who were distinctively known as Abolitionists, and who, to a great
extent, took no part in political action against
10




146        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
slavery, were seeking the overthrow of that system throughout the whole country. But the political movement was more limited in its aim. It
was, however, a necessary step in the great cause
of emancipation.
The Free Soil party aimed to do all that could
then be done aside from mere moral means. It
would forbid slavery in the District of Columbia
and the Territories, and the formation of new
Slave States; would liberate the general government from any responsibility to maintain slavery
in the States where it already existed; and thus
shut up slavery within its own special boundaries,
to take care of itself as best it could. It would
have the Free States free from any complicity with
slavery. They should be " free indeed."
To perfect the organization of such a party, a
convention was held at Buffalo, August 9, 1848,
at which Martin Van Buren, who had already
once been president, was nominated as President
of the United States, and Charles Francis Adams
as Vice-President.
At a public meeting held in Faneuil Hall,
August 22, this nomination, with the platform,
was ratified. The list of speakers and of other




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        147
friends to the new cause shows that it had drawn
to itself many of the choicest spirits of the North.
In fact, the best portion of the two great parties
which had hitherto carried sway, came over to
the new organization, which alone represented
true American principles.
On this occasion Mr. Sumner was chosen presiding officer, and made an eloquent speech. He
declared that not banks and tariffs, and such mere
material interests, were now to give their tone to
the policy of the country. " Henceforward, PROTECTION TO MAN will be the true American system.... The old and ill-compacted party organizations are broken, and from their ruins is now
formed a new party, the Party of Freedom. There
were good men who longed for this, and died
without the sight. John Quincy Adams longed
for it. William Ellery Channing longed for it.
Their spirits hover over us, and urge us to persevere. Let us be true to the moral grandeur of
our cause. Have faith in Truth, and in God, who
giveth the victory."
During the campaign which followed, Mr.
Sumner spoke at many places in the State. A
speech delivered in Faneuil Hall, October 31,




148       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
1848, is said to have been one of " surpassing
ability and eloquence," and to have been received
with "tumultuous shouts" of applause. But it
was not reported.
In Mr. Sumner's view, war and slavery were
kindred evils. Their fundamental idea was force,
violence. Being invited by the American Peace
Society to speak at their anniversary, in Boston,
May 28, 1849, he did not regard it as an interruption to his work in behalf of freedom. In an
Address on the War System  of the Commonwealth of Nations, he once more, as in 1845,
urged " the abolition of the institution of war, and
of the whole war system, as an established arbiter
of justice in the commonwealth of nations. "
Resuming his pen in behalf of freedom, he prepared an Address to the People of Massachusetts
-which was afterwards adopted by the Free
Soil convention at Worcester, September 12, 1849
- in vindication of the new organization. It contains the germ of his great speech in Congress in
1852, showing that the Freedom party is a national party, as opposed to sectional.
At this time, while Massachusetts was thus
awaking to new opposition to slavery, she was




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          149
herself holding her colored citizens in a position
of inferiority. Colored children were not allowed
to attend the public schools in company with the
white. They had separate schools. The subject
came before the Supreme Court of the State, December 4, 1849, under an action brought by a colored child, only five years old, who, by her next
friend, as the law term is, sued the City of Boston
for damages on account of a refusal to receive her
into one of the common  schools.  Mr. Sumner
undertook her case, and argued in a most thorough
manner the unconstitutionality of the discrimination on account of race or color. He claimed for
every person' equality before the law " - a term
now for the first time introduced from the French.
He denounced the separation of children in the
schools, as in the nature of caste, that odious system, which no Christian could sanction. He declared it to be injurious, also, to the whole system
of common schools.  "The law," he said, "contemplates not only that all shall be taught, but
that all shall be taught together.... All are to
approach the same common fountain together;
nor can there be any exclusive source for individual or class. The school is the little world




150        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
where the child is trained for the larger world of
life.... And since, according to our institutions,
all classes, without distinction of color, meet in
the performance of civil duties, so should they
all, without distinction of color, meet in the
school, beginning there those relations of equality
which the constitution and laws promise to all....
" Nothing is more clear than that the welfare of
classes, as well as of individuals, is promoted by
mutual acquaintance. Prejudice is the child of
Ignorance. It is sure to prevail where people do
not know  each other.  Society and intercourse
are means established by Providence for human
improvement. They remove antipathies, promote
mutual adaptation and conciliation, and establish
relations of reciprocal regard.  Whoso sets up
barriers to these, thwarts the ways of Providence,
crosses the tendencies of human nature, and directly interferes with the laws of God."
Addressing himself directly to the judges, he
said, " The Christian spirit I again invoke. Where
this prevails, there is neither Jew nor Gentile,
Greek nor barbarian, bond nor free, but all are
alike.  From  this we derive new  and solemn
assurance of the equality of men, as an ordinance
of God."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.            151
Here we see one feature of the Civil Rights
Bill, which  Mr. Sumner so earnestly  pressed
Congress to pass, as an act of justice to the
blacks, and of benefit to the whole country.
The court, in the present case, did not see fit
to  annul the  discrimination  in  the  common
schools.*  But in 1855 the legislature threw the
door open to all children alike. So we trust the
national legislature will do for the whole country.
The year 1850 is memorable for the series
of compromises; originating with  Henry Clay,
of Kentucky, which were designed to allay and
forever  settle the  controversy  about slavery.
Alas   the "conflict" was "irrepressible."
It was now a period of extreme irritation between the Free and the Slave States.  The annexation of Texas, as a slave state, in 1845; the
war with Mexico, begun in 1846; the acquisition,
as the result of it, of the vast territory of New
Mexico  and  California, which the  South were
laboring to throw open to slavery, - all this had
seriously alarmed the North. On the other hand,
* Chief Justice Shaw decided that the claim of equality before
the law meant " only that the rights of all, as they are settled and
regulated by law, are equally entitled to the paternal consideration
and protection of the law for their maintenance and security."




152        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the growing opposition to slavery at the North,
the determined spirit of the abolitionists, the rise
of the Liberty party in 1840, of the Free Soil
party in 1848, and the fear entertained at the
South that, after all, New Mexico and California
were likely to be non-slaveholding, had aroused
the people of the Slave States to a fearful pitch
of exasperation. Then came forward the great
compromiser, with his panacea of peace —his
last public act. It was discussed amid great excitement, in and out of Congress, from January
to September, in which month California was admitted as a Free State, New Mexico and Utah
were organized as Territories with no provision
for or against slavery, the slave-trade was prohibited in the District of Columbia, and a stringent Fugitive Slave Law was passed.
"Now," said President Fillmore, "we have been
rescued from the wide and boundless agitation
that surrounded us, and have a firm. distinct, and
legal ground to rest upon."
But he was crying peace when there was no
peace.  Specially obnoxious to the North was
the Fugitive Slave Bill. It was a shameful statute, not only as designed to rivet more firmly




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        153
the shackles of the slave, and as carrying terror
into every colored home in the Free States, but
as turning the free North into a legalized hunting-ground for fugitives, and as visiting with
"bitter penalties of fine and imprisonment the
faithful men and women who rendered to the
fugitive that countenance, succor, and shelter
which  Christianity expressly requires;" thus,
" from beginning to end," setting " at nought the
best principles of the constitution, and the very
laws of God."
The most odious features of this bill were the
following: it ordained a "summary process "a legal proceeding intended to protect human
freedom, but which in this case was wickedly
perverted to the very opposite.
It violated the fundamental right of trial by
jury, which the constitution of the United States
grants in suits at common law, where the value
in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars —the
liberty of a man being made of less account than
the recovery of a horse.
It provided that " in no trial or hearing under
this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive
be admitted in evidence." He might be a white




154        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
man or a free negro, but he could bring forward
no proof of the fact. The claimant with a bribe
in his hand might enter into collusion with the
commissioner, and between them  the innocent
victim might be reduced to slavery.
It placed the liberty of the alleged fugitive at
the mercy of one man, from whose verdict there
was no appeal.
The government offered a premiumbor kidnapping, for it allowed the commissioner twice as
much in case he surrendered the alleged fugitive
to the claimant, as he should receive if he released him-ten dollars for declaring a man a
slave, five dollars for declaring him a freeman!
It authorized the ministers of the law   the
mockery of law —to " summon and call to their
aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the
proper county," and it "COMMANDED"  all good
citizens to aid and assist in the prompt and
efficient execution of the law, under the penalty of fine and imprisonment.
In the last provision, it seemed as though the
slave power was resolved to press to Northern
lips the bitterest cup of abomination which it
could possibly concoct.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        155
No wonder it awakened a feeling of indignation and horror, not only among the blacks, but
among multitudes of the liberty-loving people of
the Free States. Many, even, who were little
concerned for the miseries of the colored people,
revolted at the thought of being themselves
" commanded " by the slave power to act the part
of slave-catcher - in fact, to become slaves.
Meetings for protesting against the outrageous
act were held in different places. One of the
most note-worthy was held in Faneuil Hall, just
one month after the passage of the bill, for the
special purpose of taking measures for the protection of the colored people of the city, and of
fugitives from slavery. It was an enthusiastic
gathering. In the opening prayer, Dr. Lowell
said, " Thou who art no respecter of persons,
who art love, and dwellest in love, look in mercy
upon those of our brethren on whose behalf we
are now assembled -fugitives from slavery."
It was necessary that something should be
done, for, immediately upon the passing of the
bill, slave-hunting began all over the North, and
was prosecuted with fearful activity. Spies were
everywhere.  Slave-hunters  became  familiar




156       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
characters. In New York, one Sunday morning,
a slaveholding clergyman, just arrived, was seen
riding on the top of a stage, perched aloft for the
purpose, perhaps, of discovering his victim. The
first case under the act, September 28, was that
of James Hamlet, who was seized in New York,
and hurried off to a woman in Baltimore who
laid claim to him. In many cases, the execution
of the law was attended with circumstances of
peculiar aggravation. Families which had long
enjoyed peace at the free North were now invaded by the slave power, and either broken up,
or forced to the most heart-rending separations.
Large numbers fled to British soil. " Within the
first year of its [the bill's] existence, more persons, probably, were seized as fugitive slaves
than during the preceding sixty years."
The first fugitives whom the act sought to
arrest in Boston were William and Ellen Crafts,
in 1850. In their case no attempt was made to
conceal them. William was ascertained to be a
man of pluck, who would make a stout resistance,
and whom it might be dangerous to approach.
There was at this time a Committee of Vigilance
and Safety, composed of prominent abolitionists,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        157
to look after the interests of fugitives. At one
of their meetings, which were usually held in
Stacy Hall, on Washington Street, Mr. Lewis
Hayden, a well-known resident of Boston, himself a fugitive, came in under great excitement.
The case now pending was becoming more critical. The question was, whether Crafts should
be secretly sent to Canada, or whether he should
be advised to remain and defy the " law."
Mr. Hayden, at whose house William and Ellen
Crafts were stopping, and who knew the spirit
of the former, immediately on entering the hall,
poured out the fullness of his heart, taking the
ground that Crafts should not be sent away. In
his earnestness, he had scarcely noticed who
were present; but suddenly pausing, and seeing
what men he was addressing, -John C. Park,
Theodore Parker, Francis Jackson, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Charles  Sumner, Timothy  Gilbert,
George Thompson, and other members of the
committee, or friends of the cause, —he instantly dropped into his seat. Mr. Sumner at once
arose, and took up the case where Mr. Hayden
had left it, urging, that as Crafts had given proof
of his manhood, it would be wrong to hasten his




158       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
escape; that it was his duty to remain, and make
a stand against the infamous law. The kidnappers must be driven from Boston.
The character of his remarks at this time may
also be gathered from what he said in a public
meeting in November: "From a humane, just,
and religious people will spring a public opinion
to keep perpetual guard over the liberties of all
within our borders. Nay, more like the flaming
sword of the cherubim at the gates of Paradise,
turning on every side, it shall prevent any SLAVEHUNTER from ever setting foot in this Commonwealth. Elsewhere he may pursue his human
prey, employ his congenial bloodhounds, and
exult in his successful game; but into Massachusetts he must not come. Again, let me be understood. I counsel no violence. I would not touch
his person. Not with whips and thongs would I
scourge him from the land. The contempt, the
indignation, the abhorrence of the community
shall be our weapons of offence. Wherever he
moves, he shall find no house to receive him, no
table spread to nourish him, no welcome to cheer
him. The dismal lot of the Roman exile shall be
his. He shall be a wanderer, without roof, fire,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.             159
or water. Men shall point at him on the streets
and in the highways.'Sleep shall neither night nor day
Iang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid;
Weary, sevennights nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.'
"Villages, towns, and cities shall refuse to
receive the monster; they shall vomit him forth,
never again to disturb the repose of our community."
Thus would Mr. Sumner arrest the action of
the " law " at the outset.
William and Ellen Crafts were not apprehended. Their would-be kidnappers retired without
their victims. At length the fugitives were sent
to England, where Crafts became a sort of coimmercial agent to the kingdom  of Dahomey.  He
is now living in Georgia.
At the public Free Soil meeting, to which reference was just made, November' 6, 1850, before
the annual election, Mr. Sumner denounced the
Fugitive Bill as " cruel, unchristian, and devilish."
It was unconstitutional also, and ought not to be
obeyed.
After stating, in his speech, that he himself




160       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
held the office of commissioner by appointment,
the year before, of Judge Story, - an office whose
duties he had seldom exercised, - yet, said he,
"I cannot forget that I am a man, although I am
a commissioner.... For myself, let me say,
that I can imagine no office, no salary, no consideration, which I would not gladly forego, rather
than become in any way the agent in enslaving
my brother man. Where for me were comfort
and solace after such a work? In dreams and in
waking hours, in solitude and in the street, in
the meditation of the closet and in the affairs of
men, wherever I turned, there my victim would
stare me in the face.  From  distant rice-fields
and sugar-plantations of the South, his cries
beneath the vindictive lash, his moans at the
thought of liberty, once his, now, alas! ravished
away, would pursue me, repeating the tale of his
tearful doom, and sounding, forever sounding, in
my ears,' Thou art the man!  "'
Speaking in more general terms, he said, " We
have seen what Congress has done. And yet,
in the face of these enormities of legislation,..we are told that the slavery question is settled. Yes, settled, -settled, - that is the word.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          161
Nothing, sir, can be settled which is not right.
Nothing canbe settled which is against freedom.
Nothing can be settled which is contrary to
the Divine law.  God, nature, and all the holy
sentiments of the heart repudiate any such seeming settlement."
As an encouragement to fidelity in the cause
of freedom, he said, "To every laborer in a cause
like this, there are satisfactions unknown to the
common political partisan.... Whatever may
be existing impediments, his is the cheering conviction that every word spoken, every act performed, every vote cast for this cause, helps to
swell those quickening influences by which truth,
justice, and humanity will be established upon
earth.  He may not live to witness the blessed
consummation, but it is none the less certain,
Others may dwell on the past as secure. Under
the laws of a beneficent God, the future also is
secure, —on the single condition that we labor
for its great objects."
With reference to the election of suitable men
to represent the cause in the State and the
Nation, he said: " Admonished by the experience
of timidity, irresolution, and weakness in our
11




162       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
public men, amidst the temptations of ambition
and power, the friends of freedom cannot lightly
bestow their confidence. They can put trust only
in men of tried character and inflexible will.
Three things at least they must require; the first
is backbone; the second is backbone; and the
third  is backbone.... Wanting this, they all
want that courage, constancy, firmness, which
are essential to the support of PRINCIPLE. Let no
such men be trusted."  And then, referring to
his own purpose, he added, " To vindicate freedom and oppose slavery, so far as I may constitutionally, - with earnestness, and yet, I trust,
without personal unkindness on my part, - is the
object near my heart.... Rejoicing in associates from any quarter, I shall be found ever with
that party which  most truly  represents the
principles of freedom.... Whenever I forget
them, whenever I become indifferent to them,
whenever I cease to be constant in maintaining them, through good report and evil report,
in any future combinations of party, then may
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, may
my right hand forget its cunning! "
Now that he has gone from us, his work com



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        163
pleted, we can say of him, that he never forgot
these principles, but to the very last, even with
his latest breath, redeemed every pledge here
made.
This speech was received with great enthusiasm by one class, but denounced by another as
"treasonable." It awakened deep feeling throughout the country, so bold and determined was its
stand against a congressional statute. It doubtless had an important influence in the election
which was about to take place for United States
senator, to fill the place made vacant by the appointment of Daniel Webster as secretary of
state.




164       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XIV.
The " Coalition."   Nomination of Mr. Sumner
for the United States Senate. — Scenes in the
Legislature. —  Mr. Bartlett's  Proposition. —
Lack of Envelopes. - Talking against Time. 
Election of Mr. Sumner. - Letter of John G.
Whittier to Mr. Sumner. - The Apple- Woman.
- Feeling among the Whigs. - Treatment of
Mr. Sumner. —Address to the Legislature. —
Horace Mann.
WE have now reached a very important period.
Hitherto Mr. Sumner has acted only as a private
citizen; he is now to take a public office, and to
become a public man, in a degree accorded to but
few of this or any generation. The whole course
of his life is henceforth to run in a channel far
different from that marked out by himself. Yet,
in a deeper sense, it was not different. He was still
to be Charles Sumner, the same foe to war and
slavery, the same friend of peace and freedom,
the same lover of truth and justice, only in a
wider sphere.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.            165
At this time there were three political parties
in Massachusetts, the Whig, the Democratic, and
the Free Soil.  The two latter were neither of
them strong enough to carry an election over the
Whigs, but by a combination they hoped to secure
their object.
The Democrats wished to conquer the Whigs,
the Free Soilers wished to promote the cause of
freedom.  Among the former, also, there were a
considerable number who were willing that the
slave power should  be rebuked.  Many such
afterwards became valiant Republicans.
It was accordingly agreed that most a of the
state officers chosen by the legislature should be
Democrats, and the United States senator a Free
Soiler."  This was the famous " coalition."
Henry Wilson, Free Soiler, was selected as candidate for President of the Senate; N. P. Banks,
Democrat, for Speaker of the House; George S.
Boutwell, Democrat, for Governor; and Charles
Sumner, Free Soiler, for United States senator,
all of whom were elected.*
* It is worthy of remark, that this legislature of 1851 contained
an unusual number of members who have since risen to positions
of eminence in the commonwealth or in the national government.
Three have been governors of the State, N. P. Banks, H. J. Gardi



166          LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
To Mr. Sumner this was a wholly unexpected
and undesired nomination. But he yielded to the
importunities of the friends of freedom, who insisted that, for the sake of the cause, he ought to
forget his personal preferences.
The choice of United States senator proved to
be a three months' race between Mr. Sumner and
Mr. Winthrop.
The Senate proceeded to ballot on January 22,
1851, with the following result: Charles Sumner, 23; R. C. Winthrop, 14; Beach, 1.  Mr. Sumner received, therefore, a majority of the votes
at the first ballot, and the Senate did not vote
again. In the House the first ballot stood thus:
Sumner, 186; Winthrop, 167;  scattering, 28;
blanks, 3.  Whole number, 381; necessary to a
choice, 191. There was no choice.
The voting in the House was not continuous
from day to day, as is the present rule, but was
carried on amid several postponements, sometimes for a fortnight at a time.
ner, and William Claflin; several have represented the State in Congress; three have been speakers of the House in the State legislature;
one is the present state treasurer; one has been mayor of Boston;
one has sat on the bench of the Supreme Court at Washington; and
one has held many important offices under the general government,
being at present our minister to Spain. Others have held influential
positions.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.             167
It was a period of intense excitement within
and outside the General Court, enlivened now and
then by amusing incidents.  One member, living
in the vicinity, but generally confined at home
from sickness, was brought into the House whenever voting  was to be done, and then carried
back. Every man was expected to " do his duty,"
even if he died in the attempt.
And so it went on till March 12, when an exciting debate took place, in the course of which
Caleb Cushing, of ancient and modern renown,
being then a member from  Newbury, said that
" he would cheerfully confront any personal extremity, he would be content to relinquish forever all aspirations as a statesman or a man, he
would think no personal sacrifice too great, if
he might thereby avoid such a death-stab to the
honor and welfare of the Commonwealth, and such
a stain and disaster to the Union as the election
to the Senate of the United States of a one-idea
abolition agitator to represent the people of Massachusetts." X
* In generous contrast with the above, we gladly insert the following later testimony from Mr. Cushing: " I think the speeches,
discourses, and miscellaneous papers of Mr. Sumner eminently deserve to be collected and published in a complete form. Whatever




168           LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
From  this we infer that Mr. Cushing was not a
party to the coalition.
The session had now reached the 24th of April
without an election.  Trial had  been  made  of
voting viva voce and by open ballot, without securing for any one the requisite majority. Somebody, it appeared, was casting two votes. Each
side suspected the other of foul play. At length
Sidney Bartlett, an eminent lawyer, of the Whig
party, thinking  that by  another  method  their
candidate might gain an advantage, moved, that
" in the further balloting, the ballot be placed in
an envelope; and  that, where two votes for one
person are found in the same envelope, one shall
be rejected; and that, where two votes for different persons are cast, both shall be rejected; the
envelopes to be of a uniform character, furnished
by the sergeant-at-arms."
For once the shrewd lawyer committed a blundifference of opinion there may be in the country concerning the
various political doctrines which, in his long senatorial career, lie
has so earnestly and so steadily maintained, certain it is that his
productions constitute an essential part of our public history, as
well in foreign as in domestic relations; and they are characterized
by such qualities of superior intellectual power, cultivated eloquence, and great and general accomplishment and statesmanship,
as entitle them to a high and permanent place in the political literature of the United States."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        169
der. The Free Soil members were delighted at
the motion, which was carried at once.
But there were not envelopes enough in the
State House for the unusual demand, and a
messenger was hurried off to' a stationer's for a
supply.
Meanwhile the Free Soilers were in an agony
lest, because of the readiness with which the
proposition had been received, a reconsideration
might be called for, and one of their number set
himself to the task of talking against time. It
was an immense relief when the messenger appeared with his box of envelopes, which were to
work such wonders for the Whig party.
Immediately the twenty-sixth vote was taken,
when, to the dismay of the author of the infallible
panacea and his compatriots, Charles Sumner was
declared to have received one hundred and ninety-three votes, and to be United States senator
for six years; it having required ninety-three
days to effect a concurrence of the House with
the Senate's vote of January 22d.
At that moment the breath of life went out of
the Whig party in Massachusetts. Alittle longer
it had a " name to live," but " was dead."




170        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
The Democratic party had gained a temporary
triumph, but it was by putting forward its most
powerful future antagonist.
The real victor was the little party of freedom,
which had obtained a leader, who, through " evil
report and good report," and through " deaths
oft," was to uphold their cause in the national
Senate with a consistency and a firmness hitherto
unparalleled on the floor of Congress.
His election was a national triumph. Congratulations came in from all the Free States, and
from the friends of humanity abroad.
John G.Whittier, an " original " abolitionist, was
among the first to express his gladness at the event.
"I rejoice," he wrote to Mr. Sumner, " that, unpledged, free, and without a single concession or
compromise, thou art enabled to take thy seat in
the Senate. I never knew such a general feeling
of real heart-pleasure and satisfaction as is manifested by all except inveterate Hunkers, in view
of thy election. The whole country is electrified
by it. Sick abed, I heard the guns, Quaker as I
am, with real satisfaction."
"Thank God, we have at last got a Governor
that can walk." said an old apple-woman, in the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        171
year 1797, as Increase Sumner, a cousin of Charles
Sumner's father, a man of athletic frame and
majestic appearance, passed from the Old South
Church after the election sermon.  His predecessors, Adams and Hancock, had been crippled
by gout or infirmity.
Thank God, Massachusetts had at last got a Senator that could walk, and with the firm and upright
step of a real man. " Laus Deo," wrote Mr. Chase
when he heard of the event, and all lovers of freedom re-echoed the sentiment.
Mr. Sumner heard of the election while at the
house of Hon. Charles Francis Adams, in Boston,
and there received the first congratulations. A
proposition for a public demonstration at his own
house in the evening he discountenanced, saying,
that, while feeling grateful to friends for their
kindness, he was unwilling to do or say anything
that could be construed by any one as evidence
of personal triumph,- that it was the triumph of
the cause, but that his heart dictated silence.
The account given in the second volume of his
Works, further states, that " in the evening there
was a meeting for congratulation in State Street,
where speeches were made by Hon. Henry Wil



172       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
son and others."  The crowd in State Street
moved to the house of Mr. Sumner, but he had
left the city.
A well-known colored man of the city, Lewis
Hayden, who had been a fugitive slave, says
that towards evening he met Mr. Sumner in
Cambridge Street, who said to him, " I am doing
what you did once - running away. I am a fugitive- from my friends." He was on his way to
Cambridge, to his friend, Mr. Longfellow.
Besides other considerations, the solemn responsibilities, which he well knew were awaiting
him, may also have weighed heavily upon Mr.
Sumner's mind.
He was, further, making another great sacrifice. We have seen how, at an earlier period, in
1845, and again during the discussions on Prison
Discipline, he had lost caste, in distinguished
social circles, for his radical novelties, and his
crossing the path of older and most reverend
worthies in church and state. But now, doors
which had been partially closed were to be shut
in his face. He had allowed himself to be a competitor with a gentleman whom conservative Boston delighted to honor, and had actually taken




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        173
possession of that dignified position of senator,
which had seemed made vacant on purpose for
Mr. Winthrop. This was not to be endured.
Most of Mr. Sumner's immediate literary friends,
to whom he had been closely bound, now, with
very few exceptions, turned their backs upon
him. Among the exceptions were Mr. Prescott
and Mr. Longfellow, whose friendship was immovable. One friend, distinguished for his classical
attainments, would not, from this time, speak to
Mr. Sumner, nor recognize him when they chanced
to meet in the street; though in after years a
hearty reconciliation took place. Such treatment
must have saddened Mr. Sumner's heart, though
it could not turn him from his high purpose. Not
Plato, but Truth.
Through all these transactions we see the genuine greatness of the man. He did not seek
office.  Office sought him.  "No man," says a
journal of that day, " ever accepted office with
cleaner hands than Charles Sumner. He consented to receive the nomination with extreme
reluctance. His pursuits, his tastes, his aspirations, were in a different direction. He earnestly
entreated his friends to select some other candi



174       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
date. After he was nominated, an onslaught,
unprecedented for ferocity and recklessness in
political warfare, had seemed to render his election impossible, unless he would authorize some
qualification of the alleged obnoxious doctrines
of his speeches, particularly of his. last Faneuil
Hall speech.  Mr. Sumner refused to retract,
qualify, or explain. Ten lines from his penlines that a politician might have written without
even the appearance of a change of sentimentwould have secured his election in January. No
solicitation of friends or opponents could extort
a line.
"A delegation of Hunkers applied to him for a
few words to cover their retreat. In reply, he
stated that he had no pledges to give, no explanations to make; he referred them to his published
speeches for his position, and added, that he had
not sought the office, but if it came to him it must
find him an independent man. To another Democrat, who called on him on the same errand, he
said,'If by walking around my office I could
secure the senatorship, I would not take a step.'
" In February he placed in the hands of General
[now Vice-President] Wilson [then president of




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         175
the state Senate] a letter authorizing that gentleman to withdraw his name, whenever, in his judgment, the good of the cause should require it." X
Besides a letter of acceptance sent to both
Houses, Mr. Sumner, following the precedent set
by John Quincy Adams in 1808, addressed the
legislature directly. In that speech he said, " If
I were to follow the customary course, I should
receive this [certificate of election] in silence.
But the protracted and unprecedented contest
which ended in my election, the interest it awakened, the importance universally conceded to it,
the ardor of opposition, and the constancy of support which it aroused, also the principles which
more than ever among us it brought into discussion, seem to justify what my own feelings irresistibly prompt- a departure from this rule....
" Your appointment finds me in a private station,
with which I am entirely content. For the first
time in my life I am  called to political office.
With none of the experience possessed by others
to smooth the way of labor, I well might hesitate.
But I am  cheered by the generous confidence,
which, throughout a lengthened contest, perse* Daily Commonwealth, April 25, 1851.




176        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
vered in sustaining me, and by the conviction
that, amidst all seeming differences of party, the
sentiments of which I am the known advocate,
and which led to my original selection as candidate, are dear to the hearts of the people throughout this commonwealth.....
"Acknowledging the right of my country to
the services of her sons wherever she chooses to
place them, and with a heart full of gratitude that
a sacred cause is permitted to triumph through
me, I now accept the post of senator.
" I accept it as the servant of Massachusetts,
mindful of the sentiments solemnly uttered by her
successive legislatures, of the genius which inspires her history, and of the men, her perpetual
pride and ornament, who breathed into her that
breath of liberty which early made her an example to the States. In such service, the way,
though new to my footsteps, is illumined by lights
which cannot be missed....
"Let me borrow, in conclusion, the language
of another:' I see my duty - that of standing
up for the liberties of my country; and whatever
difficulties and discouragements lie in my way, I
dare not shrink from it; and I rely on that Being




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        177
who has not left to us the choice of duties, that,
whilst I conscientiously discharge mine, I shall
not finally lose my reward.' These are words attributed to Washington in the early days of the
American revolution. The rule of duty is the
same for the lowly and the great; and I hope it
may not seem presumptuous in one so humble as
myself to adopt his determination, and to avow
his confidence."
And so Massachusetts sent a MAN to represent
her in the " high places of the field."
The same month Horace Mann wrote from his
place in Washington, "My dear Sumner, Laus
Deo!  Good, better, best, better yet! By the
necessity of the case, you are now to be a politician- an honest one.  Scores have asked
whether you would be true.  I have underwritten to the amount of twenty reputations."
12




178       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XV.
Lifting up and Casting down. - Thomas Sims
a Fugitive Slave. - Returned to his " Master."
- Theodore Parker. - Mr. Sumner's Opinion.
- His First Remarks in the Senate.    Kossuth. - Land  Bill. - Roads.- J. Fenimore
Cooper. - Drayton and Sayres. - Anxiety of
Mr. Sumner's Friends. - Fugitive Slave Bill.
— Attempt to get a Hearing. - His Friends
censure him.    Letter to Mr. Parker.- TZhe
great Opportunity improved.
WE will go back a little way to the time when
the voting for senator was yet going on in the
legislature. Between the nineteenth and twentieth ballotings, -that is, between March 19 and
April 20, 1851, -another scene, of far different
character, was enacting in a United States commissioner's court, in the same city of Bostondifferent, yet strangely connected with the other
in the State House.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        179
In the one case the question was, which one
of two freemen should be elevated to a high post
of honor; in the other, whether a man, an American, should be sent back to slavery. What a
jumble of ideas in a free, Christian land!
One American was exalted to office, another
American was deemed to be a slave, the property
of yet another American, and went down again
into his prison-house.
Doubtless this example of the injustice and barbarity of slavery, right under the shadow of the
State House, helped to nerve the friends of freedom to stand by Mr. Sumner.
Thomas Sims, poor fellow, had found his way
to Boston in search of freedom, and for a time
felt comparatively safe, close by the " Cradle of
Liberty."  He was seized under the false charge
of having stolen a watch, and hurried off, after
he had made a stout resistance, to the Court
House, which was converted into a jail. While
being taken from the carriage into the Court
House, he uttered the broken cry, "I am in the
hands of the kidnappers."
The jail was guarded by the city marshal and
sixty members of the city police. A detachment




180       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of the military was also ordered out. Chains were
placed around the building, and all citizens were
strictly prohibited admission, except members of
the press and the bar.
Before the commissioner, Sims was defended
by Robert Rantoul, Jr., Charles G. Loring, and
Samuel E. Sewall. The last gentleman, always
an ardent friend of freedom, had specially interested himself in the case. On the 12th of April,
Sims was adjudged to be the property of a man
named Potter. In one week more he was back
again in Savannah.
Being delivered to his " master," he was taken
down State Street, under an escort of two or
three hundred men, in violation of the laws of
the State, on his way back to the house of bondage.
It was of this outrage that Theodore Parker,
who was never silent when liberty was at stake,
said at a public meeting, " Nine days he was on
trial for more than his life, and never saw a judge,
never saw a jury. He was sent forth into bondage from the city of Boston. You remember the
chains that were put around the Court House, you
remember the judges of Massachusetts stooping,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         181
crouching, creeping, crawling, under the chains
of slavery, in order to  get into  their own
court."
The truth of history compels us to add, that
"the state and city authorities, the judiciary, the
military, the merchants," and very many of the
citizens, approved the surrender.
Some months before, Shadrach, a fugitive slave,
had been rescued, and had escaped.  The commercial interests of Boston seemed to require
some offering to the slave power, and Sims was
made to pass through the fire to appease the
Southern Moloch.
Mr. Sumner was deeply interested in this infamous affair. April 19, a week after the rendition, he wrote to Mr. Parker from his office in
Court Street.  Mr. Parker had preached on the
subject on Sunday, the 11th.
"May  you  live a thousand  years, always
preaching the truth of Fast day! That sermon
is a noble effort. It stirred me to the bottom of my
heart, at times softening me almost to tears, and
then again filling me with rage....
" You have placed the commissioner in an immortal pillory, to receive the hootings and rotten
eggs of the advancing generations..




182        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"My appeal is to the people, and my hopes to
create in Massachusetts such a public opinion as
will render the law a dead letter. It is in vain
to expect its repeal by Congress till the slave
power is overthrown.
" It is, however, with a rare dementia that this
power has staked itself on a position which is so
offensive, and which cannot for any length of
time be tenable. In enacting that law, it has
given to the Free States a sphere of discussion
which they would otherwise have missed."
And so Charles Sumner went to his seat at
Washington, and Thomas Sims to a plantation in
Georgia. But the lofty senator and the lowly
slave were, after all, co-laborers in the cause of
freedom -yes, and co-sufferers.
In December, 1851, Mr. Sumner took his place
in the Senate; and it is an interesting fact, that
the very* day he went into the chamber, Henry
Clay went out of it, never to return —a fact
symbolical of the going out of the old era of
compromise, and the coming in of a new era of
principle.
Mr. Sumner's first speech in the Senate, December 10, was very short, but it was character



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        183
istic of the man. His heart embraced every man
who, in whatever land, showed himself the selfsacrificing friend of our struggling humanity.
When, then, a resolution was introduced by Mr.
Seward extending to Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, a national welcome, it had in Mr.
Sumner a warm advocate. " I see in him," said
he, "more than in any other living man, the
power which may be exerted by a single earnest,
honest soul in a noble cause.... He seems at
times the fiery sword of freedom, and then the
trumpet of resurrection to the nations."
Mr. Sumner regarded slavery as now the one
supreme question, but he could and did take
a comprehensive survey of all subjects of national importance. And although senator from
Massachusetts, he also knew that he was senator
of the United States. Hence, when, in February,
1852, a bill came up affecting the interests of the
land States in the West, - the Iowa Railroad Bill,
he strongly urged a grant of land to that State
in aid of certain railroads. Hear what he had to
say about roads:"It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of roads as means of civilization. This at




184       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
least may be said, where roads are not, civilization cannot be; and civilization advances as roads
are extended. By roads religion and knowledge
are diffused, -intercourse of all kinds is promoted,- producer, manufacturer, and consumer
are all brought nearer together,- commerce
is quickened, markets are created,- property,
wherever touched by these lines, as by a magic
rod is changed into new value; and the great
current of travel, like that stream of classic fable,
or one of the rivers of our own California, hurries in a channel of golden sand. The roads, together with the laws, of ancient Rome are now
better remembered than her victories.  The
Flaminian and Appian Ways, once trod by such
great destinies, still remain as beneficent representatives of ancient grandeur. Under God, the
road and the schoolmaster are two chief agents
of human improvement. The education begun
by the schoolmaster is expanded, liberalized, and
completed by intercourse with the world; and
this intercourse finds new opportunities and inducements in every road that is built."
About the same time, Mr. Sumner, in response
to an invitation to a proposed demonstration in




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        185
memory of J. Fenimore Cooper, paid a just and
graceful tribute to the great American novelist:
" As an author of clear and manly prose, as a
portrayer to the life of scenes on land and sea,
as a master of the keys to human feelings, and
as a beneficent contributor to the general fund
of happiness, he is remembered with delight.
As a patriot who loved his country, who illustrated its history, who advanced its character
abroad, and by his genius won for it the unwilling regard of foreign nations, he deserves a
place in the hearts of the American people."
Some time after this, Mr. Sumner became interested in the case of two men, Drayton and
Sayres, incarcerated at Washington for helping
the escape of slaves. On the 14th of May, he
submitted an opinion to the president upon his
pardoning power, hoping to effect their release.
The case is thus stated by Mr. Sumner himself: 
" This case, from beginning to end, is a curious
episode of anti-slavery history. The people of
Washington were surprised, on the morning of
April 16, 1848, at hearing  that the'Pearl,'
a schooner from  the North, had sailed down




186        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the Potomac with seventy-six slaves, who had
hurried aboard in the vain hope of obtaining
their freedom. The schooner was pursued and
brought back to Washington, with her human
cargo, and the liberators, Drayton, master, and
Sayres, mate. As the latter were taken from
the river-side to the jail, they were followed by
a pro-slavery mob, estimated at from four to six
thousand people, many armed with deadly weapons, amid wrathful cries of —'Hang him!''Lynch him!' with all profanities and abominations of speech, and exposed to violence of
all kinds,- the thrust of a dirk-knife coming
within an inch of Drayton. The same mob besieged the jail, and, hearing that Hon. Joshua
R. Giddings, the brave representative, of Ohio,
was there in consultation with the prisoners,
demanded his immediate expulsion; and the
jailer, to save bloodshed, insisted upon his departure. Nor was the prevailing rage confined
to the jail. It extended to the office of the
National Era, the  anti-slavery  paper, which
was saved from destruction only through the
courage and calmness of its admirable editor.
The spirit of the mob entered both houses of




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         187
Congress, and the slave-masters raged, as was
their wont.
"Meanwhile, Drayton and  Sayres were indicted before the Criminal Court of the District of Columbia, for'transporting slaves.'
There were no less than one hundred and fifteen
indictments against each of the prisoners, and
the bail demanded of each was seventy-six
thousand dollars. Hon. Horace Mann, a representative of Massachusetts, appeared for the
defence. His speech on this occasion will be
read with constant interest.  The spirit of the
mob without entered the court-room, betraying
itself even in the conduct of the judge, while,
standing near the devoted counsel for the defence, were men who cocked pistols and drew
dirks in the mob that followed the prisoners to
the jail. Of course the verdict was' guilty,'
and the sentence was according to the extreme
requirement of a barbarous law.
"Drayton and Sayres lingered in prison more
than four years, and during this long incarceration, they were the objects of much sympathy
at the North. A petition to Congress in their behalf, signed by leading abolitionists, including the




188        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
eloquent Wendell Phillips, was forwarded to Mr.
Sumner for presentation to the Senate. On careful consideration, he was satisfied that such a
petition, if presented, would excite the dominant
power to insist more strongly than ever on the
letter of the law, and he took the responsibility
of withholding it. Meanwhile he visited the sufferers in prison, and appealed to President Fillmore for their pardon.  In this application he
was aided by that humane lady, Miss Dix. The
president interposed doubts of his right to pardon in such a case, but expressed a desire for
light on this point.
" At his invitation, Mr. Sumner laid before him
a paper, which was referred to the attorney-general, Mr. Crittenden, who gave an opinion affirming the power of the president; adding, however,'Whether the power shall be exercised in this
instance is another and very different question.'
This opinion bears date August 4, 1852, which, it
will be observed, was some time after the presidential convention of the two great political parties. Shortly afterwards the pardon was granted.
"There was reason to believe that an attempt
would be made to arrest the pardoned persons




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         189
on warrants from the governor of Virginia. Anticipating this peril, Mr. Sumner, as soon as the
pardon was signed, hurried to the jail in a carriage, and, taking them with him, put them  in
charge of a friend, who conveyed them  that
night to Baltimore, a distance of forty miles,
where they arrived in season for the early morning trains north, and in a few hours were out of
danger." *
About seven months had now  elapsed since
Mr. Sumner took his seat in Congress; and yet,
with the exception of brief remarks on presenting a memorial from some Friends against the
Fugitive Slave Bill, his voice had not been heard
in defence of the great cause for which mainly
he had been sent there. His friends in Massachusetts began to feel some measure of anxiety.
Theodore Parker had written to him, more than a
year before, "I hope you will be the senator with
a conscience. I look to you to represent justice.
I expect much of you. I expect heroism of the
most heroic kind."  Writing to Dr. S. G. Howe,
Mr. Parker said, "Do you see what imminent
* Works of Charles Sumner. Boston: Lee & Shepard.




190       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
deadly peril poor Sumner is in? If he does not
speak, then he is dead."
So potent in previous years had been the
Southern spell, either by blandishments or menaces, to seal the lips of Northern men upon the
subject of slavery, that it is scarcely strange that
doubts even of Charles Sumner's courage and
conscience began to arise; for he, too, had been
approached, in the old way so well understood
by Southern gentlemen, with soft and courteous
words. But our Samson was not to be taken in
the toils which had captured so many Northern
men.  He knew  what their polished phrases
meant.
He had counted the cost, and was all the while
but watching his opportunity. At length, July
27, 1852, he broke silence. " I have a resolution," said he in his place, " which I desire to
offer; and as it is not in order to debate it today, I give notice that I shall expect to call it up
to-morrow, at an early moment in the morning
hour, when I shall throw myself upon the indulgence of the Senate to be heard upon it.
"' Resolved, That the committee on the judiciary be instructed to consider the expediency




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        191
of reporting a bill for the immediate repeal of the
act of Congress, approved September 18, 1850,
known as the Fugitive Slave Act.'"
The next day he asked permission to take up
the resolution. "As a senator," he said, "under
the responsibilities of my position, I have deemed
it my duty to offer the resolution. I may seem
to have postponed this duty to an inconvenient
period of the session; but had I attempted it at
an earlier day, I might have exposed myself to a
charge of a different character. It might have
been said, that, a new-comer, and inexperienced
in this scene, without deliberation, hastily, rashly,
recklessly, I pushed this question before the
country. This is not the case now. I have taken
time, and, in the exercise of my most careful discretion, at last ask the attention of the Senate."
And then he added, " Make such disposition of
my resolution afterwards as to you shall seem
best; visit upon me any degree of criticism,
censure, or displeasure; but do not refuse me a
hearing.'Strike, but hear."'
The Senate, by a vote of thirty-two against ten,
refused to hear him. Those who voted in the
affirmative were Messrs. Clarke, Davis, Dodge,




192       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Foot, Hamlin, Seward, Shields, Upham, and
Wade.
The slave power boasted, that, for that session
at least, the Massachusetts abolitionist should
not be heard.
But while his enemies boasted, his friends censured.  Even now  suspicion was not entirely
removed.  Surely Mr. Sumner might contrive
some way to compel a hearing, if he wished to.
So said many of his friends in Massachusetts.
Even the Liberator allowed itself to indulge in
an ungenerous fling at the silent senator. He
must be under an overseer! Theodore Parker,
too, who knew Mr. Sumner so well, was not satisfied, and so he wrote to him. To this the senator replied, August 11, 
"I will not argue the question of past delay.
To all that can be said on that head, there is this
explicit answer. With a heart full of devotion
to our cause, in the exercise of my best discretion, and on the advice or with the concurrence of
friends, I have waited. It may be that this was
unwise, but it was honestly and sincerely adopted,
with a view to serve the cause. Let this pass.' You cannot desire a speech from me more




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        193
than I desire to make one. I came to the Senate
on my late motion (July 27), prepared for the
work, hoping to be allowed to go on, with the
promise of leaders from all sides that I should
have a hearing. I was cut off. No chance for
courtesy. I must rely upon my rights.
" You tell me not to wait for the Civil Appropriation Bill. I know that it is hardly within the
range of possibilities that any other bill should
come forward, before this bill, to which my
amendment can be attached. For ten days we
have been on the Indian Appropriation Bill.
With this the Fugitive Slave Bill is not germane.
"The Civil Appropriation Bill will probably
pass the House to-day. It will come at once to
the Senate, be referred to the Committee on
Finance, be reported back by them with amendments. After the consideration of these amendments of the committee, and not before, my chance
will come. For this  am prepared, with a determination equal to your own. All this delay is to
me a source of grief and disappointment. But I
know my heart; and I know that sincerely, singly,
I have striven for the cause.
13




194       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"You remember the picture in the' Ancient
Mariner' of the ship in the terrible calm? In such
a calm is my ship at this moment; I cannot move
it. But I claim the confidence of friends, for I
know that I deserve it...  There is a time for
all things."
Directly after he wrote again, "In my course
I have thought little what people would say,
whether Hunkers or Free Soilers, but how I could
most serve the cause. This consciousness sustains
me now, while I hear reports of distrust, and
note the gibes of the press.
" Nothing but death or deadly injustice, overthrowing all rule, can prevent me from  speaking.
In waiting till I did, I was right."
It looks to us, at this time, as if Mr. Parker
acted with a measure of officiousness, too much
in the character of a conscience-keeper, when he
thus seemed to dictate to Mr. Sumner his line of
duty; though, perhaps, he used only the frank
freedom of a friend.
But Mr. Sumner, on the spot, best understood
his position, its difficulties and opportunities. After the 26th of August there was no more distrust.
We may here premise, that a chief artifice of




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       195
the Whigs and Democrats -both bidding for
Southern patronage —was the cry, that they,
standing by the compromise measures, constituted the national party, while all others were
chargeable with sectionalism. Mr. Sumner determined to reverse the order, to prove that
freedom  was national, slavery sectional.  But
how could he get a hearing before a body which
had just commanded silence? No thanks to the
Senate. The Civil Diplomatic Appropriation Bill
being under consideration, the following amendment was proposed by Mr. Hunter, of Virginia: -
" That, where the ministerial officers of the
United States have or shall incur extraordinary
expenses in executing the laws thereof, the payment of which is not specifically provided for, the
President of the United States is authorized to
allow the payment thereof, under the special
taxation of the District or Circuit Court of the
District in which the said services have been or
shall be rendered, to be paid from the appropriation for defraying the expenses of the Judiciary."
The " extraordinary expenses " of course meant
those incurred in the apprehension, trial, and
rendition of fugitive slaves, under the recently
enacted Fugitive Slave Bill.




196       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
His hour had come. Mr. Sumner immediately
moved the following amendment to the amendment:
"Provided, That no such allowance shall be
authorized for any expenses incurred in executing the act of September 18, 1850, for the surrender of fugitives from service or labor; which
said act is hereby repealed."
When it was known that Mr. Sumner intended
to speak, several senators came to him, begging
him  to desist from  his purpose.  He replied,
" God willing, I shall speak, and press the question to a vote, even if I am left alone."
He did speak, and for nearly four hours. It
must have been a thrilling scene. There, before
the speaker, were his fellow-senators, all of them
bitter opponents, or timid friends, save a little
handful of hated, yet despised abolitionists, a
helpless minority. He was to speak upon a subject so " delicate," that barely to mention it was
to throw the slaveholding members into spasms,
— the one subject which alone, of all others,
might not be brought into discussion.  Whigs
and Democrats had combined to compel him to
silence; hitherto with success. But behold, he
has the floor, and they must hear him.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        197
Mr. Sumner knew that he was addressing more
than the Senate. The whole country was his audience. And he rose to the greatness and solemnity of the occasion. Inspired by a profound
sense of justice, sustained by a firm conviction
that he was right, and by the certain belief in the
final triumph of his cause, he knew that he had
the advantage of his opponents. He knew that
their consciences were on his side; and he looked
them in the face without quailing. There was a
voice which said to him, " Fear not, for they that
be with us are more than they that be with them."
He knew that in "dear old Massachusetts " and
elsewhere, he had the warm sympathies of valued
friends of humanity. His was the cause of God.
"Mr. President,' he began, " here is a provision for extraordinary expenses incurred in executing the laws of the United States. Extraordinary expenses! Sir, beneath these specious words
lurks the very subject on which, by a solemn vote
of this body, I was refused a hearing. Here it is;
no longer open to the charge of being an   abstraction,' but actually presented for practical
legislation; not introduced by me, but by the
senator from Virginia (Mr. Hunter), on the rec



198        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
ommendation of an important committee of the
Senate; not brought forward weeks ago, when
there was ample time for discussion, but only at
this moment, without any reference to the late
period of the session. The amendment which I
offer proposes to remove one chief occasion of
these extraordinary expenses. Beyond all controversy or cavil, it is strictly in order. And now,
at last, among these final crowded days of our
duties here, but at this earliest opportunity, I am
to be heard- not as a favor, but as a right. The
graceful usages of this body may be abandoned,
but the established privileges of debate cannot be
abridged. Parliamentary courtesy may be forgotten, but parliamentary law must prevail. The
subject is broadly before the Senate. By the
blessing of God it shall be discussed.
" With me, sir, there is no alternative. Painfully convinced of the unutterable wrong and woe
of slavery, - profoundly believing that, according to the true spirit of the Constitution and the
sentiments of the fathers, it can find no place
under our national government, — that it is in
every respect sectional, and in no respect national,
- that it is always and everywhere creature and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        199
dependant of the States, and never anywhere
creature or dependant of the Nation, and that the
Nation can never, by legislative or other act, impart to it any support under the Constitution of
the United States,  with these convictions I
could not allow this session to reach its close
without making or seizing an opportunity to declare myself openly against the usurpation, injustice, and cruelty of the late intolerable enactment
for the recovery of fugitive slaves. Full well I
know, sir, the difficulties of this discussion, arising from prejudices of opinion and from adverse
conclusions, strong and sincere as my own. Full
well I know that I am in a small minority, with
few here to whom I can look for sympathy or support. Full well I know that I must utter things
unwelcome to many in this body, which I cannot
do without pain. Full well I know that the institution of slavery in our country, which I now
proceed to consider, is as sensitive as it is powerful, possessing a power to shake the whole land,
with a sensitiveness that shrinks and trembles at
the touch. But while these things may properly
prompt me to caution and reserve, they cannot
change my duty or my determination to perform




200       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
it. For this I willingly forget myself and all personal consequences. The favor and good-will of
my fellow-citizens, of my brethren of the Senate,
sir, grateful to me as they justly are, I am ready,
if required, to sacrifice. Whatever I am or may
be I freely offer to this cause.
" Party does not constrain me; nor is my independence lessened by any relations to the office
which gives me a title to be heard on this floor.
Here, sir, I speak proudly. By no effort, by no
desire of my own, I find myself a senator of
the United States. Never before have I held
public office of any kind.  With the ample
opportunities of private life I was content. No
tombstone for me could bear a fairer inscription
than this:' Here lies one who, without the honors or emoluments of public station, did something
for his fellow-men.'  From such simple aspirations I was taken away by the free choice of my
native Commonwealth, and placed at this responsible post of duty, without personal obligations
of any kind, beyond what was implied in my life
and published words....
" Rejoicing in my independence, and claiming
nothing from party ties, I throw myself upon the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        201
candor and magnanimity of the Senate. I ask
your attention; I trust not to abuse it. I may
speak strongly, for I shall speak openly, and from
the strength of my convictions. I may speak
warmly, for I shall speak from the heart. But in
no event can I forget the amenities which belong
to debate, and which especially become this
body. Slavery I must condemn with my whole
soul; but here I need only borrow the language
of slaveholders; nor would it accord with my
habits or my sense of justice to exhibit them as
the impersonation of the institution — Jefferson
calls it the' enormity'- which they cherish. Of
them I do not speak; but without fear and without favor, as without impeachment of any person,
I assail this wrong. Again, sir, I may err; but
it will be with the fathers. I plant myself on
the ancient ways of the republic, with its grandest names, its surest landmarks, and all its original altar-fires about me."
Referring to the effort to suppress free speech,
Mr. Sumner said, "But, sir, this effort is impotent
as tyrannical. Convictions of the heart cannot
be repressed. Utterances of conscience must be
heard.  They break forth with irrepressible




202        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
might. As well attempt to check the tides of
Ocean, the currents of the Mississippi, or the rushing waters of Niagara. The discussion of slavery
will proceed, wherever two or three are gathered
together - by the fireside, on the highway, at the
public meeting, in the church. The movement
against slavery is from the Everlasting Arm.
Even now it is gathering its forces, soon to be
confessed everywhere. It may not be felt yet in
the high places of office and power, but all who can
put their ears humbly to the ground will hear and
comprehend its incessant and advancing tread."
The argument proving the national character
of freedom is thus condensed: " Considering that
slavery is of such an offensive character that it
can find sanction only in' positive law,' and that
it has no such' positive' sanction in the Constitution,  that the Constitution, according to its
preamble, was ordained to' establish justice' and'secure the blessings of liberty,' — that, in the
convention which framed it, and also elsewhere
at the time, it was declared not to sanction
slavery, —that, according to the Declaration of
Independence, and the Address of the Continental Congress, the nation was dedicated to'liber



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       203
ty' and the' rights of human nature,' - that, according to the principles of the common law, the
Constitution must be interpreted openly, actively,
and perpetually for freedom, - that, according to
the decision of the Supreme Court, it acts upon
slaves, not as property, but as persons, -that, at
the first organization of the national government
under Washington, slavery had no national favor,
existed nowhere on the national territory, beneath the national flag, but was openly condemned, by nation, church, colleges, and literature of the time, -and finally, that according to
an amendment of the Constitution, the national
government can exercise only powers delegated
to it, among which is none to support slavery,
- considering these things, sir, it is impossible
to avoid the single conclusion that slavery is
in no respect a national institution, and that
the Constitution nowhere upholds property in
man."
Mr. Sumner thus characterized the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850: " Oppression by an individual
is detestable; but oppression by law is worse.
Hard and inscrutable, when the law, to which the
citizen naturally looks for protection, becomes




204        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
itself a standing peril. As the sword takes the
place of the shield, despair settles down like a
cloud..
"With every attempt to administer the Slave
Act, it constantly becomes more revolting, particularly in its influence on the agents it enlists.
The spirit of the law passes into them, as the
devils entered the swine. Upstart commissioners,
mere mushrooms of courts, vie and re-vie with
each other.  Now by indecent speed, now by
harshness of manner, now by denial of evidence,
now by crippling the defence, and now by open,
glaring wrong, they make the odious Act yet
more odious. Clemency, grace, and justice die in
its presence. All this is observed by the world.
Not a case occurs which does not harrow the
souls of good men, bringing tears of sympathy to
the eyes, and those other noble tears which'patriots shed over dying laws."'
The heroism that shows itself in efforts to regain lost freedom is thus strikingly described:
" Less by genius or eminent service than by suffering are the fugitive slaves of our country now
commended. For them every sentiment of humanity is aroused.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        205' Who could refrain,
That had a heart to love. and in that heart
Courage to make his love known?'
Rude and ignorant they may be, but in their
very  efforts for freedom  they claim  kindred
with all that is noble in the past. Romance has
no stories of more thrilling interest. Classical
antiquity has preserved no examples of adventure
and trial more worthy of renown.  They are
among the heroes of our age. Among them are
those whose names will be treasured in the annals of their race. By eloquent voice they have
done much to make their wrongs known, and to
secure the respect of the world. History will
soon lend her avenging pen.  Proscribed by
you during life, they will proscribe you through
all time. Sir, already judgment is beginning. A
righteous public sentiment palsies your enactment."
The speech was followed by a debate, in which
nineteen senators, from eighteen different States,
took part; all in opposition to Mr. Sumner's
amendment, except Mr. Chase, of Ohio, and Mr.
Hale, of New Hampshire. Mr. Seward was absent. Senators from nine Free States were among




206        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the opponents. Three Southern senators indulged
in personalities. Mr. Chase, afterwards the honored secretary of the treasury during the civil
war, and yet later, chief justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, said, " In my judgment
the speech of my friend from Massachusetts will
mark AN ERA in American history." Henry Wilson, afterwards, for so many years, his co-agitator in the national Senate, and always his friend
and able supporter, Wendell Phillips, Stephen C.
Phillips, and many others, wrote to Mr. Sumner in
a similar strain.
The vote which followed the debate tells the
sad tale of a Senate sold to slavery. On Mr.
Sumner's amendment: Yeas, 4; nays, 47. The
four were Messrs. Chase, Hale, Wade, and Sumner.
But that small vote did not tell the whole story.
The truth had had a hearing. Moreover, it had
awakened  the consciences, and touched  the
deeper, better feelings of some of the Southern
auditors.
A letter written to Rev. Dr. Stebbins, about
two months later, gives us a very interesting insight into Mr. Sumner's feelings at this time, and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        207
also shows the happy effect of his speech, even
upon slaveholders: -
"NEWPORT, R. I., October 12,'52.
" M  DEAR SIR: I cannot receive the overflowing sympathy of your letter without a response.
It has added to my happiness. The interest you
express in that speech, and particularly in the
latter part of it, emboldens me to write of it more
freely than I have before.
"I went to the Senate determined to do my
duty, but in my own way. Anxious for the cause,
having it always in mind, I knew that I could not
fail in loyalty, though I might err in judgment.
All my instincts prompted delay. But meanwhile
I was taunted and attacked at home. Had I been
less conscious of the rectitude of my course, I
might have sunk under these words. But I persevered in my own way.
" As I delivered the part to which you refer, I
remember well the intent looks of the Senate, and
particularly of Mr. King [president, pro ter., of
the Senate]. It was already dinner time, but all
were silent and attentive, and Hale [John P.
Hale, of N. H.] tells me that Mr. Underwood, of
Kentucky, by his side, was in tears.
" From many leading Southern men I have received the strongest expressions of interest awakened in our cause, and a confession that they did




208       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
not know before the strength of the argument on
our side. Polk, of Tennessee, said to me,' If you
should make that speech in Tennessee, you would
compel me to emancipate my niggers.'  But
enough of this. I have been tempted to it by the
generosity of your letter.
"Thankfully and truly yours,
"CHARLES SUMNER."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         209
CHAPTER XVI.
Return  to Massachusetts. -  Warm  Welcome.Speech at Lowell. - Free Soil Party. - Superintendents of Armories. -  Convention to revise the
Constitution of Massachusetts.-  Colored Militia. -  The Representative System. - Nebraska
and  Kansas. —  Stephen  A. Douglas. -  Mr.
Sumner's Speech. - Final Protest.
MR. SUMNER, on his return to Massachusetts, at
the close of the session, was warmly welcomed
by the friends of freedom. He had done his duty
well, under circumstances of the most trying
character. Where others had failed, he had not.
At the State Convention of the Free Soil party,
held in Lowell, September 15, 1852, presided
over by Stephen C. Phillips, of Salem, Mr. Sumner was received with much enthusiasm.
"After an absence," he said, " of many months,
I have now come home to breathe anew the invigorating Northern air, to tread again the free
14




210        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
soil of our native Massachusetts, and to enjoy the
sympathy of friends and fellow-citizens.  But,
while glad in your greetings, thus bounteously
lavished, I cannot accept them for myself. I do
not deserve them.  They belong to the cause
which we all have at heart, and which binds us
together... I have done nothing but my duty."
Farther on he said, "At the present time in
our country, there exists a deep, controlling, conscientious feeling against slavery... The rising
public opinion cannot flow in the old political channels. It is impeded, choked, and dammed back.
But if not through the old parties, then over the
old parties, this irresistible current shall find its
way. It cannot be permanently stopped. If the
old parties will not become its organs, they must
become its victims. The party of Freedom will
certainly prevail. It may be by entering into and
possessing one of the old parties, filling it with
our own strong life; or it may be by drawing to
itself the good and true from both, who are unwilling to continue in a political combination when
it ceases to represent their convictions; but, in
one way or the other, its ultimate triumph is sure.
" At this moment we are in a minority. At the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         211
last popular election in Massachusetts there were
twenty-eight thousand Free Soilers, forty-three
thousand  Democrats, and  sixty-four thousand
Whigs. But this is no reason for discouragement.
According to recent estimates, the population of
the whole world amounts to about eight hundred
millions. Of these, only two hundred and sixty
millions are Christians, while the remaining five
hundred and forty millions are mainly Mahometans, Brahmins, and idolaters. Because the Christians are in this minority, that is no reason for
renouncing Christianity, and for surrendering to
the false religions; nor do we doubt that Christianity will yet prevail over the whole earth, as
the waters cover the sea. The friends of freedom in Massachusetts are likewise in a minority;
but they will not, therefore, renounce freedom,
nor surrender to the political Mahometans, Brahmins, and idolaters of Baltimore; nor can they
doubt that their cause, like Christianity, will yet
prevail."
Then, referring to the candidates of the party,
he added, " With such a cause and such candidates, no man can be disheartened. The tempest
may blow, —but ours is a life-boat, not to be




212        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
harmed by wind or wave. The Genius of Liberty
sits at the helm. I hear her voice of cheer saying,' Whoso sails with me comes to shore.'"
On his return to the Senate, next year, Mr. Sumner made some remarks in favor of employing civil
instead of military superintendents of armories.
Here his peace principles came out —another,
though slight, example of his remarkable consistency. " I do affirm confidently," he said, " that the
genius of our institutions favors civil life rather
than military life,- and that, in harmony with this,
it is our duty, whenever the public interests will
permit, to limit and restrict the sphere of military
influence. This is not a military monarchy, where
the soldier is supreme, but a republic, where the
soldier yields to the civilian. 
" The idea which has fallen from so many senators, that the superintendent of an armory ought
to be a military man,... seems to me to be as
illogical as the jocular fallacy of Dr. Johnson, that
he' who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.' 
Mr. Sumner was a member of the convention
which met in 1853 to revise and amend the constitution of Massachusetts. He was an able and
influential member.  Among other resolutions




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        213
which he advocated was the following: " That
in the organization of the volunteer military companies of the Commonwealth there shall be no
distinction of color or race."
He also spoke on the representative system
and its proper basis, and on bills of rights - their
history and policy.
On the former topic he said, " This is an invention of modern times.  In antiquity there
were republics and democracies, but there was no
representative system. Rulers were chosen by
the people, as in many commonwealths; senators
were designated by the king or by the censors,
as in Rome; ambassadors or legates were sent to
a federal council, as to the Assembly of the Amphictyons; but in no ancient state was any body
of men ever constituted by the people to represent them in the administration of their internal
affairs. In Athens, the people met in public assembly, and directly acted for themselves on all
questions, foreign or domestic. This was possible there, as the state was small, and the Assembly seldom exceeded five thousand citizens, - a
large town-meeting, or mass-meeting, we might
call it, - not inaptly termed   that fierce democratio' of Athens."




214        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
After alluding to the representative system
as it exists in England, Mr. Sumner said, that " to
our country belongs the honor of first giving to
the world the idea of a system which, discarding
corporate representation [as in England], founded
itself absolutely on equality." The American
system, as distinguished from the English, is the
applying the rule of three to representation- a
representation not according to property, not
according to territory, not according to any corporate rights, but of persons, according to their respective numbers. " It gives to the great principle of human equality a new expansion and application. It makes all men, in the enjoyment
of the electoral franchise, whatever their diversities of intelligence, education, or wealth, or wheresoever they may be within the borders of the
commonwealth, whether in small town or populous city, absolutely equal at the ballot-box."
" I cannot doubt that the  district system,
whereby the representative power will be distributed in just proportion, according to the rule
of three, among the voters of the Commonwealth,
is the true system, destined at no distant day to
prevail."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         215
In this connection Mr. Sumner said, " No lawgiver or statesman can disregard either history
or abstract reason. He must contemplate both.
He will faithfully study the Past, and will recognize its treasures and traditions; but, with equal
fidelity, he will set his face towards the Future,
where all institutions will at last be in harmony
with truth."
Mr. Sumner's return to his seat in 1853 was
signalized by a new and more audacious stage in
the pro-slavery movement. Disappointed in California, the South was looking about for the means
of extending the area of slavery even into regions from which it had been forever excluded
by solemn compact. Thus originated the great
struggle about Kansas and  Nebraska.  New
States were soon to be formed out of the Territory of Nebraska, lying north of thirty-six degrees
thirty minutes north latitude. The slave power
coveted this fertile  region —this garden of
Naboth.
A Northern man, a native of free New England, Stephen A. Douglas, senator from Illinois,
was the chief instrument in the perpetration of
the great crime which soon followed. He sub



216        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
mitted a bill, dividing the Territory into two,
Nebraska and Kansas, and declaring the prohibition of slavery contained in the Missouri Compromise of 1820 " inconsistent with the principles
of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in
the States and Territories, as recognized by the
legislation of 1850, commonly called the Compromise Measures."
According to this bill, Congress was not to
legislate slavery into, nor exclude it from, any
Territory or State, but to leave the people thereof
perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic
institutions in their own way, subject only to the
Constitution of the United States. This was just
what was wanted by the South- a chance to
carry slavery into all the new Territories.
Mr. Sumner spoke most earnestly against the
repeal of the Missouri prohibition of slavery,
taking for his motto, "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark, and all the peojple shall say, Amen." The last words were emphasized by Mr. Sumner in the printed speech,
indicating his remarkable, unwavering faith in
the triumph of Right.
These were his opening words: —




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        217
"I approach this discussion with awe. The
mighty question, with untold issues, oppresses
me. Like a portentous cloud surcharged with
irresistible storm and ruin, it seems to fill the
whole heavens, making me painfully conscious
how unequal to the occasion I am - how unequal,
also, is all that I can say to all that I feel.
" The question for your consideration.. concerns an immense region, larger than the original
thirteen States, vying in extent with all the existing Free States, - stretching over prairie, field,
and forest, - interlaced by silver streams, skirted
by protecting mountains, and constituting the
heart of the North American continent- only a
little smaller, let me add,than three great European
countries combined,- Italy, Spain, and France,
— each of which, in succession, has dominated
over the globe. This territory has been likened,
on this floor, to the garden of God.... The bill
now before us proposes to organize and equip
two new territorial establishments, with governors, secretaries, legislatures, councils, legislators,
judges, marshals, and the whole machinery of
civil society. Such a measure at any time would
deserve the most careful attention. But at the




218       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
present moment it justly excites peculiar interest,
from the effort made... to open this immense
region to slavery."
Mr. Sumner arraigned this bill on two grounds:
"First, in the name of public faith, as an infraction of solemn obligations.... Secondly, in the
name of freedom, as an unjustifiable departure
from  the original anti-slavery policy of our
fathers."  He showed that Southern members
urged the compromise of 1820, and that it passed
both louses without a division. It was as much
a Southern as a Northern measure. It was approved by John C. Calhoun and other Southern
members of Monroe's cabinet. Mr. Sumner would
have the South keep the compact.
To the argument that this proposition was a
measure of peace, he replied, " Peace depends on
mutual confidence. It can never rest secure
on broken faith and injustice;" and he added,
"Amidst all seeming discouragements, the great
omens are with us. Art, literature, poetry, religion, everything which elevates man, are all on
our side. The plough, the steam  engine, the
telegraph, the book, every human improvement,
every generous word anywhere, every true pulsa



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.           219
tion of every heart which is not a mere muscle
and nothing else, gives new encouragement to
the warfare with slavery.  The discussion will
proceed.... No political Joshua now, with
miraculous power, can stop the sun in its course
through the heavens.  It is even now rejoicing,
like a strong man, to run its race, and will yet
send its beams into the most distant plantations,
melting the chains of every slave."  And this,
nearly  ten  years before  emancipation, when
slavery seemed bent on yet new  conquests!
To the objection that the movement against
slavery was dangerous to the Union, Mr. Sumner replied, that in freedom only true union could
exist, and that in the abolition of slavery the
North and the South would hereafter be bound
more closely together. In this connection he
quoted from  Shakespeare the remarkable dialogue between  Brutus and Cassius, in which
Brutus might be considered as representing the
North, Cassius the South:" Cas. Urge me no more; I shall forget myself.
Have mind upon your health; tempt me no farther.
Brut.              Hear me, for I will speak.
Must I give way and room to your rash choler?




220           LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Cas. 0 ye gods! ye gods! must I endure all this?
Brut. All this? Ay, more; fret till your proud heart break;
Go, show your slaves how choleric you are,
And make your bondmnen tremble. Must I budge?
Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humor?
Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love;
I may do that I shall be sorry for.
Brut. You have done that you should be sorry for.
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats;
For I am armed so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not.
Cas. A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Brut. I do not, TILL YOU PRACTISE THEMI ON ME.
Cas. You love me not.
Brut.                 I do not like your faults."
All which ends at last in united heart and hand.
So would it be if slavery should disappear.
Three  months later, May  25, 1854, Mr. Sumner uttered his last protest against the infamous
bill, and against slavery in Nebraska and Kansas.
It was at the  final passage.  At midnight, Mr.
Sumner offered  numerous remonstrances against
the bill from different parts of the country, chiefly
from  New  England, and  then  spoke briefly, but
most eloquently. Among other things, he said, 
"In  passing  such a bill as is now  threatened,
you scatter, from this dark midnight hour, no




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          221
seeds of harmony and good-will, but, broadcast
through the land, dragon's teeth, which haply
may not spring up in direful crops of armed men,
yet, I am assured, sir, will fructify in civil strife
and feud. From the depths of my soul, as loyal
citizen and as senator, I plead, remonstrate, protest against the passage of this bill. I struggle
against it as against death; but, as in death itself
corruption puts on incorruption, and this mortal
body puts on immortality, so from the sting of
this hour I find assurance of that triumph by which
freedom will be restored to her immortal birthright
in the Republic.
" Sir, the bill you are about to pass is at once
the worst and the best on which Congress ever
acted. Yes, sir, WORST and BEST at the same
time.
" It is the worst bill, inasmuch as it is a present
victory of slavery. In a Christian land, and in
an age of civilization, a time-honored statute of
freedom is struck down, opening the way to all
the countless woes and wrongs of human bondage.  Among the crimes of history, another is
soon to be recorded, which no tears can blot out,
and which in better days will be read with uni



222        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
versal shame.... There is another side, to
which I gladly turn. Sir, it is the best bill on
which Congress ever acted,for it annuls all past
compromises with slavery, and makes any future
compromises impossible. Thus it puts Freedom
and Slavery face to face, and bids them grapple.
Who can doubt the result?  It opens wide the
door of the Future, when, at last, there will really
be a North, and the slave power will be broken,
when their wretched despotism will cease to
dominate over our government, no longer impressing itself upon everything at home and
abroad.... Then, sir, standing at the very
grave of Freedom in Nebraska and Kansas, I lift
myself to the vision of that happy resurrection
by which freedom will be assured, not only in
these Territories, but everywhere under the
national government. More clearly than ever
before, I now penetrate that great Future when
slavery must disappear. Proudly I discern the
flag of my country, as it ripples in every breeze,
at last, in reality as in name, the Flag of Freedom,
— undoubted, pure, and irresistible. Am I not
right, then, in calling this bill the best on which
Congress ever acted?




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        223'Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you
commit. Joyfully I welcome the promise of the
Future."
It was with reference to this iniquitous bill that
Horace Mann wrote to Mr. Sumner, -
"I cannot describe my feelings to you on the
Nebraska Bill. I seem like one who is dragged
by fiery devils or Douglases - it don't matter
which - into Tophet, from which, for the next five
hundred years, I see no escape. It is a case of
desperation. It so encompasses me about, that
nothing but the power and wisdom of God seems
capable of reaching outside of it. Have you any
hope?"




224       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XVII.
Anthony Burns. - Meeting in Faneuil Hall. - Dr.
Howe. -  Wendell Phillips. - Theodore Parker. - The Court House assailed. - A  Man
killed. —  The Mlilitary called out.- The Examination. - Attempt to purchase Burns. - The
Trial proceeds. - Mr. Ellis and Mr. Dana. -
Sims surrendered to his " Master."- Scene in
State Street. - Mr. Sumner's Speech. - Remonstrances against the Fugitive Slave Act. 
Mr. Sumner's Life in Danger. - Lines by Mr.
Whittier.
WHILE Mr. Sumner was thus thundering at the
slave power in the Senate, the slave power was
busy in Boston in carrying out one part of its
horrible programme.
Anthony Burns, a fugitive from Virginia, had
been in the employ of Mr. Pitts, a colored citizen
of Boston, about three weeks, when, one evening
-May 24, 1854-just after closing the shop, he
was arrested on a warrant from the United States




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        225
Commissioner. He was taken to an upper room in
the Court House, - now become the United States
slave-pen, -where he was kept for the night
under a strong guard of officers. "He seemed
stunned and stupefied by fear."
The next day, the 25th, he was brought before
the commissioner for trial. Richard H. Dana, Jr.,
Charles M. Ellis, and Robert Morris volunteered
to be his counsel. At their solicitation, the case
was adjourned to Saturday.
The excitement was now intense throughout
the city and the state, both among the abolitionists and their enemies. On Friday evening an
immense concourse of people filled Faneuil Hall,
at the call of leading abolitionists. Among the
officers were such men as William B. Spooner,
Francis Jackson, Samuel G. Howe, Timothy Gilbert, F. W. Bird, Rev. Mr. Grimes, and T. W.
Higginson.
Dr. Howe said, "Nothing so well becomes
Faneuil Hall as the most determined resistance
to a bloody and overshadowing despotism. It is
the will of God that every man should be free;
we will as God wills- God's will be done. No
man's freedom is safe unless all men are free."
16




226        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Wendell Phillips said, "I am against squatter
sovereignty in Nebraska, and against kidnapper's
sovereignty in Boston.... When Burns comes
up for trial, get a sight at him, and don't lose
sight of him. There is nothing like the mute eloquence of a suffering man to urge to duty; be
there, and I will trust the result."
Theodore Parker proposed that, when the
meeting adjourn, it do so to meet in Court Square
the next morning at nine o'clock. "It was in
the people's power so to block up every avenue
that the man could not be carried off."
Mr. Parker and Mr. Phillips counselled no attempt at a rescue till the next day.
But, it being reported that a company of colored persons were attempting Burns's rescue in
Court Square, most of the audience made their
way to that place. The Court House was being
vigorously assaulted, and a door was battered
down, while the cry arose, "Rescue him!"
"Bring him out!"  During the m8lee a man
named Batchelder, who had volunteered in behalf of the Fugitive Slave Act, was killed.
The police being found unequal to the emergency, the authorities ordered out two companies
of artillery, who arrived at midnight.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       227
The next morning, two corps of United States
Marines were quartered within the walls of the
Court House. Three city companies received orders from the major general of the State militia
to be in readiness.
Saturday morning the examination was resumed.  The prisoner was brought in under
strong guard. His counsel urged further delay,
which was granted.
Meanwhile the friends of Burns sought his liberation by purchase, and twelve hundred dollars,
the price demanded by Suttle, were placed in the
hands of Rev. Mr. Grimes, pastor of the Second
Colored Baptist Church. So confident were they
of success, that on Sunday morning a carriage
was at the door of the Court House, to.take
Burns away. But it was decided to detain him
till the next day. Suttle afterwards refused to
sell.
Sunday was an anxious day in Boston. Theodore Parker, in Music Hall, said, "I understand
there are one hundred and eighty-four marines
lodged in the Court House, every mal of them
furnished with a musket and a bayonet, with his
side-arms and twenty-four ball cartridges....




228       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Look at Boston to-day. There are no chains
around your Court House-there are ropes
around it. A hundred and eighty-four United
States soldiers are there. They are, I am told,
mostly foreigners - the scum of the earth."
On Monday, the 29th, the trial was renewed.
Mr. Ellis made the opening argument. Addressing the commissioner, he said, -
"Sir, you sit here judge and jury betwixt
that man and slavery. Without a commission,
without any accountability, without any right of
challenge, you sit to render a judgment, which, if
against him, no tribunal can review and no court
reverse."
Referring to the claimants, he said,   I wish
to look the men in the eye who dare to come here,
with pistols in their pockets, to ask us to meet a
case with our opposing counsel armed, hemmed
in with armed men, entering court with muskets
at our breasts, trying a case under the muzzles of
their guns. I choose to ask these men, face to
face, by what show of right they speak of law
and justice."
On Wednesday, Mr. Dana made his argument
in the defence. It is worthy of note that Joshua




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        229
R. Giddings, member of Congress from Ohio, an
indomitable champion of freedom, was among the
spectators.
Mr. Dana made a sarcastic reference to the
remarkable peace enjoyed in Boston since the
arrest of Burns, because of the posse of specials,
gathered from the purlieus of the city by the
marshal: 
" Why, sir, people have not felt it necessary to
lock their doors at night; the brothels are tenanted only by women; fighting-dogs and racinghorses have been unemployed, and Ann Street
and its alleys and cellars show signs of a coming
millennium."
Alluding to the statement made by Brent, a
witness from Virginia, that Burns had expressed
a willingness to return with Suttle, Mr. Dana
said, 
" If he was willing to go back, why did they
not send to Pitts's shop, and tell the prisoner that
Colonel Suttle was at the Revere House, and
would give him an opportunity to return? No,
sir, they lurked about the thievish corners of the
streets, and measured his height and his scars, to,
see if they answered to the record, and seized




230        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
him by fraud and violence, six men of them, and
hurried him into bonds and imprisonment. Some
one hundred hired men, armed, keep him in this
room, where once Story sat in judgment- now a
slave-pen. One hundred and fifty bayonets of
the regulars, and fifteen hundred of the militia,
keep him without. If all that we see about us is
necessary to keep a man who is willing to go
back, pray, sir, what shall we see when they
shall get hold of a man who is not willing to go
back?"
In conclusion, he said to the commissioner,
"You recognized, sir, in the beginning, the presumption of freedom. Hold to it now, sir, as to
the sheet-anchor of your peace of mind as well
as of his safety. If you commit a mistake in
favor of the man, a pecuniary value, not great, is
put at hazard. If against him, a free man is
made a slave forever. If you have, on the evidence or on the law, the doubt of a reasoning and
reasonable mind, an intelligent misgiving, then,
sir, I implore you, in view of the cruel character
of this law, in view of the dreadful consequences
of a mistake, send him not away, with that tormenting doubt in your mind. It may turn to a
torturing certainty."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        231
"The eyes of many millions are upon you, sir.
You are to do an act which will hold its place in
the history of America, in the history of the
progress of the human race. May your judgment be for liberty, and not for slavery; for happiness, and not for wretchedness; for hope and
not for despair; and may be the blessing of him
that is ready to perish may come upon you."
The commissioner decided that Burns was
the slave of Suttle, and should be given up to
his " master."
It was now June 2, ten days since the arrest.
Burns was to be taken, that day, on board the
steamer Jane Taylor. "The police cleared the
square, and guarded the entrances. Early in the
morning, a detachment of United States artillery
marched up State Street with a field-piece from
the Navy Yard, which was planted in Court
Square. Several companies of the State militia
were in readiness."
From  different offices in the vicinity of the
Court House there were exhibited "signs of
woe."  Among the most conspicuous mourners
at the tragic scene was John A. Andrew, afterwards the "war governor" of Massachusetts,




232       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
always an ardent friend of Charles Sumner. The
windows of his office were festooned in black.
After ten o'clock in the morning, the stores
on State Street were closed, and all business
suspended. The excitement was intense. The
streets in the vicinity were crowded with people, thousands having  come from  neighboring
towns, all anxious to witness the last act of the
tragedy.  From  the Court House, away down
State Street, a passage for the officers of justice
with their unfortunate victim, was guarded by
troops.
At length the melancholy procession began.
It passed down the street towards Long Wharf.
A rescue was impossible. Among the throng
who gazed upon the innocent victim, and upon
the armed men who were there to prevent his
escape, there prevailed, for the most part, the
silence of a smothered indignation - an indignation which, from that hour, with very many,
was to take the shape of active and deadly opposition to slavery. Mr. Sumner's powerful words
in Congress were feeble in comparison with the
mute eloquence of that horrid scene.
What Mr. Sumner thought of it may be




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        233
learned from a speech, about three months after
its occurrence, before the Republican State Convention at Worcester.
" Contemporaneously with the final triumph
of this outrage at Washington, another dismal
tragedy was enacted at Boston. In those streets
where he had walked as freeman, Anthony Burns
was seized as slave, under the base pretext that
he was a criminal, imprisoned in the Court
House, which was turned for the time into
fortress and barracoon, guarded by heartless
hirelings, whose chief idea of liberty was license to wrong, escorted by intrusive soldiers
of the United States, watched by a prostituted
militia, and finally given up to a slave-hunter
by the decree of a petty magistrate, who did
not hesitate to take upon his soul the awful
responsibility of dooming a fellow-man, in whom
he could find no fault, to a fate worse than death.
" How all this was accomplished I need not
now relate. Suffice it to say, that, in doing this
deed of woe and shame, the liberties of all our
citizens, white as well as black, were put in jeopardy; the mayor of Boston was converted to a
tool, the governor of the Commonwealth to a




234        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
cipher, the laws, the precious sentiments, the religion, the pride and glory of Massachusetts, were
trampled in' the dust, and you and I and all of
us fell down, while the slave power flourished
over us."
This case, says Mr. Greeley, " probably excited
more feeling than  that of any other alleged
fugitive, in that it attained unusual publicity,
and took place in New England after the North
had begun to feel the first throbs of the profound
agitation excited by the repudiation of the Missouri Compromise."
In Washington it awakened the deepest feeling, and intensified the hostility to Mr. Sumner.
The death of Batchelder was falsely attributed
to his speech of the 24th. Pro-slavery papers
in Washington published the most insulting and
inflammatory articles against him, and his life was
in imminent peril. His friends advised him to
leave the city; but he would not abandon his
post, nor arm himself, nor cease his daily walk to
and from the Capitol.
Letters came in from  different parts of the
country, especially from New England, expressing profound sympathy or proffering protection.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        235
Mr. Sumner was grateful for the former, but
invariably declined the latter. He knew no fear.
He was doing his duty. God was his defence.
Massachusetts had sent a man back to slavery.
Yet not Massachusetts. The act did not represent her real spirit. That soon appeared in an
aroused and indignant public sentiment. During the very month in which Burns was returned
to slavery, a petition, with twenty-nine hundred
signatures, was forwarded to Congress, praying
for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill.
Speaking on the petition, Mr. Sumner said,
with reference to himself, as having vehemently
opposed this bill, "For all that I have thus
uttered I have no regret or apology, but rather
joy and satisfaction. Glad I am in having said
it; glad I am now in the opportunity of affirming
it all anew."
He further said, " It is true that the Slave Act
was with difficulty executed, and that one of its
servants perished in the madness.  On these
grounds the senator from  Tennessee charges
Boston with fanaticism. I express no opinion
on the conduct of individuals; but I do say,
that the fanaticism which the senator condemns




236        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
is not new in Boston. It is the same which opposed the execution of the Stamp Act. and finally
secured its repeal. It is the same which repealed the Tea Tax. It is the fanaticism which
finally triumphed on Bunker Hill. The senator
says that Boston is filled with traitors. That
charge is not new. Boston of old was the home
of Hancock and Adams. Her traitors now are
those who are truly animated by the spirit of the
American Revolution. In condemning them, in
condemning Massachusetts, in condemning these
remonstrants, you simply give proper conclusion
to the utterance on this floor, that the Declaration of Independence is a' self-evident lie.'"
This was June 26, twenty-four days after the
rendition of Burns, On the 28th Mr. Sumner replied to his assailants; for his speech on the petition had been assailed with brutal and vulgar
violence. Better for them had they let him alone.
They roused a lion.
"I think," said he, referring to Mr. Butler,
from  South Carolina, and Mr. Mason, from Vir.
ginia, who had been particularly virulent and
abusive,'- I think that I am not the only person
on this floor, who, listening to these two self



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        237
confident champions of that peculiar fanaticism
of the South, was reminded of the striking words
of Jefferson, picturing the influence of slavery,
when he says,"'The whole commerce between master and
slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions,- the most unremitting despotism
on the one part, and degrading submission on the
other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate
it; for man is an imitative animal... The parent
storms. The child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle
of smaller slaves, gives a loose rein to the worst
of passions, and, thus nursed, educated, and duly
exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by
it with odious peculiarities.  The man must be a
prodigy who can retain his manners and morals
undepraved by such circumstances.'
"Nobody, who witnessed the senator from South
Carolina or the senator from Virginia in this debate, will place either of them among the prodigies described by Jefferson. As they spoke, the
Senate Chamber must have seemed to them, in
the characteristic fantasy of the moment, a plantation well-stocked with slaves, over which the lash
of the overseer had free swing.




238        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
" Sir, it gives me no pleasure to say these
things. It is not according to my nature. Bear
witness that I do it only in just self-defence against
the unprecedented assaults and provocations of
this debate. In doing it I desire to warn certain
senators, that if, by any ardor of menace, or by
any tyrannical frown, they expect to shake my
fixed resolve, they expect a vain thing."
Verily, Massachusetts was not now exposing
herself to the humiliating rebuke which a slaveholding representative, twenty-eight years before, administered to a member of the House
from that state, who had said of slavery, that
" while it subsists, where it subsists, its duties are
presupposed  and sanctioned by religion."  A
new era had come. Courage had succeeded to
cringing, conscience to complaisance. So was it
with Massachusetts.
But with the South, her better days were
passed. She was the slave of slavery. She was
afraid of the light. She could not endure arguments. Her defence of herself was abuse and the
bludgeon. Surely so terrible a disease called for
a sharp remedy. A true Daniel had now come
to judgment.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       239
Mr. Sumner's reply was thorough and unanswerable. And this made it the more offensive to Southern ears. It was therefore seriously
proposed among Southern members to expel him
from  the Senate.  One member said he was
a fit candidate for jail, another for a straitjacket. "He was assailed," said Mr. Giddings,
referring to the speeches of June 26 and 28, " by
the whole slave power in the Senate, and for a
time he was the constant theme of their vituperation. The maddened waves rolled and dashed
against him for two or three days, until eventually he obtained the floor himself. Then he arose
and threw back the dashing surges with a power
of inimitable eloquence utterly indescribable.... There he stood towering above the infamous characters who had attempted to silence
him, while I sat and listened with rapturous emotion."
As the hatred, on the one hand, was bitter, so,
on the other, the congratulations of his friends,
the friends of freedom and free speech, came in
to Mr. Sumner from every quarter. His boldness
toned up the public conscience, and gave new
strength and courage to every friend of freedom.




240         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Not discomfited by the  raging  storm, Mr.
Sumner returned to the onset against the Fugitive Slave Bill a month later, July 31. It was in
this wise.  Mr. Seward having "reported a bill
for the relief of a poor and aged woman, whose
husband had died of wounds received in the war
of 1812, Mr. Adams, of Mississippi, moved, as an
amendment, another bill for the relief of Mrs.
Batchelder, widow of a person killed in Boston,
while aiding as a volunteer in the enforcement
of the Fugitive Slave Act."  The amendment
being adopted, Mr. Sumner introduced the following amendment: " Provided, That the Act of
Congress, approved September 18, 1850, for the
surrender of fugitives from service or labor, be,
and the same is hereby, repealed." An exciting
debate ensued, and the Senate refused leave to
introduce the bill-ten to thirty-five.
It was with reference to this debate that Mr.
Whittier, an ardent and intimate friend of Mr.
Sumner, wrote the following lines:- 
" Thou knowest my heart, dear friend, and well canst guess,
That, even though silent, I have not the less
Rejoiced to see thy actual life agree
With the large future which I shaped for thee,
When, years ago, beside the summer sea,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.                   241
White in the moon, we saw the long waves fall
Baffled and broken from the rocky wall,
That to the menace of the brawling flood
Opposed alone its massive quietude,
Calm as a fate, with not a leaf nor vine
Nor birch-spray trembling in the still moonshine,
Crowning it like God's peace. I sometimes think
That night-scene by the sea prophetical
(For Nature speaks in symbols and in signs,
And through her pictures human fate divines), -
That rock, wherefrom we saw the billows sink
In murmuring rout, uprising clear and tall
In the white light of heaven, the type of one
Who, momently by Error's host assailed,
Stands strong as Truth, in greaves of granite mailed,
And, tranquil-fronted, listening over all
The tumult, hears the angels say, Well done! "
16




242       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Rise of the Republican Party. -  Great Changes.
- Freedom  gaining  Ground. -  Republican
Convention. - Mr. Sumner's Speech. - Duties
of Massachusetts. - The Supreme  Court and
the Fugitive Slave Act. - Judges. - Letter to
Agricultural Society. -Mercantile Library Association. -" Position and Duties of the Merchant." -  Granville Sharp. - Seamen's Wages.
- Fugitive Slave Bill.
THE party of Freedom, which had successively
borne the names of Liberty Party and Free Soil
Party, now  assumed that of REPUBLICAN. Its
first convention, under this new designation, was
held at Worcester, September 7, 1854.
Ten years had wrought a mighty change.
The slave power was still in the ascendant, and
resolved, by whatever means, to retain its supremacy. It had humiliated the North, and
dragged away in triumph from  its towns and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        243
cities numerous fugitives. It still domineered in
the National Congress. It held all the National
offices. It controlled the army, the navy, and
the judiciary.
But its excessive fury had at last aroused the
slumbering North. Freedom  had compelled a
hearing in the National Council. Champions of
her cause had at length appeared who could not
be cajoled or intimidated.  Slavery, though
haughty and defiant, was filled with new alarm.
Under such circumstances, the first Republican
Convention came together. Its members were
inspired with strong hopes. A great future was
before the party of Freedom.
Mr. Sumner was invited to be present, and
was welcomed with unbounded joy. He had
" fought with wild beasts " at Washington, and
won the gratitude of all the friends of Freedom.
Addressing the Convention, he said, 
" After months of constant, anxious service in
another place, away from Massachusetts, I am
permitted to stand among you again, my fellowcitizens, and to draw satisfaction and strength
from  your generous presence. Life is full of
change and contrast. From Slave Soil I have




244       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
come to Free Soil. From the tainted breath of
Slavery I have passed into the bracing air of
Freedom. And the heated antagonism of debate,
shooting forth its fiery cinders, is changed into
this brimming, overflowing welcome, while I
seem to lean on the great heart of our beloved
Commonwealth, as it palpitates audibly in this
crowded assembly.
" Let me say at once, frankly and sincerely, that
I am not here to receive applause or to give occasion for tokens of public regard, but simply to
unite with fellow-citizens in new vows of duty.
And yet I would not be thought insensible to the
good-will now  swelling from  so many honest
bosoms. It touches me more than I can tell."
He then proceeded to show what were "the
duties of Massachusetts at the present crisis."
" Our duties in National and State affairs are
identical, - in the one case to put the National
Government, in all its departments, and in the
other case, the State Government, in all its departments, openly, actively, and perpetually, on
the side of Freedom."
Speaking of the  Slave Oligarchy, he said,
"Lord Chatham  once exclaimed, that the time




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       245
had been, when he was content to bring France
to her knees; now he would not stop till he had
laid her on her back. Nor can we be content
with less in our warfare. We must not stop till
we have laid the Slave Power on its back."
Referring to the decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States, affirming the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act, and to the
alleged consequent duty of absolute submission,
Mr. Sumner said," For myself, let me say, that I hold judges,
and especially the Supreme Court, in much respect; but I am too familiar with the history of
judicial proceedings to regard them with any
superstitious reverence. Judges are but men,
and in all ages have shown a full share of human
frailty.
" Alas! alas! the worst crimes of history have
been perpetrated under their sanction.  The
blood of martyrs and of patriots, crying from the
ground, summons them to judgment.
" It was a judicial tribunal which condemned
Socrates to drink the fatal hemlock, and which
pushed the Saviour barefoot over the pavements
of Jerusalem, bending beneath his cross.




246        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
" It was a judicial tribunal which, against the
testimony and entreaties of her father, surrendered
the fair Virginia as a slave, -which arrested the
teachings of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, and
sent him in bonds from Judea to Rome, -which,
in the name of the old religion, persecuted the
saints and fathers of the Christian Church, and
adjudged them to a martyr's death, in all its most
dreadful forms, - and afterwards, in the name of
the new religion, enforced the tortures of the Inquisition, amidst the shrieks and agonies of its
victims, while it compelled Galileo to declare, in
solemn denial of the great truth he had disclosed,
that the earth did not move round the sun.
"Ay, sir, it was a judicial tribunal in England
which... lighted the fires of persecution at
Oxford and Smithfield, over the cinders of Latimer, Ridley, and John Rogers, —which, after
elaborate argument, upheld the fatal tyranny of
ship-money against the patriot resistance of
Hampden, - which, in defiance of justice and
humanity, sent Sidney and Russell to the block
-which persistently enforced the laws of Con
formity that our Puritan fathers persistently re
fused to obey, and afterwards, with Jeffries on




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       247
the bench, crowned the pages of English history
with massacre and murder, even with the blood
of innocent women.
"Ay, sir, it was a judicial tribunal in our own
country, surrounded by all the forms of law,
which hung witches at Salem, -which affirmed
the constitutionality of the Stamp Act, while it
admonished jurors and people to obey,- and
which now, in our day, lends its sanction to the
unutterable atrocity of the Fugitive Slave Act."
Mr. Sumner believed that he was bound to obey
the Constitution as he understood it, and not as he
did not understand it! He believed the Fugitive Slave Act to be unconstitutional, and therefore he did not regard it as binding upon him.
It was against the divine law, and he would obey
God rather than man. He would disobey the
human law, and take the consequences, whatever
they might be. "The good citizen, at all personal hazard, will refuse to obey it."
On the 25th of the same month, Mr. Sumner
sent a characteristic letter to the Norfolk Agricultural Society, giving his reasons for not accepting an invitation to attend: -
" From the mother earth we may derive many




248        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
lessons, and I doubt not they will spring up abundantly in the footprints of the Society.  There is
one which comes to my mind at this moment, and
which is of perpetual force.
" The good farmer obeys the natural laws, nor
does he impotently attempt to set up any behest
of man against the ordinances of God, determining day and night, summer and winter, sunshine
and rain. The good citizen will imitate the good
farmer, nor will he impotently attempt to set up
any statutes of man against the ordinances of
God, which determine good and evil, right and
wrong, justice and injustice." An ingenious argument against the Fugitive Slave Act.
On November 13, he addressed the Mercantile
Library Association of Boston on the " Position
and Duties of the Merchant, as illustrated in the
Life of Granville Sharp."
This oration marks a great change in public
opinion on the subject of slavery. When, seven
years before, he addressed the Association, he
called his lecture " an attempt to expose slavery
before a promiscuous audience, at a time when
the subject was too delicate to be treated directly."
Then he spoke of "white slavery in the Barbary




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        249
States."  Now he could speak directly of negro
slavery in the United States, and be "well received."  He could even rebuke merchants of
Boston who had not only aided, but, in some
cases, instigated the arrest and rendition of Sims
and Burns.
Granville Sharp, a London merchant, born in
1735, was held up as a model business man, and,
above all, as a man: a man who carried his conscience into trade, but never made a trade of conscience; who was more than a successful merchant,
a philanthropist of the purest character, a special
foe to slavery, " heralding by many years the labors of Clarkson and Wilberforce." He boldly
assailed the slave-trade, and slavery itself. He
labored to prove that slavery could not exist under the British Constitution. Cases of slaves
arrested in England by foreign masters had awakened his sympathies. Though often balked, he
never rested till the Chief Justice of England at
length declared, that the moment a slave touched
British soil he became free.
"Imitating him," said Mr. Sumner, in conclusion, "commerce would thrive none the less, but
goodness more. Business would not be checked,




250        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
but it would cease to be pursued as the' one idea'
of life.  Wealth would still abound; but there
would be also that solid virtue, never to be
moved from truth...
" The hardness of heart engendered by the
accursed greed of gain, and by the madness
of worldly ambition, would be overcome; the
perverted practice, that policy is the best honesty,
would be reversed; and merchants would be
recalled, gently, but irresistibly, to the great
practical duties of this age, and thus win the
palm  of true honesty, which trade alone can
never bestow.' Who is the honest man?
He that doth still and strongly good pursue,
To God, his neighbor, and himself, most true.' 
Thus, on all occasions, addressing young men,
merchants, scholars, politicians, in the lyceum,
at literary festivals, in conventions of the people,
in the Senate, everywhere that he could get the
ear of his fellow-men, Mr. Sumner held up the
same high standard of right and truth, the authority of conscience, the will of God.
Returning to Congress, he introduced a bill,
February 12, 1855, "to secure wages to seamen




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        251
in case of wreck."  "The measure now  proposed," he said, "is of direct importance to
the one hundred and fifty thousand seamen constituting the mercantile marine of the United
States. It also concerns the million of men constituting the mercantile marine of the civilized
world, any of whom, in the vicissitudes of the
sea, may find themselves in American bottoms.
I commend it as a measure of enlightened philanthropy, and also of simple justice."
His motion to refer it to the Committee on
Commerce was agreed to.  Southern as well
as Northern senators could do justice to seamen, in making secure their hard-earned wages;
but not yet did the former heed the warning,
"Woe unto him that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him notfor his
work."
On the 23d of the same month, another opportunity was given Mr. Sumner to demand the
repeal of the Fugitive Slave Bill. It was on
a motion of Mr. Toucey, of Connecticut, (!) to
remove " cases arising from trespasses and damages under the Fugitive Slave Act," from the
State Courts to the Circuit Court of the United




252       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
States. The purpose of the mover, " a Northern
man with Southern principles," was to  give
more efficiency to the Fugitive Slave Act.
On this Mr. Sumner said, -
" On a former occasion, as slavery was about to
clutch one of its triumphs, I rose to make my
final opposition at midnight.  It is now  the
same hour. Slavery is pressing again for its
accustomed victory, which I undertake again
for the moment to arrest. It is hardly an accidental conjunction which constantly brings slavery and midnight together....
"I do not adequately expose this bill, when
I say it is a sacrifice to  slavery.  It is a
sacrifice to slavery in its most odious form.
Bad as slavery is, it is not so bad as hunting
slaves. There is seeming apology for slavery
at home, in States where it prevails, founded
on difficulties in the position of the master, and
the relations of personal attachment it sometimes excites; but every apology fails when
you seek again to enslave the fugitive whom
the master cannot detain by duress or kindness,
and who, by courage and intelligence, under
guidance of the North Star, can achieve a happy




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         253
freedom. Sir, there is a wide difference between
slave-holder and slave-hunter.
" But the bill before you is to aid in the chase
of slaves.... Not from  Slave Soil, but from
Free Soil, comes this effort. A senator from
the North, a senator from New England, lends
himself to the work, and with unnatural zeal
helps to bind still stronger the fetter of the
slave."
To the inquiry of Mr. Rusk, of Texas, where
slavery was mentioned in the bill, Mr. Sumner
ingeniously replied, "I might ask the senator to
point out any place in the Constitution of the
United States where' slavery' is mentioned."
After earnest denunciation of the Fugitive
Slave Bill, he moved its repeal, with the following result: ayes 9, nays 30.  The nine were
Messrs. Brainerd, Chase, Cooper, Fessenden, Gillette, Seward, Sumner, Wade, and Wilson.
And so ended one more effort for freedom.




254        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XIX.
Lecture before the Mercantile Library Association.
-" The Anti-Slavery Enterprise. " - 02position
to Truth. -  The first to welcome Truth. - Mr.
Hayes. - Dignity of the Cause of Freedom. -
- A workfor Every One. - Meeting at Faneuil Hall. -  The Rip  Van  Winkle Party. —
The Know Nothing Party.
" HANCOCK STREET, 23d November, 1856.
"MY DEAR SIR: An unkindly current of air
is often more penetrating than an arrow. From
such a shaft I suffered on the night of my address
to the Mercantile Library Association, more than
a week ago, and no care or skill has been efficacious to relieve me."
This forms part of a letter of excuse from Mr.
Sumner for not delivering a lecture - the first of
a course organized in Boston for the discussion
of slavery. Mr. Sumner was silenced. A " current of air" had effected what the acts and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          255
threats of slaveholders had failed to do. But
kindly Nature ere long relented, and released him
from her bonds. He returned to his seat in the
Senate.
The following spring, in 1855, Mr. Sumner
gave the lecture referred to above -" The AntiSlavery Enterprise: Its Necessity, Practicability, and Dignity."  It awakened so much interest, that its repetition was requested in Boston,
and  in many places in New  York.  Its successive delivery in Metropolitan Hall and Niblo's
Theatre, New York, and in Brooklyn, forms an
era in the anti-slavery cause.  Said the New
York Tribune, " That a lecture should be repeated in New York is a rare occurrence.  That a
lecture on anti-slavery should be repeated in
New York, even before a few despised fanatics,
is an unparalleled occurrence. But that an antislavery lecture should be repeated, night after
night, to successive multitudes, each more enthusiastic than the last, marks the epoch of a revolution in popular feeling; it is an era in the history
of Liberty."
In the beginning of this speech, which was
three hours long, Mr. Sumner briefly sketched




256        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the  rapid  progress of anti-slavery sentiment.
Referring to the opposition which it had met with,
he said, " Thus, in all ages, is truth encountered.
At first persecuted, gagged, silenced, crucified, she cries out from the prison, the rack, the
stake, the cross, till at last her voice is heard.
And when that voice is really heard, whether in
martyr cries, or in earthquake tones of civil convulsion, or in the calmness of ordinary speech,
such as I now  employ, or in that still, small
utterance inaudible to the common ear, then is
the beginning of victory!'Give me where to
stand, and I will move the world,' said Archimedes; and truth asks no more than did the
master of geometry.
"Viewed in this aspect, the present occasion
rises above any ordinary course of lectures or
series of political meetings. It is the inauguration of Freedom.  From  this time forward, her
voice of warning and command cannot be silenced."
Speaking of the objection to the anti-slavery
enterprise, that it " lacked the authority of names
eminent in Church and State," Mr. Sumner said,
"If this be so, the more is the pity on their




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         257
account; for our cause is needful to them more
than they are needful to our cause. Alas! it is
only according to example that it should be so.
It is not the eminent in Church and State, the
rich and powerful, the favorites of fortune and
of place, who most promptly welcome Truth,
when she heralds change in the existing order of
things. It is others in poorer condition who open
hospitable hearts to the unattended stranger.
This is a sad story, beginning with the Saviour,
whose disciples were fishermen, and ending only
in our day."
"There is now in Boston a simple citizen whose
example may be a lesson  to  Commissioners,
Marshals, Magistrates, while it fills all with
the beauty of a generous act. I refer to Mr.
Hayes, who resigned his place in the city police,
rather than take part in the pack of the Slavehunter.  He is now the doorkeeper of the public
edifice honored this winter by the triumphant
lectures on slavery. Better be a doorkeeper in
the house of the Lord than a dweller in the tents
of the ungodly. Has he not chosen well? Little
think those now doing the work of slavery, that
the time is near when all this will be dishonor
17




258       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and sadness. For myself, long ago my mind was
made up. Nothing will I have to do with it.
How  can I help to make a slave?  The idea
alone is painful. To do this thing would plant
in my soul a remorse which  no time could
remove or mitigate. His chains would clank in
my ears. His cries would strike upon my heart.
His voice would be my terrible accuser. Mr.
President, may no such voice fall on your soul
or mine! "
Of the dignity of the enterprise he thus discoursed: -
"It concerns the cause of human freedom,
which from earliest days has been the darling
of History. By all the memories of the past,
by all the stories of childhood and the studies of
youth, by every example of magnanimous virtue,
by every aspiration of the good and true, by the
fame of martyrs swelling through all time, by the
renown of patriots whose lives are landmarks of
progress, by the praise lavished upon our fathers,
you are summoned to this work.... Who can
doubt that our cause is nobler than that of our
fathers? for is it not more exalted to strugglefor
thefreedom of others than for our own? "




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        259
Speaking of the practicability of the enterprise, he said there was a place for every man.
"Providence is felt through individuals; the
dropping of water wears away the rock; and
no man can be too humble or poor for this work,
while to all the happy in genius, fortune, or fame,
it makes a special appeal. Here is room for the
strength of Luther and the sweetness of Melancthon; for the wisdom of age and the ardor
of youth; for the judgment of the statesman and
the eloquence of the orator; for the grace of the
scholar and the inspiration of the poet; for the
learning of the professor and the skill of the lawyer; for the exhortation of the preacher and the
persuasion of the press; for the various energy
of man and the abounding sympathy of woman."
At a Republican rally in Faneuil Hall, November 2, 1855, on the eve of an election, Mr.
Sumner spoke for two hours and a quarter, showing that the Republican party alone represented
the principles of Freedom and the Constitution.
His speech began with these stirring words: 
"Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery?
This is the question which you are to answer at
the coming election. Above all other questions,




260        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
national or local, it lifts itself directly in the path
of every voter. There it is. It cannot be avoided. It cannot be banished away. It cannot be
silenced. Forever sounding in our ears. it has
a mood for every hour, - stirring us at times as
with the blast of a trumpet, then visiting us in
solemn tones, like the bell which calls to prayer,
and then again awaking us to unmistakable duty,
like the same bell, when at midnight it summons all to stay the raging conflagration."
Tried by this test, the Democratic and Whig
parties were utterly wanting; so also was the
Know  Nothing or Anti-foreign party.  " Men
do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from
thistles; nor do they expect patriotism  from
Benedict Arnold."  The Democratic party sustained " the tyrannies and perfidies of the slave
oligarchy."  The Whig party was thus handsomely disposed of:"According to familiar rule, handed down
from distant antiquity, we are to say nothing
but good of the dead. How, then, shall I speak
of the late powerful Whig party, by whose giant
contests the whole country was once upheaved,
but which has now ceased to exist, except as




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       261
the shadow of a name? Here in Massachusetts,
a few who do not yet know that it is dead have
met together and professed the old allegiance.
They are the Rip Van Winkles of our politics.
This respectable character, falling asleep in the
mountains, drowsed undisturbed throughout the
war of the revolution, and then, returning to his
native village, ignorant of all that had passed,
made haste to declare himself'a loyal subject
of the king, God bless him' But our Whigs
are less tolerant and urbane than this awakened
sleeper. In petulant and irrational assumption
they are like the unfortunate judge, who, being
aroused from slumber on the bench by a sudden
crash of thunder, exclaimed,' Mr. Crier, stop the
noise in court!' The thunder would not be
hushed; nor will the voice of Freedom, now reverberating throughout the land."
Speaking of the so-called American party, Mr.
Sumner uttered a plea for our foreign population.
It should not be politically proscribed. Roman
Catholics should " give some assurance of their
purpose... to become useful, loyal, and permanent members of our community."  With this
explanation he would extend generous welcome




262        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
to foreigners.  "The history of our country, in
its humblest as well as most exalted spheres, testifies to the merits of foreigners. Their strong
arms have helped furrow  our broad territory
with canals, and stretch in every direction the
iron rail. They fill our workshops, navigate our
ships, and even till our fields.... At the bar
and in the high places of commerce you find
them; enter the retreats of learning, and there
you find them, shedding upon our country the
glory of science.
" A party, then, which, beginning in secrecy,
interferes with religious belief, and founds a
discrimination on the accident of birth, is not the
party for us."
And so Mr. Sumner proved the necessity of
the  Republican  party.  "'Where  liberty  is,
there is my country,' was the sentiment of that
great apostle of freedom, Benjamin Franklin....In a similar strain, I would say,'Where
liberty is, there is my party.'"
That party has gained for itself a most honorable name. Under God, it abolished slavery, it
saved the nation. Its more recent history we
pass by in silence.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        263
CHAPTER XX.
Growing arrogance of the Slave Power. —Nebraska and Kansas. —Violence in Washington.
- Mr. Sumner's Speech, " The Crime against
Kansas." — Question of Admitting Kansas as a
State.- Douglas's Bill.- Letters to Theodore
Parker. -Mr. Seward's Bill. —A  Great Debate. - The Monster  Swindle. - Emigration
to Kansas.-Border Ruffians.-A  Usurping
Legislature. -  Slave  Legislation.-  Senator
Butler and South Carolina.
WE have now  reached a period when the
slavery question was fast hastening to a dreadful crisis. The Nebraska Bill had revealed in
unmistakable colors the daring and desperate
character of the slave power. Kansas had become the theatre of a deadly strife. "The border ruffian policy," says Vice-President Wilson,
" which was filling that Territory with alarm and
bloodshed, had its representatives in Washington,
walking its streets, hanging around its hotels, and




264        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
stalking through the Capitol. To the extreme
arrogance of embittered and aggressive words
were added the menace and actual infliction of
personal violence. Indeed, the course of these
men assumed the form of a reckless and relentless audacity never before exhibited. Members
of Congress went armed in the streets, and sat
with loaded revolvers in their desks." It should
be added, that Mr. Sumner always went unarmed.
Under such peculiar circumstances it was, that
Mr. Sumner delivered, on May 19 and 20,1856, his
speech entitled The Crime Against Kansas; The
Apologiesfor the Crime; The True Remedy.
By the Nebraska Bill, passed in 1854, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, prohibiting slavery
north of 36~ 30' north latitude, was violated, and
the vast region known as Kansas and Nebraska,
as also Minnesota, Washington, and Oregon Territories, were opened to slavery.
By this bill it was left to each  Territory
whether to introduce or exclude slavery.
The question now immediately pending was
the admission of Kansas, as a State, into the
Union. The pro-slavery party were of course




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        265
resolved, if possible, to have it come in as a
Slave State. For this purpose Mr. Douglas introduced a bill, March 17, 1856, " to authorize
the people of the Territory of Kansas to form a
Constitution and State Government, preparatory
to their admission into the Union, when they
have the requisite population."
Beneath the seeming fairness of this bill there
lurked an infamous plot. It was designed, by
delay, to so manipulate the voting power in the
Territory, under the direction of the president,
an agent of slavery, that a slave constitution
should be adopted, and Kansas present herself
for admission to the Union as a Slave State.
A letter from Mr. Sumner to Theodore Parker,
under date of March 26, 1856, shows the plan
adopted by the friends of freedom in Congress,
in opposition to the pro-slavery plot: —
" I am glad you are to open on Kansas. Let
me suggest to press the admission of Kansas at
once with her present constitution.  This is the
policy we have adopted, and it will crowd Douglas
and Cass infinitely. This proposition is something practical; and on this we must fight the
presidential election....




266       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"Seward will make a grand speech. I shall
follow as soon as possible, and use plain words.
"! this enormity is not really understood.
The more I think of it, the more its wickedness
glares."
Two days before his speech (May 17), Mr.
Sumner wrote to the same friend, "Alas! alas!
the tyranny over us is complete. Will the people
submit?  When you read this I shall be saying
— in the Senate — they will not! Would that I
had your strength. But I shall pronounce the
most thorough Philippic ever uttered in a legislative body."
According to the policy referred to above, Mr.
Seward submitted, by way of substitute, another
bill, providing for immediate action: " A Bill for
the Admission of the State of Kansas into the
Union," with a free constitution.
Thereupon ensued the great debate, in which
Mr. Sumner took so prominent a part, using
"plain words."  He reviewed the whole history
of the conspiracy for extending slavery into
regions solemnly consecrated to freedom. The
Nebraska Bill he called " a swindle "  " a swindle
of the North by the South "-" a swindle of the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         267
whole country "-" a swindle of popular sovereignty"-"a swindle of a great cause" -"a
swindle of God-given, inalienable rights. Turn
it over, look at it on all sides, and it is everywhere a swindle; and if the word I now employ
has not the authority of classical usage, it has, on
this occasion, the indubitable authority of fitness.
No other word will adequately express the mingled meanness and wickedness of the cheat."
From  this original monster swindle, other
swindles were to issue. The region being opened
to slavery, " it was confidently anticipated, that,
by the activity of" secret slavery emigration societies, " slavery might be introduced into Kansas, quietly, but surely, without arousing conflict
- that the crocodile egg might be stealthily
dropped in the sunburnt soil, there to be hatched,
unobserved, until it sent forth its reptile monster."
But, unfortunately for this plot, emigration was
open from the Free States, and the South soon
had cause to fear a decided failure. Large numbers of people flocked to Kansas, for the double
purpose of finding a home and saving the Territory to freedom. There sprang up a conflict




268       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
which reddened the soil with blood, and revealed
in many ways the desperate character of the slave
power. Shall Kansas be the home of Freedom, or
the den of Slavery? That became the all-absorbing question through anxious years.
"Popular sovereignty," the vaunted glory of
the Nebraska Bill, designed to carry slavery into
that Territory, was discovered to be full of danger
to the South. Northern emigrants outnumbered
those from  the South.  Now, then, that very
feature of the bill must be trampled under foot
by its own progenitors. The people of Kansas
must be robbed of the rights solemnly -no,
falsely- guaranteed to them. They were not
to be allowed to decide against slavery. This
outrage was attempted in five separate invasions
of Kansas by armed bands, in one case numbering eighteen hundred men, from Missouri, and by
other acts of perfidy instigated or sanctioned at
Washington. By controlling the ballot-box, these
invaders elected a slavery delegate to Congress
in 1854.
"The first ballot-box," says General Pomeroy,
"that was opened upon our virgin soil was closed
to us by overpowering numbers and impending




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         269
force.... They came upon us, not in the guise
of voters, to steal away our franchise, but boldly
and openly, to snatch it with a strong hand. They
came directly from their own homes, and in compact and organized bands, with arms in hand and
provisions for the expedition, marched to our
polls, and, when their work was done, returned
whence they came."
"This infliction," says Mr. Sumner, "was a significant prelude to the grand invasion of the 30th
March, 1855, at the election of the first territorial legislature under the organic law, when an
armed multitude from Missouri entered the Territory in larger numbers than General Taylor commanded at Buena Vista, or than General Jackson
within his lines at New Orleans - much larger
than our fathers rallied on Bunker Hill.
" On they came as an army with banners, organized in companies, with officers, munitions,
tents, and provisions, as though marching upon a
foreign foe, and breathing loud-mouthed threats
that they would carry their purpose, if need were,
by the bowie-knife and the revolver.... Arrived
at their several destinations on the night before
the election, the invaders pitched their tents,




270       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
placed their sentries, and waited for the coming
day."
" They came," says General Pomeroy, "with
drums beating and flags flying, and their leaders
were of the most prominent men in the State "
[Missouri.]
Accordingly, in flagrant contempt of their own
bill, the free people of Kansas had imposed upon
them a pro-slaverylegislature. "Thus was conquered the Sebastopol of that Territory."
One year after the first invasion, another, the
most formidable of all, " burst upon the heads of
the devoted people" of Kansas. An army of
eighteen hundred men, " with seven pieces of cannon, belonging to the United States," threatened
the town of Lawrence. Though compelled at last
to "a mean retreat," they committed shameful
excesses, including several murders. All this was
to punish the unreasonable people of Kansas for
refusing to submit to foreign and lawless dictation.
" From the beginning the spirit of evil hung
upon the skirts of this interesting Territory, harrowing its peace, disturbing its prosperity, and
keeping its inhabitants under the painful alarms
of war. All security of person, property, and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          271
labor was overthrown,... a wrong which is
small only by the side of the giant wrong, for the
consummation of which all this is done.... As
every point in a wide-spread horizon radiates from
a common centre, so everything said or done in
this vast circle of crime radiates from the One
Idea, that Kansas, at all hazards, must be made a
Slave State."
"To accomplish this result, three things are attempted: first, by outrages of all kinds to drive
the friends of freedom out of the Territory; secondly, to deter others from coming; and, thirdly,
to obtain complete control of the government."
The usurping legislature formally recognized
slavery in a law of thirteen sections.  "In three
sections only is the penalty of death denounced
no less than forty-eight different times against
the heinous offence... of interfering with...
property in flesh. Thus is Liberty sacrificed to
Slavery, and Death summoned to sit at the gates as
guardian of the Wrong."
" Mark, three different legislative enactments
constituted part of this work," so as "to defy all
effort at change through ordinaryforms of law."
" First, according to one act, all who deny, by




272        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
spoken or written word, the' right of persons to
hold slaves in this Territory,' are denounced as felons, to be punished by imprisonment at hard labor
for a term not less than two years - it may be for
life...  Secondly, by another act, no person can
practise as an attorney, unless he shall obtain a
license from the territorial courts, which, of course,
a tyrannical discretion will be free to deny; and,
after obtaining such license, he is constrained to
take an oath' to support and sustain'.  the Territorial Act and the Fugitive Slave Bill.... And
thirdly, by another act, all persons' conscientiously opposed to the holding slaves,' or' who do not
admit the right to hold slaves in this Territory,' are
excluded from the jury on every question, civil or
criminal, arising out of arrested slave property."
To insure the enforcement of these infamous
statutes, the President of the United States appointed proper instruments, in the shape of governor, chief justice, judges, secretary, attorney,
and marshal. The legislature imposed a crowd
of officers upon the people, whom they had no
voice in appointing.
"The final, inexorable work remained to be
done."  To guard against the possibility of any




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          273
change at a future election, two different acts
were passed: the first excluding from the elective franchise all who would not take the oath to
support the Fugitive Slave Bill; the second entitling all other persons to vote who tendered a tax
of one dollar to the sheriff on the day of election;
thus disfranchising all opposed to slavery, and at
the same time opening the door to the votes of
the invaders.
" Thus was the crime consummated.  Slavery
stands erect, clanking its chains on the Territory
of Kansas, surrounded by a code of death, and
trampling upon all cherished liberties, whether
of speech, the press, the bar, the trial by jury, or
the electoral franchise. And, sir, all this is done,
not merely to introduce a wrong which is itself
a denial of all rights, and in dread of which
mothers have taken the lives of their offspring,...but it is taken for the sake of political power,
in order to bring two new slaveholding senators
upon this floor, and thus to fortify in the national
government the desperate chances of a waning
oligarchy.  As the gallant ship, voyaging on
pleasant summer seas, is assailed by a pirate
crew, and plundered of its doubloons and dollars,
18




274        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
so is this beautiful Territory now assailed in
peace and prosperity, and robbed of its political
power for the sake of slavery. Even now the
black flag of the land pirates from Missouri waves
at the mast-head. In their laws you hear the
pirate yell, and see the flash of the pirate knife;
while, incredible to relate, the President,* gathering the slave power at his back, testifies a pirate
sympathy.
" Emerging from all the blackness of this crime,
where we seem to have been lost as in a savage
wood, and turning our backs upon it, as upon
devastation and death, from which, while others
have suffered, we have escaped, I come, now, to
the apologies which the crime has found...
Great crimes of history have never been without
apologies.  The massacre of St. Bartholomew,
which you now instinctively condemn, was, at
the time, applauded in high quarters, and even
commemorated by a papal medal, which may still
be procured at Rome, - as the crime against Kansas, which is hardly less conspicuous in dreadful eminence, has been shielded on this floor by
extenuating words, and even by a presidential
* Franklin Pierce.




LIFE OF CHA~
message, which, like the pap.
be forgotten in considering th
men."
For all these evils Mr. Sumner recommended
what he styled " the remedy of justice and peace,
proposed by the senator from New York, and
embodied in his bill....  This is sustained by
the prayer of the people of the Territory, setting
forth a constitution formed by spontaneous movement, in which all there had opportunity to participate, without distinction of party.... In offering this proposition, the senator from New York
has entitled himself to the gratitude of the country. Throughout a life of unsurpassed industry,
and of eminent ability, he has done much for
freedom which the world will not let die; but
than this he has done nothing more opportune,
and he has uttered no words more effective than
this speech, so masterly and- ingenious, by which
he vindicated it."
During the delivery of this speech, Mr. Butler,
of South Carolina, interrupted the speaker no less
than thirty-five times. Mr. Sumner thus paid his
respects to him:" With regret I come again upon the senator




ALES SUMNER.
^  who, omnipresent in this,s with rage at the simple sugansas has applied for admission as
a State, and, with incoherent phrase, discharges
the loose expectoration of his speech, now upon
her representative, and then upon her people.
There was no extravagance of the ancient parliamentary debate which he did not repeat; nor
was there any possible deviation from  truth
which he did not make —with so much of passion, I gladly add, as to save him from the suspicion of intentional aberration. But the senator
touches nothing which he does not disfigure —
with error, sometimes of principle, sometimes
of fact. He shows an incapacity for accuracy,
whether in stating the Constitution or in stating
the law, whether in details of statistics or diversions of scholarship. He cannot ope his mouth,
but out there flies a blunder....
"But it is against the people of Kansas that
the sensibilities of the senator are particularly
roused. Coming, as he announces,' from a State,'
-ay, sir, from South Carolina, -he turns with
lordly disgust from this newly-formed community,
which he will not recognize as even'a member




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         277
of the body politic.'  Pray, sir, by what title
does he indulge in this egotism?  Has he read
the history of the' State' which he represents?
He cannot, surely, forget its shameful imbecility
from slavery, confessed throughout the Revolution, followed by its more shameful assumption
for slavery since. He cannot forget its wretched
persistence in the slave-trade, as the very apple
of its eye, and the condition of its participation
in the Union. He cannot forget its constitution,
which is republican only in name, confirming
power in the hands of the few, and founding the
qualifications of its legislators on' a settled freehold estate of five hundred acres of land, and ten
negroes.' 
Mr. Sumner concludes with these impressive
words:
" In just regard for free labor, which you would
blast by deadly contact with slave labor, —in
Christian sympathy with the slave, whom you
would task and sell, - in stern condemnation of
the crime consummated on that beautiful soil,- in
rescue of fellow-citizens, now subjugated to tyrannical usurpation, - in dutiful respect for the early
fathers, whose aspirations are ignobly thwarted,




278       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
in the name of the Constitution outraged, of the
laws trampled down, of justice banished, of humanity degraded, of peace destroyed, of freedom
crushed to earth, - and in the name of the heavenly Father, whose service is perfect freedom, I
make this last appeal."
Such was this famous speech,  " a grand and
terrible philippic, worthy of the grand occasion;
the severe and awful truth, which the sharp
agony of the national crisis demanded." *
* J. G. Whittier.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        279
CHAPTER XXI.
Effect of Mr. Sumner's Kansas Speech. - Mr.
Sumner  assaulted.- Preston  S. Brooks. -
Scene in the House. - Retirement of Brooks.Southern Sympathy. - Northern Indignation. 
Meetings in Massachusetts. - Faneuil Hall. —
Peleg W. Chandler.-Josiah Quincy.-Wendell
Phillips.- Ralph Waldo Emerson. - Horace
Mann. - Courier and Enquirer. - Mr. Sumner's Mother.
IN the Senate, and in the country at large, the
speech of Mr. Sumner produced a profound impression, both upon the foes and friends of
slavery. The former rejoiced, the latter were
exasperated. Those especially "whose course
had been subjected to this terrible arraignment
were excited to madness; and summary vengeance was agreed upon as the only remedy that
would meet the exigency of the hour."  The
speech could not be answered; the speaker must




280       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
be silenced. Such is always the last argument
of guilt.
The select agent of the slave power to carry
out their fell purpose was Preston S. Brooks, a
representative from South Carolina, and nephew
of Senator Butler. After the adjournment of
the Senate, on the 22d of May, two days after
the speech, Mr. Sumner remained at his desk
engaged in writing. While so engaged, Brooks,
whom he did not know, approached him and said,
" I have read your speech twice over, carefully.
It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler,
who is a relative of mine."
While these words were passing from his lips,
he commenced a series of blows with a bludgeon
upon the senator's head, by which the latter was
stunned, disabled, and smitten down, bleeding
and insensible, on the floor of the chamber. From
that floor he was taken by friends, borne to the
ante-room, where his wounds were dressed, and
then he was carried by Mr. Wilson, assisted by
Captain Darling, doorkeeper of the House, faint
and bleeding, to his lodgings.
"The injuries of Mr. Sumner were serious, and
became the subject of constant anxiety to his




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         281
friends. It was four years before he was pronounced convalescent." * He never entirely recovered from the effect of the assault, which was,
doubtless, the remote cause of his death, eighteen
years after.
"Mr. Sumner, though confessedly the superior
of his assailant in stature and physical strength,
sitting and cramped beneath his writing-desk,
over which he was bending, with pen in hand,
taken unawares.and at disadvantage, and his
assailant raining blows upon his unprotected
head, fairly represented Freedom and Slavery as
they stood at that time confronting each other.
Freedom, though instrinsically stronger than its
antagonist, was yet practically weaker....
" In the evening of the day of the assault, the
Republican senators met at the house of Mr.
Seward. In a lean minority, - only one fifth of
the Senate, - they knew that they were at the
mercy of the majority, which was dominated by
the incensed and inexorable leaders of the slave
power. Always bitter and implacable, they were
now still more determined and audacious. Always zealous, their zeal was more inflamed by
* Wilson.




282        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the fresh fuel these proceedings would  add.
What new victims would be required, who they
should be, and whom their appetite for vengeance,
whetted by this taste of blood, would select, they
knew  not.  Not unlikely some who gathered
there, like the disciples of John the Baptist, after
their master had fallen a victim to a tyrant's
power, felt that, though the night was dark and
the future was forbidding, it was no time to despair
or to remit effort. Nor would they, without remonstrance, submit to such an invasion of their
personal and political rights. It was agreed that
Mr. Wilson should call the attention of the Senate
to the subject the next day, and, unless some
member of the dominant party should move a
committe6 of investigation, Mr. Seward should
make such motion.
" On the assembling of the Senate, amid deep
excitement, crowds filling every available space
in the Chamber and all its approaches, Mr. Wilson
rose, and having narrated briefly the facts of the
transaction, said,'Sir, to assail a member of the
Senate out of this Chamber'for words spoken in
debate' is a grave offence, not only against the
rights of a senator, but the constitutional privi



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        283
leges of this House; but, sir, to come into this
Chamber and assault a member in his seat, until
he falls exhausted and senseless on this floor, is
an offence requiring the prompt and decisive action of the Senate. Senators, I have called your
attention to this transaction. I submit no motion.
I leave it to older senators, whose character,
whose position in this body and before the
country, eminently fit them for the task of devising measures to redress the wrongs of a member
of this body, and to vindicate the honor and dignity of the Senate.'
" As no Democratic senator proposed any action, Mr. Seward offered a resolution for a committee of five members, to be appointed by the
president, to inquire into the assault and to report
the facts, together with their opinion thereon.
On motion of Mr. Mason, the resolution was so
amended as to provide that the committee should
be chosen by the Senate; and Pearce of Maryland, Cass of Michigan, Dodge of Wisconsin, Allen
of Rhode Island, and Geyer of Missouri, were
selected.  The committee was chosen wholly
from the Democratic party, and contained no one
friendly to Mr. Sumner. The same day, Lewis




284        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
D. Campbell introduced a resolution into the
House of Representatives reciting the particulars
of the assault, and proposing a select committee
of five to report such action as might be proper
for the vindication of the House. After a brief
debate, the resolution was adopted, and Campbell
of Ohio, Pennington of New Jersey, Spinner of
New York, Cobb of Georgia, and Greenwood of
Arkansas, were appointed...
"The Senate committee reported want of jurisdiction, because, it contended,'authority devolves solely upon the House, of which he is a
member;  and the Senate itself took no further
action.
" The House committee entered at once upon
the investigation, and proceeded to examine the
witnesses of the transaction. Visiting Mr. Sumner at his room, they took his deposition from his
sick bed. He made substantially the same statement as that already given, mentioning the additional fact that, on coming to consciousness,'he
saw Mr. Douglas and Mr. Toombs standing in the
Senate, and Mr. Slidell in the anteroom, from
which the latter' retreated at once.'
"This statement becoming known, these sena



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        285
tors felt called upon to make explanations of their
knowledge of the affair, and of the course they
had adopted in relation to it. Mr. Slidell, referring to the fact that he was conversing with other
senators, among whom was Mr. Douglas, when a
messenger rushed in with the intelligence that
somebody was beating Mr. Sumner, contemptuously said,'We heard this remark without any
particular emotion. For my part, I confess I felt
none. I am not disposed to participate in broils
of any kind. I remained very quietly in my seat.
The other gentleman did the same. We did not
move.'
" He stated that, a few minutes afterwards, he
went into the Senate Chamber, and was told
that Mr. Sumner was lying in a state of insensibility. Returning to the anteroom, and attempting to pass out, he saw the wounded man as he
was carried into the anteroom,' his face covered
with blood, and evidently faint and weak.'' I
am not,' said Mr. Slidell,'particularly fond of
scenes of any sort. I have no associations or relations of any kind with Mr. Sumner. I have not
spoken to him for two years. I did not think it
necessary to express any sympathy or make any




286        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
advances towards him.' Slidell closed his remarks
by saying he was free from any participation,
connection, or counsel in the matter.
" Douglas, too, deemed it his duty to make some
explanation. He said that when the messenger
passed through the room, and said somebody was
beating Mr. Sumner,'I rose immediately to my
feet. My first impulse was to come into the Senate Chamber and help to put an end to the affray
if I could. But it occurred to my mind in an instant that my relations to Mr. Sumner were such
that if I came into the hall my motives would be
misconstrued, perhaps, and I sat down again.'
" He stated that a few moments afterwards he
went into the Senate Chamber, and saw  the
crowd gathering about Mr. Sumner, who was
prostrate on the floor. He closed his remarks by
stating he did not know that he was in the Capitol, that he did not know that any man thought
of attacking him, and that he had not the slightest suspicion of what was to happen.
" Mr. Toombs said,' As for rendering Mr. Sumner any assistance, I did not do it.' It was also
given in evidence that Mr. Keitt was present at
the assault, not only consenting to the action of




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        287
his colleague, but with violent demonstrations and
profane expressions warning off all who would
interfere to save the victim from his assailant." *
On the other hand, the friends of freedom displayed a tender and courageous sympathy for the
suffering senator, and a righteous indignation at
the outrage committed.
Mr. Wilson, a long-tried and steadfast friend,
was among the first to hasten to the side of his
stricken colleague, and to render him every brotherly attention. Afterwards, in his place, he nobly
represented Massachusetts in his denunciation of
the attack as' brutal, murderous, and cowardly."
The House committee brought in two reports;
the majority recommending  the expulsion of
Brooks, and expressing disapprobation of Edmonson and Keitt; the minority pleading want of
jurisdiction.
Here also Massachusetts vindicated her right
to utter her sentiments on the floor of Congress,
and defended her representative in the other
Chamber from his assailants, whether they employed tongue or bludgeon. Mr. Burlingame was
particularly bold and eloquent. Of Mr. Sumner's
* Wilson.




288       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
speech he said,'It was severe, because it was
launched against tyranny.  It was severe, as
Chatham was severe, when he defended the feeble colonies against the giant oppression of the
mother country. It was made in the face of a
hostile Senate. It was continued through the
greater portion of two days; and yet, during that
time, the speaker was not once called to order.
This fact is conclusive as to the personal and
parliamentary decorum of his speech. He had
provocation enough. His State had been called'hypocritical.' He himself had been called'a
puppy,'  a fool,'  a fanatic,' and' a dishonest man.'
No man knew better than he did the proprieties
of the place, for he had always observed them.
No man knew better than he did parliamentary
law, because he had made it the study of his life.
No man saw more clearly than he did the flaming
sword of the Constitution turning every way,
guarding all the avenues of the Senate. But he
was not thinking of these things; he was not
thinking then of the privileges of the Senate, nor
of the guarantees of the Constitution. He was
there to denounce tyranny and crime; and he did
it. He was there to speak for the rights of an
empire, and he did it bravely and grandly."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        289
"The House," says Mr. Wilson, "censured
Keitt, but failed to condemn Edmonson. Keitt
resigned. One hundred and twenty-one members voted to expel Brooks, and ninety-five voted
against expulsion. Having failed to expel,-a
two-thirds vote being necessary, — a vote of
censure was adopted by a large majority.
" After these votes were declared, Mr. Brooks
addressed the House in a speech of mingled assumption, insolence, and self-conceit. While disclaiming all intention to insult Congress, the
Senate, or the State of Massachusetts, he seemed
to be utterly oblivious that there had been any
infringement of law or the rights of others; it being simply, he said,'a personal affair, for which
I am personally responsible.' With infinite effrontery he affirmed,' I went to work very deliberately, as I am charged, - and this is admitted,and speculated somewhat as to whether I should
employ a horsewhip or a cowhide; but knowing
that the senator was my superior in strength, it
occurred to me that he might wrest it from my
hand, and then (for I never attempt anything I
do not perform) I might have been compelled to
do that which I would have regretted the balance
19




290        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of my natural life.' What that contingency he so
coolly admitted was, every reader can conjecture.
"With still greater assurance and self-assertion, he claimed, as a matter of credit for his forbearance, that he had not plunged the nation into
civil war, as if he had held the destinies of the
Republic in his hands.'In my heart of hearts'
he said,'such a menacing line of conduct I believe would end in subverting this government
and drenching this hall in blood.  No act of
mine, on my personal account, shall inaugurate
revolution; but when you, Mr. Speaker, return to
your own home, and hear the people of the great
North - and they are a great people - speak of
me as a bad man, you will do me the justice to
say that a blow struck by me at this time would
be followed by a revolution; and this I know.'
"Concluding his speech, he announced the
resignation of his seat, and walked out of the
House."
One of the saddest features of this affair was
the general, in most cases the enthusiastic, approval accorded to Brooks by the Southern people. The men applauded him, fair women smiled
upon him. Not only the young " chivalry," but




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        291
grave and reverend heads, professors of science,
teachers of youth, and preachers of righteousness,
joined in the general jubilation. There were, of
course, individual exceptions; but the proofs of
an all but universal satisfaction with the bloody
deed are too numerous and strong to be controverted. The South indorsed the act, and made
it its own. South Carolina placed the crown
upon the head of her censured representative,
by returning him immediately to Congress, with
the bludgeon in his hand. Brooks was the hero
of the hour; though later, he confessed that he
was heart-sick of the gifts and honors heaped
upon him as the prince of bullies.
Jefferson Davis, to an invitation to attend a
public dinner in honor of Brooks, was not slow
to reply, "I have only to express to you my
sympathy with the feeling which prompts the
sons of Carolina to welcome the return of a
brother who has been the subject of vilification,
misrepresentation, and persecution, because he
resented a libellous assault upon the representative of their mother."
The students and officers of the University of
Virginia voted a cane to their hero, —their




292        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
diploma, - expressing their sense of his superior
attainments in the noble science of assault and
battery.  Never was a seat of learning prostituted to a more ignoble use.
In view of these facts, which might be greatly
multiplied, what proof we have of the power of
prejudice, especially of the blinding, demoralizing influence of slavery! But we gladly turn
from such exhibitions of human folly and frenzy.
All through the Free North there sprang up
instantly a feeling which stood in marked and.
most favorable contrast with these Southern
demonstrations. Slavery and freedom were more
and more revealing their opposite characters.
Where the latter prevailed, the people, regardless of political differences, rushed together to
express their profound sense of a great wrong
done to Liberty. Massachusetts, as most directly
assailed, was the most deeply moved. But everywhere, every man felt that in the attack upon
Mr. Sumner, he himself had been personally
smitten.  Where was free speech, where was
liberty of any kind, if such deeds of violence
could be allowed?
The most important result of this atrocity was




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        293
the deeper impression now made upon the minds
of all anti-slavery men, or that now for the first
time awakened among men hitherto indifferent
or hostile to the movement for freedom -that
slavery was the crowning shame and curse of
the country. It was slavery that had beaten to
the ground a representative of the people - a defender of liberty; and slavery must fall.
"When," said his colleague, Mr. Wilson, "I
lifted his bleeding body from the floor, and laid
him upon a lounge, and then washed his blood
from my hands, I swore eternal vengeance to
slavery, and consecrated my life anew to the
cause of human freedom."  And such was the
feeling in ten thousand hearts, all over the
North.
At a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, Hon. Peleg
W. Chandler said, — and his words were but
an expression of the universal feeling, -" It is
precisely because I have been and am now his
personal friend, and it is precisely because I have
been and now am his political opponent, that I
am here to-night..... Yet personal feelings are
of little or no consequence in this outrage. It is
a blow not merely at Massachusetts, a blow not




294        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
merely at the name and fame of our common
country,  it is a blow at constitutional liberty all
the world over; it is a stab at the cause of universal freedom. Whatever may be done in this
matter, however, one thing is certain, one thing
is sure. The blood of this Northern man now
stains the Senate floor, and let me tell you that
not all the water of the Potomac can wash it out.
Forever, forever and aye, that stain will plead in
silence for liberty wherever man is enslaved, for
humanity all over the world, for truth and for
justice, now and forever."
The Hon. Josiah Quincy, then in the eightyfifth year of his age, said, in a meeting at
Quincy, -
"The blow struck upon the head of Charles
Sumner did not fall upon him alone. It was a
blow purposely aimed at the North. It was a
blow struck at the very Tree of Liberty.  It
speaks to us in words not to be mistaken. It
says to us that Northern men shall not be heard
in the halls of Congress, except at the point of
the bowie-knife, the bludgeon, and revolver.
"The bludgeon, heretofore only brandished,
has at last been brought down. Charles Sumner




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        295
needs not our sympathy; if he dies, his name
will be immortal  his name will be enrolled
with the names of Warren, Sidney, and Russell;
if he lives, he is destined to be the light of the
nation."
At another meeting in Boston, Wendell Phillips
spoke with even more than his wonted eloquence.
" Nobody," he said, " needs now to read this
speech of Charles Sumner to learn whether it is
good. We measure the amount of the charge
by the length of the rebound. When the spear,
driven to the quick, makes the devil start up in
his own likeness, we may be sure it is the spear
of Ithuriel. That is my way of measuring the
speech which has produced this glorious result.
0, yes, glorious! for the world will yet cover
every one of those scars with laurels. Sir, he
must not die! We need him yet, as the vanguard leader of the hosts of Liberty. Nay, he
shall yet come forth from that sick chamber, and
every gallant heart in the Commonwealth be
ready to kiss his very footsteps."
Referring to what some had regarded as
coarseness in one of Mr. Sumner's comparisons,




296       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Mr. Phillips said, " In utter scorn of the sickly
taste, of the effeminate scholarship that starts
back in delicate horror at a bold illustration, 1
dare to say there is no animal God has condescended to make, that man may not venture
to name. And if any ground of complaint is
supposable in regard to this comparison, which
shocks the delicacy of some men  and  some
presses, it is the animal, not Mr. Douglas, that
has reason to complain.... I place the foot of
my uttermost contempt on those members of the
press in Boston that have anything to say in
criticism of his language, while he lies there prostrate and speechless -our champion, beaten to
the ground for the noblest word Massachusetts
ever spoke in the Senate."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a speech at Concord,
said, "Well, sir, this noble head, so comely and
so wise, must be a target for a pair of bullies to
beat with clubs! The murderer's brand shall
stamp their foreheads, wherever they may wander in the earth.
" But I wish, sir, that the high respects of this
meeting shall be expressed to Mr. Sumner....
I wish that he may know the shudder of ter



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          297
ror that ran through all this community on the
first tidings of this brutal attack. Let him hear
that every man of worth in New England loves
his virtues, - that every mother thinks of him
as the protector of families, -that every friend
of freedom thinks him the friend of freedom."
Horace Mann, his early and devoted friend,
wrote to Mr. Sumner, "We are wounded  in
your wounds, and bleed  in your bleeding."
Writing later, he said, "It is impossible to tell
how much we have felt for you - sorrow, admiration, hope, affection for you; grief, indignation,
contempt, abhorrence for the malefactor.  Mrs.
Mann read one account of the outrage, and
could never read another.  She said she felt the
concussion of the blows all through her brain."
The legislature of Massachusetts passed a series of resolves concerning the assault, describing it as " brutal and cowardly in itself, a gross
breach of parliamentary privilege, a ruthless
attack upon the liberty of speech, an outrage of
the decencies of civilized life, and an indignity
to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
They demanded of the national Congress " a
prompt and strict investigation " of the affair,




298       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and the expulsion of Brooks and any other member concerned with him in the assault.
Beyond Massachusetts, everywhere but at the
South, a similar feeling was manifested. Governor Clark, of New York, wrote to Mr. Sumner,
expressing his abhorrence of the assault, and his
personal sympathy with the sufferer.
In  New  York an "immense meeting, and
unprecedented in character," declared the conduct of Brooks to have been " brutal, murderous, and cowardly."
An editorial in the Courier and Enquirer, of
New  York, admirably summed up the moral
result of the act of Brooks:
"The fact is incontestable, that when the
Massachusetts senator again crosses the threshhold of that Senate Chamber, slavery will have
to confront the most formidable foe it ever had to
face before the public eye. He will come with
every muscle braced and every sinew strung by
the sense of measureless personal wrong; but,
infinitely more than that, he will come armed with
the indignation and shielded by the moral support of the whole North. Hitherto he has figured but in one character-the assailant of




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        299
slavery; henceforth he will be also the accredited
assertor and champion of the most sacred right
of freedom of speech, and as such will command
tenfold greater consideration. His antagonists
have affected to despise him before, and to treat
him with scorn. The day for that has passed.
The public man, who has once been the occasion
of such an outburst of sympathy and good-will
as has within the last week sprung from  the
mouth of millions upon millions of his countrymen, is no longer a man to be disdained. He
has henceforth position, power, and security beyond any of his adversaries." A true prophecy, in due time to be fulfilled to the letter.
The expressions of regard  and  sympathy
which came to Mr. Sumner from  so many
quarters must have been peculiarly grateful to
his heart. Hle received them as proofs both of
personal friendship and of interest in the cause
in which his life had been imperilled. But there
were other testimonials, which, though he was
grateful for the sentiment which prompted them,
he felt constrained instantly to decline. One was
the payment by the State of the expense of his
illness, which was recommended by the governor




300       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
to the legislature; the other "a massive and
elaborate silver vase, bearing upon its summit a
figure representing Charles Sumner holding his
Kansas Speech in his right hand," with other
elegant artistic designs.
As soon as Mr. Sumner learned that these were
in progress, he courteously, but firmly, refused
them, expressing his wish that the money designed to be thus appropriated might be applied
for the benefit of Kansas.
Throughout this terrible scene there was one
heart upon which fell a burden of anxiety and
grief peculiarly its own. It was the heart of the
mother. She was then living in Boston, at the
age of seventy-one, a widow, and already bereaved of several children. The tidings which
flew over the wires that her noble son, who had
spoken so truly and bravely, was a dreadful
sufferer from blows which might prove fatal,
must have pierced her heart as with a sword.
Ah, how she wished to fly to him, that she might
watch over him as only a mother can, and tell
him how much she loved him, how proud she was
of him; or if, as her fears might suggest, he
should not recover, that a mother's hand might




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        301
perform the last sad offices. What anxious hours
were hers between the first news of his being
smitten and the better tidings that he would
not die.
We are glad to know, from the testimony of
her pastor, that she bore the great trial with
Christian patience, worthy the mother of such a
son. And besides the supports of religion, she
had this strong consolation, that he had suffered
because of his fidelity to his convictions in the
cause of humanity.
As to the son, in those moments when murderous strokes were raining upon him, how must his
mind have flown to that mother —sadder, no
doubt, for her sake, than for his own.
Thank God, it was to be his privilege, in after
years, to be with that fond mother when " heart
and flesh were failing " her.




302        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XXII.
Mr. Sumner's Health. - Rest necessary. - Return
to Boston. -  Welcome Reception. - His Tribute
to Henry Wilson. - Reception given to Brooks.
-Re-election of Mr. Sumner.- Six Years'
Changes. - Letter of Acceptance. - Letter to
a Friend. - Sails for Europe. - Letter. - Return. -  To Europe again. - Meets De Tocqueville. - Brown-Sequard. - Saved by " Fire."Letter. - Cured. - Returns to the Senate. 
Changes.
MR. SUMNER has disappeared from the Senate,
but he has not finished his course. He has yet
other battles to fight, other triumphs to win.
And his long  silence of four suffering years
shall plead eloquently for the cause which he
has so much at heart.
Mr. Sumner hoped that, after a few weeks of
absence, he would be able to resume his seat in
the Senate. But the injuries he had received
proved to be far too serious to allow a speedy




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        303
return. Fever ensued, followed by extreme exhaustion, and " for three days he was in a critical
situation."  The case was a " formidable " one.
It was weeks before the wounds were closed.
Pains in the head came on in paroxysms. Then
ensued "a feeling of oppressive weight or pressure on the brain, as of'a fifty-six pound
weight' upon his head. At the same time he lost
flesh and strength, his appetite was irregular,
and his nights wakeful. Every step he took
seemed to produce a shock upon his brain.
His walk was irregular and uncertain, and after
slight efforts he would lose almost entire control
of the lower extremities." Such was the report
of Dr. Perry.
It was certain that an entire suspension of
mental labor was necessary.  There must be
perfect rest, with  the most careful medical
treatment. Several months were spent in this
way, chiefly at Philadelphia and Cape May.
In November, nearly six months after he was
struck, Mr. Sumner was so far recovered that he
was able to return to his home in Boston. The
public reception then given him was most hearty
and enthusiastic. Everybody came out to greet




304        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
him. As his carriage passed through the streets,
he was cheered by sympathizing multitudes,
while the ladies " showered their bouquets upon
him from sidewalks and windows."
Mr. Sumner was able to speak but a few
words. Addressing the governor, he said, ~
"I thank you for this welcome. I thank, also,
the distinguished gentlemen who have honored
this occasion by their presence. I thank, too,
these swelling multitudes who contribute to me
the strength and succor of their sympathies;
and my soul overflows especially to the young
men of Boston, out of whose hearts, as from an
exuberant fountain, this broad-spreading hospitality took its rise."
In that part of his address which he had not
strength to deliver, but which afterwards appeared in the journals, Mr. Sumner spoke of his
feelings under an enforced absence from Washington: -
" More than five months have passed since I
was disabled from the performance of my public
duties. During this weary period I have been
constrained to repeat daily the lesson of renunciation - confined at first to my bed, and then




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.            305
only slowly regaining the power even to walk.
But, beyond  the  constant, irrepressible  grief
which  must well up  in  the breast of every
patriot, as he discerns the present condition
of his country, my chief sorrow has been caused
by the necessity to which I was doomed, of renouncing all part in the contest for human rights,
which, beginning in Congress, has since enveloped the whole land.... From day to day and
week to week I vainly sought that health which
we value most when lost, and which perpetually
eluded  my pursuit.  For health  I strove, for
health I prayed. With uncertain steps I sought
it at the sea-shore, and I sought it on the mountain-top.
Two voices are there: one is of the sea,
One of the mountains; each a mighty voice:
In both from age to age thou didst rejoice;
They were thy chosen music, Liberty!'
I listened to the admonitions of medical skill,
as I courted all the bracing influences of nature,
while time passed without the accustomed healing on its wings."
In  the  course of his remarks, Mr. Sumner
paid a deserved  tribute to the worth  of his
20




306        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
" able, generous, and faithful colleague, Henry
Wilson."
" Together we labored in mutual trust, honorably leaning upon each other.  By my disability he was left sole representative of Massachusetts on the floor of the Senate, throughout
months of heated contest, involving her good
name and most cherished sentiments. All who
watched the current of debate, even as imperfectly as I did in my retirement, know with what
readiness, courage, and power he acted, - showing himself, by extraordinary energies, equal to
the extraordinary occasion. But it is my especial happiness to recognize his unfailing sympathies for myself, and his manly assumption of
all the responsibilities of the hour."
In conclusion, Mr. Sumner said, -
"With thanks for this welcome, accept also my
new vows of duty. In all simplicity let me say
that I seek nothing but the triumph of truth.
To this I offer my best efforts, careless of office
or honor. Show  me that I am  wrong, and I
stop at once; but in the complete conviction of
right, I shall persevere against all temptations,
against all odds, against all perils, against all




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         307
threats, -knowing well, that whatever may be
my fate, the Right will surely prevail. Terrestrial place is determined by celestial observation.
Only by watching the stars can the mariner safely pursue his course; and it is only by obeying
those lofty principles which are above men and
human passion, that we can make our way safely
through the duties of life. In such obedience I
hope to live, while, as a servant of Massachusetts,
I avoid no labor, shrink from no exposure, and
complain of no hardship."
When Brooks returned to his native city, he was
warmly welcomed. But how marked the contrast
with the present reception! Brooks was lauded
and caressed as the hero of slavery, for a deed of
mingled cruelty and cowardice; Mr. Sumner, as
the champion of freedom, for brave words spoken
in behalf of an oppressed community -the one
as the assailant, the other as the martyr, of liberty. Mr. Sumner had no subsequent occasion to
be " heart-sick " of the honors heaped upon him.
Among those who gave welcome to Mr. Sumner, none rejoiced like the aged mother, as with
tears and smiles she embraced once more her son,
given to her, as it were, from  the dead. With




308        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
what motherly pride she looked out from her window to see the crowds assembled to do him honor,
and heard the loud cheers that went up in praise
of his righteous conduct!
To give joy to a mother's heart by an honorable and useful career, though in a sphere humbler
than the great senator's, is worth the serious endeavor of any young man. To be regardless of
a mother's feelings, in a life of vice and dissipation, proves the absence of all true nobility of
character,
In Boston and vicinity Mr. Sumner spent several months under medical treatment, compelled
to pass much of the time in bed. But still his
health seemed to improve, so that his physician
could say, " Time and repose will do the rest."
His term of office had now expired, but Massachusetts would not dismiss him from her service.
Who could take the place of Charles Sumner?
For six years he had maintained the honor of the
old Commonwealth and the cause of freedom,
amidst contempt, abuse, menace, and peril of
life, with an ability, an eloquence, a fidelity, a
purity of purpose, and a conscientious regard to
truth and justice, unsurpassed in senatorial his:




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       309
tory. And had he not suffered as the representative of Massachusetts? Every heart cried out
for his re-election, and when the vote was counted, January 9, 1857, he had received three hundred and thirty-three out of three hundred and
forty-five votes in the House, and the entire vote
of the Senate.
Six years before, he was elected by a bare majority of two votes; now he is returned by a
" spontaneous unanimity."  Then he was in the
vigor of his young manhood; now he is an invalid, too feeble to take his seat, and compelled
even to leave his country in search of strength.
But whether silent in his seat, prostrate upon his
bed, or a wanderer in foreign lands, he is the
Commonwealth's chosen champion. His vacant
seat will tell a daily story of wrong and outrage, and thus utter its eloquent condemnation
of a system founded in and defended by violence.
Such a man can never be silent.
In Mr. Sumner's letter of acceptance he said,
"This renewed trust I accept with gratitude,
enhanced by the peculiar circumstances under
which it is bestowed. But far beyond any personal gratification is the delight of knowing, by




310        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
this sign, that the people of Massachusetts, forgetting ancient party hates, have at last come
together in fraternal support of a sacred cause,
compared with which the fate of any public servant is of small account."
In February, 1857, towards the close of the
session, he returned to Washington, and was
again in his seat; but, March 1, he wrote to a
friend, " I have sat in my seat only on one day.
After a short time the torment to my system became great, and a cloud began to gather over my
brain. I tottered out, and took to my bed. I
long to speak, but I cannot. Sorrowfully I resign
myself to my condition....
" What I can say must stand adjourned to another day. Nobody can regret this so much as myself, and my unhappiness will be increased if I
have not your sympathy in this delay.
"I may die; but if I live, a word shall be
spoken in the Senate which shall tear slavery
open from its chops to its heels....
" Till then, patience."
Warned by his medical advisers to seek rest
abroad, Mr. Sumner set sail for Europe on March
7, 1857. From on board the steamship he spoke




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        311
" a last word for Kansas," in a letter to Mr. Redpath. " With a farewell to my country, as I seek
a foreign land, hoping for health long deferred, I
give my last thoughts to suffering Kansas, not
without devout prayers that the ruffian usurpation which now treads her down may be peaceably overthrown, and that she may be lifted into
the enjoyment of freedom and repose."
While absent, he made his restoration to health
his daily care. He received the best medical advice, to which he faithfully submitted. He travelled, as strength would allow, in France, Switzerland, England, and Scotland.  He had the
pleasure of feeling that he was really improving,
though amid frequent relapses.  From  Heidelberg, September 11, he wrote to a friend in an
encouraging strain: -
" Weeks have now passed since I have seen a
letter or newspaper from  home. During this
time I have been travelling away from news, and
am now famished. On arrival at Antwerp I trust
to find letters at last.
" I have been ransacking Switzerland; I have
visited most of its lakes, and crossed several of
its mountains, mule-back. My strength has not




312       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
allowed me to venture upon any of those foot expeditions, the charm of Swiss travel, by which
you reach places out of the way; but I have seen
much, and have gained health constantly.
"I have crossed the Alps by the St. Gothard,
and then recrossed by the Great St. Bernard,
passing a night with the monks and dogs. I have
spent a day at the foot of Mont Blanc, and another on the wonderful Lake Leman.  I have
been in the Pyrenees, in the Alps, in the Channel Islands. You will next hear of me in the
Highlands of Scotland.
" I see our politics now in distant perspective,
and I am more than ever satisfied that our course
is right. It is slavery which degrades our country, and prevents its example from being allconquering. In fighting our battle at home, we
fight the battle of Freedom  everywhere.  Be
assured, I shall return, not only with renewed
strength, but with renewed determination to give
myself to our great cause."
Against the advice of eminent physicians, Mr.
Sumner resolved to attempt the resumption of his
official duties. In December, 1857, he was once
more in his seat.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         313
But a trial of his strength convinced him that
he was yet far from being well. His disease had,
indeed, assumed  new  and  alarming  features.
Once more he must quit the Senate Chamber to
seek rest and medical help abroad. In May,
1858, he crossed the Atlantic.
In Paris he had the sympathy of noble men,
among whom was De Tocqueville.  " Nous nous
sommes occupes de vous beaucoup dernicrement,"
said this great man to Mr. Sumner, who replied,
"Ah, monsieur, je me suis occupe de vous toute
ma vie." *
But above all it was his good providence to
meet the most skilful physician of the ageBrown-Sequard.  At last he had found a healer.
But at what a cost of pain, even to agony, was a
cure to come! He was to be saved by " fire."
We cannot do better here than give some extracts from a lecture, - one of a course at the
Lowell Institute, in Boston, - by Brown-Sequard,
just after Mr. Sumner's death, as reported in
the Daily Journal. The subject for the evening
was "Nervous Diseases," and the lecturer took
advantage of the opportunity thus presented him
* " We have had you upon our minds a great deal of late.'
"Ah, sir, I have had you in my mind all my life."




314        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of adding a word in honor of the memory of his
patient and friend, and paid one of the truest and
most delicate compliments to his name that has
yet been given. He was very deeply affected,
even to tears, in which many of the audience
joined. He began as follows:"In this, my fifth lecture here, I have to beg
your forgiveness for being moved. Since 1857
the great man who has left us has been under my
care, and been also my very dear friend. I sympathized in every one of the generous impulses
which have aided in raising him to such a high
place of influence in his country, and therefore it
is very easy for you to understand that I am now
hardly able to say more about his greatness, and
the blow which our country and you, in this transition, have suffered. In a moment,when I am a
little more in control of my nerves, I will have to
say something else about him -something which
I never mentioned in his life. I knew that the
modesty, by far greater in him than anybody
knew to exist, would have been wounded if I
had spoken as I will when I am more fiee in my
thought and in the articulation of my voice."
He then proceeded, for a few moments, in the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        315
consideration of the subject of his lecture, which
was in regard to the nervous system. He continued:
"When Mr. Sumner first came under my care,
he was suffering from  a derangement of some
fibres of the nerves. As you all know, he had
received a blow upon the head. His spine, as he
was sitting, was bent in two places. His bent
spine had produced the' effects of a sprain; and
when I saw him in Paris he had recovered altogether from the first effects of the blow. He had
then two troubles: one was, that he could not
make use of his brain at all. He could not read
a newspaper or write a letter. He was in a fearful state. It seemed to him as if his head would
explode, as if there was some great force in- it
pushing the parts away from each other. Indeed,
his emotions were fearful to me. Often, in conversation, if anything was said calling for any
degree of deep thought, he suffered intensely
immediately, so that we had to be extremely
careful with him. He had another trouble, of the
same nature as regards external appearances, but
occupying another portion of the spine, and causing other symptoms. It was a sprain at the level




316        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of the last dorsal vertebra. The irritation there
was intense, and any motion was extremely hard.
When he walked, he had to push forward his right
foot and then his left, holding on all the while to
his back with both hands to relieve the pain. It
had been thought that he was paralyzed as to his
lower limbs; it had been thought that he had a
disease of the brain, and that was regarded as
being the cause of the paralysis of the lower
limbs. Fortunately the discovery made with regard to the vaso-motor nerves led me at once to
find that he had no disease of the brain and no
paralysis. He had only an irritation of the vasomotor nerves, at their exit from the spine. When
I asked him if he was conscious of any weakness
in his limbs, he said,' Certainly not; I only cannot walk on account of the pain.' What was to
to be done then was to apply counter-irritation
on these two sprains; the only point which has
led me to speak of this. I told him the best plan
of treatment would consist in the application of
moxa, the most painful application to the skin. I
asked him if he would not take chloroform to dull
the pain or remove it altogether. I shall always
remember his impressive assent when I had said




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        317
that. He said,' Doctor, if you can say positively
that I shall derive just as much benefit if I take
chloroform as if I do not, then I will take chloroform; but if there is to be any degree whatever
of greater amelioration in case I don't take chloroform, then I shall not take it.' I didn't have
the courage to deceive him. I told him  there
would be more good if he didn't take chloroform.
So I had to submit him to the martyrdom of the
greatest suffering that can be inflicted by medical practice, and burned him. I thought that,
after the torture of the first time, he would then
resort to chloroform; but for five times after,
in accordance with his own determination, the
operation was performed without it. I never saw
a patient before that would submit to such a
thing. The only explanation for his conduct was
this: at that time he was much abused. Report
had reached him that some of his countrymen at
home considered that he was amusing himself
in Paris, pretending to be ill; and he wanted to
return as quickly as possible. A few days, therefore, were of great importance to him; so he
passed through all that terrible and most intense
suffering, the greatest I have ever had the mis



318        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
fortune to inflict, be it upon man or animal. I
have mentioned it on this account, only to show
what kind of a man he was. And I will only add
that I have seen him always since to be ready to
submit to anything for the sake of what he
thought was right, and in other spheres you all
know that such was his character about everything."
At this point the speaker was completely overcome by his emotion, and, begging permission to
defer the remainder of his lecture to another
time, he hastily withdrew from the stage.
Another account adds. that when Mr. Sumner
called on Brown-Sequard, he asked what kind of
remedy would be used. to which the doctor replied, "Fire."  The patient instantly accepted
the harsh remedy, and when the next day was
proposed as the time for its first application, he
insisted upon that very afternoon.
Here was more than physical courage - here
was moral bravery of the highest kind; for with
Mr. Sumner, a cure was not merely the sweet renewal of health, but the certainty of putting on
again his armor in the defence of a cause dearer
to him than life. He was eager for the conflict.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       319
After a time Mr. Sumner left Paris for the
South of France, still undergoing daily the most
severe treatment.  From  a letter to a friend,
written September 11, 1858, we learn how he
now spent his time, and what were his feelings.
"Look at the map of Europe, and you will
find, nestling in the mountains of Savoy, between
Switzerland and France, the little village of Aix,
generally known as Aix-les-Bains, from the baths
which give it fame.  There I am now. The
country about is most beautiful, the people simple and kind.
" My life is devoted to health. I wish that I
could say that I am not still an invalid; yet, except when attacked by the pain on my chest, I
am now comfortable, and enjoy my baths, my
walks, and the repose and incognito which I find
here.
" I begin the day with douches, hot and cold,
and, when thoroughly exhausted, am wrapped in
sheet and blanket, and conveyed to my hotel, and
laid on my bed. After my walk, I find myself
obliged again to take to my bed for two hours
before dinner. But this whole treatment is in




320       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
pleasant contrast with the protracted suffering
from fire which made the summer a torment.
And yet I fear that I must return to that treatment.
" It is with a pang unspeakable that I find myself thus arrested in the labors of life, and in the
duties of my position. This is harder to bear
than the fire. I do not hear of friends engaged in
active service... without a feeling of envy."
Returning to Paris, Brown-Sequard gave him
the joyful information that the cure was complete.
Hope long, long and most painfully deferred,
is at last realized. Through four tedious years
of suspense and pain, he has looked forward to
this hour; and now it has come.
He hears the call of duty from across the waters,
and when Congress opens, December, 1859, he
takes up his work, in the exulting consciousness
that this time it shall not drop from his hands.
But where are the men who had compelled him
to lay down that work, and because it was so
faithfully done? Two of the most prominent
actors, the most audacious, arrogant, insulting,
and, for the time being, seemingly most potential,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        321
- Brooks and Butler, - were in their graves in
less than a year after the assault, Brooks having
experienced a sudden and most agonizing death.
The contrast is impressive.
21




322         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Excited State of Feeling. - Letters to Mr. ClaJfin.
-John Brown. —His Demeanor; his Execution; his previous Interview with Mlr. Sumner.
- John Brown in Congress. - Kidnapping. -
Petitions against Slavery tabled. - Letter from
Horace Mann. —Speech, "Barbarism  of Slavery." -  Allusion to Brooks. —Reply of Mr.
Chesnut. -  Mr. Sumner's Life in Danger.
AT the time of Mr. Sumner's return to the
Senate,* the country was in a state of intense
excitement.  John Brown had just made his
bold attack upon slavery, and was on the eve of
his execution.
The Fugitive Slave Bill had provoked several
of the Free States to pass Personal Liberty Bills,
for the protection of their citizens from Southern
* The Senate was still strongly Democratic, and of the extreme
pro-slavery stamp, though the Republican minority now numbered
twenty-four. That minority was soon to be an overwhelming majority.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         323
domination, which, in turn, had roused the proslavery party to madness.  Secession was beginning to show itself. A presidential canvass
was just at hand, involving a direct issue between
freedom and slavery.
Under these circumstances, when the air was
filled with alarms, and many were putting forward plans for peace, Mr. Sumner wrote to a
friend as follows:" WASHINGTON, January,'60.
"MY DEAR CLAFLIN: Massachusetts has now
an important post. The greatest difficulty is to
be true to herself and her own noble history.
" In the name of Liberty I supplicate you not
to let her take any backward steps - not an inch,
not a hair's breadth!
" It is now too late for any fancied advantage
from such conduct. It only remains that she do
nothing by which liberty suffers, or by which her
principles are recanted.  Remember well that
not a word from  the legislature can have the
least influence in averting the impending result;
that the only security is the firmness which nothing can shake.
" Let the timid cry, but let Massachusetts stand
stiff- God bless her!
" We are on the eve of great events, and this




324        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
month will try men's souls. But our duty is clear
as noonday, and bright as the sun.
"Ever sincerely yours,
" CHARLES SUMNER."
John Brown had now found his way into Congress, - for his " soul" was " marching on," - in
the Harper's Ferry Investigation, in the Senate,
on the question of imprisoning a citizen for refusing to testify in the case. This was March 12,
1860.
The investigation arose from the famous enterprise of the " Hero of Osawatomie," who, October
17, 1859, with a force of twenty-two men, captured
the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry.
His object was to set in motion a plan which he
had formed for the general liberation of the slaves.
It was charged upon him that he intended to provoke insurrection, but he solemnly denied having
any such purpose; and his word was as good as
an oath. He hoped to effect a peaceful exodus
of the slaves without rebellion or bloodshed.
What he had already done in Missouri, in a small
way, when he " took slaves without the snapping
of a gun on either side " to Canada, he said he
wished now to accomplish on a grander scale.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        325
On his trial - for he was soon overpowered 
he said, with noble simplicity, that he had only
carried out the principles of the New Testament, "which taught him that all things' whatsoever I would that men should do unto me, I
should do even so to them.' 
To us his scheme seems a mad one, but there
can be no doubt of his entire conscientiousness.
He was a man of heroic nature, a devout Christian of the old Puritan style, a perfectly unselfish
philanthropist. His very enemies were powerfully impressed by the nobleness of his demeanor
in the court-room, in the jail, and at his execution. The letters which he wrote to his family
and to his friends, after his sentence to death,
show  a sweet tenderness of spirit and a courageous and peaceful trust in God.
In prison he was cheerful to the very last,
and an eye-witness testifies that on the day of
his execution, December 2, 1859, he walked out
of the jail " with a radiant countenance, and the
step of a conqueror.'"  His face was even joyous, and it has been remarked that probably his
was the lightest heart in Charlestown that day.
A black woman, with a little child in her arms,




326        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
stood by the door. He stopped a moment, and,
stopping, kissed the child affectionately.  Another black woman, with a child, as he passed
along, exclaimed,' God bless you, old man! I
wish I could help you; but I can't.' He looked
at her with a tear in his eye." "
Compare this man, so gentle and heroic, the
friend of the poor and oppressed even  unto
death, with the border ruffians of Missouri, whom
we have seen, in defiance of all law and all justice, attempting to set up slavery in Kansas.
If we cannot approve John Brown's plan of
liberation, we can admire his magnanimous spirit
and his generous purpose; while, in the other
case, both the men and their scheme deserve
only unmingled condemnation.
In the case before the Senate, Mr. Sumner
contended that that body had not the power to
compel testimony, under pains and penalties,
except in cases involving self-defence.
" This," said he, " is a fearful prerogative; and
permit me to say, that, in assuming it, you liken
yourselves to the Jesuits, at the period of their
most hateful supremacy, when it was said that
* The American Conflict, by Horace Greeley.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        327
their power was a sword whose handle was at
Rome, and whose point was in the most distant
places.  You take into your hands a sword
whose handle will be in this Chamber, to be
clutched by a mere partisan majority, and whose
point will be in every corner of the republic."
Ah, why did not these senators, who were
so anxious for justice to be done, summon witnesses to testify about the raids into Kansas, and
the attack upon Lawrence?  But it was when
Slavery, not Liberty, was in danger, that these
republicans of the South were aroused.
Mr. Sumner must have felt a peculiar interest
in the case before the Senate, for he had met
John Brown in Boston while there  suffering
from his injuries received from  Brooks. Perhaps that meeting had some connection with
the present case. Rev. James Freeman Clarke
mentions that, calling at that time on Mr. Sumner at his home in Hancock Street, he found
him  resting  in an easy-chair, and with him
three  gentlemen.  One was Captain Brown.
" They were speaking of the assault by Preston
Brooks, and Mr. Sumner remarked,'The coat
I had on at the time is in that closet. Its col



328        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
lar is stiff with blood. You can see it if you
please, captain.'  Brown  arose, went to  the
closet, slowly opened the door, carefully took
down the coat, and looked at it for a few moments with the reverence that a Roman Catholic regards the relic of a saint. Perhaps the
sight caused him  to feel a still deeper horror
of slavery, and to take a stronger resolution
of attacking it in its strongholds. So the blood
of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
A  few  days later, Mr. Sumner spoke again
upon a similar subject-" An attempt to kidnap a citizen, under order of the Senate." It
was an attempt to bring Mr. Sanborn, of Concord,
Mass., to  Washington, as a witness in the
Harper's Ferry affair. Mr. Sumner denied the
right to do so, and declared the attempt to be
kidnapping.   Two  days later, he  presented
twelve different petitions against slavery, containing fifteen hundred and eighty-nine names.
The Senate, still in bondage to the slave power,
laid them on the table.
A few months after the assault upon Mr. Sumner, his friend Horace Mann wrote to him, " Seek
the noblest revenge, which  is strength" —




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        329
strength to resume the contest with slavery.
One opportunity to deal a heavy blow at that
system he had improved; another had come.
The session was far advanced into June. Mr.
Sumner had been testing his strength for another
vigorous encounter. His revenge was sure —
not personal —his noble nature disdained that,
-but the revenge of saying again, in his place,
all that was in his heart for the cause of human
rights.
When last he had spoken at any length, it was 
on the subject of admitting Kansas as a Free
State. That was four years ago, May 19 and 20,
1856.  During his absence the question had
remained unsettled, and now, on the 4th of June,
1860, he takes up the theme where he had left
it.  Then he spoke on the "Crime against
Kansas;" now he dwells on the "Barbarism
of Slavery."
He does so for the best of reasons. He had
seen that merely dwelling on particular examples of the injustice of slavery had not brought
the desired result. The Nebraska " swindle " had
been exposed, the crime against Kansas had been
laid bare; and still the swindle remained, and




330        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Kansas was refused her rights. The South was
growing more rapacious. What should be done?
Mr. Sumner's logical mind saw no hope but in
laying the axe at the root of the tree.'He would
strike at slavery itself, the bitter root whence
had sprung that harvest of woes which the nation was reaping. He would carry, not " the war
into Africa, but Africa into the war." He would
kill the monster whose arms were strangling the
nation.
"The Barbarism of Slavery "- the most appropriate theme, because the most radical. And
thus did Mr. Sumner enter upon his speech:"Mr. President: Undertaking now, after a
silence of more than four years, to address the
Senate on this important subject, I should suppress the emotions natural to such an occasion if
I did not declare, on the threshold, my gratitude
to that Supreme Being through whose benign
care I am enabled, after much suffering and many
changes, once again to resume my duties here,
and to speak for the cause so near my heart.
" To the honored Commonwealth whose representative I am, and also to my immediate associates in this body, with whom I enjoy the fellow



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       331
ship which is found in thinking alike concerning
the Republic, I owe thanks, which I seize the moment to express, for indulgence extended to me
throughout the protracted seclusion enjoined by
medical skill; and I trust that it will not be
thought unbecoming in me to put on record
here, as an apology for leaving my seat so long
vacant, without making way, by resignation, for a
successor, that I acted under the illusion of an
invalid, whose hopes for restoration to natural
health continued against oft-recurring disappointment.
" When last I entered into this debate, it became my duty to expose the crime against Kansas, and to insist upon the immediate admission
of that Territory as a State of this Union, with a
constitution forbidding slavery. Time has passed,
but the question remains. Resuming the discussion precisely where I left it, I am happy to avow
that rule of moderation which, it is said, may
venture to fix the boundaries of wisdom itself.
"I have no personal griefs to utter; only a
vulgar egotism  could intrude such into this
Chamber. I have no personal wrongs to avenge;
only a brutish nature could attempt to wield that




332        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
vengeance which belongs to the Lord.' The
years that have intervened and the graves that
have opened since I spoke have their voices,
which I cannot fail to hear.
" Besides, what am I, what is any man among
the living or among the dead, compared with the
question before us? It is this alone which I shall
discuss, and I begin the argument with that easy
victory which is found in charity."
Mr. Sumner proceeded to say that in his former
speech he had left untouched the most important
part of the argument  " that found in the Character of Slavery."
"This," he added, "is no time for soft words
or excuses. They may turn away wrath; but
what is the wrath of man? This is no time to
abandon any advantage in. the argument. Senators sometimes announce that they resist slavery
on political grounds only, and remind us that they
say nothing of the moral question.  This is
wrong. Slavery must be resisted not only on
political grounds, but on all other grounds, whether social, economical, or moral. Ours is no holiday contest; nor is it any strife of rival factions,
of White and Red Roses, of theatric Neri and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        333
Bianchi; but it is a solemn battle between
right and wrong, between good and evil. Such
a  battle  cannot be  fought with rose-water.
There is austere work to be done, and freedom  cannot consent to fling away any of her
weapons."
Mr. Sumner assailed slavery as guilty of a fivefold wrong: its claiming property in man, — its
abrogation of marriage, - its abrogation of the
parental relation,- its closing the gates of knowledge, -its appropriation of all the toil of its victims.
With reference to the first, he said, —
" Under what ordinance of Nature or of Nature's God is one human being stamped an owner, and another stamped a thing?  God is no re-.
specter of persons.... God is the Father of
the human family, and we are all his children.
Where, then, is the sanction of the pretension by
which a brother lays violent hands upon a brother?  To ask these questions is humiliating; but
it is clear there can be but one response.... On
all grounds of reason, and waiving all questions of'positive' statute, the Vermont judge was nobly
right, when, rejecting the claim of a slave-master,




334        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
he said,' No, not until you show a bill of sale
from the Almighty.'"
The closing words are these:" Thus, sir, speaking for freedom in Kansas, I
have spoken for freedom  everywhere, and for
civilization; and as the less is contained in the
greater, so are all arts, all sciences, all economies, all refinements, all charities, all delights of
life, embodied in this cause. You may reject it,
but it will be only for to-day. The sacred animosity of freedom and slavery can end only with
the triumph of freedom."
His terrible arraignment of slavery was received with " profound and ominous silence "the silence which precedes the storm.
The slave party in the Senate, taught a lesson
by the universal horror —save at the South —
which followed the assault upon Mr. Sumner after
his former speech, now determined upon a different policy. They affected to regard the present
speech as only worthy of contempt, all the while
feeling the barbed arrows of truth rankling in
their bosoms.
Mr. Chesnut, of South Carolina, was their
mouthpiece, and vented his spleen in some very




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        335
choice expressions: " After ranging over Europe,
crawling through the back doors to whine at the
feet of British aristocracy, craving pity, and
reaping a rich harvest of contempt, the slanderer
of States and men reappears in the Senate. We
had hoped to be relieved from the outpourings
of such vulgar malice...  In this I am disappointed.. 
" It has been left for this day, for this country,
for the abolitionists of Massachusetts, to deify the
incarnation of malice, mendacity, and cowardice.... We do not intend to contribute, by any conduct on our part, to increase the devotees at the
shrine of this new idol. We know what is expected and what is desired. We are not inclined
again to send forth the recipient of punishment
howling through the world, yelping fresh cries of
slander and malice. These are the reasons which
I feel it due to myself and others to give to the
Senate and the country, why we have quietly
listened to what has been said, and why we can
take no other notice of the matter."
Why did not the senator from South Carolina
undertake to disprove the statements made by
Mr. Sumner?




336       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
But what it was decided not to do in the Senate
Chamber, was attempted outside of it. Mr. Sumner's life was in peril; and because he refused to
take any personal precautions, some friends, without his knowledge, kept guard over his house, and
escorted him to and from the Capitol.
At the North, the speech was regarded by
some as very truthful, indeed, but very imprudent.
By multitudes it was read with delight, not
because Southern wickedness was exposed, but
because the truth had been spoken. The veil
that concealed the cancer had been torn away;
now there was hope of a cure. It was a hideous spectacle, but abhorrence would rouse to
action.
This speech doubtless hastened the crisis, and
helped to bring on the war. That was, however,
no fault of the speaker, unless the Saviour was
at fault when he said, "I bring not peace, but a
sword."  The sword of truth is the necessary
precursor of true and lasting peace.
The nation had tried compromises long enough.
Now was Justice lifting up her voice, to try
her power, where every other remedy had only




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        337
aggravated the disease, and left the patient nigher
to death.
Thank God, a man had arisen to speak the
truth, without fear or favor. To-day the nation
lives, in the new strength of universal liberty.
22




338       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XX1V.
Fanaticism  of the  Slave  Power. -  Jefferson
Davis's Resolutions in the Senate.-  Democratic National Convention in  Charleston. 
Bell and Everett. - Republicans and Abraham
Lincoln. - Mr. Lincoln's Views. - Mr. Sumner at the Cooper Institute. - " Republican
Party." -  West India Emancipation. - Mr.
Sumner. -  " Presidential Candidates and the
Issues.'"  -"Mlrs. Toodles." - Mr. Lincoln elected. - The Rebellion at the Door. - President
Buchanan's Cure-all.  South Carolina. -  Ordinance of Secession. - Fort Sumter. - Sixth
Massachusetts Regiment at Baltimore. - Speech
of Mr. Sumner to Major Devens's Company, at
New York.
EVENTS are rapidly ripening for a great crisis.
The country is in violent agitation. The future
wears a lowering aspect.
It is plain that the slave power is bent on employing the most extreme measure for strength



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         339
ening its position. The union of the States is
of little account in comparison with  slavery.
That must be maintained at all hazards.
In the Senate, only a few days before Mr.
Sumner's last speech, Jefferson Davis carried
through a series of resolutions, one of which
directly affirmed " the constitutional right of any
citizen of the United States to take his slave
property into the common Territories, and there
hold and enjoy the same while the territorial
condition continues."
This was a great advance on Mr. Douglas's
plan of " popular sovereignty," so called, which
left it optional with a Territory to admit or reject
slavery.  The South wanted more. A  slaveowner must be allowed to take his slaves into
any Territory, whether the majority of the inhabitants willed it or not. Slavery must have
the national patronage and protection.
This, of course, would divide the Democratic,
which was also a pro-slavery, party, as the Northern wing were not ready to adopt so ultra a
measure. But the South cared not for that. If
the Democratic party would not follow their lead,
they would break with it.




340       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Accordingly, when the Democratic National
Convention met in Charleston, S. C., in April,
1860, to nominate a President and Vice-President, a division ensued. The Convention broke
up in confusion.  The party of the majority
adjourned to Baltimore, June 18; that of the
minority, comprising men of the most extreme
Southern doctrines, adjourned to Richmond, and
afterwards to Baltimore. The former nominated
Stephen A. Douglas for President; the latter,
John C. Breckinridge.
Thus the South was withdrawing more and
more within itself, even then having in view
a Southern Confederacy.
In the mean time, another party, composed
mainly of old-fashioned Whigs, adopting only the
Constitution as its platform, and declining to
take any open stand either for or against slavery,
had nominated John Bell for President, and Edward Everett for Vice-President. Though professedly non-committal, it was really pro-slavery.
Not to be against slavery, was to be for it. Neutrality was no longer possible.
There was certainly need of another nomination for the Presidency, to represent the party




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        341
of Freedom. The Republicans had just selected
ABRAHAM LINCOLN as their standard-bearer.
Mr. Lincoln, in his own admirable way, which
showed genius as well as philanthropy and patriotism, had clearly defined his position.
Mr. Douglas's so-styled " Popular Sovereignty " was thus defined:   If any one man choose
to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to
object!"
The three parties represented, respectively, by
Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell, were assailed
with a quotation from Scripture, and an ingenious commentary thereon: "'A  house divided
against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot permanently endure, half slave
and half free. I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved — I do not expect the house to fallbut I do expect that it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other."
This was another way of putting Mr. Seward's
"irrepressible conflict."
And thus the parties stood in the spring of
1860 - three for Slavery, one for Freedom;
three for Barbarism, one for Civilization; "all
one thing, or all the other."




342        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Mr. Sumner entered with all his heart into the
presidential contest. He hailed the advent of a
new era  the whole house dedicated to Freedom.
In the month of July, about a month after his
speech in the Senate, he spoke at the Cooper Institute, New York, on "The Republican Party:
its Origin, Necessity, and Purpose.'
This great speech was another blow " at the
root - at slavery~itself.  It was full of hope.
"All good omens," he said, "are ours.  The
work cannot stop. Quickened by the triumph
now  so near, with a Republican president in
power, State after State, quitting the condition
of a Territory, and spurning slavery, will be welcomed into our Plural Unit, and, joining hands
together, will become a belt of fire girt about
the Slave States, within which slavery must die,
-or, happier still, joining hands together, they
will become to the Slave States a zone of Freedom, radiant, like the ancient cestus of Beauty,
with transforming power."
Mr. Sumner would be content with nothing
short of universal emancipation.  His view of
such a measure may be learned fiom a letter to a
public meeting convened to celebrate emancipa
tion in the British West Indies: 




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          343
"Nothing shows the desperate mendacity of
the partisans of slavery more than the unfounded
persistence with which they call this act'a failure.' If it be a failure, then is virtue a failure,
then is justice a failure, then is humanity a failure, then is God himself a failure; for virtue,
justice, humanity, and God himself, are all represented in this act.
"The true policy of this world is found in
justice.  Nothing is truer than that injustice,
besides its essential wickedness, is folly also.
The unjust man is a fool."
At a Republican State Convention, at Worcester, August 29, 1860, Mr. Sumner discussed
the presidential candidates and the issues.
He spoke of the candidates, with the single exception of Mr. Lincoln, as " differing superficially
among themselves, but all concurring in friendship for slavery, and in withstanding its prohibition anywhere.... The whole trio are no better
than Mrs. Malaprop's idea of Cerberus,'three
gentlemen at once,' and must be encountered together."
Describing the Bell party, he said, -
"Its plan, so far as known, is this: You will




344        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
remember that, by the Constitution of the United
States, in the event of failure to elect by the people, the House of Representatives is empowered
to choose a president out of the three highest
candidates for that office.
"Now, assuming, first, that the Republican candidate will not be elected by the people,- and,
secondly, assuming that there will be no election
by the House, — this party, turning next to the
vice-presidency, assumes, thirdly, that Mr. Everett will be one of the two highest candidates for
the vice-presidency, and, fourthly, that Mr. Everett will be elected by the Senate vice-president,
and then will become president, like John Tyler
and Millard Fillmore, - not through the death of
a president, but through a double failure by the
people and by the House.
" Such is the calculation by which this band
of professed Conservatives seek repose for the
country.
" Permit me to say that it is equalled only by
the extravagance of Mrs. Toodles, in the farce.
Her passion was auctions, where she purchased
ancient articles of furniture, under the idea that
they might some day be useful.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       345
" Once, to the amazement of her husband, she
brought home a brass door-plate with the name
of Thompson spelled with a p.' But what is this
for?'he demanded.'Why,'said Mrs. Toodles,
with logic worthy of the Bell party,' though we
have been married many years without children,
it is possible, my dear, that we may have a child;
that child may be a daughter, and may live to
the age of maturity, and she may marry a man
of the name of Thompson spelled with a p.
Then how handy it would be to have this doorplate in the house!'' I doubt whether any person really familiar
with affairs can consider this nomination for the
vice-presidency of more practical value than
Mrs. Toodles's brass door-plate, with the name
of Thompson spelled with a p, picked up at
an auction.
" But then, in a certain most difficult contingency, at the end of a long train of contingencies,
how handy it must be to have it in the house!"
In speaking of the Breckinridge party, he
said,
"I confess myself perplexed between abhorrence for its dogma and respect for its frank



346        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
ness....  There is something even in criminal
boldness which we are disposed to admire. We
like an open foe, who scorns to hide in deceit,
and meets us in daylight.... And yet this very
frankness reveals an insensibility to reason and
humanity, which, when recognized, must add to
our abhorrence."
The Douglas party he described as "last in
character, - for who can respect what we know
to be a deceit?  The statesman founds himself
on principles; sometimes it is his office to frame
expedients; but popular sovereignty, as now
put forward, is not a principle - 0, no! not
even an expedient; it is nothing but a device, a
pretext, an evasion, a dodge, a trick, in order to
avoid the commanding question, whether slavery
shall be prohibited in the Territories."
"To protect this'villany' [slavery],... the
right of the people to govern themselves is invoked, -forgetful that this divine right can give
no authority to enslave others, that even the
people are not omnipotent, and that never do
they rise so high as when, recognizing the everlasting laws of Right, they bend to the behests
of Justice.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       347
"Far different is the position of Mr. Lincoln,
who has openly said,' If I were in Congress,
and a vote  should come up on a question
whether slavery should be prohibited in a new
Territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I
would vote that it should. That is what I would
do.' 
Early in November it was known that Mr. Lincoln had a majority of electoral votes. This at
once decided the action of the South. They had
gone into the canvass with the dishonorable intention of abiding by the result if it should be in
favor of their candidate - Mr. Breckinridge;
otherwise to rebel.
And this was what they wanted a plausible
pretext for doing.  The South was, therefore,
rejoiced that Mr. Lincoln was elected. Now they
could say, The abolitionists have obtained control
of the government, and we cannot and will not
submit to them.
Rebellion was at the door.
President Buchanan, in his Message, December 3, spoke of the disturbed and threatening
condition of the country. He had hard words for
the North, soft ones for the South. " How easy,"




348        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
said he, "would it be for the American people to
settle the slavery question forever, and to restore
peace and harmony to this distracted country! "
How so?  By yielding everything to the South.
That was the meaning of his long tirade against
Northern anti-slavery movements.
Blear-eyed man! how poorly he read the signs
of the times! how little he comprehended the
deep questions that were agitating and rending
the country! How easy to put down the earthquake!
On December 20, South Carolina passed her
ordinance of secession.  Other States speedily
followed. The president said there was nothing
he could now do to avert the storm.
A gracious Providence, on March 4, 1861, put
a strong, faithful pilot at the helm. He thought
something could be done. He declared his purpose to maintain the authority of the government
over the whole country.
There had been proposed all sorts of preventives for the impending storm - plans of conciliation, concession, compromise. In vain! The
South was in earnest.
On the 12th of April, 1861, the signal gun was




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        349
fired. Fort Sumter was attacked by rebel guns.
The war was begun, and by the South.
Three days after, April 15, President Lincoln,
true to his word, issued a proclamation for seventy-five thousand men to suppress the insurrection.
The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, in quick
response, was in Baltimore on the 19th, on its
way to Washington. Attacked by secessionists,
four of their number were killed, and thirty-six
wounded. The first blood was shed.
Mr. Sumner was in Baltimore the day before,
and narrowly escaped a mob, which was in
search of him.
On the 20th, at New York, he met the Third
Battalion of Massachusetts Rifles, under Major
Devens, on their route to Fort Henry, and addressed them in stirring words: -
" I cannot see before me so large a number of
the sons of Massachusetts, already moving to the
scene of trial, without feeling anew the loss we
have just encountered: I allude to the death, at
Baltimore, of devoted fellow-citizens, who had
sprung forward so promptly at the call of country. As I heard that they had fallen, my soul




350       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
was touched. And yet, when I thought of the
cause for which they met death, I said to myself,
that, for the sake of Massachusetts, ay, and for
their own sake, I would not have it otherwise.
They have died well, for they died at the post of
duty, and so dying have become an example and
a name in history, while Massachusetts, that sent
them forth, adds new memories to a day already
famous in her calendar, and links the present
with the past."
"It was on the 19th of April that they died,
and their blood was the first offering of patriotism in the great cause that snatched them from
the avocations of peace."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        351
CHAPTER XXV.
Defeat at Bull Run. — Mr. Sumner at Worcester.
-" Emancipation our best Weapon." - Speech
at New York. -" The Rebellion; its Origin and
Mainspring." -  One Way of Safety. - Speech
against returning Fugitive Slaves from  the
Federal Lines. — Eulogy on Colonel Baker. —
"The Trent."    Mason and Slidell; their Capture. — r. Sumner urges their Surrender.Neutral Rights.
THE war went on with varying fortunes. Some
border States were divided, being largely favorable to the South without actually joining the
rebel Confederacy, and several additional Slave
States went over to the enemy. The defeat of
the Federal forces at Bull Run, July 21, was a
great shock to the North, but it accomplished the
important purpose of revealing the real magnitude of the task of subduing the South.
Il October, 1861, at the Republican State Con



352        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
vention at Worcester, while affairs were in a
condition of mingled hope and fear, Mr. Sumner
boldly announced this proposition - Emancipation our best weapon. He saw that slavery was
at once the strength and weakness of the enemy,
and he would invoke the war power of the
government to abolish it. The right, he said,
was unquestionable. The necessity was urgent.
" It is often said that war will make an end of
slavery. This is probable. But it is surer still
that the overthrow of slavery will make an end
of the war.
"If I am correct in this averment, which I
believe beyond question, then do reason, justice,
and policy unite, each and all, in declaring that
the war must be brought to bear directly on the
grand conspirator and omnipresent enemy.
" Not to do so is to take upon ourselves all the
weakness of slavery, while we leave to the rebels
its boasted resources of military strength.
" Not to do so is to squander life and treasure
in a vain masquerade of battle, without practical
result.
"Not to do so is blindly to neglect the plainest dictates of economy, humanity, and common




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         353
sense, -and, alas! simply to let slip the dogs of
war on a mad chase over the land, never to stop
until spent with fatigue or sated with slaughter.
"Believe me, fellow-citizens, I know all imagined difficulties and unquestioned responsibilities. But, if you are in earnest, the difficulties
will at once disappear, and the responsibilities
are such as you will gladly bear. This is not the
first time that a knot hard to untie was cut by
the sword; and we all know that danger flees
before the brave man. Believe that you can,
and you can. The will only is needed. Courage
now is the highest prudence.
" It is not necessary even, borrowing a familiar
phrase, to carry the war into Africa. It will be
enough if we carry Africa into the war, in any
form, any quantity, any way. The moment this
is done, rebellion will begin its bad luck, and the
Union become secure forever."
Though this speech was received with great
applause when delivered, the public mind was
divided  as to the expediency of immediate
emancipation. Then, as many times since, Mr.
Sumner was thought by not a few to be premature and unpractical; but then, ere long, as well
23




354        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
as since, his most advanced and objectionable
propositions were subsequently adopted.  The
nation was compelled to adopt emancipation as
necessary to success.
The next month he urged the same proposition, with new arguments and illustrations, at an
immense meeting in New York. His theme was,
The Rebellion; its Origin and Mainspring.
He called slavery " the ruling idea   of the
rebellion. "It is slavery that marshals these
hosts and breathes into their embattled ranks
its own barbarous fire. It is slavery that stamps
its character alike upon officers and men. It is
slavery that inspires all, from general to trumpeter. It is slavery that speaks in the word of
command, and sounds in the morning drum-beat.
It is slavery that digs trenches and builds hostile
forts. It is slavery that pitches its wicked tents,
and stations its sentries over against the national
Capitol. It is slavery that sharpens the bayonet
and runs the bullet, - that points the cannon, and
scatters the shell, blazing, bursting with death.
Wherever the rebellion shows itself, whatever
form it takes, whatever thing it does, whatever
it meditates, it is moved by slavery; nay, the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          355
rebellion is slavery itself, incarnate, living, acting,
raging, robbing, murdering, according to the essential law of its being.
" Nor is this all. The rebellion is not only ruled
by slavery, but, owing to the peculiar condition
of the Slave States, it is, for the moment, according to their instinctive boast, actually re-enforced
by this institution.
"As the fields of the South are cultivated by
slaves,.. the white freemen are at liberty to
play the part of rebels. The slaves toil at home,
while the masters work at rebellion; and thus,
by singular fatality, is this doomed race, without
taking up arms, actually engaged in feeding, supporting, succoring, and invigorating those bat.
fling for their enslavement.
" But how shall the rebellion be crushed?.. 
You will strike where the blow is most felt; nor
will you miss the precious opportunity. The enemy is before you; nay, he comes out in ostenta.
tious challenge, and his name is Slavery. You
can vindicate the Union only by his prostration.
Slavery is the very Goliath of the rebellion,
armed with coat of mail, with helmet of brass
upon the head, greaves of brass upon the legs, 4




356        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
target of brass between the shoulders, and with
the staff of his spear like a weaver's beam. But
a stone from a simple sling will make the giant
fall upon his face to the earth.
Amid all surrounding perils there is one only
which I dread.  It is the peril from some new
surrender to slavery, some fresh recognition of
its power, some present dalliance with its intolerable pretensions.
"Worse than any defeat, or even the flight of
an army, would be this abandonment of principle. From all such peril, good Lord, deliver us!
" And there is one way of safety, clear as sunlight, pleasant as the paths of peace. Over its
broad and open gate is written, JUSTICE. In that
little word is victory. Do justice, and you will
be twice victors; for so you will subdue the
rebel master, while you elevate the slave.
" Do justice frankly, generously, nobly, and
you will find strength instead of weakness, while
all seeming responsibility disappears in obedience
to God's eternal law. Do justice, though the
heavens fall. But they will not fall. Every act
of justice becomes a new pillar of the Universe,
or it may be a new link of that




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          357' golden, everlasting chain,
Whose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth, and main."'
The opinion that safety was through emancipation was gaining ground every day. The inhuman practice of some of our generals in refusing
to receive fugitive slaves within their camps, and
in thrusting them out of their lines, awakened
general indignation.
Mr. Sumner brought up the subject in the Senate, December 2, 1861, and said with reference to
one general, " I take the liberty of saying - and
I wish that my words may reach his distant headquarters -that every fugitive slave he surrenders will hereafter rise in judgment against him
with a shame which no possible victory can remove."
On the 11th of that month, Mr. Sumner delivered, in the Senate, a most eloquent eulogy upon
Colonel Baker, late a senator from Oregon.
In the unfortunate engagement at Ball's Bluff,
October 21, 1861, Colonel Baker was sent by his
superior officer to encounter a far stronger rebel
force. He was a most brave as well as skilful
commander, and did all that mortal could do in so
unequal a contest. But he was overpowered by
numbers, and fell, shot through the head.




358        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
In his eulogy, Mr. Sumner said of him, 
" In the Senate he took at once the post of
orator. His voice was not full and sonorous, but
sharp and clear. It was penetrating rather than
commanding, and yet, when  touched  by his
ardent nature, became sympathetic and  even
musical.  Countenance, body, and gesture, all
shared the unconscious inspiration of his voice,
and he went on, master of his audience, master
also of himself. All his faculties were completely at command. Ideas, illustrations, words,
seemed to come unbidden and range in harmonious forms -as in the walls of ancient Thebes
each stone took its proper place of its own accord, moved only by the music of a lyre.
"His fame as a speaker was so familiar even
before lie appeared among us, that it was sometimes supposed he might lack those solid powers without which the oratorical faculty itself
exercises only a transient influence.
"But his speech on this floor in reply to a
slaveholding  conspirator, now  an open rebel,
showed that his matter was as good as his
manner, and that, while master of fence, he was
also master of ordnance. His oratory was grace



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        359
ful, sharp, and flashing, like a cimeter; but his
argument was powerful and sweeping, like a
battery.
" Another speech showed him in a different
character.  It was his instant reply to the
Kentucky senator - John C. Breckinridge - not
then expelled from this body.
" The occasion was peculiar. A senator, with
treason in his heart, if not on his lips, had just
sat down.  Our lamented  senator, who had
entered the Chamber direct from his camp, rose
at once to reply. He began simply and calmly;
but, as he proceeded, the fervid soul broke forth
in words of surprising power. On the former
occasion he presented the well-ripened fruits of
study; but now he spoke with the spontaneous
utterance of his natural eloquence, meeting the
polished traitor at every point with weapons
keener and brighter than his own.
"But the question is painfully asked,'Who
was author of this tragedy, now filling the Senate Chamber, as already it has filled the country,
with mourning?    There is a strong desire to
hold somebody responsible, where so many perished unprofitably. But we need not appoint




360         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
committees, or study testimony, to know  pr6
cisely who took this precious life.
" That great criminal is easily detected, - still
erect and defiant, without concealment or disguise.  The guns, the balls, and the men that
fired them, are of little importance. It is the
power behind all, saying,' The State, it is I,' that
took this precious life; and this power is slavery.
The nine balls that slew our departed brother
came from slavery.  Every gaping wound of his
slashed bosom  testifies against slavery.  The
brain so rudely shattered has its own voice, and
the tongue so suddenly silenced in death speaks
now with more than living eloquence.  To hold
others responsible is to hold the dwarf agent
and dismiss the giant principal. Nor shall we
do great service, if, merely criticising  some
local blunder, we leave untouched that fatal forbearance through which the weakness of the
rebellion  is changed  into  strength, and  the
strength of our armies is changed into weakness.
" May our grief to-day be no hollow pageant,
nor expend itself in this funeral pomp!  It
must become a motive and impulse to patriotic
action.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.              361' But patriotism itself, that commanding charity, embracing so many other charities, is only a
name, and  nothing  else, unless  we  resolve,
calmly, plainly, solemnly, that slavery, the barbarous enemy of our country, the irreconcilable
foe of our Union, the violator of our Constitution, the disturber of our peace, the vampire
of our national life, sucking its best blood, the
assassin of our children, and the murderer of our
dead senator, shall be struck down.
" And the way is easy. The just avenger is at
hand, with weapon of celestial temper.  Let it
be drawn.  Until this is done, the patriot, discerning clearly the secret of our weakness, can
only say, sorrowfully, -' bleed, bleed, poor country 
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dares not check thee.'" *
It must not be supposed  that Mr. Sumner
stood  alone as an  early  champion  of emancipation, as an act of justice and a military necessity. President Lincoln doubtless believed in
it even then.  The question  of time probably
made the chief difference between them.
* Macbeth, Act iv., Scene iii.




362        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
But it was well that Mr. Sumner was thus pronounced in his opinion, and that he reiterated it
in different places with so much earnestness.
The subject was kept distinct before the public
eye, and sank deep into the public heart; and
thus the way was made clear for emancipation
when it came, and for a final adjustment of the
whole question of our duty to the colored race.
The public conscience and judgment were educated.
In December, 1861, there came up in the Senate a case which awakened intense interest in
this country and in England. At one time it
threatened war between the two countries. It
was the case of the Trent, a British steamship,
running between Havana and England.
Early in the rebellion, two Confederate envoys,
James XM. Mason, of Virginia, and John Slidell,
of Louisiana, were accredited, the first to Great
Britain, the second to France, in the hope of
"arraying the two great nations against the
United States, and enlisting them openly in support of" the Confederate government.
"These two old men," said Mr. Sumner, in the
Senate, January 9, 1861, " with their two younger




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        363
associates, stole from Charleston (October 12,
1861) on board a rebel steamer, and, under
cover of darkness and storm, running the surrounding blockade, and avoiding  the neutral
cruisers, succeeded  in  reaching  the  neutral
islandof Cuba, where, with open display, and
the knowledge of the British consul, they embarked on board the British mail-packet Trent,
bound for St. Thomas, where they were to embark for England....
" While on their way, the pretended ambassadors were arrested (on the 8th of November) by
Captain Wilkes, of the United States steamer San
Jacinto,.. who, on this occasion, acted without
instructions from his government."
They were brought to the United States, and
confined in Fort Warren, near Boston.
This event caused great joy throughout the
North. Everybody smiled at the arrest of the
rebel mischief-makers, so suddenly and unexpectedly brought to grief.  Everybody hoped
they might long enjoy the hospitalities of their
prison-home. The Secretary of the Navy fully
justified the capture.
But it soon appeared that there was another




364        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
side to the question. The British government
was greatly incensed  at the act of Captain
Wilkes.  It was gross " outrage"  to a British
craft to fire a shell across her bow, and abstract
four of her passengers. The unconditional surrender of the captured party was required, as a
proper atonement for the " insult." France concurred in the demand as a just one. War was
threatened in case of a refusal.
We were in a dilemma.  The thought of releasing the two conspirators, whom we held so
nicely in our grasp, and sending them forth again
on their treasonable mission, was far from agreeable; it was positively humiliating.  It must
not be.
But what if a war with England should be
added to the one we were now staggering under!
The President and his cabinet took the matter
into grave consideration.
While the case was yet pending, and it was
believed that our government favored the surrender of the men, the subject came before the
Senate. Mr. Hale strongly opposed the surrender as " a fatal act." iMr. Sumner took the opposite ground, in a speech which reviewed the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         365
whole question of international law, and the
practice of the United States and Great Britain,
relative to the case. He declared that " British
precedents and practice " might justify the act
of Captain Wilkes, and that these had probably
led him " into his mistake."
But on the other hand, he said, "The seizure
of the rebel emissaries on board a neutral ship
cannot be justified, according to declared American principles and practice. There is no single
point where the seizure is not questionable."
There was "the constant, uniform, unhesitating
practice of his own country on the ocean, conceding always the greatest immunities to neutral
ships, unless sailing to blockaded ports, refusing
to consider despatches contraband of war, refusing to consider persons other than soldiers or
officers as contraband of war, and protesting
always against an adjudication of personal rights
by summary judgment of the quarter-deck."
The vessel should have been taken into port to
undergo a judicial trial. It was not allowable
that a navy officer should substitute himself for
such tribunal.
The government took this view  of the case,




366        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and set the prisoners at liberty. Thus war was
happily averted.
Mr. Sumner was the more earnest for such a
settlement, as opening the way for great "'reforms in maritime law," so that war might be
"despoiled of its most vexatious prerogatives,
while innocent neutrals are exempt from its torments."  He would have " privateering," with
"contraband of war," and the " right of search,"
abandoned.  "Commercial blockade " should disappear, "to complete the triumph of neutral
rights."
" Such a change, just in proportion to its accomplishment, will be a blessing to mankind,
inconceivable in grandeur. The statutes of the
sea, thus refined and elevated, will be agents of
peace instead of agents of war. Ships and cargoes will pass unchallenged from shore to shore,
and those terrible belligerent rights, under which
the commerce of the world has so long suffered,
will cease from troubling....
"Meanwhile through all present excitement,
amidst all trials, beneath all threatening clouds,
it only remains for us to uphold the perpetual
policy of the republic, and to stand fast on the
ancient ways."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         367
This speech, so thoroughly American in its
spirit, and yet exhibiting so catholic and beneficent a statesmanship, tended greatly to elevate
Mr. Sumner in the public esteem. Even those
who had depreciated him as a man of " one idea "
were convinced of their mistake.
The public generally, in spite of their prejudices, readily acquiesced in the peaceful solution
of a vexed and perilous question, and the government was left free to give its undivided energies
to the suppression of the rebellion.




368       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Recognition of Hayti and Liberia. - Confiscation
of Rebel Property.- Proclamation of Emancipation. — Mr. Sumner in  Faneuil Hall. —
" Bridge of Gold." -Aid of the Slaves necessary to Success. - Providential Judgments. -
Changed C/haracter of the War. - Mr. Sumner's
Re-election. -  Contrast. - Privateers. -  Our
Foreign Relations. - Recognition of a Slave
Republic denounced.
So long as slavery ruled in the national councils, the governments of Hayti and Liberia could
obtain no recognition at Washington. Southern
members of Congress had denounced such a proposition as nothing less than "treason," and as
sure, if carried out, " to convulse the Union."
But with the inauguration of the Republican
party in Washington, a new era came in. President Lincoln, in his Message, December, 1861,
recommended the long-neglected duty.  " If,"




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        369
said he, " any good reason exists why we should
longer persevere in withholding our recognition
of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti
and Liberia, I am unable to discern it."
Mr. Sumner was equally "unable," and in a
speech in the Senate, April 23, 1862, he strongly
urged the measure, as an act of justice to those
nations, and as beneficial to our own commerce.
Dark-hued ambassadors from  Hayti and Liberia have appeared in Washington, but as yet
the heavens have not fallen. They have taken
their places beside the representatives of the
most powerful nations of the world, and have
received both civil and social recognition. Thus
-one more great advance is made in the interests
of humanity.
As the war advanced, Mr. Sumner continually
urged the necessity of weakening the rebellion
by the confiscation of rebel property, and the,
freeing of slaves as far as it could be done. He
would have indemnity for the past, and security
for thefuture.
He argued that'municipal law  under the
Constitution, and the rights of war under international law," authorized the government to
24




370        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
deal with the rebels as "criminals and  enemies."
It was now far into the second year of the war.
The contest had been attended with many disasters. The rebellion had proved to be difficult
to master. A new method must be tried.
On the 22d of September, 1862, President
Lincoln put forth a proclamation of partial emancipation, declaring that, on the first day of January, 1863, all persons held as slaves within any
State, or designated part of a State, then in
rebellion, should be forever free. This was followed, January 1, 1863, by an absolute proclamation of freedom.
Soon after the first proclamation, Mr. Sumner,
at a meeting in Faneuil Hall, presided over by
Hon. William  Claflin, defended  the measure.
"Thank God," said he, "for what is already
done, and let us all take heart as we go forward
to uphold this great edict! For myself I accept
the proclamation without note or comment....
" Fellow-citizens, a year has passed since I
addressed  you; but, during this time, what
events for warning and encouragement! Amidst
vicissitudes of war, the cause of human freedom




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          371
has steadily and grandly advanced, —not, perhaps, as you could desire, yet it is the only cause
which has not failed.  Slavery and the Black
Laws all abolished in the national capital; slavery interdicted in all the national territory;
Hayti and Liberia recognized as independent republics in the family of nations; the slave-trade
placed under the ban of a new treaty with Great
Britain; all persons in the military and. naval
service prohibited from returning slaves or sitting in judgment on the claims of a master; the
slaves of rebels emancipated by coming within
our lines; a tender of compensation for the abolition of slavery: such are some of Freedom's
triumphs in the recent Congress.  Amidst all
doubts and uncertainties of the present hour, let
us think of these things and be comforted.  I
cannot forget, that, when I last spoke to you, I
urged the liberation of the slaves of rebels...
and I further suggested, if need were, a bridge
of gold for the retreating fend.   And now  all
that I proposed is embodied in the legislation of
the country, as the supreme law of the land."
* President Lincoln, according to a resolution recommended by
him to Congress, March 6, 1862, and passed April 2, issued a proc



372          LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
In another part of the speech he said: -
" Wherever I turn in this war I find the African ready to be our saviour.
" If you ask for strategy, I know nothing better
than that of the slave Robert Small, who brought
the rebel steamer Planter, with its armament, out
of Charleston, and surrendered it to our commodore as prize of war.
"If you ask  for successful courage, I know
nothing better than that of the African Tillman, who  rose  upon  a  rebel prize crew, and,
overcoming  them, carried  the  ship  into  New
York.
" If you ask for heroism, you  will find it in
that nameless African on board the Pawnee, who,
while passing shell from  the magazine, lost both
his legs by a ball, but, still holding a shell, cried
out,'Pass up  the  shell    never mind me; my
time is up.'
" If you ask for fidelity, you will find it in that
slave, also without a name, who pointed out the
lamation, April 10, offering pecuniary compensation to any State
that would adopt gradual emancipation. This was the " bridge of
gold;" but no State ever set foot upon it.
At the beginning of the next session, another, and the last plan
of like character, was proposed, but failed to pass.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         373
road of safety to the harassed, retreating army
of the Potomac.
"And if you ask for evidence of desire for
freedom, you will find it in the little slave-girl,
journeying North, whom Banks took up on his
cannon.
" But... it is not enough to show that slaves
can render important assistance, by labor, by information, or by arms.... The case is stronger
still.  Without the aid of the slaves this war cannot
be ended successfully.
" If the instincts of patriotism did not prompt
this support [of the proclamation], I should find
a sufficient motive in the duty which we all
owe to  the  Supreme  Ruler, God Almighty,
whose visitations upon our country are now so
fearful.'Not rashly would I make myself the interpreter of His will; and yet I am not blind. According to a venerable maxim of jurisprudence,'Whoso would have equity must do equity;'
and God plainly requires equity at our hands.
We cannot expect success while  setting  at
nought this requirement, proclaimed in His divine character, in the dictates of reason, and in




374       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the examples of history, - proclaimed also in
the events of this protracted war.
"Terrible judgments have fallen upon the
country: plagues have been let loose, rivers
have been turned into blood, and there is a great
cry throughout the land, for there is not a house
where there is not one dead; and at each judgment we seem to hear that terrible voice which
sounded in the ears of Pharaoh:'Thus saith
the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go,
that they may serve me.'
"I know not how others are touched, but I
cannot listen to the frequent tidings of calamity
descending upon our arms, of a noble soldier lost
to his country, of a bereavement at the family
hearth, of a youthful son brought home dead to his
mother, without catching the warning,'Let my
people go!' Nay, every wound, every sorrow,
every hardship that we are compelled to bear in
taxation, in want, in derangement of business,
has a voice crying,' Let my people go! 
"And now, thank God, the word is spoken!greater word was seldom spoken. Emancipation
has begun, and our country is already elevated
and glorified. The war has not changed in object,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        375
but it has changed in character. Its object now,
as at the beginning, is simply to put down the
rebellion; but its character is derived from the
new force at length enlisted, stamping itself
upon all that is done, and absorbing the whole
war to itself."
" We have been trying to do without justice,"
said Ralph Waldo Emerson, at the beginning of
the war. Justice at last had its opportunity.
The time had now arrived for the election of a
senator for Massachusetts, Mr. Sumner's second
term having expired.
In consequence of his early and earnest advocacy of emancipation, there were many who sought
to prejudice the public mind against him, with
a view to defeat his re-election. But in vain.
January 15, 1863, he received an almost unanimous vote in the Senate and the House. Massachusetts was true to herself.
How great the contrast between Mr. Sumner's
first election and first appearance in Congress,
and the present! Then he came in by a majority
of two, now by almost a unanimity; and in the
Senate, he then stood almost alone, excluded
from  committees, denied parliamentary  cour



376        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
tesies and the common social civilities, and brutally assaulted. Now the slave power was dethroned, its leaders in the government gone,
Congress anti-slavery, himself chairman of the
most important committee in the Senate, and
an acknowledged leader. All in twelve years.
In the conduct of the war Mr. Sumner always
opposed any kind of support which was unjust
and dishonorable.  When the government sought
to carry through Congress a bill authorizing
the issuing of letters of marque and reprisal,
for the  purpose of damaging  the rebels on
the  ocean, Mr. Sumner strongly opposed  it;
and when it passed, he urged the President
not to avail himself of it. His counsels prevailed.
The bill was, he said, in plain terms, "a bill
to authorize privateers, - that is, private-armed
vessels licensed to cruise against the commerce
of an enemy, and looking to booty for support,
compensation, and salary. It is by booty that
owners, officers, and  crews are to  be paid.
Booty is the motive power and life-spring....
Picture to yourselves the ocean traversed by
licensed rovers seeking prey.  The Dutch ad



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         377
miral carried a broom at his mast-head as the
boastful sign that he swept the seas. The privateer might carry a scourge. Wherever a sail
appears, there is a chase; the signal gun is
fired, and the merchantman submits to visitation
and search. Delay is the least of the consequences. Contention, irritation, humiliation ensue, all calculated to engender ill-feelings, which,
beginning with individuals, may embrace country
and government.... The speaking-trumpet of
a reckless privateer may contribute to that discord which is the herald of bloodshed itself."
The war had now been waged more than two
years, when  rumors came that England  and
France designed to recognize the Southern Confederacy as an independent nation. Our foreign
relations were therefore of the most critical character. Such recognition would change the whole
aspect of the war, and place us in a most unfortunate position.
Mr. Sumner, as holding in the Senate so important a relation to foreign affairs, was invited
to speak in New York upon the question at
issue.  IHe described  our "perils from  England and France," and especially the " impos



378         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
sibility of any recognition of a new power with
slavery as a corner-stone."
" An aroused public opinion,' the world's collected will,' and returning reason in England
and France, will see to it that civilization is
saved from  this shock, and the nations themselves from the terrible retribution which sooner
or later must surely attend it.
" No power can afford to stand up before mankind and openly vote a new and untrammelled
charter to injustice and cruelty. God is an unsleeping avenger; nor can armies, fleets, bulwarks, or'towers along  the  steep,' prevail
against this mighty avenger.  To any application for this unholy recognition there is but one
word the Christian  powers can utter.  It is
simply and austerely,' No,' with an emphasis
that shall silence argument and extinguish hope
itself.  And this proclamation should go forth
swiftly. Every moment of hesitation is a moment of apostasy, casting its lengthening shadow
of dishonor.  Not to discourage is to encourage; not to blast is to bless. Let this simple
word be uttered, and slavery will slink away,
with a mark on its forehead, like Cain, a per



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         379
petual vagabond, forever accursed; and the
malediction of the Lord shall descend upon it,
saying,'Among these nations shalt thou find
no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have
rest; but the Lord  shall give thee there a
trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind; and thy life shall hang in doubt
before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night,
and shalt have none assurance of thy life; in
the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were
even, and at even thou shalt say, Would God
it were morning.'
" And yet, British statesmen, forgetting for
the moment all moral distinctions, forgetting
God, who will not be forgotten, gravely announce that our cause must fail.
" Alas, individual wickedness is too often successful; but a pretended  nation, suckled  in
wickedness and boasting its wickedness, a new
Sodom, with all the guilt of the old, waiting
to be blasted, and yet, in barefaced effrontery,
openly seeking the fellowship of Christian powers, is doomed to defeat. Toleration of such
a pretension is practical atheism. Chronology
and geography are both offended. Piety stands




380        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
aghast. In this age of light, and in countries
boasting of civilization, there can be no place
for its barbarous plenipotentiaries.  As well expect crocodiles crawling on the pavements of
London and Paris, or the carnivorous idols of
Africa installed for worship in Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       381
CHAPTER XXVII.
Foreign Relations. - Domestic Relations.- Reconstruction of the Rebel States.- Striking at
Slavery. - Rebuke to Young 1Ien at Albany. -
Final Repeal of Fugitive Slave Bills. - Ha92py
Change. - Practical Legislation. -  Treatment
of Freedmen. - Freedmen's Bureau. -  The
Coastwise Traffc in Slaves.
DURING the period of the war, Mr. Sumner, as
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations,
where he was placed in 1861, when the new era
came in, held an intimate relation to the government, and was constantly consulted on foreign
affairs by the President and Secretary of State.
He was an authority in such matters. His profound acquaintance with international law, his
accurate knowledge of European affairs, and his
intimacy with foreign jurists and statesmen, preeminently qualified him to be a wise counsellor.
But, as we have seen, he was equally at home




382       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
in domestic matters.  He profoundly comprehended the spirit of our government, the intent
of the Constitution, as founded in universal, impartial justice, and sought to conform the actual
legislation to its principles. Republicanism with
him was more than a party — it was an idea. It
represented simple justice as applied to government. Before the war, he had labored to expel
slavery, as a foreign element; and, now that rebellion had opened the way for perfect liberty, he
was constantly on the watch to follow up with
new safeguards every advance towards that consummation. He would cut off the retreating foe
from any way of return.
The question had arisen, What shall be done
with the rebel States?
In February, 1862, he had already introduced
the subject of reconstruction, in a series of resolutions, in which he declared the right of Congress " to assume complete jurisdiction " in the
rebel States, and " to establish therein republican
forms of government under the Constitution."
The speech which he had intended to make in
defence of his views was published as an article
in a magazine, October, 1863. In it he showed




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         383
himself to be more practical than many who regarded him as little more than an idealist or enthusiast.
Dismissing all fine-spun theories about the
status of the rebel States, he looked at the actual
condition of the governments and people of those
States. In fact, there existed no legal governments.  The majority of the people were disloyal. Therefore, there existing no government
that could be recognized, the whole region fell at
once, and of necessity, under the jurisdiction of
Congress.  "The whole broad rebel region is
tabula rasa, a clean slate, where Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, may
write the laws."
" Behold the rebel States in arms against that
paternal government to which, as the supreme
condition of constitutional existence, they owe
duty and love; and behold all legitimate powers,
executive, legislative, and judicial, in these
States, abandoned and vacated. It only remains
that Congress should enter and assume the proper
jurisdiction." And that, he said, would be in
the interests of liberty; for slavery, being a
local, a municipal institution, fell, of necessity,




384        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
with the fall of the power which sustained it.
The nation, through Congress, could know nothing of slavery.
To make this more secure, and to breathe the
breath of freedom upon every part of the country,
a constitutional amendment, prohibiting slavery
throughout the national domain, was introduced
in the House of Representatives towards the
close of 1863. In the Senate, Mr. Sumner was
its earnest supporter. It became a part of the
Constitution December 18, 1865,- not, alas! till
it was beyond Mr. Lincoln's power to know the
result which he had looked forward to with so
much interest.
But Mr. Sumner was not willing to await the
slow  process of a Constitutional Amendment,
which. after the action of Congress, would have
to be submitted to all the States.
" Beyond my general desire." he said, " to see
an act of universal emancipation, at once and forever settling this great question,... there are
two other objects ever present to my mind as a
practical legislator: First, to strike at slavery,
wherever I can hit it; and secondly, to clear the
statute-book of all existing supports of slavery,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         385
so that this great wrong may find nothing there
to which it can cling for life....
" So long as a single slave continues anywhere
beneath the flag of the Republic, I am unwilling
to rest. For well I know the vitality of slavery,
with its infinite capacity of propagation, and how
little slavery it takes to make a Slave State with
all the cruel pretensions of slavery."
He would therefore have immediate action, in
advance of the slower method of amendment.
As a specimen of Mr. Sumner's idea of " striking at slavery wherever he could hit it," whether
North or South, in its spirit or practice, we
give his letter to the Young Men's Association,
of Albany, within about a week after this speech.
The young gentlemen, it appears, excluded from
their lecture-room all persons not of the " approved color," and then invited  Mr. Sumner
to speak on Lafayette.  His reply was as follows:
"You invite me to deliver an address on
Lafayette.... In view of a recent incident in
the history of your Association, I am astonished
at the request.
" I cannot consent to speak of Lafayette, who
25




386       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
was not ashamed to fight beside a black soldier, to
an audience too delicate to sit beside a black citizen. I cannot speak of Lafayette, who was a
friend of universal liberty, under the auspices
of a society which makes itself the champion of
caste and vulgar prejudice." A just rebuke to
the delicate Albanians.
Three days after, Mr. Sumner followed up his
attack on slavery in a bill for the " final repeal of
all Fugitive Slave Acts."  He had given to the
Senate notice of his intention to that effect as
early as'December 10, 1863. About two months
later (February 8, 1864) he introduced a bill.
But the subject met with delay from various
causes, until June 23, when it came up on a bill
from the House for the repeal of all Fugitive
Slave Acts, which was passed that day, and
which, on the 28th, 1864, by Mr. Lincoln's signature, became the law of the land.
This was a hard blow at slavery, a glorious
triumph of freedom. No more hunting of men
and women through the free North, —no more
dragging them  trembling from their homes or
hiding-places to Southern plantations, - no more
converting Northern court-houses into slave-pens,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        387
and no more surrounding them with ropes and
chains, under which judges must creep into the
halls of justice, — no more degrading a State
soldiery into the base service of helping to enslave human beings, - no more bowing the knee
to imperious masters.
The nation had swept away one more relic of
barbarism, and taken one more long step in the
direction of universal freedom.
In urging this measure, Mr. Sumner, in the
course of the debate upon it, replied to the
objection, that it was not "practical."  "If it
be practical to relieve the people from an unconstitutional and oppressive statute; if it be practical to take away a badge of subjugation imposed
by slave-masters during a brutal supremacy;
if it be practical to secure the good name of the
Republic, still suffering immeasurably from this
outrage; if it be practical, at this moment of
our own severe trial, to substitute justice for oppression, and thus secure the favor of Providence; and finally, if it be practical to strike at
slavery wherever we can hit it, and to relieve
ourselves of this terrible wrong, — then is this
measure eminently practical. It is as practical




388       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
as justice, as practical as humanity, as practical as
duty, which cannot be postponed."
The Union cause had now assumed a brighter
aspect. The year 1863 had been one of great
prosperity. The year 1864 opened hopefully,
and the prospect of subduing the rebellion grew
more cheering every day. General Grant, with
the title of Lieutenant-General, was assigned to
the command of all the Federal forces.
The rebel forces were mainly concentrated in
two great armies, in Virginia and in Georgia.
Against these it was the plan of the commanding
general to direct the whole military power.
In consequence of our successes and the increasing prospect of crushing the rebellion,
there arose a new and most important question.
What shall be done with the Freedmen?  It was
not enough that slavery had disappeared or was
departing. There must be constructed a " bridge
from slavery to freedom," over which the millions
who had been enfeebled and degraded by slavery
might safely pass into a condition of useful citizenship. They needed guidance and protection.
Many plans were proposed by persons in and
out of Congress. The one finally adopted, March




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         389
3, 1865, creating a Bureau of Freedmen under
the War Department, differed in some particulars
from that proposed by Mr. Sumner, May 25, 1864,
but it embraced its essential features. His preference, however, was, that the bureau should be
connected with the Treasury Department.
It has been supposed by some that Mr. Sumner had "a great scheme for creating a new department of the government, with a cabinet officer
at its head, for the perpetual care of the freedmen," and tending " to perpetuate caste."  Nothing could be farther from  the truth.  He expressly calls his plan a " bridge from slavery to
freedom."  He sought for the freedmen " mmediate protection and welfare during the present
transition period."  " Our present necessity," he
said, " is to help those made free by the present
war;" "to help the freedmen in their rough
passage from  slavery to freedom;" "to secure
employment for them  during the transition from
one condition to another."  "The temporary care
of the freedmen is the complement of emancipation."
The sphere of the bureau was afterwards made
to embrace provision for the education, as well




390        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
as for the employment and protection, of the
freedmen.
The bureau accomplished a most beneficent
work, notwithstanding many serious mistakes in
its operation, and cases of perversion of funds
from their legitimate purposes.
Without it, the newly-freed would have found
their transition much harder from  slavery to
freedom. It stood between them and their late
masters, and offered help and encouragement.
The statutes for the rendition of fugitive slaves
had been repealed. Another and a last support
of slavery still remained- that which sanctioned
" the coastwise traffic in slaves under the flag of
the United  States."  The foreign slave-trade
had been declared piracy. Why should  the
domestic, inter-state commerce in slavery be
allowed to continue?
March 22, 1864, Mr. Sumner reported a bill
for removing the " disgraceful statute.' It came
up again June 24 and 25, in the form of an
amendment to a civil appropriation bill.  It
passed the Senate June 25, and on July 2, by
the President's signature, the national statutebook was thoroughly purged fiom the stain of
slavery.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        391
Attached to the same appropriation bill was
another amendment, also introduced by the indomitable "intruder" from  Massachusetts, for
"opening the United States courts to colored
witnesses."  This also was carried.
While other senators interposed objections, or
were favorable to delay in these efforts for freeing the general government from all complicity
with slavery, and from discriminations against
the colored people, Mr. Sumner was ever on the
alert with his "besom of destruction," desiring
to make a " clean sweep" of all odious and oppressive  distinctions.  Some objected  to his
making use of appropriation bills for carrying
through his projects; but he told them that there
was " hardly ever an appropriation bill that was
not compelled to take passengers in this way,"
and that when the "passengers " were the harbingers of justice and humanity, he had no scruples about putting them on board -if the Senate
would compel him to seek for them that method
of transportation.




392       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER  XXVIII.
Nomination of Abraham Lincoln.- Reverses.Peace Overtures. - Jefferson Davis. — Nomination of General McClellan.    Federal Successes. - Speech of Mr. Sumner at New York.
-" Issues of the Presidential Election." —
Chicago and Baltimore. - Election of Mr. Lincoln. - Mr. Sumner's Speech at Faneuil Hall.
- Great Exultation. - Political Barbers. 
Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural. - Reconstruction of'
Louisiana. - The Plan opposed by Mr. Sumner. - His Reception in 1Massachusetts.- Change
of Tone. - Praise fllows Blame. - Rebel Legislature of Virginia. - Mr. Lincoln's Plan. -
Opposed by Mr. Smner. - Telegram  to Richmond.-Mr. Sumner's Views of Reconstruction.
Relations between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Sumner.- Henry Clay and Dr. Channing. - Picture for the Capitol. - Tax on Knowledge.
THE war had now been prosecuted more than
three years.  With high hopes of its speedy
termination, the Union National Convention met




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       393
at Baltimore, and  unanimously  re-nominated
Abraham Lincoln for President.
But soon reverses came, financial embarrassments increased, and a general gloom overspread
the country.
Under these circumstances peace overtures
were attempted. Jefferson Davis was interrogated as to his views of a peaceful settlement
of the difficulties between the North and South.
He would listen to no proposition of peace which
did not recognize Southern independence.
The Democratic party now sounded the cry,
" A four years' failure! "  There were some respectable but misguided men who joined in the
dirge, but with them was a large following of
traitors, who now, at the first sign of ill success,
crept forth from their hiding-places for a last desperate effort to save slavery from  impending
doom.
They came together, these enemies within the
camp, of high and of low degree, in a so-called
National Convention, at Chicago, August 29.
There, bitter and even treasonable words were
spoken against the administration, and especially
its interference with slavery. General McClellan
was nominated for President.




394        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
The convention had scarcely broken up when
splendid successes came, under Sherman and
Farragut. The public confidence and hope were
strong that at last the rebellion was nigh to
death.
The presidential canvass was full of importance, and awakened a profound interest. Mr.
Seward stated the issues thus: " McClellan and
Disunion-Lincoln and Union."
Just before the election, Mr. Sumner delivered
a speech at New York (November 5, 1864) on
iTe Issues of the Presidential Election. In it he
said, "There is a wide-spread political party,
which, true to its history, now comes forward to
save belligerent slavery, - even at this last moment, when it is about to be trampled out forever. Not to save the  country, but to save
belligerent slavery, is the object of the misnamed
Democracy.  Asserting the war, in which so
much has been  done, to be a failure... this
party openly offers surrender to the rebellion.
I do not use too strong language. It is actual
surrender and capitulation... in one of two
forms: (1) by acknowledging the rebel States,
so that they shall be treated as independent; or




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        395
(2) by acknowledging slavery, so that it shall be
restored to its old supremacy over the national
government, with additional guarantees....
Both pivot on slavery. One acknowledges the
slave power out of the Union; the other acknowledges the slave power in the Union.
" Look," he said, " at the Chicago platform or
candidate as you will, and you are constantly
brought back to slavery as the animating impulse.
^ " Look at the Baltimore platform or candidate,
and you are constantly brought back to liberty as
the animating impulse.
" And thus again slavery and liberty stand face
to face- the slave-ship against the Mayflower.
" Never was grander cause or sublimer conflict.
Who is not saddened at the thought of precious
lives given to liberty's defence? The soil of the
rebellion is soaked with patriot blood, its turf is
bursting with patriot dead.  Surely they have
not died in vain. The flag they upheld will continue to advance. But this depends upon your
votes. Therefore, for the sake of that flag, and
for the sake of the brave men who bore it, now
sleeping where no trumpet of battle can wake
them, stand by the flag."




396        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
November 8, Mr. Sumner was at Boston, at a
meeting in Faneuil Hall. As the votes were announced giving assurance that Abraham Lincoln
was elected, he spoke, as the mouthpiece of the
assembly, of the free North, and of oppressed
millions at the South, words of enthusiastic gratitude: -
"The trumpet of victory is now  sounding
through the land,' Glory, Hallelujah!' It is the
silver trumpet of an archangel, echoing in valleys, traversing mountains, and filling the whole
country with  immortal melodies, destined  to
awaken other echoes in the most distant places,
as it proclaims' Liberty throughout all the land,
unto all the inhabitants thereof.'
" Such is the victory we celebrate, marking an
epoch in our history and in the history of the
world.... The voice of the people at the ballotbox has echoed back that great letter of the
President,  To whom it may concern,' declaring
the integrity of the Union and the abandonment
of slavery the two essential conditions of peace.
"Let the glad tidings go forth,'to whom  it
may concern,' —to all the people of the United
States, at length now made wholly free- to for



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        397
eign countries - to the whole family of man -
to posterity —to the martyred band who have
fallen in battle for their country - to the angels
above - ay, and to the devils below, - that this
republic shall live, for Slavery is dead. This is
the great joy we now announce to the world."
In merrier words, but no less serious strain,
Mr. Sumner wrote, a day or two later, to the
Young Men's Republican Union of New York,"Thank God, the pettifoggers of compromise
are answered by the people, who demand peace
on the everlasting foundations of Union and Liberty.
" The political barbers, who undertake to prescribe when they can only shave, are warned that
their quackery is at an end."
Surely it was "at an end;" for at the next
session of Congress after Mr. Lincoln's re-election, the Constitutional Amendment abolishing
and forever prohibiting slavery in the United
States, was passed.
Mr. Lincoln followed with his Inaugural, in
which, with a solemnity and pathos, and a deeply
religious strain, that seemed to betoken a consciousness that his work was almost done, and in




398       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
language rather like a prophet's than like a
statesman's, he spoke of the sin and woe of
slavery.
"The Almighty," he said, " has his own purposes.' Woe unto the world because of offences;
for it must needs be that offences come, but woe
to that man by whom the offence cometh.'
"If we shall suppose that American Slavery
is one of these offences, which, in the providence
of God, must needs come, but which, having
continued through His appointed time, He now
wills to remove, and that He gives to both North
and South this terrible war, as the woe due to
those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine
attributes which the believers in a loving God
always ascribe to Him?"
About a fortnight previous to the inauguration
of the President, a resolution was introduced
into the Senate, by Mr. Trumbull, recognizing
the new State government of Louisiana, to be
inaugurated under General Banks.
This was a favorite measure with Mr. Lincoln.
"With malice towards none, and charity for all,"
he was anxious to have the work of reconstruction and good-will go forward.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       399
Mr. Sumner was as earnest for this as was the
President, but in this particular case, as often at
other times, they differed as to means.
Mr. Sumner frankly stated his objections, in
private, to the President, and also in the Senate.
The new government recognized " an oligarchy
of the skin; " there ought to be " no reconstruction without the votes of the blacks."  He took
his position against the bill. If in no other way,
he would talk it down.
It was near the close of the session; most
important business was pressing for action; but
Mr. Sumner was resolved not to be driven from
his purpose. "Such a revolutionary measure"'
must be defeated. To put power into the hands
of men just emerged from rebellion, and full of
prejudice against the blacks, leaving the latter at
the mercy of the former, without a voice in the
new government, was, he thought, most unsafe
for the country, most unjust to one half the population of Louisiana, and a most dangerous precedent in the coming work of reconstruction. It
was necessary to begin right. To prevent so
great a wrong and peril was, in his view, far
more important than to pass appropriation or any




400       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
other bills. A mistake here might lose whatever
had been gained.
And so he piled up documents upon his desk,
preliminary to a determined battle. He would
talk against time. He would defeat the bill.
Senators beheld with dismay these formidable
preparations. " Do you intend," said one member, an intimate friend, "by parliamentary tactics, to stop all the business of the Chamber?"
"I do," said he; "I shall employ every parliamentary device which is allowable. I shall propose amendments. I shall talk and talk, till you
are glad to surrender."
He did talk; his documental ammunition enabled him, from day to day, to keep up a running
fire, which bore down all opposition, and a surrender came. That commanding presence, that
resolute look, those eloquent pleas for justice,
those constant discharges of facts and arguments,
that determination to conquer, carried the day.
The bill went by default. The country was saved
from a great peril.
It was said that the President took the defeat
of the bill much to heart, and it was supposed
that now  there was an irreparable breach between him and the sturdy senator.








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LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       401
But they were both magnanimous, and, firmly
believing each in the other's honesty of purpose,
could differ without malice.
"On the night of the 6th of March," says
Mr. Schurz, " two days after Lincoln's second
inauguration, the customary inauguration ball
was to take place. Sumner did not think of
attending it. But towards evening he received
a card from the President, which read thus: —'DEAR MR. SUMNER: Unless you send me word
to the contrary, I shall this evening call with
my carriage at your house to take you with me
to the inauguration ball.'Sincerely yours,'ABRAHAM LINCOLN."
"Mr. Sumner, deeply touched, at once made up
his mind to go to an inauguration ball for the first
time. Soon the carriage arrived, the President
invited Sumner to take a seat in it with him, and
Sumner found there Mrs. Lincoln and Mr. Colfax,
the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Arrived at the ball-room, the President asked
Mr. Sumner to offer his arm to Mrs. Lincoln; and
the astonished spectators, who had been made to
believe that the breach between Lincoln and
26




402       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Sumner was irreparable, beheld the President's
wife on the arm of the senator, and the senator,
on that occasion of state, invited to take the seat
of honor by the President's side. Not a word
passed between them about their disagreement.
"The world became convinced that such a
friendship between such men could not be broken
by a mere honest difference of opinion. Abraham Lincoln, a man of sincere and profound convictions himself, esteemed and honored sincere
and profound convictions in others. It was thus
that Abraham Lincoln composed his quarrels with
his friends; and at his bedside, when he died,
there was no mourner more deeply afflicted than
Charles Sumner."
When, at the close of the session, Mr. Sumner
returned to Massachusetts, nearly all the papers
denounced him. He met with a frown everywhere. He was obstinate. He was impracticable. He was dictatorial. He was a theorist.
He descended to stratagems to carry a point.
He was standing in the way of reconciliation.
He was anything but a wise statesman and a good
son of Massachusetts. But before he resumed
his seat at Washington, events which had trans



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.               403
pired in Louisiana convinced everybody that he
was right.  He was no longer an idealist. He was
no longer self-willed. He was proved to be the
most practical and sagacious of all the great men
at Washington.  How often did these changes of
popular opinion attend Mr. Sumner's public life!
We may here refer to a somewhat similar case
of later  occurrence.   When, after Lee's surrender, Mr. Lincoln went to Richmond, he was
solicited by persons of the vanquished  party to
allow the rebel legislature to convene, with a
view to the reconstruction of Virginia as a loyal
State.   The  gentlemen  were  submissive  and
courteous; they made fair promises; they moved
the heart of the noble but too credulous Presi.
dent; and he told them to go forward. His fond
dream of a restored Union seemed on the dawn
of fulfilment.*
* The following is Mr. Lincoln's letter of permission: -
" CITY POINT, August 6, 1865.
"MAJOR GENERAL WEITZEL, Richmond, Virginia: It has been
intimated to me that the gentlemen who have acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of the rebellion, may now desire to as.
semble at Richmond and take measures to withdraw the Virginia
troops and other support from resistance to the general government. If they attempt it, give them permission and protection, until, if at all, they attempt some action hostile to the United




404          LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
He went back.  The happy news from Virginia was received with joy in Washington.  There
was a general approval of Mr. Lincoln's plan. But
there was one most decided exception. Mr. Sumner hurried to the President.  He had a hearing.
"' What have you done? " he asked.  " A government under rebel control will undo what has
been done. Slavery, in some form, will creep
back into Virginia. The blood of the army will
have been shed in vain. Such a legislature as
you have encouraged  must not be allowed to
assemble."
At the door were waiting Mr. Seward and other wise Republicans.  When Mr. Sumner passed
out, they went in. " You have done right," said
they to the President.  " You have shown a noble
spirit of conciliation. Your course will win back
the South.  You must not listen to Mr. Sumner.
He is an impracticable man. Iis policy will irriStates; in which case you will notify them, giving them reasonable
time to leave, and at the end of which time arrest any who remain.
Allow Judge Campbell to see this, but do not make it public.
"Yours, &c.,
" A. LINCOLN."
The President returned to Washington April 9. Three days after
he sent to Richmond a recall of the above permission. In two
(lays more he was assassinated,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       405
tate the South, and endanger or delay reconstruction."
Mr. Lincoln heard them through; the telegram
that was sent to Richmond the next day, ordering delay, told what Mr. Lincoln thought of Mr.
Sumner and his opinions. And again the country
was saved through a man who dared to stand
alone.
The time is coming when the true history of
events will show that, in several important crises,
Mr. Sumner stood alone in the breach, and saved
the nation. He had rare sagacity and courage.
The country owes him a debt of gratitude which
even now she cannot duly estimate.
And the South have begun to learn that even
when he opposed reconstruction on their grounds,
he was seeking their best interests, because seeking it on a permanent basis of justice to all. He
thought it no unreasonable hardship that those
who had sought to overthrow the national government should stand modestly aside until their
passions had subsided, and until sure guarantees
could be effected for the rights of the colored
people. Peace was in his heart. But it was no
deceptive peace. It was peace springing from




406        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
impartial justice, involving the righteous adjustment of the relations between whites and blacks.
In this connection we may add what Mr.
Schurz further remarks about the relations of
these great men to each other. Speaking of Mr.
Lincoln, he says, 
"Mr. Sumner he treated as a favorite counsellor, almost like a Minister of State, outside of
the cabinet. There were statesmen around the
President who were also politicians, understanding the art of management. Mr. Lincoln appreciated the value of their advice as to what was
prudent and practicable. But he knew also how
to discriminate. In Mr. Sumner he saw a counsellor who was no politician, but who stood before
him as the true representative of the moral earnestness and the great inspirations of their common cause. From him he heard what was right,
and necessary, and inevitable. By the former he
was told what, in their opinion, could prudently
and safely be done. Having heard them both,
Abraham  Lincoln counselled with himself, and
formed his resolution.
"Thus Mr. Lincoln, while scarcely ever fully
and speedily following Sumner's advice, never




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         407
ceased to ask for it, for he knew its significance.
And Sumner, while almost always dissatisfied
with Lincoln's cautious hesitation, never grew
weary in giving his advice, for he never distrusted Lincoln's fidelity. Always agreed as to
the ultimate end, they almost always differed as
to times and means; but while differing, they
firmly trusted, for they understood one another."
Among the causes which led to the differing
views of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Sumner, and to
their peculiar relations to each other, we may
mention the influence, intellectual and political,
upon the former, of Henry Clay, and upon the
latter, of Dr. Channing. Ienry Clay was the
great leader of the Whig party, and his Life was
read with avidity by Lincoln in his boyhood,
and his example and teachings, in after years,
had a powerful influence upon the formation of
Mr. Lincoln's opinions on public questions. Dr.
Channing was, to an important extent, the teacher and model of Sumner in his younger days, as
a great foe to war and slavery.
Clay, as well as Channing, was opposed to
slavery. Both the statesman and the divine desired its extermination. But while the former




408       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
was largely governed in his methods by considerations of expediency, the latter viewed the
subject in its profounder moral aspects, and was
more earnest and radical. These differences appear in their disciples.
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Sumner had the same
hatred of slavery, and an equal desire for its extinction; but they often, as in the case just considered, differed widely as to methods.  The
former, though far in advance of his teacher in
his attitude towards slavery, yet felt the influence
of the great compromiser, and was slow and hesitating compared with Mr. Sumner. The latter, having the most intense convictions of slavery as an unmitigated wrong, would make no
terms with it. He could brook no delay in dealing with it. He demanded immediate and unconditional emancipation.
They both desired emancipation, and they both
reached it; but the one at a bound, the other
slowly, feeling his way cautiously along; the one
certain that it was always safe to do right, the
other equally sure of that, but not quite sure the
right time had come.
As they differed about slavery, so also about




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        409
the reconstruction of the insurgent States, and
according to the different kinds of influence they
had each come under, in Illinois or Massachusetts.
While the Louisiana bill was under consideration, Mr. Sumner, following up his purpose of
securing a guarantee of republican governments
in the rebel States, by which all, without distinction of color, might have equal rights and privileges, introduced a series of resolutions to that
effect.
That, in his radical measures Mr. Sumner was
governed by the highest considerations of justice, and a delicate regard to the interests and,
honor of the whole country, is evident from his
treatment of a proposition in the Senate, February 27, " to purchase a picture for the Capitol."
He offered an amendment: 
"Provided, That in the National Capitol, devoted to the National Union, there shall be no
picture of a victory in battle with our fellowcitizens."
Here, too, Mr. Sumner stood alone. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Howe dissented from  him entirely,
and the amendment was rejected without a division.  But here, as often, Mr. Sumner was far
in advance of his countrymen.




410       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
The same day, and in the same large and liberal spirit, he opposed a proposition to lay a tax
on books. The country, in its struggle with the
rebellion, needed all the money she could get,
but he thought it poor economy to impose a tax
on knowledge.
But here also Mr. Sumner was in a small minority, and his amendment was lost.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       411
CHAPTER  XXIX.
President Lincoln and Mr. Sumner at Richmond.
— Passage from  "Macbeth." — Mr. Lincoln's
Assassination. -- Mr. Seward's Life attempted.
-Mr. Sumner at the Dickens Dinner.- His
Account of the Night of the Assassination.Mr. Sumner's Eulogy on President Lincoln.Divine Providence. - Mr. Lincoln's early Manhood. - His Departure for Washington. - His
Speech at Gettysburg. - His Second Inaugural. - His Intellectual Character.
AND now we have reached a sad period of the
national history.
Sherman has triumphed over the lower army
of the South, Richmond has fallen, Lee surrendered, and the rebellion come to an end. It is
a time of universal joy. But sorrow is at the
door.
On the 6th of April, 1865, the President,
attended by Mrs. Lincoln, the Vice-Pre.sident,




412         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
and several Senators, among them  Mr. Sumner,
made a visit to evacuated Richmond.  It was
then that the President, sitting by Mr. Sumner
on the deck of the steamboat, read aloud, " from
a beautiful quarto Shakspeare in his hand," those
sad, prophetic words in Macbeth," Duncan is in his grave:
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.
Treason has done her worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him farther! "
Mr. Sumner, in his eulogy upon Mr. Lincoln,
in September following, says that, "impressed
by their beauty, or by some presentiment unuttered, he read them aloud a second time."
A  week more, and the prophecy is fulfilled!
Treason  did  its worst.   Our noble President
fell by a shot from an assassin shouting, " Sic
semper tyrannis!" X  And to think that he, so
simple-hearted, so magnanimous, so true a friend
to the humblest and weakest, should have been
reckoned among tyrants! But this was the last
frenzied shriek of the rebellion.  The evil spirit
went out of it, foaming and rending.
But the President was not the  only object
* May such always be the fate of tyrants.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       413
of vengeance. Secretary Seward and two of
his sons came near suffering the same fate.
Others, doubtless, had been marked for attack,
but escaped, perhaps because of the general
alarm which was immediately awakened.
Mr. Sumner was for some time thought by
his friends to be in peril of his life, and he
was urged to arm himself, and use other precautions against threatened danger.  But he
refused to do so.
The colored people of Washington were particularly concerned for his safety, and sent a
committee, among whom was Rev. Mr. Grimes,
of Boston, then in Washington, to urge him
to accept a guard whom they would feel proud
to provide, and who might, unknown to the
public, watch over his person and house. He
thanked them most heartily for their kindness,
but firmly declined their proffer, saying that
he had only done his duty in contending for
their rights, and that if it was God's will that
he should now go, he was ready for the event.
He would leave himself in God's hands.
A friend has furnished us with some remarks
of Mr. Sumner, at a little dinner-party given by




414       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
him, in Washington, February, 2, 1868, in honor
of Mr. Dickens, in which he gave an account
of the assassination of Mr. Lincoln.
Between nine and ten of that Friday evening
he was in pleasant conversation with Mr. Conners, when the door was thrown open, and a
young man rushed in with his hair almost on
end, and said, "Mr. Lincoln is assassinated in
the theatre. Mr. Seward is murdered in his
bed. There's murder in the streets!"
Mr. Sumner said he could not credit it, and
replied, " Young man, be moderate in your statements- what has happened?  Tell us!"  He
replied, indignantly, " I have told you what has
happened," and repeated his statements.
Mr. Sumner said that he then left and went to
the White House, where he found the sentinel
quietly pacing before the mansion. He asked
him whether Mr. Lincoln had returned. "No,
was his reply, " and we have heard nothing from
him."
Mr. Sumner then went to the door, and put
the same question to the porter, from  whom
he received a similar reply.
He then said, "They say that the President




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        415
has been assassinated."  Whereupon the porter
rushed up stairs and told Robert Lincoln, who
at once came down. As Mr. Sumner turned
to go, Robert joined him. They found a hack
at the door, but who sent it no one ever knew.
They jumped in, and drove with great rapidity
till they reached the theatre, where they found
a startled crowd.
Mr. Sumner passed by the sentinels, and, as he
entered the building, found where Mr. Lincoln
had been carried. Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris
were standing in the entry. Mrs. Lincoln rushed
up to him with many exclamations, and asked
him whether her husband was dead. He informed her that he had just come, and knew nothing of what had happened, but had brought
her son. He then passed into the room where
Mr. Lincoln was. He was lying on the bed,
stretched diagonally across it, - for he was very
tall, -his head hanging over a little to accomodate the blood, which was flowing freely from the
wound. He was breathing heavily, his eyes
were half open, and his face looked perfectly
fresh and natural.
Mr. Sumner sat down at the head of the bed,




416       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
took the President's right hand in his, and spoke
to him. One of the surgeons said, " It is of no
use, Mr. Sumner  he can't hear you —he is
dead."
Mr. Sumner resented the idea, and said, " No,
he isn't dead- look at his face  he is breathing.": It will never be anything more than this,"
was the answer.
There Mr. Sumner sat during the whole night,
listening to his breathing, which sounded almost
like melody, till, at twenty minutes past seven, it
stopped.
He then said, " Now for Mr. Seward;" for he
had heard nothing from him, and turned to go
out. He found General Halleck a few feet in
fiont of him, and as he had a carriage, Mr. Sumner
asked him to take him as far as Mr. Seward's.
The general said he was going to see VicePresident Johnson, and tell him not to stir out
that day without a guard. After he had seen Mr.
Johnson, he would carry him where he liked.
They got into the carriage, and as they passed
through the crowd, people asked, " How is Mr.
Lincoln? Is he alive?"  He shook his head,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        417
and they drove on to the Kirkwood House, where
General Halleck did an errand, and then to Mr.
Seward's.
Mr. Sumner sent up his card to Mrs. Seward,
and said that she might like to see him. She
sent for him. As he started to go up to the
third story,' he found her half way down the
stairs, seated, and dressed in white. She seized
him by both his hands, and said, " Charles Sumner, they have murdered my husband, they have
murdered my boy.  Fred is dying. He will
never speak to me again."
Mr. Sumner tried to say that he hoped it was
not so bad, and asked how her husband was.
" Henry is doing better than I expected," she
replied,   but Fred will never speak to me
again." Then suddenly rising, she threw off his
hands, and said, "I must fly," and disappeared.
Mr. Sumner said he never saw her again.
The city of Boston wished to do honor to the
memory of the martyred President, and invited
the elder of the senators of the Commonwealth to
deliver a eulogy on the first day of June.
Mr. Sumner began his eulogy with these impressive words:27




418        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"In the universe of God there are no accidents. From  the fall of a sparrow to the fall
of an empire or the sweep of a planet, all is according to divine Providence, whose laws are
everlasting.  No accident gave to his country
the patriot we now honor. No accident snatched
this patriot, so suddenly and so cruelly, from his
sublime duties. Death is as little an accident as
life. Never, perhaps, in history has this Providence been more conspicuous than in that recent
procession of events where the final triumph is
wrapped in the gloom of tragedy. It is our
present duty to find the moral of this stupendous
drama."
Speaking of Mr. Lincoln's early manhood, Mr.
Sumner said, with great truth and beauty, -
"His youth was now spent, and at the age of
twenty-one he left his father's house to begin
the world. A small bundle, a laughing face, and
an honest heart, —these were his simple possessions, together with that unconscious character
and intelligence which his country learned to
prize.
" In the long history of worth depressed, there
is no instance of such contrast between the de



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        419
pression and the triumph. No academy, no university, no Alma Mater of science or learning,
nourished him. No government took him by the
hand and gave him the gift of opportunity. No
inheritance of land or money fell to him. No
friend stood by his side. He was alone in poverty; and yet not all alone.  There was God
above, who watches all, and does not desert the
lowly. Plain in person, life, and manners, and
knowing absolutely nothing of form or ceremony,
for six months with a village schoolmaster as his
only teacher, he grew up in companionship with
the people, with nature, with trees, with the
fruitful corn, and with the stars.
"While yet a child his father had borne him
away from a soil wasted by slavery, and he was
now a citizen of a Free State, where free labor
had been placed under safeguard of irreversible
compact and fundamental law.  And thus he
took leave of youth, happy at least that he could
go forth under the day-star of Liberty."
Mr. Lincoln's departure for Washington is thus
described: 
"You cannot forget how he left his village
home, never to return, except under the escort




420        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
of death. In words of farewell to neighbors
thronging about him, he dedicated himself to his
country, and solemnly invoked the aid of divine
Providence.
"' I know not,' he said,' how soon I shall see
you again,' and then, with prophetic voice, announced that a duty devolved upon him greater
than that which has devolved upon any other
man since the days of Washington, and asked
his friends to pray that he might receive that
divine assistance without which lie could not
succeed, but with which success was certain.
"To power and fame others have gone forth
with gladness and with song; he went forth
prayerfully as to sacrifice."
Of that exquisite speech of Mr. Lincoln's, at
Gettysburg, at the dedication of the National
Cemetery, Mr. Sumner says, " The President
spoke very briefly; but his few words will live
as long as time. Since Simonides wrote the
epitaph for those who died at Thermopyle, nothing equal has ever been breathed over the fallen
dead.
" That speech, uttered on the field of Gettysburg, and now sanctified by the martyrdom of




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        421
its author, is a monumental act. In the modesty
of his nature, he said,' The world will little note,
nor long remember, what we say here; but it
can never forget what they did here.'
" He was mistaken. The world noted at once
what he said, and will never cease to remember
it. The battle itself was less important than the
speech. Ideas are more than battles.
" Among events assuring to him the general
confidence against all party clamor and prejudice,
this speech cannot be placed too high. To some
who doubted his earnestness, it was touching
proof of their error. Others who followed with
indifference were warmed with grateful sympathy. Many felt its exquisite genius, as well as
lofty character. There were none to criticise."
"Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural Address," said Mr.
Sumner, "which signalized his entry for a second
time upon his great duties, was briefer than any
in our history; but it has already gone farther,
and it will live longer, than any other. It was a
continuation of the Gettysburg speech, with the
same sublimity and gentleness. Its concluding
words were like an angelic benediction."
Mr. Lincoln's intellectual character was thus




422        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
portrayed: " He was original in mind as in character. His style was his own, having no model,
but springing  directly from  himself.  Failing
often in correctness, it is sometimes unique in
beauty and sentiment.
" There are passages that will live always. It
is no exaggeration to say, that in weight and
pith, suffused in a certain poetical color, they
call to mind Bacon's Essays. There also was a
touching reality and unconscious power, without
form or apparent effort. Nothing similar can be
found in State papers. How poor are kings'
speeches and presidential messages by the side
of such utterances, fit harbingers of the sublime
era of humanity!"
How entirely in keeping with Mr. Sumner's
character was his preference as to who should
serve as chaplain on the occasion, as appears
from the following reply to Mr. Gaffield, of the
municipal government: -
"WAsHINGTON, 6th May, 1865.
" MY DEAR SIR: Do as you please. The names
you mention are excellent.
" If I could choose one, it would be Rev. Mr.
Grimes, the colored preacher. It was for his




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       423
race that President Lincoln died.  If Boston
adopted him as chaplain on the day when we
mourn, it would be a truer homage to our departed President than music or speech. I can
say nothing that could promise to be so effective
on earth or welcome in heaven. Think of this,
and believe me, my dear sir,
"Very faithfully yours,
"CHARLES SUMNER."
Mr. Sumner's request was granted, and the
late Rev. Mr. Grimes served, with Rev. Dr. Webb
and Rev. W. H. Cudworth, as chaplain upon the
memorable occasion.




424        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XXX.
Annexation of Alaska.- Impeachment of President Johnson.   The  Alabama  Question. -
Johnson- Clarendon  Treaty. -   Mr. Sumner's
Views. —Project for Annexing Dominica.Mr. Sumner's Opposition.- Unfriendly Relations with the President.-Joins the Liberal
Party.- His Reasons.- His Feelings.-Lctter to a Friend. — Removal from   Chairmanship of Committee on Foreign Relations. - His
Disinterestedness.
THE year 1867 added more than five hundred
thousand square miles to our national territory,
by the purchase from Russia, for seven million
two hundred thousand dollars, of her possessions
in North America-the region that now bears
the name Alaska.
Mr. Sumner took much interest in this purchase, and made an elaborate speech in the Senate in favor of the treaty to that effect.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       425
In 1868 Mr. Sumner was much engaged in the
case of the impeachment of President Johnson.
I-e firmly believed that the chief magistrate was
seeking to execute a plan of reconstruction of
the revolted States which would restore unrepentant rebels to their old power, and revive
slavery, and that for this purpose he was setting at defiance the Constitution and laws of the
land, and usurping power which belonged to
Congress.
Let us hope that the President was not so
great an offender as he was charged with
being.
In the year 1869 Mr. Sumner took decided
ground against the Johnson-Clarendon  treaty
for the settlement of the "Alabama question"
and other difficulties between the United States
and Great Britain, growing out of the war of
the rebellion, especially from rebel cruisers.
But it does not appear that he intended to
press to an extremity the full amount of claims.
He hoped to effect, out of a full and frank examination of the whole case, a better understanding between the two countries, and great reforms
in the international code. He most of all sought




426        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
security against future causes of disagreement,
and firmer guarantees of peace.
In a speech at Worcester, in September, he
said, 
"Who shall fix the measure of this great accountability? For the present it is enough to
expose it. I make no demand -not a dollar of
money, not a word of apology.  I show simply
what England has done to us.  It will be for her,
on a careful review of the case. to determine
what reparation to offer.  It will be for the
American people, on a careful review  of the
case, to determine what reparation to require.
" On this head I content myself with the aspiration that out of this surpassing wrong and the
controversy it has engendered, may come some
enduring safeguard for the future, some landmark of humanity.  Then will our losses end in
gain for all, while the law of nations is elevated.
" But I have little hope of any adequate settlement until our case, in its full extent, is heard.
In all controversies, the first stage of justice is
to understand the case; and, sooner or later,
England must understand ours."
In 1870 and 1871 Mr. Sumner engaged in




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         427
another contest, which proved to be one of great
bitterness. It concerned a favorite project of
President Grant  the annexation of a part of
St. Domingo to the United States. Mr. Sumner took decided ground in opposition to the
measure.
Baez, the alleged  ruler of Dominica, with
whom  negotiations for its purchase had been
carried on, Mr. Sumner regarded as an unprincipled usurper, who was attempting to sell his
country for gold, "in violation of its constitution." The relations between the two governments of Hayti and Dominica were of so disturbed a character, that Mr. Sumner deemed it
especially censurable in our government to pursue a course of " menace" for the acquisition of
a part of the island, to the offence and humiliation
of the Haytien Republic.
Such was Mr. Sumner's view of the matter, the
correctness of which recent events have most
abundantly vindicated.  Honestly entertaining
it, he could do nothing less than vigorously oppose the presidential scheme. He did so with
his usual thoroughness, and with that force of
language of which he was master.  Of course




428        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
there was a tempest, and the relations between
the Senator and the President were far from
pleasant.
Every day the clouds gathered blackness, until
they found vent in a drenching rain of denunciation, President Grant being arraigned before the
bar of the country in the famous speech, " Republicanism versus Grantism: Reform and Purity
in Government," delivered in the Senate, May
31, 1872. In this speech Mr. Sumner renewed
his attack upon the presidential plan for annexing
Dominica, and freely commented upon various
points of the administrative policy.
In all this he declared that he was not warring
with the Republican party. He simply wanted
reform, in the direction of honesty and justice.
Of the party he said, "I stood by its cradle;
let me not follow its hearse."
The party, however, disregarded Mr. Sumner's
appeals, and renominated President Grant.
Mr. Sumner, finding his efforts fruitless within
the old organization, joined in a separate movement, which aimed at the election of Horace
Greeley, professedly a Reform candidate.
How far he was mistaken in his allegations




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       429
against the administration, or how far time has
proved their correctness, it is not the province
of this volume to inquire.
But we cannot believe that the man who had
heretofore labored with singular disinterestedness for lofty ends, had now, at last, descended to
the mean gratification of personal spite, willing
to rend the party which had cherished him, and
which had given freedom to the whole country.
Concede that he erred in judgment; still his
high purpose was to serve his country in what
seemed to him the only practicable way that was
left him.
It was said that in siding with the Liberal
party, he showed too much sympathy with the
South. In reply, he appealed to his course from
the first, through the whole contest against slavery, in proof that his eye had ever been upon
peace.
" Such," he said, " is the simple and harmonious record, showing how, from the beginning, I
was devoted to peace; how constantly I longed
for reconciliation; how, with every measure of
equal rights, this longing found utterance; how
it became an essential part of my life; how I




430        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
discarded all idea of vengeance and punishment;
how reconstruction was. to my mind, a transition
period; and how earnestly I looked forward to
the day when, after the recognition of equal
rights, the people should again be one, in reality
as in name. If there are any who ever maintained a policy of hate, I never was so minded;
and now, in protesting against any such policy,
I act only in obedience to the irresistible promptings of my soul."
In these contests for Truth and Right, as he
understood them, he suffered the keenest sorrow.
Writing to a friend about this time, he unbosomed himself with unaccustomed fullness:"I do not deserve the praise of my friends,
nor do I deserve the censure so freely lavished
by others. In what I have done I have acted
always under irresistible promptings, which I
could not disobey, being the voice of conscience
within —thinking little, asking never, how it
might affect me personally.... I am no stranger
to sorrow. But is not this the lot of life? Sometimes I feel that I have had more than my share.
There have been fountains of tears for me that
few know of and the world cannot divine. Be



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        431
sides these, I have felt keenly the trials of my
position, and the perils of the truth which I love.
Never have I seen my way more clearly than in
these late conflicts, which have disturbed some
of my associates, and never was my course more
simple or conscientious. To suppose that I am
under the influence of personal motives, whether
of ambition or anger, on a great question of national and international duty, is an absurdity which
can come from those only who find my motives
in their own."
Mr. Sumner's removal from the chairmanship
of the Committee on Foreign Relations, which he
had held and honored since 1861, was to him a
great source of pain.  This displacement was
occasioned by his altered relations to the President, which, in the opinion of many, rendered a
change necessary for the public interest. But
he felt it keenly, not so much as involving the
loss of a distinguished place, as indicating, in his
view, a rude change of feelings towards him on
the part of friends with whom  he had long
labored on terms of mutual esteem and affection,
and as taking him from a position where he felt
entirely at home, and where he had so long




432       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
been trusted with questions of the highest concern to the country.
That Mr. Sumner's views about the St. Domingo affair were unchanged to the very last,
is shown by a letter written to a friend, three
days before his death, and received after that
event:"SENATE CHAMBER, 9th March,'74.
"MY DEAR -:  I am  against capital
punishment, but if ever a man deserved a halter
it is Baez, who proposes to visit Boston.
" I know his history intimately, and he is a
usurper, whose hands have been red with innocent blood, and who had the terrible audacity to
conceive the idea of keeping an American citizen
in prison to prevent his return to New York,
where it was feared he would write against the
treaty; and this crime he actually perpetrated!
"If he goes to Boston, he ought to be driven
out by an indignant public sentiment.
"Sincerely yours,
"CHARLES SUMNER."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         433
CHAPTER XXXI.
Battle Flags and Army Register. - Proposition to
erase Names of Battles. - First Resolution.General Scott.- Picture for the  Capitol.Second Resolution. -  Censured by the Legislature of Massachusetts. — Mr. Sumner's Feelings. - Letters. -  Efforts for rescinding the
Vote of Censure. - John G. Whittier. -- Te
Resolution rescinded.- iMr. Sumner's Views.
-Broad  Patriotism. -  Opinion  of  Carl
Schurz.
PERHAPS none of Mr. Sumner's acts has been
more entirely misunderstood, and at last more
thoroughly vindicated, than his attempt to erase
the names of battles won during the war of the
rebellion, from the regimental colors of the army
and from the army register.
This subject was first introduced into Congress by Mr. Sumner, May 8, 1862, on the occasion of a despatch from  General McClellan, in
which that officer inquired whether, like other
28




434        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
generals, he should direct the names of battles
to be placed on the colors of regiments. Upon
this, Mr. Sumner moved  the following  resolution:
" Resolved, That, in the efforts now making for
the restoration of the Union, and the establishment of peace throughout the country, it is inexpedient that the names of victories obtained over
our fellow-citizens should be placed on the regimental colors of the United States."
The resolution was not received with favor,
and no action was taken upon it. General Scott,
however, said of the resolution, " This was noble,
and from the right quarter."
It may seem strange that a proposition which,
when renewed ten years later, excited intense
feeling against its author, should at this time, in
the very midst of the war, have attracted scarcely any notice, so that Mr. Sumner was re-elected
by an almost unanimous vote, nine months after
he had introduced it. But at the latter period
there were immediate causes of hostility to Mr.
Sumner; and so his action with reference to the
national flags was seized upon as a means of still
further prejudicing the public mind against him.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        435
On February 27, 1865, two years after his reelection without any censure, there being a resolution before the Senate authorizing a contract
with W. H. Powell for a picture at the Capitol,
Mr. Sumner proposed an amendment: —
" Provided, That in the National Capitol, dedicated to the National Union, there shall be no
picture of a victory in battle with our fellowcitizens."
In connection with this, Mr. Sumner said, 
"Are you sure that the subject selected at
the present time would be such  as a maturer and more chastened taste could approve?
This is a period of war. We are all under its
influence. But I doubt if it be desirable to keep
before us any picture of war, especially of a war
with fellow-citizens. There are moral triumphs
to which art may better lend its charms. I need
only refer to the Proclamation of Emancipation,
which belongs to the great events of history."
The amendment was opposed and rejected;
but still we hear no note of rebuke from Massachusetts.
Again, December 2, 1872, Mr. Sumner brought
the subject before the Senate, without a thought,
probably, of rousing a tempest of denunciation




436        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
against himself for what he had done twice before unrebuked: —
" Whereas, The national unity and good-will
among fellow-citizens can be assured only through
oblivion of past differences, and it is contrary to
the usage of civilized nations to perpetuate the
memory of civil war: Therefore,
" Be it enacted by the Senate and 1fouse of Representatives of the United States of America, in
Congress assembled, That the names of battles
with fellow-citizens shall not be continued in
the army register, or placed on the regimental
colors of the United States."
At once, as though guilty of some recent
offence, there arose a cry against the senator,
which found official expression in the passage of
a resolution of censure, December 18, by the
legislature of Massachusetts, sixteen days after
the offence had been committed.
"Resolved by the Senate, &c., That. whereas a
bill has been introduced into the Senate of the
United States by a senator from Massachusetts,
providing' that the names of battles with fellowcitizens shall not be continued in the army register, or placed on regimental colors of the United
States;' and




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        437
" Whereas, The passage of such a bill would
be an insult to the loyal soldiery of the nation,
and depreciate their grand achievements in the
late rebellion;
" Therefore, resolved, That such legislation
meets the unqualified condemnation of the people of this Commonwealth."
This action was hasty and ill-considered. It
was done at a special session called to consider
measures of relief for the city of Boston under
the losses sustained by the great fire. It did
not represent Massachusetts.
The injustice of this act was keenly felt by
Mr. Sumner, and it threw a gloom over the last
years of his life. It seemed to him  that he
was cast off by the State which he loved so
well, whose honor he had ever sought to uphold, and which he had thought held him in
true esteem. It was not enough that he was
told that the act was a hasty one — that it
was not the real act of Massachusetts. There
stood the censure upon her records! He was
deeply touched by assurances given him  that
it would be annulled. IHe almost died without the sight.
To an intimate friend, who had assured him




438        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
that the censure would soon be removed, he
wrote, February 23, 1873,"MY DEAR:  Your letter surprises
me. I never doubted that, sooner or later, justice would be done me; but I thought it would
be later.  Your own action is another proof
of that unbroken friendship which has so long
subsisted between us. Thanks! many thanks!
I send you my bill introduced by two allegations
of fact which nobody can dispute.
" You will find in vol. vi., p. 499, of what
booksellers call'Works of C. S.' the first appearance of the official resolution, as long ago
as May 8, 1852.  Massachusetts did not condemn me then, but soon thereafter re-elected
me.  General Scott, once commander-in-chief
of our army, and perhaps as well informed in
history as any army officer, thanked me (see
vol. i., pp. 155-190 of his autobiography), as also
did General Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter.
"Thanks to Mrs.  -, also, and believe me,
dear 
Ever sincerely yours,
" CHARLES SUMNER."
To the same friend he wrote, March 11, -
" Thanks again, dear.  Never was
I more sure of any proposition than that for
which I am assailed. When well enough, I will




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LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        439
place it beyond all question, -showing reason,
history, and every civilized nation for it. The
Emperor of Germany has just adopted it."
To another personal friend he wrote, March
20," If persons would only consider candidly my
original convictions on this question, they would
see how  natural and inevitable has been my
conduct. As if in such a matter I could have'hostility' or' spite' to any body! I am  a
public servant, and never was I moved by a
purer sense of duty than in this bill, all of
which will be seen at last.  Meanwhile men
will flounder in misconception  and misrepresentation, to be regretted in the day of light."
John G. Whittier was foremost among those
who were deeply grieved by the vote of censure. By his pen and in conversation, his noble
heart appealed to the sense of justice and magnanimity of the members of the legislature, to
rectify the grievous wrong done to the highminded and patriotic son of Massachusetts by
hasty action taken in a moment of excitement.
Early in 1874, soon after the opening of the session, numerous petitions, from John G. Whittier,
Vice-President Wilson, Henry L. Dawes, Ex



440       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Governors Emory Washburn and William Claflin,
Henry L. Pierce, and very many other citizens of
the highest standing, representing the intelligence
and honorable feelings of the Commonwealth, were
presented to the Senate. These were at once
referred to the Committee on Federal Relations,
who, January 29, reported, that, " finding an unmerited censure had been inflicted upon a representative of the State in the Senate of the Union,"
they submitted the following resolution -
" resolved, That the resolution passed on the
eighteenth day of December, eighteen hundred
and seventy-two, at the extra session of the legislature of that year, relating to a bill introduced
in the Senate of the United States concerning
the army register and regimental colors of the
United States, be and hereby is rescinded and
annulled."
This resolution was carried, and being intrusted to a special messenger, Joshua B. Smith,
of the House, was borne to Mr. Sumner. It
reached him just before his death. Who is not
rejoiced to know that it greatly gladdened a
heart oppressed with heavy sorrow? After all,
the "dear old Commonwealth " had done him
justice. The heart of Massachusetts and the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         441
heart of her great son once again beat in perfect
unison.
Whatever opinion may be held as to the expediency of Mr. Sumner's proposition, this is
certain - that it was in perfect consistency with
principles declared by him  as early as 1847,
twenty years before his first resolution. In an
oration before the literary societies of Amherst
College, August 11 of that year, speaking of civil
wars, he said, 
" Even if countenanced by justice or dire necessity, they were none the less mournful. No
success over brethren of the same country could be
the foundation  of honor.  And so firmly was
this principle  embodied in the very customs
and institutions of Rome, that no thanksgiving
or religious ceremony was allowed by the Senate
in commemoration of such success: nor was the
triumph permitted to the conquering chief whose
hands were red with the blood of fellow-citizens.
Caesar forbore even to send a herald of his unhappy victories, and  looked upon  them  with
shame.... [The Christian] would... pray
that the recording angel would blot with tears
all recollections of the fraternal strife in which
he was sorrowfully engaged."
In a learned note appended to the address, Mr.




442        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
Sumner gave many historical illustrations of his
position.  He quoted from  Dion Cassius, that
Pompey, after his success over Casar at Dyrrachium, " did not speak of it boastfully, nor did
he wreathe his fasces with laurel, feeling a repugnance to doing anything of this sort on account of a victory over citizens."
Mr. Sumner knew that it was the uniform practice of all civilized, Christian nations to remove
all national memorials of civil war. To his generous and comprehensive mind, informed as to
universal custom elsewhere, it seemed both just
and magnanimous to efface from the national, the
common flag, all traces of our fraternal strife. If
North and South were ever to be united, it must
be by meeting on common ground, by oblivion
of past differences, and by putting away all memorials of former hate.
Mr. Sumner was said to be wanting in patriotism; but his was the highest, broadest patriotism,
embracing the whole country, and not a moiety.
It was national, not sectional. It was based on
the principles of Christianity.  Surely it were
better that the different parts of the country
should be of one heart, than that sectional pride




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         443
should be perpetually gratified. Here, in his view,
was an opportunity for the noblest self-sacrifice,
to gain a great national advantage.
"I am for peace," said he, on another occasion,
"in reality as in name. From the bottom of my
heart I am for peace, and I welcome all that
makes for peace. With deep-felt satisfaction I
remember that no citizen who drew his sword
has suffered by the hand of the executioner."
Urging the " enduring fellowship of a common
citizenship," he said, "To this end there must
be reconciliation; nor can I withhold my hand.
Freely I accept the hand that is offered, and
reach forth my own in friendly grasp.  I am
against the policy of hate; I am against fanning
ancient flames into continued life; I am against
raking in the ashes of the past for coals of fire
yet burning. Pile up the ashes; extinguish the
flames; abolish the hate -such is my desire."
It was such noble sentiments as these that
dictated Mr. Sumner's policy. Was he the man
to be pronounced by a legislative body worthy
of " unqualified condemnation," as offering " an
insult to the loyal soldiery of the nation?"  This
was a blow aimed at as pure a patriot as Amer



444        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
ica was ever blessed with. Who is not thankful
that a stigma which could not attach to him was
removed from Massachusetts?
The position of Mr. Sumner was well expressed
by a fellow-senator, Carl Schurz, in his noble
eulogy upon Mr. Sumner, in Boston, April 29:" Should the son of South Carolina, when at
some future day defending the republic against
some foreign foe, be reminded by an inscription
on the colors floating over him, that under this
flag the gun was fired that killed his father at
Gettysburg? Should this great and enlightened
republic, proud of standing in the front of human
progress, be less wise, less large-hearted, than
the ancients were two thousand years ago, and
the kingly governments of Europe are to-day?
Let the battle-flags of the brave volunteers,
which they brought home from the war with the
glorious record of their victories, be preserved
intact as a proud ornament of our State Houses
and armories. But let the colors of the army,
under which the sons of all the States are to meet
and mingle in common patriotism, speak of nothing but union, -not a union of conquerors and
conquered, but a union which is the mother of
all, equally tender to all, knowing of nothing but
equality, peace, and love among her children.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        445
Do you want shining mementos of your victories? They are written upon the dusky brow
of every freeman who was once a slave; they
are written on the gate-posts of a restored
Union; and the most shining of all will be
written on the faces of a contented people, reunited in common national pride."
Mr. Sumner's patriotic act is bearing the fruit
of peace. The South is touched by his generous purpose. "Let the grave.," says the New
Orleans Picayune, "cover all that was inimical
to Southern ideas and sentiments in the deceased
senator, and let us only remember that he would
have put away from  the federal archives all
show and sign of the triumph of countrymen over
countrymen.'
Said Mr. Lamar, of Mississippi, in the House
of Representatives, " It was certainly a gracious
act towards the South... to propose to erase
from  the banners of the national army the
mementos of the bloody internecine struggle,
which might be regarded as assailing the pride
or wounding the sensibilities of the Southern
people. That proposal will never be forgotten
by the people so long as the name of Charles
Sumner lives in the memory of man."




446        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER  XXXIT.
Religious Views of Mr. Sumner. - Dr. Channing.
- Mr. Sumner's Faith in God. - Seeking Help
from the Highest Source -  Gratitude to God. 
Divine Providence. - Justice of God. - Regard
for the Scriptures. - Belief in Christianity. -
The Christian Standard. - The Christian Hero.
- Familiarity with the Bible. — Advice to a
Young Clergyman. - The Good Shep/herd. -
Mr. Sumner's Character. - The Ch/ief-Justiceship. - Mr. Sumner's Disinterestedness. - His
Writings.
IN his youth, and for some time after he entered upon the practice of his profession, Mr.
Sumner was a regular attendant at King's Chapel.
During this period, Rev. Dr. F. W. P. Greenwood and Rev. Dr. Ephraim  Peabody were the
pastors, the latter beginning his pastorate in
1846. They were men of fine gifts and eminent
worth.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        447
Mr. Sumner's character was formed under the
decided influence of religious principles. All
his writings, as well as his life, show that he
had a reverent faith in God. Indeed, the constant recognition of a Supreme Being of infinite
justice, truth, and love, is a conspicuous feature
of his speeches.
" True greatness," he says in one place, " consists in imitating, as nearly as possible, the
perfections of an Infinite Creator -above all
in inculcating those highest perfections, Justice
and Love."
The references to God, scattered through his
political speeches, as well as his literary and
other addresses, carry with them every appearance of sincerity and profound conviction.
This is corroborated by some remarks by Rev.
E. E. Hale, in an address at Faneuil Hall: " Mr.
Sumner said to a young man, who repeated it to
me, that, when there was any new subject of debate; when there was any new  course to be
adopted; when there  was any  policy  which
seemed strange or difficult; when there were any
of those clouds of which we have been speaking;
when that track was to be found and was hard to




448        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
find; he never took counsel with men, but separated himself from men, and went alone and consulted the Highest Authority; and when he
was assured by the Highest Authority, then he
always went forward, and asked no question
more."
How reverent his mention of God's care over
him, in the opening words of his speech on the
Barbarism of Slavery!
How grand and impressive that opening paragraph in the eulogy on President Lincoln, in
which he speaks of divine Providence!
He speaks of the injustice of ending the war
against the rebellion, without also putting an end
to slavery, as " challenging the judgments of a
righteous God."  " If," said he, " the instincts of
patriotism did not prompt this support (emancipation), I should find a sufficient motive in that
duty which we all owe to the Supreme Ruler,
God Almighty, whose visitations upon our country
are now so fearful."
Mr. Sumner also made frequent references to
the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, and always in the spirit of reverence. He
heard God speaking in them, and summoning us




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        449
to obedience.  "Amidst the thunders of Sinai
God declared,'Thou shalt not kill;' and the
voice of these thunders, with this commandment,
is prolonged in our own day in the echoes of
Christian churches."
Of the Fugitive Slave Act he says, " With
modesty, and yet with firmness, let me add, it
offends against the divine law."
Mr. Sumner was a believer in Christianity.
He speaks of it in one place as " our faith."  In
his view, Christianity was the "true" religion,
in contrast with heathen religions, which he calls
false."
Conversing at one time with Rev. Dr. Neale,
who often met him in educational meetings, as
well as elsewhere, Mr. Sumner, in answer to a
question designed to draw out his religious views,
declared his full belief in the Christian religion.
" My way of looking at it," he said, " may differ
somewhat from yours, but it is the same religion.
The sun shines in a different way upon different
persons, his rays striking some vertically, and
others obliquely, according to their respective
localities; but it is the same glorious sun. So
with  Christianity —it comes to me in a way
29




450        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
somewhat peculiar, but it is the same glorious
faith."
Mr. Sumner regarded Christianity as presenting the highest, even a perfect, standard of right.
He constantly speaks of " Christian duty " as presenting duty in its purest and most authoritative
form. When discoursing upon arbitration for the
settlement of difficulties between nations, after
other reasons in its favor, he adds, " Above all, it
is consistent with the teachings of Christianity,"
and implies " a lofty Christian statesmanship."
He speaks of "that sublime revelation  of
Christianity, the brotherhood of man."  " Are
we not all," he asks, " in a just and Christian
sense, brethren of one household?"  "To the
Christian, every fellow-man, whether remote or
near, is'neighbor' and' brother.' 
Speaking of slavery as a barbarism, and not
a civilization, he says, " In the Christian light of
the nineteenth century there can be but one
civilization."  Slavery he calls "an infraction of
God's great laws of right and love, and of the
Christian precept,' Whatever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them.' 
The highest commendation he gives to Wash



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.          451
ington  Allston  is, to call him  "a  Christian
artist."
Thus, every private and public act and institution was tested by the Christian standard.
He speaks of "the irresistible might of Christian institutions," and of the encouragement derived  from   "the  promises  of Christianity."
" With this faith, we place our hands, as those of
little children, in the great hand of God. -  e will
guide and sustain us - through pains and perils
it may be- in the path of progress."
" In the clear eye of that Christian judgment
which must yet prevail, vain are the victories of
war."  " He is the benefactor, and worthy of
honor, who  carries comfort to wretchedness,
dries the tear of sorrow, relieves the unfortunate, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, does
justice, enlightens the ignorant, unfastens the
fetters of the slave, and finally, by virtuous genius in art, literature, science, enlivens and exalts
the hours of life, or by generous example, inspires a love for God and man.  This is the
Christian hero." " Christianity inculcates patience, forbearance, forgiveness of evil, even
the duty of benefiting a destroyer."




452        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
In one place he declares his belief in the
future  universal  prevalence  of Christianity.
" Nor do we doubt that Christianity will yet prevail over the whole earth, as the waters cover
the sea."
Mr. Sumner was very familiar with the Scriptures. This is evident, not only in his frequent
and most apposite quotations, but in thQse incidental allusions and in that happy use of Scripture phraseology which flavor and dignify his
writings.
As an instance of this, take a sentence in his
address to the governor at the time of his public
reception in Boston, in 1856, where, speaking of
his efforts to regain his health, he said, " I listened
to the admonitions of medical skill, and I courted
all the bracing influences of Nature, while time
passed without the accustomed healing on his
wings."
The uniform  correctness of his references to
the Bible forms a noteworthy contrast with the
sorry work which politicians are apt to make in
their awkward attempts at Scripture citation.
The Christian spirit that animated Mr. Sumner
appears in a little incident. He was once present




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       453
at the ordination of a young clergyman. At the
close of the services he went up to him, and said,
in a pleasant tone, "He prayeth well who loveth
well."
A few weeks before Mr. Sumner's death, a
party of ladies and gentlemen from Boston visited
his house at Washington, in company with a common friend. Mr. Sumner was even more than
usually genial and animated, and took great pains
to point out and explain objects of interest in his
apartments.  Among other things to which he
called the attention of his guests, was a small and
rude terra cotta figure of the Good Shepherd,
in relief, bearing a lamb, the lost one, now recovered, upon his shoulders. Mr. Sumner said to
his visitors that this was the way in which the
shepherd in Eastern countries was accustomed to
carry home his sheep when infirm or disabled.
He repeated the passage in the gospel about the
lost sheep, and the owner leaving the ninety and
nine to seek that one, giving a touching explanation of it. He spoke with deep feeling of Jesus
as the Good Shepherd, and of his great compassion to mankind.  The company were much
struck with the earnestness and tenderness of




454       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
his manner, and they remember the scene as one
of uncommon interest.
Who that considers the character of his life,
his ruling purpose to do good, can doubt that a
spirit was breathed into him from above, from the
Father of all truth and goodness, to prepare him
for the great work of mercy which he was a
chief instrument in accomplishing?
He had faults and weaknesses, but they were
not the faults and weaknesses of an ignoble
and selfish character.  He sometimes showed
hauteur in his manner, - though this was not the
habit of his nature, - but it was always in a good
cause. It largely grew out of his profound convictions, his intense hatred of all wrong, indirectness, sham, and double-dealing. These things
aroused his ire, and sometimes made him pass
over the bounds of a proper moderation. But
he was not a man to harbor petty grudges; he
was not a self-seeker; he was not jealous or envious; he never sought to supplant others to make
a place for himself. Above any casual infelicities
of temper or manner, arising in part, no doubt,
from nervous infirmity brought on by his brave
exposure of wrong, shone forth his genuine love




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         455
of truth and justice, his indomitable patriotism,
his sincere purpose to benefit his race. George
William  Curtis calls him " conscience incarnate
in politics."
Mr. Caleb Lyon, in some personal reminiscences
of Mr. Sumner's life in Washington, gives one
instance  of his remarkable  disinterestedness.
";Soon after Chief Justice Taney's death," says
the account, "he showed me a card from the
President, upon which  was written,'Hon.
Charles Sumner: The vacant chief justiceship is
placed at your disposal. A. Lincoln.' He then
said,' There was a time when this office would
have been the realized dream of my youth; but
now it must not, cannot be. The breach between
Mr. Chase and the President is growing wider
and wider, and this will close it. No personal
sacrifice is too great, nor can anything tempt me
to desert my post. The Republican party must
remain intact until its mission is fulfilled.'
" It is well known that only the great senator's
persistency accomplished the appointment of Mr.
Chase, after a tedious delay from October to December. Mr. Chase through life remained un



456        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
conscious of Mr. Lincoln's offer to Mr. Sumner,
and his refusal."
Persons who knew Mr. Sumner intimately in
Washington for years together, bear uniform
testimony to his great kindliness of spirit in
private life, and to his thoughtful regard for
the  comfort of those who were in any way
dependent on him. They relate how patiently
he would often listen to a long story of trouble
from some humble unfortunate, while he also
well knew how to shake off mere intruders upon
his time.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        457
CHAPTER  XXXIII.
Mr. Sumner's Purity of Life. - Political Integrity.
-  Conversational Peculiarities. - A  French
Dinner.
MR. SUMNER we have seen to be a man of
the purest principles.  He was, also, a man
of unblemished life.  Political venom  never
assailed his character.
Profanity- that vice too common among public men -was always repulsive to him, as also
was the slightest approach to vulgarity or coarseness in conversation.  A gentleman, who was
one of his warm supporters and personal friends,
and who often entertained him as his guest, says
that he has met him in all places where gentlemen meet without restraint, and heard him converse on all topics with men of various classes;
but has never heard him  tell a story or make




458       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
an allusion, that would have offended the ear of
the most dainty lady.
He once said to a clergyman of this city,
speaking of his somewhat limited means, "I
have never had the art to get my hand into
the treasury."
The boldest schemer of evil never dared
to approach him  with plans for robbing the
people; and his hand remained to the last unsullied by the touch of unholy gain. So great
was the gulf between him and the men who
play traitor to their trusting constituents, that
he could say with truth, "People talk about
the corruption at Washington.  I have been
here all these years, and have seen nothing of
it."  He had not seen it, because he never
looked in that direction.
He never pledged an offering to Freedom
which he did not lay, freely and without reserve, on her altar.  He never held out an
unmanly allurement for votes; never spent a
dollar in the effort to gain an election; never
used any of the low trickery which degrades
alike the elections of England and America.
He could not stoop either to buy from, or to




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       459
cajole a vote out of, any man. He was the
same dignified  gentleman  during a political
campaign, that he was in the Senate Chamber
and the drawing-room.
Mr. Sumner talked, rather than  conversed,
when in company. One who knew  him well,
and was frequently in his society, expresses it
thus: "He either led the conversation or remained silent."
Mr. Sumner was an inimitable story-teller.
That minuteness of detail which in another
would have amounted to tediousness, only kept
up the interest of the listener, as every word
gave a new  charm.  It would be impossible
to give any adequate illustration of this, but
to convey some idea of the way in which he related scenes and events, we will give, as nearly
as it can be done from memory, his account of
a dinner to which he was invited at the mansion
of one of the most noted among European rulers,
the last time he was abroad.
It required a real diplomatist to make himself agreeable to foreigners at that time. They
were hungry to hear all about republics; but
being, as he felt himself, under a ban which




460       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the world knew, he realized the great importance of steering clear of American politics; as,
should "the battle flag matter" come up, he
could not defend himself without censuring
"dear old Massachusetts  - and that he would
not do.
He had a habit of constantly throwing the
words "you will observe" into his conversation, particularly when describing persons he had
met, or scenes through which he had passed.
He had been courteously received by the
gentleman in question, and was now  invited
to a dinner at his elegant mansion. Having
arrayed himself with that care which all who
knew  him  will remember, he ordered a cab
to convey him thither; and he tells the story of
the dinner thus: 
"When I left my hotel, I told the cabman
I wished him  to drive me to the residence
of.
"'Yes, sir, he replied,'I will gladly do so;
we all love him.'
" After a short drive, we turned into the elegant grounds, and drove up the avenue which
leads to the mansion, at the door of which a
servant received me.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        461
"I saw no one in the halls as I was conducted
up stairs to my room by the man who carried my
bag for me.  Entering the apartment assigned
me, -a most luxurious one, — I found an open
fire glowing in the grate, a table fully furnished
with writing materials, and an easy-chair beside
it- a very beautiful welcome for a stranger.
The servant then asked for my key, opened my
bag, and laid out, over a chair, the articles I had
brought to complete my toilet, and then retired,
saying,' I will wait at your door until you are
ready, sir; when you call me I will conduct you
to the drawing-room.'
" This, you will observe, is the custom in such
circles.
" When I was ready, I went to my door, where
I found the man awaiting me. I descended the
stairway, and was ushered into the saloon, where
I found Madame  ~ and her guests, - the custom of my host being, you will observe, not to appear until just before dinner is announced.
" The house was gorgeous and elegant, and the
company very distinguished-looking, and of course
most richly dressed. Madame -, who was a
large and rather coarse-looking person, received
me with courtesy, and introduced me to the company.
" We conversed for some time before our host
joined us; and very soon after he did so, a man



462        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
servant threw open the doors which led to the
dining-room, and gravely announced,'Dinner is
served.'  The gentleman of the mansion then
offered his arm to the most distinguished lady of
the party, and led the way to the dining-room.
But the custom, you will observe, is, not for the
lady of the house to give her arm to the gentleman she wishes to honor, and follow her husband,
but to remain with him behind, till she sees that
all the ladies are provided with escorts, and have
left the saloon, when she and her escort follow
them, and take their places at table. I had given
my arm to my hostess, taking care, you will observe, that it should not be in a way which
would oblige her to place me at her right hand
at table unless she desired to do so. This, however, she did.
" The table and its appointments were elegant
and costly beyond description, all the service,
even to the plates, being either of solid gold or
of solid silver. The style of serving was in accordance with the elegance and costliness of the
arrangements of the table.
"I was still careful, as you will observe, to
avoid every topic strictly American, lest it might
lead us towards politics. Knowing, as I did, that
my host was a great connoisseur in art, and the
owner of rare collections, and remembering that
he lost many beautiful pictures and statues in the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        463
barbarism of the revolution, I opened this subject with Madame -. But on art in general I
met no response. I then said to her,' I am very
glad, madame, to hear that some of your husband's rare treasures, which he lost in your
troubles, have been returned to him;' feeling
sure that that must be a matter of interest. She
manifested not the least interest in the matter,
and her only reply was,' If he has recovered
any of them, I never heard of it before.'
"I found it impossible to keep up any conversation with her.
" The elegant and refined tastes of the gentleman found, you will observe, no sympathy in his
wife. She is very rich, but not a woman of culture or polished manners, while he is a model of
an elegant and polite French gentleman.
" At one time during dinner, my host cast an
anxious look on the lady, who, perhaps, to his
practised eye, looked out of humor, and said very
kindly, — what with us would be regarded as a
breach of politeness, -' You look very weary, my
dear;' but she did not reply. She took no more
notice of the remark than if she had been deaf.
"On returning to the long saloon, the hostess
and all the ladies gathered at one end of the
room, and the gentlemen at the other.  The
entertainment then partook rather of the form
of a lecture than conversation. The host stated




464        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
his views on points which were then occupying the public mind, and gave his reasons for
them, discoursing at some length, to the great
enjoyment of his guests. It is in this way that
he prepares the speeches, which he afterwards
delivers.
" Having finished his remarks, my host turned
to me and asked,'What, sir, is the opinion of
American statesmen in regard to the electoral
college system?'
" That was a question I had no delicacy in answering.'They regard it as an utter failure,
sir,' I replied. He then turned to a gentleman
near him, and said,' Mr. Secretary, note that
statement of the American gentleman.' 




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       465
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Wide General Information. — Talk at a Stock
Club. - Talk on Laces. - Mr. Sumner. and his
little Namesake.- Interest in the Work of others.
-Letter of Hon. G. W. Warren.
GREAT men are too often wise only in their
own sphere, and ignorant of all beyond it.
Mr. Sumner was remarkable for his general
information. Nothing escaped his eye, and no
subject was too great or too small for his investigations.
Being once on a visit at the country house of
a friend, when a "stock club" was to meet
there, Mr. Sumner entered heartily into the matter, and expressed pleasure at meeting the gentlemen.
But he was not a listener only; he surprised
both host and guests by his familiarity with the
subject, and by finally giving what amounted to a
30




466        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
dissertation on the various breeds of cows, and
the varieties of cheese. He knew all about the
English and Scotch cows, and dwelt with interest on their marked peculiarities.  He introduced to their notice a breed of Highland cows,
of which none of the stock club had ever heard
before.
On another occasion, at the same house, a
fellow-guest, one of our most honored public men
at the Capitol, was entertaining the company with
an account of the way in which he had been
duped in the purchase of lace when abroad —
buying miserable cotton stuff in place of the rich
fabric he wanted -by the statements of " halfprice " and " poverty," from the glib-tongued
daughters of Erin, near Queenstown.
At this Mr. Sumner took up the subject of
lace, and went into it minutely. He described
the different varieties, told how and where they
were made,-from  the rich  altar-pieces and
other laces of antiquity down to the manufactures of our own day. He knew the name of
each style, and in whose possession the laces
were which had come down as heirlooms in
royal and noble families.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       467
When surprise was expressed that a gentleman
should know so much on a subject which would
naturally interest ladies only, he said that he
once sat at a dinner party next Mrs. General
F- -, when this subject was brought up. She
then told him the name of the lace worn by each
lady at table, calling his attention to the fact that
some of the least showy were the most rare and
expensive. After that, he felt an interest in the
subject, and read about laces, and examined the
different kinds when abroad; so that now he was
really a judge of the article, and proof against
imposition.
Mr. Sumner's manner towards little children
shows that there was a fountain of tenderness
sealed up beneath what many regarded his stern
and cold exterior. What he might have been,
surrounded by family love and schooled by sweet
home influences through life, we can only imagine.
Mr. I. Vincent Butler, of Boston, having asked
Mr. Sumner's permission to name a little son for
him, received the following reply: —




468        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"WASHINGTON, 25th February,'72.
" DEAR MR. BUTLER: I have never expressed
my gratitude that you should have thought my
name worthy of your son, but I have not been insensible to the kindly appreciation which prompted the parents.
"But pardon me. Is it right to call a child
after a living person? Only when death has set
its seal on a name, can it be given to another
without peril. Who knows what may come in
the vicissitudes of life?  But I will not follow
these hints.
" I have expected you for several days. Meanwhile the days are charming. Accept my best
wishes for the boy, and believe me, my dear sir,
" Sincerely yours,
" CHARLES SUMNER."
And so the beautiful little fellow was named
Charles Sumner Butler; and afterwards, whenever the senator had an opportunity, he always
asked, with much interest, " How is that boy? "
When this baby was about seven months old,
he was taken by his parents to visit Mr. Sumner
at his rooms in the Coolidge House. The senator was engaged with his books when they entered, but arose at once, and gave them a most
cordial greeting. He then took the babe, and




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LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        469
carried it about the room in his arms, while the
little one gazed up with infantile wonder into the
strange but noble face of him who was so kindly
caressing it. He then apologized for not having called on the baby.
Just then two gentlemen came in, friends of
Mr. Sumner, to whom he said, after having introduced the parents, and holding the baby up
towards them, "And this gentleman is Master
Charles Sumner Butler! 
At this moment the senator, being unskilful in
the art of holding babies, accidentally snapped
the elastic cord that held the cap, against the
little one's cheek, which made it cry out with
pain.
"Is that so? " said one of the gentlemen.
" We must admit that he has early commenced,
like his honored predecessor, to'cry aloud and
spare not,' since he does not hesitate to express
his mind in this illustrious presence."




470        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Routine of Life in Washington. - Home at Washington. - Aunt Chloe's " God bless him! " - Giving Autographs. - Honor in Money Matters. 
The Malachite Table.- The Hard-earned Vases.
- Bust of Psyche.
MR. SUMNER'S tastes were elegant and refined,
but his manner of life was remarkably simple for
one in his public position. He rose about seven
o'clock, breakfasted at eight, and read his letters
and' papers, and received visitors, often conversing with friends while at breakfast.
He was remarkably prompt as a correspondent,
answering all letters in the order of their dates,
and very generally with his own hand. He dined
at six o'clock, after which he conversed with his
guests till their departure, when he put himself
earnestly to his work, amid what seemed to others a wild confusion of books, papers, magazines,
and manuscripts, but what was to him the poetry




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LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        471
of order, as he knew where to lay his hand on
anything he wanted.  Much of Mr. Sumner's
brain-work was done after his guests had retired.
He was genial and pleasant with his servants,
and courteous to all those who served or aided
him in a higher capacity. A gentleman who was
for two years his secretary, and companion at
table and in the library, says he never once saw
him  out of temper. When assailed or misrepresented, he seemed grieved, but never angry.
Very frequently, in the case of a violent attack,
he made no reply whatever.
It is not our intention to give a full description
of Mr. Sumner's home, nor a list of his art treasures. We shall, however, give a private letter
from a lady who visited the senator, and was
shown through the rooms by him, and heard descriptions and anecdotes of these things from his
own lips, only a few weeks before his death: --
"... We passed through La Fayette Square
to Mr. Sumner's house. It was a lovely morning,
so summer-like that we wondered the grass and
flowers did not forget it was January, and peep
out.
"The birds were out in full force, filling the




472        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
place of leaves on the bushes, and singing with
all their power.  There  were  large, smooth,
glossy leaves, like magnolia leaves, scattered
about the paths.
" Mr. Sumner's house stands on a corner, the
Arlington House on either side, making it look as
if it were a part of the hotel.
" When we entered, Mrs.           sent up her
card, and while the servant was gone we sat in
the charming parlor, furnished in gold-colored
satin, and filled with pictures and articles of
virtu.
"Mr. Sumner asked us, at once, up stairs into
his study, where we found Vice-President Wilson.  When we entered the room, there was a
little flurry about seating us, as the chairs were
all filled with newspapers and manuscripts.
"I am accustomed, as you know, to sitting on
sermons and manuscripts of that sort in the study
at home; but I confess that I hesitated a little before taking a chair already occupied by senatorial speeches, public orations, and the like.
" As soon as we were seated, Mr. Sumner returned to his reclining-chair. He was dressed in
a robe de chambre of dark, bluish-purple cloth,




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        473
richly trimmed with crimson, and confined about
the waist by a crimson cord and tassels. He is
a grand-looking man, tall and broad-shouldered.
He has a splendid head, crowned with what I
should call —although I have never seen Jupiter
-' ambrosial locks.' His smile is very beautiful,
lighting up his usually stern face, and melting
away all its coldness. I never saw a face before
which was so changed by a smile. I was particularly struck with his hands, which were very
white and beautifully formed.
" Mr. Sumner had just received a letter from a
friend, asking a favor of him. He spoke of it to
Mr. Wilson, saying he hoped he should be able
to arrange the matter. Mr. Wilson volunteered
to attend to it for him, and soon left the room for
that purpose. The large, sunny study in which
we were, extends over the library and part of
the dining-room. It has three windows, in one
of which hangs a beautiful transparency. There
was a large desk in the centre of the room, and
another by one of the windows. Photographs
were tacked all over the walls and the doors,
and everywhere about were lying books, bookspapers, papers.




474       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"Very soon Mr. Sumner showed us his copy
of Pope's' Essay on Man,' with interlined and
marginal corrections by the author's own hand.
We read them, and found they were improvements as well as alterations.
" He next showed us his copy of Erasmus, with
pen-and-ink etchings on the margin by Holbein,
and John Bunyan's Bible. Mrs.     remarked,
that Bunyan's Psalm-book (which she owned),
which bore his autograph and that of his wife,
Elizabeth Bunyan, seemed to her more valuable
than his Bible.
"' I had my choice between the two when they
were for sale, and preferred the Bible,' said Mr.
Sumner.' There is something about the Bible,
you know,-his Bible,-which inclined me to it.'
" He had the daintiest of cases for these rare
books, into which they just fitted. He alluded
to them, and said there was nothing like them
made in this country.
" He then brought out from careful paper wrappings two small wood-cuts he had recently received, according to his order, from an English
sale.
"One was a head of Prester John, and as I, in




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER,         475
common with others, have rather a vague idea
of this semi-mythical gentleman, I was not sur.
prised to see a good-looking colored man.
"The other was Salvator Rosa's' Jonah's Deliverance from the Whale.' The prophet seemed
coming out of his prison in a terrible hurry, on
all fours. The'great fish' was a fearful-looking
animal, resembling a Japanese griffin more than
anything else.
" I remarked that the artist had carried out the
words of the Scripture by making a great fish
instead of the traditionary whale.
"' Why, was it not a whale'?" asked Mr. Sumner, smiling.'I was brought up to believe it
was a whale, and always thought it was.'
" I referred him to the English Bible, and felt
surprised and glad to find that I knew one thing
which Charles Sumner did not know!
" We chanced, in the course of conversation, to
speak of' A Week in a French Country-House,'
when he told us that he had met Madam -Sartori,
the author of it, abroad, and was once invited to
the house of a friend to hear her sing. She was
at that time studying for the stage, but married
WMr, Sartori soon after, and so never entered on




476        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
a public career. This lady, I may remark, is the
mother of the young man who is, at the time of
writing, engaged to be married to the daughter
of President Grant.
" Mr. Sumner then spoke of Fanny Kemble, who
is Madam Sartori's sister. He said he knew her
well, and that some years ago he boarded near
her, and used to take long rides with her on
horseback, during which they conversed much
on the topics of the day. He said that he greatly
admired Mrs. Kemble.
" Mr. Sumner spoke very feelingly of Agassiz.
He said that, when he was last in Cambridge,
Agassiz showed  him  the manuscript of his
article on the Darwinian theory, - or rather, the
three manuscripts, - for he first dictated the
matter to Mrs. Agassiz, then  corrected  and
interlined the writing, which she afterwards rewrote. This copy he corrected and added to,
after which she made a third transcript, which
was sent to the printer.
" While on this subject, Mr. Sumner said that
Mrs. Agassiz was in entire sympathy with her
husband in his scientific work, and rendered him
great assistance; and added, with much earnest.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       477
ness,'She is a true woman and a true wife.'
He had not heard till then of the gift Agassiz
had received from his daughter, for the carrying
out his cherished plans. When Mrs.     told
him  about it, he seemed greatly pleased, and
said,'How happy that it came in such good
time, while she could enjoy the pleasure of giving and he of receiving.'  He and Mrs.then talked of various people, and of the interests
of the country, in a most interesting way.
" Mr. Sumner was to make a speech that day;
but, unfortunately for us, it was in a secret session. We rose to leave. But he asked us to go
down stairs and wait till he should join us.
"When he came down, he went to the library,
opened a drawer, and showed us a Latin book of
John Dryden's, with his name scrawled on the
fly-leaf in a school-boy's hand. While we were
examining it, Mr. Sumner told us that once,
when he was showing it to two ladies, one of
them looked at the writing, and exclaimed to the
other,'Isn't that just like our John's?' He
showed us Wickliffe's Bible, with its long chain
and padlock.
" Among his valuable autographs was this most
interesting one: —




478         LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.'If Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.'JOHANNES MILTON.'COMUS, 1637.'
"When, after showing us many other beautiful
things, he was obliged to leave, he asked us to
remain and look at the pictures. In the diningroom  we saw  the picture of St. Mark coming
down with flying mantle to rescue a slave who
was lying prostrate in the public square. He
had used this tradition as an illustration in one
of his earliest speeches, and afterwards, seeing
the picture, had bought it. Mr. Whittier has
made the story the foundation of a poem. In
this room were many very beautiful pieces of
china, and on the door leading to the china closet
hung a picture suggestive of the place. Indeed,
all the pictures were in keeping with the rooms
where they hung.  On the side of the stairs
were  pictures of famous stairways.  In  the
study were engravings of the House of Lords,
the French Assembly, the United States Senate,
and heads of eminent statesmen.  The richer
pictures, with statues, elaborate tables, vases,
and rare curiosities, were in the parlor and
library, and presented work for more than one
morning.




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LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        479
"Then we went through the hall, where a large
Dutch clock stands at the foot of the stairs, out
into the noisy street, and across the sunny park,
towards the White House."
A lady who was visiting in Washington, not
long before Mr. Sumner's death, was talking with
"Old Chloe," a colored woman in whom she had
long been interested, when Senator Sumner, who
was a warm personal friend, sent up his card.
Rising, she said, " I shall not be able to talk with
you any longer now, Chloe. Mr. Sumner is down
stairs, and I must go to see him."
Then poor Chloe broke out in rapturous strains,
and extolled Mr. Sumner's character as the friend
and helper of her race. " I's often wished," she
said, " dat I could shake hands wid him, but I
don't suppose I ever shall. I wish you would tell
him how we all loves him, and den shake hands
wid him for me; and tell him  dat every time I
sees him in de street, I says,' God bless him.'"
Those who had been present when Mr. Sumner opened his morning mail say that, amid all
his duties, he often took time to send autographs
to boys who had written for them.
A young lad once came in possession of a




480       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
"frank" of his, on a coarse envelope; but he
wanted a well-written autograph, not imagining
that so great a man could write so blindly, except
when in haste. So he wrote to him  of the
one he had, that he only had succeeded in making it out by consulting a congressional directory,
a legal friend, and the superintendent of a manufacturing corporation. To this communication
Mr. Sumner sent the following holograph note:"BOSTON, 21st September,'61.
" DEAR SIR: I am glad you have so good a
committee to help you in learning to read.
"Faithfully yours,
" CHARLES SUMNER."
Ten years afterwards the recipient of the note
reminded Mr. Sumner of the incident, whereupon the senator laughed heartily, and said, " I
declare, I was not aware before that I ever said
anything quite so Spartan as that!"
One of our Boston Latin School boys gives an
account of the way in which he secured Mr.
Sumner's autograph, thus: 
"When returning one evening from one of the
Lowell lectures, in the horse car, a gentleman of
imposing appearance attracted my attention




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        481
He looked as I imagined the old Roman senators
did. I was watching him closely, when it flashed
across my mind that he could be no other than
Charles Sumner. I found I was not mistaken,
I had always felt a great desire to see him, and
I could not have had a better opportunity.
" I was much interested in making a collection
of autographs, and was soon questioning whether
or not it would be rude to ask him for his, when
he arose to get out of the car. I thought,' Now
is my time, and immediately rushed from the
car, just in time to overtake him. He noticed
me approaching, and inquired the way to James
Freeman Clarke's church. I said I should be
very happy to walk to the church with him.
Coming, just then, to a lamp-post, I asked him if
he would be willing to give me his autograph.
He answered so pleasantly, that I felt almost as
if I had conferred a pleasure on him. Having
a book with me, I took from it a scrap of paper,
and with a pencil he wrote, -'Yours truly,'CHARLES SUMNER.' In the Street, Nov. 17, 1873.'
"We then continued our way to the church, he
31




482        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
talking very familiarly with me. As I left him at
the door, he shook hands with me, and lifting his
hat, bade me' good by,' while I scarcely realized
that I had had a walk and talk with the' great
and good Sumner.'
Mr. Sumner did not love money enough to do
an ungenerous thing to secure it.
In November, 1856, Albert Sumner, who, like
his illustrious brother, was a splendid specimen
of a man, of noble bearing and courteous manners,
was lost, with all his family, in the wreck of the
Lyonnese.
Mrs. Albert Sumner was a lady of fortune; and
dying without a will, her property went by law
to her husband's relatives; but such was the
honor of Charles Sumner, that he insisted that
this estate, as far as it could be disentangled from
that of his brother, should be passed over to the
relatives of the unfortunate lady.
Surely this was an act of noble unselfishness
rarely met with in the world where so many —
even men who have more money than they can
take care of- seem playing at the game which
children  call "grab," the motto of which is,
" Keep all you've got, and catch what you can."




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       483
Mr. Sumner's stern principle prevented his
living in a style beyond his means. He enjoyed
only what he could pay for at the time of purchase. One of his friends says that some years
ago, while Mr. Sumner was living very modestly
in the suburbs of Washington, he visited him. He
occupied at the time a room and bedroom, and
took his breakfast there, but dined in the city.
He was about to pay his landlady, and holding
out his hand towards his friend, with seven ten
dollar gold pieces in it, he said, " That is for my
monthly rent and my breakfast." His guest expressed surprise that he did not live in a little
more style, when he replied, " The country cannot pay me any more, and I cannot live beyond
my means."
Even to the last, when he had a home of his
own, elegantly furnished and rich with gems of
ancient and modern art, he used the democratic
horse-car in going to and from the Senate, and
always, except in taking drives for pleasure,
when he hired a carriage from a livery stable.
A gentleman from Boston asked him, not long
ago, why he did not keep horses.
"Because," he replied, "if I did so, I could




484        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
not indulge  my taste for pictures, statuary,
rare books, and manuscripts. I can live without
horses, but I cannot live without the other
things."  They had become necessities with
him.
A lady of Boston, who was one of his most
familiar friends, and who, with her honored husband, has been true to him through all his trials,
was among his last visitors. In attracting her
attention to a malachite table of rare value and
beauty, he said, "This, Mrs., is the result
of my lecture in Brooklyn, and those vases (he
pronounced the word vizes) are the result of
my Philadelphia lecture. He called attention to
a Psyche, and said, "I bought that on account
of the strong resemblance it bears to my twin
sister;" thus showing that he had carried the
memory of her sweet face, as well as of her
lovely spirit, through life with him.
Beneath what seemed Mr. Sumner's cold and
unimpressible manner, there lay a warmth of
heart of which we now and then catch a gleam,
and that shows the man as he really was.
One of those who knew him best, who was a
confidant in hours when he threw off his public




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        485
burdens and laid aside the veil which usually
hung between his heart and the world, says,
"When Mr. Sumner's brother George lay suffering at the hospital, whither he had gone for
treatment, and where he died, it was the senator's
custom to visit him every morning.
"He always entered the room with his natural
high bearing and kingly tread, and asked in deep
tones the usual questions, and said whatever of
interest he had to say. He then bade the sufferer
good morning, and went out, apparently as unmoved as a stone.
"But the attendants reported that as soon as he
had passed the screen that shielded his brother,
his heart gave way, and he manifested deep feeling, the great tears rolling down his cheeks as
he passed out of the room."
He was then, doubtless, carried back to the
days of his childhood. The statesman was lost
in the brother; ambition for the future was
dimmed by regrets for the past; and his sympathy for all, concentrated in a yearning desire
to save the partner of his childhood from pain
and death.




486       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A Struggle for Life. - Opposition to the Centennial Bill. - Speech against the Bill. - Insults
from the Projectors. - Leaves the Senate Chamber for the Last Time. - Last Hours. - His
Dying Charge. -Announcement of Mr. Sumner's Death. - A Mourning Nation. - Funeral
at King's Chapel. - Procession to Mount Auburn.- The Closing Scene.
CHARLES SUMNER received his death-blow in
1856; but he was long in dying.  A man of
weaker nerves, or one without a high purpose
in life, would have yielded to the power of disease rather than endure a slow martyrdom for
years. But as long as there was work for him
to do, he bravely struggled on, compelling himself to undertake what was really beyond his
strength.
It was in this spirit that he set himself to perform what proved to be his last public act.




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        487
As he had never learned the art -unfortunately
easy to so many — of putting his hand into the
public treasury, neither had he learned that of
letting other men do so, if he knew their purpose.
Believing that the "Centennial Bill " was a
huge scheme for benefiting a private corporation
at the public expense, Mr. Sumner delivered a
speech on the subject Friday, March 6. In the
part we quote he was more humorous than was
his wont:
"But I have something more to say- very
briefly, however  on the way in which these
corporators, if I may so express myself, worked
into their present position. They came here for
their bill; they obtained it with the condition
that I have mentioned -a condition openly announced and accepted by their representatives
on this floor, and also in the other House accepted fully; and the venerable senator from
Pennsylvania on my right was so jubilant that he
announced at once that they would obtain the
money without delay. Ah, sir, does not the poet
tell us, -'Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows'?




488       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
It was so with them.  Their morning laughed,
and the zephyr fanned their cheeks. They were
confident of success.  They began with their
own immediate fellow-citizens, and there they
failed. They then turned to the States; there
again they failed; and now, sir, morning no
longer laughing, and zephyr no longer blowing,
they turn to the United States, and ask us to assume this great expense.  There should have
been more frankness originally. If the United
States were at any time to be called to assume
this expense, they should have known it in advance.
"Nor is this all.  The United States should
have had the conduct of the whole business. It
should not have been entered upon by a private
corporation of stockholders. Permit me to say,
in a certain sense they are usurpers; occupying
a supreme national function. Thus far, all world's
fairs have been governmental in origin and conduct, and I see no reason in our national condition why we should be an exception. I do not
find that we have facilities for massing capital
and obtaining the means for a great world's fair
that should make us an exception to the received




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.       489
rule and practice of other nations. The world's
fair should have been in the hands of the nation.
"And now, still further, I am about to say that,
in my judgment, a proper celebration of the one
hundredth natal day of the republic should have
been by the nation, and not by any private corporation. But these private corporators have
worked themselves into the business.  The
authentic story of the Siberian bear is revived.
You all remember it. The bear leaped upon
a horse, and he ate so furiously that he absolutely ate his way into the harness and drew
the sledge. I know not if our Philadelphia bear
has not already eaten itself into the harness.
But has not the time come to stop?  I think
we must give the bear notice to quit; at least
let him  know that he cannot drag this nation
into any world's fair."
Monday evening, March 9, was the last time
that Mr. Sumner conversed sociably on matters
of the day. A writer in a Washington paper,
who passed several hours with him, and found
him free from actual pain, gives the following
account of the interview: 
" At eight o'clock on Monday evening I made




490        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
my last call on Senator Sumner. He greeted
me, saying,'I am so weary thinking over my
speech on finance! I wanted a change, -a ray
of sunlight,- and I am glad you have come.'
He at once began to talk on European politics,
which, to him, was an outspread map, and whose
kaleidoscopic changes he always viewed with
absorbing interest. He spoke of Gladstone —
his noble struggle in the cause of liberalism,
his success, his failure, and his fall; he gave
a sketch of a breakfast with him, and summed
up by expressions of his firm faith in the ultimate triumph of those principles which Gladstone so nobly championed.' A great man, under
the shadow of defeat,' said he,'is taught how
precious are the uses of adversity; and as an oak
tree's roots are strengthened by its shadow, so
all defeats in a good cause are but resting-places
on the road to victory at last.' He spoke of the
patchwork empire of Germany; of Bismark and
De la Marmora; of truth, stranger than fiction,
viz., of the Italian statesman's assertion of Bismark's offer to cede to France a portion of German
territory; of the impolicy of the annexation of
Alsace and Lorraine; of the differences with the




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.                491
Catholic church, the imprisonment of her prelates
- and then, taking a volume of Milton, he read,
in deep, rich tones of tender melody, his famous
sonnet upon the persecution of the Waldenses,
during Cromwell's protectorate, as follows: —'Avenge, 0 Lord! thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,
Forget not; in thy book record their groans,
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundred fold, who, having learned thy way
Early, may fly the Babylonian woe.'
"In closing, he added,' Thus History revenges
herself.'
" About this time his evening mail was brought;
whenever he  came to  an  interesting  note  or
letter, he would look it over and then hand it to
me to read.  The first was from  an art association
in Boston, saying that the Duke de Montpensier,
of Spain, had agreed to loan his valuable collection of pictures, valued at five hundred thousand
dollars, to the association, provided they paid




492        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
packing, transportation, and insurance; and as
the laws of the United States limit the time of
international loan free of duty to six months, it
needed a special act of Congress to keep the
paintings two years, so as to pay expenses by
their exhibition, and he desired speedy legislation. He asked me if I had seen them when in
Spain. I answered him, I had, and described
several of those I remembered best. He said,'In the Senate I do not think there will be much
difficulty; but in the House,' he added, smiling,'Ben Butler can put it through, as he does,
with his white horse, everything else. Why, he
is a political Cagliostro.'
" The next letter was from Philadelphia, an
anonymous attack of the bitterest description,
impugning his motives concerning his speech
on the International Centenary Exposition, winding up with a threat of violence, which I forbear
to transcribe. As he handed it to me, he said,
good humoredly,'I am used to such letters.' I
read it, and as I did so, consigned it to the blazing
grate.  The next letter was from Indiana; one
of those good, whole-souled letters, full of sympathy and admiration, with an urgent, earnest in



LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        493
vitation for him to visit the writer next summer,
and an offer of generous and unstinted hospitality.'There,' said he,'you have burned the bane, and
here is the antidote.' His next letter was from
Boston, full of hearty thankfulness for his restoration to health and cheer for the future. It was
closely written, and as he handed it to me, he
said,'This is no summer friend.'
" The last of many letters was one of congratulation about the Massachusetts legislative resolutions, rescinding the vote of censure. I never
saw him look more happy than when he was reading it. He then arose and showed me with satisfaction the legislative resolutions, beautifully
engrossed on parchment. I asked,' Will you address the Senate when they are presented?'
He replied,'The dear old Commonwealth has
spoken for me, and that is enough.'"
Tuesday, March 10, at two o'clock, he took a
seat in the Senate Chamber beside a brother senator, also a prominent opponent of the Centennial
Bill, and told him, with an evident feeling of annoyance, of the offensive anonymous letters
which had been sent him.
His friend turned his mind from this by allud



494       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
ing to the recent action of the Massachusetts
legislature, at which Mr. Sumner expressed great
pleasure.
He talked with Senator Ferry, of Connecticut,
a fellow-sufferer from spinal disease, and told him
of his intense pain the night before, which had
forced him to send for his physician, who relieved
him by injecting morphine under the skin.
Mr. Sumner realized that day that he was going far beyond his strength. " I want to talk with
you about my health, for I fear I am working too
hard," he said to a friend a few hours before he
was attacked with the spasm which proved fatal.
Tuesday evening he entertained a few friends
at dinner. That was the last time he sat down
at his table. That night the summons came for
him to lay aside his armor, and to receive his discharge from a long and toilsome warfare. His
friends and physicians did all that mortals could do
to ward off the mightiest of foes - but in vain.
There were no kindred present to smooth his
dying pillow; but he was not without love and
sympathy in his parting hour. There were the
men of mind and culture, whose hearts had been
knit to his by common labors and sufferings in




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.         495
behalf of humanity; and there were there, also,
friends representing the race for whom he had
lived and toiled.
Even while dying, he still pleaded for the cause
that was dearer to him than life. Almost his last
words were an appeal to those about him, who
held positions in the national councils, to consummate the last great act of justice to the colored
race.
Judge Hoar, of Massachusetts, who stood beside his bed, received the great senator's dying
charge, " Do not let the Civil Rights Bill fail! "
Solomon said, "I sleep, but my heart waketh."
So Sumner, when lulled to sleep by necessary
opiates, was awake to his life-work, and murmured his charge to all who had any influence in
the government, " Don't let the bill fail! "
Again he begged with earnestness that the bill
might not be lost. Judge Hoar stooped, and
with much emotion kissed the cold hand of the
senator.
Again Mr. Sumner spoke, and said, " I should
not regret this, if my book were finished. My
book! my book is not finished; but the great account is sealed."




496       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
About n6on on the 11th he raised his head,
and said to Senator Schurz, "Why! I can't see!
What does this mean?"  After hours of agony
he moaned, "I am so tired, I am so tired! I
can't last much longer! "
Just before he died, Judge Hoar gave him a
message from Ralph Waldo Emerson, to which
Mr. Sumner replied, with some difficulty, "Tell
Emerson that I love and revere him."
To a colored friend who stood chafing his cold
hand in the vain effort to restore the lost circulation, he said tenderly, " My poor Johnson, you
can soon rest."  To one who said, "I wish I
could do something to warm your hands," he replied, " You never can."
Being told that his friend, Hon. Samuel Hooper,
had come, he looked at him, waved his hand, and
said, " Sit down."
At that moment his heart ruptured, a terrible
convulsion shook his frame, and he was no longer
among the living.
The great Irish Liberator exclaimed, when he
heard that Wilberforce was dead, "He has gone
up to heaven with a million broken fetters in his




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        497
hands!"  May not as much be said of our departed senator?
When it was announced that Charles Sumner
was dead, a pall seemed to fall over the Capitol;
and as the sad news flew over the wires there
was a nation of mourners. Even his enemies
were at peace with him now, and all differences
were forgotten in presence of that mighty reconciler-Death.
Previous to the removal of the remains to
Massachusetts, appropriate funeral services were
held in the Capitol.
There was a continued funeral service on the
route, and as the train neared Boston the crowds
assembled to meet it. In the shadows of evening,
he who had so often entered his native city in
the triumph of success, was borne into its streets
for the last time, in silence; and when the procession arrived at the State House, the remains
were formally delivered by the committee of
Congress into the keeping of the Governor of
Massachusetts, and lay in state in the Doric Hall
over the Sabbath, during which time they were
visited by fifty thousand people.
No funeral since that of Abraham Lincoln has
32




498        LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
been to our people so much like the burying of
their own dead as that of Charles Sumner.
On Monday, Boston seemed lost to everything
but the fact that it was the burial-day of her
great son.
The funeral procession, which consisted of the
dignitaries of the State and City, moved at about
ten o'clock down Beacon Street to King's Chapel,
which was elaborately draped with black, relieved
by flowers and vines. The services were conducted by Mr. Foote, pastor of the church, and
consisted of scriptural readings, music, and a
prayer, one sentence of which should be preserved in letters of gold: " Teach us to honor only
those who honor Thee, and to trust only those
who put their trust in Thee."
The shadows were beginning to fall when the
imposing cortege reached Mount Auburn, and
wound up the avenues and paths through which
Charles Sumner had so often followed his dead
with an aching heart. The personal friends of the
deceased, with the committees of Congress and
the Legislature, and the few surviving members of
the class of 1830 at Harvard, gathered beside the
open grave, while thousands of spectators stood




LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.        499
on the hillocks and all around, waiting for the
closing scene.
The clergyman read another portion of Scripture, the friends around the grave joined with
him in repeating the Lord's prayer, and then
all that remained of this mighty man of valor was
lowered into its silent bed, to slumber till the day
of the great awakening.
John G. Whittier, who loved Mr. Sumner with
a brother's heart, wrote to a beloved friend of
both, on hearing of his death, -
" I was in the act of mailing this, when the
telegram announced the death of our dear and
noble Sumner. My heart is too full for words.
In deepest sympathy of sorrow I reach out my
hand to thee, and to Mr., who loved him
so well.
" He has died as he wished to, at his post of
duty, and when the heart of his beloved Massachusetts was turning towards him with more
than the old-time love and reverence.
" God's peace be with him."
A few months before his death, Mr. Sumner
met Pastor Fliedner at the residence of a friend.
Their conversation turned upon war. The two




500       LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
gentlemen expressed their views, which closely
agreed, on the barbarity of war, and the great
wrong in nations, professedly Christian, perpetuating it, in the light of the nineteenth century.
At parting, they clasped hands, when Pastor
Fliedner said, "I hope we shall meet in the
land of peace!   " Let us hope so!" replied
Mr. Sumner, in those deep tones which gave
such power to every utterance of his.
The Germans have added another beatitude to
those given by our Lord in the sermon on the
mount: "Blessed are the homesick, for they
shall reach home." May we not say of Charles
Sumner, who followed the apostolic injunction,
"Seek peace and ensue it;"  "Blessed is the
peace-lover, for he has reached the land of
peace"?




-APPENDIX.
A.
As showing the kind of influence under which the children
of Sheriff Sumner were brought up, we insert below a paper
written by one of the daughters, at the age of sixteen, a year
before her death.
The delicate conscientiousness which is here seen also
formed a striking characteristic of Charles Sumner.
"MAY 1, 1836.
"It is now nearly a year since I first wrote my character; and
the self-examination necessary for it, I found so useful, that I
will try it again. I have hoped, and even believed sometimes,
that that fault (vanity), which was so predominant in my
character then, was partly cured; but in the very act of allowing that thought to take possession of my mind, I was,
perhaps, indulging the very thought which has given me so
much distress, and throwing myself off my guard when
temptation should arise.'Watch and pray therefore.' I
have done these, but not enough, and my mind is still far too
much engrossed with the follies and vanities of the world. I
have too great a desire to appear well, and I fear, to show off
how much I know. It is hard to own this to myself; but I
have need of being humbled.
"I have not enough moral courage - courage to tell the simple truth at all times, and in spite of everybody. I have not
guarded this carefully enough, and vanity is at the bottom
here. I thought I was conscientious, I had been so often
told so, and my vanity persuaded me to believe it, at least in
part.
(501)




502                    APPENDIX.
"I have a great lack of charity, that virtue which I feel
should be exercised towards me. My own failings should
teach me this. Prejudice and pride, too, form a part of my
character. I am still sometimes cross and fretful, and I fear
my temper is not at all improved. My own selfishness shocks
me, sometimes.
"The only thing in which I have improved this past year, is
that I have a greater desire to grow good, and I am more
thoughtful and watchful. I have wept and prayed over these
faults; and will they never be eradicated?  Must I always
endure this state of anxiety, this longing for pure feelings?
I will persevere, for I know that He who has helped me so
far, will continue his aid.
" How much reason I have to be thankful for my long illness
and the moments of delighful intercourse with God which I
then enjoyed, and how grateful ought I to be for being kept
so long from the enticements which we are subject to, who
mix with the world. But I have not improved it enough.
How happy should I be if I had! I fear that when I am
again well, all the impressions which my sickness has given
me will vanish like a mist. Ungrateful shall I be if they do.
" This is what I am just at sixteen."
A lady who was intimate with Mrs. Sumner says that she
remembers talking with her one day about her son after he
had received his injuries from  Brooks, and saying, "How
proud I should be if I had such a son! "   Yes," was the reply, " but I tremble."
Speaking of the father, the lady said that he would sometimes buy tickets to lectures on useful subjects, and give them
to his children, with the remark, "I shall be busy myself
this evening, and I wish you, when you return, to give a correct account of what you hear." In such ways he cultivated
in them habits of attention, and the power of communicating
what they knew.




APPENDIX.                    503
B.
The following letter, written by Mr. Sumner, just on the
eve of his setting sail for Europe, in 1837, was addressed
to one of his sisters, then a little girl. It reveals the future
man.
" MY DEAR:
" I don't remember that I ever wrote you a letter. I feel
confident, however, that your correspondence cannot be very
extensive; and, therefore, I may flatter myself that what I write
you will be read with attention, and, I trust, also, deposited
in your heart. Before trusting myself to the sea, let me say
a few words to you, which shall be my good by. I have
often spoken to you of certain habits of personal care, which
I will not here more particularly refer to than by asking you
to remember all that I have told you, and to endeavor to
follow my advice. I am very glad, my dear, to remember
your cheerful countenance. I shall keep it in my mind, as I
travel over the sea and land, and hope that when I return,
I may still find its pleasant smile ready to greet me. Try
never to cry. But, above all things, do not be obstinate or
passionate. If you find your temper mastering you, always
stop till you can count sixty, before you say or do anything.
Let it be said of you that you are always amiable. Love your
father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and all your
friends; cultivate an affectionate disposition. If you find that
you can do anything which will add to the pleasure of your
parents, or anybody else, be sure to do it. Consider every
opportunity of adding to the pleasure of others as of the
highest importance, and do not be unwilling to sacrifice some
enjoyment of your own, even some dear plaything, if, by doing
so, you can promote the happiness of others. If you follow
this advice, you will never be selfish or ungenerous, and
everybody will love you.  Besides this, my dear, always
tell the truth. Nobody was ever hurt who told the truth;




504                   APPENDIX.
while many who told falsehoods have been struck down, like
Ananias and Sapphira, whose history you have undoubtedly
read in the Acts of the Apostles. If you have ever done
anything wrong, always tell of it at once, and your parents
and God will forgive you; whereas, they never will if you try
to conceal it, or tell a falsehood with regard to it.
" Study all the lessons given you at school, and when at
home, in the time when you are tired of play, read some good
books which will help to improve the mind. If you follow all
this advice you will be amiable, good, and happy, and will
contribute very much to the happiness of others. Let me
know, on my return from Europe, that you have followed all
my dull advice. I should feel grieved very much if I should
understand that you had not followed it. If you will let
Horace read this letter, it will do the same, perhaps, as one
addressed to him, and perhaps he will follow my advice. Give
my love to mother, and Mary, and the rest.
" Your affectionate brother,          CHAs."
"ASTOR HOUSE, Dec. 7, 1837."