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DETROIT: E. D. S. TTLEE.
1874.

THE

LIFE AND TIMES

Charles Sumner.

ms BOYHOOD, EDUCATION, AND PUBLIC CAREER.

By elias ^>S0N.
Adthob op " The Life of the Hon. Henbt Wilson," " The Gazetteep
OF Massachusetts," aud Other Woeks.

** Justum et tenacem propositi virum,
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus iuBtantis tyrauni,
Kente quatlt solida." Hob. Cab., Lib. iii. 3.

BOSTON:
B. B. EUSSELL, 55 COENHILL.
PHILADBLPHIA: QUAEBB-CITT PUBLISHrNO-HOUSB.
DETROIT: B. D. S. TTLBE.
1874.

Entered according lo Act of Congress, In the year 1874, hy
B. B. EUSSELL,
In the Office of the Libraiian of Congress at Washingtoa*

Boston :
Eand, Avert, & Co., Stereottpebs and Pbintees.

TO THE

FRIENDS OF FREEDOM

THIS BIOGEAPHT OF A CHAMPION OF HUMAN EIGHTS

Post luEsgedMg Inscrikir.

PREFACE.

The design of this work is to set forth in distinct
relief the life, character, and public career of an accom
plished scholar, an incorruptible statesman, and an emi
nent and eloquent defender of human freedom. In every
age men have arisen, and, by the force of an original
genius and a lofty aspiration, have come to stand as
heralds in the fore-front of national progress. Their high
mission has been to point with a prophetic finger to the
coming issues ; to sway and elevate with a commanding
eloquence the public mind ; to meet the exigencies of the
times ; and to pursue, unterrifled by power and above the
reach of bribery, their own elected course with an un
faltering steadiness to the end. Such was the dauntless
John Hampden of the Long Parliament in the days of
Charles the First ; such was the patriot Samuel Adams
in our Revolutionary crisis ; such was the golden-voiced
Charles Sumner in the ordeal from which we now are
slowly rising. In the late tremendous struggle for human
freedom he stood forth pre-eminent as a prophet, as a
leader, as a counsellor, as an unflinching friend of the
oppressed ; and to his brave outlook over the whole field
of contest, to his extensive knowledge of political his-
&

6 PKBI'ACE.
tory, to his grand ideal of a perfect commonwealth, and
to his impassioned eloquence, must be in part .iscribed
the ardor which inspired our Union army, and the suc
cess which crowned the contest. Others grandly spoke
and fought for freedom : but none more eloquently, more
learnedly, more effectively, enunciated its eternal principles
than he ; nor more profoundly and persistently instilled
into the public mind its justice, grandeur, and necessity.
The iife of such a man is therefore a lesson and an in
spiration. It will ever be held as a kind of beacon-light
by the avant-couriers of freedom, not only in America,
but thi-oughout the world. In attempting to portray it,
I shall endeavor to be guided by the words of his own
favorite Shakspeare : —
"Speak of me as I am: nothm.c: extenuate.
Nor set down aught in malice,"
As often as practicable, he will be permitted to speak
in his own language ; and many of the most eloquent
passages from his ablest orations vnll be introduced. It
is hoped that this record, the materials for which have
been drawn from the most reliable sources', may prove
acceptable to the patriot, the scholar, the orator, and
the friend of freedom ; that it may serve in some degree
to promote the principles of liberty, fraternity, and
equality among men, and to awaken some fresh aspira
tions for a still nobler national life and destiny. The
author would here express his sincere thanks to those
personal friends of Mr. Sumner, and also to other gen
tlemen, who have kindly assisted in this undertaking.
Boston, Maroli 24, 1874.

OOlSTTEli^TS.

CHAPTER li Faos
The Sumner Family. — Name and Origin. — Physical Strength
and InteUectual Energy. — Settlement in America. — Wil
liam and Mary Sumner. — Gov. Increase Sumner. — Ances
tral Line of Charles Sumner, — Major Job Sumner, — Charles
Pinckney Sumner. — The Birth of Charles Sumner. — His
Brothers and Sisters  . . .11
CHAPTER II.
Charles Sumner at the Boston Latin School. — His Teachers,
School-Books, Studies, and Companions. — His Standing, —
Two Anecdotes IQustrative of his Character, — " Macte vir-
tute," — Admission to Harvard University, — His Class
mates. — His Habits. — Personal Appearance and Studies. —
Extracts of Letters from Classmates. — " The White VesD,"
— Favorite Authors. — Chum aud Eooms. — Standing at
Graduation. — His "Book" .  22
CHAPTER III.
Mr. Sumner on leaving College. — Private Studies. — Opportuni
ties and Preparations. — Spirit of the Works of Genius. —
Daniel Webster. — Mr. Sumner enters the Law School. —
Method of Study. — Mr. Justice Story. — Mr. Sumner's Re
gard for him. — His Eloquent Tribute to him, — His Indebt
edness to him, — Mr, Sumner contributes to "The American
Jurist." — Studies with Benjamin Eand, Esq. — Eegard fot
the Law School. — Admission to the Bar. — "Sumner's Ee-
ports." — Lectures to Dane Law School. — Edits Dunlap's
'' Admiralty Practice." — Promise as a Lawyer . . .37
CHAPjTER IV.
Mr. Sumner visits Europe. — Chief -Justice Story's Letter. —
Anecdote. — Mr, Sumner's Eeception in England. — E. M.
Milnes. — AnotherLetter from Judge Story. — Visit to Paris.
— Gen. Levi'ls Cass. — Art Studies in Italy. — Glowing De
scription of the Country. — Thomas Crawford. — Anecdote
concerning Thomas Aquinas. — Acquaintances in Germany.
— Letter from Prescott, — Eegard for Boston, — His Home
on his Eetum from Europe. — Lectures. — Edits "Vesey's
Keports." — Eemarks from " The Law Eeporter " . . .48
CHAPTER V.
The steady Increase and Arrogance of the Slave Power. — Mr.
Garrison's Efforts to resist it. — Opprobrium cast upon the
Abolitionists. — The Annexation of Texas, — Mr. Sumner's
View of Slavery in "The True Grandeur of Nations." —
Compliments of Eichard Cobden, Chief-Justice Story, and

o CONTENTS.
Theodore Parker. — Efforts to prevent Final Vote on An
nexation of Texas. — Takes opeu Ground against Slavery. —
Preparation for his Com-se. — His Persistency . . .61
CHAPTER VI.
Mr. Sumner's Eulogy on Mr. Justice Story, —His Tribute to the
. Memory of Jolin Pickering, —-Oration before the Phi Beta
^appa Society of Harvard University, — Eeference to Dr.
Chaiming, -Eloquent Extract from the Oration. — Mr, Suna-
ner's Method of meeting the Slave Power.— His Conipli-
nient to Jolm Q. Adams, —His Apostrophe to Darnel Web
ster. — Letter to E, C, Winthrop, — Distrust of the Whig
Party, — Argument on the Validity of Enlistments. — Speech
on the War. — "White Slavery iu the Barbary States." —
Interest in Pi-ison Discipline. — Oration on ".'Fame and
Glory." — Speech in Whig Convention  74
CHAPTER VII.
The Formation of the Free-soil Party. — Defection of the Whig
Party. — Mr. Sumner's Speech announcing his Withdraw^
from that Party. — Aggressions of the Slaveholding Power.
— The Duty of Massachusetts. — The Commanding Question.
— Mr. Sumner's Oration on "The Law of Human Progress."
— Greek and Eoiuan CivUization. — Power of the Press. —
Signs of Progress. — Course of the True Eeformer. — Speech
on the New Party. — Opposition to his Views. — Unity ot Aim
and Advanced Standing of Mr. Sumner and Mr. Garrison . 96
CHAPTER VIII.
Mr. Sumner's Literary Pursuits. — PoUtical Views. — Eemarks
ou Utopian Ideas. — Position detined, — Oration before the
Ainerican Peace Societ.v, — War Pictures. — The Free-soU
Party. — Convention at Worcester, — Address to the Citizens
of Massachusetts, — Argument in respect to Colored Schools.
Webster's Subserviency to the South, — Fugitive-Slave Law.
— Demands of Free-soil Party. — Future Course indicated.
— Death of his Brother  115
CHAPTER IX.
Mr. Sumner's Election to the United-States Senate. —He makes
no Pledges, — The Tm-ning Vote, — Opinion of the Press. —
Letter to Mr. WUsou, — Letter of Mr. Whittier. — Mr. Sum
ner's Acceptance of his Office. —Description of his Person 
Letters to Theodore Parker. — Euti-ance to the Senate. — His
Booms and Company, — The Ordeal before him, — His Speech
on Kossuth, — On the Iowa EaUroad BUl, —Letter to Theo
dore Parker. — Cheap Ocean Postage. — A Memorial of the
Society of Friends. — Tribute to Eobert Eantoul inn —
Speech on the Fugitive-Slave BiU. — Freedom of Speech' —
— Slavery Sectional, Freedom National. — Spirit of our Lit
erature against Slavery  joo
CHAPTER X.
Mr. Sumner's Tribute to Mr. Downing, — His Speech at LoweU
— His Speech respecting Armories. — JNIr. Sumner as a Cor
respondent. — His Letters. — The Pacific EaUroad. — Secret

CONTENTS.

Sessions of the Senate. — His Election to Massachusetts Con
stitutional Convention, 1853. — His Speech on MiUtary Af
fairs. — On the Basis of Eepresentation. — On the BiU of
Ki^ts. — "A Finger Point frora Plymouth Eock." — Eeply
to Mr. Douglas. — A Day of Trial, — "Landmark of Free
dom." — Importance of the Question at Issue. — Iniquity of
Slave System. — Plea for Missouri Compromise, — Future
of Anti-Slavery Cause. — Speech on Passage of Kansas and
Nebraska BUl. — Defence of Clergy. — Life in PerU . .164
CHAPTER XI.
The Persistent Course of Mr. Sumner. — Petition of the Citizens
of Boston. — Condemnation of the Fugitive-Slave BUl. —
Defence of Massachusetts. — Violent Opposition. — Opinions
of Messrs. Chase, Giddings, Andrew, and Channing. — A
Tribute from WThittier. — A Specimen of Senatorial Tactics.
— Anti-Slavery Sentiment Extending. — Formation of the
Eepublican Party. — Mr. Sumner's Eeception and Speech
at Worcester. — Tyranny of the Slave-Power. — Backbone
needed. — The American Merchant. — Position and Out-look.
Plan of Emancipation, — Spread of Anti-Slavery Sentiment.
— The American Party  187
CHAPTER XII.
Struggles in Kansas. — Excitement through the Country and in
Congress. — Eemarks of Mr. Sumner on the Eeports of
Messrs. Douglas and CoUamer. — His Speech ou the Admis
sion of Kansas. — The Exordium. — Eeference to Mr. Doug
las. — Nebraska BUl a Swindle. — Defence of Massachusetts.
— Assault on Mr. Sumner. — Effect of this AssaiUt ou the—
North and South. — Mr. Sumner at Cape May; at Cresson;
at PhUadelphia  .211
CHAPTER XIII.
The Eeception of Jlr, Sumner at Boston. — His Eemarks on the
Occasion. — His Health Precarious. — His Letters evincing
his Interest in Kansas, — Ee-election to the United-States
Senate. — His Eemarks thereon. — Visits Europe. — He de
cUnes a PubUc Dinner in Paris. -^ Letter from Heidelberg. —
Anxiety to return to his Official Duties. — A Third Visit to
• Europe, — Letter on Leaving. — Diagnosis and Treatment of
his Disease. — Fortitude. — Life at MoutpelUer. — Eeturn to
United States. — Again in the Senate. — Sharp Eeply to Mr.
Mason. — John Brown and Mr. Sumner's Coat . . . 233
CHAPTER XIV.
Mr. Sumner represents the Spirit of the North. — "The Crime
against Kansas." — Exordium. — Analysis of the Speech. —
Slave Ma-sters. — Freedom of Speech. — WUliam Llo;vd Gar
rison. — By Nature every Man is Free, — Property in Man
not recognized bv the Constitution, — Closing Words. — Ee
marks of Mr, Chestnut. — Mr. Sumner's Eeply. — Eeception
of his Speech by the Public Press. — Personal Violence at-
temnted. — Eesolutions of Massachusetts Legislature. —
Noinination of Pre.sidential Candidates, 1860. — Speeches at
Cooper Institute, Worcester, and other Places . . .232

10 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XV.
Character of the Southern People. —Preparations for Secession.
— Letter of Andrew Jackson. — B"irmness of Mr. Sumner. —
Extract from his Letters. —Mr. Lincohi's Inaugural. — Mi.
Sumner appointed Chan-man of the Committee on Foreign
Eelations. — His Influence with Mr, Lincoln, — His Passage
through Baltimore, — A Steady Friend of the Colored Eace.
— Speech at Worcester. —Advocates Emancipation.-— Irib-
nte to Col, E. D. Baker, — Speech on the Trent Affair^ —
Eesolutions for Emancipation,— Abolition of Slavery m Dis
trict of Columbia.— Hayti and Liberia. — Confiscation and
Liberation. —Proclamation of Emancipation. — Its Effect . 270
CHAPTER XVI.
Ee-election to the Senate. —Introduces various BUls. — Activity.
Address on Foreign Eelations. — Poetical Tribute. — Franklin
and SUdeU. — Taste for Literary Curiosities. — Speech on the
Constitutional Amendment. — Freedmen's-Bureau BUl. —
Friendly Eelations with Mr. Lincoln. — Success of the Union
Arms. — Death of Mr. Lincoln. — Mr. Sumner's Eulogy . 284
CHAPTER XVII.
Eeconstruction, — Efforts on Behalf of the Freedmen, — Eemarks
on the " EquaUty BUl," — On the Fourteenth Amendment.
— Opposition to Compromise. — Plea for the Elective Fran
chise. — Death and Character of his Mother. — His Marriage
and Divorce. — On naming ChUdren. — Suffrage for Colored
People at the North, — Eupture between the President and
Congress. — Eemoval of Mr. Stanton. — Impeachment of the
President. — Letter to Mr. Stanton. — Equal Suffrage, —
Alabama Claims, — The Cubans. — Dominican Treaty. —
Eupture with Gen. Grant. — Speech on San Domingo . . 301
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Supplementary CivU-Eights BiU. — Letter on the San-Do
mingo Affair. — Tone of his Criticisms on the Administration.
— His IUuess. — His View of the liepubUcan and Democratic
Parties. — Support of Mr, Greeley, — Eeception in Boston.
— Visit to Europe. — Nomination as Governor of Massachu
setts, — Eesolutions on the Battle-Flags, — His Desire to raise
Money by Lecturing. — Last Visit to Boston. — DecUning
Health. — Last Labors in Congress. ^- Eecision of the Cen- *
sure for his Eesolution ou the Battle-Flags . . . .322
CHAPTER XIX.
Mr. Sumner's House at Washington. — His Love of Art.  Last
Sickness and Death. — Obsequies at Washington. —Meeting
of the General Court. — Meeting at FaneuU HaU, — Eemains
at the Doric HaU, •:— Services at King's Chapel. — At Mount
Auburn. — Personal Appearance, — EeUgious Views 
AVorks,— Style, — Integrity.— Consistency.— StatesmansIuD
and Leammg. — Fame  ^ gg.
APPENDIX.
Mb. Sumnek's Well  ggg
Epitaph  ggg

THE LIFE AND TIMES

CHARLES SUMNER.

CHAPTEE I.
The Sumner FamUy. — Name and Origin, — Physical Strength and
InteUectual Energy. — Settlement in America. — WiUiam and
Mary Sumner. — Gov. Increase Sumner. — Ancestral line of
Charles Sumner. — Major Job Sumner. — Charles Pinckney Sum
ner. — The Birth of Charles Sumner. — His Brothers and Sisters.

" Nothing is more shamefiil for a man than to found his title to esteem, not
on his ovm merits, hut on the fame of hie ancestors. The glory ofthe fathers is
douhtless to their children a most precious treasure ; hut to enjoy it without
transmitting it to the next generation, and without adding to it yourselves, —
this is the height of imhecHity." — The True Grandeur of Nations, hy Chakles
SODTEB.

HE Sumner family * is one of the most ancient
and respectable of New England. The name
Sumner is said to have been originaUy Som-

* See Genealogy of the Sumner FamUy, by WUliam B. Trask.
Boston : 'iSo^ jj

12 LIFE AND TIMES.
moner, or Somner, given to one whose office was to
summon parties into court. The family has long been
noted for its physical strength and inteUectual
energy ; and from it have sprung many men of mark
and influence. The name is frequently met with in
the coUege catalogues, and in the early archives of the
Commonwealth. The American head of the family
was William Stjmnee, who, with his wife Mary and
three sons, — WiUiam, Roger, and George, — came
from Bicester, Oxfordshire, Eng., and settled in Dor
chester, Mass., anterior to 1637. The country now
covered with highly-cultivated farms and gardens,
and decorated with handsome viUas and imposing
mansions, was at that period a wilderness, the dreary
abode of prowUng beasts and savages. With the
other colonists, WiUiam Sumner bravely met the
dangers and endured the hardships of the new
settlement, and bore a prominent part in laying the
foundation of the important town of Dorchester.
He was made a iieeman in 1637, and for twelve
years was elected as a deputy to the General Court.
In 1663 he was chosen " clerk of ye training
band ; " and in September, 1676, was on a jury for a
trial " of ye Indians in Boston." The old portraits
of WiUiam and Mary Sumner, surmounted with the
family coat of arms and insignia, and bearing date
of 1623, were kept until within a few years by one

OF chables sumnee. 13
branch of the famUy, when they feU " to shreds
under the hand of Time."
From William, the original settler, through his son
WiUiam, grandson George, great-grandson Edward,
and great-great-grandson Increase (noted for his
colossal size and herculean strength), was descended
Gov. Increase Sumner, a man of commanding pres
ence and of vigorous inteUect, who was born in Rox
bury, Nov. 27, 1746 ; graduated at Harvard CoUege
in 1767 ; and succeeded Samuel Adams as governor
of the State in 1797. In reference to his stately
bearing, as contrasted with the decrepitude of his
predecessor, an old apple-woman said, on seeing him
pass at the head of the legislature from the Old
South Church, " Thank God ! we have got a gov
ernor that can walk, at last." Among the many
honest and characteristic declarations which he
made, the foUowing seems to have been a guide, not
only to his own, but to the poUtical course of other
members of the Sumner family : —
" The man who, regardless of pubUc happiness, is
ready to faU in with base measures, and sacrifices
conscience, honor, and his country, merely for his
own advancement, must (if not wretchedly hard
ened) feel a torture, the intenseness of which
nothing in this world can equal."
Roger Sumner, second son of the original settlers

14 LIFE AND TIMES.
WiUiam and Mary Sumner, early removed to Lan
caster with other Christians for " the gathering of a
church." Remaining there untU the town was de
stroyed by the Indians, he returned to Milton, where
he died May 26, 1698. His son WiUiam, it is sup
posed, married Esther Puffer of Dorchester, Jan. 2,
1697, and had, inter alios, Seth, born Dec. 15, 1710 ;
and married for his second wife Lydia Badcook in
1742. He was the father of thirteen chUdren;
among whom Job, the fifth son, born AprU 23, 1754,
graduated at Harvard CoUege in 1778, and became a
major in the Massachusetts Une of the army of the
Revolution. He was a man of abiUty, " sustained
the reputation of an attentive and intelligent offi
cer," and died from being poisoned " by eating of a
dolphiii," Sept. 16, 1789 ; leaving a son Job, who was
born at Milton Jan. 20, and baptized March 17, 1776.
His name was subsequently changed to Charles
Pinckney. He was educated at Harvard, and pos
sessed considerable poetic abiUty. At his gradua
tion he deUvered a commencement-poem on " Time,"
together with a valedictory class-poem, both of which
possess some degree of merit, and are stiU preserved.
In the last year of his coUegiate course he pubUshed
a poem entitled " The Compass," in wliich occurs a
quatrain that seems to indicate, to some extent, the
leading idea, the aspiration, and the effective Ufe-
work, of his iUustrious son.

OF CHARLES SUMNEE. 15
" More true inspired, we antedate the time
"WTien futile vrar shall cease through every clime ;
No sanctioned slavery Afric's sons degrade,
But equal rights shall equal earth pervade."
Mr. Sumner studied law, was admitted to the bar,
was several years elected clerk of the General Court,
and in 1825 was appointed to the office of sheriff of
Suffolk County. In this position he remained until
his decease, which occurred on the twenty-fourth day
of April, 1839. " He was the last high sheriff who
retained the antique dress derived from EngUsh
usage." He was a gentleman of the old school, — taU,
weU-bred, and dignified in demeanor, fond of read
ing, and of considerable oratorical abiUty. He de
Uvered an appropriate eulogy on Washington at
Milton, Feb. 22, 1800 ; and a Fourth-of-July oration
in Boston in 1808. He was highly esteemed for the
integrity and independence of his character. Mr.
Sumner married Miss Relief, daughter of David * and
Hannah (Hersey) Jacobs of Hanover, April 25, 1810,
— a lady of strong mind, of an amiable disposition,
* He was the sou of David and Hannah (Eichmond) Jacobs of
Hanover. He served as oue of the committee of safety during the
Eevolution ; and died iu 1808, aged 79 years. He was the son of
Joshua Jacobs of Scituate, who married Mary James in 1726, His
father was David Jacobs, who settled in Scituate as early as 1688,
and was a schoolmaster, and a deacon iu the church.

16 LIFE AND TIMES
and of graceful bearing. They resided in Hancock
Street, and were attendants of King's Chapel, of
which Mr. Sumner was for some time the clerk, and
of which the Rev. James Freeman, D.D., the Rev.
F. W. P. Greenwood, D.D., and afterwards the Rev.
Ephraim Peabody, D.D., were the eloquent pastors.
Chaeles Sumnee, whose name is intimately asso
ciated with the stirring poUtical events as weU as with
the Uterature of the country for the last thirty years,
and whose life and pubUc services this work is intend
ed to commemorate, was the oldest son of Charles
Piackney and Relief (Jacobs) Sumner, and was born
in May (now Revere) Street, Boston, on the sixth
day of January, 1811. The site of his birth-place
is now occupied by the Bowdoin Schoolhouse. His
father subsequently removed to the plain, unosten
tatious, four-story brick ^building. No. 20, Hancock
Street, which was for a long period the home of the
family. The house, of which a good view is here
given, fronts toward the west, and stands on an eligi
ble site about half way down the decUvity of the
street. It is now occupied by the Hon. Thomas
RusseU, late CoUector of the port of Boston, and
contains many interesting mementoes of the Sumner
famUy, among which may be mentioned the old
mahogany writing-desk on whose tablet the eloquent
senator penned many of those pregnant sentences

THE EARLY HOME OF CHARLES SUMNER,
No. 20 Hancock St., Boston,
Now the Residence of the Hon. Thomas Russell.

OF chaeles sumnee. 17
wliich moved to its profoundest chambers the free
spirit of the nation.
The other children of Charles Pinckney and ReUef
Sumner were, — Matilda, twin-sister of Charles : she
was slender and fragUe in person, and modest and
retiring in manner. She died of consumption, March
6, 1832, and is buried at Mount Auburn. Albeet,
born Aug. 31, 1812 : he became a sea-captain, mar
ried Mrs. Barclay of New York, and was drowned, to
gether with his wife and only daughter Kate, an in
teresting girl about fourteen years old, on their way
to France, whither the parents were going for the
sake of their daughter's health. Heney, born
Nov. 22, 1814, married and died in Orange, N.J.
Geoege, bom Feb. 5, 1817, who became a traveller,
scholar, and author, and died in Boston Oct. 6,
1863. Janf:, born April 28, 1820, a very lovely
girl : she died of spinal disease, Oct. 7, 1837.
Mary, bom April 28, 1822, and died unmarried.
HoEACE, born Dec. 25, 1824, and was lost by the
wreck of the ship " EUzabeth " on Fire Island, July
16, 1850. And Jitlia, born May 5, 1827, and now
the wife of John Hastings, M.D., of San Francisco.
They have three chUdren, — Alice, Edith, and
JuiiA. Mrs. ReUef, widow of Charles Pinckney
Sumner, was born Feb. 29, 1785, died of con
sumption, in Boston, June, 1866, and is buried be-

18 LIFE AND TIMES
side her husband in the family enclosure in Mount
Auburn. Charles Sumner came into life under favorable
auspices. He was of the vigorous and healthful
Puritan stock : his father was a gentleman of educa
tion and of courtly manners, his mother a lady of re
markable good sense and benevolence. They were
both emulous, and they had the means, to give a
sound and accomplished education to their children.
The tuition of Charles was at first confided to his
aunt, Miss Hannah Richmond Jacobs,* who long
taught a private school on Beacon Hill, Boston, and
who is still living in Hanover at the advanced age
of ninety-one years.
He was a bright-eyed, obedient, and well-behaved
boy, of tall and slender form, and quick of appre
hension. He began to ascend the ladder of learning
* This lady, whom I visited in March, 1874, stiU retains her facul
ties, and writes a fair and handsome hand. She has knit four pairs
of worsted stockings since Christmas last. She is taU and slender iu
form, correct and animated in speech, aud very bright for a person
of her age. She early went to Uve in Boston with her sister EeUef,
who boarded in the same famUy with Mr. Charles Pinckney Sum
ner, where an acquaintance was formed which eventuated in mar
riage. Her sister MatUda was the second wife of Deacon Galen
James of Medford. Miss Hannah Eichmond Jacobs speaks of
Charles Sumner as an obedient, studious, and promising pupil, very
fond of reading and of repeating speeches, and as having been uni
formly kind to her through Ufe. In his vriU he remembered her
by a life-annuity of |500.

OP CHARLES SUMNEE. 19
by the study of Perry's SpeUing-book and " The
Child's Assistant ; " and, with his twin-sister Matilda,
was soon initiated into the elements of arithmetic,
grammar, and geography. " The Columbian Orator "
of Mr. Caleb Bingham, then a popular school-book
in Boston and vicinity, gave him great delight. He
early became an exceUent reader ; and his speech, as
might be weU inferred from the influences'" of a home
of culture, was naturally correct and easy. The elo
quent Dr. James Freeman was his early pastor, and,
with other learned gentlemen, a frequent visitor at
the Sumner house, which was then, as afterwards,
the centre of an inteUectual and refined society. In
accordance with Juvenal's idea,* the courteous father
of Charles Sumner entertained great reverence for
boys, and most assiduously instructed his children,
not only in respect to a polite behavior and the laws
of health, but also in regard to the use of the most
appropriate forms of speech ; so that the training of
his first-born son to the art of oratory might almost
be said to have commenced with infancy.
It is feUcitous that the earliest words which greet
the ears of children are correctly spoken. The
mother's tongue is the child's first grammar. To the
care which his parents, his pastor, and his teacher
* " Maxima debetur puero reverentia." — lab. 6, Sat. 14.

20 LIFE AND TIMES
bestowed upon his speech in his young life, some
thing of that elegance of diction and that copia ver
borum for which Charles Sumner subsequently be
came distinguished is no doubt attributable.
In his boyhood he was agile, healthful, hopeful,
and obUging ; yet ever more intent on reading and
improvement than on boisterous sport and pastime.
He was sent to the dancing-school; yet for this
amusement he had but Uttle incUnation. Occasional
ly he attended his father in his visits to the court-room,
and listened with juvenile curiosity to the arguments
of the bar : now and then he sent his mimic boat
across Frog Pond, his paper kite over the Capitol,
coasted down the slopes of Beacon HiU, or spent a
few days on a visit to his mother's early home in
Hanover, where, instead of working with the boys
upon the farm, he preferred to " speak his pieces '
in the barn or the old pine grove.* Yet his time
was mostly passed in his father's family, or in his
aunt Hannah's school-room, steadily pursuing the ele
ments of learning under the severe and rigid disci
pUne of that period. It was, however, noted even
*The old homestead of his grandfather David Jacobs, and the
birth-place of his mother, is in that part of Hanover caUed Assmippi,
and is now the residence of the Hon. Perez Simmons. An air of
quiet and comfort pervades the place.

OF CHAKLES SUMNEE. 21
at this time that he had an aspiration ; and a boy
with an aspiration is sent into the world for some
high purpose. He had also a decided will ; and
where there is a wiU there is a way.

CHAPTER n.
Charles Sumner at the Boston Latin School. — His Teachers, School-
books, studies, and Companions. — His Standing. — Two Anec
dotes Ulustrative of his Character. — " Macte Virtute." — Admis
sion to Harvard University. — His Classmates. — His Habits. —
Personal Appearance and Studies in CoUege. — Extracts of Letters
from his Classmates. — "The White Vest." — His Fondness for
Eeading, and his Favorite Authors. — His Chum and Eooms m
CoUege. — An Anecdote. — His Standing at Graduation. — His
" Book." " What manner of child shall tliis he ? " Sx. LtTKE.
" And like a sUver clarion rang
The accents of that unloiown tongue, —
'Excelsior!'" H. W. Longfellow.
jlT the age of ten years, Charles Sumner
was found quaUfied to enter the Boston
Latin School, then under the charge of the
accompUshed classical scholar Benjamin A. Gould,
and noted, as at present, for its thorough and persist
ent driU in the inceptive classical studies. Here
the tall and slender lad appUed himself closely to his
lessons; studying Adam's Latin Grammar (which
Mr. Gould edited with abUity), the Gloucester Greek
22

CHAKLES SUMNER. 23
Grammar, Euler's Algebra, Horne Tooke's Pantheon,
Irving's Catechism, and reading ComeUus NepOs,
SaUust, Csesar, Cicero, and VirgU; together with
Jacobs's Greek Reader, Mattaire's Homer, and other
books preparatory to admission to Harvard CoUege.
The late Joseph Pahner, M.D., was an assistant
instructor in the school, but was not then conscious
that he was moulding the spirit of one whom he was
afterwards to greet as the leading speaker on behalf .
of freedom in America. Among his school compan
ions at this period were George T. Bigelow, Robert
C. Winthrop, George S. HiUard, James Freeman
Clarke, Thomas B. Fox, WiUiam H. Channing,
Samuel F. Smith the poet, and others who have since
attained celebrity. Although Charles Sumner did
not hold the highest rank in scholarship on the ap
pointed lessons of his class, he was distinguished for
the accuracy of his translations from the Latin clas
sics, and for the briUiancy of his own original com
positions. He received in 1824 the third prize for a
translation from SaUust ; when one of the examiners
remarked, " If he does this when a boy, what
may we not expect of him when a man ? " Two
years later he obtained a prize for a theme in EngUsh
prose, and also another for a Latin poem. On gradu
ating he was honored with the Franklin Medal. He
is remembered by his schooUeUows at this period as

24 LIFE AND TIMES
being kind-hearted, thoughtful, courteous, though
exhibiting some slight consciousness of " being to
the manor born." This last trait in his character
sometimes drew a smUe from the members of his
famUy. On his lying in bed one morning untU after
the household had breakfasted, his mother rather
sharply said to him as he came down, " Why so late
this morning, Charles?" "CaU. me Mr. Sumner,
mother, if you please," said he, as if his dignity
were offended ; and so the point of the rebuke was
broken. Another anecdote exhibits the purity of his spirit
at this period. A certain lady nearly of his own
age was wont to meet him frequently on his way to
school ; when he would always greet her cheerfully
with the salutation, " Good morning I Macte
Virtute" (foUow virtue), as if this saying were
his creed. Whenever in after life she heard his
name, this salutation came to her impressively,
knowing as she did the strict integrity of his Ufe.
He continued five years at the Latin School ; when,
at the age of fifteen, he was found weU prepared for
entering Harvard CoUege, whose terms of admission
were somewhat less exacting than at present.
In the year 1826 he commenced his studies in the
classic haUs of Cambridge. Among his classmates
were, Thomas C. Amory, Jonathan W. Bemis, James

OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 25
r
Dana, Samuel M. Emery, John B. Kerr, EUsha R.
Potter, Jonathan F. Stearns, George W. Warren, and
Samuel T. Worcester. The accompUshed John T.
Kirkland was president of the university ; and
among the instructors were Edward T. Channing
in rhetoric, Levi Hedge in logic, George Otis in
Latin, John S. Popkin in Greek, .George Ticknor
in modem languages, and John Farrar in natural
science. His room during his first year was No. 17,
Stoughton HaU. In person he was at that time
unusuaUy taU for a youth of fifteen summers ;
and, though one of the six youngest of his
class of forty-eight, he stood among his feUows in
respect to height conspicuous. " When he entered
coUege," one of his classmates writes to me, " he
was taU, thin, and somewhat awkward. He had but
Uttle incUnation for engaging in sports or games,
such as kicking footbaU on the Delta, which the
other students were in almost the daily habit of en
joying. He rarely went out to take a walk ; and
almost the only exercise in which he engaged was
going on foot to Boston on Saturday afternoon, and
then returning in the evening. He had a remarlta-
ble fondness for reading the dramas of Shakspeare,
the works of Walter Scott, together with reviews
and magazines of the higher class. He remembered
what he read, and quoted passages afterwards with

26 LIFE AND TIMES
the greatest fluency. He did not study for coUege
rank, as many do, but took a good position in the
classics, and was exceUent in composition. In decla
mations he held rank among the best ; but in mathe
matics there were several superior. He was always
amiable and gentlemanly in deportment, and avoided
saying any things to wound the feeUngs of his class
mates." Another member of the class of 1830 communi
cates to me the following items : " Though reasona-
ably attentive to his coUege studies, and rarely absent
from the recitations, I do not think that Mr. Sum
ner, as an undergraduate, was much distinguished
for close application. Having been much better
fitted for coUege, especially in Latin and in Greek,
than the majority of his class, he continued to sus
tain a high rank in both the ancient and the modern
languages throughout his coUege course. He stood
weU also in elocution, English composition, and the
rest of his rhetorical pursuits. In the last years of
his coUege course, he faUed in aU the more abstruse
and difficult mathematics. His memory was reten
tive ; audit was sometimes said of him that he learned
by heart the most difficult mathematical problems,
without having a very clear understanding of their
import. MoraUy, so far as I have ever heard, his
character was without reproach."

OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 27
The foUowing incident, which occurred during
young Sumner's freshman year, Ulustrates well that
firmness of purpose, and persistent adherence to pre
conceived opinions, by which his whole course was
signaUzed. " At the time our class entered," writes
to me the Rev. S. M. Emery, D.D., one of his class
mates, " undergraduates were required by the col
lege laws to wear a uniform, consisting of an Oxford
cap, coat, pantaloons, and vest of the color known as
' Oxford mixed ; ' but in the summer a white vest
was permitted, ho fancy colors being aUowed.
Sumner, probably having in his mind Edmund
Burke, who on state occasions wore a buff-colored
waiscoat, as Daniel Webster did when he was to speak
in the Senate, procured a vest so near to buff color
as not Ukely to be mistaken for white by the
observer of the legal color. Now the tutor, proctors,
and other teachers, one of whom had his room in
each haU, as a sort of poUce, constituted what was
caUed the ' parietal board.' They held their meet
ings once or twice a week to consider delinquencies
of the students, to report to the faculty at their
weekly meetings, and to summon the deUnquents
before them. Sumner's vest did not escape the keen
eyes of this poUce. He was summoned before the
assembled board, to answer to the charge of disobey
ing the laws by wearing a vest which was not of the

28 LIFE AND TIMES
lawful color. He protested, in the best-natured way
possible, that nothing was farther from Ms mind than
to disobey the coUege rules in aU respects ; but that
the article of apparel in question was white : it
might need the manipulations of a laundress ; but it
was certainly wMte. The board dismissed him with
the injunction not to appear again in pubUc with
out a regulation-vest. Conscious that his vest was
white, he took no notice of the gentle admonition of
the board, but continued to wear the same objec
tionable garment. Two or tMee weeks elapsed ; and
he was again caUed before the board on the same
charge. He maintained with much eloquence that
his vest was wMte. He was told that the board
would be obUged to report Mm to the faculty if he per
sisted longer in his course, and he was then dismissed
with the same advice as before. Disregarding the
parietal board, he appeared the next day wearing
the same colored vest. TMs he continued to do for
several weeks, when he was again called before the
same tribunal, on the double charge of disregardino-
its admonitions and of disobeying the college laws.
The board threatened more earnestly than ever to
report him to the faculty, and also to recommend to
it a pubUc admonition. He was undismayed, and
argued his cause with as much earnestness as he
since has many questions in Congress. He left the

OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 29
board tMs time feeUng confident there was no
escape from a pubUc admonition. What was hia
surprise, however, tp learn a day or two afterwards,
that, as the easiest way of settUng the case, the
board had voted, ' That in future Sumner's vest be
regarded by this board as white? "
" He was," continues Dr. Emery, " so well prepared
for coUege at the Boston Latin School, that the
lessons in the classical department were mere boy's
play to Mm. His declamations were an outburst of
subdued eloquence, showing as much earnestness as
he would in addressing the Senate. He had been
accustomed to literary society from Ms youth, and
was brought up among books, so that study was
with hiTTi a kind of second nature. He never
studied, as many students do, for college honors, but
for the love of study, and for cultivating Ms mind,
already well-discipUned and refined. His good taste,
if notMng else, kept him from the company of ' fast
young men ' and from any bad habits. His greatest
pleasure was found in Ms room, attending to Ms
favorite studies, which were something relating to
the humanities.
" Many a time has he rushed down to my room
and begun a speech, as if in a legislative body : ' I
rise, Mr. President, 'to present a petition ' (stating
what object), when he would go on with a speech,
3*

30 LIFE AND TIMES
in wMch he would introduce quotations from Virgil,
Horace, and Juvenal. The quotations were the
very same wMch, thirty years afterwards, I read in
some of Ms congressional speeches ; and they were
always accurate. I recollect accompanying Mm to
an ecclesiastical council (ex parte) held in the old
court-house in Cambridge, to dismiss the Rev. Dr.
Holmes. Mr. Hoar of Concord was counsel for the
party opposed to Dr. Holmes. We went to hear his
argument, in the course of wMch he quoted the fa
miliar Une, ' Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in il-
lis? But instead of saying ' in illis,' he said ' cum illis?
Sumner was greatly shocked at the mistake, and
turning to me said, ' A man ought to be ashamed of
Mmself who attempts to quote an author, and does
not quote correctly.' TMs slight misquotation con
demned the scholarsMp of Mr. Hoar in Ms estima
tion; and he had no confidence in Ms learnino-
afterwards. He was a person of great self-posses
sion, a trait wMch he inherited from Ms father, who
when Mgh-sheriff of Suffolk County was called upon
to read the Riot Act on the stage of the Federal-Street
Theatre, where a riot was in progress, and went
SteadUy tMough it in the midst of a shower of brick
bats. " He delighted in the society of distinguished
men, of whom Judge Story was then one of the fore-

OF CHAELES SUMNER. 31
most in Cambridge. He was deeply impressed with
the beauty of the Prayer Book of our Church ; and
I have often heard Mm read in a very solemn manner
many portions of it, especially the burial-service,
wMch he would render with great pathos."
Another of his compamons, in a carefuUy-written
letter, says to me, "He was more given to study
than to compamonsMp. He had the reputation of
being a diUgent reader out of the course, and was
often praised for his themes and forensics. For
scholarsMp he stood among the upper tMrd, but
was not remarkable ; yet this was true of several
of his classmates who have since obtained distinc
tion. As I recaU Mm at the coUege, in chapel, or in
the yard, he was of a height above the average,
slender, awkward in his ways and movements, rather
shy, and not by any means incUned to merriment."
Those who enter college at a very early age often
excel in the classical and rhetorical studies, but, for
the want of that maturity of mind wMch years
alone can bring, find themselves unable to grapple
successfuUy with the higher branches of mathemati
cal science and of etMcal philosophy. The faUure
comes not so much from any deficiency in aspiration
or of original mental power, as from the need of
time for due development. The strength of the
contestant is not equal to the armor. TMs was the

32 LIFE AND TIMES
condition of Charles Sumner. His tastes and incU-
nations also led him to the beUes-lettres and human
ities. He practicaUy took, as every one who means
to make the most of his abiUties will do, a kind of
elective course. He gave himself to the study of
Mstory, of rhetoric, eloquence, and poetry. He
read with zest and keen avidity the works of the
great masters. He was fascinated by the splendid
diction of Hume and Gibbon, the charming style
of Addison and Goldsmith, the glowing eloquence of
WilUam Pitt, of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and of
Edmund Burke. His imagination was enkindled by
the golden thoughts of Dante, Milton (always with
Mm a favorite), Dryden, Pope, and Shakspeare.
With these immortal gemuses he Uved, and from
them drew his inspiration. He stroUed, moreover,
into distant and untrodden fields of Uterature, and,
as the bee, selected honey ii'om unnoticed flowers.
Here he gathered sweets from some French poet of
the mediaeval ages ; here from some neglected Latin
or ItaUan author ; here from some Saxon legend,
some HigMand bard, or some Provencal troubadour.
This material afterwards came in to beautify Ms
grand pleas for peace, humanity, and freedom.
" It was my fortune," says the Hon. G. W. War
ren, " to be one of mne classmates who formed a
private society in our semor year, meeting once a

OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 33
week for Uterary exercises. Of that little circle
were Browne, Hopkinson, and Sumner, now de
parted ; and among the surviving are Worcester (for
merly representative in Congress from Ohio, hav
ing succeeded Senator Sherman) now of Nashua,
N. H., and the Rev. Dr. Stearns of Newark, N. J.
Those hours spent together (for no one missed a
meeting) were indeed Uterary recreations.
" Sumner was also a member of the Hasty-Pudding
Club. The records show at least one made by him
when temporary secretary, which is characteristic
of the style of his later days. The moot court
was then the Uterary exercise of the club ; and in his
turn he fiUed the judge's chair, and displayed Ms
legal learning in advance. On his motion the first
catalogue of the past and present members was
printed, as I weU remember ; for the principal labor
feU upon me as secretary."
Of Ms appearance and studies in college, the same
surviving classmate says, "Youngest of his class,
he had in coUege that same manly form, and open,
expressive countenance. He was the taUest of his
class. His gemal companionship was much sought.
He was noted also for Ms retentive memory. A
dUigent reader of history, and a thorough beUes-
lettres scholar, he never forgot a date of any event,
nor made a misquotation. He was, as might be sup-

34 LIFE AND TIMES
posed, a splendid Unguist, a good writer, and a forci
ble speaker ; for in those days declamation before
the whole class was an estabUshed exercise, coining
round to each in turn some dozen times a year, for
which special preparation was made. He had little
taste for mathematics and metaphysics ; and his rank
was consequently not of the highest. But he spent
the first year after Ms graduation mainly in review
ing those studies ; and he amply made up this de
ficiency." He occasionaUy attended the theatre, and greatly
enjoyed the representation of dramas of the Mgher
class. For music he had but Uttle taste ; and dan
cing, after leaving school, he never practised. Mr.
Sumner's chum iu coUege was, for a part of the time
at least, the late John WMte Browne of Salem, an
excellent scholar, and in later years a strenuous
advocate of freedom ; who died May 1, 1860, and to
whose memory Mr. Sumner subsequently paid an
eloquent tribute.
He occupied during Ms sophomore and junior
years No. 12, Stoughton Hall, and during Ms senior
year No. 23, Holworthy Hall.
The foUowing pleasant story is told of him and a
classmate who were strolUng, one day in their fxesh-
man year, along the road to Brighton to a cattle-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 35
show. Their hopes of being unobserved were sud
denly dispeUed by meeting their fathers on the way.
" Why, Charles ! " said Sheriff Sumner with surprise :
" how came you here ? " "I thought," replied the
son, " that we could leave without detriment to our
studies, and could see how tMngs were going on."
The fathers concluded to make the best of it, and
wished their boys a quick return without incurring
a coUege censure. Before separating, however, the
sheriff took the classmate aside, and asked Mm:
"How is Charles in mathematics?" "Very good
indeed, sir," was the kind reply. " I'm glad of it,"
said the sheriff. "He, then, is doing better than I
did ; for I let drop the links, and lost the chain, and
have never been able to take it up again."
Mr. Sumner graduated in 1830, with a medium
standing, to be sure, but with the good-will and
friendsMp both of Ms instructors and his classmates,
and with, perhaps, a better knowledge of the stan
dard authors in prose and poetry, particularly of
Shakspeare, — a copy of whose works, inscribed The
Book, was ever on Ms study-table, — than any other
member of Ms class. He ever retained a filial regard
for Ms alma mater, and heartily rejoiced in its
prosperity. Several of its professors, as CMef Jus
tice Story, H. W. Longfellow, and Louis Agassiz,

36 LIFE AND TIMES OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
were his most intimate companions ; and associated
with its classic halls were many of his dearest mem
ories. The university now points to him as one of
the most brilUant stars in its broad consteUation.

CHAPTER m.
Mr. Sumner on leaving CoUege. — Private Studies. — Opportuni
ties and Preparations. — Spirit of the Works of Genius. —Daniel
Webster. — Mr. Sumner enters the Law School. — Method of
Study. — Mr. Justice Story. — Mr. Sumner's Regard for him. —
His Eloquent Tribute to him. — His Indebtedness to him. — Mr.
Sumner contributes to "The American Jurist." — Studies with
Benjamin Eand, Esq. — His Regard for the Law School. — His
Admission to the Bar. — " Sumner's Eeports." — Compliment of
Baron Parke. — Lectures to the Dane Law School. — Edits
Andrew Dunlap's "Admiralty Practice." — His Promise as -a.
Lawyer. — His Acquaintance with Dr. S. G. Howe.
" It is by dint of steady labor; it Is by giving enough of application to the
work, and having enough of time for the doing of it j it is by regular pains-
tald-ng and the plying of constant assiduties, — it is by these, and not by any
process of legerdemain, that we secure the strength and the stability of real
excellence. It was thus that Demosthenes, clause after clause, and sentence
after sentence, elaborated, and that to the uttermost, his immortal orations."
— Thomas CnAuiitEss.
|N leaving college, at the age of nineteen years,
Charles Sumner had a well-developed, manly
form, a clear and resonant voice, and a char
acter of unimpeachable integrity. His health was
exceUent, his aspiration lofty. He at once com
menced upon a course of private study, reviewmg
37

38 LIFE AND TIMES
carefully his college text-books, extending Ms knowl
edge of the modern languages, and Ms course of
English reading. He listened on the sabbath to the
eloquent discourses of the Rev. Dr. Greenwood at
King's Chapel, and occasionaUy heard the poUshed
sentences of Edward Everett on the platform, and
the solid arguments of Rufus Choate and Daniel
Webster at the bar. His father's position as high
sheriff of the county gave him ready access to the
society of the leading lawyers of the day, and natu
rally inclined him to adopt the law as his profession.
Whether at tMs period he read Mr. Garrison's un
compromising " Liberator," established on the 1st of
January, 1831, or sympathized with the rising pulse-
beat of that tremendous power of wliich he was to
become a prominent director, and wMch was to
change the destiny of this nation, is not now clearly
known : but the immortal works of genius whose
spirit he had fondly breathed are instinct with the
love of human Uberty ; and Ms mind had thus been
nurtured for the acceptance and performance of his
mission, whenever Ms day should come. Daniel
Webster, even then, in Ms reply to Col. Robert Y.
Hayne (Jan. 26 and 27, 1830) had brought the
North up somewhat towards its true position ; and as
a WMg and genuine admirer of the principles and
eloquence of the great senatorial leader, Mr. Sum-

OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 39
ner must have caught, even at that early day, some
glimpses of a grand impending crisis.
Entering the Cambridge Law School in 1831, he
came immediately under the instruction of that
eminent jurist and accompUshed scholar, Joseph
Story, LL.D., who very soon began to appreciate
the abiUty and to gain the affection of his pupU.
Mr. Sumner now bestowed his undivided attention
upon Ms legal studies, guided by the eloquent
tongue of Ms distinguished master. He set himself
to search from every source available original facts
and principles. Not content with the decisions of
the courts, he ransacked every nook and corner of
historic lore, that he might settle legal questions on
the soUd grounds of equity and justice. He made
himself acquainted with the contents of every
volume that the Law-School library, of wMch he
had the charge, contained ; and it is said that there
was not a book in that valuable coUection wMch he
could not lay Ms hand upon immediately in the dark.
" When he entered the Law School," says Judge
James Dana, " he buckled on Ms armor and went to
Ms studies with a wUl, and soon became the leadmg
man in the school, for which he always manifested
a strong interest." Mr. Justice Story was a fine
belles-lettres scholar, an earnest lover of the beauti
ful, the good, and true ; and remarkable for Ms con-

40 LIFE AND TIMES
versational powers, as weU as for Ms gemal urbanity,
his radiant smile, and graceful manner. Between him
and Mr. Sumner, whose eager mind was open to the
charming influences of such a sweet-tempered and
learned jurist, a mutual sympathy at once arose,
wMch graduaUy deepened into the sincerest friend
ship. How strong the tie between these two kin
dred spirits came to be, the reader may infer from
the tribute paid to Mr. Justice Story ia Mr. Sum
ner's elegant oration on " The Scholar, the Jurist,
the Artist, the PMlanthropist," deUvered before the
Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University on
the twenty-seventh day of August, 1846.
" By the attraction of his name," says Mr. Sumner,
" students were drawn from remote parts of the
Union ; and the Law School, which had been a
sickly branch, became the golden mistletoe of our
ancient oak. Besides learning unsurpassed in his
profession, which he brought to these added duties,
he displayed other qualities not less important in
the character of a teacher, — goodness, benevolence,
and a wUlingness to teach. Only a good man can be
a teacher, — only a benevolent man, only a man
wUling to teach. He was filled with a desire to
teach. He sought to mingle his mind with that of
Ms pupU. He held it a blessed office to pour into
the souls of the young, as into celestial urns, the

OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 41
fruitful waters of knowledge. The kindly enthusi
asm of his nature found its response. The law, wMch
is sometimes supposed to be harsh and crabbed,
became inviting under Ms instructions. Its great
principles, drawn from the weUs of experience and
reflection, from the sacred" rules of right and wrong,
from the unsounded depths of CMistian truth,
illustrated by the learning of sages and the judg
ments of courts, he unfolded so as best to inspire a
love for their study ; weU knowing that the knowl
edge we may impart is trivial, compared with that
awakening of the soul under the influence of which
the pupil himself becomes a teacher. All of knowl
edge we can commumcate is fimte : a few pages, a
few chapters, a few volumes, wiU embrace it. But
such an influence is of incalculable power : it is the
breath of a new Ufe ; it is another soul. Story
taught as a priest of the law, seeking to consecrate
other priests. In him the spirit spake, not with the
voice of an earthly caUing, but with the gentleness
and self-forgetful earnestness of one pleading in
behalf of justice, of knowledge, of human happi
ness. His weU-loved pupUs hung upon Ms lips, and,
as they left Ms presence, confessed a more exalted
reverence for virtue, and a warmer love of knowl
edge for its own sake."
To Ms association and communion with tMs dis-

42 LIFE AND TIMES
tinguished jurist, whose juridical acquirements and
decisions commanded the respect even of the Eng
Ush bench, Mr. Sumner was to no small extent
indebted for Ms profound views of equity and of
human rights, as well as for those aspirations for the
attainment of eminence in legal science, wMch
formed the basis of that solid and enlightened
statesmansMp for wMch he subsequently became so
signaUy distinguished. It was under the genial and
erudite tuition of Judge Story, and in the moot
courts and discussions of the Law School, that Mr.
Sumner first began to command the admiration of
' Ms fellow-students, as a man of marked ability
and rhetorical power.
During Ms connection with this institution, he
wrote several articles, evincing varied learmng and
profound research, for " The American Jurist ; " and
on receiving his degree of LL.B., in 1834, he was con
sidered, both in pomt of legal science and of oratory,
one of the most accompUshed of Ms class. How
well Mr. Sumner loved the Law School may be seen
from this extract from a report on the condition of
that institution, drawn up by him in 1850 : 
" TMs Ubrary is one of the largest and most valu
able, relating to law, to be found in the country.
As an aid to study, it cannot be estimated too
Mghly. Here the student may range at wUl tMough

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 43
all the demesnes of jurisprudence. Here he may
acquire a knowledge of the books of his profession
— learning their true character and value — wMch
wiU be of incalculable service to him m his future
labors. Whoso knows how to use a library possesses
the very keys of knowledge. Next to knowing the
law, is knowing where the law is to be found.
" There is another advantage, of a peculiar charac
ter, afforded by the Law School, in the opportunity
of kindly and instructive social relations among
the students, and also between the students and
their instructors. Young men engaged in simi
lar pursuits are professors to each other. The
daUy conversation concerns their common studies,
and contributes some new impulse. Mind meets
mind; and each derives strength from the con
tact. But the instructor is also at hand. In
the lecture-room, and also in private, he is ready to
afford counsel and help. The students are not alone .
in their labors. They find an assistant at every step
of their journey, ready to conduct them tMough its
devious and toilsome passes, and to remove the diffi
culties wMch throng the way. TMs twofold com
panionship — of the students with each other, and of
the students with their instructors — is full of benefi
cent influences, not only in the cordial intercourse
wMch it begets, but in the positive knowledge wMch

44 LIFE AND TIMES
it diffuses, and in its stimulating effect upon the
mmds of aU who enjoy it.
" In dwelUng on the advantages of the Law School
as a seat of legal education, the committee place
side by side with the lectures and exercises of the
professors the profitable opportunities afforded by
the Ubrary, and by the fellowship of persons engaged
in the same pursuits ; aU echoing to the heart of the
pupU, as from the genius of the place, constant
words of succor, encouragement, and hope."
Mr. Sumner read law for some time in the office
of Benjamin Rand, Esq., a counseUor distinguished
aUke for his conversational powers, his love of
books, and Ms knowledge of the law. Every sail
ing packet wMch arrived from England brought
Mm the latest legal pubUcations, wMch he devoured
with singular voracity, and then discussed their con
tents with his briUiant pupU. G. W. Warren and
Francis J. Humphrey were Ms classmates in this
office. " He is remembered there," writes the latter gen
tleman to me, " cMefly as a most indefatigable student
and lover of books. His personal demeanor was that
of a shy and modest maiden. He always greeted me
with a cheerful word and a ifiost radiant smUe. The
notion of ' arrogance,' as a quaUty in the character
of Charles Sumner, can excite in me only the emo
tion of ridicule."

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 45
Mr. Sumner was admitted to the bar at Worcester
in 1834, and commenced the practice of law in Bos
ton. ThorougMy prepared as he was for meeting
the demands of Ms vocation, he soon came to enjoy
extensive patronage. He was shortly afterwards
appointed Reporter to the circuit court of the United
States ; and wMle serving in tMs capacity published
the tMee volumes now known as " Sumner's Re
ports," embodying the important legal decisions * of
Mr. Justice Story. He also edited with signal
ability " The American Jurist," a standard quar
terly journal of jurisprudence. During three suc
cessive winters subsequent to his admission to the
bar, he deUvered lectures to the students of the
Dane Law School at Cambridge, and for a brief
period had the sole charge of that institution. Such
fideUty to Ms trust, such an affluence of learning,
and such legal acumen were exMbited in these lec
tures, that in 1836 a professorsMp in the school was
* The foUowing compUment was paid by Baron Parke to Mr.
Sumner, and his Eeports of the Decisions of Mr. Justice Story:—
On an insurance question, before the Court of Exchequer, one
of the counsel having cited an American case, Baron Parke, the
ablest of the EngUsh judges, asked him what book he quoted. He
replied, "Sumner's Eeports." Baron Eolfe said, "Is that the Mr.
Sumner who was once in England? " On receiving a, reply in the
affirmative. Baron Parke observed, " We shaU not consider it enti
tled to the less attention because reported by a gentleman whom
we aU knew and respected."

46 LIFE AND TIMES
tendered to Mm. TMs he decUned. "Mr. Sum
ner's position in the legal world," says Mr. D. A.
Harsha, " was an enviable one : he was universaUy
regarded as a young lawyer of exalted talent, brU
liant genius, and commanding eloquence." His
legal acquirements attracted the attention, and
received the compliments, of Chancellor James Kent
and other eminent civUians. His reputation as a
lawyer was extended by the able editorsMp of
Andrew Dunlap's standard work on " Admiralty
Practice," to wMch he added valuable notes and
comments, and wMeh was published in PMladelpMa
in 1836. On his death-bed Mr. Dunlap stated that
Mr. Sumner had worked over it " with the zeal of a
sincere fiiend, and the accuracy of an excellent
lawyer." By the labors of Mr. Sumner thus far, it
appeared that Ms future career was to be only that
of a distinguished lawyer ; but, as remarked above,
the study of juridical science is essential to the
exercise of broad and enlightened statesmansMp, for
which, though it might have been unconsciously, he
was then making preparation. " I knew Mr. Sum
ner," says R. B. Caverly, Esq., in a letter to me
dated LoweU, AprU 1, 1874, " in his early manhood.
I was with Mm quite constantly in 1835-36 and '37
in the Cambridge Law School, where he occasionaUy
appeared as a professor in place of Judge Story. He

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 47
was then in manner reserved, yet courteous ; in form
tail, and comparatively slender. He was prompt in
Ms attendance, and ready in the law. I remember
that on his return from Europe he seemed proud to
relate that Lord Brougham had expressed to him the
opimon that Mr. Justice Story was the greatest
judge in the world."
Mr. Sumner's acquaintance with Dr. S. G. Howe
— a true and intimate friend — commenced, it is
said, at the great Broad-street riot in 1837. " The
rioters had got possession of some barrels of wMs-
key ; when Dr. Howe, seeing a stalwart young man
endeavoring vsdth an axe to knock in the head of one
of the barrels, hastened to Ms aid." TMs young
man proved to be Charles Sumner, with whom he
then commenced a friendsMp, wMch, cemented by
Mndred views on the leading questions of human
progress, continued until broken by death.

CHAPTER IV.
Mr. Sumner visits Europe. — Chief-Justice Story's Letter. — Anec
dote. — Mr. Sumner's Eeception in England. — R. M. MUnes. —
Another Letter from Judge Story. — Visit to Paris. — Gen. Lewis
Cass. — Art Studies in Italy. — Glowing Description of the Coun
ti-y. — Thomas Crawford. — Anecdote concerning Thomas Aquinas.
— Acquaintances made in Germany. — Letter from WUUam Pres
cott. — Mr. Sumner's Eegard for Boston. — His Home on his Ee
turn from Europe. — Lyceum Lectures. — Course of Lectures to
the Cambridge Law School. — He Edits "Vesey'a Eeports." —
Eemarks from " The Law Eeporter."
" He (Charles Sumner) presents in his own person a decisive proof that an
American gentleman, without oflcial rank or wide-spread reputation, by mere
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." — Quarterly Review.
UN the autumn of 1837 Mr. Sumner sailed, for
Europe, taking with him letters of introduc
tion to distinguished gentlemen abroad, from
Mr. Justice Story and other eminent civiUans.
" Mr. Sumner," says Judge Story in Ms letter, " is
a practising lawyer at the Boston bar, of very Mgh
reputation for Ms years, and already giving the prom-
48

OHARLEa SUMNEE. 49
ise of the most eminent distinction in Ms profession :
Ms Uterary and judicial attainments are truly
extraordinary. He is one of the editors, indeed the
principal editor, of ' The American Jurist,' a quar
terly journal of extensive cu-culation and celebrity
among us, and without a rival in America. He is
also the reporter of the court in wMch I preside, and
has already pubUshed two volumes of reports. His
private character, also, is of the best kind for purity
and propriety. But, to accompUsh Mmself more thor
oughly in the great objects of Ms profession, — not
merely to practise, but to extend the boundaries in
the science of law, — I am very anxious that he
should possess the means of visiting the courts of
Westminster HaU under favorable auspices; and I
shaU esteem it a personal favor if you can give Mm
any faciUties in tMs particular." Mr. Sumner was
received with enviable distinction into many of the
best circles of English society, and was honored with
marked attention by the leading members of the
bench and bar. He was once invited to sit with the
lord cMef-justice of the king's bench. A novel point
arising during the trial, his lordsMp, turning to
Mr. Sumner, inquired if any American decision
touched that point. " No,"yoar lordship," Mr. Sum
ner instantly replied ; " but the point has been
decided in your lordsMp's court in such a case,"

50 LIFE AND TIMES
wMch he then cited. This singular promptitude gave
him much celebrity with the English bar. During
Ms residence in England, which embraced a period
of almost a year, he frequently attended the debates
in parUament, and made tlie acquaintance of the
leading speakers and the eminent statesmen of the
day. In a letter to him, dated Aug. 11, 1838, Mr.
Justice Story says, —
" I have received all your letters, and have de
voured them- with unspeakable deUght. All the
family have read them aloud ; and all join in their
expressions of pleasure. You are now exactly where
I 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 ! Your sketches of the bar and bench are
deeply interesting to me, and so full that I think I
can see them in my mind's eye. I must return my
thanks to Mr. Justice Vaughan for his kindness to
you : it has gratified me beyond measure, not merely
as a proof of his liberal friendship, but of his acute
ness and tact in his discovery of character. It is a
just homage to your own merits. Your Old-Bailey
speech was capital, and hit by stating sound truths
in the right way." During Ms residence in London,
Mr. Sumner formed the acquaintance of Thomas B.
Macaulay, whose " wonderful conversation," said he,

OF CHARLES SUMNEE. 61
" left on the mind an ineffaceable impression of elo
quence and fulness, perhaps without a parallel." Of
the manner of Ms introduction to Richard Monckton
MUnes, he gave the foUowing account to his friend
James Redpath : —
" I was at Sydney Smith's breakfast-table one
mormng, with perhaps a dozen others, when he sud
denly asked me how EngUsh literary reputations
stood in America." " We sometimes presume," said
Mr. Sumner, " to rejudge your judgments; to refuse
a reputation where you give one, and to bestow a
name where you withhold it.' ' An example ! an
example ! ' exclaimed Mr. Smith in Ms caressing
style. Here I was, a young Yankee Doodle, to use
a phrase of Mr. Carlyle, at the table of the great
est wit, probably, that England ever saw, singled
out by him to maintain a position which I had
advanced. But I did not feel inclined to let the
matter go by default, so I said at once : —
" ' Carlyle ! ' ' Carlyle ! ' said Smith, ' we don't
know him here : what have you got to say of Car
lyle ? ' I said, ' I am not an indiscriminate admirer
of Carlyle ; I find much in him to criticise : but I
have always been impressed by his genius ; he seems
to me to write as if by flashes of lightning.' TMs
declaration seemed to surprise the company, with the
exception of one gentleman, whom I observed to

52 LIFE AND TIMES
Usten very attentively. When the conversation was
resumed, he rose and placed his card in my hand,
saying, ' Mr. Sumner, I thank you for what you
have said of Carlyle. I am the only man here who
appreciates him. This is my card ; I shaU be obUged
for yours, and desire to visit you.'
" It was Richard Monckton Milnes, the poet and
member of Pailiament. The conversation of Mr.
Carlyle resembled in style his pubUshed writings.
It was racy, suggestive, thoughtful, matterful."
From England Mr. Sumner went to Paris, where
he found ready access to the Mghest literary circles.
His knowledge of the French language and literature
enabled him to appreciate the briUiant inteUectual
society of the French capital. He made the ac
quaintance and secured the friendsMp of the gifted
poet Alphonse de Lamartine, then becoming Uberal
in his political views ; of Victor Hugo, then strug
gling into fame ; of M. Alexis de TocqueviUe, who
had recently published the first part of Ms great
work on " Democracy in America ; " and of other
well-known authors. Not a moment of Ms time was
wasted. " He attended the debates of the Chamber of
Deputies, and the lectures of all the eminent profes
sors in different departments, — at the Sorbonne, at
the College of France, and particularly in the Law

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 53
School.* He became personally acquainted with
several of the most eminent jurists, — with Baron
Degerando, renowned for Ms works on charity ; with
Pardessus, at the head of commercial law ; with
Foelix, editor of the ' Review of Foreign Jurispru
dence ; ' and other famous men. He attended a
whole term of the Royal Court at Paris, observing
the forms of procedure, received "kindness from the
judges, and was aUowed to peruse the papers in the
cases. His presence at some of these trials was
noticed in the reports in the law journals."
WMle in France, Ms thoughts were turned espe
ciaUy to the leading social questions of the day ; and,
from Ms intercourse with the liberal pMlosophers of
that period, Ms views of prison-discipUne, of umver
sal peace and brotherhood, wMch came so grandly
forth in Ms first remarkable orations, received fresh
coloring and confirmation. Through Mr. Sumner
many of the advanced ideas of France in respect
to legal and social science were introduced into
* " In Paris," says Mr. Sumner, in his argument against separate
colored schools, Dec. 4, 1849, " I have sat for weeks at the Law
School on the same benches with colored persons listening, like my
self, to the learned lectures of Degerando and of Rossi (the last is
the eminent minister who has unhappUy fallen beneath the dagger
of a Roman assassin) ; nor do I remember observing, in the throng
of sensitive young men by whom they were surrounded, any feeUng
towards them except of companionship aud respect."

54 UFE AND TIMES
America. Lewis Cass was then our minister at
Paris ; and at his solicitation Mr. Sumner wrote a
strong defence of our claim in respect to tire north
western boundary, which was published in " GaU-
gnani's Messenger," and extensively copied by Ameri
can journals, and which evinced the liberal policy
of the writer, and materially aided in the settlement
of that vexed question. In the art-galleries of this
city he began to make that collection of engravings
which subsequently came to be one of the finest in
America. From Paris Mr. Sumner repaired to Italy, the land
of art, of poetry, and song. Here he gave Mmself up
to the study of the works of the grand masters, and
to the ruins of ancient Rome. He himself glowingly
describes the country as the " enchanted ground of
literature, of Mstory, and of art, strown with richest
memorials of the past, filled with scenes memorable
in the story of the progress of man, teaching by the
pages of pMlosophers and historians, vocal with the
melody of poets, ringing with the music which St.
CeciUa protects, glowing with the Uving marble and
canvas, beneath a sky of heavenly purity and bright
ness, with the sunsets which Claude has painted,
parted by the Apennines (early witnesses of the un
recorded Etruscan civUization), surrounded by the
snow-capped Alps and the blue, classic waters of

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 55
the IMediterranean Sea. . . . Rome, sole surviving
city of Antiquity, who once disdained aU that could
be wrought by the cunning hand of sculpture,
" Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera,
Credo equidem : vivos ducent de marmore vultus,"
who has commanded the world by her arms, by her
jurisprudence, by her church, now sways it further
by her arts. Pilgrims from afar, where neither her
eagles, her praetors, nor her interdicts ever reached,
become the wilUng subjects of this new empire ; and
the Vatican stored with the precious remains of
antiquity, and the toucMng creations of a Christian
pencil, has succeeded to the Vatican whose thunders
intermingled with the strifes of modern Europe."
During Ms residence in Italy he often studied
twelve hours a day: he mastered the Italian lan
guage, and read many of the Italian poets and his
torians. His art-studies at Rome he pursued under
the guidance of Thomas Crawford, one of our most
eminent American sculptors, then a resident of the
Eternal City. In the galleries of the Vatican, of the
Capitol, and of the palaces, he spent many days with
tMs distinguished artist, admiring and criticising the
resplendent works of the great masters.
"He once told me," says a personal friend, "that
a Catholic bishop, after endeavoring in vain to con-

56 LIFE AND TIMES
vert him to the Roman faith, had finally assured him,
that, if he would but read the works of St. Thomas
Aquinas, he would certainly be convinced ; when
he promptly informed Mm that he had alreadj' read
every word of that esteemed father in the original
Latin; and, though he had not become a Catholic
in religion, he was catholic enough to admit that
the AngeUc Doctor had, in his opinion, one of the
first of intellects, if not the very first, that the earth
had known." Mr. Sumner added, in narrating tMs
incident, that in speaking further of Aquinas he ex
pressed Ms wonder that one who died so young
should have been able to Avrite so many works as he
had left beMnd ; whereupon the bishop had asserted
that he Uved to a good old age. Assuring him that
he was certainly mistaken, the senator turned to a
cyclopgedia of biography, and showed the bishop that
the father died at the early age of forty-eight years."
Returning home by the way of Germany, he there
was courteously received by the celebrated Prince
Metternich, and formed an acquaintance with the
historian Leopold Ranke, the geographer Carl Ritter,
the eminent scientist Alexander von Humboldt, and
other prominent savans. Mr. Sumner visited Europe
for the sole purpose of studjr and observation. He
left no opportmiity for acquiring information and a
Mgher culture unimproved. With ready access to

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 57
the best society, with a mind eager for new truths,
with a taste refined by classical pursuits, a memory
as retentive as a vice, and an aspiration wMch no
impediment could repress, he treasured up a golden
store of inteUectual wealth, and on Ms return to
Boston early in 1840 possessed an affluence of learn
ing and a feUcity of diction wMch commanded the ad
miration of our most accompUshed scholars.
" You have indeed," wrote Mr. Prescott the his
torian to Mm, " read a page of social life such as few
anywhere have access to ; for your hours have been
passed with the great, — not merely with those born
to greatness, but those who have earned it for them
selves." With what deUght Mr. Sumner again beheld the
domes of Boston, and how well he loved Ms native
city, may be inferred from these remarks he subse
quently made concerning it : —
"Boston has always led the generous and mag
nanimous actions of our Mstory. Boston led the
cause of the Revolution. Here was commenced that
discussion, pregnant with the independence of the
colomes, wMch, at first occupying a few warm but
true spirits only, finally absorbed all the best ener
gies of the continent, — the eloquence of Adams, the
patriotism of Jefferson, the wisdom of Washington.
Boston is the home of noble charities, the nurse of

58 LIFE AND TIMES
true learning, the city of churches. By all these
tokens she stands conspicuous ; and other parts of
the country are not unwilling to follow her example.
Athens was called the ej^e of Greece : Boston may be
called the eye of America ; and the influence which
she exerts is to be referred, not to her size, for there
are other cities larger far, but to her moral and intel
lectual character."
On reaching home, he found a widowed mother —
who during his absence had followed the remains of
her accomplished daughter Jane, and then in 1839
of her beloved husband, to the silent grave — in
charge of the bereaved family. His reception was most
cordial and affectionate ; and, choosing for his study
the front chamber above the parlor, he arranged the
specimens of art and the books he had secured
abroad, and there for many years pursued his literary
course. His books were Ms society, his pen the
instrument of Ms toil. He labored unremittingly ;
now delving into classical lore, now poring over
the tomes of mediseval . learning, now studying the
works of the French and English statesmen, and
now communing with the spirits of the Revolution
ary patriots, — Adams, Ames, Jay, Franklin, Jeffer
son, Hamilton, Washington. To use the language
wMch he loved, it could be truly said of Mm, —
" Come Tape suochia i fieri,
Succhia i detti de' migliori."

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 59
Thus he treasured up that precious store of facts,
principles, and illustrations with wMch he em-
belUshed (sometimes at the risk of being caUed a
pedant) Ms discourses.
He resumed the practice of the law: but Ms
thoughts were given rather to its principles and its
Uterature than to its prosaic and dry details ; and he
therefore found it a reUef to steal away from his pro
fession, and present Ms thoughts concerning intel
lectual and social questions on the platform of the
lyceum, where he soon obtained remarkable success.
During the winter of 1843 he again delivered a
course of lectures to the students of the Cambridge
Law School, and subsequently engaged in the labori
ous work of editing the twenty volumes of " Vesey's
Reports," to which he added sketches of distin
guished counseUors mentioned in the text, and also
valuable notes. In speaking of the execution of this
task, " The Law Reporter " makes the foUowing dis
criminating remarks : —
" Wherever occasion offers itself, the editorial
note has been expanded tiU it assumes sometMng of
the port and stature of a brief legal dissertation, in
which the topics are discussed in the assured manner
of one who feels that Lis foot is planted on familiar
ground, and whose mind is so saturated with legal
knowledge that it readily pours it forth at the

60 LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES SUMNER.
sUghtest pressure; reminding us of those first
' sprightly runmngs ' of the wine-press, extracted by
no force but the mere weight of the grapes. Mr.
Sumner has also introduced a new element into Ms
notes : we allude to Ms biograpMcal notes of the
eminent men whose names occur in the reports
either in a judicial or forensic capacity, and to Ms
occasional Mstorical, poUtical, and biograpMcal Ulus-
trations of the text. In what may be caUed the
Uterature of the law, — the curiosities of legal learn
ing, — he has no rival among us."

CHAPTER V.
The steady Increase and Arrogance of the Slave-Power. — Mr. Gar
rison's Efforts to resist it. — Opprobrium cast upon the AboU
tionists.— The Annexation of Texas. —Mr. Sumner's View of
Slavery in " The True Grandeur of Nations." — CompUments of
Richard Cobden, Chief -Justice Story, and Theodore Parker. —
Extracts from the Speech.— EfCorts to Prevent the Final Vote on
the Annexation of Texas. — Mr. Sumner takes open Ground
against Slavery in his Speech of Nov. 4, 1845. —Extracts from
this Speech.— Notice of Mr. Sumner's Stand by Mr. WUson.—
Mr. Sumner's Preparation for his Course. — TTig Persistency.
** Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so
Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to doubt
her strength. IJet her and Falsehood grapple." — John Mtlton.
"Before thy mystic altar, heavenly Truth,
I kneel in manhood as I knelt in youth :
Thus let me kneel till this dull form decay.
And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray :
Then shall my soul, now lost in clouds below.
Soar without bound, without consuming glow."
Sm William Jomss.

URING Mr. Sumner's residence in Europe
from 1837 until 1840, and for many subse
quent years, the slave-power, which had
early struck its roots deeply into the councUs of the
6 61

62 LIFE AND TIMES
nation, continued to extend its baleful influence even
to the contamination of the entire body poUtic.
Its steady and persistent aim was the complete
dominion of the legislation of the country. To re
sist the encroachments, or even to discuss the j^rinci-
ples, of the servile system was deemed fanatical and
revolutionary. William Lloyd Garrison, an invinci
ble champion of freedom, was indeed, through the
columns of his " Liberator," boldly denouncing the
inhumanity of the peculiar institution, and warning
the public of the steady advance of the slave-
power ; but to accord to him or Ms compeers any
word of sympathy was to forfeit political caste, and
to be branded as an .agitator and an abolitionist, —
reproaches which it then demanded an unflinching
heroism to incur. In spite, however, of this general
opprobrium, of legislative menace, or the perils of a
ruthless mob, the tide of sympathy for our fallow-
men in bondage was slowly swelling ; and one friend
of freedom after another, as Edmund Quincy, Wen
dell Phillips, William H. Burleigh, and Henry Wil
son, noblj^ rose to assert that the aggressions of the
slave-power could and must be met. Now where
will Mt. Sumner take liis stand? He is the pride of
the aristocratic chcles of Boston, a popular alumnus
of Harvard University, an intimate friend of Mr.
Justice Storj^, — who said that he should die content

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 63
if Ms young protege could take his empty chair in the
Cambridge Law School, — and of whom ChanceUor
James Kent declared, " He is the only person
in the country competent to flll it." He is a gentle
man of varied and extensive learning ; and his culture
is enhanced by foreign travel, and by personal inter
course with the ripest scholars and men of genius
of his age. What course will he pursue? On the
one hand there is the grand old Whig party, with
Daniel Webster, Abbott Lawrence, and Robert C.
Winthrop at the head, with fame and fortune in the
distance. On the other hand, there are a few radi
cal anti-slavery agitators, who are held by men in
power as contemptible disturbers of the public peace,
and who may incur the fate of Elijah Parish Love-
joy, murdered by the mob at Alton. Which line of
action will this accompUshed young civilian take ?
We shall soon see.
In the summer of 1844 Mr. Sumner had a severe
sickness, from which it was feared he would not
recover. WiUiam Prescott, the historian, thus refers
to it in his journal, under the date of Nahant, July
21 : " Been to town twice last week, — most un
common for me, — once to see my friend Calderon, re
turned as minister from Spain ; and once to see my
poor friend Sumner, who has had a sentence of death
passed on him by the physicians. His sister sat by

64 LIFE AND TIMES
Ms side, struck with the same disease. It was an af
fecting sight to see brother and sister thus, hand in
hand, preparing to walk through the dark valley. I
shall lose a good friend in Sumner, and one who,
though I have known Mm but a few years, has done
me many kind offices." His sister Mary, a very
amiable and accomplished lady, succumbed to the
disease, from which her brother Charles, owing to the
unusual vigor of his constitution, soon recovered.
During the administration of John Tyler, himself
a slaveholder, the gigantic scheme of annexing
Texas to the Union was introduced by Southern
members into Congress. This republic, which had
declared itself free from Mexican rule in 1835, em
braced an area of 237,500 square miles, extending
from the Sabine and Red Rivers on the east, to the
Rio Grande (as some held), separating it from Mexico,
on the west. The acquisition of such a vast extent
of territory would give the slave states the command
of the Gulf of Mexico, and insure to them the bal
ance of political power. " It would give," said Gen.
James Hamilton, " a Gibraltar to the South ; " and
" Texas or disumon ! " became the Southern war-cry.
Mr. Webster, with the Whig party, opposed the an
nexation ; and j\Ir. Van Buren said it would " in aU
human probability draw after it a war with Mexico."
On this question turned the election of James K.

OF CHARLES SUMNEE. 65
Polk, in 1844 ; and three days previous to the expira
tion of Ms term of office, John Tyler signed the bill
for the annexation of Texas to the United States.
On the 4th of July, 1845, the Texan legislature ap
proved the biU of annexation ; and on the same day
Charles Sumner first came into the political arena by
the deUvery of his great speech on the The True
Grandeur of Nations before the authorities of the
city of Boston. In this celebrated address — pre
pared to meet the impending war with Mexico, and
the consequent extension of the slave power — Mr.
Sumner argues against the ordeal of war, from a
Christian stand-point ; and establishes his positions by
a remarkable affluence of learning, presented with a
warm enthusiasm and in a most feUcitous diction.
The address produced a profound sensation, and was
sharply criticised by the advocates of the war-policy ,
but the EngUsh patriot Richard Cobden did not hesi
tate to pronounce it " the most noble contribution
made by any modern writer to the cause of peace."
In a letter to Mr. Sumner, Mr. Justice Story says
of the oration, "It is certainly a very striking pro
duction, and vstU fuUy sustain your reputation for
Mgh talents, various reading, and exact scholarship.
There are a great many passages in it wMch are
wrought out with an exquisite fimsh and elegance
of diction and classical beauty."

66 LIFE AND TIMES
From Theodore Parker, Mr. Sumner received the
following characteristic note, which opened the way
to a permanent friendship between these two in
trepid advocates of human rights : —
" I hope you will excuse one so nearly a stranger
to you as myself, for addressing you tMs note. But
I cannot forbear writing. I have just read your
• oration on the ' True Grandeur of Nations ' for the
second time, and write to express to you my sense
of the great value of that work, and my gratitude
to you for delivering it on such an occasion. Bos
ton is a queer little city. The public is a desperate
tyrant there ; and it is seldom that one dares disobey
the commands of public opinion. I know the re
proaches you have already received from your friends,
who will now perhaps become your foes. I have
heard all sorts of ill motives attributed to you, and
know that you must suffer attack from men of low
morals, who can only swear by their party, and who
live only in public opinion.
" I hope you will find a rich reward in the cer
tainty that you have done a duty and service to
mankind." The oration abounds in narratives and illustra
tions of remarkable beauty and impressiveness
as for example : —
" In our age, there can be no peace that is not

OF CH-a-KLES SUMNER. 67
honorable : there can be no war that is not dishon
orable. The true honor of a nation is to be found
only in deeds of justice and beneficence, securing
the happiness of its people, — all of wMch are in
consistent with war. In the clear eye of CMistian
judgment, vain are its victories, infamous are its
spoUs. He is the true benefactor, and alone worthy
of honor, who brings comfort where before was
wretchedness; who dries the tear of sorrow; who
pours oil into the wounds of the unfortunate ; who
feeds the hungry, and clothes the naked ; who un
looses the fetter of the slave ; who does justice ;
who enUghtens the ignorant ; who, by his virtuous
genius, in art, in literature, in science, enlivens and
exalts the hours of Ufe ; who, by words or actions,
inspires a love for God and for man. This is the
CMistian hero : this is the man of honor in a Chris
tian land. He is no benefactor, nor deserving of
honor, whatever Ms worldly renown, whose life is
passed in acts of brute force ; who renounces the
great law of CMistian brotherhood ; whose vocation
is bk )d. Well may old Sir Thomas Browne ex
claim, 'The world does not know its greatest
men ! ' for thus far it has chiefly discerned the vio
lent brood of battle, the armed men springing up
from the dragon's teeth sown by hate ; and cared
little for the truly good men, children of love, guilt-

68 LIPB AND TIMES
less of their country's blood, whose steps on earth
have been noiseless as an angel's wing."
One of the most remarkable passages, however, in
tMs eloquent speech, is Mr. Sumner's declaration of
Ms opposition to the system of slavery. It has been
said that he commenced the reading of " The Liber
ator," the guiding star of freedom, anterior to Mr.
WendeU PhUlips, whose eloquent voice had long
before been heard in anti-slavery assemblages ; but
it appears that this was Mr. Sumner's first open,
public avowal of Ms sentiments in respect to the
rights of the colored race. He was led, undoubt
edly, to espouse their cause, not from any desire of
poUtical advancement or emolument, but simply
from Ms profound sense of justice, and Ms love of
human right and liberty. In reference to the liber
ation of the slave, he says, —
" What glory of battle in England's annals will
not fade by the side of that great act of justice
by wMch her parUament, at a cost of one hundred
mUlion dollars, gave freedom to eight hundred thou
sand slaves ! And when the day shall come (may
those eyes be gladdened by its beams !) that shall
witness an act of greater justice still, — the peace
ful emancipation of tMee millions of our fellow-men
' guUty of a skin not colored as our own,' now, in
this land of jubUant freedom, held in gloomy bond-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 69
age, — then shall there be a victory, in comparison
with wMch that of Bunker Hill shaU be as a farth
ing candle held up to the sun. That victory shall
need no monument of stone. It shall be written
on the grateful hearts of uncounted multitudes,
that shall proclaim it to the latest generation. It
shaU be one of the famed landmarks of civilization ;
nay, more, it shall be one of the Unks in the golden
chain by wMch humanity shall connect itself with
the tMone of God."
This masterly production, though containing some
views upon the war-question wMch Mr. Sumner
himseK afterwards was led to modify, brought him
at once to the front rank of the great orators
of Ms time. '
It has been said, that, in making researches for tMs
speech, Mr. Sunmer's thoughts were first directed
to the dreadful iniquity of the slave system. He
found that it implied a state of continual war, and
therefore came to the determination to employ in its
overtMow whatever abiUty he possessed.
Although the conditions of annexation had been
accepted by its legislature, Texas had not yet actu
ally become a State of the Republic. Strenuous
efforts were therefore made by the friends of free
dom to prevent the consummation of tMs slavehold
ing scheme. Conventions were held, petitions

70 LIFE AND TIMES
signed, in various sections of our State, and eloquent
speeches made by Edmund Quincy, Henry WUson,
Theodore Parker, WUUam Henry Channing, R. W.
Emerson, and others, with the design of influencing
Congress on the final vote. On the 4th of November,
1 845, a large meeting was held in FaneuU Hall in
Boston, at wMch resolutions drawn up by Mr. Sum
ner were presented, setting forth that the annexation
of Texas was sought for the purpose of increasmg
the market in human flesh, of extending and perpet
uating slavery, and of securing political power, and
in the name of God, of Christ, and of humamty,
protesting against its admission as a slave State.
These resolutions were eloquently and earnestly sup
ported by Mr. Sumner, Mr. John G. Palfrey, Mr.
Wendell Phillips, Mr. W. L. Garrison, and other
able advocates of freedom.
During his remarks Mr. Sumner eloquently ex
claimed : —
" God forbid that the votes and voices of the free
men of the North should help to bind anew the fet
ter of the slave ! God forbid that the lash of the
slave-dealer should be nerved by any sanction from
New England ! God forbid that the blood which
spurts from the lacerated, quivering flesh of the
slave should soil the hem of the white garments of
Massachusetts I "

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 71
He also introduced into this speech, as descriptive
of a Northern man with Southern principles, his apt
comparison of the h'on bolts of the sMp drawn out
by the magnetic mountain of the Arabian story.
" Let Massachusetts continue to be kno^vn as fore
most in the cause of freedom ; and let none of her
chUdren yield to the fatal dalliance with slavery.
You will remember the Arabian story of the magic
mountain, under whose irresistible attraction the iron
bolts which held together the strong timbers of a
stately ship were drawn out, tiU the whole fell apart
and became a disjomted wreck. Do we not find m
this story an image of what happens to many Nor
thern men under the potent magnetism of Southern
companionsMp or Southern mfluence ? Those prin
ciples which constitute the individuaUty of the Nor
thern character, which render it staunch, strong, and
seaworthy, which bind it together as with iron, are
drawn out one by one, like the bolts from the ill-
fated ve.3sel ; and out of the miserable, loosened frag
ments is formed that human anomaly, — a Northern
manwith Southern principles. Such a man is no true
son of Massachusetts."
" This," says Mr. Henry Wilson in his invaluable
" History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in
America," " was the first pubUc participation of Mr.
Sumner in that great conflict in which he subse-

72 LIFE AND TIMES
quently bore a part so important and honorable.
His speech and the resolutions from Ms pen were
based on the fixed and indestructible principles of
justice, humamty, and moral rectitude. Stating
that the object of the meeting was to strengthen the
hearts and hands of those opposed to the admission
of Texas into the family of States, and referring to
the voices of discouragement they heard, that all
exertion would be in vain, he declared that their
efforts could not fail to accompUsh great good, as no
act of self-sacrifice and devotion to duty can ever be
without its reward. Such an act as theirs, he said,
must ever stand as a landmark ; and ' future cham
pions of equal rights and human brotherhood wiU
derive new strength from these exertions.' ' Massa
chusetts,' he said, ' must continue foremost in the
cause of freedom ; nor can her children yield to
dalliance with slavery. They must resist it at all
times, and be fore-armed against its fatal influence.'
He closed by expressing the hope that it might be
hereafter among the praises of Massachusetts that
on this occasion she knew so weU how to say
' No ! '"
Mr. Sumner here stood boldly forth, and announced
the course he had elected ; and to it he adhered, with
the unwavering steadiness of one whose feet are
planted on the everlasting rock of Truth, until the

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 73
termination of Ms life. He had made the Uberation
of the slave a most profound constitutional and legal
study. He had prepared Mmself to invest the ques
tion with the charms of eloquence and poetry. He
had access to the halls of learning. He had gained
position as an orator and a scholar ; and therefore his
assumption of the advocacy of human freedom was
of immense importance to the cause. In him the
prophet saw the leader of the young men of culture
and of learning in the coming crusade against op
pression ; and through his voice the advanced heralds
of human freedom spoke. Bitter opposition he en
countered ; but Ms course was chosen.

CHAPTER VI.
Mr. Sumner's EiUogy on Mr. Justice Story. — His Tribute to the
Memory of John Pickering. — Oration before the Phi Beta Kappa
Societyof Harvard University. — Eeference to Dr. Channing. —
Eloquent Extract from the Oration. — Mr. Sumner's Method of
Meeting tlie Slave Power. — His CompUment to Jolm Q. Adams. —
His Apostrophe to Daniel Webster. — His Letter to E. C. Wintlirop.
— His Distrust of tlie Whig Party. — Argument on the VaUdity of
Enlistments. — Speech on the War, in Faneuil HaU. — "White
Slavery in the Barbary States. " — His Interest in Prison DiscipUue.
— Oration on "Fame and Glory." — Extract from the Same. —
Speech in the Whig Convention at Springfield.
" Et magis, magisque vm nunc gloria claret."
"Rest not I life is sweeping by;
Go and dare before you die.
Something mighty and sublime
Leave behind to conquer time." GoETKE.
|N the autumn of tMs year (1845), Mr. Sum
ner was called to mourn the loss by death
of Ms beloved friend and counsellor. Chief
Justice Story, whom Lord Campbell characterized in
the House of Lords as " the first of living writers on
the law." In " The Boston Daily Advertiser," Sept.
16, 1845, there appeared from Mr. Sumner's hand a
most eloquent and discriminating eulogy of tMs great
74

CHARLES SUMNER. 75
American jurist. In it he says, " It has been my
fortune to know or see the cMef jurists of our times
m the classical countries of jurisprudence, — France
and Germany. I remember well the pointed and
effective style of Dupin, on the deUvery of one of
Ms masterly opinions in the Mghest court of France ;
I recaU the pleasant converse of Pardessus, to whom
commercial and maritime law is under a larger debt,
perhaps, than to any other mind, while he descanted
on Ms favorite theme ; I wander in fancy to the
gentle presence of Mm with flowing silver locks, who
was so dear to Germany, — Thibaut, the expounder
of the Roman law, and the earnest and successful
advocate of a just scheme for the reduction of the
unwritten law to the certainty of a written text ;
from Heidelberg I fiy to BerUn, where I Usten to the
grave lecture and mmgle in the social circle of Sa-
vigny, so stately in person and pecuUar in counte
nance, whom aU the contment of Europe delights to
honor : but my heart and my judgment, untrammelled,
fondly turn to my Cambridge teacher and friend.
Jurisprudence has many arrows in her golden qmver ;
but where is one to compare with that which is now
spent m the earth? ... I remember Mm in my
chUdhood ; but I first knew him after he came to
Cambridge as professor whUe I was yet an under
graduate; and remember freshly, as if the words

76 LIFE AND TIMES
were of yesterday, the eloquence and animation with
wMch at that time, to a youthful circle, he enforced
the beautiful truth that no man stands in the way of
another. ' The world is wide enough for all,' he
said, ' and no success which may crown our neighbor
can affect our own career.' "
Mr. Sumner prepared for " The Law Reporter " of
June, 1846, another beautiful tribute, to the memory
of the eminent scholar John Pickering, who died
on the 5th of May preceding ; and, in the course of
the eulogy of Ms friend, indicates the magic of his
own success : " His talisman," said he, " was indus
try. He was pleased m referring to those rude inhabit
ants of Tartary, who placed idleness in the torments
of the world to come ; and often remembered the beau
tiful proverb in Ms Oriental studies, that by labor the
leaf of the mulberry-tree is turned to silk. His life
is a perpetual commentary on those words of untrans
latable beauty in the great Italian poet : —
' Seggendo in piuma,
Iu fama non si vien, ufe sotto ooltre :
Senza la qual chi sua vita consuma
Cotal vestigio in terra di se lascia,
Qual fumo in ^re ed in acqua la sohiuma.' "
Dante, Inferno, Canto xxv.
On the twenty-seventh day of August, 1846, Mr.
Sumner pronounced Ms splendid oration on " The

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 77
Scholar, the Jurist, the Artist, the PMlanthropist,"
before the PM Beta Kappa Society of Harvard Uni
versity ; in wMch he eloquently portrays the charac
ters, and commemorates the names, of Ms iUustrious
friends, John Pickermg, Joseph Story, WasMngton
AUston, and WiUiam Ellery Channmg, each of whom
had but recently fimshed his career. TMs oration
abounds with smgular affluence of illustration, and
with glowing thoughts clothed in choice and elegant
language. From it the authors of our best school
reading-books have drawn several passages as models
for the student. At the dinner foUowing the deliv
ery of this admirable discourse, John Quincy Adams
justly gave tMs sentiment : " The memory of the
scholar, the jurist, the artist, the philanthropist ; and
not the memory, but the long life, of the kindred
spirit who has this day embalmed them all."
In characterizing the eloquence of Channing, the
orator unconsciously described himself: "His elo
quence had not the character and fasMon of forensic
efforts or parliamentary debates. It ascended above
these, into an atmosphere as yet unattempted by the
applauded orators of the world. Whenever he
spoke or wrote, it was with the loftiest aims, • — not
for displaj', not to advance himself, not for any
selfish purpose, not in human strife, not in any
question of pecumary advantage ; but in the service
7*

78 LIFE AND TIMES
of religion and benevolence, to promote the love of
God and man. In these exalted themes are untried
founts of truest eloquence."
His peroration glows with hope, and seems almost
prophetic : —
" Go forth into the many mansions of the house of
life. Scholars, store them with learning ; jurists,
build them with justice ; artists, adorn them with
beauty ; philanthropists, let them resound with love.
Be servants of truth, each in his vocation ; doers of
the word, and not hearers only. Be sincere, pure
in heart, earnest, enthusiastic. . . . Like Pickering,
blend humility with learmng. Like Story, ascend
above the present in place and time. Like AUston,
regard fame only as the eternal shadow of exceUence.
Like Chanmng, bend in adoration of the right. Cul
tivate aUke the wisdom of experience, and the wis
dom of hope. Mindful of the future, do not neglect
the past: awed by the majesty of antiquity, turn not
with indifference from the future. True wisdom
looks to the ages before us as weU as behind us.
Like the Janus of the Capitol, one front thoughtfully
regards the past, rich with experience, with mem
ories, with the priceless traditions of virtue : the
other is earnestly directed to the AU HaU Hereafter,
richer stUl with its transcendent hopes and unfulfiUed
prophecies.

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 79
" We stand on the threshold of a new age, which is
preparing to recognize new infiuences. The ancient
divinities of violence and wrong are retreating to
their kindred darkness. The sun of our moral uni
verse is entering a new ecUptic, no longer deformed
by those images Cancer, Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius,
but beaming with mUd radiance of those heavenly
signs, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
' 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 1
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen ;
Aid it, hopes of honest men ;
Aid it, paper ; aid it, type ;
Aid it, for tbe hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slacken
Into play :
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way 1 '
" The age of chivalry has gone. An age of human
ity has come. The horse, whose importance, more
than human, gave the name to that early period of

80 LIFE AND TIMES
gaUantry and war, now yields his foremost place to
man. In serving him, in promoting his elevation, in
contributing to his weKare, in doing him good, there
are fields of bloodless triumph nobler far than any in
which Bayard or Du Guesclin ever conquered. Here
are spaces of labor wide as the world, lofty as heaven.
Let me say, then, in the benison once bestowed upon
the youthful knight : Scholars, jurists, artists, phUan-
thropists, heroes of a Christian age, companions of a
celestial knighthood, ' Go forth ; be brave, be loyal,
and successful.' "
In a letter to Mr. Sumner dated September, 1846,
Theodore Parker says : —
"I thank you most heartUy for your noble and
beautiful Phi Beta Kappa Address. It did me good to
read it. I Uke it, Uke it all, aU over and aU through.
I like especiaUy what you say of AUston and Chan
ning. That sounds Uke the Christianity of the nine
teenth century, the application of reUgion to life.
You have said a strong word, and a beautiful, —
planted a seed ' out of which many and tall branches
shall arise,' I hope. The people are always true to a
good man who truly trusts them. You have had op
portunity to see, hear, and feel the truth of that
oftener than once. I think you wUl have enough
more opportunities yet: men wUl look for deeds
noble as the words a man speaks. I take these words

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 81
as an earnest of a life fuU of deeds of that heroic
sort." — See Life and Correspondence of Theodore
Parker, vol. i., p. 316.
Mr. Sumner was no revolutiomst. He held in pro
found reverence the orgamc law of the land. He
woiUd meet the commandmg question of slavery on
constitutional grounds alone. He beUeved that the
provisions of the constitution in favor of the slave
holder were merely temporary, and that the instru
ment itself, which nowhere speaks of the slave as a
chattel or recognized slavery as an institution, was
framed in the expectation that the inhuman traffic
in flesh and blood would be soon abandoned.
" There is," said he, m an able speech before the
WMg State Convention at FaneuU Hall, Sept.
23, 1846, " no compromise on the subject of slavery,
of a character not to be reached legally and constitw-
tionally, which is the only way in which I propose
to reach it. Wherever power and jurisdiction are
secured to Congress, they may unquestionably be
exercised in conformity with the constitution. And
even m matters beyond existing powers and jurisdic
tion, there is a constitutional method of action. The
constitution contains an article pointing out, how,
at any time, amendments may be made thereto.
TMs is an important element, giving to the consti
tution a progressive character, and aUowing it to be

82 LIFE AND TIMES
moulded to suit new exigencies and new conditions
of feelmg. The wise framers of this instrument did
not treat the country as a Chinese foot, — never to
grow after its infancy, — but anticipated the changes
incident to its growth."
Assuming as a watchword, " Repeal of slavery
UNDER THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS OF THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT," he Said : " The time has passed
when tMs can be opposed on constitutional grounds.
It wiU not be questioned by any competent author
ity that Congress may by express legislation abol
ish slavery, first in the District of Columbia ; second
in the Territories, if there should be any ; third, that
it may abolish the slave-trade on the high seas be
tween the States ; fourth, that it may refuse to
admit any new State with a constitution sanction
ing slavery. Nor can it be questioned that the peo
ple of the United States may, in the manner pointed
out by the Constitution, proceed to its amendment.
It is, then, by constitutional legislation, and even by
amendment of the Constitution, that slavery may be
reached." Mr. Sumner then paid this brief, but memorable
compliment to John Quincy Adams, " the old man
eloquent," who, as a true representative of the
anti-slavery sentiment of the North, was fearlessly
opposing the aggressions of the slaveholding power :

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 83
" Massachusetts has a venerable representative,
whose aged bosom stUl glows with inextinguishable
fires, like the central heats of the monarch moun
tain of the Andes beneath its canopy of snow. To
tMs cause he dedicates the closing energies of a
long and illustrious life. Would that all would join
him ! " He then, in tMs bold apostrophe, addresses
Darnel Webster of the Senate, and points out a
poUcy wMch it had been weU for the imperious
leader of the old WMg party to have heeded:
" Dedicate, sir," said Mr. Sumner, " the golden years
of experience happily in store for you, to the grand
endeavor, in the name of freedom, to remove from
your country its greatest evU. In this cause you
shall find inspirations to eloquence Mgher than any
you have yet confessed.
' To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.'
" Do not sMink from the task. With your marvel-
lous powers, and the auspicious influences of an
awakened public sentiment, under God, who always
smUes upon conscientious labors for the weKare of
man, we may hope for beneflcent results.
"Assume, then, these unperformed duties. The
aged shaU bear witness to you ; the young shall Mn-
dle with rapture as they repeat the name of ' Web
ster ; ' and the large company of the ransomed shall

84 LIFE AND TIMES
teach their cMldren's chUdren, to the latest genera
tion, to call you blessed; wMle all shall award to
you yet another title, wMch shall never be forgot
ten on earth or in heaven, — Defender of Humanity ;
by the side of wMch that earlier title shaU fade into
insignificance, as the constitution, which is the
work of mortal hands, dwindles by the side of man,
who is created in the image of God."
In a characteristic letter to Robert C. Winthrop,
dated Oct. 25, 1846, Mr. Sumner sharply criticises
that gentleman's course in respect to the Mexican
War ; charging him with want of sympathy " with
those who seek to carry into our institutions that
practical conscience wMch declares it to be equally
wrong in individuals and in states to sanction
slavery." " TMough you," continues Mr. Sumner,
"they [the Bostonians] have been made to declare
an unjust and cowardly war with falsehood in the
cause of slavery. Through you they have been made
partakers in the blockade of Vera Cruz, in the seiz
ure of CaUfornia, in the capture of Santa F^, in the
bloodshed of Monterey. It were idle to suppose
that the poor soldier or officer only, is stained by
tMs guilt. It reaches far back, and incarnadines the
halls of Congress ; nay, more, — through you it red
dens the hands of your constituents in Boston ; "
and he concludes the letter by the assertion that

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 85
more than one of Ms neighbors will be obliged to
say,— " Cassio, I love tbee,
But never more be officer of mine."
In this forcible letter, the writer uses these memo
rable words indicating the eternal source of rectitude
as the guide for the settlement of the great political
question : " Aloft on the tMone of God, and not
below in the footprints of a trampling multitude of
men, are to be found the sacred rules of right, wMch
no majorities can displace or overturn."
In a speech against the Mexican War at a public
meeting in November foUowing, when Dr. Samuel
G. Howe was brought forward as a Congressional
candidate in opposition to Mr. Winthrop, Mr.
Sumner said, "It is with the Whigs that I have
heretofore acted, and may hereafter act ; always con
fessing a loyalty to principles Mgher than any party
. ties." On this soUd platform of conscience and of duty,
dealing Ms blows against the peculiar institution,
Mr. Sumner proudly stood. He clearly saw and
openly rebuked the subservience of Ms party to the
slaveocracy of the South ; and though not then an
aspirant for political power, he caught prophetic
glimpses of a rupture in the WMg organization, and
of the ultimate triumph of the right. With the

86 LIFE AND TIMES
uncompromising Garrison he had not yet come into
sympathy ; but within the constitution of the United
States, he declared Mmself an eternal foe to slavery.
His wing of the party soon received the title of
" Conscience WMgs ; " and conscience over might or
cotton will eventually prevail.
Mr. Sumner was not for a moment idle. In Jan
uary, 1847, he made a very able argument before
the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, against the
validity of enUstments in the regiment of volunteers
raised by the State for the Mexican War. As counsel
for one of the petitioners, he argued that the act of
Congress of 1846, provicUng for the officering of the
companies, was in some of the provisions unconsti
tutional, that the enlistments were not in accordance
with that act, that the miUtia acts of Massachusetts
had been fraudulently used in forming the regiment,
and also that a minor could not be held by his con
tract of enlistment under the act. The vaUdity of
proceedings was sustained ; but the minors were
discharged. On the 4th of February foUowing, he
made a short but teUing speech in Faneuil HaU,
for the withdrawal of the American troops from
Mexico, in wMch he said, "The war is not only
unconstitutional : it is unjust ; it is vile in its object
and character. It has its origm in a well-known
series of measures to extend and perpetuate slavery.

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 87
It is a war wMch must ever be odious in history,.
beyond the common measure allotted to the outrages
of brutaUty wMch disfigure other nations and times.
It is a slave-driving war. In its principle, it is only
a little above those miserable conflicts between the
barbarian cMefs of Central Africa, to obtain slaves
for the inhuman markets of Brazil. Such a war
must be accursed in the sight of God. Why is it
not accursed in the sight of man ? "
" Let a voice," he eloquently closing said, " go
forth from FaneuU Hall to-mght, awakening fresh
echoes tMoughout the kmdly valleys of New Eng
land, swelling as it proceeds, and gathering new
reverberations in its ample volume, traversmg the
whole land, and stiU receiving other voices, till it
reaches our rulers at WasMngton, and in tones of
thunder demands the cessation of tMs unjust
war." On the 17th of the same month he read before
the Boston MercantUe Library Association a cu
rious and brUliant paper on " WMte Slavery in the
Barbary States."
Taking up its origin, Mstory, and character, he
brings into Ms subject a surprising wealth of learn
ing and of Ulustiation, drawn from English, French,
and Spanish literature, and traces with a masterly
hand the miquities of slavery in the Barbary States

88 LIFE AND TIMES
from the earliest times until its final extinction by
Lord Exmouth, under the direction of His Royal
Highness the Prince Regent of England, in 1816.
In this discourse he adroitly aims a blow at slavery
at home. The theme was new, the speaker's heart
in sympathy with it : Ms researches were exhaustive ;
and he so grapMcally portrays the horrors of the
slave system, and so breathes the spUit of humanity
and Christian love into Ms lecture, as to render it
a study worthy of the enlightened pMlanthropist and
historian. As gleams of golden light upon the thunder-cloud,
so Mr. Sumner's tender sympatMes relieved the
gloomy scenes wMch he presents. Thus glowmgly,
in a charming passage, Ms kind regard for the unfor
tunate breaks forth : " Endeavors for freedom are
animating ; nor can any honest nature hear of them
without a tMob of sympathy. As we dweU on the
painful narrative of the unequal contest between
tyrannical power and the crushed captive or slave,
we resolutely enter the lists on the side of freedom ;
and as we behold the contest waged by a few mdi-
viduals, or perhaps by one alone, our sympathy is
given to his weakness as well as to Ms cause. To
him we send the unfaltermg succor of our good
wishes. For Mm we invoke vigor of arm to defend,
and fleetness of foot to escape. The enactments of

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 89
human laws are vain to restrain the warm tides of
the heart. We pause with rapture on those Mstoric
scenes in which freedom has been attempted or pre
served tMough the magnanimous self-sacrifice of
friendship or CMistian aid. With palpitating bosom
we follow the midnight flight of Mary of Scotland
from the custody of her stern jailers ; we accompany
Grotius in his escape from prison in Holland, so
adroitly promoted by Ms wife ; we join with Lava-
lette in France in his flight, aided also by his wife ;
and we offer our admiration and gratitude to Huger
and BoUman, who, unawed by the arbitrary ordi
nances of Austria, strove heroically, though vamly,
to rescue Lafayette from the dungeons of Olmutz."
This admirable production, every page of wMch
proclaims the scholar and the friend of human liberty,
was beautifully printed in 1853, by John P. Jewett
and Company, in a volume with elegant iUustrations
by Edwin T. BUlings, and should find a place in
every library.
WhUe abroad, Mr. Sumner's attention was natu
rally drawn to the condition of European prisons ;
and he avaUed himself of the opportunities afforded
Mm by intercourse with distinguished friends of
humanity, to study their various systems of disci
pline. On returning he continued his investigations
on tMs subject ; and in connection with Dr. Samuel
8*

90 LIFE AND TIMES
G. Howe, the Rev. Francis Wayland, and other gen
tlemen, became deeply interested in the course of
the Boston Prison Disciplme Society, and in the
improvement of the condition of the prisons of our
own country. Of the various systems in vogue, Mr.
Sumner deprecated that of the promiscuous commin
gling of prisoners in one company, and also that
of absolute solitude, endangering the health and pre
venting reformation. With the distinguished M. de
TocquevUle, he favored the Pennsylvania system,
which embraced these elements, — separation, labor m
the cell, exercise m the open air, visits, and books, to
gether with moral and religious mstruction. In a
speech of much power before the Boston Prison Dis
cipline Society, at the Tremont Temple, June 18,
1847, he criticised the partial and inefficient course of
that body, and presented his enlightened views upon
the subject, which gave fresh impulse to the efforts
made for the amelioration of the systems of our penal
institutions. The next notable literary effort of Mr. Sumner
was an address entitled "Fame and Glory," delivered
before the literary societies of Amherst College, at
their anniversary, Aug. 11, 1547. Although the
theme was commonplace, the genius of the speaker
unfolded it from such a lofty standpoint, and so af
fluently illustrated it with classic lore, as to impart

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 91
to it the charm of novelty, and to secure the warm
approval of the college and the public. As in his
oration on " The True Grandeur of Nations," so ih
tMs, he condemned the art and the atrocities of war,
and breathed forth his aspirations for the reign of
universal peace and brotherhood. His positions,
founded on the eternal principles of good-will to
man, of truth and justice, were in advance of time,
and by some persons deemed Utopian ; but he was
introduced into the world to be a leader, not a fol
lower ; and, as WiUiam Cullen Bryant nobly says, —
" Truth crushed to earth shall rise again :
The eternal years of God are hers :
But Error, wounded, writhes iu pain,
And dies among his worshippers."
After passing in review the career of warriors, as
Alexander, drunk with victory and wine ; Csesar,
trampling on the liberties of Rome ; Frederick of
Prussia, plajdng the game of robbery with human
Uves for dice, — he beautifully says, " There is
another and a higher company, who thought little of
praise or power, but whose lives shine before men
with those good works which truly glorify their
authors. There is Milton, poor and blind, but ' ba
ting not a jot of heart or hope ; ' in an age of igno
rance, the friend of education ; in an age of servility

92 LIFE AND TIMES
and vice, the pure and uncontaminated friend of
freedom, tuning his harp to those magnificent melo
dies which angels might stoop to hear, and confess
ing his supreme duties to humanity in words of sim-
pUcity and power. ' I am long since persuaded,'
was his declaration, ' that to say or do aught worth
memory and imitation, no purpose or respect should
sooner move us than love of God and mankind.'
There is St. Vincent de Paul of France, once in cap
tivity in Algiers. Obtaining his freedom by a happy
escape, tMs fugitive slave devoted Mmself with
divine success to labors of CMistian benevolence, to
the establishment of hospitals, to visiting those in
prison, to the spread of amity and peace. Unknown,
he repaired to the gaUeys at MarseUles, and, touched
by the story of a poor convict, personally assumed
his heavy chains, that he might be excused to visit
his wife and chUdren. And, when France was bleed
ing with war, this phUantMopist appears in a differ
ent scene. Presenting himself to her powerful
minister, the Cardinal Richelieu, on Ms knees he
says, ' Give us peace : have pity upon us ; give peace
to France.' There is Howard, the benefactor of
those on whom the world has placed its brand, whose
charity — Uke that of the Frenchman, inspired by
the single desire of doing good — penetrated the
gloom of the dungeon as with angeUc presence. ' A

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 93
person of more abiUty,' he says with sweet simpli
city, ' with my knowledge of facts, would have writ
ten better; but the object of my ambition was not
the fame of an author. Hearing the cry ofthe misera
ble, I devoted my time to their relief? And, lastly,
there is Clarkson, who while yet a pupil of the
umversity commenced those life-long labors against
slavery and the slave-trade, wMch have embalmed
his memory. Writing an essay on the subject as a
coUege-exercise, Ms soul warmed with the task ; and
at a period when even the horrors of the 'middle
passage ' had not excited condemnation, ke entered
the Usts, the stripUng champion of the right. He has
left a record of the moment when tMs duty seemed
to flash upon him. He was on horseback, on Ms way
iiom Cambridge to London. ' Coming in sight of
Wade's MiU, m Hertfordshire,' he says, ' I sat down
disconsolate on the turf by the roadside, and held my
horse. Here a thought came over my mmd, that, if
the contents of my essay were true, it was time some
person should see these calamities to their end? Pure
and noble impulse to a beautiful career ! "
After such exalted models Mr. Sumner forrded
the ideal for his own life. In the Whig State Con
vention at Springfield, Sept. 29, 1847, he made a
stirring speech against supporting any pro-slavery
man for the presidential chair, and urging uncom-

94 LIFE AND TIMES
promising resistance against the extension of slavery
to any territory to be acquired from Mexico.
" The Missouri compromise, the annexation of
Texas, the war with Mexico," said he, " are only a por
tion of the troubles caused by the slave-power. It is
an ancient fable, that the eruptions of Etna were pro
duced by the restless movements of the giant Encela-
dus, who was imprisoned beneath. As he turned on
his side, or stretched his limbs, or struggled, the con
scious mountain belched forth flames, fiery cinders,
and red-hot lava, carrying destruction and dismay to
aU who dwelt upon its fertile slopes. The slave-
power is the imprisoned giant of our constitution.
It is there confined and bound to the earth. But its
constant and strenuous struggles have caused, and
ever will cause, eruptions of evil to our happy coun
try, in comparison with which the flames, the fiery
cinders, and red-hot lava, of the volcano are trivial
and transitory. The face of nature may be blasted ;
the land may be struck with sterUity ; vUlages may
be swept by floods of flame, and whole famiUes
entombed aUve in its burmng embrace : but aU these
evUs shaU be small by the side of the deep, abiding,
unutterable curse of an act of national wrong.
" Let us, then, pledge ourselves in the most solemn
form, by umted exertions at least to restrain this
destructive influence witMn its original constitutional

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 95
bounds. Let us at aU hazards prevent the extension
of slavery, and the strengthening of the slave-power.
Our opposition must keep right on, and not look
back. ' Like to the Pontic Sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic and the Hellespont.'
In this contest, let us borrow from the example of
the ancient Greek, who when Ms hands were cut
off fought with his stumps, and even with Ms
teeth. . . .
" Loyalty to principle is higher than loyalty to party.
The first is a heavenly sentiment, from God: the
other is a device of this earth. Far above any flick
ering Ught or mere battle-lantern of party is the
everlastmg sun of truth, in whose beams are dis
played the duties of men."

CHAPTER VII.
The Formation of the Free-soil Party. — Defection of the Whig
Party. — Mr. Sumner's Speech announcing Iiis Withdrawal from
that Party. — Aggressions of the Slaveholding Power. — Tlie
Duty of Massachusetts. — The Commanding Question. —Mr.
Sumner's Oration on " The Law of Human Progress." — Greek
and Roman Civilization. — Tlie Power of the 'Press. — Signs of
Progi'ess. — The Course of the True Reformer. — His Speech at
Faneuil Hall on the New Party. — His Leading Ideas, Freedom,
Truth, and Justice. — Opposition to his Views. — The Unity of
Aim and the Advanced Standing of Mr. Sumner and Mr. Garri
son.
" He put to the hazard his ease, his interesfe?, his friendship, even liis dar
ling popularity, for the benefit of a race of men he had never seen, who could
not even give him thanks. He hurt those who were able to requite a benefit
or punish an injmy. He well knew the snares that might be spread about his
feet by pohtical intrigue, personal animosity, and possibly by popular delu
sion. This is the path that all heroes havo trod before him. He was traduced
and mahgned for his supposed motives. He woU luiew, that, as in the Roman
triumphal processions, so in public service, obloquy is an essential ingredient
m the composition of'all true glory." — Edmuuu Bueke.

ARLY in 1848, a small company of reformers,
among whom were Henry WUson, Stephen
C. PMlUps, John A. Andrew, and Horace
Mann, used to assemble frequently in the rooms of
Mr. Sumner m Court Street to discuss the encroach-

CHARLES SUMNER. 97
ments of the slaveocracy, and the duties and delin
quencies of. the WMg party. Here indeed was
taken the firSt real political anti-slavery stand ; and
here, in view of the subserviency of prominent
WMgs to Southern rule, was inaugurated the in
trepid Free-soU party, whose leading poUcy was
free soU, free labor, free speech, free men, and oppo
sition to the extension of slavery and of the slave-
holdmg power. As the South became more and
more intent on dommation, the Whig party yielded
more and more to its arrogant demands, and, in the
national convention held in PMladelpMa on the first
day of June, umted with the advocates of slavery in
the nomination of Zachary Taylor — a slaveholder,
and known to be adverse to the Wilmot Proviso — for
the presidential chair. Henry WUson and Charles
AUen, delegates from tMs State, denounced the
action of the body ; and returning home held with
their associates, in the city of Worcester, on the
28th of June, a grand mass-meeting, over which
Charles Francis Adams presided. Able speeches
were made, calling for a umon of men of all parties
to resist the aggression of the slaveholding power.
Mr. Sumner here came forward, and, in a speech of
signal force and earnestness, announced in these
words Ms separation from the Whig party : " They
[referring to Mr. Giddings and Mr. Adams, who

98 LIFE AND TIMES
had just spoken] have been Whigs ; and I, too,
have been a Whig, though ' not an ultra Whig.'
I was so because I thought this party represented
the moral sentiments of the country, — that it was
the party of humamty. It has ceased to sustain this
cliaracter. It does not represent the moral senti
ments of the country. It is not the party of
humanity. A party which renounces its sentiments
must itself expect to be renounced. For myself, ui
the coming contest, I wish it to be understood that
I belong to the party of freedom, — to that party
which plants itself on the Declaration of Indepen
dence, and the Constitution of the United States.
" As I reflect upon the transactions in which we
are now engaged, I am reminded of an incident in
French Mstory. It was late in the night at Ver
sailles that a courtier of Louis XVI., penetrating
the bed-chamber of his master, and arousing him
from his slumbers, communicated to Mm the intel
ligence — big with gigantic destinies — that the peo
ple of Paris, smarting under wrong and falsehood,
had risen in their might, and, after a severe contest
with hireling troops, destroyed the BastUe. The
unhappy monarch, turning upon Ms couch, saidj
'It is an insurrection? 'No, sire,' was the reply
of the honest courtier: 'it is a revolution? And
such is our movement to-day. It is a revolution.

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 99
not beginmng with the destruction of a Bastile, but
destined to end only with the overthrow of a
tjTanny differing Uttle in hardship and audacity
from that wMch sustained the BastUe of France : .
I mean the slave-power of the Umted States.
Let not people start at tMs similitude. I intend no
unkindness to individual slaveholders, many of
whom are doubtless humane and honest. And such
was LoMs XVI. ; and yet he sustamed the BastUe,
with the untold horrors of its dungeons, where
human beings were tMust into compamonsMp with
toads and rats."
" In the pursuit of its purposes," he continued,
"the slave-power has obtained the control of both
the great political parties of the country. Their
recent nominations have been made with a view to
serve its mterests, to secure its supremacy, and
especiaUy to promote the extension of slavery. The
WMgs and Democrats — I use the old names still —
professing to represent conflicting sentiments, yet
concur in being the representatives of the slave-
power. Gen. Cass, after openly registering his
adhesion to it, was recognized as the candidate of
the Democrats. Gen. Taylor, who owns slaves on a
large scale, though observing a studious silence on
the subject of slavery, as on aU other subjects, is not
only a representative of the slave-power, but an

100 LIFE AND TIMES
. important and constituent part of the power itself,
. . . And now the question occurs. What is the
true line of duty with regard to these two candi
dates? Mr. Van Buren (and I honor him for Ms
trumpet-call to the North) sounded the true
note when he said he could not vote for either of
them. Though nominated by different parties, they
represent, as I have said, substantially the same
interest, — the slave-power. The election of either
would be a triumph of the slave-power, and entail
upon the country, in all probability, the sin of ex
tending slavery. How, then, shall they be encoun
tered ? It seems to me in a very plain way. The
lovers of freedom, of all parties, and irrespective of
all party association, must unite, and, by a new com
bination congenial with the constitution, oppose
both candidates. TMs will be the Freedom Power,
whose single object shall be to resist the Slave
Power. We will put them face to face, and let
them grapple. Who can doubt the result ? . . .
" But it is said that we shall throw away our votes,
and that our opposition will fail. Fail, sir ! No
honest, earnest effort in a good cause ever fails. It
may not be crowned with the applause of man ; it
may not seem to touch the goal of immediate worldly
success, wMch is the end and aim of so much of life :
but still it is not lost. It helps to strengthen the

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 101
weak vrith new virtue, to arm the Uresolute with
proper energy, to animate all with devotion to duty,
wMch in the end conquers all. Fail ! Did the mar
tyrs faU when with their precious blood they sowed
the seed of the Church ? Did the discomfited cham
pions of freedom fail, who have left those names in
Mstory which can never die ? Did the three hundred
Spartans fail when, in the narrow pass, they did
not fear to brave the innumerable Persian hosts,
whose very arrows darkened the sun ? No ! Over
borne by numbers, crushed to earth, they have left
an example wMch is greater far than any victory.
And tMs is the least we can do. Our example
shall be the source of triumph hereafter. It will
not be the first time in history that the hosts of
slavery have outnumbered the champions of free
dom. But where is it written that slavery finally
prevaUed ?
" Let Massachusetts, then," he says, — " nurse of
the men and principles whieh made our earliest
revolution, — vow herself anew to her early faith.
Let her elevate once more the torch which she first
held aloft. Let us, if need be, pluck some fresh
coals from the Uving altars of France. Let us, too,
proclaim, ' Liberty, equality, fraternity ! ' — liberty
to the captive, equality between the master and his
slave, fratermty with all men, the whole compre-

102 LIFE AND THtfES
hended in that subUme revelation of Christianity,
— the brotherhood of mankind."
By the treaty of peace with Mexico, proclaimed
July 4, 1848, that vast extent of territory north of
the Rio Grande, together with New Mexico and
California, embracing more than 500,000 square
miles, was relinquished to the United States ; and
over these immense regions the slave propagandists
sought to extend their abominable system. The
stake in the poUtical game between them and the
friends of freedom was a virgm territory more than
four times as large as the British Isles, and more
than twice as large as France and Switzerland.
ShaU it be opened to free or servile labor ? Shall
peace and plenty, or bondage and poverty, reign
therein? Life or death? — this was the commanding
question of the day. The new organization saw the
magmtude of the issue, and said, " Life ! " The old
party, bending to the arrogant dictation of the
South, said, "Death!" Daniel Webster doubtless
drank his brandy with Ms eye turned toward the
North, then towards the South, then towards the
White House, and said, "Death!" And this was
Ms finality !
Although hard names, forbidding frowns, and
gibe and jest and social ostracism, were tb be
accepted by the men who dared to leave the domi-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 103
nant party, Mr. Sumner and Ms compeers had a
grand idea ; they had a sentiment of humanity, deep-
seated in the heart of the people, to sustain them :
and they thus went boldly forward, turning neither
to the right nor left, to the accompUshment of one of
tlie most transcendently beneficent poUtical under
takings of these modern times.
In a hopeful and weU-written oration on The Law
OF Human Progress, pronounced before the Phi
Beta Kappa Society of Union College, Schenectady,
on the 25th day of July, 1848, Mr. Sumner, sweep-
mg with an eagle eye over the various social systems
of the past, indicates their points of weakness, but
still acknowledges the steady march of civiUzation ;
and, under the benignant influences of CMistiamty
and the printing-press, ardently anticipates a brighter
day for science, art, Uterature, freedom, and human
ity. Of the anomaly of Greek and Roman civiUza
tion, he thus eloquently discourses : —
" There are revolutions in history which may seem,
on a superficial view, inconsistent with this law.
Our attention, from early chUdhood, is directed to
Greece and Rome; and we are sometimes taught
that these two states reached heights which subse
quent nations cannot hope to equal, much less sur
pass. Let me not disparage the triumphs of the
ancient mind. The eloquence, the poetry, the pMl-

104 LIFE AND TIMES
osophy, the art, of Athens still survive, and bear no
mean sway upon the earth. Rome, too, yet Uves in
her jurisprudence, wMch, next after CMistiamty, has
exerted a paramount infiuence over the laws of mod
ern states.
" But, exalted as these productions may be, it is im
possible not to perceive that sometMng of their
present importance is derived from the pecuUar
method in wMch they appeared ; sometMng from
the habit of unquestioning the high-fiown admira
tion with regard to them, which has been transmitted
through successive generations ; and sometMng also
from the disposition, stiU prevalent, bUndly to elevate
antiquity at the expense of subsequent ages. With
out here undertaking to decide the question of the
supremacy of Greek or Roman genius, as displayed
in individual minds, it would be easy to show that
the ancient standard of civilization never reached
the heights of many modern states. The people
were ignorant, vicious, and poor, or degraded to
abject slavery, — slavery itself, the sum of aU injus
tice and aU vice. And even the most iUustrious
characters, whose names stiU sMne from that distant
night with steUar brightness, were little more than
splendid barbarians. ArcMtectm-e, sculpture, paint-
mg, and vases of exquisite perfection, attested their
appreciation of the beauty of form ; but they were

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 105
strangers to the useful arts, as well as to the com
forts and virtues of home. Abounding in what to
us are luxuries of life, they had not what to us are
its necessaries.
" Without knowledge there can be no sure progress.
Vice and barbarism are the inseparable companions
of ignorance. Nor is it too much to say, that, ex
cept in rare instances, the highest vfrtue is attained
only tMough inteUigence. And tMs is natural ; for,
in order to do right, we must first understand what
is right. But the people of Greece and Rome, even
in the briUiant days of Pericles and Augustus, were
unable to arrive at tMs knowledge. The sublime
teacMngs of Plato and Socrates — calculated in many
respects to promote the best mterests of the race —
were restiained in their influence to the small com
pany of Usteners, or to the few who could obtain a
copy of the costly manuscript in wMch they were
preserved. Thus the knowledge and virtue acquired
by individuals faUed to be cUffused in their own age,
or secured to posterity.
" But now at last, tMough an agency all unknown
to antiquity, knowledge of every kind has become
general and permanent. It can no longer be con
fined to a select circle. It cannot be crushed by
tyranny, or lost by neglect. It is immortal as the
soul from wMch it proceeds. This alone renders aU

106 LIFE AND TIMES
relapse into barbarism impossible, wMle it affords
unquestionable distinction between ancient and
modern times. The press, watchful with more than
the hundred eyes of Argus, strong with more than the
hundred arms of Briareus, not only guards aU the
conquests of civiUzation, but leads the way to futm e
triumphs. TMough its untiring energies, the medi
tations of the closet or the utterances of the human
voice, which else would die away within the precincts
of a narrow room, <ire prolonged to the most dis
tant nations and times, with winged words circling
the globe. We admire the genius of Demosthenes,
of Sophocles, of Plato, and of PMdias ; but the
printing-press is a higher gift to man than the elo
quence, the drama, the philosophy, and the art of
Greece." The power even of the rudest people to advance in
civiUzation under the law of progress, and the aus
picious influences to tMs end conspiring, are weU set
forth in this hopeful passage : —
" Look at the cradles of the nations and races
wMch have risen to grandeur ; and learn from the
barbarous wretchedness by wMch they were originally
surrounded, that no lot can be removed from the
influence of the law of progress. The Feejee
Islander, the Bushman, the Hottentot, the Congo

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 107
negro, cannot be too low for its care. IS'o term of
imagmed ' finaUty ' can arrest it. The poUshed
Briton, whose civiUzation we now admire, is a de
scendant, perhaps, of one of those painted barbarians
whose degradation stiU Uves in the pages of Julius
Csesar. Slowly and by degrees he has reached the
position where he now stands; but he cannot be
stayed here. The improvement of the past is the
earnest of stUl further improvement in the long ages
of the future. And who can doubt, that, in the
lapse of time, as the Christian law is gradually ful
fiUed, the elevation wMch the Briton may attain
wiU be shared by aU Ms feUow-men ?
" The signs of improvement may appear at a spe
cial period, in a limited circle only, among the people,
favored of God, who have enjoyed the pecuUar bene
fits of commerce and of Christianity ; but the blessed
influence cannot be restiamed to any time, to any
place, or to any people. Every victory over evU
rebounds to the benefit of aU. Every discovery,
every humane thought, every truth, when declared, is
a conquest of wMch the whole human famUy are par
takers. It extends by so much their dominion, wMle
it lessens by so much the sphere of their future
struggles and trials. Thus it is, while nature is
always the same, the power of man is ever mcreas-
ing. Each day gives him some new advantage.

108 LIFE AND TIMES
The mountains have not grown in size ; but man has
broken tMough their passes. The winds and waves
are capricious ever, as when they first beat upon the
ancient SUurian rocks ; but the steamboat
' Against the wind, against the tide,
Now steadies on with upright keel.'
The distance between two places upon the surface
of the globe is the same to-day as when the con-
tments were first heaved from their ocean-bed ; but
the inhabitants can now, by the art of man, com
mune together.
" Much still remains to be done ; but the Creator
did not speak in vain when he blessed his earUest
children, and bade them ' to multiply, and replemsh
the earth, and subdue it?
" But there shaU be nobler triumphs than any over
inanimate nature. Man himself shaU be subdued, —
subdued to abhorrence of vice, of injustice, of vio
lence ; subdued to the sweet charities of life ; sub
dued to aU the requirements of duty and religion;
subdued, according to the law of human progress,
to the recognition of that gospel law by the side
of which the first is as the scaffolding upon the
sacred temple, — the law of human brotherhood. To
labor for this end was man sent forth into the world ;
not m the Ustlessness of idle perfections, but en-

OF CHARLES SUMNER 109
dowed with infinite capacities, inspired by infinite
desires, and commanded to strive perpetually after
exceUence, amidst the encouragements of hope, the
promises of final success, and the inexpressible
deUghts wMch spring fr-om its pmsuit. Thus does
the law of human progress
' Assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men,'
by showing evil no longer as a gloomy mystery,
bindmg the world mto everlasting tMaU, but as an
accident, destined, under the laws of God, to be
slowly subdued by the works of men as they press
on to the promised goal of happiness."
In Mr. Sumner's closing words on future progress,
its certainty, and the means of maMng it, may be
seen Ms lofty ideal of humamty, the leading motive
of his life, wMch was the Uberation of the captive,
the upraising of the masses; and also Ms idea of a
tiue reformer : " Be it, then, our duty and our encour
agement to Uve and to labor ever mindful of the
future ; but let us not forget the past. AU ages have
Uved and labored for us. From one has come art, from
another jurisprudence, from another the compass,
from another the printing-press : from all have pro
ceeded priceless lessons of truth and virtue. The
earUest and most distant times are not without a

110 LIFE AND TIMES
present influence on our daily Uves. The mighty
stream of progress, though fed by many tributary
waters and hidden springs, derives sometMng of its
force from the earUer currents which leap and
sparkle in the distant mountain-recesses, over preci
pices, among rapids, and beneath the shade of the
primeval forest.
" Nor should we be too impatient to witness the
fulfilment of our aspirations. The daily increasing
rapidity of discovery and improvement, and the
daily multiplying efforts of beneficence, in later
years outstripping the imaginations of the most san-
gmne, furnish weU-grounded assurance that the ad
vance of man wiU be with a constantly accelerating
speed. The extending intercourse among the na
tions of the earth, and among aU the children of
the human family, gives new promises of the com
plete diffusion of truth, penetrating the most distant
places, chasing away the darkness of night, and
exposing the Mdeous forms of slavery, of war, of
wrong, which must be hated as soon as they are
clearly seen. And yet, wMle confident of the
future, and surrounded by heralds of certain tri
umph, let us learn to moderate our anticipations,
nor imitate those children of the crusaders, who, in
their long journey from Western Europe, —
' To seek
In Golgotha Him dead, who lives in heaven,'

OF CHARLES SUMNER. Ill
haUed each city and castle which they approached
as the Jerusalem that was to be the end of their
wanderings. No : the goal is distant, and ever
advancing ; but the march is none the less certain.
As weU attempt to make the sun stand stiU in Ms
course, or to restrain the sweet influence of the Ple
iades, as to arrest the incessant, irresistible move
ment which is the appointed destiny of man.
" Cultivate, then, a just moderation : learn to rec
oncUe order with change, stabUity with progress.
This is a wise conservatism: tMs 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
aU that is evU ; a conservative of knowledge, a
reformer of ignorance ; a conservative of truths and
principles, whose seat is the bosom of God ; a re
former of laws and institutions, wMch are but the
wicked or imperfect work of man : a conservative
of that divine order wMch is found only in move
ment 5 a reformer of those earthly wrongs and
abuses wMch spring from a violation of the great
law of human progress. Blending these two charac
ters iiL one, let us seek to be at the same time
Reforming Conservatives, and Conservative Reform
ers?'' Martin Van Buren having been nommated as a

112 LIFE AND TIMES
presidential candidate by the Free-soil party at the
Buffalo Convention, a meeting to ratify the same
was held at Faneuil Hall on the twenty-second day
of August, when Mr. Sumner said, " It is no longer
banks and tariffs wMch are to occupy the foremost
place in our discussions, and to give their tone,
sounding always with the chink of doUars and
cents, to the policy of the country. Henceforward
Protection to man shaU be the true American
System. . . . The old and Ul-compacted party
organizations are broken : from, thefr ruins is now
formed a new party, — The Party of Freedom. There
are good men who longed for tMs, and have died
without the sight. John Qmncy 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 vic
tory. ' Oh 1 a fair cause stands firm and will abide :
Legions of angels fight upon its side.'
It is said that we have but one idea. TMs I deny ;
but, admitting that it is so, are we not, with our one
idea, better than a party with no ideas at all ? And
what is our one idea? It is the idea which com
bined our fathers •on the heights of Bunker HiU. It

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 113
is the idea wMch carried Washington tMough a
seven-years' war ; which inspired Lafayette ; wMch
touched with coals ©f fire the lips of Adams, Otis,
and Patrick Henry. Ours is an idea wMch is at
least noble and elevating : it is an idea wMch draws
in its tram virtue, goodness, and all the charities of
life, all that makes earth a home of improvement
and happiness. ' Her path, where'er the goddess roves,
Glory pursues, and generous shame,
The unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.'
We found now a new party. Its corner-stone is
freedom. Its broad, all-sustaimng arches are truth,
justice, and humamty. Like the ancient Roman
Capitol, at once a temple and a citadel, it shaU be the
fit sMme of the genius of American institutions."
"He is radical, an agitator, a rabid aboUtionist,
scattering fire-brands and death amongst us," said
the old conservatives who were indfrectly storing
thefr magazines of merchandise with the gains
derived from the unceasing toU of those in bond
age : " he must be sUenced, or bought up for our
conciliatory purposes." They mistook thefr man.
They set political power and money-making above
principle. Mr. Sumner had come up abreast of
the progressive spirit of the age. He saw that a

114 LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES SUMNER.
grand question, toucMng the interests of more than
tMee miUion human beings in the chains of servitude,
was to be met ; that it could be done on constitutional
grounds ; and whUe Mr. Garrison, aiming grandly
at the same result, and fighting manfully on a moral
basis, was dealing out gigantic blows for freedom,
Mr. Sumner came up with equal vigor to the poUti
cal arena, and determined to meet the issue under
the segis of the constitution. Both were battling
for the same victory ; and the strong blows of both
alike were needed. Buy cotton, buy men intent on
office, the old rigime with gold could do : Mr. Sum
ner and Mr. Garrison had ascended to a plane above
the reach of gold.

CHAPTER VIII.
Mr. Sumner's Literary Pursuits. — His Political Views. — His Re
marks on Utopian Ideas. — His Positjon defined. — Oration hefore
the American Peace Society. — Encomium on Peace. — War Pic
tures. — A Beautiful Peroration. — The Free-soU Party. — Con
vention at Worcester. — Address to the Citizens of Massachusetts.
— Argument in Respect to Colored Schools. — Equality of All Men
before the Law. — Daniel Webster's Subserviency to the South. —
The Fugitive-Slave Law. — Mr. Sumner's Effective Speech there
on. — Demands of the Free-soU Party. — Mr. Sumner's Future
Course indicated. — Death of his Brother Horace Sumner, and the
Ossoli FamUy.
" VeuiUez seulement, et les lois iniques disparoitiont soudain, et la violence
des oppresseurs se brisera centre votre f ermet6 inflexible et juste. Eien ne
resiste i I'nnion du droit et du devoir." — lAvre du Peuple, par P. LAMEiOf Ais.
"For what avail
The plough and sail.
Or land or life.
If Freedom fail ? " E. W. ESEEBSON.
R. SUMNER neither had nor cared to have
much legal practice at tMs period. His
time was, for the most part, spent either
among Ms books — in close communion with the
Uberty-loving John MUton, with Nature's darUng
child WilUam Shakspeare, with that glorious Flor-
115

116 LIFE AND TIMES
entme, the God-gifted Dante, with the genial,
quick-eyed Horace, with the blind old Homer,
and other grand classical authors, from whom he
drew fresh inspiration for the conduct of Ms life —
in writing lectures for literary associations, or in
the consideration of the commanding civil and politi
cal questions of the day. Occasionally he pre
pared an article for " The Christian Examiner," or
addressed a lyceum ; but he had no desire to enter
into the struggle for political place. His ambi
tion was to be an independent tMnker, entfrely free
fr'om the trammels of ofiice, and,' in his own private
way, to do sometMng for the liberation of Ms fellow-
men from bondage. He was called a theorizer and
a visionary ; but Ms thoughts were in advance of Ms
age ; and Ms opinions rested on the solid basis of
eternal truth and equity. He had reached a Mgher
level than the mercenary politicians of Ms time ; and
hence they could not understand Mpi. " Much
learnmg doth make thee mad," said they ; and so,
alike unmindful of the ground-sweU underneath and
of the stars above, they went on driftmg hard
against the fatal breakers.
" If our aims," said Mr. Sumner, in speaking of
Ms views on peace, " are visionary, impracticable,
Utopian, then the unfulfilled promises of the prophe
cies are vain ; then the Lord's Prayer, in wMch we

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 117
ask that God's kingdom shaU come on earth, is a
mockery ; then CMistianity is an Utopia. Let me
not coiltent myself by reminding you that aU the
great reforms by wMch mankind have been advanced
have encountered similar objections ; that the aboU
tion of the punishment of death for theft was first
suggested in the ' Utopia ' of Sfr Thomas More ; that
the efforts to abolish the crime of the slave-trade
were opposed, almost m our day, as impracticable
and visionary : in short, that all the endeavors for
human improvement, for knowledge, for freedom,
for virtue, that aU the great causes which dignify
human Mstory, wMch save it from being a mere
protiacted war-buUetin, a common sewer, a Cloaca
Maxima, flooded with perpetual uncleanUness, have
been pronounced Utopian; wMle, m spite of dis
trust, of prejudice, of enmity, aU these causes have
gradually found acceptance as they gradually be
came understood ; and the Utopias of one age have
become the reaUties of the next."
In a letter dated Oct. 26, 1848, in which he most
reluctantly accepts the nomination as the congres
sional candidate of the Free-soU party, Mr. Sumner
says, " I have never held political office of any
Mnd , i:or have I ever been a candidate for any such
office. It has been my desfre and determination to
labor in such fields of usefulness as are open to

118 LIFE AND TIMES
every private citizen, without the honors, the emolu
ments, or the constraints of ofiice. I would show by
my example (might I so aspire !) that something may
be done for the welfare of our race without the
support of public sanction, or the accident of popu
lar favor. In this course I hoped to be aUowed to
persevere unto the end. . . . The principles of
Washington, of Jefferson, and of FrankUn; the
security of our constitution ; the fafr fame of our
country ; the interests of labor ; the cause of free
dom, of humanity, of right, of morals, of religion,
of God, — all these are now at stake. Holier cause
has never appeared in history. Let me offer to it,
not my vows only, but my best efforts, wherever
they can be most effectual."
An ardent advocate of peace and good-will, Mr.
Sumner deUvered before the American Peace Soci
ety, on the 28th of May, 1849, a splendid oration on
" The War Systems of the Commonwealth of
Nations." In tMs celebrated effort he displays the
riches of a ripe scholarsMp, and a highly-cultivated
imagination, to great advantage. Though some lack
of logical method in arrangement, as m almost aU
Ms speeches, is observable, the positions taken are in
harmony with the teachings of CMistianity, and
Ulustrated by a wealth of learmng truly admirable.
His pictures of the blessmgs attendant on peace, as

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 119
well as of the horrors of land and naval warfare, are
drawn with the skill of a master. They are beauti
ful poems in prose, and are considered models in tMs
kind of style. In Ms eloquent exordium he thus
refers to the felicities of peace : —
" Peace is the grand CMistian charity, the foun-
tam and parent of aU other charities. Let peace be
removed, and aU other charities shaU sicken and die.
Let peace exert her gladsome sway, and aU other
charities shaU qmcken into celestial life. Peace is a
distmctive promise and possession of CMistianity :
so much is this the case, that, where peace is not,
CMistianity cannot be. There is notMng elevated
wMch is not exalted by peace. There is notMng
valuable wMch does not contribute to peace. Of
Wisdom herseff it has been said, that aU her ways
are pleasantness, and aU her paths are peace.
Peace has ever been the longing and aspfration of
the noblest souls, whether for themselves or for their
country. In the bitterness of exUe, away from the
Florence wMch he has immortaUzed by Ms divme
poem, pacing the cloisters of a convent, in response
to the inqufry of the monk, ' What do you seek ? '
Dante said, in words distUled from Ms heart, ' Peace,
peace.' In the struggles of civU war in England,
wMle king and parliament were rending the land, a
gaUant supporter of the monarchy, renowned for the

120 LIFE AND TIMES
bravery of battle, the cMvalrous Falkland, cried, in
words wMch consecrate Ms memory more than any
feat of arms, ' Peace, peace, peace ! ' Not in aspfra
tion only, but in benediction, is this word uttered.
As the apostle went forth on his errand, as the son
left his father's roof, the choicest blessing was,
' Peace be with you.' As the Saviour was born,
angels from heaven, amidst quiring melodies, let fall
that supreme benediction, never before tasted by the
heathen tribes, addressed to all nations, and to all
cMldren of the human family, " Peace on earth, and
good-wUl towards men.' "
He thus vividly portrays the atrocities of war
upon the land : —
" I need not dwell now on the waste and cruelty
of war. These stare us wildly in the face like
lurid meteor-lights, as we travel -the page of history.
We see the desolation and death that pursue its
demomac footsteps. We look upon sacked towns,
upon ravaged territories, upon violated homes : we
behold all the sweet charities of life changed to
wormwood and gall. Our soul is penetrated by the
sharp moan of mothers, sisters, and daughters, of
fathers, brothers, and sons, who, in the bitterness of
their bereavement, refuse to be comforted. Our
eyes rest at last upon one of those fair fields where
Nature in her abundance spreads her cloth of gold,

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 121
spacious and apt for the entertainment of mighty
multitudes ; or, perhaps, from the curious subtlety
of its position, like the carpet in the Arabian tale,
seeming to contract so as to be covered by a few
only, or to dUate so as to receive an innumerable
host. Here, under a bright sun, such as shone at
Austerlitz or Buena Vista, amidst the peaceful har
monies of nature, on the sabbath of peace, we
behold bands of brothers, chUdren of a common
Father, hefrs to a common happiness, struggling to
gether in the deadly fight with the madness of faUen
spirits ; seeMng with murderous weapons the Uves
of brothers who have never injured them or thefr
kindred. The havoc rages. The ground is soaked
with their commingUng blood : the afr is rent by
thefr commingUng cries. Horse and rider are
stretched together on the earth. More revoltmg
than the mangled victims, than the gashed Umbs,
than the lifeless trunks, than the spattering brains,
are the lawless passions which sweep tempest-like
through the fiendish tumult.
' Nearer comes the storm and nearer, rolling fast and frightful
on.
Speak, Ximena, speak and tell us, who has lost and who haa
won?'
' Alas ! alas 1 I know not : friend and foe together fall.
O'er the dying rush the living : pray, my sister, for them all.'
<

122 LIFE AND TIMES
"Horror-struck, we ask. Wherefore tMs hateful
contest? The melancholy but truthful answer
comes, that tMs is the established method of deter
mining justice between nations."
His word-painting of warfare on the sea is still
more vivid : —
" The scene changes. Far away on the distant
pathway of the ocean two ships approach each
other, with white canvas broadly spread to receive
the fiying gales. They are proudly built. AU of
human art has been lavished in their graceful pro
portions and in their well-compacted sides, wMle
they look in dimensions Uke fioating happy islands of
the sea. A numerous crew, with costly appliances of
comfort, Mves in thefr secure shelter. Surely these
two travellers shall meet m joy and friendship : the
flag at the mast-head shall give the signal of fellow
ship ; the happy sailors shall cluster in the rigging,
and even on the yard-arms, to look each other in the
fice, wMle the exhUarating voices of both crews
shall mingle in accents of gladness uncontrollable.
It is not so. Not as brothers, not as friends, not as
wayfarers of the common ocean, do they come to
gether, but as eneraies. The gentle vessels now bris
tle fiercely with death-dealing instruments. On thefr
spacious decks, aloft on all their masts, flashes the
deadly musketry. From their sides spout cataracts

OF CHARLES StTMNER. 123
of flame, amidst the pealing thunders of a fatal
artUlery. They who had escaped 'the dreadful
touch of merchant-marring rocks,' who had sped
on thefr long and sohtary way unharmed by wind or
wave, whom the hurricane had spared, in whose
favor storms and seas had mtermitted thefr immiti
gable war, — now at last faU by- the hand of each
other. The same spectacle of horror greets us from
both ships. On thefr decks reddened with blood,
the murderers of St. Bartholomew and of the SicUian
Vespers, with the fires of Smithfield, seem to break
forth anew, and to concentrate their rage. Each has
now become a swimming Golgotha. At length these
vessels — such pageants of the sea, once so stately,
so proudly bmlt, but now rudely . shattered by
cannon-baUs, with sMvered masts and ragged sails
— exist only as unmanageable wrecks, weltermg on
the uncertain waves whose temporary lull of peace
is now thefr only safety. In amazement at tMs
strange, unnatural contest away from country and
home, where there is no country or home to de
fend, we ask agam. Wherefore tMs dismal duel ?
Again the melancholy but trutMul answer promptly
comes, that tMs is the established method of deter-
mimng justice between nations."
In Ms peroration these grand and hopeful ideas are
most eloquently presented : —

124 LIFE AND TIMES
" TeU me not, then, of the homage which the
world yet offers to the military cMeftain. Tell me
not of the glory of war : tell me not of the honor
or fame that is won on its murderous fields. AU is
vanity. It is a blood-red phantom, sure to fade
and disappear. They who strive after it, Ixion-
like, embrace a cloud. Though seeming for a whUe
to fill the heavens, cloaking the stars, it must, like
the vapors of earth, pass away. Milton has likened
the early contests of the Heptarchy to the skirmishes
of crows and kites ; but God, and the exalted Chris
tianity of the future, shall regard all the bloody
feuds of men in the same likeness; and Napoleon
and Alexander, so far as they were engaged m
war, shall seem to be monster crows and Mtes. Thus
shall it be as mankind ascend from the thrall of
brutish passions by wMch they are yet degraded.
Nobler aims, by nobler means, shaU fiU the soul; a
new standard of exceUence shaU prevail ; and honor,
divorced from aU deeds of blood, shaU become the
inseparable attendant of good works alone. Far bet
ter, then, shall it be, even in the judgment of this
world, to have been a door-keeper m the house of
peace, than the proudest dweUer m the tents of
war. " There is a legend of the early Church, that the
Saviour left Ms image miraculously impressed upon a

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 125
napkin wMch he placed upon his countenance. The
napkin has been lost ; and men now attempt to por-
fray that countenance from the heathen models of
Jupiter and ApoUo. But the image of Christ is not
lost to the world. Clearer than in the precious nap
kin, clearer than in the colors of the marble of
modern art, it appears in every virtuous deed, in
every act of self-sacrifice, in aU magnanimous toil, in
every recogmtion of the brotherhood of manMnd.
It shaU yet be supremely mamfest, in unimagined
loveUness and seremty, when the commonwealth of
nations, confessmg the true grandeur of peace,
shaU renounce the wickedness of the war system,
and shaU dedicate to labors of beneficence all the
comprehensive energies wMch have been so fatally
absorbed in its support. Then, at last, shaU it be
seen that there can be no peace that is not honorable ;
and there can be no war that is not dishonorable."
Planted on the soUd ground of opposition, under
and within the constitution, to slavery and its ex
tension, the Free-soU party commended itself more
and more to the profound convictions of the North
ern people, and, under the direction of such clear
headed men as Henry WUson, Stephen C. Phillips,
Charles A. Phelps, and Charles Sumner, graduaUy
acqtured position and commanding influence. At a
convention of the party held at Worcester, Sept. 12,

126 LIFE AND TIMES
1849, Mr. Sumner, calUng the members to order,
said, —
" It was the sentiment of Benjamin FrankUn, that
great apostle of freedom, uttered during the trials
of the Revolution, that ' Where liberty is, there is
my country.' I doubt not that each member of this
convention wUl be ready to respond, in a similar
strain, ' Where Uberty is, there is my party.' "
A long and able address by Mr. Sumner to the
citizens of Massachusetts on the Free-soil movement,
was adopted by this convention, and widely circu
lated. Contrasting its position with the double
deaUng of the Whig party, he says, " Wherever we
exist, in aU parts of ' the country. East and West,
North and South, we are truly a National party.
We are not compeUed to assume one face at the
South, and another at the North ; to blow hot in one
place, and blow cold in another ; to speak loudly of
freedom in one region, and vindicate slavery in
another, — in short, to present a combination in which
the two extreme wings profess opinions on the great
issue before the country, diametricaUy opposed to
each other. We are the same everywhere ; and the
reason is, because our party, unlike the other
parties, is boimd together in support of certain flxed
and weU-defined principles. It is not a combmation
fixed by partisan zeal, and kept together, as with

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 127
mechamcal force, by considerations of political ex
pediency only ; but a sincere, conscientious, inflexible
imion for the sake of freedom."
Of the leading question of the party, he remarks,
"It is an everlasting Unk in the golden chain of
human progress. It is a cause wMch, though long
kept in check tMoughout our country, as also in
Europe, now confronts the people and their rulers,
demanding to be heard. It can no longer be
avoided or sUenced. To every man in the land it
now says, with clear, penetrating voice, 'Are you
for fr-eedom, or are you for slavery ? ' And every
man in the land must answer tMs question when he
votes." Towards the close of the year (Dec. 4) Mr. Sum
ner made a strong argument before the Supreme
Court of the State, against the constitutionality of
separate colored schools, establishing Ms positions
both by the constitution and the legislation of the
State, as weU as by the decisions of the bench. In
the course of the argument he said, in reference to
the distinction between the EtMopian and Caucasian
races : " Each has received from the hand of God
certain characteristics of color and form. The two
may not readUy intermingle ; although we are told
by Homer that Jupiter
' Did not disdain to grace
The feast of Ethiopia's blameless race.'

128 LIFE AND TIMES
One may be uninteresting or offensive to the other,
precisely as different individuals of the same race
and color may be umnteresting or offensive to each
other ; but this distinction can furnish no ground
for any discrimination before the law.
" We abjure nobUity of all kinds ; but here is a
nobUity of the skin. We abjure all hereditary dis-
tmctions ; but here is an hereditary distinction,
founded not on the merit of the ancestor, but on Ms
color. We abjure aU privileges derived from birth ;
but here is a privilege wMch depends solely on the
accident, whether an ancestor is black or wMte. We
abjure all inequality before the law ; but here is an
inequality wMch touches not an individual, but a
race. We revolt at the relation of caste ; but here
is a caste wMch is established under a constitution
declaring that all men are born equal."
Closing his earnest plea for the rights of the slave,
he nobly said, " 'WMch way soever we turn, we are
brought back to one single proposition, — the equality
of men before the law. TMs stands as the mighty
guardian of the rights of the colored cMldren m
tMs case. It is the constant, ever^resent, tutelary
genius of tMs Commonwealth, fr-owmng upon every
privUege of bfrth, upon every distinction of race,
upon every institution of caste. You cannot slight
it or avoid it. You cannot restram it. God grant

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 129
that you may welcome it ! Do tMs, and your words
wUl be a ' charter and freehold of rejoicing ' to
a race wMch, by much suffermg, has earned a title
to much regard. Your judgment wUl become a
sacred landmark, not in jurisprudence only, but in
the Mstory of freedom, giving precious encourage
ment to aU the weary and heavy-laden wayfarers in
this great cause. Massachusetts will then, tMough
you, have a fresh title to regard, and be once more,
as in times past, an example to the whole land."
The South was steadily pressing for domiMon ; the
WMg party of the North, weakened by the deser
tion from its ranks of many of the advocates of
freedom, step by step gave way ; and Daniel Web
ster, led on by a hope wMch dotage only could have
entertamed, of rising to the cMef executive chafr,
m his fatal senatorial speech of March 7, 1850,
bowed in most abject submission to the slaveholding
mterest. Keenly it was said by an honest farmer, as
tMs mighty leader of the WMgs went down, " The
masters never pay thefr slaves ; " and never, after
that false play for power, could Ms words, once so
grandly eloquent, reach the Northern heart.
By the death of President Taylor, July 9 of the
same year, the executive power devolved on Millard
FUlmore, who called Mr. Webster from the Senate to
Ms cabmet. On the 18th of September following Mr.

130 LIFE AND TIMES
FUlmore signed the infamous Fugitive-Slave BUl.
" The North," said one, " wiU never submit to this ;
and we shall make the breaking-point." The senti
ment of the lovers of freedom was aroused ; and as a
pent-up stream breaks through the dam arresting it,
so the full torrent of indignation came rolling forth.
In a speech at the Free-soil State Convention, held
in Boston on the third day of October, 1850, Mr.
Sumner denounced, in words of scatMng power, the
iniquity of tMs bUl. The walls of Faneuil Hall
had never echoed to more impassioned strams of elo
quence. The words came from the heart, as wmged
with a celestial fire. A prophet greater than Daniel
had come to judgment. " The soul sickens," ex
claimed Mr. Sumner, " in the contemplation of this
outrage. In the dreary annals of the past there are
many acts of shame ; there are ordinances of mon
archs, and laws, which have become a by-word and a
hissing to the nations. But, when we consider the
country and the age, I ask fearlessly, What act of
shame, what ordinance of monarch, what law, can
compare in atrocity with this enactment of an
American Congress ? I do not forget Appius Clau
dius, the tyrant decemvfr of ancient Rome, condemn
ing Virginia as a slave ; nor Louis XIV. of France,
letting slip the dogs of religious persecution by the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; nor Charles I. of

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 131
England, arousing the patriot-rage of Hampden by
the extortion of sMp-money ; nor the British Parlia
ment, provoking in our country spfrits Mndred to
Hampden, by the tyranny of the Stamp Act and the
tea-tax. I would not exaggerate ; I wish to keep
within bounds : but I tMnk no person can doubt
that the condemnation now affixed to all these trans
actions and to thefr authors must be the lot here
after of the Fugitive-Slave BUl, and of every one,
according to the measure of Ms influence, who gave it
his support. Into the immortal catalogue of national
crimes tMs has now passed, drawing after it, by an
mexorable necessity, its authors also, and cMefly
him who as president of the United States set Ms
name to the bill, and breathed into it that flnal
breath without wMch it would have no Ufe. Other
presidents may be forgotten ; but the name signed
to the Fugitive-Slave Bill can never be forgotten.
There are depths of infamy, as there are heights of
fame. I regret to say what I must ; but truth com
pels me. Better for Mm had he never been born !
Better far for Ms memory, and for the good name of
his cMldren, had he never been president ! Under
this detestable. Heaven-defying bill, not the slave
only, but the colored freeman of the North, may be
swept into rutMess captivity ; and there is no wMte
citizen, born among us, bred in our schools, partak-

132 LIFE AND TIMES
ing in our affairs, voting in our eleations, whose
liberty is not assailed also. Without any discrimi
nation of color, the bill surrenders all who may be
claimed as ' owing service or labor ' to the same
tyranmcal judgment. And mark once more its
heathenism : by unrelenting provisions it visits
with bitter penalties of flue and imprisonment the
faithfiU men and women who may render to the
fugitive that countenance, succor, and shelter wMch
CMistianity expressly requfres. Thus, from begin
ning to end, it sets at nought the best principles of
the constitution, and the very laws of God.
" I will not dishonor the home of the • PUgrims
and of the Revolution by admitting, nay, I cannot
believe, — that tMs bill wUl be executed here. In
dividuals among us, as elsewhere, may forget hu
manity m a fancied loyalty to law ; but the public
conscience wUl not allow a man who has trodden
our streets as a freeman to be dragged away as a
slave. By his escape from bondage, he has shown
that true manhood which must grapple to him every
honest heart. He may be ignorant and rude, as he
is poor ; but he is of a true nobUity. The fugitive
slaves of the United States are among the heroes of
our age. In sacrificing them to this foul enactment
of Congress, we should violate every sentiment of
hospitaUty, every wMspermg of the heart, every

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 183
dictate of religion. . . . But let me be understood :
I counsel no violence. There is another power,
stronger than any mdividual arm, which I mvoke :
I mean that invincible pubUc opmion, inspired by
love of God and man, wMch, without violence or
noise, gently as the operations of nature, makes and
unmakes laws. Let tMs opinion be felt m its CMis
tian might, and the Fugitive-Slave Bill wUl become
everywhere upon our soU a dead-letter. No lawyer
wUl aid it by counsel: no citizen wUl become its
agent. It wUl die of inanition, like a spider be
neath an exhausted receiver. Oh ! it were well the
tidings should spread tMoughout the land, that here
m Massachusetts tMs accursed bill has found no
servants. ' Sfre, I have found in Bayonne honest
citizens and brave soldiers only, but not one execu-
•tioner,' was the reply of the governor of that place
to the royal mandate of Charles IX. of France,
ordermg the massacre of St. Bartholomew.
" But it rests with you, my feUow-citizens, by
your works and your words and your example^ by
your calm determmations and your devoted Uves, to
do tMs work. From a humane, just, and reUgious
people shaU spring up a pubUc opinion, to keep
perpetual guard over the Uberties of all witMn our
borders. Nay, more : Uke the flaming sword of the
cherubim at the gates of Paradise, turning on every

134 LIFE AND TIMES
side, it shaU prevent any slave-hunter from ever
setting foot in this Commonwealth. Elsewhere he
may pursue Ms human prey, he may employ Ms
congenial blood-hounds, and exult in Ms successful
game ; but mto Massachusetts he must not come.
And yet, again I say, I counsel no violence. I would
not touch Ms person. Not with wMps and thongs
would I scourge him from the land. The contempt,
the indignation, the abhorrence, of the community
shaU be our weapons of offence. Wherever he moves,
he shall find no house to receive him, no table spread
to nourish Mm, no welcome to cheer Mm. The dis
mal lot of the Roman exile shall be Ms. He shaU
be a wanderer without roof, fire, or water. Men
shall point at him in the streets, and on the Mgh-
ways. ' Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang on his pent-house lid ;
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary seven nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.'
The vUlages, towns, and cities shall refuse to receive
the monster : they shall vomit Mm forth, never again
to disturb the repose of our community. . . .
" We demand, first and foremost," contmued he,
" the instant repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Law.

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 135
" We demand the aboUtion of slavery in the Dis
trict of Columbia.
"We demand the exercise by Congress, in all
Territories, of the time-honored power to prohibit
slavery. " We demand of Congress to refuse to receive into
the Union any new slave State.
" We demand the abolition of the domestic slave-
trade so far as it can be constitutionally reached,
but particularly on the Mgh seas under the national
flag. " And, generaUy, we demand fr-om the federal
government the exercise of all its constitutional
power to reUeve itself from the responsibUity for
slavery. " And yet one tMng further must be done : the
slave-power must be overturned, so that the federal
government may be put openly, actively, and per
petually on the side of freedom." These demands
he Uved to see fairly and squarely met.
Referrmg to Ms own future course, he indicates
that line of action wMch he undeviatingly pursued
until the close of life : —
" To vmdicate freedom, and to oppose slavery, so
far as I imght constitutionally, with earnestness, and
yet, I trust, without any personal unkmdness on my
part, has been the object near my heart. Would

136 LIFE AND TIMES
that I coiUd impress upon all who now hear me
sometMng of the strength of my own conviction of
the importance of tMs work ! Would that my voice,
leaving tMs crowded haU to-mght, could traverse
the MUs and valleys of New England, that it could
run along the rivers and the lakes of my country,
lighting in every humane heart a beacon-flame to
aroiise the slumberers tMoughout the land ! In tMs
cause I care not for the name by wMch I may be
caUed. Let it be ' Democrat ' or ' Loco-foco,' if you
please : no man who is in earnest wiU hesitate on
account of a name. I shall rejoice in any associates
fr'om any quarter, and shall ever be found with that
party which most truly represents the principles of
freedom. Others may become indifferent to these
principles, bartering them for political success, vain
and short-Uved, or forgetting the visions of youth in
the dreams of age. Whenever I shall forget them,
whenever I shaU become mdifferent to them, when
ever I shall cease to be constant in maintaimng them,
tMough good report and evU report, in any future
combmations of party, — then may my tongue cleave
to the roof of my mouth ! — may my right hand for
get its cunning ! "
In the summer of tMs year, Mr. Sumner was
caUed to lament the loss of Ms brother Horace, who
was drowned in Ms endeavor to escape from the

OF CHARLES StTMNER. 137
wreck of the sMp " Elizabeth," wMch was driven by
a violent gale upon the beach of Fire Island early in
the mornmg of the 16th of July. He was of a poeti
cal temperament, and had been residing at Rome
and Florence, for the sake of regaining Ms health, in
the family of the gifted Margaret FuUer d'Ossoli,
who, on the 17th of May, with her husband, thefr
chUd Angelo, and Mr. Sumner, embarked at Leg
horn for New York. On the 15th of July the ship
arrived in sight of land on the Jersey coast ; but, the
wmd arising durmg the night, it was driven past
Rockaway, and, early the next morning, struck upon
the sand, and soon went to pieces in fuU sight of the
people on the shore. In attempting to reach the
land upon a plank, Mr. Sumner was lost; wMle
the Ossoli famUy, remaimng m the vessel, shared the
same melancholy fate.

CHAPTER IX.
Mr. Sumner's Election to the United-States Senate. — He makes no
Pledges. — The Turning Vote. — Opinion of the Press. — Letter to
Mr. WUson. — Letter of Mr. Whittier. — Mr. Sumner's Accept
ance of his Ofiice. — Description of his Person. — Letters to Theo
dore Parker. — Entrance to the Senate. — His Rooms and
Company. — The Ordeal before liim. — His Speech on Kossuth. —
On the Iowa RaUroad Bill. — Letter to Theodore Parker. — Cheap
Ocean Postage. — A Memorial of the Society of Friends. —
Remarks Thereon. — Tribute to Robert Rantoul, jun. — Speech on
the Fugitive-Slave BiU. —His Course defined. — The Freedom of
Speech. — Slavery Sectional, Freedom National. — The Spuit of
our Literature agaiust Slavery. — Review of the Argument. — A
Beautiful Peroration. " Oh great design,
Te sons of mercy ! Oh ! complete your work ;
Wrench from Oppression's hand the iron rod.
And bid the cruel feel the wounds they give.
Man Icnows no master save creating Heaven,
Or those whom choice and common good ordains."
Liberty , by James Thomson.
" Hear him, ye senates ! Hear this truth sublime, —
He who allows oppression shares the ciTme."
Botanic Garden, by EitASMijs DAfiwrs.

Y a famous coaUtion of the Free-soU and
Democratic parties, effected mainly through
the agency of Henry Wilson in the legisla
ture, 1851, Mr. Sumner was elected, over Robert 0.
138

CHARLES SUMNER. 139
Wmthrop, the Whig candidate, to the Senate of the
Umted States. The contest, commencing on the
16th day of January, was long and acrimonious. Mr.
Winthrop had much experience m public affairs, and
was an intimate friend of Daniel Webster. Mr.
Sumner would make no pledges: he had never
held, nor did he desfre to hold, any poUtical ofiSice.*
He was deemed an ideaUst, and, as such, unsuited
to the practical duties of a senatorial career. It
was, at any rate, too long a step from his private
student-Ufe to the Senate-chamber of the Umted
States. But the sense of Massachusetts had been outraged
by the recreant course of Mr. Webster ; and the far-
sighted saw that the aggressions of the slave-power
must be squarely met. Mr. Sumner had shown him
self an orator of no mean order, a statesman quaU
fied to discuss constitutional questions from the
highest stand-pomt, and, more than aU, an invincible
defender of the colored race. Accordingly, on the
24th day of AprU he was elected, for six years from
the 4th of March foUowmg, as the successor of Mr.
* Mr. Sumner said in a conversation with James Eedpath, written at the
time, that committee after committee waited on him during the election,
to get even verbal promises relative to tariff, and to " ease ofj on the slave-
question;" but he uniformly declined to satisfy them, saying that the office
must seeli him, and that he would not walk across the room to secure the elec
tion.

140 LIFE AND TIMES
Webster to the senatorial chair ; having had, on the
twenty-fifth and last ballot in the House, a hundred
and mnety-tMee votes, the exact number necessary
to a choice. It is said that the turning vote was cast
by the late Capt. Israel Haynes of Sudbury, a life
long Democrat, who voted for Mr. Sumner only on
the day of Ms election, and then simply, as he
afi&rmed, " on principle, and because he beUeved him
to be the better man." The votes used at tMs
twenty-fifth baUot were preserved by the Hon. Otis
Clapp, who, in April, 1873, presented them to the
New-England Historic-Genealogical Society, where
they now remain.
Although some thought this triumph of the pro
gressive party would carry with it serious disaster to
the Union, " The Evenmg Transcript " very sensibly
remarked : —
" We are not prepared to proclaim the country
ruined in consequence of tMs event. Mr. Sumner is
a forcible and eloquent speaker, an apt scholar, a
man of superior abUities, of polished address, and ex
tensive acquaintance with the men and events of his
times ; and he may become a statesman of mark in
the poUtical arena. He wUl probably act and v/ork
with the WMg party on aU questions but one, — a vital
and momentous one, it is true, as he wUl find when
he gets to WasMngton. Massachusetts might have

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 141
seated in the Senate a man far more objectionable
than Charles Sumner. 'Five la RSpublique ! "
The world swung forward by this victory ; and
unusual demonstrations signalized the joy of the
triumphant party. On the next day Mr. Sumner
frankly avowed his indebtedness for Ms success to
Henry WUson. Cragie HotrsE, Cambkidge, AprU 25, 1851.
Mt Dear Wu.son, — I have this moment read your re
marks of last night, which I think peculiarly happy. You
touched the right chord. I hope not to seem cold or churlish
in thus -withdravring from all the public manifestations of tri
umph to which our friends are prompted. In doing so, I follow
the line of reserve which you know I have kept to throughout
the contest; and my best judgment at this moment satisfies
me that I am right. You, who have seen me familiarly and
daily from the beginning to the end, will understand me, and,
if need be, can satisfy those who, taking counsel of their exul
tation, would have me mingle in the display. But I shrink
from imposing any thing more upon you. To your ability,
energy, determination, and fidelity, our cause owes its present
success. For weal or woe, you must take the responsibility
of having placed me in the Senate of the United States. I am
prompted also to add, that, while you have done all this, I
have never heard from you a single suggestion of a selfish
character, looking in any way to any good to yourself ; your
labors have been as disinterested as they have been effective.
This consideration increases my personal esteem and gratitude.
I trust that you will see that Mr. B.'a resolves are passed at

142 LtFE AND TIMES
once as they are, and the bill as soon as possible. Delay will be
the tactics of the enemy. Sincerely yours,
Chakles Sumner.
The Hon. Henry Wilson.
In a letter to me dated Amesbury, Sth month.
1874, John G. Whittier, in reference to Mr. Sumner's
election, says, " I am inclined to believe that I
was the first to suggest to him, in the summer of
1850, the possibility of his election to the Senate.
He thought it impracticable, and stated with em
phasis, that he desired no office, that his plans of
Ufe did not conteroplate any thing of the kind, and
that he greatly doubted his natural fitness for poUti
cal life. He made no pledges nor explanations of
any kind to insure his election when it took place.
His statement in the exordium of his speech against
the Fugitive-Slave Law is, to my knowledge, true to
the letter."
In his letter of acceptance Mr. Sumner thus
indicates the broad national poUcy which he m-
tended to pursue : —
" Acknowledging the right of my country to the service of
her sons wherever she chooses to place them, and with a heart
full of gratitude that a sacred cause has been permitted to
triumph through me, I now accept the post as senator.
" I accept it as the servant of Massachusetts ; mindful of the
sentiments uttered by her successive legislatures, of the genius

OE CHARLES SUMNER. 148
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 her sister States. In such a ser
vice, the way, though new to my footsteps, will be illumined
by lights which cannot be missed.
" I accept it as a servant of the Union ; bound to study and
maintain, with equal patriotic oare, the interests of all parts of
our country ; to discountenance every effort to loosen any of
those ties by which our fellowship of States is held in fraternal
company ; and to oppose all sectionalism, whether it appears in
unconstitutional efforts by the North to carry so great a boon
as freedom into the slave States, or in unconstitutional efforts
by the South (aided by Northern allies) to carry the sectional
evil of slavery into the free States, or in whatsoever efforts it
may make to extend the sectional domination of slavery over the
national govemment. With me the Union is twice blessed:
first, as the powerful guardian of the repose and happiness of
thirty-one sovereign States clasped by the endearing name of
' country ; ' and next, as the model and beginning of that all-
embracing federation of States, by which unity, peace, and
concord will finally be organized among the nations. Nor do I
believe it possible, whatever may be the delusion of the hour,
that any part thereof can be permanently lost from its well-
compacted bulk. E Pluribus Unum is stamped upon the
national coin, the national territory, and the national heart.
Though composed of many parts united into one, the Union
is separable only by a crash which shall destroy the whole."
His closing words are as foUows : —
" Let me borrow, in conclusion, the language of another : ' I
see my duty, — that of standing up for the liberties of my

144 LIFE AND TIMES
country ; and, whatever difficulties and discouragements lie in
my way, I dare not shrink from it ; and I rely on that Being
who has not left us the choice of duties, that, whilst I shall
conscientiously discharge mine, I shall not finally lose my
reward.' These are the words of Washington, uttered in the
early darkness 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 aa myself to adopt his
determination, and to avow his confidence.
" I have the honor to be, fellow-citizens,
" With sincere regard,
" Your faithful friend and servant,
" Charles Sumner.
"Boston, May 14, 1851."
Massachusetts had found her man. He had now
arrived at that period which Dante caUs
" Mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,"
and was in person tall, dignified, and commanding.
His frame was solid and compact ; Ms features were
strongly marked ; and his clear, dark eye, deeply set
beneath his heavy brow and massive forehead, shone
when he was engaged in speaking, with peculiar
briUiancy. His voice was strong and musical, his
gesticulation unconstrained and graceful. Nature
had set on him her imperial seal of greatness, wMch
a generous and untiring culture had developed.
Few men of the day possessed a broader scholarship,

OP CHAELES SUMNER. 145
and none a loftier patriotism, or a profounder sym
pathy for the sufferings of humanity. In the
strength and beauty of manhood, he came to public
office as a splendid representative .of the advanced
ideas of his time. A battle was before him, — haU-
etones and coals of fire ; but weU could he affirm, —
" What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted ?
Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked, though locked up in steel,
Whose conscience with unjustice is corrupted."
Though unpractised m debate, he had studied his
subject a prof ond : his mtegrity was unimpeachable,
Ms armor closely welded, and his position the im
pregnable rock of truth. What, then, had he to
fear? The arrest of Thomas Sims as a fugitive slave, in
Boston, AprU 3 of this year, and his mock trial, with
the decision of the court remanding him to slavery,
threw the city into an intense excitement. On
receivmg Theodore Parker's Fast-Day sermon, which
m no measured terms rebuked tMs outrage, Mr.
Sumner addressed to him the following letter : —
CotTET Street, Boston, April 19, 1851.
May you live a thousand years, always preaching the
truth of Fast Day I That sermon is a noble effort. It stirred
me to the bottom of my heart, at times softening me almost to
T

146 LIFE AND TIMES
tears, and then again filling me with rage. I wish it could be
read everywhere throughout the land. . . .
I have had no confldence from the beginning, as I believe
you know, in our courts. I was persuaded that with solemn
form they would sanction the great enormity : therefore I am
not disappointed. My appeal is to the people ; and my hope is
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 itseK 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. No other form of the
slavery question, not even the Wilmot Proviso, would have
afforded equal advantages. Very truly yours, Charles Sumner.
In another letter written to Mr. Parker, Mr. Sum
ner declares his dismcUnation to office, and that his
election is to be regarded not by any means as a
reward, but as a caU to duty and to labor for the
welfare of his country : — Court Street, July 9, 1851.
Your last speech in "The Liberator" I have read with the
interest and instruction with which I read all that you say; but
pardon me if I criticise one point.
You speakof me as having " an early reward for good deeds."
This langiiage remainds me of " The Atlas," which did not see
what I had done " to be thus rewarded.''

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 147
Now, I am not conscious of doing any thing to deserve
"reward," nor am I conscious of receiving any "reward." The
office recently conferred upon me, and to which you probably
refer, I regard as any thing but a reward. In my view, it is an
imposition of new duties and labors, in a field which I never
selected, and to which I do not in the least incline. . . .
Ever yours, Charles Sumner.
Mr. Sumner entered the United-States Senate on
Monday, the first day of December, 1851 ; and, in the
absence of John Davis, Gen. Lewis Cass rose, and
said, " I have been requested to present the creden
tials of Charles Sumner, a senator elect from the
State of Massachusetts." The credentials having been
read, WUliam R. Kmg of Alabama administered
the oath of office. On the same day Henry Clay,
after a brief speech, made Ms final retirement from
that hall in wMch Ms eloquent voice had so many
times been heard in the defence of constitutional
liberty. In Ms own language, used a few years
previously, he departed as " a wounded stag, pursued
by the hunters on a long chase, scarred by thefr
spears, atid worried by their wounds, who had at
last escaped to drag Ms mutUated body to Ms lair, and
lie down and die." Mr. Sumner occupied the seat
that had just been vacated by Jefferson Davis, and
formerly occupied by John C. Calhoun, and wMch was

148 LIPE AND TIMES
thus associated with the most daring aiTOgance and
effrontery of the slaveholding power. His rooms at
Gardner's, on New- York Avenue, were soon stored
with books from the Congressional Library, and hon
ored by visits from Mr. Crampton, the British minis
ter, Don Calderon de la Barca, minister from Spain,
and other foreign celebrities, in whose society he re
ceived instruction and delight. " I remember, that
winter," says an agreeable writer, " meeting Messrs.
Chase and Sumner at a dinner-party given by Mr.
Crampton ; and, as they entered the parlor together,
I was struck by their manlike appearance, as I waa
subsequently charmed by their dinner-table chat."
By the Southern members the anti-slavery agi
tator who had succeeded Daniel Webster was
viewed with supercilious contempt : he was placed
at the foot of the unimportant committees on revolu
tionary claims and on roads and canals ; and no one
then discerned in Mm the grand and fearless leader
of a slowly-rising power that was to change the
political destiny of the nation, and establish, over
the ruins of a tyrannous and cruel servile system,
the freedom of the slave from shore to shore. Few
now can fully understand the ordeal of fire then
opening before him. With the .exception of the
dauntless John P. Hale and the indomitable Joshua
R. Giddings, he stood almost alone in front of the

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 149
gigantic force combined for the support of slavery ;
and, as the latter said, it took " more courage to
stand up in one's seat m Congress and say the right
thmg, than to walk up to the cannon's mouth." This
courage Mr. Sumner had. On Wednesday, Jan.
10, he delivered his maiden speech on a resolution
introduced by Senator H. S. Foote, tendering a wel
come to the exUed patriot, Gov. Loms Kossuth,
during which he used the celebrated expression,
" equaUty before the law.'V
" I would join in this welcome, not merely because
it is essential to complete and crown the work of the
last Congress, but because our guest deserves it at our
hands. The distinction is great, I know ; but it is not
so great as his deserts. He deserves it as the early,
constant, and mcorruptible champion of the Uberal
cause in Hungary, who, yet while young, with un
conscious power gfrded Mmself for the contest, and,
by a series of masterly labors, with voice and pen, in
parUamentary debates, and m the discussions of the
press, breathed into Ms country the breath of Ufe.
He deserves it by the great principles of true de
mocracy wMch he caused to be recognized, — repre
sentation of the people without distinction of rank
or birth, and equality before the law. He deserves it
by the trials he has undergone in prison and in ex
ile. He deserves it by the precious truth, wMch he

150 LIPE AND TIMES
now so eloquently proclaims, of the fraternity of
nations." The speaker also beautifuUy said, " Such a char
acter, thus grandly Mstoric, a Uving WaUace, a
Uvmg Tell, I had almost said a Uving WasMngton,
deserves our homage. Nor am I tempted to ask if
there be any precedent for the resolution now under
consideration. There is a time for aU tMngs; and
the time has come for us to make precedent m har
mony with Ms unprecedented career. The occasion
is fit : the hero is near : let us speak our welcome.
It is true, that, unUke Lafayette, he has never dfrectly
served our country ; but I cannot admit that ou tMs
account he is less worthy. Like Lafayette, he has
done penance in an Austrian dungeon : Uke Lafay
ette, he has served the cause of freedom ; and who
soever serves this cause, wheresoever he may be, in
whatever land, is entitled, according to his works, to
the gratitude of every true American bosom, of
every true lover of manMnd."
For this eloquent speech Mr. Sumner received the
hearty commendation of Rufus Choate and other
gentlemen. In his next speech (on the Iowa RaU
road BiU, taken up m the senate Jan. 27 and after
wards) occurs tMs elegant passage: "By roads,
reUgion and knowledge are diffused ; intercourse of
aU Mnds is promoted ; the producer, the manufac-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 151
turer, and the consumer are aU brought nearer
together ; commerce is quickened ; markets are
opened ; property, wherever touched by these Unes,
is changed as by a magic rod into new values ; and
the great current of travel, like that stream of classic
fable, or one of the rivers of our own CaUforma,
hurries in a channel of golden sand. The roads,
together with the laws, of ancient Rome, are now
better remembered than her victories. The Flamin-
ian and Appian Ways, once trod by returning pro-
conguls and tributary Mugs, stiU remain as beneficent
representatives of her departed grandeur. Under
God, the road and the schoolmaster are the two
cMef agents of human improvement. The educa
tion begun by the schoolmaster is expanded, Uberal-
ized, and completed by mtercourse with the world;
and this intercourse finds new opportunities and in
ducements m every road that is buUt. . . . The true
Golden Age is before us, not beMnd us ; and one of
its tokens wiU be the completion of those long ways,
by wMch villages, towns, counties, states, provmces,
nations, are aU to be associated and kmt together in
a feUowsMp that can never be broken."
" Read my speech," says he in a letter to Theodore
Parker, dated Senate-Chamber, Feb. 6, 1852, " on
Lands. The Whig press is aroused ; but I chaUenge

152 LIPE AND TIMES
it. I have the satisfaction of knowmg that my argu
ment has been received as origmal and unanswerable.
The attack of ' The Advertiser ' attests its impor
tance. I shaU always be glad to hear from you, and
shaU value your counsels. " Ever yours,
Charles Sumner."
On the 8th of March he made a brief speech on
cheap ocean-postage, which he declared would be a
bond of peace among the nations of the earth, and
wMch would extend peace and good-wUl among
men. On the 14th of May foUowing he submitted an
aisle argument, on the pardomng-power, to President
Fillmore ; and on the 26th of the same month he
presented a memorial from the Society of Friends
(a body noted for their active sympathy for the suf
fering of the colored race) agamst the Fugitive-
Slave BUl, respecting wMch the Southern members
steadUy endeavored to prevent discussion. He suc
ceeded, however, in gaining the floor to offer the
foUowing remarks, in which Ms future course regard
ing slavery was clearly indicated : —
"I desire simply to say, that I shall deem it my duty an
some proper occasion hereafter to express myself at length on
the matter to which it relates. Thus far, during this session, I

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 153
have forborne. With the exception of an able speech from my
colleague (Mr. Davis), the discussion of this all-absorbing
question has been mainly left with senators from another quar
ter of the country, by whose mutual difference it has been com
plicated, and between whom I have not cared to interfere.
But there is a time for all thiugs. Justice, also, requires that
both sides should be heard ; and I trust not to expect too much
when at some fit moment I bespeak the clear and candid
attention of the Senate, while I undertake to set forth frankly
and fully, and with entire respect for this body, convictions
deeply cherished in my own State, though disregarded herCj
to which I am bound by every sentiment of the heart, by every
fibre of my being, by all my devotion to country, by my love
of God and man. But upon these I do not now enter. Suf
fice it for the present to say, that when I shall undertake that
service, I believe I shaU utter nothing which, in any just sense
can be called sectional, unless the constitution is sectional, and
unless the sentiments of the fathers were sectional. It is my
happiness to believe, and my hope to be able to show, that,
according to the true spirit of the constitution, and according
to the sentiments of the fathers, freedom, and not slavery, is
national ; while slavery, and not freedom, is sectional.
In duty to the petitioners, and with the hope of promoting
their prayer, I move the reference of their petition to the Com
mittee on the Judiciary."
On the 9th of August he paid a fitting tribute to
Robert Rantoul, jun., characterizing Mm as "a
reformative conservative, and a conservative re
former." " As a debater," said Mr. Sumner, " he rarely met

154 LIPE AND TIMES
his peer. Fluent, earnest, rapid, sharp, incisive, Ms
words came forth Uke a flashmg cimeter. Few
could stand against him. He always understood Ms
subject; and then, clear, logical, and determined,
seeing his point before Mm, pressed forward with
unralenting power."
To the complamt of some of his supporters, thit
he too long delayed the discussion of the mighty
question of the day, he replied, that his time was
occupied m maMng himself acquainted with the
business coming before the Senate; but at the
proper moment he should not fail to fulfil his duty
as a representative of the anti-slavery sentiment of
the nation. That moment on the twenty-sixth day
of August came. By adroitly introducing an amend
ment that the Fugitive-Slave BiU should be repealed,
on Mr. Hunter's amendment to the Civil and Diplo
matic Appropriation Bill, then under consideration,
he at length succeeded in gaimng the unwUlmg ear
of the Senate.
TaMng for Ms theme, " Freedom National, and
Slavery Sectional," he went into the question with
gigantic force, unfolding the principles of liberty as
if the whole heart of the North were throbbing m
Ms breast alone, and nervmg Ms arm to bring the
great " Northern hammer " down with terrific blows
upon the friiquitous institution of the South. He

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 155
argued that slavery and the Fugitive-Slave BUl had
no support whatever under the constitution, wMch
does not recogmze the right of property in man;
that it was contrary to the wishes of the framers of
that instrument, to the acts of the early Congress, to
the decisions of the courts, to the spfrit of the
Church, of the coUeges, of literature, to the right
of taial by jury, to the natural law of man, and to
the progress of the nation. " It was," remarks a
vigorous writer, " a perfect land-sUde of history and
argument, an avalanche under wMch the opposmg
party were logicaUy buried ; and it has been a maga-
zme from wMch catapults have been taken to beat
down thefr fortresses."
Referring to Mmself, in his exordium, he says, —
" Sir, I have never been a politician. The slave of princi
ples, I call no party master. By sentiment, education, and con
viction, a friend of human rights in their utmost expansion, I
have ever most sincerely embraced the democratic idea ; not,
indeed, as represented or professed by any party, but according
to its real significance, as transfigured in the Declaration of
Independence and in the inspiration of Christianity. In this
idea I saw no narrow advantages merely for individuals or
classes, but the sovereignty of the people, and the greatest hap
piness of all secured by equal laws. Amidst the vicissitudes
of public affairs, I trust always to hold fast to this idea, and to
any political party which truly embraces it.
" Party does not constrain me ; nor is my independence les-

156 LIFE AND TIMES
sened by any relations to the office which gives me a title to be
heard on this floor. And here, sir, I may speak proudly. By
no effort, by no desii-e, of my own, I flnd 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 emolu
ments of public station, did something for his fellow-man.'
From such simple aspirations I was taken away by the free
choice of my native Commonwealth, and placed iu this respon
sible post' of duty, without personal obligation of any kind
beyond what was implied in my life and published words.
The earnest friends by whose confidence I was first designated
asked nothing from me, and, throughout the long conflict
which ended in my election, rejoiced in the position which I
most carefully guarded. To all my language was uniform,
that'I did not desire to be brought forward ; that I would do
nothing to promote the result; that I had no pledges or prom
ises to offer; that the office shotdd seek me, and not I the
office; and that it should find me in all respects an independent
man, bound to no party and to no human being, but only,
according to my best judgment, to act for the good of all.
Again, sir, I speak with pride, both for myself and others, when
I add that these avowals found a sympathising respo-ise. In
this spirit I have come here ; and in this spirit I shall speak
to-day. "Rejoicing in my independence, and claiming nothing from
party ties, I thrdw myself upon the candor and magnanimity
of the Senate. I now ask your attention ; but 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;

•OP CHARLES SUMNER. 157
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
themselves ; 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
V. ithout impeachment of any person, I assail this wrong. .
Again, sir, I may err ; but it will be vnth 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."
On the freedom of speech he makes tMs bold as
sertion, —
" To sustain slavery, it is now proposed to trample on free
speech. In any country this would be grievous ; but here, where
the constitution expressly provides against abridging freedom
of speech, it is a special outrage. In vain do we condemn the
despotisms of Europe, while we borrow the rigors with which
they repress liberty, and g^ard their own uncertain power.
For myself, in no factious spirit, but solemnly, and in loyalty
to the constitution, as a senator of Massachusetts, I protest
against this wrong. On slavery, as on every other subject, I
claim the right to be heard. That right I cannot, I will not,
abandon. ' Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue
freely, above all liberties : ' these are the glowing words which
flashed from the soul of John Milton, in his struggles with
English tyranny. With equal fervor they should be echoed
now by every American not already a slave.

158 LIFE AND TIMES
"But, sir, this effort is impotent as tyrannwal. The con
victions of the heart cannot be repressed. The utterances of
conscience must be heard. They break forth with irrepressible
might. As well attempt to check the tides of ocean, the cur
rents 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 yet be
felt 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."
His main proposition he thus announces, —
" The relations of, the Govemment of the United States (I
speak of the national government) to slavery, though plain
and obvious, are constantly misunderstood. A popular belief
at this moment makes slavery a national institution, and, of
course, renders its support a national duty. The extravagance
of this error can hardly be surpassed. An institution which
our fathers most carefully omitted to name in the constitution ;
which, according to the debates in the convention, they refused
to cover with any ' sanction ; ' and which, at the original organi
zation of the government, was merely sectional, existing no
where on the national territory, — is now, above all other things,
emblazoned as national. Its supporters plume themselves as
national. The old political parties, while upholding it, claim
to be national. A national Whig is simply a slavery Whig ;
and a national Democrat is simply a slavery Democrat, — in con
tradistinction to all who regard slavery as a sectional institu-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 159
tion, within the exclusive control of the States, and with which
the nation has nothing to do. As slavery assumes to be na
tional, so, by an equally strange perversion, freedom is degraded
to be sectional; and all who uphold it under the national
constitution share the same epithet. The honest efforts to
secure its blessings everywhere within the jurisdiction of Con
gress are scouted as sectional ; and this cause which the foun
ders of our national government had so much at heart is
called " sectionalism." These terms, now belonging to the com
monplaces of political speech, are adopted and misapplied by
most persons vrithout reflection. But herein is the power of
slavery. According to a curious tradition of the French lan
guage, Louis XIV., the Grand Monarch, by an accidental error
of speech, among supple courtiers, changed the gender of a
noun. • But slavery has done more than this : it has changed word
for word. It has taught many to say " national " instead of
"sectional," and " sectional " instead of "national." Slavery
national 1 Sir, this is aU a mistake and absurdity, fit to take a
place in some new collection of vulgar errors by some other Sir
Thomas Browne, vrith the ancient but exploded stories that
the toad has a stone in its head, and that ostriches digest iron.
According to the true spirit of the constitution, and the senti
ments of the fathers, slavery and not freedom is sectional,
while freedom and not slavery is national. On this unanswer
able proposition I take my stand."
To the free spirit of our literature he makes this
reference : — :
" The literature of the land, such as then existed, agreed
with the nation, the church, and the coUege. Franklin, in the
last literary labor of his life ; Jefferson, in his ' Notes on Vir-

160 LIFE AND TIMES
ginia ; ' Barlow, in his measured verse ; Rush, in a work which
inspired the praise of Clarkson ; the ingenious author of ' The
Algerine Captive ' (the earliest American novel, and, though
now but little knowu, one of the earliest American books
republished in London), were all moved by the contemplation
of slavery. ' If our feUow-citizens of the Southern States are
deaf to the pleadings of nature,' the latter exclaims in his
work, ' I will conjure them, for the sake of consistency, to cease
to deprive their fellow-creatures of freedom, which their
writers, their orators, representatives, and senators, and even
their constitution of government, have declared to be the
inalienable birthright of man.' "
In an admfrable review of the course of argu
ment, he says, —
" And now, sir, let us review the field over which we have
passed. We have seen that any compromise, finally closing
the discussion of slavery under the constitution, is tyrannical,
absurd, and impotent ; that, as slavery can exist only by virtue
of positive law, and as it has no such positive support in the con
stitution, it cannot exist within the national jurisdiction ; that
the constitution nowhere recognizes property in man ; and that,
according to its true interpretation, freedom and not slavery is
national, while slavery and not freedom is sectional ; that in
this spirit the national govemment was first organized under
Washington, himself an abolitionist, surrounded by aboli
tionists, while the whole country, by its church, its colleges, its
literature, and all its best voices, was united against slavery,
and the national flag at that time nowhere within the national
territory covered a single slave ; still further, that the national

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 161
govemment is a govemment of delegated powers ; and, as
among these there is no power to support slavery, this institu
tion cannot be national, nor can Congress in any way legislate
in its behalf ; and, finally, that the establishment of this prin
ciple is the true way of peace and safety for the republic.
Considering next the provision for the surrender of fugitives
from labor, we have seen that it was not one of the original
compromises of the constitution ; that it was introduced tar
dily and with hesitation, and adopted with little discussion,
and then and for a long period after was regarded with com
parative indiflerence ; that the recent Slave Act, though many
times unconstitutional, is especially so on two grounds, — first
as a usurpation by Congress of powers not granted by the con
stitution, and an infraction of rights secured to the States ;
and secondly as a denial of trial by jury in a question of per
sonal liberty and a suit at common law; that its glaring uncon
stitutionality finds a prototype in the British Stamp Act, which
our fathers refused to obey as unconstitutional on two parallel
grounds, — firsl because it was a usurpation by parliament of
powers not belonging to it under the British constitution, and
an infraction of rights belonging to the colonies ; and secondly
because it was a denial of trial by jury in certain cases of
property; that, as liberty is far above property, so is the out
rage perpetrated by the American Congress far above that per
petrated by the British Parliament ; and, finally, that the
Slave Aet has not that support in the public sentiment of the
States where it is to be executed, which is the life of all law,
and which prudence and the precept of Washington require."
He closes Ms great speech by tMs effective perora
tion : —

162 LIFE AND TIMES
" Finally, sir, for the sake of peace and tranquillity, cease to
shock the public conscience ; for the sake of the constitution,
cease to exercise a power which is nowhere granted, and which
violates inviolable rights expressly secured. Leave this ques
tion where it was left by our fathers at the formation of our
national govemment, — in the absolute control of the States, the
appointed guardians of personal liberty. Repeal this enact
ment. Let its terrors no longer rage through the land. Mind
ful of the lowly whom it pursues, mindful of the good men
perplexed by its requirements, in the name of charity, in tho
name of the constitution, repeal this enactment totally and
without delay. Be inspired by the example of Washington.
Be admonished by those words of Oriental piety — ' Beware of
the groans of the wounded souls. Oppress not to the utmost a
single heart ; for a solitary sigh has power to overset a whole
world.' "
In reply to a letter from Dr. Horatio Stebbins
thanMng him for this speech, Mr. Sumner thus wrote
from Newport, R.I., Oct. 12, 1852 : —
My Dear Sir, — I cannot receive the overflowing sym
pathy of your letter without response. ... I went to the Sen
ate 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 in
stincts 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 per
severed in my own way.
As I delivered the part to which you refer, I remember well

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 168
the intent looks of the Senate, and particularly of .Mr. .King
[president pro tem of the senate]. It was already dinner-time,
but all were silent and attentive ; and Hale [John P. Hale, oi
N.H.] teUs me that Mr. Underwood of Kentucky, by his side,
was iu tears.
From many leading Southern men I have received the
strongest expressions of interest awakened in our cause, and a
confession that they did 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 Sumnee.

CHAPTER X.
Mr. Sumner's Tribute to Mr. Downing. — His Speech at Lowell.—
His Speech respecting Armories. — Mr. Sumner as a Corre
spondent. — His Letters. — The Pacific Railroad. — Secret Sessions
ofthe Senate. — His Election to Massachusetts Constitutional
Convention, 1853. — His Speech on MUitary Affairs. — On the
Basis of Eepresentation. — On the Bill of Rights. — "A Finger
Point from Plymouth Rock." — Reply to Mr. Douglas. — A Day
of Trial. — " Landmark of Freedom." — Importance of the Ques
tion at Issue. — Iniquity of the Slave System. — Plea for the Mis
souri Compromise. — The Future of the Anti-Slavery Cause. —
Commendatory Letters. — Speech on the Final Passage of the
Kansas and Nebraska BUl. — Defence of the Clergy. — Excite
ment in Boston. — Mr. Sumner's Life in Peril. —His Fearless
ness. — Prediction of George Li vermore.
** StiU groan the siiff ering millions in their chains;
Stm is the arm of the oppressor strong;
StUl Liberty doth bleed at all her veins ;
And few are they who side not with the wrong:
Consider, then, your work as just begun.
Until the last decisive act be done."
William Llotd Gabbhon.
" If any man thinks that the interest of these nations and the interest of
ChiiaUanity are two separate and distinct things, I wish my soul may never
enter into his secret." — Oliveb Ceomwell.

R. SUMNER steadily availed himself of
every opportunity to alleviate human suffer
ing, and to promote the cause of freedom.
As the needle to the pole, Ms eye turned to the tear
161

CHARLES SUMNER. 165
of sorrow. On the twenty-fifth day of August, 1852,
be made a toucMng appeal in the Senate on behalf of
the widow of the accomplished landscape-gardener
Andrew Jackson Downing, who was lost in his noble
efforts to save the passengers of the iU-fated steamer
" Henry Clay," burned on the Hudson River on the
twenty-eighth day of the month preceding. He closed
Ms remarks by tMs just tribute to the. memory of the
lamented artist : " Few men in the pubhc service
have vindicated a title to regard above Mr. Downmg.
At the age of tMrty-seven he has passed away, ' dead
ere Ms prime,' hke Lycidas, also, ' stretched on a
watery bier,' leaving beMnd a reputation above that
of any other citizen in the beautiful department of
art to which he was devoted. His labors and Ms
example cannot be forgotten. I know of no man
among us, in any sphere of hfe, so young as he was
at his death, who has been able to perform services
of such true, simple, and lasting beneficence. By
his wide and active superintendence of rural im
provements, by Ms labors of the pen, and by the
various exercise of his genius, he has contributed
essentially to the sum of human happiness. And
now, sir, by practical services here in Washington,
rendered at the call of Ms country, he has earned,
it seems to me, this small appropriation, not as a
charity to tMs desolate widow, but as a compensation

166 LIFE AND TIMES
for labor done. I hope the amendment will be
agreed to."
At the State Convention of tlie Free-soil partj
held in Lowell on the 15th of September foUowing,
Mr. Sumner was received with demonstrations of the
heartiest enthusiasm, and dehvered a thrilling speech
on the necessity and practicabihty of that organiza
tion. Capt. Drayton, the " hero of ' The Pearl,' "
who, tMough the exertions of Mr. Sumner, had just
been hberated from his long imprisonment, sat upon
the platform. In the course of his remarks, the
senator said, amidst tremendous cheermg, —
" The rising public opinion against slavery cannot
now flow m the old political channels. It is stran
gled, clogged, and dammed back. But, if not through
the old parties, then over the old parties, this irresist
ible current shall find its way. It cannot be perma
nently stopped. If the old parties will not become
its organ, they must become its victim. The party
of freedom will certainly presvail. It may be by
entering into and possessing one of the old parties,
filhng it with our strong hfe ; or it may be by draw
ing fr'om both to itself the good and true, who are
unwilling to continue members of any pohtical com
bination when it ceases to represent thefr convic
tions. But in one way or the other, its ultimate tri
umph is sure : of tMs let no man doubt."

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 167
Closing, he used these hopeful and prophetic
words : —
" With such a cause and such candidates, let no
man be disheartened. The tempest may blow ; but
ours is a life-boat, wMch cannot be harmed by wind
or wave. The gemus of Liberty sits at the helm. I
hear her voice of cheer saying, ' Whoso sails with
me comes to shore.' "
He sat down amidst prolonged shouts of applause ;
and the people of this mdustrial city stUl speak with
adnifration of the splendor of Ms eloquence on that
occasion. In a brief speech m the Senate Feb. 23, 1853,
in favor of appomting civil mstead of military
supermtendence of our armories, he closed, con
trary to Ms usual custom, with a humorous quota
tion wMch gave much point to his fine argument.
" The manufacture of arms," said he, " is a mechan
ical pursuit ; and for myself, I can see no reason why
it should not be placed in charge of one bred to the
business. Among the mtelhgent mechanics of Mas
sachusetts, there are many fully fit to be at the head
of the arsenal at Springfield ; but all these by the
existing law are austerely excluded from any
such trust. The idea wMch has fallen from so many
senators, that the superintendent of an armory ought
to be a military man, that a military man only is

168 LIFE AND TIMES
competent, or even that a military man is more
competent than a civilian, seems to me as illogical as
the jocular fallacy of Dr. Johnson, that ' He who
drives fat oxen must himself be fat.' "
Mr. Sumner was an admirable correspondent. He
wrote his letters with rapidity, ease, and elegance.
Sometimes he received as many as fifty communica
tions in a day ; and his rephes, however brief, inva
riably contain some strong and elevating sentiment ;
as, for example, in a short letter to a Rhode-Island
committee, dated March 26, 1853, he says, —
" It becomes aU good citizens to unite in uphold
ing freedom ; nor should any one believe that his
single vote may not exert an influence in the strug
gle." So, again, in a letter to Lewis Tappan, dated
Boston, May 17, 1853, encouraging the establish
ment of a German newspaper at Washington, he
writes, —
" The German emigrant who is not against slavery
here leads us to doubt the sincerity of his opposition
to the tyranny he has left beMnd in his native land."
Also in a letter to the mayor of Boston, dated Boa-
ton, July 1, 1853, he presents this sentiment in re
spect to the Pacific Railroad, —
" Traversing a whole continent, and binding
together two oceans, this mighty thorougMare,
when completed, will mark an epoch of human prog-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 169
ress second only to that of our Declaration of Inde
pendence. May the day soon come I "
His view of the secrecy of proceedings of the
Senate may be seen from the following extract from
Ms speech in the debate on that question, April 6,
1853 : " The general rule will be pubhcity. The
executive sessions with closed doors, shrouded from
the pubhc gaze and from public criticism, constitute
an exceptional part of our system, too much in har
mony with the proceedmgs of other governments less
hberal in character. The genius of our institutions
requfres pubhcity. The ancient Roman who bade
Ms arcMtect so to construct his house that his guests
and aU that he did could be seen by the world is a
fit model for the American people."
Mr. Sumner was elected by the town of Marsh
field to the convention for the revision of the con
stitution of the State, wMch assembled in the State
House, Boston, on the fourth day of May, 1853. Iil
this body, embracmg many of the ablest men of the
State, he took an active part, and made several
speeches evincing a profound knowledge of constitu
tional law, as weU as of our pohtical history. In the
debate on the powers of the State over the militia,
on the 21st and 22d of June, he said, m opposition
to conservative opinions, —
" Massachusetts may proudly declare, that, in her

170 LIFE AND TIMES
own volunteer mihtary companies, marshalled under
her own local laws, there shall be no distmction of
color or race."
In his speech, July 7, on the basis of the repr-esen-
tative system, he ably advocated that arrangement
which has smce been adopted. " I cannot doubt,"
said he, " that the district-system, as it is generaUy
caUed, whereby the representative power wiU 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 pre
vaU ; and gladly would I see this convention hasten
the day by presenting it to the people for adoption
in the organic law."
As chafrman of the committee on the Bill of
Rights, he addressed the convention on the 25th of
July, and presented a very lucid exposition of the
origin and nature of these instruments, wMch he
thus concludes : —
" The preamble, wherein the body pohtic is
founded on the fiction of the social compact, was
doubtless mspfred by the writings of Sidney and
Locke, and by the EngUsh discussions at the period
of the revolution of 1688, when this questionable
theory did good service m response to the assump
tions of Fikner, and as a shield against arbitrary
power. Of the different provisions m the BiU of

' OP CHARLES SUMNER. 171
Rights, some are m the very words of Magna Charta :
others are derived from the ancient common law,
the Petition of Right, and the BUl of Rights of 1688,
wMle no less than sixteen may be found substantiaUy
m the Vfrginia BUl of Rights ; but these again arc*
in great part derived from earlier fountains.
" And now, sfr, you have before you for revision
and amendment, this early work of our fathers. I do
not stop to consider its pecuUar merits. With satis
faction I might pomt to special safeguards by which
our rights have been protected against usurpations,
whether executive, legislative, or judicial. With
pride I might dweU on those words which banished
slavery from our soU, and rendered the Declaration
of Independence here with us a Uving letter. But
the hour does not requfre or admit any such service.
You have a practical duty wMch I seek to promote ;
and I now take leave of the whole subject, with the
simple remark, that a document proceeding from
such a pen, drawn from such sources, with such an
origin in aU respects, speaMng so early for human
rights, and now for more than tMeescore years and
ten a household word to the people of Massachu
setts, should be touched by the convention only with
extreme care."
An ardent admirer of the stern virtues, and of
the heroism, of the PUgrim Fathers, Mr. Sumner

172 LIFE AND TIMES
always referred to them with pleasure, as the grand
leaders in the cause of civil and political freedom.
In a speech at the festival held in Plymouth on the
1st of August, 1853, commemorating the embarka
tion of the fathers, he most eloquently eulogizes
these invincible defenders of "a cherished princi
ple " and " a lofty faith." In reference to its covert
bearmg on the promment question of the day (for he
could not then speak openly), he entitled tMs address
a " Finger-point from Plymouth Rock." He con
cluded it in this eloquent and suggestive stram : —
" These outcasts, despised in their own day by
the proud and great, are the men whom we have
met in tMs goodly number to celebrate ; not for any
victory of war, not for any triumph of discovery,
science, learning, or eloquence ; not for worldly
success of any kind. How poor are all these things
by the side of that divine virtue wMch made them,
amidst the reproach, the obloquy, and the hardness
of the world, hold fast to freedom and truth ! Sfr, if
the honors of tMs day are not a mockery; if they
do not expend themselves in selfish gratulation ; if
they are a sincere homage to the character of the
Pilgrims (and I cannot suppose otherwise), then
is it weU for us to be here. Standing on Plymouth
Rock, at their great anniversary, we cannot faU to
be elevated by thefr example. We see clearly

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 178
what it has done for the world, and what it has
done for thefr fame. No pusillanimous soul here
to-day wiU declare their self-sacrifice, their de
viation from received opinions, their unquencha
ble thirst for hberty, an error or iUusion. From
gusMng multitudinous hearts we now thank these
lowly men that they dared to be true and brave.
Conformity or compromise might, perhaps, have pur
chased for them a profitable peace, but not peace of
mmd : it might have secured place and power, but
not repose : it might have opened a present shelter,
but not a home in history and in men's hearts tUl
time shaU be no more. AU wiU confess the true
grandeur of their example, whUe, in vindication of
a cherished principle, they stood alone, against the
madness of men, against the law of the land, agamst
thefr king. Better be the despised pilgrim, a fugi
tive for freedom, than the halting politician forgetful
of principle, ' with a senate at his heels.'
" Such, sfr, is the voice from Plymouth Rock, as it
salutes my ears. Others may not hear it; but to
me it comes in tones I cannot mistake. I catch its
noble words of cheer, —
' New occasions teach new duties : time makes ancient good
uncouth :
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast
of Truth.

174 LIFE AND TIMES
Lo ! before us gleam her camp-fires : we ourselves must pil
grims be,
Launch our " Mayflower," and steer boldly through the desperate
winter sea.' "
But a battle was impending. Encouraged by the
timid servility of the Northern Congressmen, the
advocates of slavery brought forward, in the famous
Nebraska and Kansas Bill, the iniqmtous scheme of
abrogating the Missouri Compromise of 1820, pro-
Mbiting slavery, that State alone excepted, from aU
the territory ceded by France to the United States,
lying north of 36° 30' north latitude. After various
modifications, the bill came before the Senate on the
30th of January, 1854, when Stephen A. Douglas
made a violent attack on Mr. Chase of OMo, and
Mr. Sumner, for having signed a document, entitled
" ShaU Slavery be permitted in Nebraska?" and
appeahng to the people to withstand the aggressions
of the propagandists of the servile institution. Mr.
Sumner repUed to Mr. Douglas, characterizing the
measure before the Senate as " not only subversive
of an ancient landmark, but hostUe to the peace, the
harmony, and the best mterests of the countey."
The debate went on, bringing front to front the stey n
contestants, and assuming daily greater vehemence.
Mr. Everett and other New-England senators, Jolm
P. Hale excepted, had yielded to the administra-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 175
tion, favoring the abrogation of the Missouri Com
promise, and to the plan of what was termed the
"squatter sovereignty" of Mr. Douglas. Before
the confederated host, two or tMee senators only
stood up fearless and unterrified for the defence of
fr'cedom. TMs was a day that tried men's souls ; and
seldom has a pubUc body witnessed a scene of more
subUmity than when Charles Sumner rose, almost
single-handed and alone, on the twenty-first day of
February, to pronounce, in front of a soUd mass of
frowning and maUgnant senators, Ms masterly de
fence of human right. Undaunted by the fearful
odds against Mm, or by the menace of assassination,
he, hke an old hero of Thermopylae, sent home
blow after blow into the dark columns bearmg down
upon him, and set up on that day a " landmark of
freedom " that wiU serve to gmde the commg gen
erations. In clear, concise, and trenchant diction he
depicted the wrongs of slavery, and with most per
suasive tongue plead for the salvation to freedom of
a range of vfrgm soil, of vast extent and of un
surpassed fertUity. Never had he sb exhibited the
fire of Uberty that burned witMn Ms breast : never
had he so vindicated Ms title to the front rank of
hving orators. WMle the temporizing speeches
even of an Everett are now forgotten, tMs " land
mark," founded on the eternal principles of right,
stiU hves ; for magna est Veritas et prcevelabit.

176 LIFE AND TIMES
After an eloquent mtroduction he said, —
" The question presented for your consideration is not sur
passed in grandeur by any which has occurred in our national
history since the Declaration of Independence. In every aspect
it assumes gigantic proportions, whether we simply consider
the extent of territory it concerns, or the public faith and
national policy which it assails, or that higher question — that
question of questions, as far above others as liberty is above the
common things of life — which it opens anew for judgment.
" It concerns an immense region, larger than the original
thirteen States, vieing in extent with all the existing free
States, stretching over prairie, field, and forest, interlaced
by silver streams, skirted by protecting mountains, and consti
tuting 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 suc
cession has dominated over the globe. This territory has
already been likened on this floor to the Garden of God. The
similitude is found, not merely in its present pure and virgin
character, but in its actual geographical situation, occupying
central spaces on this hemisphere, which in their general
relations may weU compare with that early Asiatic home.
We are told that • Southward through Eden went a river large; *
80 here a stream flows southward which is larger than the
Euphrates. And here, too, amidst all the smiling products of
nature lavished by the hand of God, is the lofty tree of
Liberty, planted by our fathers, which, without exaggeration,
or even imagination, may be likened to

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 177
'The tree of life.
High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
Of vegetable gold.*
" It is with regard to this territory that you are now called to
exercise the grandest function of the lawgiver, by establishing
those rules of polity which wUl determine its future character.
As the twig is bent the tree inclines; and the influences
impressed upon the early days of an empire, Uke those upon a
child, are of inconceivable importance to its future weal or
woe. The bill now before us proposes to organize and equip
two new territorial establishments, with governors, secretaries,
legislative 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
present moment it justly excites a peculiar interest, from the
efiort made — on pretences unsustained by facts, in violation
of solemn covenant and of the early principles of our fathers
— to open this immense region to slavery.''
He then proceeded to argue against the measure,
first in the " name of pubhc faith, as an infraction
of solemn obUgations, and secondly in the name of
freedom, as a departure from the anti-slavery poUcy
of our fathers."
The miqmty of the slave-system he characterized m
these strong words : —
" Slavery is the forcible subjection of one human being, in
person, labor, and property, to the will of another. In this
simple statement is involved its whole injustice. There is no
ofience against religion, against morals, against humanity,

178 LIFE AND TIMES
which may not, in the license of this institution, stalk
' unwhipt of justice.' For the husband and wife there is no
marriage ; for the mother there is no assurance that her infant
child will not be ravished from her breast ; for all who bear
the name of ' slave ' there is nothing that they can call their
own. Without a father, without a mother, almost without a
God, the slave has nothing but a master. It would be contrary
to that rule of right which is ordained by God, if such a
system, though mitigated often by a patriarchal kindness .and
by a pla.isible physical comfort, could be otherwise than perni
cious in its influences. It is confessed that the master suffers
not less than the slave. And this is not all : the whole social
fabric is disorganized ; labor loses its dignity ; industry sickens ;
education finds no schools ; and all the land of slavery is im
poverished. And now, sir, when the conscience of mankind is
at last aroused to these things ; when throughout the civilized
world a slave-dealer is a by-word and a reproach, — we, as a
nation, are about to open a new market to the traffickers in
flesh that haunt the shambles of the South."
In the course of his remarks he made this forci
ble appeal on behalf of the Missouri Compromise : — •
" The Missouri compact, in its imperformed obligations to
freedom, stands at this day as impregnable as the Louisiana
purchase. " I appeal to senators about me not to disturb it. I
appeal to the senators from Virginia to keep inviolate the
compact made in their behalf by James Barbour and Charles
Fenton Mercer. I appeal to the senators from South Carolina
to guard the work of John Gaillard and William Lowndes. I
appeal to the senators from Maryland to uphold the com-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 179
promise which elicited the constant support of Samuel Smith,
and was first triumphantly pressed by the unsurpassed elo
quence of Pinkney. I appeal to the senators from Delaware
to maintain the landmark of freedom in the Territory of Louisi
ana, early espoused by Louis McLane. I appeal to the senators
from Kentucky not to repudiate the pledges of Henry Clay. [
appeal to the senators from Alabama not to break the agree
ment sanctioned by the earUest votes in the Senate of their
late most cherished fellow-citizen William Euf us King. Sir,
I have heard of an honor that felt a stain like a wound. If
there be any such in this chamber, — as surely there is, — it
will hesitate to take upon itself the stain of this transac
tion." In respect to the future of Ms cause he used tMs
bold, prophetic language : —
" I am not bUnd to the adverse signs ; but this I see clearly :
amidst all seeming discouragements, the great omens are vrith
us. Art, literature, poetry, religion, every thing which ele
vates man, — all are on our side. The plough, the steam-engine,
the railroad, the telegraph, the book, every human improve
ment, every generous word anywhere, every true pulsation of
every heart which is not a mere muscle and nothing else, gives
new encouragement to the warfare with slavery. The discussion
wUl proceed. The devices of party can no longer stave it of£.
The subterfuges of the politician cannot escape it. The tricks
of tlie office-seeker cannot dodge it. Wherever an election
occurs, there this question will arise. Wherever men come
together to speak of public affairs, there again will it be. No
political Joshua now, with miraculous power, can stop the sun
in his course through the heaven?. It is even now rejoicing,

180 LIFE AND TMES
like a strong man, to run its race, and will yet send its beams
into the most distant plantations, — ay, sir, and melt the chains
of every slave."
The grandeur of Ms peroration weU accords with
the subUmity of Ms theme : —
" The North and the South, sir, as I fondly trust, amidst all
differences, will ever have a hand and heart for each other ;
and, believing in the sure prevalence of almighty truth,
I confidently look forward to the good time when both will
unite, according to the sentiments of the fathers and the true
spirit of the constitution, in declaring freedom and not slavery
national, to the end that the flag of the Republic, wherever it
floats, on sea or land, within the national jurisdiction, may not
cover a single slave. Then wiU be achieved that Union con
templated at the beginning, against which the storms of faction
and the assaults of foreign power shall beat in vain, as upon
the Kock of Ages ; and LIBERTY, seeking a firm foothold,
WILL HAVE AT LAST WHEBEON TO STAND AND MOVE THE
WOKLD." TMs speech was read by miUions. It sunk deeply.
into the heart of the nation. It was the Sumter
shot, that roused anew the spirit of freedom. It met
with bitterest opposition. It stirred the embers of
that fire that was to try and purify — as gold is tried
and purified — the nation. " I am unused to flatter
any one, least of aU one whom I love and honor,"
said John G. WMttier in a letter to Mr. Sumner ;

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 181
"but I must say in aU smcerity that there is no
orator or statesman living in tMs country or m
Europe, whose fame is so great as not to derive ad
ditional lustre from such a speech. It wUl Uve the
full life of American Mstory." Prof. C. S. Henry
characterized it as "in every quaUty of nobleness
transcendently noble ; " and Pierre Soul^ said, in a
letter to the senator, " Que je profite de cette oc
casion pour vous dire combien j'ai ^t^ heureux du
succSs, et pour mieux dfre, du triomphe ^clatant que
vous avez obtenu a I'occasion de votre discours sur
le Nebraska BUl. Courage ! Sic itur ad astra."
On the mght of the passage of the Kansas and
Nebraska BUl, May 25, 1854, Mr. Sumner presented,
in addition to memorials from the Society of Friends
and other bodies, twenty-five separate remonstrances
from clergymen of every Protestant denomination in
the six New-England States, and said with solemn
earnestness : —
" Like them, sir, I do not hesitate to protest here against the
bUl yet pending before the Senate, as a great moral wrong, as
a breach of public faith ; as a measure full of danger to the
peace and even existence of our Union. And, sir, believing in
God as I profoundly do, I cannot doubt that the opening of an
immense region to so great an enormity as slavery is calculated
to draw down upon our country his righteous judgments.
" ' In the name of Almighty God, and in his presence,' these
remonstrants protest against the Nebraska Bill. In this solemn

182 LIFE AND TIMES
language, which has been strangely pronounced blasphemous on
this floor, there is obviously no assumption of ecclesiastical
power, as has been perversely charged, but simply a devout
observance of the Scriptural injunction, ' Whatsoever ye do, in
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord.' Let me add,
also, that these remonstrants, in this very language, have fol
lowed the example of the Senate, which at our present session
has ratified at least one important treaty beginning with these
precise words, 'In the name of Almighty God.' Surely, if the
Senate may thus assume to speak, the clergy may do likewise
without imputation of blasphemy or any just criticism, at least
in this body.
" But I am unwilUng, particularly at this time, to be be
trayed into any thing that shall seem Uke a defence of the
clergy. They need no such thing at my hands. There are
men in this Senate, justly eminent for eloquence, leaming, and
abiUty ; but there is no man here competent, except in his own
conceit, to sit in judgment on the clergy of New England.
Honorable senators who have been so swift vrith criticism and
sarcasm might profit by their example. Perhaps the senator
from South Carolina [Mr. Butler], who is not insensible to
scholarship, might learn from them something of its graces.
Perhaps the senator from Virginia [Mr. Mason], who finds no
sanction under the constitution for any remonstrance from
clergymen, might leam from them something of the privileges
of an American citizen. And perhaps the senator from Illinois
[Mr. Douglas], who precipitated this odious measure upon
the country, might leam from them something of poUtical vris-
dom. Sir, from the first settlement of these shores, from those
early days of struggle and privation, through the trials of
the Eevolution, the clergy have been associated, not only

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 183
with the piety and the leaming, but with the Uberties, of the
country. For a long time New England was governed by
their prayers more than by any acts of the legislature ; and, at
a later day, their voices aided even the Declaration of Independ
ence. The clergy of our time may speak, then, not only from
their own virtues, but from the echoes which yet live in the
pulpits of their fathers.
" For myself, I desire to thank them for their generous inter
position. They have already done much good in moving the
country. They wOl not be idle. In the days of the Revolu
tion, John Adams, yearning for independence, said, ' Let the
pulpits thunder against oppression I ' and the pulpits thun
dered. The time has come for them to thunder again.
" Sir," said he most pertinently in this midnight protest,
" the bill which you are now about to pass is at once the worst
and the best bUl on which Congress ever acted. Yes, sir,
WORST and best at the same time.
" It is the worst biU, 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 aU the countless woes and wrongs of human bondage.
Among the crimes of history another is about to be recorded,
which no tears can blot out, and which, in better days, wiU be
read with universal shame. Do not start. The tea tax and
Stamp Act, which aroused the patriot rage of our fathers, were
virtues by the side of your transgression; nor would it be easy
to imagine, at this day, any measure which more openly and
perversely defied every sentiment of justice, humanity, and
Christianity. Am I not right, then, in caUing it the worst bill
on which Congress ever acted ?
" But there is another side to which I gladly turn. Sir, it is

184 LIFE AND TIMES
the best bill on which Congress ever acted ; for it prepares the
way for that ' All hail hereafter,' when slavery must disappear.
It annuls all past compromises with slavery, and makes all
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 this wretched despotism will cease to dominate
over OUT govemment, no longer impressing itself upon every
thing at home and abroad; when the national govemment
shall be divorced in every way from slavery, and, according to
the true intention of our fathers, freedom shall be established
by Congress everywhere, at least beyond the local limits of
the States.
" Slavery wUl then be driven from its usurped foothold here
in the District of Columbia, in the national Territories, and
elsewhere beneath the national flag ; the Fugitive-Slave BiU,
as vile as it is unconstitutional, will become a dead-letter ; and
the domestic slave-trade, so far as it can be reached, but espe
ciaUy on the high seas, will be blasted by Congressional prohi
bition. Everywhere withia the sphere of Congress, the great
northern hammer will descend to smite the wrong ; and the
irresistible cry wiU break forth, ' No more slave States 1 "
" Thus, sir, now standing at the very grave of freedom in
Kansas and Nebraska, I lift myself to the vision of that happy
resurrection by which freedom wiU be secm-ed hereafter, not
only in these Territories, but everywhere under the national
govemment. More clearly than ever before, I now see 'the
beginning of the end' of slavery. Proudly I discern the flag
of my country, as it ripples in every breeze, at last become in
reality, as in name, the flag of freedom, imdoubted, pure,

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 18P
and irresistible. Am I not right, then, in caUing this bill the
best on which Congress ever acted ?
" Sorrowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to
enact : joyfuUy I welcome all the promises of the future."
Such was the intense excitement of the country at
tMs time, that these bold utterances, wMch expressed
the sober sentiment of the people of the North, tMew
Mr. Sumner mto great personal danger. TMs was
heightened by a tragical event wMch then occurred
in Boston. On the day preceding tMs midnight
speech, Anthony Burns was arrested as a fugitive
slave, and held a prisoner in the Court-House.
Many of the citizens were fired with indignation ;
and on the evemng of the 26th instant, after an ex
cited meeting in FaneuU Hall, an attack was made
upon the Court-House, during which James Batch-
elder, actmg as a guard, was MUed. TMs resistance
tp the imqmtous Fugitive-Slave Law was attributed
to the late speech of Mr. Sumner, in wMch he had
said, "In passing tMs bill, as is now tMeatened,
you scatter from tMs dark midnight-hour no seeds
of harmony and good-wiU, but broadcast tMough the
land dragons' teeth, wMch haply may not spring up
in direful crops of armed men ; but yet I am assured,
sir, wiU they fructify in civil strife and feud."
" He is a murderer ! " said the organs of the admin
istiation. " Down with tMs fanatical aboUtionist 1 "

186 LIFE AND TIMES OP CHARLES SUMNER.
" Let Sumner and Ms infamous gang," said " The
Star," an official paper at WasMngton, " feel that he
cannot outrage the fame of Ms country, counsel
treason to its laws, incite the ignorant to bloodshed
and murder, and stUl receive the support and coun
tenance of the society of tMs city, which he has done
so much to vilify." The obnoxious speech of the
"fanatical abohtiomst " was not, however, read in
Boston until the day after the Smeute, and the death
of James Batchelder ; and tMs the partisans of slavery
weU knew. " Put a baU through his head ! " cried
the infuriated slaveholders of Alexandria. "A
strenuous and systematized effort is making here and
in Alexandria," wrote a correspondent, May 31, to
" The New-York Times," " to raise a mob agamst
Senator Sumner, in retaliation for the Boston diffi
culty." But, though menaced on every hand, and
once tMeatened and insulted at a restaurant ; though
counselled by Ms friends to leave Washington, — Mr.
Sumner contmued to walk unattended and unarmed,
as usual, tMough the streets. He knew no fear.
" Let the minions of the adnainistration and of the
slaveocracy harm one hair of your head," wrote to
him Ms friend George Livermore of Cambridge,
" and they wUl raise a whfrlwind that wUl sweep
them to destruction."
This word was verified.

CHAPTER XI.
The Persistent Course of Mr. Sumner. — Petition of the Citizens of
Boston. — Condemnation of the Fugitive-Slave Bill. — Defence
of Massachusetts. — Violent Opposition. — Opinions of Messrs.
Chase, Giddings, Andrew, and Charming. — A Tribute from
WMttier. — A Specimen of Senatorial Tactics. — Anti-Slavery
Sentiment Extending. — Ponnation of the Republican Party. —
Mr. Sumner's Reception and Speech at Worcester. — Tyranny of
the Slave-Power. — Backbone needed. — The American Merchant.
— Mr. Wilson enters the United-States Senate. — The Position and
Out-look. — Mr. Sumner's Plan of Emancipation. — Speech iu
New York May 9, 1855. — Spread of Anti-Slavery Sentiment. —
His Views of Slave-Hunting. — The American Party. — All Men
ectual in Respect to the Law. — Our Indebtedness to Foreigners.
"Where is cliarity? Where is the love of Grod? Where is the zeal for
his glory? Where is desire for his service? Where is huinan pitry, and the
compassion of man for man? Certainly, to redeem a captive, to liberate him
from wretched slavery, is the highest work of charity, of all that can be done
in this world." — Topografia y Historia de Argel por FitA. Haj:bo.
" And 'tis for this we live, —
To smite the oppressor with the words of power;
To bid the tyrant give
Back to his brother Heaven's allotted hour." William Howitt.
|OVED by a lofty purpose, — the redemption
of the slave, — sustained by the rectitude of
his intentions, and by the generous sym
patMes of many advocates of freedom both m
187

188 UPB AND TIMES
America and Europe, the inflexible patriot pursued
Ms course with giant stride ; and, though the domi
nant party held him in contempt, it trembled when
he struck.
The rendition of Anthony Burns to servitude, and
the violent scenes thereon attendant, served to
deepen the anti-slavery sentiment in Massachusetts ;
and a petition for the repeal of the Fugitive-Slave
BUl, signed by two thousand nine hundred citizens
of Boston, many of whom had hitherto opposed the
course of Mr. Sumner, was on the twenty-second day
of June, 1854, presented to the Senate by Mr. Rock
well, who had taken the place of Mr. Everett. An
exciting debate arose on the motion to refer this
memorial, when Mr. Sumner took the floor m de
fence of himself and Massachusetts.
" So far as the arraignment touches me personally," he said,
" I hardly care to speak. It is true that I have not hesitated,
here and elsewhere, to express my open, sincere, and unequivo
cal condemnation of the Fugitive-Slave Bill. I have de-
noimced it as at once a violation of the law of God, and of the
Constitution of the United States.
" In violation of the constitution, it commits the great
question of human freedom — than which none is more sacred
in the law — not to a solemn trial, but to summary proceedings.
" It commits this question, not to one of the high tribunals
of the land, but to the unaided judgihent of a single petty
magistrate.

OP CHARiLES SUMNER. 18&
" It commits this question to a magistrate appointed, not by
the President with the consent of the Senate, but by the court ;
holding his office, not during good behavior, but merely during
the will of the court ; and receiving, not a regular salary, but
fees according to each individual case.
" It authorizes judgment on ex parte evidence, by affidavits,
without the sanction of cross-examination.
" It denies the writ of habeas corpus, ever known as the pal
ladium of the citizen.
" Contrary to the declared purposes of the framers of the
constitution, it sends the fugitive back ' at the public ex
pense.' " Adding meanness to the violation of the constitution, it
bribes the commissioner by a double fee to pronounce against
freedom. If he dooms a man to slavery, the reward is ten dol
lars ; but, saving him to freedom, his dole is five dollars."
" In response for Massachusetts," he emphatically asserted,
"there are other things. Something surely must be par
doned to her history. In Massachusetts stands Boston. In
Boston stands Faneuil Hall, where, throughout the perils which
preceded the Eevolution, our patriot fathers assembled to vow
themselves to freedom. Here, in those days, spoke James
Otis, full of the thought that ' the people's safety is the law of
God.' Here also spoke James Warren, inspired by the senti
ment that ' death with all its tortures is preferable to slavery.'
And here also thundered John Adams, fervid with the con
viction that ' consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious breach of
trust.' Not far from this venerable haU — between this temple
of freedom and the very court-house to which the senator [Mr.
Jones] has referred — is the street where, in 1770, the first
blood was spilt in conflict between British troops and American

190 LIFE AND TIMES
citizens ; and among the victims was one of that African race
which you so much despise. Almost within sight is Bunker
Hill : farther oif, Lexington and Concord. Amidst these scenes
a slave-hunter from Virginia appears ; and the disgusting rites
begin by which a fellow-man is to be doomed to bondage.
Sir, can you wonder that the people were moved?
'Who can he wise, amazed, temperate, and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment V No man.'
" It is true that the Slave Aot was with difficulty executed,
and that one of its servants perished in the effort. On these
grounds the senator from Tennessee charges Boston with
fanaticism. I express no opinion on the conduct of indi
viduals ; but I do say that the fanaticism which the senator
condemns 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 opposed the tea tax. It is the fanati
cism 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 Ainerican Revolution. In condemning them, in
condemning Massachusetts, in condemning these remonstrants,
you simply give a proper conclusion to the utterance on this
floor, that the Declaration of Independence is ' a self-evident
lie.'" This manly speech, as the last on^ on the Kansas
and Nebraska BUl, Mt the vtdnerable point of Ms
opponents, and was followed by a torrent of vitupera-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 191
tion and abuse. Said Mr. Mason of Virginia in a
most contemptuous tone : " I am speaking of a
fanatic, one whose reason is dethroned. Can such
a one expect to make impressions upon the American
people from Ms rabid, vulgar declamation here,
accompamed by a declaration that he would violate
Ms oath now recently taken ? "
In spite of bitter opposition, Mr. Sumner on the
28th instant agam obtamed the floor, and made a
masterly reply to Ms assaUants, and a glorious defence
of the Commonwealth he represented. Though Ms
reason were " detMoned," enough was left to anm-
hUate the arguments and meet the taunts of Messrs.
Mason, Butler, Petitt, and other domineering and
abusive senators.
At the conclusion of tMs splendid speech, Mr.
Chase said to him, " Tou have struck slavery the
strongest blow it ever received : you have made it
reel to the centre." Said Mr. Giddings, " Sumner
stood inimitable, and hurled back the taunts of Ms
assailants with irresistible force." " Your recent en
counter with the wild beasts of Ephesus," wrote
John A. Andrew to Mm, " has been a brilUant suc
cess." " Sumner," wrote Edward T. Channing to a
friend, " has done nobly. He is erect, and a man of
authority among the slave holders, dealers, and hunt
ers. He has made an historical era for the North."

192 LIFE AND TIMES
He had done so ; for thousands of the temporizing
saw, by tMs masterly exposition of the weakness of
the slave-power, and by the ferocity manifested in
this debate, that the dark wave of human servitude
must be stayed ; that there was business to be done ;
and that it was time to wheel into the Une of those
who had the wiU and backbone to go forward.
Among the many cordial tributes Mr. Sumner re
ceived for this massive argument in defence of North
ern prmciples, none was more welcome than these
elegant lines of John G. WMttier : —
TO CHARLES SUMNER.
If I have seemed more prompt to censure wrong
Than praise the right ; if seldom to thine ear
My voice hath mingled with the exultant cheer.
Borne upon all our Northern winds along ;
If I have failed to join the fickle throng,
In wide-eyed wonder that thou standest strong
In victory, surprised in thee to find
Brougham's scathing power with Channing's grace combined,
That he for whom the ninefold Muses sung,
From their twined arms a giant athlete sprung,
Barbing the arrows of his native tongue
With the spent shafts Latona's archer flung
To smite the Python of our land and time,
Fell as the monster born of Crissa's slime,
Like the blind bard who in Castalian springs
Tempered the steel that clove the crest of kings,
And on the shrine of England's freedom laid
The gifts of Cumae and of Delphi's shade, —

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 193
Small need hast thou of words of praise from me.
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,
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,
Cahn 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 mumuring 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 1 "
J. G. W.
llth MONTH, 25th, 1854.
Bravely and persistently Mr. Sumner pressed the
question of slavery upon the attention of the Senate ;
but he met at every point malignant opposition.
ParUamentary practice was boldly set aside to thwart
Ms purposes. " The miscreant must be silenced!"
was the general cry. A specimen of the debate on
the thirty-first day of July wiU exhibit the tactics of
the partisans of slavery.

194 LIFE AND TIMES
During the passage of two unimportant measures,
Mr. Sumner endeavored to present a proposition for
the repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Act ; and, having
gained the floor, tMs interesting scene occurred : —
Mr. Sumner. In pursuance of notice, I now ask
leave to introduce a bill.
Mr. Stuart (of Michigan). I object to it, and
move to take up the River and Harbor Bill.
The Presiding Officer (Mr. Cooper of Penn
sylvania). The other biU is not disposed of, — the
third reading of a BiU for the Relief of Betsey Nash.
The bill was then read a tliird time, and passed.
Mr. SusiNER. In pursuance of notice, I ask leave
to introduce a bill wMch I now send to the table.
Mr. Stuart. Is that in order ?
Mr. Summer. Why not ?
Mr. Benjamin (of Loiusiana). There is a pend
ing motion of the senator from Michigan to take up
the River and Harbor BiU.
The Presiding Officer. That motion was not
entertamed, because the senator from Massachusetts
had and has the floor.
Mr. Stuart. I make the motion now.
The Presiding Officer. The Chair tMnks it is
in order to give the notice.
Mr. Sumner. Notice has been given ; and I now,

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 195
in pursuance of notice, introduce the biU. The
question is on its first reading.
The Presiding Officer. The first reading of a
bUl. Mr. Norris (of New Hampshire). I rise to a
question of order.
Mr. Sumner. I believe I have the floor.
Mr. Norris. But I rise to a question of order. I
submit that that is not the question. The senator
from Massachusetts has given notice that he would
ask leave to introduce a bill. He now asks that
leave. If there be objection, the question must be
decided by the Senate, whether he shaU liave leave or
not. Objection is made ; and the biU cannot be read.
Mr. Sumner. Very well ; the first question, then,
is on grantmg leave ; and the title of the bill wiU
be read.
The Presiding Officer (to the Secretary). Read
. the title.
The Secretary read it as follows : " A BiU to repeal
the Act of Congress, approved Sept. 18, 1850, for
the Surrender of Fugitives from Service or Labor."
The Presiding Officer. The question is on
granting leave to introduce the bill.
Mr. Sumner. And I have the floor.
The Presiding Officer. The senator from Mas
sachusetts is entitled to the floor.

196 LIFE AND TIMES
Mr. Sumner. I shaU not occupy much time, nor
shall I debate the biU. Some time ago, Mr. Presi
dent, after the presentation of the memorial from
Boston, signed by twenty-nine hundred citizens,
without distinction of party, I gave notice that I
should, at a day hereafter, ask leave to introduce a
biU for the repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Act. Desir
ous, however, not to proceed prematurely, I awaited
the action of the Committee on the Judiciary, to
which the memorial, and others of a simUar charac
ter, were referred. At length an adverse report was
made, and accepted by the Senate. From the time
of that report down to this moment, I have sought
an opportunity to introduce tMs bill. Now, at last,
I have it. At a former session, sir, in introducing a
simUar proposition, I considered it at length, in an
argument which I fearlessly assert —
Mr. Gwnsr (of California). I rise to a point of
order. Has the senator a right to debate the ques
tion,, or say any tMng on it, until leave be granted ?
The Presiding Officer. My impression is that
the question is not debatable.
Mr. Sumner. I propose simply to explain my
bill, — to make a statement, not an argument.
Mr. GwiN. I make the point of order.
The Presedestg Officer. I am not aware pre
cisely what the rule of order on the subject is ; but I

OP CHARLES SUMNEE. 197
have the impression that the senator cannot de
bate —
Mr. StTMNER. The distmction is tMs —
Mr. GwiN. I insist upon the application of the
decision of the Chair.
Mr. Mason (of Virgmia). Mr. President, there
is one rule of order that is undoubted, — that, when
the Chair is stating a question of order, he must not
be interrupted by a senator. There is no question
about that rule of order.
The Presiding Officer. The senator did not
interrupt the Chair.
Mr. Sumner. The Chair does me justice, in re
sponse to the injustice of the senator from Vir-
ghua. The Presiding Officer. Order! order!
Mr. Mason. The senator is doing that very tMng
at tMs moment. I am endeavoring to sustain the
authority of the Chair, wMch certainly has been
violated. The Presiding Officer. It is the opimon of
the Chair that the debate is out of order. I am not
precisely informed of what the rule is ; but such is
my clear impression.
Mr. Walker (of Wisconsm). If the senator from
Massachusetts will allow me, I will say a word here.
Mr. Sumner. Certainly.

198 LIFE AND TIMES
Thus, fearful of the truth, and fencing off the
question, the slaveocracy prolonged the struggle
through the entire day ; and, at the close, the Senate
determined not to introduce the bill. But the ele
ments were in commotion ; the breast of the nation
.was heaving ; a spirit was abroad wMch neither sena
torial manoeuvrings nor unjust laws nor bannered
army could intimidate or resist.
Under the persistent arrogance of the South, tlie
anti-slavery sentiment of the North was stiU extend
ing ; and, in order to combine the scattered elements
opposed to the servile system into one grand, com
pact, and solid body, the Republican party was,
through the constructive power of Henry Wilson
and a few other leading politicians, formed in the
summer of 1854 to occupy the place of the Free-soil
organization. A large convention was held in the
city of Worcester on the seventh day of September,
over which the Hon. Robert Rantoul of Beverly pre
sided. As Mr. Sumner entered the convention, the
whole assembly rose, and with long-continued cheer
ing gave him welcome as their honored champion.
He then made one of the most effective and brilUant
speeches ever heard in that city. His theme was
" The Duties of Massachusetts at the Present
Crisis ; " and with the skiU of a master whose heart
is glowing with the grandeur of his subject, whose

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 199
tongue is touched with a celestial flame, he proceeded
amidst continued outbursts of applause from the vast
audience. " After months," said he, " of constant, anxious
service in another place, away from Massachusetts,
I am permitted to stand among you, my feUow-citi-
zens, and to draw satisfaction and strength from
your generous presence. Life is fuU of changes and
contrasts. From slave soil I have come to free soil :
from the tamted breath of slavery I have passed to
this bracing air of freedom ; and the heated antagon
ism of debate, shooting forth its fiery cinders, is
changed mto this brimming, overflowing welcome,
where 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
have not come here to receive applause, or to give
occasion for any tokens of pubhc regard, but simply
to umte with my feUow-citizens m new vows of
duty. And yet I would not be thought insensible to
the good-wUl now swelling from so many honest
bosoms : it touches me more than I can teU.
" During the late session of Congress, an eminent
supporter of the Nebraska Bill said to me, with
great ammation, in language which I give with some
precision, that you may appreciate the style as well

200 LIFE AND TIMES
as the sentiment, ' I would not go tMough aU that
you do on this nigger question, for aU the offices and
honors of the country.' To wMch I naturaUy and
promptly repUed, 'Nor would I, for all the offices
and honors of the country.' Not in such things can
be found the true inducements to tMs warfare. For
myself, if I have been able to do any thing in any
respect not unworthy of you, it is because I thought
rather of those commanding duties which are above
office and honor."
In the progress of his address he said with empha
sis, —
"The Fugitive-Slave BUl, monstrous in cruelty
as in unconstitutionality, is a usurpation which
must be opposed. The admission of new slave
States, from whatsoever quarter, from Texas or Cuba,
Utah or New Mexico, must be opposed. And to
every scheme of slavery — whether in Cuba or Mexi
co, on the Mgh seas in opening the slave-trade, in
the West Indies, the valley of the Amazon, whether
accompUshed or merel}"- plotted, whether pending or
in prospect — we must send forth an everlasting
no!" He concluded Ms grand address by these memora
ble words : —
" By the passage of the Nebraska BiU, and the
Boston Mdnapping case, the tyranny of the slave-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 201
power has become unmistakably manifest ; while, at
the same time, all compromises with slavery are hap
pily dissolved, so that freedom now stands face to
face with its foe. The pulpit, too, released from ill-
omened silence, now thunders for freedom, as in
the olden time. It belongs to Massachusetts — nurse
of the men and principles which made the earliest
Revolution — to vow herself anew to her ancient
faith, as she lifts herself to the great struggle. Her
place now, as of old, is in the van, at the head of the
battle. But, to sustam tMs advanced position with
proper mflexibihty, three things are needed by our
beloved Commonwealth, in aU her departments of
government, — the same tMee tMngs which once in
FaneuU HaU I ventured to say were needed by every
representative of the North at WasMngton. The
first is backbone ; the second is backbone ; and the
third is BACKBONE. With these Massachusetts
will be respected, and felt as a positive force in the
national government; whUe at home, on her own
soU, — free at last in reaUty as in name, — all her peo
ple, from the islands of Boston to Berkshire HiUs,
and from the sands of Barnstable to the northern
hne, wUl unite in the cry, —
" No slave-hunt in our borders I no pirate on our strand I
No fetter in the Bay State I no slave upon her land 1"

202 LIFE AND TIMES
Mr. Sumner was called tMs autumn to bear the
loss of Ms beloved brother Albert, his wife and
daughter Kate, who perished in the ill-fated steamer
" Arctic " which coUided with the French steamer
" Vesta " off Newfoundland, Sept. 27, 1854, sending
tMee hundred persons to an ocean-grave. Albert
was an able financier, and had been of great service to
Ms mother in her economical affairs. The Sumner
family long hoped that some way of escape from the
wreck had been effected ; but no tidmgs of the un
fortunate voyagers ever came.
On the evening of the 15th of November, 1854,
Mr. Sumner deUvered an admirable address before
the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, on
" The Position and Duties of the Merchant," which
he iUustrated by sketching the life of GranviUe
Sharp, the earliest aboUtionist of England. In por
traying the character of this eminent philanthropist,
he pointed out the duties of the mercantile profes
sion, especially in respect to slavery and the practi
cal demands of the present age.
On the tenth day of February, 1855, Henry
WUson, a fearless representative of the working-men,
and of the progressive spirit, of Massachusetts, took
Ms seat in the United-States Senate. His advent
was hailed with joy by Mr. Sumner, who saw in Mm
a combatant weU girded to repel the assaults on

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 203
freedom. They were stigmatized as " Black Repub
Ucans," and held as members sent for the reception
of the ridicule and invective of the dominant party ;
but they weU understood its weakness, and by a
kind of msphation prophesied its coming dissolu
tion. Their own cause, they as clearly saw, stood
on the immutable basis of the gospel : they heard
afar the roUmg of the tidal wave ; they caught famt
glimpses of the dawn of a new day. "A forlorn
hope," said pohticians on the lower plane. But
the feet of Sumner and of Wilson touched the
rock : their temples felt the breeze of an incoming
power. Shoulder to shoiUder they, beneath the
aegis of the constitution, defiantly confronted their
opponents, and with burmng words denounced the
usurpations of the partisans of slavery. They were
heroes ; and men now accord to them this appeUa
tion. Referrmg to the course pursued by Mr. Sumner m
Congress, Theodore Parker says, in a letter to Henry
WUson, dated Feb. 15, 1855, —
" What a noble stand Sumner has taken and kept in. the
Senate ! He is one of the few who have grown morally as well
as intellectually by his position in Congress. But his example
shows that politics do not necessarily debase a man in two
years. I hope the office may do as much for you as for your
noble and generous colleague."

204 LIFE AND TIMES
Mr. Sumner's next senatorial effort, Feb. 23,
1855, was an earnest speech, during which he was
frequently interrupted by Messrs. Rusk and Butler,
on the repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Act. In the
course of Ms remarks, he declared again his plan of
emancipation to be, not a political revolution, but the
awakening of an enlightened, generous, human,
CMistian, pubhc opinion, wMch " should blast with
contempt, indignation, and abhorrence, aU who, in
whatever form, or under whatever name, undertake
to be agents in enslaving a fellow-man." At the
close of his speech, Mr. Butler said, " I wUl ask the
gentleman one question : If it devolved upon him as
a representative of Massachusetts, aU federal laws
being put out of the way, would he recommend any
law for the delivery of a fugitive slave under the
constitution of the Umted States ? "
" Never ! " Mr. Sumner instantly replied.
The following letter to Ms classmate the Rev. S.
B. Babcock. D.D., of Dedham, exhibits Ms anxiety
for imion at the North : —
Senate Chamber, March 30, 1854.
My deak Babcock, — Tour letter has cheered and strength
ened me. It came to me, too, with pleasant memories of early
life. As I read it, the gates of the past seemed-to open ; and I
saw again the bright fields of study in which we walked to
gether. Our battle has been severe; and much of its brunt

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 205
has fallen upon a few. For weeks my trials and anxieties
were intense. It is a satisfaction to know that they have
found sympathy among good men.
But the slave-power will push its tyranny yet farther ; and
there is but one remedy, — union among men, without distinc
tion of party, at the North, who shall take possession of the
national govemment, and administer it in the spirit of free
dom and not of slavery. Oh 1 when wiU the North be
aroused ? Ever sincerely yours,
Chakles Sumner.
On the 9th of May foUowing, he delivered, at the
Metropohtan Theatre, New York, a brilliant address
on " The Necessity, Practicability, and Dignity of
the Anti-Slavery Enterprise." In presentiag him to
the vast audience, the Hon. WUUam Jay said, "I
introduce Mm to you as a Northern senator on whom
nature has conferred the unusual gift of a backbone,
— a man who, standing erect on the floor of Con
gress amid creepmg tMngs from the North, with
CMistian fideUty denounces the stupendous wicked
ness of the Fugitive Law and Nebraska perfidy, and,
in the name of liberty, humamty, and rehgion, de
mands the repeal of those most atrocious enact
ments." SpeaMng of the outspread and power of the anti-
slavery sentiment, Mr. Sumner beautifully said, " It
18

206 LIFE AND TIMES
touches the national heart as it never before was
touched, sweeping its strings with a might to draw
forth emotions such as no political struggle has ever
evoked. It moves the young, the middle-aged, and
the old. It enters the famUy circle, and mingles
with the fiame of the household hearth. It reaches
the souls of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters,
filling aU with a new aspiration for justice on earth,
and awakening not merely a sentiment against
slavery, such as prevailed with our fathers, but a
deep, undying conviction of its wrong, and a deter
mination to leave no effort unattempted for its re
moval. With the sympathies of aU CMistendom as
allies, it has already encompassed the slave-masters
by a moral blockade, invisible to the eye, but more
potent than navies, from which there can be no es
cape except in final capitulation."
Referring to the contemptible part performed by
the slave-hunter, he made the emphatic declaration :
" For myself, let me say that I can imagine no office,
no salary, no consideration, wMch I would not gladly
forego rather than become in any way an agent for
the enslavement of my brother-man. Where, for
me, would be comfort or solace after such a work ?
In dreams and waking hours, in solitude and in the
street, m the study of the open book, and in conver
sation with the world, wherever I turned, there my

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 207
victim would stare me in the face ; wMle, from the
distant rice-fields and sugar-plantations of the South,
Ms cries beneath the vindictive lash, Ms moans at
the thought of liberty once his, now — alas! — rav
ished away, would pursue me, repeating the tale of
Ms fearful doom, and sounding, forever sounding, in
my ears, ' Thou art the man.' Mr. President, may
no such terrible voice fall on your soul or mine ! "
He concluded this magnificent address by these
strong words : —
" Face to face against the slavf: oligarchy must
be raUied the united masses of the North, in
compact pohtical association, planted on the ever
lastmg base of justice, kmt together by the instincts
of a common danger and by the holy sympatMes of
humanity ; enkindled by a love of freedom, not only
for themselves, but for others ; determined to enfran
chise the national government from degrading
tMaldom ; and constituting the backbone party,
powerful in numbers, wealth, and intelligence, but
mofe powerful stiU in an inspiring cause. Let this
be done, and victory wiU be ours."
Entertaimng broad and cathoUc views of human
ity and brotherhood, Mr. Sumner did not identify
himseK with the American or " Know-Nothing "
organization, which he truly characterized as a " sep
arate " and " short-Uved " party. " Cut off from the

208 LIFE AND TIMES
main body," said he, " it may still show a brief vital
ity, as a head of a turtle still bites for some days after
it is severed from the neck, but can have no perma
nent existence."
"It is proposed," he as justly as eloquently re
marked, " to attaint men fof their religion, and also
for their birth. If this object can prevaU, vain are the
triumphs of civil freedom in its many hard-fought
fields, vam is that religious toleration which we aU
profess. The fires of Smithfield, the tortures of
the Inquisition, the proscriptions of non-conformists,
may all be revived. It was mainly to escape these
outrages, dictated by a dominant religious sect, that
our country was early settled, in one place by Quak
ers, who set at nought aU forms; in another by
Puritans, who disowned bishops ; in another by Epis
copalians, who take their name from bishops ; and m
yet another by CathoUcs, who look to the pope
as their spiritual father. Slowly among sects was
evolved the great idea of the equaUty of all men be
fore the law, without regard to rehgious behef; tior
can any party now organize a proscription merely for
reUgious belief, without calling ia question this un
questionable principle. . . .
" The Mstory of our country in its humblest as weU
as most exalted spheres testifies to the merits of for
eigners. Their strong arms have helped furrow our

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 209
broad territory with canals, and stretch in every
direction the iron raU. They have filled our work
shops, navigated our ships, and tUled our fields. Go
where you wiU, among the hardy sons of toil on land
or sea, and there you wUl find industrious and faith
ful foreigners bending their muscles to the work.
At the bar, and in the high places of commerce, you
wUl find them. Enter the retreats of learning, and
there you wUl find them too, shedding upon our
country the glory of science. Nor can any reflec
tion be cast upon foreigners claiming hospitaUty
now, which wUl not glance at once upon the distin
guished hvmg and the iUustrious dead; upon the
Irish Montgomery, who perished for us at the gates
of Quebec; upon PulasM the Pole, who perished
for us at Savannah ; upon De Kalb and Steuben, the
generous Germans, who aided' out weakness by their
mUitary experience ; upon Paul Jones the Scotch
man, who lent Ms unsurpassed courage to the infant
thunders of our navy ; also upon those great Euro
pean liberators, Kosciusko of Poland, and Lafayette
of France, each of whom paid his earliest vows to
Uberty m our cause. Nor should tMs list be con
fined to mUitary characters, so long as we gratefuUy
cherish the name of Alexander Hamilton, who was
born in the West Indies, and the name of Albert
GaUatin, who was bom m Switzerland, and never, to
18*

210 LIFE AND TIMES OP CHARLES SUMNER.
the close of his octogenarian career, lost the French
accent of his boyhood, — both of whom rendered
civic services which may be commemorated among
the victories of peace."

CHAPTER XIL
struggles in Kansas. — Excitement through the Country and in
Congress. — Remarks of Mr. Sumner on the Reports of Messrs.
Douglas and CoUamer. — His Speech on the Admission of Kansas.
— The Exordium. — Reference to Mr. Douglas. — The Nehraska
BUI a Swiudle. — Defence of Massachusetts. — The Conclusion of
the Speech. — The Effect of the Speech. — Remarks of Mr. Wil
son. — The Assaidt on Mr. Sumner. — His Accoimt of the Same.
— The Effect of this Assault on the North and South. — Mr.
Brooks challenges Mr. Wilson, also Mr. Burlingame. — Mr. Sum
ner at Cape May; at Cresson ; at Philadelphia.
" I know no figure in history wMch commands more of my admiration tlian
that of Charles Sumner in the Senate of the United States, from the hour
when Douglas presented his iQ-omened measure for the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise until the blow of the assassin laid him low. Here was the per
fection of moral constancy and daring. Here was sleepless vigilance, unwea
rying labor, hopefulness horn only of deepest faith, buoyant resolution, caring
nothing for human odd% but serenely abiding m the perfect peace wliich
tlie unselfish service of truth alone can bring." — Hon. Eobert B. Elliott.
** Striiie, but hear I " — Greek Proverb.
|Y the Kansas and Nebraska Act, passed in
May, 1854, a vast extent of virgin territory,
in the heart of this continent, was laid open
both to free and servUe labor; and immigration at
once began to set m from the North and South, thus
211

212 LIPE AND TIMES
bringmg freedom and slavery hand to hand and face
to face. The field was broad enough for a mighty
kingdom. WMch party now shaU have the mas
tery ?
The Northern Emigrant Aid Society, under the
direction of the Hon. EU Thayer, encouraged hardy
men to take possession of the country in the name
of liberty, and to plant the institutions of the Pil
grim Fathers on those fertUe plains. The South
sent forward lawless bands of marauding slave
holders, to establish there its inhuman system.
Although the Northern emigrant went with peaceful
intentions only, it was natural to suppose that coM-
sions would ensue, since it is impossible that free
and servUe industry should harmoniously co-exist;
and then commenced indeed a struggle, especially
for ascendency in political affairs, wMch was marked
by most revolting scenes of violence and bloodshed.
" The first baUot-box that was opened upon our
virgin soil, Nov. 29, 1854," wrote Gen. Pomeroy,
" was closed to us by overpowering numbers and
impending force."
At the first election of the legislature, March 30,
1855, organized bands of armed and lawless men
from Missouri, entering the territory, exercised com
plete control over the baUot-box ; and m the autumn
of the same year gross outrages were perpetrated

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 213
by the border rufi&ans at Lawrence, and several unof
fending citizens murdered.
" Crush them out ! " said Gen. StringfeUow : " let
them vote at the point of the bowie-knife and
revolver." The whole country was aroused. " Down with
tha Black Kepubhcans ! " and " Disumon ! " were the
Southern, " No more slave territory ! " " No slave-
hunting ! " were the Northern watchwords. To quell
the outrages m Kansas, the advocates of freedom
demanded of the admimstration immediate and
decisive action ; but, subservient to the slave ohgar-
chy, it steadUy fanned the flame of the aggressive
party. The contest deepened in the haUs of Congress.
Front to front the defenders of the two opposing
systems stood, with ' crimination and recrimination,
taunt, invective, and defiance, on their tongues. In
trenched m prmciple, calm and unterrified as a
Roman gladiator, Mr. Sumner met the shafts of
hatred, and dealt with stalwart arm Ms deadly blows
against the servile institution. He was then the
best representative of freedom living. During the
¦mnter he said- to Mr. Waldo Higginson, "The ses
sion wUl not pass without the Senate-chamber's
becoming the scene of some unparaUeled outrage ; "
but he had no fears except that he might not fulfil
Ms duty to his country.

214 LIFE AND TIMES
Respecting the reports of Mr. Douglas and Mr. Col-
lamer on affairs in Kansas, presented in the Senate
March 13, 1856, Mr. Sumner said, " In the report of
the majority (by Mr. Douglas) the true issue is smoth
ered : m that of the minority (signed by Mr. Col-
lamcr alone) the true issue stands forth as a piUar of
fire to guide the country. I have no desire," con
tinued he, " to precipitate the debate on tMs impor
tant question, under which the country aheady
shakes from side to side, and which tMeatens to
scatter from its folds civil war."
A short time afterwards Mr. Seward presented
" A BiU for the Admission of Kansas into the Union,"
on wMch an acrimonious debate ensued. In the
course of the discussion Mr. Sumner, on the 19th
and 20th of May, made his celebrated speech en
titled " The Crirae against Kansas." His positions
were, first, the crime against Kansas in its origiri
and extent ; secondly, the apologies for the crime ;
and, tMrdly, the true remedy.
In this masterly philippic, he disclosed the atroci
ties of slavery with the vigor of an intellectual ath
lete. He laid under contribution for this attack on
slavery the acquisitions of a ripe scholar, the wisdom
of an enUglitened statesman, the eloquence of an ac
complished orator, and the courage of an invincible
champion of liberty. He sent with steadiest aim shot

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 215
after shot into the intrenchments of the arrogant de
fenders of the servile institution, and triumphantly
vindicated the poUcy of the friends of free men, free
labor, and free speech.
In his exordium he thus boldly sets forth the
crime, and foreshadows the great events to come : —
" But the ¦wickedness which I now begin to expose is im
measurably aggravated by the motive which prompted it. Not
in any common lust for power did this uncommon tragedy have
its origin. It is the rape of a virgin Territory, compelling it
to the hateful embrace of slavery ; and it may be clearly
traced to a depraved longing for a new slave State, the hideous
offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power
of slavery in the national government. Yes, sir; when the
whole world, alike Christian and Turk, is rising up to condemn
this wrong, and to make it a hissing to the nations, here in our
Kepublic, force — ay, sir, roECE — has been openly employed
in compelling Kansas to this pollution, and all for the sake of
political power. There is the simple fact, which you will
vainly attempt to deny, but which in itself presents an essen
tial wickedness that makes other public crimes seem like
public virtues.
" But this enormity, vast beyond comparison, swells to di
mensions of wickedness which the imagination toils in vain to
grasp, when it is understood that for this purpose are hazarded
the horrors of intestine feud, not only in this distant Territory,
but everywhere throughout the country. Already the muster
has begnin. The strife is no longer local, but national. Even '
now, while I speak, portents hang on all the arches of the hori
zon, threatening to darken the broad land, which already

216 LIPE AND TIMES
yawns with the mutterings of civil war. The fury of the
propagandists of slavery, and the calm determination of their
opponents, are now diffused from the distant Territory over
wide-spread communities, and the whole country in all its
extent ; marshalling hostile divisions, and foreshadowing a
strife, which, unless happily averted by the triumph of freedom,
wiU become war, ¦ — fratricidal, parricidal war, — with an accumu
lated wickedness beyond the wickedness of any war in human
annals ; justly provoking the avenging judgment of Providence
and the avenging pen of history ; and constituting a strife, in
the language of the ancient WTiter, more than foreign, more
than social, more than civil, but something compounded of all
these strifes, and in itself more than war : sed potius commune
quoddam ex omnibus, et plus quam bellum."
He thus refers to Mr. Douglas, who, m subservi
ence to the South, was moving on that fatal course
in which Daniel Webster ignominiously feU : —
" The senator dreams that he can subdue the North. He
disclaims the open threat ; but his conduct still implies it. How
little that senator knows hunself, or the strength of the cause
which he persecutes ! He is but a mortal man : against him is
an immortal principle. "With finite power he wrestles with the
infinite ; and he must fall. Against him are stronger battalions
than any marshalled by mortal arm, — the inborn, ineradica
ble, invincible sentiments of the huinan heart : against him is
Natiu-e in all her subtle forces : against him is Gk)d. Let him
try to subdue these ! "
The act which opened Kansas to the rule of

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 217
slavery, he characterizes in the foUowing trenchant
language : —
" Sir, the Nebraska BiU was in every respect a swindle. It
was a swindle by the South of the North. It was, on the part
of those who had ah-eady completely enjoyed their share of the
Missouri Compromise, a swindle of those whose share was yet
absolutely untouched ; and the plea of unconstitutionality set
up — like the plea of usury after the borrowed money has been
enjoyed — did not make it less a swindle. Urged as a bill of
peace, it was a swindle of the whole country. Urged as open
ing the doors to slave-masters with their slaves, it was a swindle
of the asserted doctrine of popular sovereignty. Urged as
sanctioning popular sovereignty, it was a swindle of the as
serted rights of slave-masters. It was a swindle of a broad
Territory, thus cheated of protection against slavery. It was a
swindle of a great cause, early espoused by Washington,
Franklin, and Jefferson, surrounded by the best fathers of the
repuhlic. Sir, it was a swindle of God-given, inalienable
rights.. Turn it over, look at it on all sides, — and it is every
where a swindle ; and, if the word I now employ has not the
authority of classical usage, it has on this occasion the indu
bitable authority of fitness. No other word will adequately
express the mingled meanness and wickedness of the cheat."
Of the State of Massachusetts he thus grandly
speaks : —
" Grod be praised I Massachusetts, honored Commonwealth
that gives me the privUege to plead for Kansas on this floor,
knows her rights, and wUl maintain them firmly to the end.
10

218 LIFB AND TIMES
This is not the flrst time in history that her public acts have
been arraigned, and that her public men have been exposed to
contumely. Thus was it when, in tlJJ olden time, she began the
great battle whose fruits you aU enjoy. But never yet has she
occupied a position so lofty as at this hour. By the intelligence
of her population ; by the resources of her industry ; by her
commerce, cleaving every wave ; by her manufactures, various
as human skiU; by her institutions of education, various as
human knowledge ; by her institutions of benevolence, various
as human suffering ; by the pages of her scholars and histo
rians ; by the voice of her poets and orators, — she is now
exerting an influence more subtle and commanding than ever
before ; shooting her far-darting rays wherever ignorance,
wretchedness, or wrong prevail ; and flashing light even upon
those who travel far to persecute her. Such is Massachusetts ;
and I am proud to believe that you may as well attempt, with
puny arm, to topple down the earth-rooted, heaven-kissing
granite which crowns the historic sod of Bunker Hill, as to
change her fixed resolves for freedom everywhere, and espe
cially now for freedom in Kansas. I exult, too, that in this
battle, which surpasses far in moral grandeur the whole war of
the Kevolution, she is able to preserve her just eminence. To
the first she contributed a larger number of troops than any
other State in the Union, and larger thau aU the slave
States together ; and now to the second, which is not of con
tending armies, but of contending opinions, on whose issue
hangs trembling the advancing civilization of the country, she
contributes, through the manifold aud endless intellectual ac
tivity of her children, more of that divine spark by which
opinions are quickened into life than is contributed by any
other State, 'or by all the slave States together ; while her

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 219
annual productive industry excels in value three times tbe
whole vaimted cotton-crop of the whole South.
Sir, to men on earth it belongs only to deserve success, not
to secure it ; and I know not how soon the efforts of Massachu
setts wUl wear the crown of triumph. But it cannot be that
she acts wrong for herseK or children, when in this cause she
thus encounters reproach. No : by the generous souls who
were exposed at Lexington ; by those who stood arrayed at Bun
ker HUl ; by the many from her bosom who, on all the fields
of the first great struggle,' lent their vigorous arms to the cause
of aU ; by the chUdren she has borne whose names alone are
national trophies, — is Massachusetts uow vowed irrevocably to
this work. What belongs to the faithful servant she will do in
all things ; and Providence shall determine the result."
The closing words are worthy of the speaker and
the occasion: —
"In just regard for free labor in that Territory which it is
sought to blast by unwelcome association with slave-labor ; in
Christian sympathy with the slave, whom it is proposed to task
and to sell there ; in stem condemnation of the crime which
has been consummated on that beautiful soil ; iu rescue of
fellow-fcitizens now subjugated to a tyrannical usurpation ; in
dutiful respect for the early fathers whose aspirations are now
ignobly thwarted ; in the name of the constitution, which has
been outraged, of the laws trampled down, of justice ban
ished, 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." *
* "I have read and re-read thy speech," wrote J. G. Whittier
to Mr. Sumner, "and lookupon it as thy heat, — a grand and terrible

220 LIPE AND TIMES
Never had the slaveholding power received a
deadlier blow. In the course of his remarks, he
had spoken somewhat freely of the chivahy of Mr.
Butler, and of the sectionalism of South Carohna.
It must be remembered, however, that for four long
years he had patiently borne the systematic assaults
of this senator, and that there is a time when " for
bearance ceases to be a virtue." " The senator from
South CaroUna has appUed to my coUeague," said
Mr. Wilson, in his strong defence of Mr. Sumner
deUvered in the senate on the tMrteenth day of
June, " every expression calculated to wound the
sensibilities of an honorable man, and to draw down
upon him sneers, obloquy, and hatred, in and out of
the senate. In my place here, I now pronounce
these continued assaults upon my colleague unpar
aUeled in the history of the senate. . . . The speech
was indeed severe, — severe as truth, — but in aU
respects parliamentary. It is true that it handles
the senator from South Carolma freely ; but that
senator had spoken repeatedly in the course of the
Kansas debate, once at length and elaborately, and
philippic worthy of the great occasion; the severe and awful truth
which the sharp agony of the national crisis demanded. It is
enough for iinmortaUty. So far as thy own reputation is concerned,
nothing more is needed ; hut this is of small importance. We can
not see as yet the entire results; but every thing now iodicates that
it has saved the country."

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 221
at other times more briefly foisting Mmself into the
speeches of other senators, and identifying himself
completely with the crime which my colleague felt it
his duty to arraign. It was natural, therefore, that
his course in the debate, and his position, should be
particularly considered. And in tMs work Mr.
Sumner had no reason to hold back, when he
thought of the constant, systematic, and ruthless
attacks wMch, utterly without cause, he had re
ceived from that senator. The only objection wMch
the senator from South Carolina can reasonably
make to Mr. Sumner is, that he struck a strong
blow." That strong blow Mt the mark. " Now what is
to be done with the Black Republican ? " said the.
kmghts of Southern cMvalry. " His words are dam
aging. He has the audacity of a Danton. He must
be silenced. ShaU we challenge him ? but he will
not fight. What, then, is to be done with him ? "
A fiendish plot was laid. Two days subsequent to
the conclusion of his speech, Mr. Sumner was sit
ting at his narrow desk in the Senate-chamber with
Ms head bent forward, earnestly engaged in writing.
The Senate had adjourned sooner that day than
usual; and several senators, as Messrs. Douglas,
Geyer, Toombs, Iverson, and Crittenden, together
with some strangers, were conversing near him.

222 UPB AND TIMES
Preston S. Brooks, a nephew of Mr. Butler, and
member of the House from South Carolina, then
entered the chamber, and remained until the friends
of Mr. Sumner had retired. He had with him a
gold-headed, hollow, gutta-percha cane. Coming
directly up in front of Mr. Sumner's desk, and ad
dressing to Mm a short remark, he suddenly struck
him with his heavy cane, opening a long and fearful
gash upon the back part of his head. In quick suc
cession Brooks repeated his murderous blows until
Mr. Sumner, rising, wrenched the desk from the floor,
to which it was firmly screwed, and, under the fiend
ish pounding, which continued until the cane was
shivered in pieces, fell forward, bleeding and insen
sible as a dead man, on the floor now covered with
his blood. "Do you want the pieces of your cane,
Mr. Brooks? " said a page of the Senate, picking up
the bloody fragments.
" Only the gold head," repUed the assailant, de
Uberately tMusting it into his coat-pocket.
" The next time, kUl him. Brooks," said Keitt,
who stood in the doorway with a pistol. " Come, let
us go and take a drink." They did so ; and Bright,
Douglas, Edmundson, leaving the wounded man
weltering in blood, immediately foUowed them.
Of the senators present, John J. Crittenden of
Kentucky only proffered aid, and condemned the

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 223
outrage. Mr. Morgan of New York supported the
bleeding head of Mr. Sumner, and assisted in remov
ing him to a sofa in the lobby of the Senate-chamber.
Mr. Wilson, who was in the room of Mr. Banks at
the time of the attack, came immediately to the aid
of Ms coUeague, and with others raised Mm, after his
wounds had been dressed, into a carriage, — attended
Mm to Ms lodgings, placed Mm upon his couch, and
aUeviated Ms pain. During the night he lay pale and
bewUdered, and could scarcely speak to the few per
sons standing by Ms bedside. His brother George
Sumner soon came to WasMngton, and, in conversa
tion with Senator Charles T. James, said, "What
ought I to do ? " "If it were my brother," repliei
the Congressman, " I would take a short, douMe-
barrelled shot-gun, put it under my cloak, walii up
to the house of representatives, and right in his
chair, as he attacked my brother, I would blow him
to pieces." " I shaU do no such thing," returned
the brother of the wounded senator. As soon as
Mr. Sumner was able, he gave, wMle lying in his
bed, the foUowing testimony in respect to the
assault : —
" I attended the Senate as u^ual on Thursday, the 22d of
May. After some formal business, a message was received
from the House of Representatives, announcing the death of a
member of that body from Missouri. This was followed by a

224 LIFE AND TIMES
brief tribute to the deceased from Mr. Geyer of Missouri,
when, according to usage and out of respect to the deceased,
the Senate adjourned at once. Instead of leaving the Senate-
chamber with the rest of the senators, on the adjom-nment, I
continued in my seat occupied with my pen ; and while thus
intent, in order to be in season for the mail, which was soon to
close, I was approached by several persons who desired to
converse with me ; but I answered them promptly and briefly,
excusing myself for the reason that I was engaged. When
the last of these persons left me, I drew my arm-chair close to
my desk, and with my legs under the desk continued writing.
" My attention at this time was so entirely drawn from all
other objects, that, although there must have been many per
sons in the Senate, I saw nobody. While thus intent, with my
head bent over my writing, I was addressed by a person who
a], proached the front of my desk. I was so entirely absorbed,
thai I was not aware of his presence until I heard my name
prono meed. As I looked up with pen in hand, I saw a tall
man, whose countenance was not familiar, standing directly
over me, and at the same moment caught these words, '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 stUl passing from his lips, he com
menced a succession of blows with a heavy cane on my bare
head, by the fii-st of which I was stunned so as to lose my
sight. I saw no longer my assailant, nor any other person or
object in the room. What I did afterwards was done almost
imconsciously, acting under the instincts of self-defence.
With head already bent down, I rose from my seat, wrenching
up my desk, which was screwed to the floor, and then pressing
forward, while my assaUant continued his blows. I had no

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 225
other consciousness until I found myself ten feet forward in
front of my desk, lying on the floor of the Senate, with my
bleeding head supported on the knee of a gentleman whom I
soon recognized, by voice and manner, as Mr. Morgan of New
York. Other persons there were about me, offering me
friendly assistance ; but I did not recognize any of them.
Others there were at a distance, looking on and offering no
assistance, of whom I recognized only Mr. Douglas of Illinois,
Mr. Toombs of Georgia, and I thought also my assailant
standing between them. I was helped from the floor, and con
ducted into the lobby of the Senate, where I was placed upon a
sofa. Of those who helped me here I have no recollection.
As I entered the lobby, I recognized Mr. Slidell of Louisiana,
who retreated ; but I recognized no one else until I felt a
friendly grasp of the hand, which seemed to come from Mr.
Campbell of Ohio. I have a vague impression that Mr.
Bright, president of the Senate, spoke to me while I was on
the floor of the lobby. I make this statement in answer to
the interrogatory of the committee, and offer it as presenting
completely aU my recollections of the assault and of the
attending circumstances, whether immediately before or imme
diately after. I desire to add, that, besides the words which I
have given as uttered by my assailant, I have an indistinct
recollection of the words ' old man ; ' but these are so envel
oped iu the mist which ensued from the flrst blow, that I am
not sure whether they were uttered or not."
" On the cross-examination of Mr. Sumner, he stated that he
was entirely without arms of any kind, and that he had no
notice or warning of any kind, direct or indirect, of this
assault. "In answer to a cross-question, Mr. Sumner replied that

226 LIPE AND TIMES
what he had said of Mr. Butler was strictly responsive to Mr.
Butler's speeches, and according to the usages of parliamen
tary debate."
In this dastardly assault, Preston S. Brooks struck
the heart of every slave and every friend of freedom
on this continent.
In his mad attempt to crush one champion of hu
mamty, he called forth miUions. In his barbarous
effort to stay the fountain of liberty, he unloosed
the gates ; for, as Kossuth most nobly said, " Its
waters wUl flow : every new drop of martyr-blood
wiU increase the tide. Despots may dam its flood,
but never stop it. The higher its dam, the higher
the tide : it will overflow or break through."
The news of the outrage on Mr. Sumner was
borne with lightning speed to every section of the
country ; and at the North speakers and resolutions
in popular assemblies, the pulpit and the press, in
earnest words, declared the public indignation. At
a large meeting in Faneuil Hall, Gov. Henry J.
Gardner said, " We must stand by him who is the
representative of Massachusetts, under aU circum
stances." Peleg W. Chandler remarked that " Every
drop of blood shed by him in tMs disgraceful affair
has raised up ten thousand armed men."
At the dinner of the Massachusetts Medical Soci
ety, at the Revere House, Boston, Dr. O. W. Holmes

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 227
gave tMs characteristic toast : "To the surgeons of
the city of WasMngton. God grant them wisdom !
for they are dressing the wounds of a mighty empire,
and of uncounted generations."
At a great indignation-meeting in Albany, held on
the 6th of June, the Rev. Dr. Halley said, " We
are slaves if we permit these atrocities to go on
unchaUenged." At a mass-meeting in New-York City, Henry
Ward Beecher truly said, " Mr. Sumner had no
other weapon in Ms hand than Ms pen. Ah ! gen
tlemen, here we have it. The symbol of the North
is the pen: the symbol of the South is the blud
geon." The voice of the slaveholders at the South
was of course in approval of the atrocious deed.
"The Richmond Enquirer" of June 12 said, "In
the mam the press of the South applaud the con
duct of Mr. Brooks without condition or hmitation.
Sumner, in particular, ought to have nine and thirty
early every morning." " The Charleston Standard "
said of Mr. Brooks, " He wiU be recognized as one
of the first who struck for the vindication of the
South." On one of the banners in a procession at
WasMngton, these brutal words were inscribed,
" Sumner and Kansas : let them bleed ! "
On the day subsequent to the assault, Mr. Wilson
caUed the attention of the Senate to the circumstance ;

228' LIFE AND TIMES
and, a committee having been appointed, he, on the
morning of the 27th, while the floor and galler
ies were crowded with anxious listeners, rose, and
characterized the attack on Mr. Sumner as " brutal,
murderous, and cowardly." Mr. Butler interrupted
him; and cries of "Order! order!" rang tMough
the assembly. Two days later Mr Wilson received
a challenge from Mr. Brooks, and in reply made use
of these memorable words: "I have always re
garded duelling as the lingering relic of a barbarous
civUization, which the law of the country has branded
as a crime." A resolution was introduced into the
House, " that Preston S. Brooks be, and he is, forth
with expelled from this House as a representative
from the State of South Carolina." TMs resolution
was lost by a vote of 121 to 95.
Mr. Brooks immediately addressed the House ; and
on closing said, " I went to work very deliberately,
as I am charged, — and this is admitted, — and spec
ulated 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 compeUed to do that wMch I
would have regretted the balance of my natural
hfe" [a voice was heard, "He would have kUled

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 229
him ! " ]. And now, Mr. Speaker, I announce to you
and to tMs House, that I am no longer a member of
the Thirty-fourth Congress." *
On the 21st of June Mr. Burlingame made a
manly speech in the House, during which, in refer
ence to the assault he said, "I denounce it m the
name of the sovereignty of Massachusetts, which
was stricken down by the blow ; I denounce it in the
name of humanity; I denounce it in the name of
civiUzation, wMch it outraged ; I denounce it in the
name of that fair play wMch even bullies and prize
fighters respect. What ! strike a man when he is
piMoned, — when he cannot respond to a blow !
CaU you that cMvalry ? In what code of honor did
you get your authority for that ? " Mr. Brooks sent
Mm a challenge, wMch he accepted, and insisted on
these terms : " weapons, rifles ; distance, twenty
paces ; place, District of Columbia ; time of meet
ing, the next morning." Mr. CampbeU, acting for
Mr. Burlingame, substituted the Chfton House,
Canada, for the place designated ; and thus the duel
was prevented. The damage done to Mr. Sumner's
.system was most serious and alarming ; and, had not
* Mr. Brooks returned to Charleston, and was soon re-elected hy
his constituents to Congress. He died miserably at Washington,
.Tan. 27, 1857. Dr. Boyle, who dressed the wounds of Mr. Sumner
in the lohhy of the Senate-chamber, attended him duruig his last
iUness.

230 LIFE AND TIMES
Ms frame and constitution been very strong and vig
orous, he could not have survived the assault. As
soon as he was able to sit up, he was removed to the
house of his friend Francis P. Blair, at Silver Spring,
near Washington, where he received the most assid
uous attention. He decUned to take any part in the
action brought against Mr. Brooks for the assaiUt
by the District of Columbia, and is not known to
have used any revengeful word respecting his assail
ant. On the 6th of June he was able to dictate a
telegram to Boston, in regard to a recommendation
made by Gov. Gardner to the General Court to
assume the expense of his illness. " Whatever Mas
sachusetts can give," said he, "let it all go to suffer
ing Kansas." " That letter, and Mr. Wilson's answer
to the challenge," wrote Mrs. L. M. Child, "have
revived my early faith in human nature." Mr.
Sumner also, on the 13tli, wrote a letter to Carlos
Pierce, declining to receive a testimonial from
his friends in Boston, in approval of his Kansas
speech, for wMch subscriptions to the amount of
one thousand doUars had been made, and said m
closing, " I express a desire that the contributions
intended for the testimonial to me may be appUed
at once, and without abatement of any kind, to the
recovery and security of freedom in Kansas."*
* The testimonial was to have been an elaborate and beautiful
silver vase two feet in height, ornamented with the figure of Charles

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 231
On the 21st of June, he found strength sufficient
to write an encouraging letter to the Republican
committee at Boston in respect to the nomination of
J. C. Fremont and W. L. Dayton at the RepubUcan
National Convention held at PMladelpMa on the
17th of the same month.
" In this contest," said he, " there is every motive
to umon, and also every motive to exertion. ' Now
or never ! now and forever ! ' — such was the ancient
war-cry, which, embroidered on the Irish flag,
streamed from the Castle of DubUn, and resounded
tMough the whole island, arousing a generous people
to a new struggle for ancient rights ; and tMs war-cry
may be fitly inscribed on our standard now. Arise
now, or an inexorable, slave-driving tyranny will be
fastened upon you. Arise now, and liberty will be
secured forever. ' '
Mr. Sumner went to PMladelphia July 9, and
thence to Cape May for the benefit of the sea-breeze ;
but, continuing very feeble, he was advised by Ms
Sumner and appropriate devices. In a subsequent conversation
with his friend James Redpath, written down at the time, Mr.
Sumner spoke long and strongly against the habit of pubhc men
receiving gifts. He related an anecdote of the Russian prince who
paid into his master's treasury the value of the present he had
received ; and remarked that he himself had adopted the same
rule. " Webster," said he, " was injured in consequence of receiv
ing gifts from his constituents."

232 LIFE AND TIMES OP CHARLES SUMNER.
physician. Dr. Caspar Wistar, to repair to Cresson on
the Alleghany Mountains, in Pennsylvania, where he
arrived on the 3d of August, and resided in the fam
ily, and had the medical advice, of Dr. R. M. Jack
son. In the beginning of September he became
again the guest of his friend J. T. Furness, Esq., in
PMladelpMa, where he remained till November, re
ceived many consolatory letters, and also dictated
several brief communications, in which he often ex
pressed Ms earnest solicitude for recovery, that he
might resume his public duties, and also for the
wrongs of Kansas, and the success of the Repubh
can party. But the wound which he received was
deep.

CHAPTER XIII.
The Reception of Mr. Sumner at Boston. — His Remarks on the Oc
casion. — His Health Precarious. — His Letters evincing his In
terest in Kansas. — Re-election to the United-States Senate. —
TTis Remarks thereon. — Visits Europe. — He declines a Public
Dinner in Paris. — Letter from Heidelberg. — Anixiety to return
to his OiBcial Duties. —A Third Visit to Europe. — Letter on
Leaving. — Diagnosis and Treatment of his Disease by Dr.
Browii-Sequard. — Mr Sumner's Fortitude. —A Letter from Aix
in Savoy. — Life at MoutpelUer. — Retuim to Paris. — Visit to La
Grange. — Return to the United States. — Progress of Events. —
Mr. Sumner again in the Senate. — Sharp Reply to Mr. Mason. —
John Brown and Mr. Sumner's Coat.
" Heed not what may be your fate ;
Count it gain when worldlings hate ;
Naught of hope or heart abate :
Victory's before.
Ask not tliat your toils be o'er
Till all slavery is no more.
No more, no mbre, no more ! "
Eliza Lee Fsllen.
" If our arms at this distance cannot defend hiTn from assassins, we confide
the defence of a life so precious to all honorable men and true patriots, to the
Almighty Maker of men." — Ealph Waido Emeeson.
|OSTON deeply felt the blow received by Mr.
Sumner ; and Ms reception by the city, on
the tMrd day of November, was a triumph.
A cavalcade numbering about eight hundred horse-
283

234 LIPB AND TIMES
men, together with a long Une of carriages and an
immense throng of people, with enUvening strains
of music, attended Mm from Roxbury to the
Capitol. Many of the bmldings along the Hue of the
procession were decorated with festoons, banners,
and appropriate mottoes, such as, " Welcome,
Freedom's Defender;" "Resistance to Tyrants is
Obedience to God ; " " Massachusetts loves, honors,
wUl sustain and defend, her noble Sumner."
At one point in the route, a large company of ele
gantly-dressed young ladies with bouquets and wav
ing handkerchiefs bade him welcome. A vast con
course of people awaited Mm in front of the Capitol,
where he was received on a platform erected for the
purpose, and presented in an eloquent speech by
Prof. F. D. Huntington to Gov. Henry J. Gardner
and Ms staff.
To words of generous welcome extended to him
by the governor, he made a toucMng and appropri
ate reply, in the course of wMch he said, " My
soul overflows, especiaUy to the young men of Bos
ton, out of whose hearts, as from an exuberant foun
tain, this broad hospitahty took its rise." In refer
ring to his coUeague, Mr. Wilson, he said, " It is
my special happiness to recogmze Ms unfaUiag sym
patMes for myself, and Ms manly assumption of aU

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 235
the responsibUities of honor." His encomium on
Massachusetts was remarkable for its truth and
beauty. " My fihal love does not claim too much,"
said he, " when it exMbits her as approaching the
pattern of a Christian commonwealth, which, accord
ing to the great EngUsh republican, John Milton,
' ought to be but as one huge Christian personage, one
mighty growth and stature of an honest man, as big
and compact m virtue as m body.' Not tMough any
worldly triumphs, not tMough the vaults of State
Street, the spindles of LoweU, or even the learned
endowments of Cambridge, is Massachusetts thus;
but because, seeMng to extend everywhere within
the sphere of her influence the benign civUization
wMch she cultivates at home, she stands forth the
faithful, unseduced supporter of human nature."
" Terrestrial place," he beautifully said in closing,
"is determmed by celestial observation. Only by
watchmg the stars can the mariner safely pursue his
course ; and it is only by obeymg these lofty prmci
ples which are above men and human passion, that
we can make our way safely through the duties of
hfe. In such obedience I hope to Uve, while, as a
servant of Massachusetts, I avoid no labor, shrink
from no exposure, and complain of no hardship."
Mr. Sumner was then escorted to his home in Han
cock Street, wMch was surrounded by a dense crowd

236 LIFE AND TIMES
of people, who rent the air with enthusiastic acclama
tions. With his widowed mother he appeared at the
parlor window, and was again received Avith cheers
of parting, when the multitude retired, and he him
self sought that repose which his feeble system, after
the demonstrations of the day, demanded.
His injuries from the assault of Mr. Brooks were
much more serious than he at first anticipated. For
several months he remained at home, under the treat
ment of Dr. Marshall S. Perry, and the unremitting
care of his affectionate mother. He found, however,
strength to dictate several letters, referring mostly to
the mterests of the Republican party and of suffering
Kansas. On the 17th of November, for instance, he
wrote a letter to M. F. Conway, to the effect that
State legislatures should contribute to sustain the
cause of liberty in Kans.as, which, with a letter from
Mr. WUson to the governor of Vermont, was in a
great measure instrumental in securing an appropria
tion of twenty thousand doUars from that State. On
the 24th of the same month, to a committee in
Worcester, and hi reference to the recent Republican
victories, he said, "All New England, with New
York, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa, consti
tute an irresistible phalanx for freedom, while our
seeming reverse in our Presidential election is only
another Bunker HiU." In a letter, dated Hancock

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 237
Street, Jan. 10, 1857, to his friend James Redpath,
Esq., who was heroically laboring on behalf of free
dom ia Kansas, he said, " I cannot beUeve that Mas
sachusetts wiU hesitate. Her people have already
opened their hearts to Kansas ; and the public treas
ury should be opened as wide as their hearts."
On the thirteenth day of January, 1857, he was
almost unammously re-elected to another six-years
term of office ; the Senate ¦ casting for him every
vote ; the house having already given Mm 333 out
of the 345 votes thrown.
" It is not too much to say," justly remarked " The
New-York Tribune," "that Mr. Sumner is at this
moment the most popular man in the State, the opin
ions of wMch he so truly represents." In his accept
ance of the trust, Jan. 22, Mr. Sumner said, "Alike
by sympathy with the slave, and by determmation to
save ourselves from wretched thraldom, we are aU
summoned to the effort now orgamzed for the eman
cipation of the national govemment from a degrad
ing influence, hostUe to civiUzation, which, whenever
it shows itseK even at a distance, is brutal, vulgar, and
mean; an unnatural tyranny, calculated to arouse
the generous indignation of good men. Of course
no person, unless ready to say in his heart that there
is no God, can doubt the certain result." His health
continuing to decUne, he was advised by his physi-

238 LIPE AND TIMES
cians to seek relief abroad ; and early in March fol
lowing he took passage in the steamship " Fulton," at
New York, for Havre. His last word before sailing
was on behaK of that fair territory where the friends
and the foes of the freedom of the colored race were
m conflict.
In a letter to Mr. Redpath, dated on board " The "
Fulton," March 7, 1857, he said, " Do any sigh for a
Thermopylae ? They have it in Kansas ; for there is
to be fought the great battle between freedom and
slavery, by the ballot-box I trust ; but I do not for
get that all who destroy the ballot-box madly invoke
the cartridge-box. With a farewell to my country
as I seek a foreign land for health long deferred, I
give my best thoughts to suffering Kansas, with de
vout prayers that the usurpation which now treads
her down may be proudly overthrown, and that she
may be hfted into the enjoyment of freedom and re
pose." Soon after his arrival at Paris, a public dinner was
tendered him (April 28) by the American merchants
residing in that city ; and in Ms letter deciding, on
account of the state of his health, not to accept the
honor, occurs this elegant paragraph : —
" Pardon the allusion, when I add that you are the
daily industrious workmen in that mighty loom
whose frame stands on the coasts of opposite conti-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 289
nents, whose threads are Atlantic voyages, whose
colors are the various enterprises and activities of a
beneficent commerce, and whose weU-wrought prod
uct is a radiant, speaking tissue — more beautiful to
the mind's eye than any fabric of rarest French skiU,
more marveUous than any tapestry woven for Mugs —
where every color mmgles with every tMead, in com
pleted harmony and on the grandest scale, to display
the triumphs and the blessings of peace."
StiU battUng manfully with his disease, Mr. -Sum
ner visited various parts of Europe during the sum
mer. His Ime of travel may be seen by the following
letter, dated Heidelberg, Sept. 11, 1867. "I have
been ransackmg Switzerland : I have visited most of
its lakes, and crossed several of its mountains, mule-
back. My strength has not allowed me to venture
upon any of those foot expeditions, the charm of
Swiss travel, by which you reach places out of the
¦w^ay ; but I have seen much, and have gained health
constantly. " I have crossed the Alps by the St. Gothard, and
then recrossed by the grand 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 won
derful Lake Leman. I have been in the Pyrenees, in
the Alps, in the Channel Isles. You will next hear
of me in the HigMands of Scotland."

240 LIFE AND TIMES
WhUe in Edinburgh he made the acquamtance of
George Combe, Esq., the distinguished phrenologist,
who endeavored to dissuade Mm from an early re
turn to pubhc duties. Yet Ms anxiety to lend Ms
aid to that heroic band of patriots who were strug-
ghng to resist the encroachments of the slave propa
gandists, induced Mm to return to his seat in
Congress, which he resumed at the opening of the ses
sion in December. His health was, however, so much
impaired, that he could only attend to some minor
points of business, and vote on important questions
coming before the Senate. Finding no permanent
rehef, he was constrained again to leave the country ;
and on the twenty-second day of May, 1858, he took
passage at New York, by the steamsMp "Vanderbilt"
for Havre. In a letter, dated on board " The Vander-
bUt," May 22, 1858, to the people of Massachusetts,
who deeply sympathized with Mm in Ms contmued
sufferings, he made tMs touching allusion : " I was
often assured and encouraged to feel that to every
sincere lover of civiUzation my vacant chair was a
perpetual speech. " It was a perpetual speech,
wMch moved, as no words could have done, the na
tional heart to sympathize with those in bondage.
In Paris he came under the treatment of the emi
nent physician Dr. Brown-S^quard, who, when his
patient asked what was to be the remedy, repUed,

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 241
" Fire." " When can you apply it ? " said Mr. Sum
ner. " To-morrow, if you please," answered the
doctor. " Why not this afternoon ? " continued the
other ; and that afternoon it was done by the moxa,*
and afterwards repeated, without the use of cMoro-
form. The diagnosis and the treatment of this case
are, on account of their unusual interest, here given
in the words of this distinguished physiologist and
practitioner as presented by Mm in a public lec
ture : —
" When, in 1857, I saw Mr. Charles Sumner for the first time,
he presented to m^ at once symptoms which I could not but
recognize as dependent upon an irritation of some fibres of
a sympathetic nerve, and a paralysis of others. As you know,
he received a terrible blow upon the head. His spine as
he was sitting had been bent in two places, the cranium for
tunately resisting. This bending of the spine in two places
had produced there the effects of a sprain. When I saw him
in Paris he had recovered altogether from the first effects of the
blow. He suffered only from the two sprains of the spine, and
perhaps a slight irritation of the spinal cord itself. He had
two troubles at that time. One was that he could not make
use of his brain at all. He could not read a newspaper, could
not write a letter. He was in a frightful state as regards the
activity of the mind, as every efEort there was most painful to
him. It seemed to him at times as if his head would burst :
there seemed to be some great force within pushing the pieces
* A substance used as a counter-irritant by gradual combustion
on the skin. 11

242 LIFE AND TIMES
away from one another. Any emotion was painful to him.
Even in conversation, any thing th.-it called for depth of
thought or feeling caused him suffering, so that we had to be
very careful with him. He had another trouble, resulting from
the sprain which was at the level of the lowest dorsal vertebra.
The irritation produced was intense, and the result very pain
ful. When he tried to move forward, he was compelled to
push one foot slowly and gently forward but a few inches, and
then drag the other foot to a level with the first, holding his
b;ck at the same time to diminish the pain that he had there.
It had been thought that be was paralyzed in the lower
limbs, and that he had disease of the brain ; and the disease of
the brain was construed as being the cause of this paralysis of
the lower limbs. •
" Fortunately, the discovery made of what we call the vasa-
motor nervous system led me at once to the conclusion that he
had no disease of the brain, and had no paralysis : he had
only an irritation of those vasa-motor nerves, resulting from
the upper sprain in the spine. That irritation was the cause of
the whole mischief as regards the function of the brain. The
other sprain caused the pain which gave the appearance of par
alysis. When I asked him if he was conscious of any weak
ness in his lower limbs, he said, ' Certainly not : I have never
rmderstood that my physicians considered me paralyzed. I
only cannot walk on account of the pain.'
" What was to be done was to apply counter-irritants to those
two sprains. That was done. I told him that the best plan
of treatment would consist in the application of moxas, and
that they produced the most painful kind of irritation of the
skm that we knew. I urged him then to allow me to give him
chloroform, to diminish the pain, if uot take it away altogether.

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 243
I well remember his impressive accent when he replied, ' If
you can say positively that I shall derive as much benefit if I
take chloroform as if I do not, then of course I will take it ;
but i£ there is to be any degree whatever of amelioration in
case I do not take it, then I shall not take it.'
" I did not find courage enough to deceive him. I told him
the truth, — that there would be more effect, as I thought, if he
did not take chloroform ; and so I had to submit him to the
martyrdom of the greatest suffering that can be inflicted on
mortal man. I burned him with the iirst moxa. I had the
hope that after the fiirst application he would submit to
the use of chloroform ; but for five times after that he was
bm-ned in the same way, and refused to take chloroform. I
have never seen a patient who submitted to such treatment
ia that way.
" I cannot conceive that it was from mere heroism that he
did it. The real explanation was this : Heaps of abuse had
been thrown upon him. He was considered as amusing him
self .in Paris, as pretending to be ill. In fact, he wanted to
get well and go home as quickly as possible. A few days were
of great importance to him. And so he passed through that
terrible suflering, the greatest that I have ever inflicted upon
any bemg, be it man or animal.
" I mention this only to show what the man was ; and I shall
only add, that, since that, I have always found him ready to sub
mit to any thing for the sake of what he thought to be right ;
and in other spheres you know that such was his character.''
[Applause.] At this point Dr.'Brown-S^quard was so much af
fected, that he found MmseK unable to proceed, and

244 LIFE AND TIMES
so stopped the lecture, after having spoken one-half
of the usual time.
While undergoing the painful treatment of his phy
sicians, Mr. Sumner found some alleviation to his
sufferings by contmuing the study of engravings in
the cabinets of Paris. In the latter part of August
he visited Aix in Savoy, long noted for its tliermal
waters and healtMul atmosphere. In a letter to a
friend, dated at this place, Sept. 11, 1858, he describes
his mode of life and his anxieties : —
" 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 thor-
ougMy exhausted am wrapped in sheet and blanket,
and conveyed to my hotel, and laid on my bed.
After my Avalk, I find myseK obliged again to take
to my bed for two hours before dinner. But this
whole treatment is in pleasant contrast with the
protracted suffering from fire which made the sum
mer 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 Ufe and in the duties
of my position. TMs is harder to bear than the fire.

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 245
I do not hear of friends engaged in active service, —
hke TrumbuU m IlUnois, — without a feeUng of
envy." From Savoy he went tMough Switzerland vid Mi
lan to Venice, but was too great an invaUd to derive
much pleasure from visiting the Ducal Palace or the
far-famed Rialto. He returned to Paris m Novem
ber by the way of Vienna, Berlin, and Munich.
By the advice of Dr. Brown-Sdquard, he now aban
doned Ms cherished purpose of returning home, and
repaired to the ancient city of MoutpelUer, near
the Mediterranean Sea, distinguished aUke for the
briUiancy of its atmosphere, and the richness of its
scenery. Here he passed the winter months in read
ing, in attending the lectures at the coUege, and in
using means for the restoration of Ms health. These
were so far effectual, that he was able again to visit
Italy in the spring. Returning thence to Paris, he
still found the state of Ms health improving. Here
he had the pleasure of meeting Ms friend Theodore
Parker, an invalid on Ms way to Italy (where he
died May 10, 1860), and of learnmg that the degree
of LL.D. had been conferred on him by Harvard
University. Spending the month of August in Havre for the
benefit of sea-bathing, Mr. Sumner returned to Paris
in the autumn almost entirely weU ; and with exqui-

246 LIFE AND TIMES
site pleasure visited La Grange, the country home of
Lafayette, whose noble character and public services
he held in great admiration. In his grand address
on " Lafayette, the FaitMul One," at Cooper Insti
tute, New York, Nov. 30, 1860, he thus spoke of Ms
excursion and the place : —
" On a clear and lovely day of October, in com
pany with a friend, I visited tMs famous seat, wMch
at once reminded me of the prints of it so common
at shop-windows in my childhood. It is a picturesque
and venerable castle, — with five round towers, a
moat, a drawbridge, an arched gateway, ivy-clad
waUs, and a large court-yard witMn, — embosomed in
trees, except on one side, where a beautiful lawn
spreads its verdure. Every thmg speaks to us. The
castle itself is of immemorial antiquity, — supposed to
have been built in the earUest days of the French
monarchy, as far back as Louis le Gros. It had been
tenanted by princes of Lorraine, and been battered
by the cannon of Turenne, one of whose baUs pene
trated its tMck masonry. The ivy, so luxuriantly
mantUng the gate with the tower by its side, was
planted by the eminent British statesman Charles
Fox, on a visit during the brief peace of Amiens.
The park owed much of its beauty to Lafayette him
self. The situation harmonized with the retired
habits which found shelter there from the storms of
fortune."

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 247
During Ms long absence from the Senate and the
couiltry, the impending crisis to which he had so
distinctly and so often pointed was steadUy approach
ing. Under the timid and imbecUe administration
of James Buchanan (inaugurated March 4, 1857),
the South continued to make desperate efforts to ex
tend the realm of human servitude; and Northern
pohticians, fearful of the dismemberment of the
Umon, but too often tamely yielded to the arrogant
assumptions of the slaveholding congressmen. But
more and more enhghtened by the eloquent speeches
of such advocates of freedom as Wendell PhiUips,
Henry WUson, WilUam H. Seward, and Joshua R.
Giddings ; by the pulpit, wMch now spoke out fear
lessly ; and by the public press, especially by " The
Liberator" and "The New-York Tribune," — the
people came to entertain profounder convictions of
the inhumanity of the servUe system, of its antago
nism to free labor, free speech, to social and civil pro
gress, and also of the tremendous interests at stake.
The Repubhcan party had therefore steadily increased
in strength, and now, embracing every anti-slavery
element, presented an unbroken front in opposition
to the Southern domination. In various sections.
North and West, it had elected senators and repre
sentatives to Congress, in whose halls debates on
almost every question stiU continued to assume a

248 LIFE AND TIMES
more decided partisan character. Freedom and
slavery had come to the death-grapple. " Let us
call our system an unmixed good," exclaimed a
Southern member, " and stake our money and o ir
lives in its defence 1" " It is an unmitigated evil,"
repUed the North: "thus far shall it come, no far
ther." As the advocates of slavery saw the strength
of the Republican party (which now had nearly
twenty members in the Senate) rising, it held with
more tenacity its ground, and more obstinately strove
to render the administrative, the judicial, and the
legislative poAver subservient to its control. With
less parade, less demonstration, than upon the field
of action afterwards, but with no less intrepidity and
decision, the war was raging, and the battle for
dominion rolling on.
The raid of Capt. John Brown,* Avhich was an at-
* John Brown, with about twenty foUowers, under the impression
that the slaves would unite in the movement, surprised Harper's
Ferry on the night of the 20th of October, 1859, aud took the arsenal,
armory, and about forty prisoners. On the day following, two sons
and nearly aU his men were killed, and he himself, after receiving
several wounds, was captured. Hewas tried in November, sentenced
to death, and executed. He acted conscientiously, and evinced the
heroism of au old martyr. His hfe was written by James Redpath,
18C0. John BroAvn, as weU as Mr. Sumner, was remarkable for his
height; and, on being aslied by the latter if he ever intended to hve
in Kausa."*, he replied, "No, unless I happened to find my last home
there." "In that case," returned Mr. Sumner, "yours, Uke mme,
would be a long home."

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 249
tempt, made in the autumn of 1859, to liberate the
slaves of Vuginia, had greatly exasperated the
South ; and on the day in wMch Mr. Sumner again
took Ms seat in the Senate (December 5), a comnnttee
was appomted " to mqmre mto the facts attending the
late invasion." TMs committee introduced a resolu
tion compelUng Thaddeus Hyatt to testify in regard
to this affair before the Senate ; and on the question
of its passage, March 12, 1860, Mr. Sumner made ^a
brief but able speech, in wMch he clearly showed
that that body had no power to imprison a citizen.
The resolutions, however, were adopted on the 12th
of March, when Mr. Hyatt was committed to jail.
During Ms imprisonment he was frequently Arisited
by Mr. Sumner, who found the jail " neither more
nor less," as he observed, " than a mere human sty ; "
and tMs led to a resolution " to improve the con
dition of the common jaU of the city of Washing
ton." On the 10th of AprU he presented the
memorial of Frank B. Sanborn, a teacher of Concord,
Mass., whom certam agents of the slaveocracy, under
the pretence that he had been m compUcity with
John Brown, had on the 3d of April attempted to
kidnap, but who was rescued by his neighbors and the
deputy sheriff with a writ of habeas corpus. On the
16th of AprU, 1^1. Mason of Virginia moved that

250 LIPB AND TIMES
the memorial be rejected; and in Ms remarks
thereon Mr. Sumner made use of this severe com
parison : —
" I feel it my duty to estabUsh a precedent also
in tMs case, by entering an open, unequivocal protest
rgainst such an attempt. Sir, an ancient poet said
of a judge in hell, that he pumshed first, and heard
afterwards (castigatque auditque) ; and permit me
to say, the senator from Virginia on tMs occasion
takes a precedent from that court."
Mr. Sumner undoubtedly sympathized with John
Brown in respect to the ends he had in view, but
did not agree with him as to the means employed
for securing them. " I once," says James Redpath,
" visited Senator Sumner in the company of John
Brown. We spoke of the assault of P. S. Brooks,
under which Mr. Sumner was suffering. Capt.
Brown then suddenly said, ' Have you still the
coat ? ' ' Yes,' replied Mr. Sumner : 'it is in that
closet. Would you like to see it ? ' ' Very much
indeed,' returned the captain. Mr. Sumner then,
rising slowly and painfuUy from his bed, opened a
closet-door, and handed the garment to the old hero.
The scene was striking. Mr. Sumner was bending
sUghtly, and supporting Mmself by resting his hand
upon the bed, while Capt. Brown stood erect as a

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 251
piUar, holding up the blood-besmeared coat, and in
tently scanmng it. The old man said nothing ; but
Ms hps were compressed, and Ms eyes shone like
polished steel."

CHAPTER XIV.
Mr. Sumner Represents the Spirit of the North. — "The Crirre
against Kansas." — Exordium. — Analysis of the Speech. — Slave
Masters. — Freedom of Speech. — William Lloyd Garrison. — By
Nature every Man is Free. — Property in Man not recognized by
the Constitution. — Closing Words. — Remarks of Mr. Chestnut.
— Mr. Sumner's Reply. — Reception of his Speech by the PubUc
Press.— The Opmion of S. P. Chase. — Of Carl Schurz. —Of N.
Hall. — Personal Violence attempted. — A Body-Guard. — Reso
lutions of the Massachusetts Legislature. — Nomination of the
Presidential Candidates, 18G0. — Mr. Sumner's Speeches at Cooper
Institute, Worcester, and other Places.
** No skill had he with veering winds to veer;
Ey trampling on the good, himself to .rise ;
To run for any port, indifferent where,
So tongue and conscience make fair merchandise." W. W. Newell.
Spiriti piu nobUi del suo, io non ne avea mai conosciuti, pari al suo, pochi."
Le Mie Prigione di Silvio Pellioo.
" Such earnest natures are the flery pith.
The compact nucleus, round which systems grow;
Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith.
And whirls Impregnate with the central glow."
3]LTH0UGH Mr. Sumner attended to some
minor senatorial duties, and watched with an
eagle eye the logic of events, it was not
imtU the fourth day of June, 1860, that he came
252

CHARLES SUMNER. 253
grandly up to the work on hand, and showed the
country that Richard was on Ms feet again. On the
BUl for the Admission of Kansas as a Free State,
then before the Senate, he made one of the most
masterly speeches of Ms life, sending broadside after
broadside of sohd shot into the strongholds of
slavery, and utterly demolishing every defence and
fortress of its partisans. He had the learning, the
statesmansMp, the eloquence, the heroism, the
brutum fulmen, which the exigence demanded ; and
with Titanic force he stood forth, mailed in the
armor of truth, as the best representative of the
spirit of a free people, and as the strongest champion
hving of the inahenable rights of the colored race.
The rising of Mr. Sumner tn that seat where he had
four years previously been stricken down by the
hand of violence, to pronounce again, in front of a
vindictive power, the doom of slavery, was a spec
tacle of moral grandeur such as when the dauntless
Mirabeau at the point of bayonet rose, in 1789, to
vindicate the Third-Estate m the presence of the
French Assembly. In allusion to the solemmty of
the occasion, and the death of Mr. Butler and of Mr.
Brooks, he said : —
"Mr. Peesideiit, — Undertaking now, after a silence of
more thaa four years, to address the Senate on this important
subject, I should suppress the emotions natural to such an

254 LIFE AND TIMES
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 which is so near my
heart. To thr honored Commonwealth whose representative I
am, and alsj to my immediate associates in this body, with
whom I enjoy the fellowship which is found in thinking alike
concei ning the Republic, I owe thanks which I seize this moment
to express, for the indulgence shown me throughout the pro
tracted 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 his
natural health constantly triumphed over his disappointments.
"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 even to fix the
boundaries of wisdom itself. I have no personal griefs to
utter : only a barbarous egotism could intrude these into this
chamber. I have no personal wrongs to avenge : only a barbar
ous nature could attempt to wield that vengeance which
belongs to the Lord. The years that have intervened and the
tombs that have been opened since I spoke have their voices
too, 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 now before us ? It is this alone which I

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 255
shall discuss ; and I open the argument with that easy victory
which is found in charity."
Mr. Sumner entitled Ms Speech " The Crime
against Kansas ; " and he thus indicated the manner
in wMch it was to be discussed : —
" Motive is to crime as soul to body ; and it is only when we
comprehend the motive, that we can truly comprehend the
crime. Here, the motive is found in slavery and the rage for
its extension. Therefore, by logical necessity, must slavery be
discussed ; not indirectly, timidly, and sparingly, but directly,
openly, and thoroughly. It must be exhibited as it is, alike
in its influence and in its animating character, so that not only
its outside but its inside may be seen.
This is no time for soft words or excuses. All such are out
of place. 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 Bianchi: but it is a
solemn battle between right and wrong, between good and
evil. Such a battle cannot be fought with excuses or with
rosewater. There is austere work to be done ; and Freedom
cannot consent to fling away any of her weapons."
His weapons were directed against the claims put
forth especiaUy by Mr. Davis: first, that slavery is a

256 LIFE AND TIMES
form of civiUzation; and second, that property in
man is placed beyond the reach of Congressional
prohibition. To the first said he, —
" 1 oppose the essential barbarism of slavery, in all its in
fluences, whether high or low, as Satan is Satan still, whether
towering in the sky, or squatting in the toad. To the second I
oppose the unanswerable, irresistible truth, that the Constitu
tion of the United States nowhere recognizes property in man.
These two assumptions naturally go together. They are
' twins ' suckled by the ¦ same wolf : they are the ' couple '
in the present slave-hunt ; and the latter cannot be answered
without exposing the former. It is only when slavery is ex
hibited in its truly hateful character, that we can fully appre
ciate the absurdity of the assumption which, in defiance of the
express letter of the constitution, and without a single sen
tence, phrase, or word upholding human bondage, yet foists
into this blameless text the barbarous idea that man can hold
property in man."
He represented the barbarism of slavery under
the law of slavery in five distinct elements, —
" First, assuming that man can hold property in man ; second
ly, abrogating the relation of husband and wife ; thirdly, abrogat
ing the parental tie ; fourthly, closing the gates of knowledge;
and fifthly, appropriating the unpaid labor of another."
In respect to the last element he said, —
"By such a fallacy is a whole race pauperized ; and yet this
transaction is uot without illustrative example. A solemn poet,
whose verse has found wide favor, pictures a creature who

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 257
* With one hand put
A penny in the urn of poverty.
And with the other took a shilling out.'*
And a celebrated traveller through Russia, more than a
generation ago, describes a kindred spirit, who, while on his
knees before an altar of the Greek Church, devoutly told his
beads with one hand, and with the other deliberately picked
the pocket of a fellow-sinner by his side."
The speaker then, by a careful comparison between
the industrial, social, and literary condition of the
slave and the free States, presented the sad results
of slavery.
In speaMng of the influence of the slave-system.on
the characters of the slave-masters he said, —
" Barbarous standards of conduct are unblushingly avowed.
The swagger of a bully is called chivalry ; a swiftness to quar
rel is called courage ; the bludgeon is adopted as the substitute
for argument ; and assassination is lifted to be one of the fine
art* Long ago it was fixed certain that the day which made
man a slave 'took half his worth away,' — words from the
ancient harp of Homer, resounding through long generations.
Nothing here is said of the human being at the other end of
the chain. To aver that on this same day all his worth is
taken away, might seem inconsistent with exceptions which we
gladly recogmze ; but, alas ! it is too clear, both from reason
and from evidence, that, bad as slavery is for the slave, it is
worse for the master." * PoUok's Course of Time, Book VIII., 632.

258 LIFE AND TIMES
In confirmation of this point, he adds these words,
whicli Col. Mason, a slave-master from Virginia, used
in debate on the adoption of the national constitution:
" They produce the most pernicious effect on man
ners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
They bring the judgment of Heaven on a country."
In reference to suppression of freedom of speech,
Mr. Sumner truly said, —
" Looking now at the broad surface of society where slavery
exists, we shall find its spirit actively manifest in the suppression
of all freedom of speech or of tho press, especially with regard
to this wrong. Nobody in the slave States can speak or print
against slavery, except at the peril of life or liberty. St. Paul
could call upon the people of Athens to give up the worship of
unlcnown gods ; he could live in his own hired house at Rome,
and preach Christianity in this heathen metropolis: but no
man can be heard against slavery in Charleston or Mobile.''
He noticed in this connection the ridiculous at
tempt of a Southern governor to secure the person of
a cUstinguished advocate of freedom at the North.
" A citizen," said he, " of purest life and perfect integrity,
whose name is destined to fill a conspicuous place in the history
of freedom, — William Lloyd Garrison. Born in Massachusc tts,
bred to the same profession with Benjamin Franklin, and like
his great predecessor becoming an editor, he saw witli instinc
tive clearness the wrong of slavery ; and, at a period when the
ardors of the Missouri Question had given way to indifference

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 259
throughout the North, he stepped forward to denounce it. The
jail at Baltimore, where he then resided, was his earliest re
ward. Afterwards, January 1, 1831, he published the first
number of ' The Liberator,' iosoribing for his motto an utter
ance of Christian philanthropy, 'My country is the world : my
countrymen are all mankind,' and declaring, in the face of sur
rounding apathy, 'I am in earnest. I will not equivocate; I
will not retreat a single inch : and I will be heard.' In this
sublime spirit he commenced his labors for the slave, proposing
no intervention by Congress in the States, and on well-consid
ered principle avoiding all appeals to the bondmen themselves.
Such was his simple and thoroughly constitutional position,
when, before the expiration of the first year, the legislature of
Georgia, by solemn act, a copy of which I have now before me,
'approved' by Wilson Lumpkin, Governor, appropriated five
thousand dollars ' to be paid to any person who shall arrest, bring
to trial, and prosecute to conviction under the laws of this State,
the editor or publisher of a certain paper called " The Libera
tor," published at the town of Boston and State of Massachu
setts.' This infamous legislative act, touching a person
absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of Georgia, and in no way
amenable to its laws, constituted a plain bribe to the gangs of
kidnappers engendered by slavery. With this barefaced defi
ance of justice and decency, slave-masters inaugurated the sys
tem of violence by which they have sought to crush every voice
that has been raised against slavery."
Under the second claim of the slaveocracy he
said : —
" This assumption may be described as an attempt to
Africanize the constitution by introducing into it the barbar-

260 LIFE AND TIMES
ous law of slavery, derived as we have seen originally from
barbarous Africa; and then, through such Africanization of the
constitution, to Africanize the Territories, and to Africanize
the national government. . . . Under what ordinance of nature
or of nature's God is one human being stamped an owner,
and another stamped a thing ? God is uo respecter of persons.
Where is the sanction for this respect of certain persons to a
degree which becomes outrage to other persons ? God is the
Father of the human family; and we are all his children.
Where, then, is the sanction of this 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. There is no sanction for such pretension, no ordi-
n.ance for it, or title. 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, he
said, ' No ; not until you show a bill of sale from the
Almighty.' Nothing short of this impossible link in the
chain of title would do. I know something of the great judg
ments by which the jurisprudence of our country has been
illustrated ; but I doubt if there is any thing in the wisdom of
Marshall, the leaming of Story, or the completeness of Kent,
which will brighten with time like this honest decree."
In closing his grand argument, Mr. Sumner used
these hopeful words : —
" Let the answer become a legislative act, by the admission
of Kansas as a free State. Then will the barbarism of slavery
be repelled, and the pretension of property in man be rebuked.
Such an act, closuig this long struggle by the assurance of
peace to the Territory, if not of tranquillity to the whole coun-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 261
try, will be more grateful still as the herald of that better day,
near at hand, when freedom shall be installed everywhere
under the national govemment ; when the national flag, where-
ever it floats, on sea or land, within the national jurisdiction,
will not cover a single slave ; and when the Declaration of
Independence, now reviled in the name of slavery, will once
again be reverenced as the American Magna Charta of human
rights. Nor is this all. Such an act wiU be the first stage in
those triumphs by which the Republic — lifted in character
so as to become an example to mankind — will enter at last
upon its noble 'prerogative of teaching the nations how to
live.' "
This magmficent speech was unanswerable except
by menace and vituperation. It struck the heart of
the barbarous system, and was in respect to argu
ment a death-blow. As soon as Mr. Sumner
resumed his seat, Mr. Chestnut of South Carolma
rose, and m the bitter spirit of the doomed institu
tion said, —
"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 re-appears in the Senate. We had hoped to be
relieved from the outpourings of such vulgar malice. We had
hoped that one who had felt, though ignominiously he failed
to meet, the consequences of a former insolence, would have
become wiser, if not better, by experience. . . .
"It has been left for this day, for this country, for the
abolitionists of Massachusetts, to deify the incarnation of malice.

262 LIFE AND TIMES
mendacity, and cowardice. Sir, we do not iutend to be guilty of
aiding in the apotheosis of pusillanimity and meanness. We
do not intend to contribute, by any conduct on om- 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
Sen ".te and the country, why we have quietly listened to what has
been said, and why we can take no other notice of the matter."
" Only one word," said Mr. Sumner, who with
difiiculty gained the floor: "I exposed to-day the
barbarism of slavery. What the senator has said in
reply to me, I may well print in an appendix to my
speech as an additional illustration. That is all."
Mr. Sumner commenced Ms speech about twelve
o'clock, at noon, and continued tiU about four. The
galleries of the Senate were filled with gentlemen
and ladies from the North and South ; and the most
ominous silence prevailed. Mr. Wilson, Mr. King,
Mr. Bingham, and Mr. BurUngame sat near the
speaker, and, had any attempt at personal violence
been made by Messrs. Keitt, Hammond, Toombs,
Wigfall, or others who were present, smarting under
the scourge of slavery, would doubtless have been
ready to repel it.
In commenting on this speech, the correspondent
of " The CMcago Press and Tribune " wrote, " The

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 263
speech of Charles Sumner yesterday was probably
the most masterly argument against human bondage
that has ever been made in this or any other coun
try since man first commenced to oppress his fellow-
man." Frederic Douglass in Ms paper truly said, "The
network of Ms argument, though wonderfully elabo
rate and various, is everywhere and in all parts
strong as iron. The whole slave-holding propagan
da of the Senate might dash themselves against it,
a compact body, without breaking the smallest fibre
of its various parts."
The London " Punch " said, " All the bludgeons
in the hands of aU the cMvalry of the South cannot
beat that demonstration of Mr. Sumner's case out of
the heads of the pubhc, in and out of the States."
The Democratic papers, however, took a different
view ; and their general opinion may be seen from
this remark of " The Albany Atlas and Argus : "
"No one can rise from a perusal of this speech
without a contempt for the author, and a conviction
of his unfitness for the place." Several of the Re
publican papers thought the speech too strong, and
that it might retard the passage of the bill; but
desperate cases require effecti v e remedies.
Mr. Sumner received a large number of letters
congratulating Mm for tMs splendid effort on behalf

264 LIFE AND TIMES
of human rights. " It will reach every corner of
the land," wrote 'Salmon P. Chase : " ' cogens omnes
ante thronum? ' C'est presqu'un discours antique,'
said a French gentleman to me last Saturday. I say,
' C'est Men plus.' "
" It did me good," wrote Carl Schurz, " to hear
again the true ring of the moral anti-slavery senti
ment." " I do not know," wrote the Rev. Nathaniel
Hall, " in our day a nobler instance of moral
bravery." " It is the best arranged and by far the
most complete exposure of the horrid rite of slav
ery," wrote John Bigelow from New York, " to be
found within the same compass in any language, so
far as known."
" I take pleasure in saying," said Horace White,
in a letter written from CMcago, " that in my opin
ion your recent effort ranks with Demosthenes on
the Crown, and with Burke on Warren Hastings."
" Your speech," wrote A. A. Sargent (now senator
from California) to Mr. Sumner, " stirred my heart
with feelings of pride for the representative of my
native State."
It was greatly feared by the friends of Mr. Sum
ner that personal violence would again be offered
him ; and, indeed, the attempt was made.
On the eighth day of June, a stranger called on him
ih the evening, stating that he had come to hold him

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 265
responsible for Ms speech, when Mr. Sumner directed
Mm to leave the room. He departed after some
delay, with the menace that he and Ms tMee friends
from Virgima would call again. Mr. Sumner sent
immediately for Mr. Wilson ; and in the course of
the evemng three men came to the door, desiring to
see Mr. Sumner alone ; but, as he was in company,
they left word at the door, that, if they could not
have a private mterview, they would cut Ms tMoat
before another night.
Messrs. BurUngame and Sherman remained as a
guard untU the next mormng.
The friends of Mr. Sumner were much alarmed ;
and among others G. B. Weston thus wrote to bim
from Duxbury, Mass., " I am ready to shoulder my
musket, and march to the Capitol, and there sacrifice
my life m defence of free speech and the right."
By the foresight of A. B. Johnson, Mr. Sumner's
private secretary, a body-guard armed with revolvers
was arranged, wMch attended Mm, without Ms
knowledge, to and from the Senate-chamber.
Prompt to sustain him in Ms heroic defence of
truth, the legislature of Massachusetts passed on the
20th of June these resolutions : —
"Resolved, That the thanks of the people of this Com
monwealth are due, and are hereby tendered, to the Hon.
Chakles Sumnek for his recent manly and earnest assertion
12

266 LIFE AND TIMES
of the right of free discussion on the floor of the United-States
Senate ; and we repeat the well-considered words of our prede
cessors in these seats, in approval of 'Mr. Sumner's manliness
and courage in his fearless declaration of free principles, and
his defence of human rights and free institutions.'
" Resolved, That we approve the thorough, truthful, and
comprehensive examination of the institution of slavery, em
braced in Mr. Sumner's recent speech ; that the stem morality
of that speech, its logic, and its power, command our entire
admiration ; and that it expresses with fidelity the sentiments
of Massachusetts upon the question therein discussed."
The RepubUcan party in convention at Chicago
in May, 1860, nominated Abraham LincoM — who had
manifested Ms abiUty and his devotion to the cause
of freedom especially in his controversy with
Stephen A. Douglas in lUinois, and who had said,
" He who would be no slave, must consent to have no
slave " — as its candidate for the Presidential chair.
John C. Breckenridge (nominated at Charleston,
S. C.) was the Southern, Stephen A. Douglas the
Northern Democratic, and John BeU (of Ken
tucky) the Union candidate. The grand ques
tion before the country was : ShaU free or servile
labor have the ascendency ? ShaU the vast territo
ries of the Union come under the baleful domina
tion of slavery, or be irradiated by the gemal beams
of freedom ? The aim of the progressive party was
the detMonement of the slave-power in the national

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 267
government, and the repression of that power to
witMn the hmits of the sovereignty of the States.
Mr. Sumner clearly saw and felt the magnitude of
the question now at issue between the parties, and
with aU the power of Ms commanding eloquence
threw Mmself into the exciting contest. In a splen
did speech before an immense audience at Cooper
Institute, on the eleventh day of July, he said that by
the election of Abraham Lincoln " we shall put the
national government right, at least in its executive
department ; " " we shaU save the Territories from
the five-headed barbarism of slavery ; " " we shaU save
the country and the age from that crying infamy, the
slave-trade ; " " we shaU save the constitution, at
least witMn the executive influence, from outrage
and perversion ; " " we shaU help save the Declara
tion of Independence, now dishonored and disowned
in its essential, life-giving truth, — the equality of
men;" "and, finally, we shaU help expel the slave
ohgarchy from aU its seats of national power, driving
it back witMn the States." In conclusion he said,
" Others may dwell on the past as secure ; but, to my
mind, under the laws of a beneficent God the future
also is secure, on the single condition that we press
forward in the work with heart and soul, forgetting
seK, turning from aU temptations of the hour, and,
mtent only on the cause,

268 LIFE AND TIMES
' With mean complacence ne'er betray our trust,
Nor be so oivU as to prove unjust.' "
In a strong speech at the State Convention of the
Republican party at Worcester, Aug. 29, he laid
open the faUacy of the double-headed doctrine of
popular sovereignty proposed by Mr. Douglas, " who
was ready to vote slavery up, or vote it down." So
in open-air meetings at Myrick's Station, Sept.
18, and at Framingham, Oct. 11, he made an ad
mirable vindication of the poUcy of the RepubUcan
party. At the latter place he said, —
" Freedom, which is the breath of God, is a great
leveUer; but it raises where it levels. Slavery,
wMch is the breath of Satan, is also a great leveller ;
but it degrades every thing, carrying with it master
as well as slave. Choose ye between them ; and re
member that your first duty is to stand up straight,
and not bend before absurd tMeats, whether uttered
at the South or repeated here in Massachusetts. Let
people cry ' Disunion ! ' We know what the cry
means ; and we answer back, ' The Union shaU be
preserved, and made more precious by its consecra
tion to freedom.' "
On the evening (Nov. 5), before the grand tri
umph of the Republican party in the election of
Mr. Lincoln, he said with rapturous emotion, in old

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 269
FaneuU HaU, " To-morrow we shaU have not only a
new president, but a new government. A new
order of things wiU begin ; and our history will pro
ceed on a grander scale, in harmony with those sub
lime prmciples in wMch it commenced. Let the
knell sound !
' Ring out the old, ring in the new I
Ring out the false, ring in the true I
Ring out a slowly-dying cause.
And ancient forms of party strife 1
King in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws 1 ' "

CHAPTER XV.
Character of the Southern People. — Preparations for Secession. —
Letter of Andrew Jackson. — Firmness of Mr. Sumner. — Ex
tract from his Letters. — Jlr. Lincoln's Inaugural. — Mr. Sumner
appointed Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. —
His Influence with Mr. Lincoln. — His Passage through Balti
more. — A Steady Friend of the Colored Race. —His Speech at
Worcester. — He advocates Emancipation. — Tribute to Col. B.
D. Baker. — His Speech on the Trent Affair. — Resolutions for
Emancipation. — Article from "The Atlantic Monthly." — AhoU-
tion of Slavery iu the District of Columbia. — Hayti and Liberia. —
Confiscation and Liberation. — Speech at FaueuU HaU. — The
President's Proclamation of Emancipation. — Its Effect.
" Blag in the valiant man and free.
The larger heart, the kindlier hand.
King out the darkness of the land I
Eing In the Christ that is to be ! "
Alfred TEiofTsoir.
" Still aa an unmoved rock
Washed white, but not shaken by the shock;
His heart conceived no sinister device :
Fearless he played with flame, and trod on ice."
" ms was the celestial beauty
Of a soul that does its duty."
|HE Southern people possess magnanimous
traits of character : they are brave, open-
hearted, courteous, and hospitable. But the
brightness of these noble traits was somewhat
270

CHARLES SUMNER. 271
shaded by the baleful influence of slavery. They
devote much time and attention to poUtical studies ;
and the controlUng power wMch they long exercised
m the national government, even when a Webster
led the North, is in attestation of their activity and
skUl in poUtical management. But they misunder
stood the spirit of tMs section of the Umon, wMch
was not that of domination or of violence, but of
humanity and fraternity. They also underestimated
the imity of sentiment and the valor of those they
falsely deemed their enennes. For tMs their leaders
were to a great extent responsible.
Durmg the presidential canvass of 1860, the
Southern States were secretly storing arms, and mak
ing other preparations for the dissolution of the
Umon ; and, immediately after the triumph of the
Repubhcan party m the election of Abraham Lin
coln to the presidential chair, in November, public
meetings were held in South Carolma urging a
secession from the Umon. On the opemng of Con
gress (Dec. 4), tMs determmation at once became
apparent; and a resolution was presented to the
Senate on the foUowing day, that a committee
be appointed to inquire mto the present agitated and
distracted state of the country.
In speaking on this resolution, Mr. Sumner intro
duced with startUng effect an unpubUshed autograph

272 LIFE AND TIMES
letter of Andrew Jackson, containing these remark
able words : " Haman's gallows ought to be the fate
of aU such ambitious men, who would involve their
country in a civil war, and aU the evils in its train,
that they might reign and ride on its whirlwinds, and
direct the storm. . . . The tariff was' only the pre
text (for nulUfication), and disunion and a Southern
confederacy the real object. The next pretext wUl
be the negro or slavery question."
To the Crittenden Compromise, introduced into
the Senate Dec. 18, and recognizing slavery in the
territory south of 36° 30' north latitude, Mr. Sum
ner was unequivocaUy opposed. South CaroUna
passed the ordinance of secession on the twentieth
day of December. Other States soon foUowed : stout
hearts were trembhng ; yet tMough the tremendous
agitation Mr. Sumner stood to principle firm as a
rock. He saw the storm impending ; he deprecated
bloodshed ; he felt that the best way to avert it was for
the North to hold itself immovable. He exhorted
every one to stand for the right with unwavering
front. He wrote (Jan. 1) to WiUiam Claflin, Presi
dent of the Massachusetts Senate, " Let the timid
cry ; but let Massachusetts stand stiff : God bless
her ! " To Count Gurowski, author of an admirable
treatise on slavery, he wrote (Jan. 8), " These
compromisers do not comprehend the glory of prin-

OP CHARLES STTMNER. 273
ciple. Pirissent les colonies plutdt qu'un principe ! "
In a letter to Gov. John A. Andrew, dated Jan.
17, he said, " Pray keep Massachusetts sound and
firm, FIRM, FIRM! against every word or step
of concession." In another letter to the same, dated
Jan. 28, he said, " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes :
don't let these words be ever out of your mind when
you thmk of any proposition from the slave-mas
ters. 0 God 1 Let Massachusetts keep true." So
again he wrote (Feb. 5), " More than the loss efforts,
arsenals, or the national capital, I fear the loss of our
principles ; " and again (Feb. 10) he wrote to the
same, "I do not tremble for any tMng from our
opponents, whoever they may be, but from our
friends." On assuming the duties of his office (March 4), Mr.
Lincoln declared that he had " no purpose to inter
fere with the institution of slavery " where it existed,
and that in Ms opimon he had " no right to do so."
The course of the secession leaders had, however,
been elected ; and the conciliatory inaugural" of the
president served but to caU forth their denunciation
and contempt. One after another the Southern
members withdrew from Congress, thus leaving the
RepubUcans in the ascendant ; and Mr. Sumner was
on the Sth of April made chairman, in place of Mr.
Mason of Virgima, of the Committee on Foreign

274 LIFE AND TIMBS
Relations, for which, by his long residence abroad, and
Ms profound knowledge of international law, he
was admirably qualified.
He immediately made the acquaintance of Mr.
Lincoln, of whom during the long and dreadful
struggle wMch ensued he was a confidential adviser.
He first presented to him emancipation as a war
measure, the day after the battle of Bull Run, and
steadily pressed it upon his attention until its procla
mation. " There is no person," said the president to
Mr. Sumner, near the close of his life, " with whom
I have more advised throughout my administration
than with yourself."
Mr. Sumner left WasMngton, then in a state of
great excitement, on the 18th of AprU ; and, wMle
he was stopping at Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore,
on the evening of that day, occurred the prelude to
the bloody scenes wMch took place on the morrow.
A noisy crowd surrounded the buUding, and de
manded Ms person. He was fortunately absent from
the house at the time, so that Mr. Barnum was able
to satisfy the disorderly people, who retired. On
Mr. Sumner's entering the hotel soon afterwards, by
a private door, he was requested to leave at once,
and not imperil the establishment; but he insisted
on remaming, which he was finaUy allowed to do.
Departing early in the morning of the 19th, he met,

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 275
on Ms way to PhUadelphia, the Sixth Regiment,
wMch was caUed that day, wMle passing tMough
the infmriated city of Baltimore, to sprinkle the
altar of freedom with its blood. On arriving at
New York, he visited the Third Battalion of the
Massachusetts Rifles, to whom he made an encour-
agmg address.
As the Southern States, one after another, swung
away from aUegiance to the government, and as the
great drama of the war, opened by the Sumter
guns, proceeded, an immense amount of hard and
active service was demanded in the haUs of Congress,
as weU as on the battle-field. True to Ms past rec
ord, Mr. Sumner brought himself up grandly to the
new questions, and guarded with untiring vigilance
the rights of the colored race. TMough storm and
tMough sunshine, he stood forth the learned, the
eloquent, the indomitable defender of the slave. Had
he been called to reconcUe Ms peace principles with
the musterings of the squadrons of the grand army,
Ms reply would have been, —
" Slavery is a state of war. To secure peace, we
must stand rock-like to the constitution, and under
its broad folds remove the cause of war."
On the opening of the Thirty-seventh Congress,
July 4, 1861, he was at Ms post ; and the volumes of
the Congressional Globe disclose the active part he

276 LIFE AND TIMES
took in almost every senatorial question tMough the
war. In a speech at Worcester on the first day of
October, 1861, he boldly affirmed that emancipation
was the best weapon of the war. " Two objects
are," said he, "before us, — union and peace, each
for the sake of the other, and both for the sake of
the country; but without emancipation how can
we expect either?" TMs declaration startled the
Republicans even, and drew forth severe ammadver-
sions from the Democratic press. But Mr. Sumner
was at the front ; and it was then truly said of him, —
" Thou hast hurled
Thy single pebble, plucked from truth's pure stream,
Into the forehead of a giant wrong ;
And it doth reel and tremble. Men may doubt ;
But the keen sword of right shall finish well
Thy brave beginning. Courage, then, true soul I "
Before a vast assembly at the Cooper Institute m
New York, Nov. 27, Mr. Sumner made an eloquent
speech, enriched by apt quotations and by cogent
reasonmg, m which he again mtimated Ms desire
that emancipation be proclaimed. " There has been,"
said he, " the cry, ' On to Richmond ! ' and stUl
another worse cry, ' On to England I ' Better than
either is the cry, ' On to freedom ! '"
Soon after the opemng of Congress Dec. 4, Mr.

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 277
Sumner spoke earnestly on a resolution for the dis
charge of fugitive slaves from the Washington JaU,
and characterized the Black Code, prevaUing m the
District of Columbia, as " a shame to the civUization
of" the age ; " and on the llth he deUvered m
the Senate, Abraham LincoM being present, a very
toucMng and appropriate eulogy on Senator E. D.
Baker, killed at BaU's Bluff Oct. 21, while serving
a piece of artiUery. In the course of this fine
tribute he said : —
" The nine balls that slew our departed brother came from
slavery. Every gaping wound of his slashed bosom came from
slavery. Every drop of his generous blood cries out from the
ground against slavery. . . . The just avenger is at hand, with
weapon of celestial temper. Let it be drawn I UntU 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.' "
As the war went on, Mr. Sumner felt more and
more convmced of the necessity of emancipation;
and on the 27th of December he wrote a letter to
Gov. Andrew, m wMch he said, —
" Let the doctrine of emandpation be proclaimed as an essen
tial and happy agency in subduing a wicked rebellion. In this

278 LIFE AND TIMES
way you will help a majority of the cabinet, whose opinions on
this subject are fixed, and precede the president himself by a
few weeks. He tells me that I am ahead of him only a month
or six weeks. God bless you I "
On the 9th of January, 1862, Mr. Sumner made
in the Senate, then thronged with eager Usteners,
his exhaustive and noble speech on the " Trent "
affair, wMch came near involving, as it afterwards
appeared, this country in war with England. Messrs.
Mason and Slidell, it wUl be remembered, who had
been commissioned as rebel agents, the one to Eng
land and the other to France, were arrested on
board the British mail-steamer " Trent," by Capt.
WUkes of the frigate " San Jacinto," and brought as
prisoners to tMs country. England considered it a
casus belli ; and popular opinion here indorsed the
course of Capt. Wilkes. Mr. Sumner, unmoved by
pubUc sentiment, discussed the question on the
broad grounds of international law and maritime
rights, and thus came to the conclusion that "the
seizure of the rebel emissaries on board a neutral
ship cannot be justified." " Let the rebels go," said
he. " Two wicked men, ungrateful to their country,
with two younger confederates, are set loose with
the brand of Cain upon their foreheads ; prison-
doors are opened : but principles are estabUshed
which wUl help to free other men, and to open the

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 279
gates of the sea." Although many public journals
criticized this calm and dispassionate review of the
case, " The New- York Tribune " said, " It is already
ranked in WasMngton as a State paper upon the
question of seizure and search, worthy to be placed
side by side with the despatches of Madison and
Jefferson ; " and tMs is now the. decision of the
country.* On the llth of February foUowing, Mr. Sumner
brought into the Senate a series of resolutions which
embodied the principles of emancipation, and pointed
out a method of reconstruction of the rebel States.
He held that slavery, having no constitutional origin
or natural right, must cease with the lapsing of the
State where it existed, and that Congress must then
assume complete jurisdiction of the vacated territory.
This was the first attempt made in the Senate for
the settlement of two of the greatest questions of the
war; but, as usual. Congress was not ready for
the advanced measures of tMs leading anti-slavery
champion ; and the resolutions were laid upon the
table. The speech' which Mr. Sumner then pre
pared to make was published in the October number
* Messrs. J. M. Mason and John Slidell were released from Port
Warren, Boston Harbor, Jam. 2, 1862, and sailed for England. The
former was the author of the Fugitive-Slave BUl, and died April 29,
1871 : the latter died iu London, July 29 of the same year.

280 LIFE AND TIMES
of " The Atlantic Monthly " of the year following,
and thus concludes : —
" Behold the rebel States in arms against that paternal gov
ernment to which, as the supreme condition of their constitu
tional 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. If we are not
ready to exclaim with Burke, speaking of revolutionary France,
' It is but an empty space on the political map 1 ' we may at least
adopt the response hurled back by Mirabeau, that this empty
space is a volcano red with flames, and overflowing with lava-
floods. But, whether we deal with it as ' empty space ' or as
' volcano,' the jurisdiction, civil and military, centres in Con
gress, to be employed for the happiness, welfare, and renown of
the American people, changing slavery into freedom, and pres
ent chaos into a cosmos of perpetual beauty and peace."
On Mr. Wilson's bUl for the abolition of slavery
in the District of Columbia, Mr. Sumner made
(March 31) a very statesmanlike speech, advocating
ransom rather than compensation, and clearly in
timating what was soon to come.
" At the national capital," said he, " slavery will give way to
freedom ; but the good work will not stop here : it must pro
ceed. What Grod and Nature decree, rebellion cannot arrest.
And, as the whole wide-spread tyranny begins to tremble, then,
above the din of battle, sounding from sea to sea and echoing
along the land, above even the exultations of victory on well-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 281
fought fields, will ascend voices of gladness and benediction,
swelling from generous hearts wherever civilization beais sway,
to commemorate a sacred triumph, whose trophies, instead of
tattered banners, will be ransomed slaves."

This bUl became a law on the 16th of AprU. Just
previous to its signature by the president, Mr. Sum
ner said to Mm, " Who is the largest slaveholder
in the country ? " " Who is he ? " replied Mr. Lin
coM. " You yourself, sir," returned the other,
" holding, as you do, aU in this District."
On the 23d of the month last named, he spoke
eloquently on his bUl for the recognition of the in
dependence of Hayti and Liberia, which was carried
tMough the house mainly by the efforts of Mr.
Gooch, and was signed by Mr. Lincoln June 6, 1862.
"TMs law," Mr. Andrew wrote to Mr. Sumner, " wUl
be a jewel in your crown." The Haytian people sub
sequently tendered an elegant medal to Mr. Sumner,
wMch he, in accordance with views previously ex
pressed, declined to receive. It was therefore, in
1871, deposited in the library of the State House
, of Massachusetts. On the 24th of April Mr. Sum
ner reported a bill, on which he made effective
remarks, for the final suppression of the slave-trade,
wMch, to the disgrace of humamty, was still pro
tected by our flag. The biU was approved by Mr.

282 LIFE AND TIMES
LincoM July 11; and thus, by treaty with Eng
land, that inhuman traffic was at last proMbited.
In his anxiety for the suppression of the rebeUion,
and the upraising of the slave, Mr. Sumner spoke
with great vigor in the Senate, May 19, urging the
confiscation of rebel property, and emancipation, as
m accordance with the rights of sovereignty and of
war. He also again spoke with much force on the
same subject, June 27, when he said in respect to
Uberation, " The language of Chatham is not mis
applied when I call it the master-feather of the
eagle's wing." His last speech (July 16) previous
to the close of the session, was in accordance with
his whole course from the opening of the war, — that
the slaves must be set free, and employed for the sup
pression of the rebelUon ; and in a letter to the Re
pubUcan State Committee, dated Boston, Sept. 9,
he said, " Banks also symbolized the idea, when,
overtaMng the little slave-girl on her way to free
dom, he hfted her upon the national cannon." In
an admirable speech at Faneuil HaU, on the sixth
day of October, wMch was received with great en
thusiasm, he triumphantly refuted the objections to
emancipation, and urged it with signal power, as the
military necessity. " The last chapter of 'Rasselas,'"
he felicitously said, " is entitled The Conclusion in
wMch NotMng is Concluded ; and tMs wUl be the

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 283
proper title for the history of tMs war, if slavery is
aUowed to endure. If you would trample down the
rebellion, you must trample down slavery ; and, be
heve me, it must be completely done."
On the first day of January, 1863, President Lin
coM issued Ms grand proclamation, declaring " for
ever free the slaves m the States then in rebeUion,"
exceptmg m certam parts occupied mainly by the
Umon army ; and he thus brought the nation up to
its true position in the dreadful contest. By this
glorious act, the gates to freedom were thrown open
to tMee and a half miUion people, and the hearts of
loyal soldiers strengthened for the combat : by it the
doom of slavery, though slow to come, was sealed.
Then the bell of time again pealed forth the rousmg
note of human progress ; and the world moved for
ward. " 0 dark, sad millions, patiently and dumb
Waiting for God I Your hour at last has come ;
And freedom's song
Breaks the long sUence of your night of wrong."

CHAPTER XVL
Mr. Sumner's Re-election to the Senate. — He Introduces various
BiUs into tbat Body. — The Opinion of Mr. Hendricks. — Letter
from Dr. R. H. Neale. — Mr. Sumner's Activity. — His Address at
Cooper Institute on our Foreign Eelations. — Extracts from the
Same. — A Poetical Tribute. — Death and Character of George
Sumner. — Senator Sumner's Article on Franklin and SUdeU in
" The Atlantic Monthly." — His Taste for Literary Curiosities. —
His Activity and Foresight in Congress. — His Speech on the Con
stitutional Amendment. — On the Freedmen's-Bureau BUl. — His
Friendly Relations with Mr. Lincoln. — The Success of the Union
Arms. — Death of Mr. Lincoln. — Mr. Sumner's Eulogy. — Letter
to Mr. Garfield. " Who l3 the HONEST MAU?
He who doth still and strongly good pursue.
To God, his neighbor, and himself most true."
Geobge Herbekt.
" In all things that have beauty, there ia nothing to men more comely than
liberty. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, above all
liberties." — John Milton.
" Thy spirit. Independence, let me share.
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye :
Thy steps I'll follow with my bosom bare.
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.**
Tobias Smollett.
|LTHOUGH Mr. Sumner had labored with
untiring assiduity for the advancement of the
Umon cause, and in the discussion of mter-
national questions had shown hunself a master, stren-
284

CBL4.RLBS SUMNER. 285
UOUS efforts were made to prevent Ms re-election to
the Senate. A party opposed to emancipation held
what was denominated the People's Convention, in
FaneuU HaU, on the seventh day of October, and
nommated State officers opposed to the pohcy of the
RepubUcans. These nominations were adopted by
the Democrats ; and a bitter attack was made on Mr.
Sumner. The old charge of fanaticism was reiterated ;
and it was asserted that next to Jefferson Davis he
was worthy of the scaffold. To the strong good sense
of the Commonwealth, however, it was clear that no
man could so ably and so honestly as he represent
her in the haUs of Congress. On the fifteenth day
of January, 1863, therefore, the Senate gave him
thirty-three out of thirty-nine, and the house one
hundred and. mnety-four out of two hundred and
thirty-five, votes for a tMrd term of s.ix years in the
Umted-States Senate.
On the mnth day of February Mr. Sumner mtro
duced into the Senate a bUl for the employment of
colored troops in the army, wMch in another form
eventuaUy prevaUed ; and, on the bill before the Sen
ate for providmg aid for emancipation m Missouri,
he spoke earnestly in favor of immediate, instead of
gradual hberation, as alone consistent with a sound
war-pohcy. On the 16th of the same month, he
advocated, in opposition to Ms coUeague, the exemp-

286 LIFE AND TIMES
tion of clergymen from miUtary conscription ; and on
the 27th he moved, as an amendment to the house
bUl to extend the charter of the WasMngton and
Alexandria Railroad Company, that " No person shall
be excluded from the cars on account of color."
The biU, thus amended, became a law on the 3d of
March ; and on the 16th of that month he proposed
to amend the biU to incorporate the Metropolitan
Railroad Company, by adding the words, " There
shaU be no regulation excluding persons from any
car on account of color." He also proposed a simi
lar amendment to the bill respecting the Georgetown
Railroad Company. These amendments were stout
ly opposed by Mr. Saulsbury of Delaware, and
others, but were, tMough the energy of Mr. Sum
ner, finally carried and enacted. Mr. Hendricks of
Indiana said, in respect to Mr. Sumner's persistency
in foUowing up his amendments, that it was folly to
attempt to oppose him when he had a point to gain.
There is no doubt Ms very earnestness appeared to
some as arrogance, and raised an opposition to some
of his measures, which otherwise would have been at
once accepted. Although he manifested such imtir-
mg zeal in respect to the grand question of the
country, he was by no means inattentive to other
issues, and especially to those pertaining to our rela
tions with foreign powers. His course was generaUy

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 287
mdorsed by thoughtful men in every section of the
North. In a letter to Henry WUson, dated Boston,
March 4, 1863, the Rev. R. H. Neale, D.D., said, " I
have foUowed your course with mcreasing admha-
tion from the begmmng of your public life, and
think I see in you, and also in Mr. Sumner, unmixed
and magnammous regard for the right, and for the
public good."
Mr. Sumner's earnest recommendation of E. M.
Stanton to Mr. Lmcoln as secretary of war, and his
equaUy persistent opposition to Gen. G. B. McCleUan
as commander of the Army of the Potomac, appeared
in the issue to have been aUke founded on a just
appreciation of the character of the men and the
real situation of the country.
During the memorable days of July, in the early
part of wMch occurred the tremendous struggles
and Umon victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and
Port Hudson, he was at Washmgton, encouraging
the president and Ms cabinet, and maMng provisions
for the sufferings of the wounded. Always confi
dent of ultimate success, he tMew Ms own deep con
victions mto the hearts of those around him, and
inspired the faltering with hope and confidence.
Immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, he issued
a new edition of " The Barbarism of Slavery," dedi-
catmg it to the young men of the United States as a

288 UPB AND TIMES
" token of heartfelt gratitude to them for brave and
patriotic service rendered in the present war for civ
Uization." Moved by various questionable motives, England
and France assumed at the opening of the war,
and persistently mamtained, an unfriendly attitude
towards the Union. They early acknowledged
the Southern Confederacy as a beUigerent power.
Through her leading statesmen England sharply criti
cised the war-measures of Mr. Lincoln's admimstra
tion, and, m disregard of international comity, per
mitted the piratical steamer "Alabama " and other
vessels to be constructed in her ports, and to saU there
from, to commit depredations on our commerce.
This sympathy with States in rebellion, and the
infringement of maritime rights, alarmed the pubUc
mind, and received the most profound consideration
of our diplomats abroad. At a large meeting at
Cooper Institute, New York, Sept. 10, 1863, Mr.
Sumner, in a calm, dispassionate, and exhaustive
speech, exhibiting profound Mstorical research, as
weU as an exalted statesmanship, considered " Our
Present PerUs from England and France ; the Nature
and Conditions of Intervention by Mediation, and
also by Recogmtion ; the ImpossibiUty of any Rec
ognition of a New Power with Slavery as a Corner
stone; and the Wrongful Concession of Ocean

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 289
Belligerency." " The New- York Tribune " charac
terized this speech as a "miracle of Mstorical and
statesmanlike erudition." The questions at issue
were met on the high ground of fact and right ; and,
while the tone of discussion was amicable, the aggra-
vatmg course of France and England towards our
government was most distinctly stated, and the false
position of these neutral powers condemned. Per
haps no other American could have so ably treated
this important subject ; and it is justly esteemed as
one of Mr. Sumner's finest efforts. It was, of
course, criticised m England ; but its effect was salu
tary to that nation. At the close of Ms address, the
speaker tendered this advice, respectmg our affairs at
home, to the assembly : —
" This is no time to stop. Fokwaed ! Forwakd I Thus do I,
who formerly pleaded so often for peace, now sound to arms ;
but it is because, iu this terrible moment, there is no other
way to that sincere and solid peace without which there will
be endless war. Even on economic grounds, it were better
that this war should proceed, rather than recognize any parti
tion, which, beginning with humiliation, must involve the
perpetuation of armaments, and break out again in blood.
But there is something worse than waste of money : it is waste
of character. Give me any peace but a liberticide peace. In
other days the immense eloquence of Burke was stirred against
a regicide peace. But a peace founded on the killing of a
king is not so bad as a peace founded on the killing of lib-
13

290 LIFE AND TIMES
erty ; nor can the saddest scenes of such a peace be so sad as
the daily life which is legalized by slavery. A queen on the
scaffold is not so pitiful a sight as a woman on the auction-
block. Therefore I say again, Fokwakd 1 Forward 1 '. . .
Thus far we have been known chiefly through that vital force
which slavery could only degrade, but not subdue. Now at
last, by the death of slavery, will the Kepublic begin to live ;
for what is life without liberty ?
" Stretching from ocean to ocean, teeming with population,
bountiful in resources of all kinds, and thrice happy in uni
versal enfranchisement, it will be more than conqueror, —
nothing too vast for its power, nothing too minute for its care.
Triumphant over the foulest wrong ever inflicted, after the
bloodiest war ever waged, ifc will know the majesty of right
and the beauty of peace ; prepared always to uphold the one,
and to cultivate the other. Strong in its own mighty stature,
filled with all the fulness of a new life, and covered with a
panoply of renown, it will confess that no dominion is of
value which does not contribute to human happiness. Bom in
this latter day, and the child of its own struggles, without
ancestral claims, but heir of all the ages, it will stand forth
to assert the dignity of man ; and, wherever any of the human
family is to be succored, there its voice will reach, as the voice
of Cromwell reached across France even to the persecuted
mountaineers of the Alps. Such will be this republic, —
upstart among the nations ; ay, as the steam-engine, the tele
graph, and chloroform are upstart. Comforter and helper like
these, it can know no bounds to its empire over a willing
world. But the first stage is the death of slavery."
The following tribute to Mr. Sumner for this
great effort appeared in " The National Era."

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 291
SUMNER'S GREAT SPEECH.
Immortal utterance of a noble mind,
Tasked to a purpose worthy all its powers,
By nature blest, and crowned by studious hours,
To brighten history's page, and bless mankind 1
Lo ! our dear country's basis, there defined,
Rests on truth's rock, though bearing falsehood's weight.
Her founders take the old heroic state,
WhUe sweep the clouds of calumny behind.
The nation's heart exults ; and all man's race
Hail their proud beacon, rising still toward heaven.
Thus, from the sunshine of our Maker's grace,
In these earth's latter days, while passion-driven.
We love upon her sinless prime to brood.
When her Creator's voice proclaimed that all was good ! "
CESTEEVn.T.E, lud., 1863.
Mr. Sumner was tMs autumn called to lament the
death of his dearly-beloved brother George Sumner,
who died in Boston, after a Imgering iUness, Oct.
6, 1863, in Ms forty-seventh year. He studied
m Germany, traveUed extensively in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, and was an author and lecturer of
marked abUity. He resided long in Paris, and
" had done more," said Baron Humboldt, " to raise
the literary reputation of America abroad than any
other American." Among other works he pubUshed
" The Progress of Reform in France," 1853 ; and
deUvered an oration before the authorities of the
city of Boston, July 4, 1859. He was never mar
ried.

292 LIFE AND TIMES
Whether at WasMngton or at Ms home in Boston,
Mr. Sumner never passed a day inactively. His
portfolio was always open ; and his fi-iends almost
always found him engaged in drafting biUs, prepar
ing speeches, carrying on his correspondence, or pro-
(1 'icing sometMng for the public press. An elegant
and learned article from his ready pen appeared in
" The Atlantic MontMy " for November of this year,
contrasting the diplomatic mission of Dr. Franldin
with that of John SlideU at Paris, and ingeniously
tracing the celebrated Latin epigram, " Eripuit coelo
fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis," which was inscribed
on the portrait of the great philosopher, to its origin.
In this charming essay the writer's intimate acquaint
ance with the French literary and poUtical history of
that period appears to great advantage. The Latin
verse, as Mr. Sumner clearly shows, was prepared by
the celebrated statesman Turgot, who formed it from
the line, " Eripuit fulmenque Jovi, Phceboque saggit-
tas," of the "Anti-Lucretius," by Cardinal Melchior
de Polignac. The cardinal derived Ms idea from the
" Astronomicon," an ancient poem by Marcus Man-
ilius, where the verse appears under the following
form, "Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, viresque tonandi,"
which has been translated, " Unsceptred Jove, — the
Thunderer disarmed."
From the critical acumen displayed in tMs article,

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 293
it might be supposed that Mr. Sumner had spent Ms
life as a bibUophile, amusing himself with antiqua
rian researches, and the amemties of Uterature. He
had, mdeed, a taste for rare and curious books and
autographs; and, in exMbiting Ms Uterary treasures
to his friends, he would pomt with great delight to the
Bible wMch John Bunyan had m Bedford JaU wMle
writing his immortal " PUgrim's Progress ; " to a
copy of " Pmdar," once the property of John MU
ton ; to one of " Horace " which PMUp Melanc-
thon used; to a Testament of the dramatic poet
Jean Racine ; to some corrected proof-sheets of
Pope's famous " Essay on Man ; " and especiaUy to
the origmal manuscript of Robert Burns's celebrated
battle-song, " Scots wha hae wi' WaUace bled ! "
On the opemng of Congress in December, Mr.
Sumner was in Ms seat, and again ready for action
as a faithful friend and guardian of the colore^ race.
By the Act of Emancipation, and the successive vic
tories of the Umon arms, the chams of servitude
were graduaUy breaking ; and the freedmen, untU
now denominated " contrabands," were in need of per
sonal protection, and the acknowledgment of poUti
cal rights. First and foremost m their defence, Mr.
Sumner continued to press upon the attention of the
Senate, not yet exempt from the leaven of secession,
measure after measure for the security of the free-

294 LIFE AND TIMES
dom of the colored people, of the slave-territory
occupied or taken by our troops, from the bonds
wMch stiU to some extent enfettered them. Early
in January, 1864, he presented to the Senate a reso
lution for the appointment of a committee of seven,
for the consideration of " aU papers and propositions
concermng slavery and the treatment of freedmen."
The resolution was adopted, and he himself ap
pointed one of the committee. This was the initia
tory step in that body to Ms grand Freedmen's
Bureau BiU, which he most appropriately styled the
" Bridge fi-om Slavery to Freedom," and which, after
a long and arduous struggle, passed both houses, and
received on the third day of March, 1865, the signa
ture of the president. By this important measure
the colored people were protected in their civil rights
and privUeges ; and, for Mr. Sumner's efforts in car
rying it through Congress, they wiU ever hold Ms
name in grateful memory. On the 4th of February
he spoke in favor of equal pay to colored soldiers,
saying, " I wish to see our colored troops treated hke
wMte troops in every respect ; " and on the 8th he
introduced to the Senate a series of resolutions pro
testing against the restoration of any rebel States
without guarantees in respect to freedmen. He thus
early indicated a simple plan of reconstruction wMch
after long debates and various modifications was

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 295
adopted. He also on the same day proposed an
amendment to the constitution, declaring " that aU
persons are equal before the law."
On the day foUowing he presented to the Senate
the petition of one hundred thousand men and
women for umversal emancipation by an act of Con
gress. " Here they are," said he, referring to the roU of
names, " a mighty army, one hundred thousand
strong, without arms or banners, — the advance-
guard of a larger army."
On the 29th he laid before the Senate two elabo
rate reports, the one agamst the fugitive-slave acts,
and the other agamst excluding witnesses on account
of color. On the 23d of March he reported a bUl
proMbiting commerce m slaves among the several
States, wMch on the second day of July received the
signature of the president, and thus broke up the
traffic in human fiesh between the States.
On the 4th of AprU he made a long and able re
port on claims on France for spoUations made on our
commerce prior to July 31, 1801 ; and on the 8th
he delivered Ms great speech, entitled " No Property
m Man," on the Constitutional Amendment. In
tMs speech he cites the foUowing couplet from Vol
taire as the origm of Ms favorite maxim, " equality
before the law : " —

296 LIFE AND TIMES
" La loi dans tout dtat doit 6tre universelle :
Les mortels, quels qu'ils soient, sent egaux devant elle."
With touching trutMulness he refers to distin
gmshed persons who were caUed in former times to
drink the bitter tears of human servitude.
" How truly affecting are the words of Homer depicting the
•n if e of Hector toiling as bondwoman at the looms of her Grecian
master, or those other undying words which exhibit man in
slavery as shorn of half his worth I The story of Joseph sold
by his brothers has been repeated in every form, touching in
numerable hearts. Borrowed from the Bible, it figured in the
moralities of the middle ages, and in the later theatre of
France. How genius triumphed over slavery is part of this
testimony. iEsop the fabulist — one of the world's greatest
teachers, if not lawgivers — was a slave ; so also was Phae-
drus the Roman fabulist, whose lessons are commended by
purity and elegance ; and so, too, was Alcman the lyric, who
shed upon Sparta the grace of poesy. To these add Epictetus,
sublime in morals ; and Terence, incomparable in comedy,
who gave to the world that immortal verse, which excited the
applause of the Roman theatre, ' I am a man ; and nothing
which concerns mankind is foreign to me.' Nor should it be
forgotten that the life of Plato was checkered by slavery."
On the 27th he spoke m favor of a national cur
rency ; and on the 30th he opened the way to a great
reform stiU needed, by the introduction of a bill " to
provide for the greater efficiency of the civil ser
vice." In June foUowmg he took an active part in

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 297
the debates on the Freedmen's Bureau Bill. In the
course of Ms remarks he said : " The freedmen are
not idlers. They desire work. But m their helpless
condition they are not able to obtain it without as
sistance. They are alone, friendless, and unmformed.
The curse of slavery is stUl upon them. Somebody
must take them by the hand. . . . The intervention
of the national government is necessary. Without
such mtervention, many of these poor people, freed
by our acts m the exercise of a mUitary necessity,
wUl be left to perish. . . . CaU it charity or duty,
it is sacred as humamty."
Yet m carrymg his favorite measure he was met at
every point by those who clung with fatal persist
ency to the tottermg institution of human servitude.
But the hour was coming. FoUowing up the presi
dent's proclamation by Congressional action, the
friends of freedom, after many struggles, hard al
most as those upon the battle-field, had the happi
ness to see the principles for wMch they so long and
strenuously contended introduced into the organic
law. By Mr. Sumner's senatorial labors above cited,
some idea may be had of Ms incessant assidmty, and
of the debt of gratitude wMch a nation, now exult
ing m the dehverance from its most tremendous §vil,
owes to his memory.

298 LIFE AND TIMES
The upright, honest heart of Mr. Lincoln could
not but appreciate the straightforward and persist
ent course of Mr. Sumner ; and hence, as above
stated, the relations between them were most in
timate and friendly. Though not himself a scholar,
Mr. Lincoln held in great respect the learning of Ms
friend, and heard attentively, though he , did not
always readily accept, Ms political suggestions. The
president's reconstruction policy in respect to Louis
iana, Mr. Sumner and Ms friends adroitly foiled,
as not givmg a sufficient guaranty to the freedmen.
An estrangement naturally followed, wMch the public
press proclaimed as very serious. But Mr. Lincoln
knew the worth of Mr. Sumner ; and, besides, vindic
tive feelings had no place in his great, loving heart.
On the 6th of March, 1865, he sent the senator this
card for the inauguration ball : —
Dear Mr. Sujixee, — Unless you send me word to the con
trary, I shall this evening call with my carriage at your house,
to take you with me to the inauguration ball.
Sincerely yours,
Abraham Lingoln.
Mr. Sumner accepted the mvitation ; the president
called for him with his carriage, and on arriving at
the ball-room desired him, greatly to the astonish
ment of those present, to take the arm of Mrs.

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 299
LincoM, and the seat of honor. TMs was Mr. Lin
coln's method of termmating personal animosities.
By the surrender of the rebel army, under Gen.
Robert E. Lee, to Gen. Grant, April 9, Mr. Sumner
saw with mexpressible delight the Union saved, and
the chams of the bondmen rent asunder. But the
hour of gladness often changes unexpectedly to the
hour of sorrow. The joy attendant on the realiza
tion of Ms long-cherished hope of peace and free
dom was on the evemng of the 14th turned to the
keenest agony, by the assassmation of his noble and
beloved friend the president of the Umted States.
Mr. Sumner attended the illustrious patriot in his
dymg hour; and none shed tears more freely at
the sad announcement, "Abraham Lmcoln is no
more." " TMs is the only time," said an intimate friend
of the senator, " I ever saw Mm weep."
On the first day of June Mr. Sumner delivered
m the Music Hall, before the citizens of Boston, a
most toucMng and appropriate eulogy on the
martyred president, portraying Ms sterling virtues,
and Ms services to the colored people and to the na
tion, m words of pathos and of power. His constant
and Mgh regard for the race whose wrong the nation
was so tardy to redress is seen in the following letter,
wMch he wrote to Thomas Garfield in respect to the

300 LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES SUMNER.
selection of clergymen for officiatmg on that occa
sion : — Washihgxon, May 6, 18G5.
My dear Sir, — Do as you please. The names you men
tion are excellent.
If I could choose one it would be Rev. Mr. Grimes, the
colored preacher. It was for his 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
thau 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 Sumnee.
His request was granted ; and the Rev. Mr.
Grimes assisted in the solemn services.

CHAPTER XVII.
Eeconstruction. — The Course of Andrew Johnson. — Mr. Sumner's
Efforts on Behalf of the Freedmen. — His Remarks on the
" Eguality BUl." — On the Fourteenth Amendment. — His Oppo
sition to Compromise. — His Plea for the Elective Franchise. —
The Death and Character of his Mother. —His Marriage and Di
vorce. — On namuig Children. — Suffrage for Colored People at
the North. — Rupture between the President and Congress. —
Removal of Mr. Stanton. —Impeachment of the President. — A
Letter to Mr. Stanton. — Financial Reconstruction. — Equal Suf
frage. — The Alabama Claims. — The Cubans. — The Dominican
Treaty. — Rupture with Gen. Grant. — Displacement of Mr. Sum
ner. — Speech on San Domingo. " The laws, the rights.
The generous plan of power, delivered down
From age to age by our renowned forefathers.
So dearly bought, the price of so much blood, —
Ohl let it never perish in oui hands." Cato, by Joseph Annisou.
"His pubhc conduct was such as might have been expected from a spirit
so high, and an intellect so powerful. He hved at one of the most memorable
eras in the history of mankind, — at the very crisis of the great conflict be
tween liberty and despotism, reason and prejudice. That great battle was
fought for no single generation, forno single land." — Thomas B. Macaulay.

Y the surrender of the rebel army, wMch
was soon followed by the capture of Jeffer
son Davis, May 10,-1865, the Southern
States, exhausted and powerless, were ready to ac-
801

302 LIFE AND TIMES
cept any terms of recogmtion wMch might have
been presented. TMs was a golden opportunity.
Mr. Sumner and other leading loyal statesmen enter
tained the idea that Congress had the right to prescribe
the conditions of re-admission to the Union ; that the
freedmen should be endowed with the elective fran
chise, and be held in all respects " equal before the
law." " Tlie just and honest method is," said he,
" the best." " A straight line is the sliortest distance
between two points in statesmanship, as well as in
geometry." Had the vantage-ground been taken at
the outset, reconstruction and the estabhshment of
civil freedom, contemplated in the president's Act
of Emancipation, would have been soon effected.
But Andrew Jolmson, having succeeded Mr. Lincoln
in the executive chair, early assumed tlie right of
deciding how the States recently in rebelhon should
be governed, and on what terms they should be ad
mitted to the Union. Adopting what he termed at
first an " experiment," and afterwards " my policy ; "
forgetting, also, that Ms province was to execute, not
to frame, the laws, — he so encouraged the hopes of
the Southern States, that, on the opening of the
Thirty-ninth Congress, in December, 1865, a strong
demand was made by them for an immediate repre
sentation in that body. TMs arrogant attempt of the
seceding States to regam a seat m the national coun-

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 303
cils was sternly met by loyal Congressmen; and
hence a disagreement soon arose between them and the
president, wMch culminated in his impeachment, and
did not terminate until his retirement from the
executive chair.
By his re-actionary course, the partisans of slavery
had time to gather strength ; and thus, by involving
simple measures of reconstruction in a variety of
complications, several years were spent in acri-
momous debates upon the terms of re-adjustment.
Mr. Sumner watched mtently every movement com
promising in the least the freedom of the colored
people, and never failed to raise Ms voice on their
behalf. He entertamed no feelings of hostility
towards the South ; he longed to see the States re-
- stored to permanent peace, to order and prosperity ;
he desired to have them once more represented in
the halls of legislation : still he strenuously insisted
that Congress, not the president, should prescribe
the way, and that the rights of the freedmen should'
be faithfully guarded and protected. He urged with
great persistency the passage of the constitutional
amendments, and readily accepted any temporary
measures that promised to afford security to the
colored race until these additions to the organic law
should be adopted by the people. He mamtained,
that, by the constitution itself, the very preamble

304 LIFE AND TIMES
of which declares " that all men are born equal,"
slavery is abolished ; yet, under the proclamation of
Mr. Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment (adopted,
after many earnest debates, Dec. 18, 1865), the South
still cMng with strange tenacity to its long-cherished
institution : so deeply had its roots intwined them
selves around the heart of social life. To render
the redemption of the captive perfect, Mr. Sumner
threw himself, with the full intensity of Ms deep
convictions, into every question wMch concerned the
welfare of the freedman. On the 20th of December,
1865, he made an earnest speech on the " Equality
Bill" of Mr. Wilson, which was to "maintain the
freedom of the inhabitants in the States declared in
insurrection and rebeUion by the proclamation of
the president of July 1, 1862." He said, " When
I think of what occurred yesterday in this chamber ;
when I caU to mind the attempt to wMtewash the
unhappy condition of the rebel States, and to tMow
the mantle of official oblivion over sickemng and
heart-rending outrages, where human rights are sacri
ficed, and rebel barbarism receives a new letter of
hcense, — I feel that I ought to speak of nothing else."
This hard shot upon the policy of the president drew
forth sharp replies ; and the word " whitewashing "
long rung through the halls of Congress. It was
the truth which it contained that drew the blood ;
and tMs the president soon came to realize.

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 305
In the course of his remarks Mr. Sumner reviewed
the condition of the freedmen in the several States,
and in closing said, —
" I bring this plain story to a close. I regret that I have
been constrained to present it. I wish it were otherwise.
But I should have f aUed in duty had I failed to speak. Not in
anger, not in vengeance, not in harshness, have I spoken ; but
solemnly, carefully, and for the sake of my country and hu
manity, that peace and reconciliation may again prevail. I
have spoken especially for the loyal citizens who are now
trodden dovm by rebel power, and who are without representa
tion on this floor. Would that my voice could help them to
security and justice I I can only state the case : it is for you
to decide. It is for you to determine how long these things
shall continue to shock mankind. Xou have before you the
actual condition of the rebel region : you have heard the ter
rible testimony. The blood curdles at the thought of such
•ghbrmities, and especially at the thought that the poor freed
men, to whom we owe protection, are left to the unrestrained
will of such a people, sno^rting with defeat, and ready to wreak
vengeance upon these representatives of a true loyalty. In the
name of God, let us protect theml Insist upon guaranties.
Pass the biU now under consideration ; pass any bill : but do
not let this crying injustice rage any longer. An avenging
God cannot sleep while such things find countenance. If you
are not ready to be the Moses of an oppressed people, do not
become its Pharaoh."
To the urgent and eloquent utterances of Mr.
Sumner is mamly due the passage of the Fourteenth
Amendment without the obnoxious reference to a

306 LIFE AND TIMES
distinction in color, which the framers of the con
stitution took such pains to avoid. The joint reso
lution — with the clause, that, " whenever the elective
franchise shall be denied or abridged in any State, on
account of race or color, all persons therein of such
race or color shall be excluded from the basis of repre
sentation " — had passed the House by a large majority,
and was favoralily entertained by the Senate, when
iMr. Sumner, on the 6th and 7th of February, and on
the 7th and 9th of March, 1866, in speeches charac
terized by cogent reasoning and Mstorical illustra
tion, unfolded the iniquity of tlie compromise, and
emphatically denounced this effort to admit the idea
of inequality and disfrancMsement on account of
color, into the constitution.
" After generations have passed, surrounded by the' light of
Christian truth, and in the very blaze of human freedom," said
he, " it is proposed to admit into, the constitution the twin
idea of inequality in rights, and thus openly set at naught the
first principles of the Declaration of Independence, and the
guaranty of a republican government itself, while you blot
out a whole race politically. . . .
" Who does not admire the English patriot who once said
that he would give his life to serve his country, but he would
not do a mean thing to save it ? I hope we may act in this
spirit. Above all, do not copy the example of Pontius Pilate,
who smTcndered the Saviour of the world, in whom he found
no fault at aU, to be scourged and crucified ; while he set at

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 307
large Barabbas, of whom the gospel says in simple words,
' Now, Barabbas was a robber.' "
His opposition to all compromise he thus re
asserts : —
" I have fought a long battle with slavery ; and I confess my
S'jlicitude when I see any thing that looks like concession to it.
It is not enough to show me that a measure is expedient : you
must show me also that it is right. Ah, sir ! can any thing be
expedient which is not right ? From the beginning of our his
tory the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by
compromise that human rights have been abandoned. I insist
that this shaU cease. The country needs repose after all its
trials : it deserves repose. And repose can only be found in
e-serlasting principles. It cannot be found by inserting in your
cmstitution the disfranchisement of a race."
For this and"'other noble* pleas on behalf of the
elective francMse and the ballot-box for the freed
men, they will hold hirn, more than any other bene
factor, in heartfelt and dear remembrance.
'= The ballot is protector. Perhaps, at the present moment,
this is its highest function. Slavery has ceased in name ; but
this is all. The old masters still assert an inhuman power, and
now by positive statutes seek to bind the freedmen in new
chains. Let this conspiracy proceed unchecked, and the freed
man will be more unhappy than the early Puritan, who, seek
ing liberty of conscience, escaped from the 'lords bishops'

308 LIFE AND TEMBS
only to fall under the ' lords elders.' The master will .still be
master under another name, as, according to Milton, —
• ' New preshyter is but old priest writ large.'
" Serfdom or apprenticeship is slavery in another guise. To
save the freedmen from this tyranny, with all its accumulated
outrage, is your solemn duty. For this we are now devising
guaranties ; but, believe me, the only sufficient guaranty is
the ballot. Let the freedman vote, and he will have in him
self under the law a constant, ever-present, self-protecting
power. The armor of citizenship will be his best secm'ity.
The ballot will be to him sword and buckler, — a sword with
which to pierce his enemies, and a buckler on which to receive
their assault. Its possession alone will be a terror and a de
fence. The law, which is the highest reason, boasts that every
man's house is his castle ; but the freedman can have no capite
without the ballot. When tlie master knows that he ma^e
voted down, he will know that he must be just j; and "every'thingj
is contained in justice. ' The l^lot is like ch^^it^j'whicW
never f aileth, and without which- fnan is only as sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal. The ballot is the one thing needful,
without which rights of testimony and all other rights wUl be
no better than cobwebs which the master will break through
with impunity. To him who has the ballot all other things shall
be given, — protection, opportunity, education, a homestead.
The ballot is like the horn of abundance, out of which over
flow rights of every kind, with corn, cotton, rice, and a?l the
fruits of the earth ; or, better still, it is like the hand cf tlie
body, without which man, who is now only a little lower thau
the angels, must have continued only a little above the brutes.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made ; but, as is the hand in

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 309
the work of civilization, so is the ballot in the work of govern
ment. ' Give me the ballot, and I can move the world,' may be
the exclamation of the race still despoiled of this right.
There is nothing which it cannot open with almost fabulous
power, like that golden mistletoe, ofishoot of the sturdy oak,
which, in the hands of the classical adventurer, unclosed the
regions of another world ; and, like that golden bough, it is ,
renewed as it is used : —
One plucked away, a second branch you see
Shoot forth in gold, and glitter from the tree.'
"If I press these illustrations, it is only that I may bring
home to your minds that supreme efficacy which cannot be ex
aggerated. Though simple in character, there is nothing the
ballot cannot accomplish ; like that homely household lamp iu
A^bian story, which, at the call of its possessor, evoked a
^rit who did all things, from the. building of a palace to the
jocfcing of-.^ cradle, and filled the air^vith an invisible pres
ence. But it is^ as protector that it is of immeasurable power,
like a fifteen-inch colum^J^d pointed from a monitor. Ay, sir,
the ballot is the columiSStS of our political life; and every,
citizen who has it is a full-armed monitor.
"Having pleaded for the freedman, I now plead for the
Kepublic ; for to each alike the ballot is a necessity. It is idle
to expect any true peace while the freedman is robbed of this
transcendent right, and left a prey to that vengeance which is
ready to wreak upon him the disappointment of defeat. The
country, sympathetic with him, will be in a condition of per
petual unrest. With him it will suffer ; and with him alone
can it cease to suffer. Only through him can you redress the
balance of our political system, and assure the safety of

310 LIFE AND TIMES
patriot citizens. Only through him can you save the national
debt from the inevitable repudiation which awaits it when
recent rebels in conjunction with Northern allies once more
bear sway. He is our best guaranty : use him. He was
once your fellow-soldier : he has always been your fellow-man.
If he was willing to die for the llepublio, he is surely good
enough to vote ; and, now that he is ready to uphold the
Republic, it will be madness to reject him. Had he voted
criginally, the acts of secession must have failed: treason
would have been voted down. You owe this tragical war, and
the debt now fastened upon the country, to the denial of this
right. Vacant chairs in once happy homes, innumerable
graves, saddened hearts, mothers, fathers, wives, sisters, broth
ers, all mourning lost ones, the poor now ground by a taxation
they had never known before, all testify against that injustice
by which the present freedman was not allowed to vote. Had he
voted, there would have been peace. If he votes now there 'wUl
be peace. AVithout this you must have a standing army, which
is a sorry substitute for justice. Before you is the plain alter
native of the ballot-box or the £artridge-box : choose ye be
tween them. ... - '
"The Eoman Cato," said he, " after declaring his belief in
the immortality of the soul, added, that, if this was an error, it
was an error which he loved. And now, declaring my belief
in liberty and equality as the God-given birthright of all men,
let me say in the same spirit, if this be an error, it is an error
which I love ; if this be a fault, it is a fault which I shall be
slow to renomice ; if this be an illusion, it is an illusion which'
I pr.'y may wrap the world in its angelic forms."
Thus would Mr. Sumner, on the principle that
the State had ceased to be in practical relations

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 311
with the Union, and that Congress had the power
of reconstruction, press the advantage which the
Union arms had won to the upraising of the
colored people. He mtended that " every drop of
American blood that was shed should surely be
consecrated to human freedom ; " 'and he soon had
the satisfaction to see Ms long and perilous efforts
realized m the passage of the Fourteenth and Fif
teenth Amendments to the Constitution, sweeping
the baneful and degrading system of slavery away,
and bringing a long and heavily oppressed people to
enjoy the right of the elective francMse.
In June of tMs year (1866) Mr. Sumner came
home to stand by the bedside and receive the parting
benediction of his dying mother. She had attained
the age o^more than fourscore years, and had experi-
eficed many trials and afflictions, which she bore with
womanly fortitude, aiid^retamed something of earlier
grace and beauty to the last. "She was taU and
stately," said one who knew her well, "with the old-
school dignity of manner ; and, if thouglit distant,
you soon forgot, in her genial frienclhness and evi
dent superiority of mind, every tMng except that
she was one of the most admirable of women."
When urged in her last illness to send for her son,
she rephed that his country had more need of Ms
services than she, and that he had better remain at

812 LIFE AND TIMES
Washington. He came, however, and stood beside
her when she passed away. Keturning from her
grave, he bowed his head in the loneliness of sorrow,
and exclaimed, " I have now no home ! "
The summer was spent in revising his speeches
for the press, and in maldng preparations for the
coming conflict in the re-estabhshment of order in
the Southern States.
On the twenty-seventh day of October he was
united in marriage, by the Right Rev. Bishop Manton
Eastburn, with Mrs. Alice (Mason) Hooper, tte
widow of Mr. William Sturgis Hooper, and
daughter of Mr. Jonathan Mason of Boston. This
alliance, owing to disparity of age and taste, was
infelicitous ; and a divorce was decreed May 10,
1873, by Judge Holt of the Supreme Court of Mas
sachusetts. By tMs circumstance the friendly rela
tions between Mr. Sumner'and the Hon. Samuel
Hooper, father-in-law of Mrs. Sumner, were in no
respect disturbed.
In regard to naming children after great men, Mr.
Sumner wrote tMs pleasant and sensible letter to a
father in New York who proposed to call Ms son
Charles Sumner : —
"My dear  , — Don't make a mistake. Never name a
child after a living man. This is the counsel I give always, and
most sincerely. Who knows that I may not fall ? I, too, may

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 313
grow faint, or may turn aside to false gods. I hope not ; but
this is one of the mysteries of the future. Therefore name
your boy some good Christian name '(it may be Charles, if
you will ; for that is general) ; but do not compel him to bear
all his days a label which he may dislike. I once met a strong
anti-slavery youth who bore the name of Martin Van Buren.
He was bom while New York sat in the presidential chair ; and
his father named him after the chief of the land. But the
youth did not flnd the sentiments of the late Mr. Van Buren
such as he vfished to be associated with. " Ever yours,
Charles Sumnee."
Steadily mtent on the elevation of the African
race, Mr. Sumner made in the Senate, July 12, 1867,
a Miwerful plea for securing the elective francMse to
the M3olored citizens of the North.
" How can you look the rebel States in the face," said he,
" when you have required colored suffrage of them, and failed to
require it in the other States ? Be just : require it in the loyal
States, as you have required it in the rebel States. . . . There
.is a clause in the constitution directing you to guaran.tee a
republican form of govemment. It is a clause which is like a
sleeping giant in the constitution, never until this recent war
awakened; but now it comes forward with a giant's power.
There is no clause in the constitution like it. There is no
clause which gives to Congress such a supreme power over the
States as that clause. Then, as I have already said, you have
¦ftie two other clauses. Your power under the constitution is
odmplete. It is not less beneficial than complete. . . . Eegard

314 LIFE AND TIMBS
it as the completion of these reconstruction measures : regard
it as a constitutional enactment."
The rupture between Congress and the president,
who had vainly endeavored to prevent the enact
ment of the second Freedmen's-Bureau Bill (passed,
over Ms veto, July 16, 1866), and who had at every
point opposed the reconstruction measures of the
Repubhcans, continued to widen, until Ms suspension
of E. M. Stanton, the mdefatigable secretary of war,
when measures were instituted for Ms impeachment.
In these proceedings Mr. Sumner, always vigilant
lest the rights of the Senate should be invaded, ac
tively participated. He prepared several elaborate
papers on the gmlt or innocence of the president,
and made the point that the cMef-justice had, no
right to vote in the trial. Mr. Sumner voted on
almost every count agamst the president. Mr.
Stanton was re-instated by the Senate Jan. 14, 1868,
under the Tenure-of-Office Bill (passed March 2, 1867,
over Mr. .Johnson's veto). The president, however,
soon again removed him, appointing* Gen. Lorenzo
Thomas m Ms place ad interim, when Mr. Covode
introduced into the house the resolution of impeach
ment. WMle Mr. Stanton was remaining in sus
pense concerning Ms own course of action, Mr.
Sumner sent to him tMs epigrammatic letter, wMch
in pomt of brevity surpasses even Csesar's celebrated
" Veni, vidi, vici?'

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 315
" Senate Chamber, 21st February, 1868.
STICK. Ever sincerely yours, Chakles Sumner.
Hon. B. M. Stanton."
On the acquittal of the president in May follow
ing, Mr. Stanton resigned Ms office. On the llth
of July Mr. Sumner spoke at length against the
president's scheme of repudiation, and in favor of
completmg reconstruction tMough public faith and
specie payment. " The word of our nation," said
he, "must be as good as its bond." He strongly
urged economy; and, on the principle that State
affairs should be conducted on the hne of uncom-
pmmising and eternal justice, said, —
"I call your attention to three things in which all others
centre. The first is the pMic faith ; the second is the public
faith ; the third is the public faith. Let these be sacredly
preserved, and there is nothing of power or fame which can be
wanting. All things will pay tribute to you, even from the
uttermost parts of the sea. All the sheaves will stand about,
as in the dream of Joseph, and make obeisance to your sheaf.
Good people, especially all concerned in business, whether
commerce, banking, or labor, —our own compatriots or the
people of other lands, — will honor and uphold the nation
which, against all temptations, keeps its word."
Although reconstruction, by the passage of bUls
over the president's veto, for the admission of all

316 LIFE AND TIMES
but tMee of the rebel States, had been virtually
concluded at tMs session of Congress, Mr. Sumner
said he should not consider the work completed
until he saw a colored" member in the Senate.
Durmg the presidential campaign of tMs year he
favored the election of Gen. Grant, although he
believed a better nomination might have been made.
On the 3d of February, 1869, he strongly advo
cated m the Senate the enactment of a law by Con
gress for equal suffrage in opposition to the con
stitutional amendment.
" Why amend," said he, " what is already sufficient ? Why
erect a supernumerary column ? . . . Let this beneficent pro
hibition once find a place in our statute-book, and it will be as
lasting as the national constitution itself, to which it will be
only a legitimate corollary. . . . Once adopted, it will go into
instant operation, without waiting for the uncertain concur
rence of State legislatures, and without provoking local strife,
so wearisome to the country. The States will not be turned
into political caldrons ; and the Democratic party will have no
pudding-stick with which to stir the bubbling mass."
The bill for the amendment, however, prevailed ;
and the African race was thus constitutionally re
stored to the political privileges of American citizen
ship. To the acMevement of tMs grand result, no
one contributed more of eloquence, statesmansMp, or
personal effort than Charles Sumner ; and by the

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 317
hberated miUions no name on earth is more revered.
" If others forget thee," said Robert B. Elliott of
South Carolma, " thy fame shall be guarded by the
millions of that emancipated race whose gratitude
shah he more endurmg than the monumental
marble." By Mr. Sunmer's remarkable speech
early m 1869, on " The Alabama " claims, which he
undoubtedly over-estimated, and wMch led to the
rejection by the Senate of the Clarendon-Johnson
treaty, he somewhat endangered our friendly rela
tions with England, and was severely criticised by
the Enghsh press ; yet Ms design was not so much
to obtain heavy damages, as to exMbit the wrong
done by England in furmsMng that vessel to the
rebels, and also the underlymg principles of inter
national law, by which sovereign states in their
mtercourse with each other ought always to be
guided. He subsequently used his influence in
securing the consent of the Senate to the treaty of
WasMngton, by which an award of less considera
tion was secured.
In the fohowmg year Mr. Sumner pressed upon
the attention of the Senate the importance of estab
hshing colored schools at the South, of striking out
the word "wMte" in the naturahzation biU, of the
odious mcome-tax from the tariff bill, and of redu
cing letter-postage. He also, June 23, reported a

318 LIFE AND TIMBS
series of resolutions expressing warm and judicious
sympathy with the Cubans, then suffering outrages
from the colhsion between the msurgents and the
Spanish government ; but his most remarlcable effort
was in opposition to the president's Dominican
treaty. Mr. Sumner no doubt honestly believed
that the scheme of annexing the Republic of San
Domingo to the United States was advocated by the
administration and its supporters, not for the benefit
of the people of that island, but for the enrichment
of certain speculators ; and he most frankly, perhaps
too sharply, avowed Ms opinions on the subject.
During the discussion of tMs measure, the severity
of his criticism on the course of the president, whom
he believed to act as an imperialist, bestowing undue
favors on his special friends, led, in comljination
with other causes, to a rupture between Mm and the
chief-executive. The tempers and habits of these
distinguished men were totally unlike. There was
no great love between them in the beginning ; and,
if I may change an expression of Shakspeare, it
decreased on better acquaintance. The effects of
the cruel blow received by Mr. Sumner in 1856 were
still remaining ; and, as they disturbed the functions of
his physical frame, so they had, undoubtedly, some in
fluence on his intellectual temper. On account of the
opposition to Ms annexation scheme, and perhaps

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 319
for some other reasons. Gen. Grant, agamst the
advice of many of his supporters, removed in 1870,
from his place as mimster to England, Mr. J. L.
Motley, the historian, and, an mtimate friend of Mr.
Sumner. In a letter to the president, dated July
5, 1870, Mr. Wilson said in regard to the displace
ment of Mr. Motley, " I fear you will make a sad
mistake if you remove him ; and I beg you to con
sider the case carefully before acting. His removal
is believed to be aimed at Mr. Sumner. Right or
wrong, this will be the construction put upon it.
Can you, my dear sir, afford to have such an impu
tation rest upon your admimstration ? Mr. Motley
is one of the best known and most renowned of our
countiymen. ... I need not say that they (the
men of Massachusetts) are surprised at the rumor
that he is to be removed. They are pained to have
it said that Ms removal is on account of Mr. Sum
ner's opposition to the San-Domingo treaty. His
removal wfll be regarded by the Republicans of
Massachusetts as a blow not only at him, but at Mr.
Sumner. ... I want to see the President and Con
gress in harmony, and the Repubhcan party united
and victorious. To accomplish tMs, we must aU be
just, charitable, and forgiving. " Very truly,
" Henry Wilson."

320 LIFE AND TIMES
In February, 1871, Mr. Sumner was supplanted as
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs by
Simon Cameron. He had long fulfilled the duties
attendant on this position with distinguished abihty ;
and no man in this country was better acquainted
with foreign affairs, or held m higher consideration
by foreign com-ts. But he and the president were
at variance.
On the 27th of March, 1871, he again spoke on
the San-Domingo treaty.
" On evidence before the Senate," said he, " it is plain that
the navy of the United States, acting under orders from Wash
ington, has been engaged in measures of violence, and of belli
gerent intervention, being war without the authority of Congress.
An aot of war without the authority of Congress is no common
event. This is the simplest statement of the case. The whole
business is aggravated when it is considered that the declared
object of this violence is the acquisition of foreign territory,
being half an island in the Caribbean Sea ; and, still further,
that this violence has been employed, first, to prop and main
tain a weak ruler, himself a usurper, upholding him in power
that he might sell his country ; and, secondly, it has been em
ployed to menace the Black Republic of Hayti."
He denounced Baez as a usurper who would seU
his country, and said that the treaty was a violation
of the Constitution of' the United States, as well as
of that of San Dommgo. On the ensmng day Mr.

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 321
Howe rephed to Mr. Sumner, defending Baez ; and
he insinuated, in conclusion, that Mr. Sumner, Judas-
hke, was trymg to stab the Repubhcan party in the
back. Replying to Mr. Howe, Carl Schurz m a very
brdhant speech said, " Mr. Sumner, had plunged
his dagger not into the Republican party, but into
CsBsarism ; and we cannot forget tha.t the world has
agreed to pronounce Brutus the noblest Roman of
them all."

CHAPTER XVIII.
The Supplementary CivU-Rights BUl. — A Letter on the San-Doraiu-
go Affair. — The Tone of Mr. Sumner's Criticisms on the Adrain
istration. — His Illness. — HJis View of the Repubhcan and
Democratic Parties. — Letter to Colored Citizens. — Support of
Mr. Greeley. — Reception in Boston. — Visit to Europe. — Nomi
nation as Governor of Massachusetts. — Resolutions on the Bat
tle-Flags. — Letters iu Vindication of his Course. — Interviews
with Friends. — His Desire to raise Money by Lecturing. — His
last Visit to Boston. — Declining Health. — His Last Labors in
Congress. — Reoision of the Censure for his Resolution on the
Battle-Flags."Let UB have faitli that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the
end dare to do our duty aa we understand It." — Abraham Lincoln.
" La v^rite, voUi mon ofErande ch6rie.
Loin de tol pour jamais le yil encens de« cours ;
Flatter le souverain, c'est ti'ahir la patrie,
C'est du honheur public empoisonner le cours."
P. D. E. LeBbun.
" A great man under the shadow of defeat is taught how precious are the
uses of advei-sity ; 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." — Chakles Summer.
|N the twelfth day of May, 1870, Mr. Sumner,
ever intent on the uplifting of the colored
citizen, introduced Ms supplementary Civil-
Rights Bill, declaring that all persons, without regard
322

CHARLES SUMNER. 323
to race or color, are entitled to equal privileges
afforded by raUroads, steamboats, hotels, places of
amusement, mstitutions of learning, religion, and
courts of law. The same biU substantially was in
troduced by him again Jan. 20, 1871.
" Show me,'' said he, in speaking on this measure, " any
thing created or regulated by law, and I show yon >yhat must be
opened equally to all without distinction of color. Notori
ously, the hotel is a legal institution, originally e.'itablished by
the common law, subject to minute provisions and regulations ;
notoriously, public conveyances are, in the nature of common
carriers, subject to a law of their own ; notoriously, schools
are public institutions, created and maintained by law ; and
now I simply insist that in the enjoyment of those institutions
there shall be no exclusion on account of color."
His maxim was, " Equality of rights is the first of
rights ; " and Ms whole hfe was but one glorious
struggle to reduce the principle of the old Magna
Charta, " Nulli yiegabimus, nulli differemus justi-
tiam," into practical operation. His views in re-
opect to the course of the administration in the San-
Domingo affair may be seen in tMs letter : —
WAsmNGTON, 9th July, 1871.
My DEAR Redpath, — Your letter must have crossed mine.
I send you this French translation of the Report. I cannot
obtain the English.

324 LIFE AND TIMES
The president's friends were afraid to propose the printing
of extra copies, as that would have opened the whole question ;
so that only the ordinary number for the Senate was printed.
Meanwhile, I hear that the dementia continues. The flag of
Samana still flies without authority; and money has beer.
obtained at New York to pay another year's lease. Here is
usurpation. The treaty is dead : it died by lapse four months
from date ; yet under this dead treaty the flag flies, and the
United States are asked to pay money. Nothing like this was
in the articles against A. J. Very truly yours, Chakles Sumner.
If the tone of his criticisms, especially in Ms sup
pressed speech of March, 1871, on the administra
tion, be considered too severe, it must be remembered
that he was a mortal ; that his system had been
shattered by a tremendous blow ; that the removal
of Mmself, and his intimate friend Mr. Motley,
from positions wMch they were so eminently quali
fied to fill, was another heavy blow ; and that he
honestly believed that favoritism and corruption
had entered the very heart of that grand old Repub
lican party of wMch he had been, to a great extent,
tlie founder and the leader. After the delivery of Ms
great speech, on the last day of February, 1872, in
support of his resolution demanding an investiga
tion of the sales of ordnance stores made during the
war between France and Germany, the return of Ms

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 325
old malady rendered it imperative that he should
cease a while from mental labor. He returned,
liowever, to the Senate in May, and made, on the
last day of that month, a memorable speech, in
wMch he declared Ms loss of confidence in the Re
publican party, and severely criticised the course of
Gen. Grant.
" Both the old parties," said he, " are in a crisis, with this
difference between the two, — the Democracy is dissolving, the
Republican party is being absorbed. The Democracy is fall
ing apart, thus losing its vital unity : the Republican party is
submitting to a personal influence, thus visibly losing its vital
character. The Democracy is ceasing to exist: the Republi
can party is losing its identity. Let the process be completed,
and it will be no longer that Republican party which I helped
to found, and always served, but only a personal party ; while,
instead of those ideas and priuciples which we have been so
proud to uphold, will be presidential pretensions ; and instead
of Republicanism, there will be nothing but Grantism. Po
litical parties are losing their sway. Higher than party are
country, and the duty to save it from Csesar.'
This addi-ess was used as a campaign document.
For several weeks subsequent to the presidential
nominations, he remamed reticent in regard to the
two candidates ; but on the 29th of July, in a letter
to the colored citizens, he announced Ms intention
of abandoning the Republican party, and of sup-

326 LIFE AND TIMES
porting Mr. Greeley for the presidency. In tMs
letter lie said, —
" Never have I asked for punishment. Most anxiously
I have looked for the time, which seems now at hand, when
there shall be reconciliation, not only between North and
South, but between the two races ; so that the two races and
the two sections may be lifted from the ruts and grooves in
which they are now fastened, and, instead of irritating antag
onism without end, there shall be sympathetic co-operation.
The existing differences ought to be ended."
His health did not allow him to take an active
part in the canvass ; but returning to Boston, where
he was branded by some of Ms old pohtical compan
ions as an " apostate," and deserted by many of his
former anti-slavery coadjutors, — especially by Mr.
Garrison, who addressed to him a trenchant letter on
his defection from his party, — he spent some days
with H. W. Longfellow at Lynn, and on the 5th of
September left for Europe. On his arrival in Liv
erpool, he received the news of Ms nomination by
the Liberals and Democrats as governor of Massa
clmsetts. TMs honor he declined. He met with a
cordial reception both in England and in France,
and had interviews with Tliiers and Gambetta ; but
his health was so much impaired, that Ms time was
mostly occupied in looking over engravings and
other works of art. " I have not read an American

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 327
newspaper," said he, writmg from London, " smce I
sailed out of Boston Harbor ; nor have I concerned
myself except with engravings, pictures, books, and
society." He reached home on the 26th of November,
and was present in Ms seat at the opemng of Con
gress, DcQ. 18, when he mtroduced into the Senate
a resolution declarmg " that the names of battles
with our fellow-citizens shall not be continued in
the army-register, or placed upon the regimental
colors of the Umted States/'
A resolution of censure was immediately passed
by the General Court of this State, declaring ^' that
such legislation meets the unquahfied condemnation
of the people of this Commonwealth."
No man honored more than Mr. Sumner the brav
ery of the loyal troops ; but, as soon as the contest
ended, no man more than he desired a speedy resto
ration of harmony and peace : as early as May, 1862,
he had introduced a similar resolution. He there
fore was deeply aggrieved at the ill-advised censure
of the State he represented. In this letter to his
friend James Redpath, he declares his anxiety for
strength to sustain his resolution: —
Washington, 25th Dec, 1872.
Mt dear Redpath, — I wish you a merry Christmas ! I
regret much that 1 cannot take advantage of your invita-

328 LIFE AND TIMES
tion ; but I am under medical treatment, with the doctor at
my house twice a day, the last time to inject under the skin
morphine and strychnine. This vacation I give to the doctor
reluctantly but necessarily. I long to be strong, that I may
vindicate my resolution, which can be done against all assault.
Twice before have I offered it with the applause of Gen. Scott
and Gen. Robert Anderson. Faithfully yours, Charles Sumner.
The foUowing letter to Mr. T. A. Smith also
exhibits his feelings on the battle-flag resolution : —
Washington, 27th Dec, 1872.
My dear Sir, — I thank you sincerely for the kind, good
letter you have written me. Never did I deserve better of Mas
sachusetts than now ; for never did I represent so completely
that high civilization which is the pride of our beloved Com
monwealth. Thrice before, once in 1862, I offered the same
proposition. I received the applause of Gen. Scott and Gen.
Robert Anderson. Accept my best wishes, and believe me, my
dear sir. Sincerely yours, Charles Sumner.
To his old college friend the Hon. G. W. War
ren, who visited him in January, 1873, he said,
" Since the assault upon me in 1856, I have never
been entirely weU ; and just now I am feehng the
painful effects more than usual." At that time
Chief-Justice Chase, then quite ill, came in, and
afterwards Mr. Agassiz. The conversation turning

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 329
to Mr. Sumner's re-election, his friend the noble
scientist, who passed away before another interview,
said, " Of course you will be re-elected. Who is to
be put against you ? Your name is a weight ; and
there is no other which can outbalance it. . . . The
people are not to throw away a great character for
shght differences."
A senator, referring subsequently to some insig-
mficant matter, said to him, " Mr. Sumner, how will
tMs affect your re-election?" "Affect what?"
replied he. " Affect your election," said the other.
"What election do you speak of?" said Mr. Sum
ner. " Why, next year, in 1875, the period of your
re-election comes round." " Oh, yes ! " answered
Mr. Sumner, as if suddenly taking his idea : " my
re-election will come round in 1875 ; but I may die
long before that ; and as long as I hve I can do my
duty." During a call made on him some time afterwards
by Mr. Wilson, he said with great earnestness, " If
my works were completed, and my Civil-Rights BiU
passed, no visitor could enter that door that would
be more welcome than death."
Having incurred losses by the great Boston fire,
he found Mmself in arrearages at tMs time to the
amount of about ten thousand dollars ; but instead
of receiving, as so many others, " back pay '" from

330 LIFE AND TIMES
the public treasury, he determined, feeble as he was,
to make up the deficit in the lecture-field. He
therefore sent tMs letter to the Boston Lyceum
Bureau : — Washington, 13th May, 187.3.
My dear Redpath, — Nobody is authorized to act as my
agent ; nor do I remember any communication with the New-
York Bureau.
I should like to lecture next autumn, if consistent with my
health ; but this is still uncertain.
I congratulate you on your return home, which is a surprise.
I supposed you would give a month to Vienna and the na
tional honor. Sincerely yours, Charles Sumner.
On his last visit to Boston, in the autumn of 1873,
his reception was almost an ovation, and in delight
ful contrast with that of the preceding year. He
was greeted everywhere' with enthusiasm, and
pressed on every hand to honor literary and political
re-unions with his presence. At a pubhc dinner just
before his last departure for Washington, he said in
reference to Mr. Wilson the vice-president, sitting
near hun : " He is under the charge of his physician :
he is also under my charge ; for Ms life is too pre
cious to be exposed. I watch over him at Washing
ton, and endeavor to see that he does not undergo
unnecessary exertion." "But who," some one ex
claimed, ' ' shaU guard the custodian ? ' ' Although the

OP CHARLES SUMNER. 331
" custodian " was on that occasion in the very best
of spirits, and made an admirable address, his health
was rapidly dechnmg; and he therefore sent with
much reluctance tMs request to cancel his lyceum
engagements. Coolidge House, 3d Oct., '73,
Dear Mr. Redpath, — In announcing me as a lecturer for
the present season, and making engagements for me, you acted
precisely according to understanding. I felt at the time in
condition to assume this heavy work, and am not conscious
of any failure since. But much-valued friends have repre
sented to me, that, at this early period of convalescence after
protracted disability, it would be imprudent for me not to
allow myself further rest, and especially that I ought not to
undertake a series of engagements so wearying as that pro
posed. Had this representation proceeded from a few only, or had
my friends been divided or less strenuous, I should not, per
haps, have felt constrained, as I do now, by their unanimous
judgment in letter and conversation, leaving me no alterna
tive. It is with much reluctance, and in obedience to the
sentiments of those whose kindness awakens my gratitude,
that I now withdraw, and ask you to cancel any engagements
made on my account.
Accept my thanks, and believe me, my dear sir,
Faithfully yours,
Charles Sumnil;.
James Rbdpath, Esq.
In November Mr. Sumner addressed a letter to a
meetmg held in New York, condemnatory of the

332 LIFE AND TIMES
outrages of " The Virgmius," deprecatmg any
menace of war, and advismg the Uberation of the
enslaved in the West Indies.
During the last session of Congress, he opposed,
as usual, any mflation of the currency, and advo
cated an early return to specie payments. His last
speech in Congress, terminating a briUiant sena
torial career of almost a quarter of a century, was
made on Saturday, the 7th of March, in the discus
sion of his substitute for the Centennial BiU, wMch
had passed the House.
He contended that the one hundredth anniversary
of the Republic should be entirely national in its
character ; and, m accordance with his weU-known
patriotic and economical views, emphaticaUy said, —
" I have three earnest desires in connection with our coming
anniversary : flrst, to secure a proper commemoration of that
great day, truly worthy of this Republic, and characteristic,
so that Republican institutions shall thereby gain ; secondly,
to save the national character, which must suffer if the pres
ent scheme is pursued; and, thirdly, to save the national
treasury. Almost the last words he heard pronounced in the
Senate-chamber were those read by Ms coUeague
of the resolution of the Massachusetts legislature,
rescinding and annuUing the act of undeserved cen-

OF CHARLES SUMNER. 333
sure of Dec. 18, 1872. On being asked if he should
address the Senate when it was presented, his reply
was, " The dear old Commonwealth has spoken for
me ; and that is enough."

CHAPTER XIX.
Mr. Sumner's House at Wasliington. — His Love of Art. — Last
Sickness and Death. — Obsequies at Wasliington. — Meeting of
the General Court. — Meeting at Faneuil Hall. — Remarks of J.
B. Smith. — Remains at the Doric Hall. — Services at King's
Chapel. — At Mount Auburn. — Personal Appearance of Mr.
Sumner. — Religious Views. — His Works. — His Style. — His
Integi'ity. — His Consistency. — His Statesmanship and Learning.
— His Fame.
"In the long roll of martyrs in the cause of liberty, the name of Charles
Sumner shall stand conspicuous, as worthy of the applause and reverence of
manhood." — William L. Garrison.
" The dear and noble Sumner ! My heart is too full for words ; and in deep
est sympathy of sorrow I reach out my hands to thee, 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 turned toward him with more than the old-time
love and reverence. God's peace be with him ! " — John G. Whittier.
"He had intense sympathy for moral principles. He wa-<* raised up to do
the work preceding and following the war. His eulogy will be, a lover of his
country, an advocate of universal hberty, and the most eloquent and high-
minded of aH the statesmen of that period in which America made the transi
tion from slavery to liberty." — Henry Ward Beecher.
R. SUMNER'S house at WasMngton, a hand
some structure with a fa9ade of brown free
stone, was built on an ehgible site subsequent
to 1867, and overlooks Lafayette Square. It adjoins
334

The late Residence of CHARLES SUMNER, Washington, D. C.

CHAELES STJMNEE. 335
the Arhngton Hotel ; and the entrance is near the
centre of the broad front. The sitting-room is on the
right of the hall, which contains an old Dutch clock
with a beautiful chime. The parlor, upholstered
with yeUow satin, is on the left, and above tMs Mr.
Sumner's sleeping-room, which commands a fine
view of Lafayette Square and the WMte House.
Contiguous to tMs room is the library, or what the
senator called Ms " workshop."
Of refined taste and Mgh culture, Mr. Sumner
had surrounded himself with rare and exquisite
specimens of the fine arts, in the study of wMch he
found a solace for Ms senatorial cares. His rooms
were crowded with the works of genius, — rare and
costly books, beautiful pamtings, engravings, illumi
nated pictures, medalhons, statues in bronze and mar
ble, — so that they had almost the appearance of a
museum of art. Among other paintmgs in Ms bed
room was a landscape representing " EUen's Isle,"
painted by a colored artist. In the dining-room was
a bas-rehef of Christ as the " Good Shepherd," taken
from the Catacombs of Rome. Among countless
curiosities in Ms study, there was a photograph of
John Bright, plainly framed, which was once owned
by Mr. LincoM. Among Ms other treasures of art
were an " Ecce Homo," after Guido Reni ; " The Mir
acle of the Slave," by Tintoretto (bequeathed to

336 LIEE AND TEMES
Ms friend J. B. Smith); a portrait by Sir Peter
Lely; and pictures of the Giotto of Florence,
the grand staircase of Versailles, and the fa9ade of
the Louvre. "These last tMee things," said Mr.
Sumner to a friend, " are perfect. When I come
home from the senate tired and cross, I like to look
at them : it comforts me to think there is something
perfect and above criticism." Of his rarest literary
treasures was an illummated prayer-book of Margaret
of Anjou, wMch cost three hundred doUars. The
desk m wMch he was struck in the Senate was not
the least interesting of his curiosities.
On Tuesday, the 10th of March, Mr. Sumner in
his seat in the Senate complamed to Mr. Ferry of
painful shocks in Ms left side : they soon subsided ;
and in the evening he had as guests at Ms table two
of Ms intimate friends, — Henry L. Pierce and B. Per
ley Poore. After the retirement of these gentlemen,
he was again attacked with terrible pains in the
heart. He was soon, however, somewhat relieved
by Ms physician, Dr. J. T. Johnson, and passed a
comparatively comfortable night ; but in the morn
mg he was cold and almost insensible. At ten o'clock
he recognized Judge Hoar, and said, " Don't forget
my Civil-Rights Bill." Observing Mr. Hooper near
him, he exclaimed, " My book ! my book is not fin
ished." Later in the day he moaned, "I am so tired!

OF CHAELES STJMNEE. 337
I am so tired ! " and, when Judge Hoar brought Mm
a message from Mr. Emerson, he said, " Tell Emer
son I love him and revere Mm." " Yes, I will tell
him," replied the judge ; " for he says you have the
largest heart of any man alive." The judge soon
afterward took Ms hand ; and at ten minutes before
tMee o'clock, p.m., March 11, 1874, Charles Sumner
ceased to breathe.
The news spread instantaneously over the nation ;
and miUions were m tears. No death since that of
Abraham LmcoM had so touched the hearts of the
American people. Congress had already adjourned.
On Friday, March 13, it assembled to pay tribute of
profound respect to the departed senator. The
obsequies were simple but impressive. The body
of Mr. Sumner, embalmed and enclosed m a massive
casket, on wMch had been placed a wreath of white
azaleas and lihes, and a branch of palm-leaves, was
lying m the south parlor of his house ; and the fea
tures presented an appearance of dignity and repose.
It was borne thence, in a hearse drawn by four
wMte horses, foUowed by a body of about three
hundred colored men and a long line of carriages,
to the Capitol, where, in the rotunda beneath the
dome of that magnificent buUding, thousands gath
ered to view the silent face, and shed the parting
tear. 15

338 LIFE AND TMES
At half-past twelve the casket was removed to the
Senate-chamber, which, with Mr. Sumner's chair,
was draped in mourrdng. A cross of flowers, sent
by Miss NeUie Grant, was placed upon the casket ;
but a more noticeable offering was a broken column
of violets and white azaleas, placed there by the
hands of a colored girl. She had been rendered
lame by being thrust from the cars of a railroad,
whose charter Mr. Sumner, after hearing the girl's
story, by a resolution in the Senate caused to be re
voked. In the presence of the president and Ms
cabmet, the members of Congress, the Judiciary,
foreign legations, and a large concourse of reverent
citizens, the Congressional chaplams — the Rev. Drs.
Butler and Sunderland — appropriately performed
the solemn services.
At the close of the benediction, the president of
the Senate, rising, said, " The funeral services hav
mg ended, the Senate of the United States mtrusts
the remains of Charles Sumner to the sergeant-at-
arms and the committee * appomted to convey them
* The Congressional Committee consisted of Messrs. Henry A.
Anthony of Ehode Island, Carl Schurz of Missouri, Aaron A. Sar
gent of California, John P. Stockton of New Jersey, Eichard J.
Ogleshy of Illinois, aud Thomas C. McCreery of Kentucky, on the
part of the Senate ; and Messrs. Stephen A. Hiulbut of Illinois,
Eugene Hale of Maine, Charles Poster of Ohio, Joseph H. Eainey of
South Carolina, Charles Clayton of California, Henry J. Scudder
of New Tork, Samuel J. EandaU of Pennsylvania, Joseph B. Beck
of Kentucky, and John Hancock of Texas^ou the part of the House.

OP CHAELES STJMNEE. 339
to his home, there to commit them, earth to earth,
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the soU of the old
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Peace to his
ashes ! "
The remams, attended by a delegation from Con
gress, arrived by special train m Boston, late on
Saturday evenmg, and were borne to the Doric HaU
at the Capitol, when Senator H. A. Anthony, chair
man of the delegation, committed the casket to Gov.
W. B. Washburn m tMs feUcitous address : —
"May it please yoiar exceUency: We are commanded by
the Senate of the United States to render back to you your
illustrious dead. Nearly a quarter of a century ago, you dedi
cated to the public service a man who was even then greatly
distinguished. He remained in it, quickening its patriotism,
informing its councils, and leading in its deliberations, until,
having survived in continuous service all his original associates,
he has closed his . earthly career. With reverent hands we
bring to you his mortal part, that it may be committed to the
soil of the Commonwealth, already renowned, that gave him
birth. Take it : it is yours. The part which we do not return
to you is not whoUy yours to receive, nor altogether ours to
give. It belongs to the country, to mankind, to freedom, to
civilization, to humanity. We come to you with emblems of
mourning which faintly typify the sorrow that dwells in
the breasts upon which they lie. So much is due to the in-
fiimity of human nature. But, in the view of reason and
philosophy, is it not rather a matter of exultation, that a life so

340 LIFE AND TIMES
pure in its personal qualities, so high in its public aims, so for
tunate in the fruition of noble efEort, has closed safely before
age had marred its intellectual vigor, before time had dimmed
the lustre of its genius ?
" May it please your excellency : Our mission is completed.
We commit to you the body of Charles Sumner. His un
dying fame the Muse of History has already taken in her keep
ing." The body lay in state, attended by a guard of col
ored soldiers under Major Lewis Gaul, and was
visited by throngs of sad and tearful people. On
Friday afternoon, by a proclamation from the gov
ernor, both branches of the legislature assembled ;
and eloquent tributes were bestowed upon the de
parted statesman by Pres. George B. Loring, and
Gen. N. P. Banks, of the Senate, and also by Messrs.
PhUUps, Codman, and Sanger, of the House.
WhUe the funeral train was on its way, the sorrow
of the citizens of Boston found an expression in a
crowded meeting, held in Faneuil HaU (draped for
the occasion) at noon on Saturday, when very elo
quent and eulogistic speeches were made by Mayor
S. C. Cobb, Richard H. Dana, jun., A. H. Rice, N.
P. Banks, WiUiam Gaston, Rev. E. E. Hale, and J.
B. Smith, a noble, warm-hearted, and intimate friend
of Mr. Sumner. In the course of Ms address, he
with moving pathos said, —

OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 341
" I can go back to the time when I sat under the eagle in
this hall, and when I saw some one stand on the platform ; and
I did wish, when I heard certain expressions, that I could sink.
I can go back to my boyhood, when I have seen other boys in
their sports and plays, and J would walk off in the woods, and
say, ' 0 Grod I why was I born ? '
" I can remember forty-five years ago on a Christmas Day
passing through the orchard, and saw a silk-worm hanging to
the leaf of a tree, when my eyes turned up to my God, and I
said, ' Why am I here ? ' There hangs something out in the
cold ; but it will be a butterfly. I took it home, hung it in the
room, put it where it was warm ; and it hatched out before
the atmosphere was prepared to receive it. I lifted the window ;
and it flew ofi, but had to return, as it could not stand the at
mosphere. And just so I was brought forth by the eloquence
of Charles Sumner ; and I have been turned loose on the public
atmosphere ; for really I had to suffer intensely ; and I could
only feel at home and feel well when I turned back into his
presence ; and his arms were always open to receive me. (Ap
plause.) " And now, Mr. Mayor, our ship in which he has com
manded is still adrift : we are standing out now in the open
sea, with a great storm ; and, in behalf of those five millions of
people of the United States, I beg of you to give us a good
man to take hold where he left off. (Applause.)
" We axe not educated up to that point. We cannot speak
for ourselves : we must depend upon others. We stand to-day
like so many little children whose parents have passed away.
We can weep ; but we don't understand it. We can weep ;
but W3 must beg of you to give us a man who will still lead us
forward until we shall have accompanied all those thousands
for which he offered his life."

342 LIPE AND TIMES
The public press tMoughout the country paid gen
erous tributes to the departed statesman ; and many
clergymen on the sabbath spoke impressively of the
national bereavement. The discourses of the Revs.
Edward E. Hale, Dr. C. A. Bartol, James Freeman
Clarke, George L. Chancy, T. W. Higginson, C. D.
Pradlee, J. W. Hamilton, Samuel Johnson, James B.
Dunn, Dr. S. K. Lothrop, Henry Ward Beecher,
Dr. E. B. Foster, were particularly eloquent and
appropriate. It is estimated that as many,as forty
thousand people visited Doric Hall to view the re
mains of the beloved senator. The room was elabo
rately draped in mourning ; and the catafalque and
casket resting in the centre were covered with most
exquisite floral decorations. At the head of the
coffin stood a beautiful cross formed of caUas,
violets, japomcas, and other flowers ; and at the foot
a broken shaft of roses, covered with a pall of violets.
On the top of the casket the colored citizens placed
a large floral heart, with tMs inscription : " From
the colored citizens of Boston. Charles Sumner,
you gave us your life ; we give you our hearts."
Above the casket was suspended a crown, beneath
which floated a white dove holdmg an olive-branch.
At about half-past two o'clock on Monday afternoon,
the remains were borne to King's Chapel, which was
tastefully hung in black and decorated with costly

The body of Charles Sumner lying in state, in Doric Hall, State House, Boston.

OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 343
flowers, when appropriate funeral services were per
formed by the Rev. Henry W. Foote, the pastor.
At the close of the services, the funeral cortige, in
which there was a body of more than one thou
sand colored citizens, proceeded, through a dense
crowd of reverent people, to Mount-Auburn Ceme
tery. It arrived, just as the sun was setting, at
the open grave m the Sumner lot, on Arethusa
Path, wMch wmds along the declivity, a httle to
the westward of the tower. The avenues, the
knoUs, and hUls were crowded with hushed and
pensive people. Near the grave stood the Con
gressional delegation, the surviving members of the
class of 1830, H. W. Longfellow, R. W. Emerson,
0. W. Holmes, and other intimate friends of the
deceased. The Horatian ode, " Integer vitce. sceleris-
que purus" was then sung by fifty male voices, ac
compamed by trombones ; and, at the close, the
clergyman pronounced the solemn words, " I heard
a voice saymg imto me. Write, Blessed are the dead
wMch die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith
the Spirit, that they rest from their labors ; and their
works do follow them." As the body, in the last
beam of fading day, was lowered into the grave, the
grand old song of Luther, " Ein feste Burg ist unser
Gott," arose ; and a cross and wreath of rarest flowers,
prepared by the request of Mrs. JuUa Hastings, sister

344 LIFE AND TIMES
of the deceased m Cahforma, was dropped by Miss
Maud Howe upon the casket, amidst the statuesque
silence of the surrounding multitude, broken only
by the reverberation of the tolUng of the distant
beUs. " Grod rest his gallant spirit I give him peace,
And crown his brows with amaranth, and set
The saintly palm-branch in his strong right hand.
Amid the conquering armies of the skies
Give him high place forever I let him walk
O'er meads of better asphodel ; and be
Where dwell the single-hearted and the wise, —
Men like himself, severely, simply good,
Who scorned to be ambitious ; scorned the snares
Of office, station, rank ; but stood sublime
In natural greatness . . . O Eternal King,
O Father, Son, and Spirit I give him peace."

In person Mr. Sumner was taU, dignified, and
commanding. His countenance generally wore a
serious aspect ; and his deportment was that of a
well-bred and courteous gentleman. The whitened
locks and furrowed cheek bespoke in later years the
care and suffering to wMch his iron frame had been
subjected. His friends are pleased to fancy that in
respect to face and form, as weU as character, he
somewhat resembled Edmund Burke. Had he been

OP CHAELES STJMNEE. 345
more sensible to the charms of tMs visible creation,
to the harmomes of nature, and to the tones of music ;
had he more fondly cherished the affections of domes
tic life, — his heart would have known more consola
tion, Ms character would have been more completely
rounded out. But, as the ancients often said, " It is
not meet that every good should be conferred on one
alone." He held in most profound respect the prin
ciples of Christianity, and based thereon his strong
est arguments for the freedom of the slave, and his
expectations for the future elevation of the human
race. To a friend, referring to Ms rehgion, he once
said, " I take rehgion differently from other people ;
nor have I much to boast of, any way." Just before
leaving Boston for the last time, he made an address
at th« Church of the Disciples, " in wMch," says one
then present, " with profound and even tearful emo
tion, he spoke of the love of CMist as no man could
speak who had not long and mtimately known that
love." Mr. Sumner's works, pubUshed in elegant style by
Messrs. Lee and Shepard, received Ms critical re
vision, and wUl constitute Ms most enduring monu
ment. WeU coidd he say of them, —
" Exegi monumentum sere perennius."
His last book, now in press, is entitled " Prophetic

346 LLPE AND TIMES
Voices concermng America," and displays to great
advantage the extent of his historical researches, and
Ms anticipations of a glorious future for tMs conti
nent. The style of Mr. Sumner is clear as sunhght. As
the course of some majestic river it flows on, smooth,
fuU, free, and harmonious. It is always elevated,
always earnest, often nervous, strong, and impas
sioned. Every sentence iadicates the man of cul
ture : every word is weU selected, weU wrought in
to the sohd structure. Though insensible to the
charms of music, he had still a, fine rhythmical
perception, and the art of bringing Ms periods to a
harmomous close. His language teems with classi
cal quotations, drawn from the whole range of
ancient and of modern Uterature; yet they are so
aptly chosen, as not only to Uluminate Ms theme,
but also to make some compensation for Ms want
of wit and humor. Though he had not the mas
sive strength of Webster, the sententious point of
Wirt, or the matchless grace of Everett, he stiU
exeeUed them aU in learmng, m earnestness, and
in the grandeur of Ms aspirations. If, as Mr. Web
ster has remarked, true eloquence must exist m the ¦
man and the occasion, then wUl Mr. Simmer ever
stand forth as the great orator of emancipation in
America.

OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 347
As a statesman he was incorruptible. Intrenched
m Ms mtegrity, no money, gift, nor bribe could move
Mm. Deep in Ms heart he held that " honesty is
the best pohcy : " he proclaimed tMs doctrine, and he
practised it. Amidst the strategic arts for power,
the venaUty, the dupUcity, the gloat and greed for
greenbacks, wMch characterize political Ufe at Wash
mgton, he bore a clean, unsulUed palm. No Credit-
MobUier scheme, no annexation plot, no "back-pay"
subterfuge, could tempt him from Ms stronghold.
"Is it right?" not "WUl it pay ? " was with him
the first, the central, and the last question. " People
speak of WasMngton," he once naively said, "as
being corrupt. I have Uved there many years ; and
I have seen no corruption." His condemnation and
exposure of the corruption, and the conmvance at
corruption, of the government, demand the gratitude
of the people ; and Ms great name wiU ever plead,
as the names of LincoM and of WasMngton, for
mtegrity in the head of the nation.
No man was ever more consistent in Ms pohtical
career. WhUe so many others trimmed the saU, and
veered with every sMfting wind or current to the
popular course, he pressed onward by an undeviating
hne, though lightmngs flashed around Ms head, to the
attainment of his end. His defection from the Re
pubhcan party was but the logical result of his adher-

348 LIFE AND TIMES
ence to his principles, or, in other words, of his
consistency. True as steel to duty, he expected every
other man to do Ms duty ; and hence sometimes he
seemed imperious in his exactions ; but his desire was
never to repress, but to bring others up to his own
position. He raised Ms head above the mm-ky atmos
phere of the demagogues at the Capitol; and hence
they hated him. But the world will some day reach
his level. " No man," says Mr. Whittier in a recent
letter to me, " had ever warmer friends ; and no man
was ever truer in his friendships ; " but those friends
breathed with Mm the upper atmosphere. Congress
has had men of originaUty and wit more brUliant, but
none of industry more persistent, or scholarship more
profound. His rank wiU be, not among the poli
ticians, but among the unspotted and prophetic states
men of the country. He spoke, even on subordinate
questions, as if the whole world, and not the mem
bers of the Senate only, were his audience. Before
the march of modern ideas, slavery, perhaps, without
his aid, would soon have faUen ; but it became Ms
province to bring the Uberal thoughts of the Old
World and the New to illumme the question, to
strike, with weapons which no other Congressman
possessed, and with the force of a God-sustamed
combatant, the brutal system through and through,
up to its final overtMow. His affluence of learn-

OP CHAELES STJMNEE. 349
ing, outflowmg in allusions and quotations which
his opponents, whUe denouncing, did not hesitate
to borrow, was consecrated to the high and ultimate
purpose of his life, — the Uberation and the civUiza
tion of the captive ; and it was no dishonor to the
nation that it had one man, at least, in its highest,
councU-chamber, who cordd speak, and who did
speak, Greek. " He consecrated himself," wrote Mr.
Garrison to me the other day, " to the cause of im
partial hberty and equal rights with a vigilance, an
abUity, a thoroughness, and a devotion, that cannot
be too MgUy extoUed by the Mstorian." On the
record of the grandest movement of the age, cul
minating m the dominion of right over wrong, in
the hberation of miUions from thraldom, and in the
estabhshment of freedom over tMs broad continent,
Ms name will ever stand conspicuous. It will be
enshrined m the breast of the freedman as the word
of God m the ark of Moses ; and, on the banner that
waves above the incorruptible, it wUl be surrounded
by an aureole of glory. Wherever in this wide
world a human heart quivers beneath the rod of
the oppressor, it wUl derive hope and inspiration
from the fearless utterances of this Ulustrious
champion in defence of civU rights, equality, and
fratermty. Passing by the stately mausoleum of titled gran-

350 LIFE AND TIMBS OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
deur, the sons and daughteris of freedom wUl come
with reverent step from every clime to cast a chaplet
of white liUes, and to shed the tear of gratitude over
the grave of Chaeles Sumnee.

APPENDIX.

APPEIl^DIX.

ME. SUMNER'S WILL.
The necessary petition for the probate of the wUl of Mr. Sumner
was filed yesterday afternoon hy Francis V. Balch, and will be acted
on at the regular session of the court, which sits on Monday, AprU 6.
The will is written wholly by himself, in a handwriting at once
hold, clear, and distinct. Each page bears his signature, the name
heing written in the lower right-hand comer, after the manner of
the old-style books, and evidently written aa each page was finished.
The sheets are hound together at the top by a delicate purple ribhou.
Not a blot or erasure is discernible on the pages of the will; but tlie
outside is much soiled, as if it had been used when partially folded
to hrush ink-stains from his desk. It is in full as follows, says " The
Advertiser:" —
THE LAST WILL AOT) TESTAMENT OP CHABLES SUMNEB OF BOSTON,
MASSACHUSETTS.
1. I bequeath to Henry W. Longfellow, Francis V. Balch, and
Edward L. Pierce, as trustees, aU my papers, manuscripts, and let
ter-hooks, to do with them what they think best, with power to
destroy them, to distribute tjiem in some public library, or to make
extracts from them for publication.
2. I bequeath to the trustees above mentioned $3000, or so much
as may be needed to complete the edition of my speeches and papers,
should the same be unfinished at my death. It is hoped that no
part of this sum will be needed, 353

354 APPENDIX.
3. I bequeath to the library of Harvard College my hooks and
autographs, whether in Washington or Boston, with the understand
ing that dupUcates of works aheady belonging to the college Ubrary
may be sold or exchanged for its benefit.
4. I bequeath to the city of Boston, for the Art Museum, my pic
tures and engravings, except the picture known as "The Miracle of
the Slave," with the injunction that the trustees shall do with them
what tliey think best, disposing of aU lor the beneflt of the Miiseuni.
6. I bequeath to my friends of many years, Henry W. Longfel
low and Samuel G. Howe, my bronzes, to be divided between them ;
also to Henry W. Longfellow the Psyche and that bust of the young
Augustus, in marble; to my friend Joshua B. Smith the picture
known as " The Miracle of the Slave; " aud to the city of Boston, for
the Art Museum, the bust of myself by Crawford, taken during
my visit to Eome in 1839.
6. I bequeath to the daughters of Henry W. LongfeUow $2000;
also to the daughters of Samuel G. Howe $2000; and to the daugh
ters of James T. Furness of Philadelphia $2000 ; which I ask them
to accept in token of my gratitude for the friendship their parents
have shown me.
7. I bequeath to Hannah Eichmond Jacobs, only surviving sister
of my mother, an annuity of ,$500, to be paid by my executor for
the remainder of her Ufe.
8. I direct my executor to make aU provision for perpetual care
of my mother's lot at Mount Auburn.
9. I bequeath to the president and fellows of Harvard CoUege
$1000, in trust, for an annual prize for the best dissertation by any
student of the coUege or any of its schools, undergraduate or grad
uate, on universal peace, and the methods by which war may he
permanently suspended. I do this in the hope of drawing the
attention of students to the practicabiUty of organizing peace among
nations, which I sincerely beUeve may be done. I cannot doubt
that the same modes of decision which now prevaU between indi
viduals, between towns, and between smaUer communities, may be
extended to nations.
10. AU the residue of my estate, real aud personal, I bequeath

APPENDIX. 355
and devise to my executor, iu trust, to be sold at such time and in
such way as he shall think best, the proceeds to be distributed in
two equal moieties, as foUows: One moiety to be paid my sister
Julia Hastings, wife of John Hastings of San Francisco, Cal.,
for her sole and exclusive use, or, should she die before me, theu in
equal portions to her three daughters or the survivor, each portion
to be for the sole and exclusive use of such daughter. The other
moiety to be paid to the president and feUows of Harvard College,
in trust, for the benefit of the coUege Ubrary, my desire being that
the income should be appUed to the purchasing of books relating to
poUtics and flue arts. This bequest is made in fiUal regard for the
coUege. In selecting especiaUy the Ubrary, I am governed by the
consideration that aU my life I have been a user of hooks, and, hav
ing few of my own, I have reUed on the Ubraries of friends and on
pubhc Ubraries; so that what I now do is only a return for what I
have freely received.
n. I appoint Prancis V. Balch executor of this wUl, and desire
that the trustees of my papers may be exempt from giving bonds.
In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand this second day of
September, 1873, at Boston. Chaeles Sumotse.
Signed and pubhshed by the administrator as his last wUl and
testament, before us, who, In his presence and in the presence of
each other, have at his request set our names as witnesses.
H. J. Edwaeds.
Geoege A. Bullbk.
John E. Hecktek.
P. V. Balch.

356 APPENDIX. EPITAPH.

HUMANITAS JUSTITIAQUB
MAUBENT ET MAEKEBUNT
TE,
SUMNEK JUSTITIAB CULTOB EXIMIUS,
JrSTITIA CB VlTAM TUBISSIMA
INTBB SOBDIOBBS
HUMAJSTITAS UT TIBI NUSQUAM
ALIENA
TU FEN'E LABOBUM
IMMOETALIS INITIO
GAUDBAS
TALI MOBTE
TALE SUPEBSTITB NULLO.
FELIX FAUSTUS FOETUNATUS
GLOBIA EESUEGBNS
AVE.
The following may be given as nearly a literal translation:
HUMANITY AND JUSTICE
MOUEN AND WILL MOUKN
THEE,
O SUMNEE, MOST BENOWNED FOSTBBBE
OP JUSTICE I
JUSTICE ON ACCOUNT ON THT MOST PUEE LIFE
AMONG THE BASE;
HUMANITY IN THAT SHE NEVEE WAS A STBANGEE TO THEE.
THOU EEJOICBST IN THE END OF LABOES AND THE
BEGINNING OP IMMOETALITY.
O HAPPY, BLESSED AND FOETUNATE ONE,
in such a death that none like thbe ebmains,
bising to gloet,
hall!

¦T5.> r

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