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LIFE

CHARLES SUMNER.
BY
JEREMIAH CHAPLIN
AND
J. D. CHAPLIN.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
HON, WILLIAM CLAFLIN.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY D. LOTHROP & CO.
DOVER, N. H. . G. T. DAY & CO.
1874.

1>-7. S\\
Entered, accordlnff to Act of Congress, f n the year 1874,
Bt D. LOTHROP & CO.,
In the Ofl3ce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

f> G ¦r..

STEBEOTTPED AT THE
BOSTON 8TEEEOTYPK FOITNDKT,
19 Spring Lone.

PREFACE.

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enabled them to give some hitherto unpublished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

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

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

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

INTRODUCTION.

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

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

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

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

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" Humbly do I recognize the authority, of Him who, when
reviled, reviled not again ; but His divine example teaches
me to expose crime, and not to hesitate, though the Scribes
and Pharisees, chief priests and money-changers, cry out."
"Liberty has been ¦won; the battle for Equality is still
pending." "To be a man is a sufficient title-deed for the rights of
man." " Say, in lofty madness, that you own the sun, the stars,
the moon; but do not say that you own a man, endowed with
soul to live immortal, when sun, and moon, aud stars have
passed away."

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.

CHAPTEE I.
Birth of Charles Sumner. — His Parents, — His
Ancestry.
An event so common as the birth of a cluld
makes little stir in the busy world,; and even
when Heaven is so lavish of its blessings as to
send two little ones to the same home at once, it
brings joy only to the limited circle of relatives
and friends who can enter into the happiness of
the parents.
On the 6th day of January, 1811, Charles
Pinckney Sumner and Belief, his wife, were glad
dened by the birth of their first children, Charles
and Matilda.
The little new-comers to the great, strange
2 17

18 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE.
world were frail and tiny specimens of humanity,-*
But they were born to- live ; one of them to grow
to maidenhood, and to grace her home a few short
years, and then to pass away like a flower ; the
other, with a frame scarcely large enough to
carry life, was to develop into a strong man,
whose name was to be a power in the land for
whose freedom his fathers had fought.
The men of Boston read their papers on that
Gth day of January, and discussed the plans and
the broils at the seat of government, just as the
men of Boston do to-day. They passed and re-

*Mrs. -Winslow, a very aged widow, a member of the First
Baptist Church, living In Charter Street, gives the following inter
esting facts : —
The Sumner family were neighbors of hers at the time their
twins were born. She knew Mrs. Sumner well, and speaks of her
as an exceUent, kind person, and remembers when she made a
public profession of religion. She states that on the third day
after the birth of the twins, she (Mrs. -Winslow) said to a neighbor,
"Let us go over and see Mrs. Sumner's babies." They went,
and were shown into the chamber where they lay. They were the
smallest infants she had ever seen, weighing but three pounds and
a half each. The clothes which would have fitted ordinary babies
were so much too large that the little ones were simply wrapped up,
and not dressed, at that time. Mrs. -Winslow says she took both
babes in her arms, and held them while there.
The house in which they were born was in May Street (now Re
vere Street), on the site now occupied by the Bowdoin School build
ing. The family afterwards removed to 20 Hancock Street, which
was long their home, and where Mrs. Sumner died.

RESIDENCE OF MR. SDMNEli'S FATHER, HANCOCK ST., BOSTON

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

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 23
-which occurred while she was on her death-bed.
A few days before she died, as a friend bent over
her to receive what she supposed to be her dying
message to her son, then at Washington, during
the session of Congress, she caught these words
from the failing lips : ' Tell him his country needs
him more than his mother does now.' He re
turned, however, instantly, on receiving tidings
of her fatal illness, and had the satisfaction of
being with her when she died." *

* Matilda (twin sister with Charles) died in March, 1832, aged 21
years ; Jane died in October, 1837, aged 17 years ; Mai-y died in
October, 1844, aged 22 years ; Horace was drowned in the wreck of
the ship Elizabeth, on Long Island, July 16, 1850, on his return*
from abroad ; Albert was lost with his family in tlie wreck of the
Lyonnais, November, 1856 ; Henry died at Orange, N. J., in 1856 ;
George died October 6, 1863, in Boston, aged 46 years. One child,
Mrs. Julia Hastings, of San Francisco, is still living.
George Sumner was a man of varied accomplishments. He en
joyed the advantages of study at the foreign universities of Berlin
and Heidelberg, and travelled in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Like
his brother Charles, he was much interested in international law,
and in the political, social, and philanthropic institutions of differ
ent countries. He was a strong foe to war and slavery. He wrote
in favor of the Philadelphia Penitentiary System. In connection
with Dr. S. G. Howe, he introduced into the United States the edu
cation of idiots. He wrote ai-ticles, not only for American, but for
English, French, and German periodicals. He spent many years
abroad, and was often consulted by foreign governments on ques
tions of political economy. De Tocqueville spoke of him " as know
ing the different parties and politics of Europe much better than
any European with whom he was acquainted."
In 1859, within less than five months, he gave one hundred and

24 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE.
One who Imew Mrs. Sumner, and who saw her
when her son was rising to eminence, noticed the
motherly pride which she would not conceal.
When asked how he gained so many and great
acquirements, she replied, " Charles, when a boy
was a good scholar, and always diligent in his
studies." Her pride was not vanity. She did
not boast of his genius, but only of application
and industry. Mrs, Sumner died in June, 1866,
aged eighty-one.
But not to his mother alone belongs the
glory of rearing such a son for his country and
for humanity. His father was not only a gentle
man and a scholar, but also a philanthropist of
the purest type, whose talents were not spent for
self-adulation or ambition, but were laid on the
altar to whose smoking fagots the boy that bore
his name was a new torch, to alarm the oppressor,
and burn up, like chaff, his imaginary wealth. He
was a strong anti- slavery ma^n, -when anti- slavery
men were few and their principles unpopular.

two lectures in towns and cities of the United States. On July 4
of that year he delivered the Annual Oration before the municipal
authorities of Boston, which was spoken of as an " admirable
address." The orator censured in severe terms the Di-ed Scott de
cision of Chief Justice Taney.

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

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

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

28 LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNER. 35

. CHAPTER III.
-Sumner's Law Studies. — Literary Work. — His
First Cheat Sor,row. — Seeking for a Compli
ment. — Students changing Plans. — Failing
Health. .
Charles Sumner graduated from Harvard in
1830, being then nineteen years old.
The following year was spent at home in pri
vate study and reading, and in preparation for
his next step in life.
He entered the Cambridge Law School in
1831. Judge Story was not lorfg in discovering
those rare qualities and that untiring diligence
which afterwards made him so great a favorite
with that eminent jurist.
It would seem that the literature and princi
ples of his future profession, rather than its
practice, were the alluring charm to him, and to
these he applied himself with characteristic
ardor, amounting almost to a passion.

36 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
He was nevef satisfied with accepting anything
second-hand, but invariably went to the original
sources for the facts and arguments.
He read Kent's Commentaries in a way peculiar
to himself, carefully looking up and, examining
every case referred to.
He began his researches in the law far back in
the rude Norman, proceeding downward to the
most recent authorities.
So familiar was he with the Law Library at
Cambridge (of which he was librarian), that it is
said he cordd go into it in the dark, and take any
book he wanted from a shelf.
His great power of acquiring and retaining
knowledge soon distinguished him above his
fellows. While yet a student, Mr. Sumner became a
contributor to the literature of his profession,
and published several articles in the " American
Jurist" and "Boston Law Quarterly," aU of
which were marked by deep research, breadth
of thought, and subtile ingenuity, which gave
great promise of fiiture usefulness.
In 1832 Mr. Sumner met the first great sorrow
of his life. The sister, whose being was almost

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

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

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

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

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

42 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

50 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.

CHAPTER V.
Visit to Europe. — Letter of Judge Story. — Inci
dent in Westminster HaU. — Testimony of Eng
lish Judges. — Baron Parke's Appreciation of
Mr. Sumner's Learning. — In Paris. — In Ger
many. — In Italy.
FORTT years ago foreign travel for the pur
poses of enjoyment and study was the lot of a
favored few, and not, as now, an event in the
life of almost every literary and professional man.
In the fall of 1837, Mr. Sumner, then twenty-
six years old, carried out his long-cherished plan
of visiting Europe.
His previous studies hadformed a fitting prep
aration for foreign travel. He was well read in
the literature, the history, and the political insti
tutions of England and the countries on the con
tinent. In matters of art he had formed a taste,
and knew what were the masterpieces and where
they were to be found.

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

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

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNEE. 53
readiness gave him ^clat throughout the kingdom.
The above is related by a former classmate, now
a gentleman of standing in this city.
The letters which so close an observer wrote
to his friends at home must have been fuU of
interest. That they were of this character ap
pears from the foUowing letter written by Judge
Story to Mr. Sumner, August 11, 1838 : —
" I have received aU your letters, and have de
voured them with unspeakable delight. AU the
family have heard them read aloud, and aU jqin
in their expressions of pleasure. You are now
exactly where I should wish you to be — among
the educated, the literary, the noble, and, though
last, not least, the learned of England, of good
Old England, our mother-land, God bless her ! "
Mr. Sumner spent several months in Paris,
where, as in England, he was industriously em
ployed in study and in converse with men emi
nent in literature and law. . It was here that he
met our distinguished countryman, Mr. Wheaton,
with whom he had much conversation upon inter
national law, and to whom he suggested the plan
of the great work on that subject afterwards writ
ten by that eminent jurist.

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

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

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

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

58 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEB.

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 61
race of Southern statesmen who believed slavery
to be a temporary evil, to be abolished at some
future day, and in some unforeseen way, had
passed away." Even Jefferson, who had pictured
the evUs of slavery in the darkest colors, and who
" had once prepared a plan for the prohibition of
slavery in aU the territory from the Lakes to the
GuLf, became alarmed, and shrunk appaUed be
fore the fury of the strife, declaring that it feU
upon his ear ' like the fire-beU at midnight.' " *
So with Madison and Monroe,
On the other hand, the people of the entire
North, without respect to party, were aroused by
this new attitude of the slave power. They
were alarmed by the farther extension of a sys
tem wliich they had fondly hoped would gradu
aUy disappear. The future assumed a more
gloomy aspect.
" The legislature of Pennsylvania unanimous
ly opposed the existence of slavery in Mis
souri. Their resolutions declared ' that they
are persuaded that to open the fertile region
of the West to a servile race would tend to in
crease their number beyond all past example,
* Kise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, by Henry Wilson.

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

LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 63
foUowed the consummation of the Missouri Com-
pronoise. The dark spirit of slavery swayed the
policy of the republic. Southern legislatures re
pealed the more humane acts of their slave codes,
. . . and enacted statutes stiU more inhuman."
But the spirit- of freedom and humanity was stiU
alive and growing in many hearts. Amidst gen
eral defection there was a precious remnant.
There were men and women who learned their
duty at a higher source than shifting public opin
ion, who listened to the " stiU smaU voice " of
God, the Father of aU. Their hearts were sad
dened — overwhelmed by the condition of the
country. The cries of miUions of slaves^ were to
them an irresistible appeal for help. They pon
dered the question of duty, they prayed for light
and strength, and, then they went fearlessly for
ward in open and direct resistance to slavery.
To human sight theirs was an unequal, almost
profitless task. They were a handful of weak, ob
scure individuals, against a power which seemed
weU nigh omnipotent. But they were inspired
and sustained by a serene faith in the ultimate
triumph of truth.
Among the pioneers of direct anti-slavery ef-

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNEE. 67

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNER. 73
the fees for imprisonment, he was to be sold into
slavery for four months. The grand jury of
Raleigh, N. C, at the instigation of the attorney
general, made an indictment against the editor and
publisher of The Liberator for its circulation in
that county. The legislature of Georgia passed
an act offering a reward of five thousand doUars
for the arrest, prosecution, and trial to conviction,
under the laws of the state, of the editor or
publisher of a certain paper caUed The Liberator,
published in the town of Boston, and State of
Massachusetts. Truly compliments were showered upon our
poor editor !
A certain Southem magistrate thought to beard
the Northern Hon in his very den. He request
ed the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, " the wealthy and
aristocratic Mayor of Boston," to suppress The
Liberator. The mayor had probably never
heard of, certainly never read, the paltry aboli
tion sheet. But, as a good and faithful peace
maker, he set about the task demanded of
him. In due time he reported that his offi
cers " had ferreted out the paper and its editor,
whose office was an obscure hole, his only -i^isible

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

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER. 75

CHAPTER VIII.
Fears of Slaveholders. — Slave Conspiracy at
Charleston. — Ned Turner's Insurrection. — His
Execution. — Abolitionists in the Virginia Legis
lature. — Pro-Slavery at the North. — Ameri
can Anti-Slavery Society. — Riots in New York
and elsewhere. — Mr. Garrison Mobbed in Bos
ton, -r- WendeU PhiUips. — Mobs. — Elijah P.
Lovejoy. — A human Ear. — Rifling the Mails.
— Right of Petition. — John Quincy Adams.
The South was disturbed not only by North-
em fanatics ; within in her own border, the spirit
of Uberty, which dweUs in every human heart,
an inextiaguishable spark from heaven, not sel
dom roused her bondmen to recover their stolen
rights. As far back as 1812, John Randolph, ,
of Virginia, in opposing the proposed invasion
of Canada, lest it might expose the Southem
coast to British troops, and stir up a servile in
surrection, said, " While talking of Canada, we

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

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 77
power he exercised over his associates, in
fluenced not a few of them to believe that he
was indeed divinely inspired. In his statement
before his execution, he said, " On the 12th day
of May, 1828, 1 heard a loud noise in the heavens ;
and the Spirit instantly appeared to me, and
said, ' The serpent is loosened, and Christ has
laid down the yoke he bore for the sins of men,
and I should take it up and fight against the
serpent, for the time is fast approaching when
the first shaU be last and the last shall be
first, and that by signs in the heaven that He
would make known to me when I should com
mence the great work, and until the first sign
should appear, I should conceal it from the
knowledge of men.' "
The eclipse of February, 1831, he regarded
as the token that the seal was removed from his
lips, and that he was to call his forces together,
slay the whites around them, and so give liberty
to the enslaved. This was to take place on the
4th of July ; but he feU sick in view of the awful
task laid upon him, and the day passed by. But
" the sign " appeared again, and on the 21st of
August he and some fifty associates, mounted.

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 81
Bphesians ! " Great and ever to be defended is
American slavery !
Prom that time onward, the opposition to
anti-slavery increased in intensity both at the
North and South, For several years mob-law
had the ascendency. Free speech was put
under the ban. Slavery must not be mentioned
in sermons and orations, except in terms of
commendation or extenuation. The press was
muzzled. Public prayers for those who were in
bonds was treason against the government.
These mandates of slavery were enforced with
unrelenting rigor. Abolitionists were the ob
jects of constant abuse, and often their lives
were in peril.
But, nothing daunted, these peaceable friends
of human liberty resolved to proceed to more
effective measures in the cause to which they
had sacredly sworn themselves. In the winter
of 1833, a convention assembled in Philadelphia
for the formation of an American Anti- slavery
Society. This meeting has been recently de
scribed in a very graphic manner by John G.
Whittier, himself an active participator in the
proceedings. Sixty-two delegates were in at-
6

82 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
tendance, among whom were Beriah Green,
WilUam Lloyd Garrison, Samuel J. May, Lewis
Tappan, and John Rankin.
The society -was organized under circum
stances of peculiar solemnity. Their work com
pleted, the president, the Rev, Mr, Green, ad
dressed the members, as they were about to
separate, in touching and prophetic words.
" Brethren," he said, " it has been good to be
here. In this haUowed atmosphere I have been
revived and refreshed. . . . But we must now
retire fi-om these influences and breathe another
atmosphere. The chiU hoar-frost wiU be upon us.
The storm and tempest wiU rise, and the waves of
persecution will dash against our souls. Let us
be prepared for the worst. Let us fasten our
selves to the throne of God as with hooks of
steel. . . . Let us be assured that our only hope
in grappUng with the bony monster is in an Arm
that is stronger than ours. Let us fix our gaze
on God, and walk in the Ught of his counte
nance. If our cause be just, — and we know it is,
— his omnipotence is pledged to its triumph.
Let this cause be entwined aroimd the very
fibres of our hearts. Let our hearts grow to it,

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNER. 85
assailed a meeting of the Female Anti-slavery
Society, while its president was at prayer, and
dispersed it,-* Brave men were they 1 Mr.
Garrison, being discovered, " was seized, a rope
put round him, his hat knocked off his head
and cut in pieces, and his clothes torn from his
body. Dragged through Wilson's Lane into State
Street, he was rescued by the mayor, his posse,
and several respectable citizens, and taken into
the mayor's room in the Old State House. From
this place he was conveyed in a carriage to Lever-
ett Street Jail, to save him from the fury of the
mob." In order to effect Mr,- Garrison's admis
sion to the jail, the kind-hearted deputy-sheriff,
Mr. Parkman, got out a warrant against him as " a
disturber of the peace." Mr. Parkman attempted
to get into the carriage with the criminal, but
could not for the crowd. Hastening to his own
carriage, he fortunately reached the jail just as Mr.
Garrison arrived. The warrant was presented,
the jail door was thrown quickly open, and Mr.
Garrison was safe from the howling mob. There
he remained for the night. As he was a
prisoner for no crime, he could not be detained,
* The American Conflict, by Horace Greeley.

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 87
of The Liberator, and a co-laborer with its hound
ed editor, in the anti-slavery cause.
The same year, in November, at Northfield,
N. H., Rev. George Storrs, while in prayer, pre
liminary to an anti-slavery lecture, was dragged
fi:om his knees, on a warrant issued by a justice
charging him with being " a common rioter and
brawler." *
In 1837, in Alton, lUinois, Elijah P. Lovejoy, a
man of culture and much moral worth, an editor
of an anti-slavery paper, was subjected to a series
of annoyances and persecutions, resulting in the
destruction of his press and type, and finally his
murder by a mob. These are a few specimens
of the pro-slavery spirit in the free states.
At the South, abolitionism was the unpardon
able sin, to be visited with summary vengeance.
A New Orleans paper declared that every anti-
slavery emissary of the South would " be burned
at the stake." Such was the voice from Georgia,

* The year 1835 may be galled the year of mobs. Many had oc
curred the preceding year, but this was the culminating period.
" A reign of terror prevailed throughout the free states. Churches
and public halls were assaulted, life and limb were endangered,
anti-slavery speakers were roughly handled, and often placed in
circumstances of imminent peril."

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

LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 89
The existence of slavery and the slave-trade in
the District of Columbia was especiaUy offensive
to the North. That horrid traffic was carried on
in sight of the national Capitol, and under cir
cumstances of extreme cruelty. Slave-pens were
there, fiUed with human merchandise, and gangs
of slaves, handcuffed and chained, were a spec
tacle of constant occurrence.
Liberty was outraged in the sight of the whole
world. The United States were disgraced by
such unspeakable hypocrisy — a free republic
legalizing the buying and selling of human be
ings. It was not ashamed to expose its naked
ness. It was natural that- such a state of things should
provoke indignation in the free North. In the
name of decency, as weU as of humanity, let slavery
cease to flaunt its flag at the common capital of
the nation. Such was the growing feeling at the
North. Numerous petitions were sent to Con
gress, in 1835, for the removal of these abomina
tions. But the right of petition was denied by
Congress, and a rule was passed excluding an^i-
slavery petitions.
In 1842, John Tyler being president, John

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

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

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

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

94 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

96 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
Mann, fifteen years his superior in age, also had
no little influence in shaping young Sumner's
course of thought and life. The two were always
warm friends, of kindred opinions and sympathies.
The friends of anti-slavery in the city were
aware of Mr. Sumner's principles. They had lis
tened to his earnest, generous utterances in pri
vate, and knew that if an opportunity were
given him for a fuUer expression of his views, he
would employ no uncertain words. It so hap
pened that two, at least, of the board of aldermen
of the city of Boston a-t this time. Deacon S. G.
Shipley and Dr. Ayer, were abolitionists. They
were on the committee to procure an orator for
the anniversary of the Fourth of July, under the
direction of the city government. They thought
of Charles Sumner, the pride of Boston, who was
as yet known to the general public only as a most
promising young lawyer, of extraordinary attain
ments, literary and legal, and to a select circle as a
gentleman of refined tastes, elegant manners, and
fascinating social qualities.
But the committee knew him as more than this.
CaUing upon him, they obtained his consent —
much to their delight. To a friend whom they

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 99
that of Bunker HiU wiU be as the farthing- candle
held up to the sun." He had seemed to manifest
a leaning towards the ranting abolitionists. He
had virtuaUy said to the great Whig party, of
which he was a hopeful scion. You must set your
self against the' extension of slavery, against the
retention of Texas ; you must declare for emanci
pation, — which the great Whig party wp,s not at
all inclined to do, regarding even the suggestion
as most disloyal to the party and unpatriotic to
the country. And so, when the great men of the
city met, after the oration, at the dinner table in
Faneuil HaU, they gave vent to their displeasure.
The Daily Advertiser of that time gives a brief
account of the scene. One speaker said that he
could not fuUy sustain the doctrines of the ora
tion. Wars were sometimes necessary. Robert
C. Winthrop, then a Whig representative in Con
gress, having in mind the annexation of Texas,
and a probable war with Mexico, proposed as a
toast, " Our country — however bounded, stiU our
country — to be defended at all hazards." John
C. Park took occasion to vindicate the military in
stitutions of the country, against what he consid
ered the doctrines of the oration. Judge Rogers

100 LIPE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
gave as a sentiment, " That high and honorable
feeling which makes the citizen a soldier, and the
soldier a citizen." Not a word in commendation
of the young orator. He stood alone. But he
does not appear to have been at aU' daunted. He
calmly rose, and, in a spirit in harlnony with his
theme, said that he would not foUow with a single
word the apple of discord which he seemed to
have thrown that day, but would call their atten
tion to that part of the performance in the church
with regard to which there could be no difference
of opinion, referring to the part taken by the chU
dren, and would speak of the public schools of
the city.
It may be remarked that Mr. Sumner does not
seem to have taken a stand against war as a de
fence in case of actual aggression, but against it
as an established method for the settlement of
international difficulties. Who can refuse his
assent to such sentiments as these, from the ora
tion? " Stripped of aU delusive apology, . . . war
faUs from glory into barbarous guUt, taking its
place among bloody transgressions, while its flam
ing honors are turned into shame. . . . Amidst

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

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

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

104 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

112 LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNEE.
ty for pieces representing banditti; but this taste
does not appear in his later works. And when
asked if he would undertake to fill the vacant
panels in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washing
ton, ... he is reported to have said, 'I wiU
paint only one subject, and choose my own.
No battle-piece!'
" Admitting the calamitous necessity of war,
it can never be with pleasure — it cannot be
without sadness unspeakable — that we survey
its fiendish encounter. The artist of purest aim,
sensitive to these emotions, withdraws naturaUy
from the field of blood, confessing that no scene
of battle finds a place in the highest art, — that
man, created in the image of God, can never be
pictured degrading, profaning, violating that
sacred image. . . . There are tragedies which
History enters sorrowfuUy, tearfuUy, in her faith
ful record ; but this generous Muse, with too at
tractive colors, must not perpetuate the passions
from which they sprang, or the griefs which they
caused. Be it her duty to dweU with eulogy and
pride on aU that is magnanimous, lovely, benefi
cent ; let this be preserved by votive canvas, and.
marble also. But No battle-piece 1 . . . The time

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

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

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

116 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
may must they have faUen upon the ears of men
who loved soft words of compromise, and dreaded
above aU things agitation ! Doubt]ess they in
spired some younger hearts with a noble ambi
tion to " clear the way " for liberty throughout
the land.

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 117

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

118 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
He stiU believed that it might be kept true to
its patriotic and liberal principles.
But, in order to that, the friends of free
dom must bestir themselves. The time for neu
trality was past. The Whig party must demand
the repeal of slavery under the constitution and
laws of the national government. They must
" choose men who wiU devote themselves ear
nestly, heartily to the work, — who wiU enter
upon it with awakened conscience, and with
that valiant faith, before which all obstacles dis
appear, — who wiU be ever loyal to truth, free
dom, right, humanity, — who will not look for
rules of conduct down to earth, in the mire of
expediency, but with heaven-directed counte
nance seek those great ' primal duties ' which
' shine aloft like stars,' to Ulumine alike the path
of individuals and of nations. They must be
true to the principles of Massachusetts. They
must not be Northern men with Southern prin
ciples, nor Northern men under Southern influ
ences. They must be courageous and wiUing on
all occasions to stand alone, provided right be
with them. . . . There are a few such now in
Congress. Massachusetts has a venerable rep-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 127
in the Boston Prison DiscipUne Society, he was
regarded by many very much as a " thorn in the
flesh." His idealism was troublesome. He was
not content that the annual report of the secretary
should be meekly received with an annual satisfac
tion. He thought that the spirit of the secretary
was narrow and iUiberal, and he said so. It was
wedded to a particular system, and would giv«
no ear to arguments in favor of any other. This
was offensive to his progressive and liberal mind.
He wanted the society to be more active and
more open to conviction, to be ready for informa
tion and advice from any quarter.
It seems strange to us that so reasonable a de
mand should have provoked so much opposition,
controversy, and ill-feeling for a series of years.
But so it was. The secretary favored the Auburn
or social system,. Mr. Sumner the PhUadelphia
or separate system. Boston was proud of her
method, and was not wiUing to learn from Phila
delphia. Mr. Sumner was a Bostonian, but he
did not beUeve that Boston was aU the world.
He wanted fair play, and an open, generous
policy. And so, parties were formed, there was
private and public controversy, the newspapers

128 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
took up the quarrel, and foreign countries became
interested in the debate.
Among those who sympathized -with Mr. Sum
ner were Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Mr. HiUard, and
Dr. Francis Wayland, president of Brown Uni
versity, and these were styled "intruders."
The difficulty began early in 1845, and in
June, 1847, at a public meeting of the society
in Tremont Temple, a committee, of which Mr.
Sumner was one, brought forward a report em
bodying his views. These were explained and
defended in a speech, courteous but plain-dealing.
The system which Mr. Sumner favored he thus
briefly described : " 1. Separation of the prisoners
from each other ; 2. Labor in the ceU ; 3. Exer
cise in the open air ; 4. Visits ; 5. Books ; 6. Moral
and religious instruction. Its fundamental doc
trine, and only essential element, is separation of
prisoners from each other, on which may be in
grafted solace of any kind needful to health of
body or mind."
AUuding to the practical working of the society,
Mr. Sumner said, " Look at our grandiose organi
zation. We have a president, with forty vice-
presidents, or, borrowing an iUustration from

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNER. 131

CHAPTER XII.
Address at Amherst CoUege. — " Fame and Glory."
— Youn^ Men. — True Object of Life. — Whig
Meeting at Boston. — Whig State Convention. —
The Whig Party "found wanting." — Party of
Freedom. — Enthusiastic Meeting at Worcester.
— At Union CoUege. — " Law of Human Prog-

Ms.. Sumner's heart and hands were now full
of work. Less than two months after intruding
upon the Prison Discipline .Society, he responded
to a caU from the yoiing men of Amherst CoUege
to address them at Commencement. "What more
could he desire ? The year before, he had spoken
at Harvard no uncertain words ; now, to another
company of young scholars, he would repeat the
cry, " Clear the way," His theme was. Fame
and Glory — a theme hackneyed enough, often
written about by school-boys and sophomores;
but how, under the master's touch, it glows with
new brightness '

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNER. 141
lege anniversary — this time at Union CoUege,
Schenectady, N. Y.
These literary festivals were times of seed-
sowing. And it was a cheering indication of
better, wholesomer days, that the young men
of the country were ready to listen to such
a teacher as Mr. Sumner. The high-toned.
Christian moraUty which he inculcated, and
which he insisted should be applied to poli
tics, as everywhere else, was welcomed by young
and ingenuous minds not yet blinded and hard
ened by the maxims of worldly expediency.
Having spoken at Harvard and Amherst, now
again in July, 1848, having just assisted in
forming a new party of progress, he discourses
at Union on the Law of Human Progress. "1
would, if I could," he said, " utter truth which,
while approved by the old, should sink deep
into the souls of the young, fiUing them with
strength for aU good works." Mr. Sumner had
before him a grand ideal of truth and right,
and also of humanity. He would teach the
young not to be content with present attain
ments and the present condition of the world.
There was a divine law of human progress run-

142 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
ning through and shaping aU history, and work?
ing out a glorious future. " The earnest soul,
enlightened by history, strengthened by philos
ophy, nursed to chUdish slumber by the simple
prayer, ' Thy kingdom come, thy wiU be done on
earth as it is done in heaven,' confident in the
final, though slow, fulfilment of the daily fulfil
ling promises of the future, looks forward to the
continuance of this progress "during unkno-syn
and infinite ages, as a law of our being. . . .
" Christianity is the religion of progress. Here
is a distinctive feature which we vainly seek in
any heathen faith professed upon earth. Confu
cius, in his sublime morals, taught us not to do
unto others what we would not have them do to
us ; but the Chinese philosopher did not declare
the ultimate triumph of this law. It was re
served for the Sermon on the Mount to reveal
the vital truth, that aU the highest commands
of religion and duty, drawing in their train
celestial peace, and marking the final goal of aU
progress among men, shaU one day be obeyed.
' For verUy I say unto you,' says the Saviour,
' tUl heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle
shaU in no wise pass from the law till all be
fulfilled.' "

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 143
This progress of humanity embraces people of
every race, and demands for aU the means of
every kind of improvement. Bigotry, or con
servatism, opposes this movement ; but in vain.
" Thus ever has Truth moved on — though op
posed and reviled, stiU mighty and triumphant.
Rejected by the rich and powerful, by the favor
ites of fortune and place, she finds shelter with
those who often have no shelter for themselves.
It is such as these that most freely welcome
moral truth, with its new commandments. Not
the dweUers in the glare of the world, but the
humble and lowly, most clearly perceive this
truth, — as watchers placed in the. depths of a
weU observe the stars which are obscured to
those who live in the effulgence of noon. Free
from egotism and prejudice, whether of self-
interest or of class, without cares and temp
tations, whether of wealth or power, dweUing in
the mediocrity or obscurity of common life, they
discern the new signal, and surrender unre
servedly to its guidance. The Saviour knew
this. He did not caU upon priest, or Levite, or
Pharisee to foUow him, but upon the humble
fishermen by the Sea of GalUee."

144 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE,
Mr. Sumner warned his hearers against impa--
tience and rashness. " Cultivate a just moder
ation. Learn to reconcile order with change,
- stability with progress. This is a wise con
servatism ; this is a wise reform. Rightly un
derstanding 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 evil, — a conservative of knowledge,
a reformer of ignorance, — a conservative of
truths and principles whose seat is in the bosom
of God, a reformer of laws and institutions
which are but the wicked or imperfect work of
man, — a conservative of that divine order which
is found only in movement, a reformer of those
earthly wrongs and abuses which spring from a
violation of the great law of human progress ? "
Thus did Mr. Sumner seek to build up a new
party on the highest grounds, and to enlist in its
support the young men of the land.

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 145

CHAPTER XIII.
Object of the Free Soil Party. — Free Soil Con
vention at Buffalo. — Martin Van Buren and
Charles Francis Adams, — Speech by Mr. Sum
ner. — Address on Peace. — Colored Children
in Public Schools. — Mr. Sumner's Argument be
fore the Supreme Court. — Mr. Clay's Compro
mise Measures. — Fugitive Slave Bill. — Its
Effect in the Free States. — Meeting of Protest
in Faneuil Hall. — Terror of the Colored Peo
ple. — WiUiam and EUen Crafts. — Mr. Sum
ner's Opinion of Slave-Hmders.
The Free SoU party now entered fully upon its
work. Its purpose was to prevent the further
extension of slavery, and to secure its abolition
wherever it existed within the national domain,
as distinguished from State jurisdiction. It did
not propose to touch slavery in the States,
A large number of persons, who were distinc
tively known as Abolitionists, and who, to a great
extent, took no part in political action against
10

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 147
friends to the new cause shows that it had drawn
to itself many of the choicest spirits of the North.
In fact, the best portion of the two great parties
which had hitherto carried sway, came over to
the new organization, which alone represented
true American principles.
On this occasion Mr. Sumner was chosen pre
siding officer, and made an eloquent speech. He
declared that not banks and tariffs, and such mere
material interests, were now to give their tone to
the policy of the country. " Henceforward, peo-
TECTION TO MAN wUl be the true American sys
tem. . . . The old and UI- compacted party organ
izations are broken, and from their ruins is now
formed a new party, the Party of Freedom. There
were good men who longed for this, and died
without the sight. John Quincy Adams longed
for it. William EUery Channing longed for it.
Their spirits hover oyer us, and urge us to perse
vere. Let us be true to the moral grandeur of
our cause. Have faith in Truth, and in God, who
giveth the victory."
During the campaign which followed, Mr.
Sumner spoke at many places in the State. A
speech delivered in FaneuU HaU, October 31,

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

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

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

LIPE OF CHARLES SUMNEB. 151
Here we see one feature of the CivU Rights
Bill, which Mr. Sumner so earnestly pressed
Congress to pass, as an act of justice to the
blacks, and of benefit to the whole country.
The court, in the present case, did not see fit
to annul the discrimination in the common
schools.-* But in 1855 the legislature threw the
door open to aU children alike. So we trust the
national legislature wiU do for the whole country.
The year 1850 is memorable for the series
of compromises, originating with Henry Clay,
of Kentucky, which were designed to allay and
forever settle the controversy about slavery.
Alas 1 the " conflict " was " irrepressible."
It was now a period of extreme irritation be
tween the Free and the Slave States. The an
nexation of Texas, as a slave state, in 1845 ; the
war with Mexico, begun in 1846 ; the acquisition,
as the result of it, of the vast territory of New
Mexico and California, which the South were
laboring to throw open to slavery, — all this had
seriously alarmed the North. On the other hand,
* Chief Justice Shaw decided that the claim of equality before
the law meant '.' only that the rights of all, as they are settled and
regulated by law, are equally entitled to the paternal consideration
and protection of the law for then: maintenance and security."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 161
Nothing, sir, can be settled which is not right.
Nothing can be settled which is against freedom.
Nothing can be settled which is contrary to
the Divine law. God, nature, and all the holy
sentiments of the heart repudiate any such seem
ing settlement." '
As an encouragement to fidelity in the cause
of freedom, he said, " To every laborer in a cause
like this, there are satisfactions unlniown to the
common political partisan. , , , Whatever may
be existing impediments, his is the cheering con
viction that every word spoken, every act per
formed, every vote cast for this cause, helps to
sweU those quickening influences by which truth,
justice, and humanity wiU be established upon
earth. He may not Uve to witness the blessed
consummation, but it is none the less certain.
Others may dweU on the past as secure. Under
the laws of a beneficent God, the future also is
secure, — .on the single condition that we labor
for its g^eat objects,"
With reference to the election of suitable men
to represent the cause in the State and the
Nation, he said: " Admonished by the experience
of timidity, irresolution, and weakness in our
11

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

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

164 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 167
It was a period of intense excitement within
and outside the General Court, enlivened now and
then by amusing incidents. One member, living
in the -dcinity, but generaUy confined at home
from sickness, was brought into the House when
ever voting was to be done, and then carried
back. Every man was expected to " do his duty,"
even if he died in the attempt.
And so it went on tiU March 12, when an ex
citing debate took place, in the course of which
Caleb Cushing, of ancient and modern renown,
being then a member from Newbury, said that
" he would cheerfully confront any personal ex
tremity, he would be content to reUnquish for
ever aU aspirations as a statesman or a man, he
would think no personal sacrifice too great, if
he might thereby avoid such a death-stab to the
honor and welfare of the Commonwealth, and such
a stain and disaster to the Union as the election
to the Senate of the United States of a one-idea
aboUtion agitator to represent the people of Mas
sachusetts." *
• In generous contrast with the above, we gladly insert the fol
lowing later testimony from Mr. Cushing : " I think the speeches,
discourses, and miscellaneous papers of Mr. Sumner eminently de
serve to be collected and published in a complefe form. "Whatever

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE. 175
the state Senate] a letter authorizing that gentle
man to withdraw his name, whenever, in his judg
ment, the good of the cause should require it." *
Besides a letter of acceptance sent to both
Houses, Mr. Sumner, foUowing the precedent set
by John Quincy Adams in 1808, addressed the
legislature directly. In that speech he said, " If
I were to foUow the customary course, 1 should
receive this [certificate of election] in sUence.
But the protracted and unprededented contest
which ended in my election, the interest it awa
kened, the importance universaUy conceded to it,
the ardor of opposition, and the constancy of sup
port which it arbused, also the principles which
more than ever among us it brought into discus
sion, seem to justify what my own feelings irre
sistibly prompt — a departure from this rule. . . .
" Your appointment finds me in a private station,
with which I am entirely content. For the first
time in my life I am caUed to poUtical office.
With none of the experience possessed by others
to smooth the way of labor, I weU might hesitate.
But I am cheered by the generous confidence,
which, throughout a lengthened contest, perse-
* Daily Commonwealth, April 25, 1851.

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 177
who has not left to us the choice of duties, that,
whUst I conscientiously discharge mine, I shaU
not finaUy lose my reward,' These are words at
tributed to Washington in the early days of the
American revolution. The rule of duty is the
same for the lowly and the great; and I hope it
may not seem presumptuous in one so humble as
myself to adopt his determination, and to avow
his confidence,"
And so Massachusetts sent a Man to represent
her in the "high places of the field,"
The same month Horace Mann wrote from his
place in Washington, " My dear Sumner, Laus
Deo ! Good, better, best, better yet ! By the
necessity of the case, you are now to be a poli
tician ^ an honest one. Scores have asked
whether you would be true, I have under
written to the amount of twenty reputations."
12

178 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

CHAPTER XV.
Lifting up and Casting down. — Thomas Sims
a Fugitive Slave. — Returned to his " Master."
— Theodore Parker, — Mr. Sumner's Opinion.
— His First Remarks in the Senate. — Kos
suth. — Land Bill. — Roads. — J. Fenimore
Cooper. — Drayton and Sayres. — Anxiety of
Mr. Sumner's Friends. — Fugitive Slave Bill,
— Attempt to get a Hearing. — His Friends-
censure him. — Letter to Mr, Parker, — The
great Opportunity improved.
We will go back a little way to the time when
the voting for senator was yet going on in the
legislature. Between the nineteenth and twen
tieth baUotings, — that is, between March 19 and
AprU 20, 1851, — another scene, of far different
character, was enacting in a United States com
missioner's court, in the same city of Boeton —
different, yet strangely connected with the other
in the State House,

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 179
In the one case the question was, which one
of two freemen should be elevated to a high post
of honor ; in the other, whether a man, an Amer-
icaii, ^lould be sent back to slavery. What a
jumble of ideas in a free. Christian land !
One American was exalted to office, another
American was deemed to be a slave, the property
of yet another American, and won't down again
into his prison-house.
Doubtless this example of the injustice and bar
barity of slavery, right under the shadow of the
State House, helped to nerve the friends of free
dom to stand by Mr. Sumner.
Thomas Sims, poor feUow, had found his way
to Boston in search of freedom, and for a time
felt comparatively safe, close by the " Cradle of
Liberty." He was seized under the false charge
of having stolen a watch, and hurried off, after
he had made a stout resistance, to the Court
House, which was converted into a jaU. While
being taken from the carriage into the Court
House, he uttered the broken cry, " I am in the
hands of the kidnappers,"
The jaU was guarded by .the city marshal and
sixty members of the city police, A detachment

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 0)0
memory of J. Fenimore Cooper, paid a just and
graceful tribute to the great American novelist :
" As an author of clear and manly prose, as a
portrayer to the life of scenes on land and sea,
as a master of the keys to human feelings, and
as a beneficent contributor to. the general fund
of happiness, he is remembered with delight.
As a patriot who loved his country, who iUus
trated its history, who advanced its character
abroad, and by his genius won for it the unwiU
ing regard of foreign nations, he deserves a
place in the hearts of the American people."
Some time after this, Mr. Sumner became in
terested in the case of two men, Drayton and
Sayres, incarcerated at Washington for helping
the escape of slaves. On the 14th of May, he
submitted an opinion to the president upon his
pardoning power, hoping to effect their release.
The case is thus stated by Mr. Sumner him
self:— " This case, from beginning to end, is a curious
episode of anti-slavery history. The people of
Washington were surprised, on the morning of
AprU 16, 1848, at hearing that the 'Pearl,'
a schooner from the North, had sailed down

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 187
Congress, and the slave-masters raged, as was
their wont.
"MeanwhUe, Drayton and Sayres were in
dicted before the Criminal Court of the Dis
trict of Columbia, for 'transporting slaves.'
There were no less than one hundred and fifteen
indictments against each of the prisoners, and
the bail demanded of each was seventy- six
thousand doUars. Hon. Horace Mann, a rep
resentative of Massachusetts, appeared for the
defence. His speech on this occasion wiU be
read with constant interest. The spirit of the
mob without entered the court-room, betraying
itself even in the conduct of the judge, while,
standing near the devoted counsel for the de
fence, were men who cocked pistols and drew
dirks in the mob that foUowed the prisoners to
the jaU, Of course the verdict was ' guilty,'
and the sentence was according to the extreme
requirement of a barbarous law,
" Drayton and Sayres lingered in prison more
than four years, and during this long incarcera
tion, they were the objects of much sympathy
at the North, A petition to Congress in their be
half, signed by leading abolitionists, including the

y.'

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

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

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

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

192 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
Foot, HamUn, Seward, Shields, Upham, and
Wade. The slave power boasted, that, for that session
at least, the Massachusetts abolitionist should
not be heard.
But while his enemies boasted, his friends cen
sured. Even now suspicion was not entirely
removed. Surely Mr., Sumner might contrive
some way to compel a hearing, if he wished to.
So said many of his friends in Massachusetts.
Even the Liberator allowed itself to indulge in
an ungenerous fling at the silent senator. He
must be under an overseer 1 Theodore Parker,
too, who knew Mr. Sumner so well, was not satis
fied, and so he wrote to him. To this the sena
tor replied, August 11, —
" I wiU not argue the question of past delay.
To all that can be said on that head, there is this
explicit answer. With a heart fuU of devotion
to our cause, in the exercise of my best discre
tion, and on the advice or with the concurrence of
friends, I have waited. It may be that this was
unwise, but it was honestly and sincerely adopted,
with a view to serve the cause. Let this pa^s.
" You cannot desire a speech from me more

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

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 197
Mr. Sumner Icnew that he was addressing more
than the Senate, The whole country was his au
dience. And he rose to the greatness and solem
nity of the occasion. Inspired by a profound
sense of justice, sustained by a firm conviction
that he was right, and by the certain belief in the
final triumph of his cause, he knew that he had
the advantage of his opponents. He knew that
their consciences were on his side ; and he looked
them in the face without quailing. There was a
voice which said to him, " Pear not, for they that
be -with us are more than they that be with them,"
He knew that in " dear old Massachusetts " and
elsewhere, he had the warm sympathies of valued
friends of humanity. His was the cause of God.
" Mr. President," he began, " here is a provis
ion for extraordinary expenses incurred in exe
cuting the laws of the United States. Extraordi
nary expenses ! Sir, beneath these specious words
lurks the very subject on which, by a solemn vote
of this body, I was refused a hearing. Here it is ;
no longer open to the charge of being an ' ab
straction,' but actuaUy presented for practical
Fegislation ; not introduced by me, but by the
senator from Virginia (Mr. Hunter), on the rec-

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 199
dependant of the States, and never anywhere
creature or dependant of the Nation, and that the
Nation can never, by legislative or other act, im
part to it any support under the Constitution of
the United States, — with these convictions I
could not aUow this session to reach its close
without making or seizing an opportunity to de
clare myself openly against the usurpation, injus
tice, and cruelty of the late intolerable enactment
for the recovery of fugitive slaves. Full well I
know, sir, the difficulties of this discussion, aris
ing from prejudices of opinion and from adverse
conclusions, strong and sincere as my own. Full
weU I know that I am in a small minority, with
few here to whom I can look for sympathy or sup
port. Full weU I know that I must utter things
unwelcome to many in this body, which I cannot
do without pain. Full well I know that the insti
tution of slavery in our country, which I now
proceed to consider, is as sensitive as it is power
ful, possessing a power to shake the whole land,
with a sensitiveness that shrinks and trembles at
the touch. But while these things may properly
piompt me to caution and reserve, they cannot
change my duty or my determination to perform

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

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

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

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

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

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

206 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE,
the opponents. Three Southern senators indulged
in personalities, Mr. Chase, afterwards the hon
ored secretary of the treasury during the civil
war, and yet later, chief justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States, said, " In my judgment
the speech of my friend from Massachusetts will
mark an eea in American history." Henry Wil
son, afterwards, for so many years, his co-agita
tor in the national Senate, and always his friend
and able supporter, WendeU Phillips, Stephen C.
PhiUips, and many others, wrote to Mr. Sumner in
a similar strain.
The vote which foUowed the debate tells the
sad tale of a Senate sold to slavery. On Mr.
Sumner's amendment : Yeas, 4 ; nays, 47, The
four were Messrs, Chase, Hale, Wade, and Sum
ner. But that smaU vote did not teU the whole story.
The truth had had a hearing. Moreover, it had
awakened the consciences, and touched the
deeper, better feelings of some of the Southern
auditors. A letter written to Rev. Dr. Stebbins, about
two months later, gives us a very interesting in
sight into Mr. Sumner's feehngs at this time, and

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 207
also shows the happy effect of his speech, even
upon slaveholders : — "Newpoiit, E. I., October 12, '52.
'• Mt deae Sie : I cannot receive the overflow
ing sympathy of your letter without a response.
It has added to my happiness. The interest you
express in that speech, and particularly in the
latter part of it, emboldens me to write of it more
freely than I have before,
" I went to the Senate determined to do my
duty, but in my own way. Anxious forthe cause,
having it always in mind, I knew that I could not
fail in loyalty, though I might err in judgment.
All my instincts prompted delay. But meanwhile
I was taunted and attacked at home. Had I been
less conscious of the rectitude of my course, I
might have sunk under these words. But I per
severed in my own way.
" As I delivered the part to which you refer, I
remember well the intent looks of the Senate, and
particularly of Mr. King [president, pro tern., of
the Senate]. It was already dinner time, but all
were silent and attentive, and Hale [John P.
Hale, of N. H.] tells me that Mr. Underwood, of
Kentucky, by his side, was in tears.
" Prom many leading Southern men I have re
ceived the strongest expressions of interest awa
kened in our cause, and a confession that they did

208 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
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.
" ThankfuUy and truly yours,
"Chaeles Sumner."

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 209

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER, 213
which he advocated was the following : " That
in the organization of the volunteer military com
panies of the Commonwealth there shall be nx)
distinction of color or race."
He also spoke on the representative system
and its proper basis, and on biUs of rights — their
history and policy.
On the former topic he said, " This is an in
vention of modern times. In antiquity there
were republics and democracies, but there was no
representative system. Rulers were chosen by
the people, as in many commonwealths ; senators
were designated by the king or by the censors,
as in Rome ; ambassadors "or legates were sent to
a federal councU, as to the Assembly of the Am-
phictyons ; but in no ancient state was any body
of men ever constituted by the people to repre
sent them in the administration of their internal
affairs. In Athens, the people met in public as
sembly, and directly acted for themselves on aU
questions, foreign or domestic. This was possi
ble there, as the state was smaU, and the Assem
bly seldom exceeded five thousand citizens, — a
large town-meeting, or mass-meeting, we might
caU it, — not inaptly termed ' that fierce democ
ratic ' of Athens."

214 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNER.
After alluding to the representative system
as it exists in England, Mr. Sumner said, that " to
our coilntry belongs the honor of first giving to
the world the idea of a system which, discarding
corporate representation [as in England], founded
itself absolutely on equality." The American
system, as distinguished from the English, is the
applying the rule of three to representation — a
representation not according to property, not
according to territory, not according to any cor
porate rights, but of persons, according to their re
spective numbers. " It gives to the great princi
ple of human equality a new expansion and ap
plication. It makes all men, in the enjoyment
of the electoral franchise, whatever their diversi
ties of intelligence, education, or wealth, or where
soever they may be within the borders of the
commonwealth, whether in small town or popu
lous city, absolutely equal at the baUot-box."
"I cannot doubt that the district system,
whereby the representative power will be dis
tributed in just proportion, according to the rule
of three, among the voters of the Commonwealth,
is the true system, destined at no distant day to,
prevail."

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

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

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

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

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

220 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
Gas. O ye gods ! ye gods I must I endure all this ?
Brut. All this ? Ay, more ; fret till your proud heart break ;
Go, show your slaves how choleric you are,
And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge ?
Must I observe you ? Must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humor ?
Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love ;
I may do that I shall be sorry for.
Brut. Tou have done that you should be sorry for.
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ;
For I am armed so strong in honesty,
That they pass by me as the idle wind.
Which I respect not.'
Cas. A friend should bear his friend's infirmities.
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Brut. I do not, till you pkactise them on me.
Cas. You love me not.
Brut. I do not like your faults."

All which ends at last in united heart and hand.
So would it be if slavery should disappear.
Three months later, May 25, 1854, Mr. Sum
ner uttered his last protest against the infamous
biU, and against slavery in Nebraska and Kansas.
It was at the final passage. At midnight, Mr.
Sumner offered numerous remonstrances against
the biU from different parts of the country, chiefly
from New England, and then spoke briefly, but
most eloquently. Among other things, he said, —
" In passing such a bill as is now threatened,
you scatter, from this dark midnight hour, no

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

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

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

224 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNER,

CHAPTER XVII.
Anthony Burns. — Meeting in Faneuil Hall. — Dr.
Howe, — WendeU PhiUips. — Theodore Par
ker. —^ The Court House assailed. — A Man
killed. — The Military called out. — The Ex
amination. — Attempt io purchase Burns, — The
Trial proceeds. — Mr. Ellis and Mr. Dana: —
Sims surrendered to his " Master." — Scene in
State Street. — Mr. Sumner's Speech. — Re
monstrances against the Fugitive Slave Act. —
Mr. Sumner's Life in Danger, — Lines by Mr.
Whittier,
While Mr. Sumner was thus thundering at the
slave power in the Senate, the slave power was
busy in Boston in carrying out one part of its
horrible programme.
Anthony Burns, a fugitive from Virginia, had
been in the employ of Mr. Pitts, a colored citizen
of Boston, about three weeks, when, one evening
— May 24, 1854 — just after closing the shop, he
was arrested on a warrant from the United States

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 227
The next morning, two corps of United States
Marines were quartered within the waUs of the
Court House, Three city companies received or
ders from the major general of the State mUitia
to be in readiness,
Saturday morning the examination was re
sumed. The prisoner was brought in under
strong guard. His counsel urged further delay,
which was granted.
MeanwhUe the friends of Burns sought his lib
eration by purchase, and twelve hundred doUars,
the price demanded by Suttle, were placed in the
hands of Rev. Mr. Grimes, pastor of the Second
Colored Baptist Church. So confident were they
of success, that on Sunday morning a carriage
was at the door of the Court House, to take
Burns away. But it was decided to detain him
tiU the next day, Suttle afterwards refused to
seU. Sunday was an anxious day in Boston. Theo
dore Parker, in Music HaU, said, " I understand
there are one hundred and eighty-four marines
lodged in the Court House, every man of them
furnished with a musket and a bayonet, with his
side-arms and twenty-four ball cartridges. . . .

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 229
R. Giddings, member of Congress from Ohio, an
indomitable champion of freedom, was among the
spectators. Mr. Dana made a sarcastic reference to the
remarkable peace enjoyed in Boston since the
arrest of Burns, because of the pos'se of specials,
gathered from the purUeus of the city by the
marshal : —
" Why, sir, people have not felt it necessary to
lock their doors at night ; the brothels are ten
anted only by women ; fighting-dogs and racing-
horses have been unemployed, and Ann Street
and its aUeys and ceUars show signs of a coming
millennium." AUuding to the statement made by Brent, a
witness from Virginia, thart Burns had expressed
a wUhngness to return with Suttle, Mr. Dana
said, —
" If he was willing to go back, why did they
not send to Pitts's shop, and teU the prisoner that
Colonel Suttle was at the Revere House, and
would give him an opportunity to return ? No,
sir, they lurked about the thievish corners of the
streets, and measured his height and his scars, to
see if they answered to the record, and seized

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 257
confident champions of that peculiar fanaticism
of the South, was reminded of the striking words
of Jefferson, picturing the influence of slavery,
when he says, —
" ' The whole commerce between master and
slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boister
ous passions, — the most unremitting despotism
on the one part, and degrading submission on the
other. Our chUdren see this, and learn to imitate
it ; for man is an imitative animal. . . . The parent
storms. The chUd looks on, catches the linea
ments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle
of smaUer slaves, gives a loose rein to the worst
of passions, and, thus nursed, educated, and duly
exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by
it with odious peculiarities. Tlie man must be a
prodigy who can retain his manners and morals
undepraved by such circumstances'
" Nobody, who witnessed the senator from South
CaroUna or the senator from Virginia in this de
bate, wiU place either of them among the prodi
gies described by Jefferson. As they spoke, the
Senate Chamber must have seemed to them, in
the characteristic fantasy of the moment, a planta
tion weU-stocked with slaves, over which the lash
of the overseer had free swing.

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEB. 241
White in the moon, we saw the long waves fall
Baffled and broken from the rocky wall,
That to the menace of the brawling flood
Opposed alone its massive quietude.
Calm as a fate, with not a leaf nor vine
Nor birch-spray trembling in the still moonshine.
Crowning it like God's peace. I sometimes think
That night-scene by the sea prophetical
(For Nature speaks in symbols aud in signs.
And through her pictures human fate divines), —
That rock, wherefrom we saw the billows sink
In murmuring rout, uprising clear and taU
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, WeU done ! "
16

242 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEB.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Rise of the Republican Party. — Great Changes,
— Freedom gaining Ground. — Republican
Convention. — Mr. Sumner's Speech. —^ Duties
of Massachusetts. — The Supreme Court and
the Fugitive Slave Act. — Judges. — Letter to
Agricultural Society. — Mercantile Library Asso
ciation. — " Position and Duties of the Mer
chant." — Granville Sharp. — Seamen's Wages,
— Fugitive Slave BiU,
The party of Freedom, which had successively
borne the names of Liberty Party and Free Soil
Party, now assumed thaf of REPUBLiCAiJ, Its
first convention, under this new designation, was
held at Worcester, September 7, 1854,
Ten years had wrought a mighty change.
The slave power was still in the ascendant, and
resolved, by whatever means, to retain its su
premacy. It had humiliated the North, and
dragged away in triumph from its towns and

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

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNEE. 247
the bench, crowned the pages of English history
with massacre and murder, even with the blood
of innocent women.
" Ay, sir, it was a judicial tribunal in our own
country, surrounded by all the forms of law,
which hung witches at Salem, — which affirmed
the constitutionality of the Stamp Act, while it
admonished jurors and people to obey, — and
which now, in our day, lends its sanction to the
unutterable atrocity of the Fugitive Slave Act."
Mr. Sumner beUeved that he was bound to obey
the Constitution as lie understood it, and not as he
did not understand it 1 He believed the Fugi
tive Slave Act to be unconstitutional, and there
fore he did not regard it as binding upon him.
It was against the divine law, and he would obey
God rather than man. He would disobey the
human law, and take the consequences, whatever
they might be. " The good citizen, at all per
sonal hazard, will refuse to obey it."
On the 25th of the same month, Mr. Sumner
sent a characteristic letter to the Norfolk Agri
cultural Society, giving his reasons for not ac
cepting an invitation to attend : —
" From the mother earth we may derive many

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNER. 249
States." Now he could speak directly of negro
slavery in the United States, and be " weU re
ceived." He could even rebuke merchants of
Boston who had not only aided, but, in some
cases, instigated the arrest and rendition of Sims
and Burns.
GranviUe Sharp, a London merchant, born in
1735, was held up as a model business man, and,
above aU, as a man; a man who carried his con
science into trade, but never made a trade of con
science ; who was more than a successful merchant,
a phUanthropist of the purest character, a special
foe to slavery, " heralding by many years the la
bors of Clarkson and WUberforce." He boldly
assaUed the slave-trade, and slavery itself. He
labored to prove that slavery could not exist un
der the British Constitution. Cases of slaves
arrested in England by foreign masters had awa
kened his sympathies. Though often balked, he
never rested tiU the Chief Justice of England at
length declared, that the moment a slave touched
British soil he became free.
" Imitating him," said Mr. Sumner, in conclu
sion, " commerce would thrive none the less, but
goodness more. Business would not be checked,

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

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

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

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

254 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

CHAPTER XIX.
Lecture before the Mercantile Library Association,
— " The Anti- Slavery Enterprise. " — Opposition
to Truth. — Tlte first to welcome Truth. — Mr.
Hayes. — Dignity of the Cause of Freedom. —
— A work for Every One. — Meeting at Fan
euil Hall. — The Rip Van Winkle Party. —
The Know Nothing Party.
" Hancock Street, 23d November, 1856.
" Mt deae Sie : An unkindly current of air
is often more penetrating than an arrow. From
such a shaft I suffered on the night of my address
to the Mercantile Library Association, more than
a week ago, and no care or skiU has been effica
cious to relieve me."
This forms part of a letter of excuse from Mr.
Sumner for 'not delivering a lecture — the first of
a course organized in Boston for the discussion
of slavery. Mr. Sumner was silenced. A " cur
rent of air " had effected what the acts and

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 255
threats of slaveholders had failed to do. But
kindly Nature ere long relented, and released him
from her bonds. He returned to his seat in the
Senate. The foUowing spring, in 1855, Mr. Sumner
gave the lecture referred to above — " The Anti-
Slavery Enterprise: Its Necessity, Practicabil
ity, and Dignity." It awakened so much inter
est, that its repetition was reqviested in Boston,
and in many places in New York. Its suc
cessive delivery in Metropolitan Hall and Niblo's
Theatre, New York, and in Brooklyn, forms an
era in the anti-slavery cause. Said the New
York Tribune, " That a lecture should be repeat
ed in New York is a rare occurrence. That a
lecture on anti-slavery should be repeated in
New York, even before a few despised fanatics,
is an unparalleled occurrence. But that an anti-
.slavery lecture should be repeated, night after
night, to successive multitudes, each more enthu
siastic than the last, marks the epoch of a revolu
tion in popular feeling ; it is an era in the history
of Liberty."
In the beginning of this speech, which was
three hours long, Mr. Sumner briefly sketched

256 LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
the rapid progress of anti-slavery sentiment.
Referring to the opposition which it had met with,
he said, " Thus, in aU ages, is truth encountered.
At first persecuted, gagged, sUenced, cruci
fied, she cries out from the prison, the rack, the
stake, the cross, tiU at last her voice is heard.
And when that voice is reaUy heard, whether in
martyr cries, or in earthquake tones of civil con
vulsion, or in the calmness of ordinary speech,
such as I now employ, or in that still, small
utterance inaudible to the common ear, then is
the beginning of victory 1 ' Give me where to
stand, and I wiU move the world,' said Archi
medes ; and truth asks no more than did the
master of geometry.
" Viewed in this aspect, the present occasion
rises above any ordinary course of lectures or
series of political meetings. It is the inaugura
tion of Freedom. From this time forward, her-
voice of warning and command cannot be si
lenced," Speaking of the objection to the anti-slavery
enterprise, that it " lacked the authority of names
eminent in Church and State," Mr, Sumner said,
" If this be so, the more is the pity on their

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

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

LIPE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 259
Speaking of the practicabUity of the enter
prise, he said there was a place for every man.
" Providence is felt through individuals ; the
dropping of water wears away the rock ; and
no man can be too humble or poor for this work,
while to all the happy in genius, fortune, or fame,
it makes a special appeal. Here is room for the
strength of Luther and the sweetness of Me-
lancthon ; for the wisdom of age and the ardor
of youth ; for the judgment of the statesman and
the eloquence of the orator ; for the grace of the
scholar and the inspiration of the poet ; for the
learning of the professor and the skill of the law
yer ; for the exhortation of the preacher and the
persuasion of the press ; for the various energy
of man and the abounding sympathy of woman."
At a Republican raUy in Faneuil HaU, No
vember 2, 1855, on the ev3 of an election, Mr.
Sumner spoke for two hours and a quarter, show
ing that the Republican party alone represented
the principles of Freedom and the Constitution.
His speech began with these stirring words : —
" Are you for Freedom, or are you for Slavery ?
This is the question which you are to answer at
the coming election. Above aU other questions,

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER. 263

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 265
resolved, if possible, to have it come in as a
Slave State, For this purpose Mr. Douglas in
troduced a bill, March 17, 1«856, " to authorize
the people of the Territory of Kansas to form a
Constitution and State Government, preparatory
to their admission into the Union, when they
have the requisite population."
Beneath the seeming fairness of this bill there
lurked an infamous plot. It was designed, by
delay, to so manipulate the voting power in the
Territory, under the direction of the president,
an agent of slavery, that a slave constitution
should be adopted, and Kansas present herself
for admission to the Union as a Slave State,
A letter from Mr. Sumner to Theodore Parker,
under date of March 26, 1856, shows the plan
adopted by the friends of freedom in Congress,
in opposition to the pro-slavery plot : —
" I am glad you are to open on Kansas, Let
me suggest to press the admission of Kansas at
once with her present constitution. This is the
policy we have adopted, and it wiU crowd Douglas
and Cass infinitely. This proposition is some
thing practical ; and on this we must fight the
presidential election, . . .

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 267
whole country " — "a swindle of popular sover
eignty" — "a swindle of a great cause" — "a
swindle of God- given, inalienable rights. Turn
it over, look at it on aU 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 indubitable authority of fitness.
No other word wiU adequately express the min
gled meanness and wickedness of the cheat."
From this original monster swindle, other
swindles were to issue. The region being opened
to slavery, " it was confidently anticipated, that,
by the activity of" secret slavery emigration so
cieties, " slavery might be introduced into Kan
sas, quietly, but surely, without arousing conflict
— that the crocodile egg might be stealthUy
dropped in the sunburnt soil, there to be hatched,
unobserved, untU it sent forth its reptile mon
ster." But, unfortunately for this plot, emigration was
open from the Free States, and the South soon
had cause to fear a decided failure. Large num
bers of people flocked to Kansas, for the double
purpose of finding a home and saving the Ter
ritory to freedom. There sprang up a conflict

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER. 275
message, which, like the papal medal, can never
be forgotten in considering the perversity of
men." For aU these evUs Mr. Sumner recommended
what he styled " the remedy of justice and peace,
proposed by the senator from New York, and
embodied in his biU. . . . This is sustained by
the prayer of the people of the Territory, setting
forth a constitution formed by spontaneous move
ment, in which aU there had opportunity to parti
cipate, without distinction of party. ... In offer
ing this proposition, the senator from New York
has entitled himself to the gratitude of the coun
try. Throughout a Ufe of unsurpassed industry,
and of eminent abUity, he has done much for
freedom which the world wiU not let die; but
than this he has done nothing more opportune,
and he has uttered no words more effective than
this speech, so masterly and ingenious, by which
he vindicated it."
During the delivery of this speech, Mr, Butler,
of South Carolina, interrupted the speaker no less
than thirty-five times, Mr, Sumner thus paid his
respects to him : —
" With regret I come again upon the senator

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

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

278 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNER.
— in the name of the Constitution outraged, of the
laws trampled down, of justice banished, of hu
manity degraded, of peace destroyed, of freedom
crushed to earth, — and in the name of the heav
enly Father, whose service is perfect freedom, I
make this last appeal."
Such was this famous speech, — "a grand and
terrible phUippic, worthy of the grand occasion ;
the severe and awfiil truth, which the sharp
agony of the national crisis demanded." *
* J. G. -Whittier.

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER. 279

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

292 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
diploma, — expressing their sense of his superior
attainments in the noble science of assault and
battery. Never was a seat of learning prosti
tuted to a more ignoble use.
In view of these facts, which might be greatly
multiplied, what proof we have of the power of
prejudice, especially of the blinding, demoraliz
ing influence of slavery 1 But we gladly turn
from such exhibitions of human folly and frenzy.
All through the Free North there sprang up
instantly a feeling which stood in marked and
most favorable contrast with these Southern
demonstrations, glavery and freedom were more
and more revealing their opposite characters.
Where the latter prevailed, the people, regard
less of political differences, rushed together to
express their profound sense of a great wrong
done to Liberty. Massachusetts, as most directly
assailed, was the most deeply moved. But every
where, every man felt that in the attack upon
Mr. Sumner, he himself had been personally
smitten. Where was free speech, where was
liberty of any kind, if such deeds of violence
could be aUowed?
The most important result of this atrocity was

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

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

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

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

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

298 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
and the expulsion of Brooks and any other mem
ber concerned with him in the assault.
Beyond Massachusetts, everywhere but at the
South, a similar feeling was manifested. Gov
ernor Clark, of New York, wrote to Mr, Sumner,
expressing his abhorrence of the assault, and his
personal sympathy with the sufferer.
In New York an " immense meeting, and
unprecedented in character," declared the con
duct of Brooks to have been " brutal, murder
ous, and cowardly,"
An editorial in the Courier and Enquirer, of
New York, admirably summed up the moral
result of the act of Brooks : —
" The fact is incontestable, that when the
Massachusetts senator again crosses the thresh-
hold of that Senate Chamber, slavery wUl have
to confront the most formidable foe it ever had to
face before the public eye. He wiU come with
every muscle braced and every sinew strung by
the sense of measureless personal wrong ; but,
infinitely more than that, he wiU come armed with
the indignation and shielded by the moral sup
port of the whole North, Hitherto he has fig
ured but in one ¦ character — the assaUant of

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

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

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

302 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

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

306 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
" able, generous, and faithful colleague, Henry
Wilson." " Together we labored in mutual trust, hon
orably leaning upon each other. By my dis
ability he was left sole representative of Massa
chusetts on the floor of the Senate, throughout
months of heated contest, involving her good
name and most cherished sentiments. All who
watched the current of debate, even as imper
fectly as I did in my retirement, know with what
readiness, courage, and power he acted, — show
ing hiiuseiij by extraordinary energies, equal to
the extraordinary occasion. But it is my es
pecial happiness to recognize his unfaUing sym
pathies for myself, and his manly assumption of
all the responsibilities of the hour."
In conclusion, Mr. Sumner said, —
" With thanks for this welcome, accept also my
new vows of duty. In all simplicity let me say
that I seek nothing but the triumph of truth.
To this I offer my best efforts, careless of office
or honor. Show me that I am wrong, and I
stop, at once ; but in the complete conviction of
right, I shaU persevere against all temptations,
against all odds, agiinst all perils, against aU

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

308 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEB.
what motherly pride she looked out from her win
dow to see the crowds assembled to do him honor,
and heard the loud cheers that went up in praise
of his righteous conduct 1
To give joy to a mother's heart by an honora
ble and useful career, though in a sphere humbler
than the great senator's, is worth the serious en
deavor of any young man. To be regardless of
a mother's feelings, in a life of vice and dissipa
tion, proves the absence of all true nobility of
character. In Boston and vicinity Mr. Sumner spent sev
eral months under medical treatment, compeUed
to pass much of the time in bed. But stiU .his
health seemed to improve, so that his physician
could say, " Time and repose will do the rest,"
His term of office had now expired, but Massa
chusetts would not dismiss him from her service.
Who could take the place of Charles Sumner?
For six years he had maintained the honor of the
old Commonwealth and the cause of freedom,
amidst contempt, abuse, menace, and peril of
life, with an ability, an eloquence, a fidelity, a
purity of purpose, and a conscientious regard to
truth and justice, unsurpassed in senatorial his-

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 309
tory. And had he not suffered as the representa
tive of Massachusetts? Every heart cried out
for his re-election, and when the vote was count
ed, January 9, 1857, he had received three hun
dred and thirty-three out of three hundred and
forty -five votes in the House, and the entire vote
of the Senate,
Six years before, he was elected by a bare ma
jority of two votes ; now he is returned by a
" spontaneous unanimity," Then he was in the
vigor of his young manhood ; now he is an inva
Ud, too feeble to take his seat, and compeUed
even to leave his country in search of strength.
But- whether silent in his seat, prostrate upon his
bed, or a wanderer in foreign lands, he is the
Commonwealth's chosen champion. His vacant
seat wiU teU a daUy story of wrong and out
rage, and thus utter its eloquent condemnation
of a system founded in and defended by violence.
Such a man can never be silent.
In Mr. Sumner's letter of acceptance he said,
" This renewed trust I accept with gratitude,
enhanced by the peculiar circumstances under
which it is bestowed. But far beyond any per
sonal gratification is the delight of knowing, by

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 311
" a last word for Kansas," in a letter to Mr. Red-
path. " With a fareweU to my country, as I seek
a foreign land, hoping for health long deferred, I
give my last thoughts to suffering Kansas, not
without devout prayers that the ruffian usurpa
tion wliich now treads her down may be peace
ably overthrown, and that she may be lifted into
the enjoyment of freedom and repose."
While absent, he made his restoration to health
his daUy care. He received the best medical ad
vice, to which he faithfuUy submitted. He trav
elled, as strength would aUow, in France, Swit
zerland, England, and Scotland. He had the
pleasure of feeling that he was really improving,
though amid frequent relapses. From Heidel
berg, September 11, he wrote to a friend in an
encouraging strain : —
" Weeks have now passed since I have seen a
letter or newspaper from home. During this
time I have been traveUing away from- news, and
am now famished. On arrival at Antwerp I trust
to find letters at last.
" I have been ransacking Switzerland ; I have
visited most of its lakes, and crossed several of
its mountains, mule-back. My strength has not

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 313
But a trial of his strength convinced him that
he was yet far from being weU. His disease had,
indeed, assumed new and alarming features.
Once more he must quit the Senate Chamber to
seek rest and medical help abroad. In May,
1858, he crossed the Atlantic.
In Paris he had the sympathy of noble men,
among whom was De TocqueviUe. " Nous nous
sommes occupes de vous beaucoup dernierement,"
said this great man to Mr. Sumner, who replied,
" Ah, monsieur, je me suis occupS de vous toute
ma we,

)) *

But above aU it was his good providence to
meet the most skilful physician of the age —
Brown-Sequard. At last he had found a healer.
But at what a cost of pain, even to agony, was a
cure to come ! He was to be saved by " fire."
We cannot do better here than give some ex
tracts from a lecture, — one of a course at the
LoweU Institute, in Boston, — by Brown-Sequard,
just after Mr. Sumner's death, as reported in
the DaUy Journal. The subject for the evening
was " Nervous Diseases," and the lecturer took
advantage of the opportunity thus presented him
* " We have had you upon our minds a great deal of late.
" Ah, sir, I have had you in my mind all my life."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

322 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

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

326 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
stood by the door. He stopped a momer t, and,
stopping, kissed the child affectionately. An
other black woman, with a child, as he passed
along, exclaimed, ' God bless you, old man 1 I
wish I could help you ; but I can't.' He looked
at her with a tear in his eye." ¦*
Compare this man, so gentle and heroic, the
friend of the poor and oppressed even unto
death, with the border ruffians of Missouri, whom
we have seen, in defiance of aU law and aU jus
tice, attempting to set up slavery in Kansas.
If we cannot approve John Brown's plan of
liberation, we can admire his magnanimous spirit
and his generous purpose ; while, in the other
case, both the men and their scheme deserve
only unmingled condemnation.
In ,the case before the Senate, Mr. Sumner
contended that that body had not the power to
compel testimony, under pains and penalties,
except in cases involving self-defence.
" This," said he, " is a fearful prerogative ; and
permit me to say, that, in assuming it, you liken
yourselves to the Jesuits, at the period of their
most hateful supremacy, when it was said that
• The American Conflict, by Horace Greeley.

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 331
ship which is found in thinking alike concerning
the Republic, I owe thanks, which I seize the mo
ment to express, for indulgence extended to me
throughout the protracted seclusion enjoined by
medical skiU; and I trust that it wiU 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
invaUd, whose hopes for restoration to natural
health continued against oft-recurring disappoint
ment. " "When last I entered into this debate, it be
came my duty to expose the crime against Kan
sas, 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 discus
sion precisely where I left it, I am happy to avow
that rule of moderation which, it is said, may
venture to fix the boundaries of wisdom itself.
"I have no personal griefs to utter; only a
vulgar egotism could intrude such into this
Chamber. I have no personal wrongs to avenge ;
only a brutish nature could attempt to wield that

332 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
vengeance which belongs to the Lord. The
years that have intervened and the graves that
have opened since I spoke have their voices,
which I cannot fail to hear,
" Besides, what am I, what is any man among
the living or among the dead, compared with the
question before us ? It is this alone which I shall
discuss, and I begin the argument with that easy
victory which is found in charity."
Mr. Sumner proceeded to say that in his former
speech he had ISft untouched the most important
part of the argument — " that found in the Char
acter of Slavery,"
" This," he added, " is no time for soft words
or excuses. They may turn away wrath; but
what is the wrath of man ? This is no time to
abandon any advantage in the argument. Sena
tors 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 aU other grounds, wheth
er social, economical, or moral. Ours is no holi
day contest ; nor is it any strife of rival factions,
of White and Red Roses, of theatric Neri and

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

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

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

336 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
But what it was decided not to do in the Senate
Chamber, was attempted outside of it. Mr. Sum
ner's life was in peril ; and because he refused to
take any personal precautions, some friends, with
out his knowledge, kept guard over his house, and
escorted him to and from the Capitol.
At the North, the speech was regarded by
some as very truthful, indeed, but very impru
dent. By multitudes it was read with delight, not
because Southern wickedness was exposed, but
because the truth had been spoken. The veU
that concealed the cancer had been tom away ;
now there was hope of a cure. It was a hide
ous specta'cle, but abhorrence would rouse to
action. This speech doubtless hastened the crisis, and
helped to bring on the war. That was, however,
no fault of the speaker, unless the Saviour was
at fault when he said, " I bring not peace, but a
sword." The sword of truth is the necessary
precursor of true and lasting peace.
The nation had tried compromises long enough.
Now was Justice lifting up her voice, to try
her power, where every other remedy had only

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

338 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

CHAPTER XXIV.
Fanaticism of the Slave Power. — Jefferson
Davis's Resolutions in the Senate^ — Demo
cratic National Convention in Charleston. —
BeU and Everett. — Republicans and Abraham
Lincoln. — Mr. Lincoln's Views. — Mr. Sum
ner at the Cooper Institute. — " Republican
Party." — West India Emancipation. — Mr,
Sumner, — " Presidential Candidates and the
Issues." — " Mrs. Toodles." — Mr, Lincoln elect
ed. — The Rebellion at the Door. — President
Buchanan's Cure-all. — South Carolina. — Or
dinance of Secession. — Fort Sumter. — Sixth
Massachusetts Regiment at Baltimore. — Speech
of Mr. Sumner to Major Devens's Company, at
New York,
Events are rapidly ripening for a great crisis.
The country is in violent agitation. The future
wears a lowering aspect.
It is plain that the slave power is bent on em
ploying the most extreme measure for strength-

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 341
of Freedom, The Republicans had just selected
Abeaham Lincoln as their standard-bearer,
Mr. Lincoln, in his own admirable way, which
showed genius as weU as philanthropy and pa
triotism, had clearly defined his position.
Mr, Douglas's so-styled "Popular Sovereign
ty " was thus defined: "If any one man choose
to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to
object I "
The three parties represented, respectively, by
Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell, were assailed
with a quotation from Scripture, and an ingen
ious commentary thereon: "'A house divided
against itself cannot stand.' I believe this gov
ernment cannot permanently endure, half slave
and half free, I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall —
but I do expect that it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other."
This was another way of putting Mr, Seward's
" irrepressible conflict,"
And thus the parties stood in the spring of
1860 — three for Slavery, one for Freedom ;
three for Barbarism, one for CiviUzation; "aU
one thing, or aU the other."

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 343
" Nothing shows the desperate mendacity of
the partisans of slavery more than the unfounded
persistence with which they caU this act ' a fail
ure.' If it be a failure, then is virtue a failure,
then is justice a failure, then is humanity a fail
ure, then is God himself a failure ; for virtue,
justice, humanity, and God himself, are all repre
sented in this act.
" The true policy of this world is found in
justice. Nothing is truer than that injustice,
besides its essential wickedness, is foUy also.
The unjust man is a fool."
At a Republican State Convention, at Wor
cester, August 29, 1860, Mr. Sumner discussed
the presidential candidates and the issues.
He spoke of the candidates, with the single ex
ception of Mr. Lincoln, as " differing superficially
among themselves, but all concurring in friend
ship for slavery, and in withstanding its prohibi
tion anywhere. . . . The whole trio are no better
than Mrs, Malaprop's idea of Cerberus, 'three
gentlemen at once,' and must be encountered to
gether." Describing the BeU party, he said, —
" Its plan, so far as known, is this : You wiU

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 345
" Once, to the amazement of her husband, she
brought home a brass door-plate with the name
of Thompson speUed with a p, ' But what is this
for?' he demanded, ' Why,' said Mrs, Toodles,
with logic worthy of the Bell party, ' though we
have been married many years without children,
it is possible, my dear, that we may have a child ;
that chUd may be a daughter, and may live to
the age of maturity, and she may marry a man
of the name of Thompson speUed with a p.
Then how handy it would be to have this door-
plate in the house ! '
" I doubt whether any person reaUy familiar
with affairs can consider this nomination for the
vice-presidency of more practical value than
Mrs, Toodles's brass door-plate, with the name
of Thompson spelled with a p, picked up at
an auction,
" But then, in a certain most difficult contin
gency, at the end of a long train of contingencies,
how handy it must be to have it in the house 1 "
In speaking of the Breckinridge party, he
said, —
"I confess myself perplexed between abhor
rence for its dogma and respect for its frank-

346 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEB.
ness. , , . There is something even in criminal
boldness which we are disposed to admire. We
like an open foe, who scorns to hide in deceit,
and meets us in daylight. . , , And yet this very
frankness reveals an insensibUity to reason and
humanity, which, when recognized, must add to
our abhorrence."
The Douglas party he described as " last in
character, — for who can respect what we know
to be a deceit ? The statesman founds himself
on principles ; sometimes it is his office to frame
expedients; but popular sovereignty, as now
put forward, is not a principle — 0, no 1 not
even an expedient ; it is nothing but a device, a
pretext, an evasion, a dodge, a trick, in order to
avoid the commanding question, whether slavery
shall be prohibited in the Territories."
" To protect this 'viUany' [slavery], . . . the
right of the people to govern themselves is in
voked, — forgetful that this divine right can give
no authority to enslave others, that even the
people are not omnipotent, and that never do
they rise so high as when, recognizing the ever
lasting laws of Right, they bend to the behests
of Justice.

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

348 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
said he, " would it be for the American people to
settle the slavery question forever, and to restore
peace and harmony to this distracted country ! "
How so ? By yielding everything to the South.
That was the meaning of his long tirade against
Northern anti-slavery toovements.
Blear-eyed man I how poorly he read the signs
of the times 1 how little he comprehended the
deep questions that were agitating and rending
the country 1 How easy to put down the earth
quake !
On December 20, South Carolina passed her
ordinance of secession. Other States speedUy
foUowed. The president said there was nothing
he could now do to avert the storm.
A gracious Providence, on March 4, 1861, put
a strong, faithful pilot at the helm. He thought
something could be done. He declared his pur
pose to maintain the authority of the government
over the whole country.
There had been proposed aU sorts of preven
tives for the impending storm — plans of concili
ation, concession, compromise. In vain ! The
South was in earnest.
On the .12th of April, 1861, the signal gun was

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 349
fired. Fort Sumter was attacked by rebel guns.
The war was begun, and by the South.
Three days after, April 15, President Lincoln,
true to his word, issued a proclamation ffir sev
enty-five thousand men to suppress the insurrec
tion. The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, in quick
response, was in Baltimore on the 19th, on its
way to Washington. Attacked by secessionists,
four of their number were kiUed, and thirty-six
wounded. The first blood was shed.
Mr. Sumner was in Baltimore the day before,
and narrowly escaped a mob, which was in
search of him.
On the 20th, at New York, he met the Third
BattaUon of Massachusetts Rifles, under Major
Devens, on their route to Fort Henry, and ad
dressed them in stirring words : —
" I cannot see before me so large a number of
the sons of Massachusetts, already moving to the
scene of trial, without feeUng anew the loss we
have just encountered : I aUude to the death, at
Baltimore, of devoted feUow-citizens, who had
sprung forward so promptly at the caU of coun
try. As I heard that they had faUen, my soul

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

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 351

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 353
sense, — and, alas 1 simply to let slip the dogs of
war on a mad chase over the land, never to stop
until spent with fatigue or sated with slaughter.
"Believe me, feUow-citizens, I know aU im
agined difficulties and unquestioned responsibili
ties. But, if you are in earnest^ the difficulties
will at once disappear, and the responsibilities
are such as you wiU gladly bear. This is not the
first time that a knot hard to untie was cut by
the sword; and we all know that danger flees
before the brave man. Believe that you can,
and you can. The will only is needed. Courage
now is the highest prudence,
" It is not necessary even, borrowing a familiar
phrase, to carry the war into Africa, It wiU be
enough if we carry Africa into the war, in any
form, any quantity, any way. The moment this
is done, rebellion wUl begin its bad luck, and the
Union become secure forever."
Though this speech was received with great
applause when delivered, the public mind was
divided as to the expediency of immediate
emancipation. Then, as many times since, Mr.
Sumner was thought by not a few to be prema
ture and unpractical ; but then, ere long, as weU
23

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE, 355
rebeUion is slavery itself, incarnate, living, acting,
raging, robbing, murdering, according to the es
sential law of its being.
" Nor is this aU, The rebeUion is not only ruled
by slavery, but, owing to the peculiar condition
of the Slave States, it is, for the moment, accord
ing to their instinctive boast, actuaUy re-enforced
by this institution.
" As the fields of the South are cultivated by
slaves, . . , the white freemen are at liberty to
play the part of rebels. The slaves toil at home,
whUe the masters work at rebeUion; and thus,
by singular fatality, is this doomed race, without
taking up arms, actuaUy engaged in feeding, sup
porting, succoring, and invigorating those bat
tling for their enslavement.
" But how shaU the rebeUion be crushed ?. . . .
You wiU strike where the blow is most felt ; nor
wUl you miss the precious opportunity. The ene
my is before you ; nay, he comes out in ostenta
tious chaUenge, and his name is Slavery. You
can vindicate the Union only by his prostration.
Slavery is the very Goliath of the rebelUon,
armed with coat of mail, with helmet of brass
upon the head, greaves of brass upon the legs, a

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

life of CHAELES SUMNEE. 357
'golden, everlasting chain,
-WHose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth, and main.' "
The opinion that safety was through emancipa
tion was gaining ground every day. The inhu
man practice of some of our generals in refusing
to receive fugitive slaves within their camps, and
¦ in thrusting them out of their lines, awakened
general indignation.
Mr. Sumner brought up the subject in the Sen
ate, December 2, 1861, and said with reference to
one general, " I take the liberty of saying — and
I wish that my words may reach his distant head
quarters — that every fugitive slave he surren
ders wiU hereafter rise in judgment against him
with a shame which no possible victory can re
move." On the 11th of that month, Mr. Sumner deliv
ered, in the Senate, a most eloquent eulogy upon
Colonel Baker, late a senator from Oregon.
In the unfortunate engagement at Ball's Bluff,
October 21, 1861, Colonel Baker was sent by his
superior officer to encounter a far stronger rebel
force. He was a most brave as weU as skilful
commander, and did all that mortal could do in so
unequal a contest. But he was overpowered by
numbers, and feU, shot through the head.

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

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 361
•' But patriotism itself, that commanding chari
ty, embracing so many other charities, is only a
name, and nothing else, unless we resolve,
calmly, plainly, solemnly, that slavery, the bar
barous enemy of our country, the irreconcilable
foe of our Union, the violator of our Constitu
tion, the disturber of our peace, the vampire
of our national life, sucking its best blood, the
assassin of our children, and the murderer of our
dead senator, shaU be struck down.
" And the way is easy. The just avenger is at
hand, with weapon of celestial temper,- Let it
be drawn. Until this is done, the patriot, dis
cerning clearly the secret of our weakness, can
only say, sorrowfuUy, —
' bleed, bleed, poor country !
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure.
For goodness dares not check thee.' " *
It must not be supposed that Mr. Sunmer
stood alone as an early champion of emanci
pation, as an act of justice and a military ne
cessity. President Lincoln doubtless believed in
it even then. The question of time probably
made the chief difference between them,
* Macbeth, Act iv.. Scene iii.

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

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

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

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

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

LIPE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 367
This speech, so thoroughly American in its
ijpirit, and yet exhibiting so catholic and benefi
cent a statesmanship, tended greatly to elevate
Mr. Sumner in the public esteem. Even those
who had depreciated him as a man of" one idea "
were convinced of their mistake.
The pubUc generaUy, in spite of their preju
dices, readUy acquiesced in the peaceful solution
of a vexed and perilous question, and the govern
ment was left free to give its undivided energies
to the suppression of the rebeUion.

368 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.

CHAPTER XXVI.
Recognition of Hayti and Liberia. — Confiscation
of Rebel Property. — Proclamation of Emanci
pation. — Mr, Sumner in Faneuil HdH. —
"Bridge of Gold."- — Aid of the Slaves neces
sary to Success. — Providential Judgments. —
Changed Character of the War, — Mr, Sumner's
Re-election. — Contrast, — Privateers, — Ouf
Foreign Relations. — Recognition of a Slave
Republic denounced.
So long as slavery ruled in the national coun-
cUs, the governments of Hayti and Liberia could
obtain no recognition at Washington. Southern
members of Congress had denounced such a prop
osition as nothing less than "treason," and as
sure, if carried out, " to convulse the Union,"
But with the inauguration of the Republican
party in Washington, a new era came in. Presi
dent Lincoln, in his Message, December, 1861,
recommended the long-neglected duty. " If,"

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

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

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

372 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
In another part of the speech he said : —
" Wherever I turn in this war I find the Afri
can ready to be our saviour,
" If you ask for strategy, I know nothing better
than that of the slave Robert Small, who brought
the rebel steamer Planter, with its armament, out
of Charleston, and surrendered it to our commo
dore as prize of war,
" If you ask for successful courage, I know
nothing better than that of the African Till
man, who rose upon a rebel prize crew, and,
overcoming them, carried the ship into New
York. " If you ask for heroism, you will find it in
that nameless African on board the Pawnee, who,
while passing sheU from the magazine, lost both
his legs by a ball, but, still holding a sheU, cried
out, '.Pass up the sheU — never mind me ; my
time is up.'
" If you ask for fidelity, you will find it in that
slave, also without a name, who pointed out the

lamation, April 10, offering pecuniary compensation to any State
that would adopt gradual emancipation. This was the " bridge of
gold ; " but no State ever set foot upon it.
At the beginning of the next session, another, and the last plan
of like character, was proposed, but failed to pass.

LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE. 373
road of safety to the harassed, retreating army
of the Potomac.
" And if you ask for evidence of desire for
freedom, you wUl find it in the Uttie slave-girl,
journeying North, whom Banks took up on hia
cannon. " But ... it is not enough to show that slaves
can render important assistance, by labor, by in
formation, or by arms. .. . . The case is stronger
stiU. Without the aid of the slaves this war cannot
be ended successfully.
" If the instincts of patriotism did not prompt
this support [of the proclamation], I should find
a sufficient motive in the duty which we aU
owe to the Supreme Ruler, God Almighty,
whose visitations upon our country are now so
fearful. '-¦ Not rashl)' would I make myself the inter
preter of His wiU; and yet I am not blind. Ac
cording to a venerable maxim of jurisprudence,
' Whoso would have equity must do equity ; '
and God plainly requires equity at our hands.
We cannot expect success whUe setting at
nought this requirement, proclaimed in His di
vine character, in the dictates of reason, and in

374 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
the examples of history, — proclaimed also in
the events of this protracted war.
" Terrible judgments have faUen upon the
country: plagues have been let loose, rivers
have been turned into blood, and there is a great
cry throughout the land, for there is not a house
where there is not one dead ; and at each judg
ment we seem to hear that terrible voice which
¦ sounded in the ears of Pharaoh : ' Thus saith
the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go,
that they may serve me,'
" I know not how others are touched, but 1
cannot listen to the frequent tidings of calamity
descending upon our arms, of a noble soldier lost
to his country, of a bereavement at the family
hearth, of a youthful son brought home dead to his
mother, without catching the warning, ' Let my
people go. ! ' Nay, every wound, every sorrow,
every hardship that we are compelled to bear in
taxation, in -want, in derangement of business,
has a voice crying, ' Let my people go ! '
" And now, thank God, the word is spoken ! —
greater word was seldom spoken. Emancipation
has begun, and our country is already elevated
and glorified. The war has not changed in otject,

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 377
miral carried a broom at his mast-head as the
boastful sign that he swept the seas. The pri
vateer might carry a scourge. Wherever a sail
appears, there is a chase ; the signal gun is
fired, and the merchantman submits to visitation
and search. Delay is the least of the conse
quences. Contention, irritation, humiliation en
sue, aU calculated to engender iU-feelings, which,
beginning with individuals, may embrace country
and government. . . . The speaking-trumpet of
a reckless privateer may contribute to that dis
cord which is the herald of bloodshed itself."
The war had now been waged more than two
years, when rumors came that England and
Prance designed to recognize the Southern Con
federacy as an independent nation. Our foreign
relations were therefore of the most critical char-
acter. Such recognition would change the whole
aspect of the war, and place us in a most un
fortunate position.
Mr. Sumner, as holding in the Senate so im
portant a relation to foreign affairs, was invited
to speak in New York upon the question at
issue. He described our " perils from Eng
land and France," and especially the " impose

378 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEB.
sibility of any recognition of a new power with
slavery as a corner-stone."
" An aroused public opinion, ' the world's col
lected wiU,'" and returning reason in England
and Prance, will see to it that civUization is
saved from this shock, . and the nations them
selves from the terrible retribution which sooner
or later must surely attend it.
" No power can afford to stand up before man
kind and openly vote a new and untrammelled
charter to injustice and cruelty. God is an un
sleeping avenger ; nor can armies, fleets, bul
warks, or 'towers along the steep,' prevail
against this mighty avenger. To any applica
tion for this unholy recognition there is but one
word the Christian powers can utter, .It is
simply and austerely, ' No,' with an emphasis
that shall silence argument and extinguish hope
itself And this proclamation should go forth
swiftly. Every moment of hesitation is a mo
ment of apostasy, casting its lengthening shadow
of dishonor. Not to discourage is to encour'
age ; not to blast is to bless. Let this simple
word be uttered, and slavery wiU slink away,
with a mark on its forehead, like Cain^ a per-

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

380 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE,
aghast. In this age of light, and in countries
boasting of civilization, there can be no place
for its barbarous plenipotentiaries. As well ex
pect crocodiles crawling on the pavements of
London and Paris, or the carnivorous idols of
Africa installed for worship in Westminster Ab
bey and Notre Dame."

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNER. 381

CHAPTER XXVII.
Foreign Rdations. — Domestic Relations. — Recon
struction of the Rebel States.. — Striking at
Slavery. — Rebuke to Young Men at Albany.—
Final Repeal of Fugitive Slave Bills. — Happy
Change. — Practical Legislation. — Treatment
of Freedmen. — Freedmen's Bureau. — The
Coastwise Traffic in Slaves,
During the period of the war, Mr, Sumner, as
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations,
where he was placed in 1861, when the new era
came in, held an intimate relation to the govern
ment, and was constantly consulted on foreign
affairs by the President and Secretary of State.
He was an authority in such matters. His pro
found acquaintance with international law, his
accurate knowledge of European affairs, and his
intimacy with foreign jurists and statesmen, pre
eminently qualified him to be a wise counsellor.
But, as we have seen, he was equaUy at home

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

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

.384 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE,
with the faU of the power which sustained it.
The nation, through Congress, could know noth
ing of slavery.
To make this more secure, and to breathe the
breath of freedom upon every part of the country,
'a constitutional amendment, prohibiting slavery
throughout the national domain, was introduced
in the House of Representatives towards the
close of 1863, In the Senate, Mr. Sumner was
its earnest supporter. It became a part of the
Constitution December 18, 1865, — not, alas! till
it was beyond Mr. Lincoln's power to know the
j-esult which he had looked forward to with so
much interest.
But Mr, Sumner was not wiUing to await the
slow process of a Constitutional Amendment,
which, after the action of Congress, would have
to be submitted to aU the States,
" Beyond my general desire," he said, " to see
an act of universal emancipation, at once and for
ever settling this great question, . , . there are
two other objects ever present to my mind as a
practical legislator : First, to strike at slavery,
wherever I can hit it ; and secondly, to clear the
statute-book of aU existing supports of slavery.

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 389
3, 1865, creating a Bureau of Freedmen under
the War Department, differed in some particulars
from that proposed by Mr. Sumner, May 25, 1864,
but it embraced its essential features. His pref
erence, however, was, that the bureau should be
connected with the Treasury Department.
It has been supposed by some that Mr, Sum
ner had " a great scheme for creating a new de
partment of the government, with a cabinet officer.
at its head, for the perpetual care of the freed
men," and tending " to perpetuate caste," Noth
ing could be farther from the truth. He ex
pressly caUs his plan a " bridge from slavery to
freedom." He sought for the freedmen " imme
diate protection and welfare during the present
transition period." " Our present necessity," he
said, " is to help those made free by the present
war ; " " to help the freedmen in their rough
passage from slavery to freedom;" "to secure
employment for them during the transition from
one condition to another." " The temporary care
of the freedmen is the complement of emanci
pation." The sphere of the bureau was afterwards made
to embrace provision for the education, as weU

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNER. 391
Attached to the same appropriation biU was
another amendment, also introduced by the in
domitable "intruder" from Massachusetts, for
" opening the United States courts to colored
witnesses." This also was carried.
"WhUe other senators interposed objections, or
were favorable to delay in these efforts for free
ing the general government from aU complicity
-with slavery, and from discriminations against
the colored people, Mr. Sumner was ever on the
alert with his "besom of destruction," desiring
to make a " clean sweep " of all odious and op
pressive distinctions. Some objected to his
making use of appropriation biUs for carrying
through his projects ; but he told them that there
was " hardly ever an appropriation bill that was
not compelled to take passengers in this way,"
and that when the " passengers " were the har
bingers of justice and humanity, he had no scru
ples about putting them on board — if the Senate
would compel him to seek for them that method
of transportation.

392 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
Nomination of Abraham Lincoln. — Reverses. —
Peace Overtures. — Jefferson Davis. — Nomi
nation of General McCleUan. — Federal Suc
cesses. — Speech of Mr, Sumner at New York.
— " Issues of the Presidential Election." — ¦
Chicago and Baltimore. — Election of Mr. Lin
coln. — Mr. Sumner's Speech at Faneuil HaU.
— Great' Exultation. — Political Barbers. —
Mr. Lincoln's Inaugural. — Reconstruction of
Louisiana. — The Plan opposed by Mr. Sum
ner. — His Reception in Massachusetts. — Change
of Tone. — Praise follows Blame. — Rebel Legis
lature of Virginia. — Mr. Lincoln's Plan. —
Opposed by Mr, Sumner, — Telegram to Rich
mond. — Mr. Sumner's Views of Reconstruction.
— Relations between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Sum
ner. — Henry Clay and Dr. Channing. — Pic
ture for the Capitol, — Tax on Knowledge,
The war had now been prosecuted more than
three years. With high hopes of its speedy
termination, the Union National Convention met

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

406 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE,
impartial justice, involving the righteous adjust
ment of the relations between whites and blacks.
In this connection we may add what Mr.
Schurz further remarks about the relations of
these great men to each other. Speaking of Mr.
Lincoln, he says, —
" Mr, Sumner he treated as a favorite coun
sellor, almost like a Minister of State, outside of
the cabinet. There were statesmen around the
President who were also politicians, understand
ing the art of management. Mr, Lincoln appre
ciated the value of their advice as to what was
prudent and practicable. But he knew also how
to discriminate. In Mr. Sumner he saw a coun-
seUor who was no politician, but who stood before
him as the true representative of the moral ear
nestness and the great inspirations of their com
mon cause. From him he heard what was right,
and necessary, and inevitable. By the former he
was told what, in their opinion, could prudently
and safely be done. Having heard them both,
Abraham Lincoln counselled with himself, and
formed his resolution.
" Thus Mr. Lincoln, while scarcely ever fully
and speedily foUowing Sumner's advice, never

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

408 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE,
•was largely governed in his methods -by consid
erations of expediency, the latter viewed the
subject in its profounder moral aspects, and was
more earnest and radical. These differences ap
pear in their disciples.
Mr, Lincoln and Mr. Sumner had the same
hatred of slavery, and an equal desire for its ex
tinction ; but they often, as in the case just con
sidered, differed widely as to methods. The
former, though far in advance of his teacher in
his attitude towards slavery, yet felt the influence
of the great compromiser, and was slow and hes
itating compared with Mr. Sumner. The- lat
ter, having the most intense convictions of sla
very as an unmitigated wrong, would make no
terms with it. He could brook no delay in deal
ing with it. He demanded immediate and un
conditional emancipation.
They both desired emancipation, and they both
reached it ; but the one at a bound, the other
slowly, feeling- his way cautiously along ; the one
certain that it was always safe to do right, the
other equaUy sure of that, but not quite sure the
right time had come.
As they differed about slavery, so also about

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER. 409
the reconstruction of the insurgent States, and
according to the different kinds of influence they
had each come under, in lUinois or Massachusetts.
"While the Louisiana bill was under considera
tion, Mr. Sumner, foUowing up his purpose of
securing a guarantee of republican governments
in the rebel States, by which aU, without distinc
tion of color, might have equal rights and privi
leges, introduced a series of resolutions to that
effect. That, in his radical measures Mr. Sumner was
governed by the highest considerations of jus
tice, and a delicate regard to the interests and
honor of the whole country, is evident from his
treatment of a proposition in the Senate, Febru
ary 27, " to purchase a picture for the Capitol."
He offered an amendment : —
"Provided, That in the National Capitol, de
voted to the National Union, there shaU be no
picture of a victory in battle with our feUow-
citizens." Here, too, Mr. Sumner stood alone. Mr. Wil
son and Mr. Howe dissented from him entirely,
and the amendment was rejected without a divis
ion. But here, as often, Mr. Sumner was far
in advance of his countrymen.

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 411

CHAPTER XXIX.
President Lincoln and Mr. Sumner at Richmond,
— Passage from " Macbeth," — Mr. Lincoln's
Assassination. — Mr. Seward's Life attempted.
— Mr. Sumner at the Dickens Dinner. — His
Account of the Night of the Assassination. —
Mr. Sumner's Eulogy on President Lincoln. —
Divine Providence. — Mr. Lincoln's early Man
hood. — His Departure for Washington. — His
Speech at Gettysburg. — His Second Inaugu
ral. — His Intellectual Character.
And now we have reached a sad period of the
national history.
Sherman has triumphed over the lower army
of the South, Richmond has faUen, Lee surren-
<iered, and the rebeUion come to an end. It is
a time of universal joy. But sorrow is at the
door. On the 6th of AprU, 1865, the President,
attended by Mrs. Lincoln, the Vice-President,

412 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
and several Senators, among them Mr. Sumner,
made a visit to evacuated Richmond. It was
then that the President, sitting by Mr. Sumner
on the deck of the steamboat, read aloud, " from
a beautiful quarto Shakspeare in his hand," those
sad, prophetic words in Macbeth, —
" Duncan is in his grave :
After life's -fitful fever he sleeps well.
Treason has done her worst : nor steel, nor poison.
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him farther ! "
Mr. Sumner, in his eulogy upon Mr. Lincoln,
irT September following, says that, " impressed
by their beauty, or by some presentiment un-
uttered, he read them aloud a second time."
A week more, and the prophecy is fulfiUed !
Treason did its worst. Our noble President
fell by a shot from an assassin shouting, " Sic
semper tyrannis 1 " * And to think that he, so
simple-hearted, so magnanimous, so true a friend
to the humblest and weakest, should have been
reckoned among tyrants ! But this was the last
frenzied shriek of the rebeUion. The evU spirit
went out of it, foaming and rending.
But the President was not the only object
* May such always be the fate of tyrants.

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

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

LIPE OP CHAELES SUMNEE, 415
has been assassinated." "Whereupon the porter
rushed up stairs and told Robert Lincoln, who
at once came down. As Mr, Sumner turned
to go, Robert joined him. They found a hack
at the door, but who sent it no one ever knew.
They jumped in, and drove with great rapidity
tiU they reached the theatre, where they found
a startled crowd,
Mr. Sumner passed by the sentinels, and, as he
entered the building, found where Mr. Lincoln
had been carried. Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris
were standing in the entry. Mrs. Lincoln rushed
up to him with many exclamations, and asked
him whether her husband was dead. He in
formed her that he had just come, and knew noth
ing of what had happened, but had brought
her son. He then passed into the room where
Mr. Lincoln was. He was lying on the bed,
stretched diagonally across it, — for he was very
taU, — his head hanging over a little to accomo
date the blood, which was flowing freely from the
wound. He was breathing heavily, his eyes
were half open, and his face looked perfectly
fresh and natural.
Mr. Sumner sat down at the head of the bed,

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

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

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

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

420 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.
of death. In words of fareweU to neighbors
thronging about him, he dedicated himself to his
country, and solemnly invoked the aid of divine
Providence. " ' I know not,' he said, ' how soon I shaU see
you again,' and then, with prophetic voice, an
nounced that a duty devolved upon him greater
than that which has devolved upon any other
man since the days of Washington, and asked
his friends to pray that he might receive that
divine assistance without which he could not
succeed, but with which success was certain.
" To power and fame others have gone forth
with gladness and with song; he went forth
prayerfully as to sacrifice."
Of that exquisite speech of Mr. Lincoln's, at
Gettysburg, at the dedication of the National
Cemetery, Mr. Sumner says, "The President
spoke very briefly ; but his few words wiU live
as long as time. Since Simonides wrote the
epitaph for those who died at JThermopylse, noth
ing equal has ever been breathed over the faUen
dead. " That speech, uttered on the field of Gettys
burg, and now sanctified by the martyrdom of

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

422 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEB.
portrayed : " He was original in mind as in char
acter. His style was his own, having no model,
but springing directly from himself Failing
often in correctness, it is sometimes unique in
beauty and sentiment.
" There are passages that will live always. It
is no exaggeration to say, that in -weight and
pith, suffused in a certain poetical color, they
caU to mind Bacon's Essays. There also was a
touching reality and unc'onscious power, without
form or apparent effort. Nothing similar can be
found in State papers. How poor are kings'
speeches and presidential messages by the side
of such utterances, fit harbingers of the sublime
era of humanity 1 ''
How entirely in keeping with Mr. Sumner's
character was his preference as to who should
serve as chaplain on the occasion, as appears
from the following reply to Mr. Gaffield, of the
municipal government : —
"Washington, 6th May, 1865,
" Mt deae Sie : Do as you please. The names
you mention are exceUent,
" If I could choose one, it would be Rev, Mr.
Grimes, the colored preacher. It was for his

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

424 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE.

CHAPTER XXX.
Annexation of Alaska. — Impeachment of Presi
dent Johnson. — The Alabama Question. —
Johnson- Clarendon Treaty. — Mr. Sumner's
Views. — Project for Annexing Dominica. —
Mr. Sumner's Opposition. — Unfriendly Rela
tions with the President. — Joins the Liberal
Party. — His Reasons. — His Feelings. — Let
ter to a Friend: — Removal from Chairman
ship of Committee on Foreign Relations. — His
Disinterestedness. The year 1867 added more than five hundred
thousand square miles to our national territory,
by the purchase from Russia, for seven miUion
two hundred thousand doUars, of her possessions
in North America — the region that now bears
the name Alaska.
Mr. Sumner took much interest in this pur
chase, and made an elaborate speech in the Sen
ate in favor of the treaty to that effect.

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

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

LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE, 427
another contest, which proved to be one of great
bitterness. It concerned a favorite project of
President Grant — the annexation of a part of
St, Domingo to the United States, Mr. Sum
ner took decided ground in opposition to the
measure, Baez, the alleged ruler of Dominica, with
whom negotiations for its purchase had been
carried on, Mr, Sumner regarded as- an unprin
cipled usurper, who was attempting to seU his
country for gold, "in violation of its constitu
tion," The relations between the two govern
ments of Hayti and Dominica were of so dis-
turbed a character, that Mr, Sumner deemed it,
especiaUy censurable in our government to pur-
sue a course of " menace " for the acquisition of
a part of the island, to the offence and humUiation
of the Haytien Republic.
Such was Mr. Sumner's view of the matter, the
cerrectness of which recent events have most
abundantly vindicated. Honestly entertaining
it, he could do nothing less than vigorously op»
pose the presidential scheme. He did so with
his usual thoroughness, and with that force of
language of which he was master. Of course

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

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

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

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

432 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
been trusted with questions of the highest con
cern to the country.
That Mr. Sumner's views about the St. Do
mingo affair were unchanged to the very last,
is shown by a letter written to a friend, three
days before his death, and received after that
event: — " Senate Chamber, Oth March, '7i.
" Mt dear  : I am against capital
punishment, but if ever a man deserved a halter
it is Baez, who proposes to visit Boston.
" I know his history intimately, and he is a
usurper, whose hands have been red with inno
cent blood, and who had the terrible audacity to
conceive the idea of keeping an American citizen
in prison to prevent his return to New York,
where it was feared he would write against the
treaty ; and this crime he actuaUy perpetrated 1
" If he goes to Boston, he ought to be driven
out by an indignant- public sentiment.
" Sincerely yours,
"Charles Sumneb."

LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNEE. 433

CHAPTER XXXI.
Battle Flags and Army Register. — Proposition to
erase Names of Battles. — First Resolution. —
General Scott. — Picture for the Capitol. —
Second Resolution. — Censured by the Legisla
ture of Massachusetts. — Mr. Sumner s Feel
ings. — Letters. — Efforts for rescinding the
Vote of Censure. -^ John G. Wliittier. — Tlie
Resolution rescinded. — Mr. Sumner's Views.
— Broad Patriotism. — Opinion of Carl
Schurz.
Peehaps none of Mr. Sumner's acts has been
more entirely misunderstood, and at last more
thoroughly vindicated, than his attempt to erase
the names of battles won during the war of the
rebellion, from the regimental colors of the army
and from the army register.
This subject was first introduced into Con
gress by Mr. Sumner, May 8, 1862, on the occa
sion of a despatch from General McClellan, in
which that officer inquired whether, like other
28

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

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

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

LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE. 437
" Whereas, The passage of such a bill would
be an insult to the loyal soldiery of the nation,
and depreciate their grand achievements in the
late rebellion ;
" Therefore, resolved, That such legislation
meets the unqualified condemnation of the peo
ple of this Commonwealth."
This action was hasty and ill-considered. It
was done at a special session called to consider
measures of relief for the city of Boston under
the losses sustained by the great fire. It did
not represent Massachusetts.
The injustice of this act was keenly felt by
Mr. Sumner, and it threw a gloom over the last
years of his life. It seemed to him that he
was cast off by the State which he loved so
weU, whose honor he had ever sought to up
hold, and which he had thought held him in
true esteem. It was not enough that he was
told that the act was a hasty one — that it
was not the real act of Massachusetts. There
stood the censure upon her records ! He was
deeply touched by assurances given him that
it would be annidled. He almost died with
out the sight.
To an intimate friend, who had assured him

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

LIPE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 439
place it beyond aU question, — showing reason,
history, and every civilized nation for it. The
Emperor of Germany has just adopted it."
To another personal friend he wrote, March
20,- " If persons would only consider candidly my
original convictions on this question, they would
see how natural and inevitable has been my
conduct. As if in such a matter I could have
' hostiUty ' or ' spite ' to any body 1 I am a
public servant, and never was I moved by a
purer sense of duty than in this bill, aU of
which wiU be seen at last. Meanwhile men
wiU flounder in misconception and misrepre
sentation, to be regretted in the day of light."
John G. Whittier was foremost among those
who were deeply grieved by the vote of cen
sure. By his pen and in conversation, his noble
heart appealed to the sense of justice and mag
nanimity of the members of the legislature, to
rectify the grievous wrong done to the high-
minded and patriotic son of Massachusetts by
hasty action taken in a moment of excitement.
Early in 1874, soon after the opening of the ses
sion, numerous petitions, from John G. Whittier,
Vice-President Wilson, Henry L. Dawes, Ex-

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

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

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

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

444 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.
ica was ever blessed with. Who is not thankful
that a stigma which could not attach to him wa;3
removed from Massachusetts ?
The position of Mr. Sumner was weU expressed
by a feUow-senator, Carl Schurz, in his noble
eulogy upon Mr. Sumner, in Boston, AprU 29 : —
" Should the son of South Carolina, when at
some future day defending the republic against
some foreign foe, be reminded by an inscription
on the colors floating over him, that under this
flag the gun was fired that kiUed his father at
Gettysburg ? Should this great and enlightened
republic, proud of standing in the front of human
progress, be less wise, less large-hearted, than
the ancients were two thousand years ago, and
the kingly governments of Europe are to-day?
Let the battle-fiags of the brave volunteers,
which they brought home from the war with the
glorious record of their victories, be preserved
intact as a proud ornament of our State Houses
and armories. But let the colors of the army,
under which the sons of all the States are to meet
and mingle in common patriotism, speak of noth
ing but union, — not a union of conquerors and
conquered, but a union which is the mother of
aU, equaUy tender to all, knowing of nothing but
equality, peace, and love among her children.

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

446 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNER.

CHAPTER XXXII,
Religious Views of Mr. Sumner. — Dr. Channing,
— Mr. Sumner's Faith in God. — Seeking Help
from the Highest Source — Gratitude to God. —
Divine Providence. — Justice of God. — Regard
for the Scriptures. — Belief in Christianity. —
Tlie Christian Standard. — Tlie Christian Hero.
— Familiarity with the Bible. — Advice to a
Young Clergyman. — Tlie Good Shepherd. —
Mr. Sumner's Character. — Tlie Chief-Justice
ship. — Mr. Sumner's Disinterestedness. — His
Writings, •
In his youth, and for some time after he en
tered upon the practice of his profession, Mr,
Sumner was a regular attendant at King's Chapel.
During this period. Rev. Dr. F. W, P, Green
wood and Rev, Dr, Ephraim Peabody were the
pastors, the latter beginning his pastorate in
1846. They were men of fine gifts and eminent
worth.

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

448 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNER.
find ; he never took counsel with men, but sepa
rated himself from men, and went alone and con
sulted the . Highest Authority ; and when he
was assured by the Highest Authority, then he
always went forward, and asked no question
more." How reverent his mention of God's care over
him, in the opening words of his speech on the
Barbarism of Slavery 1
How grand and impressive that opening para
graph in the eulogy on President Lincoln, in
which he speaks of divine Providence !
He speaks of the injustice of ending the war
against the rebellion, without also putting an end
to slavery, as " chaUenging the judgments of a
righteous God." " If," said he, " the instincts of
patriotism did not prompt this support (emanci
pation), I should find a sufficient motive in that
duty which we aU owe to the Supreme Ruler,
God Almighty, whose visitations upon our country
are now so fearful."
Mr. Sumner also made frequent references to
the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testa
ment, and always in the spirit of reverence. He
heard God speaking in them, and summoningus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIPE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 457

CHAPTE-R XXXIII.
Mr. Sumner's Purity of Life. — Political Integrity.
— Conversational Peculiarities. — A French
Dinner, Me. Sumnee we have seen to be a man of
the purest principles. He was, also, a man
of unblemished life. Political venom never
assaUed his character.
Profanity — that vice too common among pub
lic men — was always repulsive to him, as also
was the sUghtest approach to vulgarity or coarse
ness in conversation. A gentleman, who was
one of his warm supporters and personal friends,
and who often entertained him as his guest, says
that he has met him in all places where gentle
men meet without restraint, and heard him con
verse on aU topics with men of various classes ;
but has never heard him teU a story or make

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 465

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

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

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

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

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

470 LIFE OP CHARLES SUMNEE.

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNER. 475
common with others, have rather a vague idea
of this semi-mythical gentleman, I was not sur
prised to see a good-looking colored man.
" The other was Salvator Rosa's ' Jonah's De
liverance from the Whale.' The prophet seemed
coming out of his prison in a terrible hurry, on
aU fours. The ' great fish ' was a fearful-looking
animal, resembling a Japanese griffin more than
anything else.
" I remarked that the artist had carried out the
words of the Scripture by making a great fish
instead of the traditionary whale.
" ' Why, was it not a whale ' ? " asked Mr. Sum
ner, smiling. ' I was brought up to believe it
was a whale, and always thought it was.'
" I referred him to the English Bible, and felt
surprised and glad to find that I knew one thing
which Charles Sumner did not know 1
" We chanced, in the course of conversation, to
speak of ' A Week in a French Country-House,'
when he told us that he had met Madam Sartori,
the author of it, abroad, and was once invited to
the house of a friend to hear her sing. She was
at that time studying, for the stage, but married
Hr. Sartori «oon after, and so never entered on

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

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

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

-NoxomiisvAi XV .uTviiiin s.uaNKns -aw

¦,(|)).>.->jV\b..i,-)iIji]II iiirjj.l

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

480 LIFE OF CHARLES SUMNER.
" frank " of his, on a coarse envelope ; but he
wanted a well-written autograph, not imagining
that so great a man could write so blindly, except
when in haste. So he wrote to him of the
one he had, that he only had succeeded in mak
ing it out by consulting a congressional directory,
a legal friend, and the superintendent of a manu
facturing corporation. To this communication
Mr. Sumner sent the foUowing holograph note : —
" Boston, 21st September, '61,
" Dear Sir : I am glad you have so good a
committee to help you in learning to read.
" Faithfully yours,
" Charles Sumner,"
Ten years afterwards the recipient of the note
reminded Mr, Sumner of the incident, where
upon the senator laughed heartily, and said, " I
declare, I was not aware before that I ever said
anything quite so Spartan as that 1 "
One of our Boston Latin School boys gives an
account of the way in which he secured Mr,
Sumner's autograph, thus : —
" When returning one evening from one of the
Lowell lectures, in the horse car, a gentleman of
imposing appearance attracted my attention

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

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

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

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

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

486 LIFE OP CHAELES SUMNEE.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
A Struggle for Life. — Opposition to the Centen
nial Bill. — Speech against the Bill. — Insults
from the Projectors. — Leaves the Senate Cham
ber for the Last Time. — Last Hours. ¦ — His
Dying Charge. — Announcement of Mr. Sum
ner's Death. — A Mourning Nation. — Funeral
at King's Chapel. — Procession to Moufit Au
burn. — The Closing Scene.
Charles Sumnee received his death-blow in
1856 ; but he was long in dying. A man of
weaker nerves, or one without a high purpose
in life, would have yielded to the power of dis
ease rather than endure a slow martyrdom for
years. But as long as there was work for him
to do, he bravely struggled on, compeUing him
self to undertake what was really beyond his
strength. It was in this spirit that he set himself to per
form what proved to be his last public act.

LIPE OP CHARLES SUMNER. 487
As he had never learned the art — unfortunately
easy to so many — of putting his hand into the
public treasury, neither had he learned that of
letting other men do so, if he knew their pur
pose. Believing that the " Centennial Bill " was a
huge scheme for benefiting a private corporation
at the pubUc expense, Mr. Sumner delivered a
speech on the subject Friday, March 6. In the
part we quote he was more humorous than was
his wont: —
"But I have something more to say — very
briefly, however — on the way in which these
corporators, if I may so express myself, worked
into their present position. They came here for
their biU ; they obtained it with the condition
that I have mentioned — a condition openly an
nounced and accepted by their representatives
on this floor, and also in the other House ac
cepted fully ; and the venerable senator fr6m
Pennsylvania on my right was so jubilant that he
announced at once that they would obtain the
money without delay. Ah, sir, does not the poet
teU us, —
' Fair laughs the mora, and soft the zephyr blows ' ?

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

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

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

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

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

LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE. 493
vitation for him to visit the writer next summer,
and an offer of generous and unstinted hospitaUty,
' There,' said he, ' you have burned the bane, and
here is the antidote,' His next letter was from
Boston, fuU of hearty thankfulness for his restora
tion to health and cheer for the future. It was
closely written, and as he handed it to me, he
said, ' This is no summer friend.'
" The last of many letters was one of congrat
ulation about the Massachusetts legislative reso
lutions, rescinding the vote of censure. I never
saw him look more happy than when he was read
ing it. He then arose and showed me with sat
isfaction the legislative resolutions, beautifully
engrossed on parchment. I asked, ' WiU you ad
dress the Senate when they are presented ? '
He replied, ' The dear old Commonwealth has
spoken for me, and that is enough.' "
Tuesday, March 10, at two o'clock, he took a
seat in the Senate Chamber beside a brother sen
ator, also a prominent opponent of the Centennial
BUl, and told him, with an evident feeUng of an
noyance, of the offensive anonymous letters
which had been sent him.
His friend turned his mind from this by aUud-

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

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

496 LIFE OF CHAELES SUMNEE.
About noon on the 11th he raised his head,
and said to Senator Schurz, " Why 1 I can't see 1
What does this mean ? " After hours of agony
he moaned, " I am so tired, I am so tired ! I
can't last much longer ! "
Just before he died. Judge Hoar gave him a
message from Ralph Waldo Emerson, to which
Mr. Sumner replied, with some difficulty, " Tell
Emerson that I love and revere him."
To a colored friend who stood chafing his cold
hand in the vain effort to restore the lost circula
tion, he said tenderly, " My poor Johnson, you
can soon rest." To one who said, " I wish I
could do something to warm your hands," he re
plied, " You never can."
Being told that his friend, Hon. Samuel Hooper,
had come, he looked at him, waved his hand, and
said, " Sit down."
At that moment his heart ruptured, a terrible
convulsion shook his frame, and he was no longer
among the Uving.
The great Irish Liberator exclaimed, when he
heard that Wilberforce was dead, " He has gone
up to heaven with a million broken fetters in his

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

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

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

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

.^i>i>E]srr)ix.

A.
As sho-sving the kind of influence under which the children
of Sheriff Sumner were brought up, we insert below a paper
•written by one of the daughters, at the age of sixteen, a year
before her death.
The delicate conscientiousness which is here seen also
formed a striking characteristic of Charles Sunmer. "Mat I, 1836.
" It is now nearly a year since I first wrote my character ; and
the self-examination necessary for it, I found so useful, that I
will try it again. I have hoped, and even believed sometimes,
that that fault (vanity), which was so predominant in my
character then, was partly cured ; but in the ver^ act of al-
lo-(ving that thought to take possession of my mind, I was,
perhaps, indulging the very thought which has given me so
much distress, and throwing myself off my guard when
temptation should arise. 'Watch and pray therefore.' • I
have done these, but not enough, and my mind is still far too
much engrossed with the follies and vanities of the world. I
have too great a desire to appear well, and I fear, to show off
how much I know. It is hard to own this to myself; but I
have need of being humbled.
' ' I have not enough moral courage — courage to tell the sim
ple truth at all times, and in spite of everybody. I have not
guarded this carefully enough, and vanity is at the bottom
here. I thought I was conscientious, I had been so often
told so, and my vanity persuaded me to believe it, at least in
part." (5011

502 APPENDIX,
"I have a great lack of charity, that -virtue which I feel
should be exercised towards me. My own failings should
teach me this. Prejudice and pride, too, form n part of my
character. I am still sometimes cross and fretful, and I fear
my temper is not at all improved. My own selfishness shocks
me, sometimes.
" The only thing in which I have improved this past year, is
that I have a greater desire to grow good, and I am more
thoughtful and watchful. I have wept and prayed over these
faults; and will they never be eradicated? Must I always
endure this state of anxiety, this longing for pure feelings?
I wUl persevere, for I know that He who has helped me so
far, will continue his aid.
"Howmuch reason I have to be thankful for my long illness
and the moments of delighful intercourse with God which I
then enjoyed, and how grateful ought I to be for being kept
so long from the enticements which we are subject to, who
mix with the world. But I have not improved it enough.
How happy should I be if I had! I fear that when I am
again well, all the impressions which my sickness has given
me will vanish like a mist. Ungrateful shall I be if they do.
"This is what I amjust at sixteen."

A lady who was intimate with Mrs. Sumner says that she
remembers talking with her one day about her son after he
had received his injuries from Brooks, and saying, " How
proud I should be if I had such a son ! " " Yes," was the re
ply, " but I tremble.''
Speaking of the father, the lady said that he would some
times buy tickets to lectures on useful subjects, and give them
to his children, with the remark, "I shall be busy myself
this evening, and I wish you, when yoii return, to give a cor
rect account of what you hear." In such ways he cultivated
in them habits of attention, and the power of communicating
what they khew.

APPENDIX. 503

B.

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

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

BULLETIN OF RECENT BOOKS.

LITERARY ITEMS.
TN no way can money be better invested for
•*- the young than in good books. They fur
nish the best of all good company, and are a
safeguard against temptation to evil. -^  No
series of books have been more eagerly read
and widely commended than the $1000 Prize
Series of sixteen elegant volumes published
by D. Lothrop & Co., Boston. Dr. Lit^oln
says. " They meet the want of the day for
books which instruct and improve while they
fascinate the reader.'*— The $500 Prize
Series, issued by D. Lothrop & Co., Boston,
are books that have a standard reputation
for excellence, and that have everywhere
proved among the most popular additions to
the library. First Series, 8 vols., S12 ; second
Series, 13 vols., S16.75  The Old Stone
House is one ofthose sweet stories whose
pathos touches the heart, and whose charac
ters linger in the memory to ennoble life.
¦ Walter Macdonald is a deservedly
popular book. Not a few strange and strik
ing events are wrought into the intensely in
teresting narrative, and the qio^^ve underlying
all is high and Christian.  The Wabs-
woRTH Boys is not sensational, but thought
ful, pleasant, and wholesome ; truly exalting
whatever is noble, and putting under ban
whatever is mean, though seemingly respect
able.  The Hon. George T. Afis;^ell sa.ys,
Striking for the Right, price, $1.75, for
which the unequalled premium of $1000 was
given, "is undoubtedly the best book of the
kind in the world." Henry Bergh says, "I
wish it were in my power to place it in the
hand of every man, woman, and child in the
land, as^it deserves to be." — > — Silent Tom,
the second book of the $1000 prize series, is
no less popular than the first The story is
startling, and told with great power. It is a
picture pf the life of our time, aud will hold
.readers with a magnetism they cannot resist.
The Boston DaUy Traveller says, "It is
quite as well written, as pure and good in its
teachings, and whoever reads one will be
anxious to read the other, and he who reads
both will have read two of the best juvenile
gtories of the season."

Opinions Expressed'.
Annals of a Quiet Nhighborhood. P.y
Geo. Macdonald, LL. D. Boston : D. Loth
rop & Co. i6mo. pp. 590. The Seaboard
Parish, A Sequel to Annals of a Quiet Neigh
borhood, same author and publishers. i6mo.
pp. 624. " Bring out the author's special felici
ties of style, his clear insight into character,
his warm sympathy with whatever is excel
lent and beautiful In life, his pity for all suf
ferers, and his high appreciation of the hum
ble, devout, and unselfish piety that thrives
often among the poor and lowly, whose daily
work taxes them with duties near the earth,
but whose thoughts and aspirmions keep
them in constant fellowship with the skies."
— Morning Star.
Kitty Kent's Troubles. By Julia A.
Eastman. D. Lothrop & Co., publishers,
Boston. Price, $1.50. "All readers of
*The School Days of Beulah Romney,* by
Julia A. Eastman, will be glad to welcome
'Kitty Kent's Troubles,' another book from
the same author, and of equal interest and
power. It belongs in the highest class of
books for the youth and the family, and Mr.
Lothrop is fortunate in securing writers who
are doing much to elevate our juvenile litera
ture. The story is a fascinating one, full of
human and tenderest pathos, showing the
folly of home government by authority with
out love, and how love can make sunshine
in the heart when the life is hard and un
comfortable. We pity any one who can read
it without longing to lead a noble life, in sym
pathizing with those in trouble, and speaking
words of good cheer to the" despondent. Kitty
Kent and her sister are genuine girls, but we
wish all girls had as good stuff in tliem." —
Boston your7tal. -^r^ '*The book shows
a generous sympathy with girl-life in all its
moods and tenses, and is exceptional for it2
literary excellence."-- The Advance.
" Such books are a rarity.'* — Ckr. Era.
" By offering high prizes fof manuscripts
Messrs. D. Lothrop & Co. have secured
many works and series of works of great ex
cellence, which all classes of intelligent read
ers can enjoy and profit by,"?- W^t^hw^n

NOTES.
WE invite special attention to the foUow
ing choice books in sets : Shell Cove
Series, 4 vols. ; Will Phillips Library,
4 vols. ; The Staniford Series, 4 vols.
$1.50 per vol These are peculiarly enter
taining and instructive books for Boys. Four ,
sets of elegant books, as follows, deserve
special commendation, as interesting and
excellent reading for Girls : The Talbo-
ry Girls Library, 4 vols. ; Annie May-
lie Series, 4 vols. ; The Sister Eleanor
Series, 4 vols.; Our Daughter's Libra
ry, 4 vols., $1.50 each; and we would not
forget to call attention to The Ridgemont
Series, by Julia A. Eastman, author of the
$1000 prize story, *' Striking for the Right,"
3 vols., $1.50 each. The Contributor szys
the publishers of these books maintain the
position they have chosen, that no book of
theirs shall be without its very practical and
useful lesson. —^ The Evening Rest Se
ries, three $1.5° vols., by L. L., in which
a succession of surprises keep the reader's
interest at high tension. Original in style,
the author opens a new vein, and works it
with singular success.  Little Ben
Hadden Series, 4 vols. ; Hartz Boy's
Library, 4 vols. ; Young Ladies Libra
ry, 4 vols. ; Pro and Con Series, 4 vols.,
and the Rose and Millie Library, 4 vols.,
are "very elegant $1.25 volumes, conveying
valuable lessons for all." The Boston DaUy
A dvertiser adds, " The same may be said of
all of D. Lothrop & Co. 's publications. ' ' 
The Allie Bird Series, svols., $1.00 each,
by Ella Farman, are singularly fresh and
delightful books for girls. Child Life Se
ries, Drifting Anchor Series, Sea
and Shore Series, each -containing five
$1.00 vols. Attractive and wholesome books
for the young make very desirable additions
to the home library.  Bill Riggs Libra
ry, 4 vols., Home Sunshine Series, 6 vols..
May and Tom Library, 5 vols.. Sturdy
Jack Series," 6 vols.. Sailing Order Se
ries, 4 vols., Uncle Max Library, 4 vols.,
in very tasty and elegant binding, and teach
ing the best lessons in the most attractive
way, are sold at the moderate price of 75 cts.

per volume.  The Sunny Dell Series;
Svols., and The Companion Series, 3 vols.,
60 cts. each, are bright and excellent books
for the children,  Thk Victory Series
for Boys, 6 vols., and The Victory Series
for Girls, 6 vols., are very fully illustrated,
and teach lessons which will help the little
ones live true lives.  Little Three Year
Old Library, 3 vols., are very charming
illustrated books. By authors of high rep
utation.  Little People's Library,
13 vols., are very beautiful 30 ct. books, with
Chromo on cover. The S, S, Times says,
" They are of that kind that never get old,
and which can never be too widely circulat-
ed." T— Spring Blossom Library, twelve
30 ct. vols., with 120 illustrations, are filled
with charming and instructive stories. 
The 25 ct. books pubUshed by D. Lothrop
& Co. are deservedly the most popular, and
they are larger and more fully illustrated
than any others in the market. Thirty-seven
different volumes, in beautiful binding, with
Chromo on cover. Some of them are put up
in boxes, as follows: Happy Hour Stories,
6 vols.. Pictures and Stories, 6 vols., De
lightful Stories, 8 vols., Chimney Cor
ner Stories, 4 vols,  Pictures and
Songs for TrfE Little Ones is the best and
best sellmg book published at 25 cts. Any
of the above books sold separately.
Commendatory.
"The public appreciate the efforts made
by Messrs. D. Lothrop & Co. to elevate the
standard oi literature for the young. The
publications of no other house have a greater
popularity or wider circulation." — Boston
DaUy jfonrnaL
"Messrs. D. Lothrop & Co. are publish
ing some of the most interesting and charm
ing books for our youth, and employ the very
best writers to secure that end." — Provi
dence Press.
"The general and emphatic approval given
by the press generally to the issues of this
publishing firm, makes the imprint a satisfac
tory guarantee that the books issued from it
have both character and interest. Both these
qualities belong in a high degree to their
latest publications." — Morning Star.

BULLETIN OF RECENT BOOKS.

LITERARY ITEMS.

"D EV. Dr. Day's book entitled African
-*-^ Adventure and Adventurers, fully
illustrated, is ready. An epitome of the elab
orate works of Speke, Grant, Baker, and
Livingstone, it presents the salient points
of each in a clear, comprehensive, and at
tractive manner. All who read it praise it.
 Broken Fetters is an attractive and
effective book, by the author of Evening
Rest, and Branches of Palm, It is sufl&cient
to say it has been pronounced by competent
critifs superior to either of his previous books.
 Davy's Jacket, by Hetta L. Ward,
is charming, portraying both the inner and
outer phases of young life. — — All who have
read A Little Woman, and Grandma Crosby's
Household, will be glad to learn more about
Kinnie Crosby, Allie and Jack Grimke, in A
Girl's Money, now ready.  In A Little
Woman, Christian energy is very pleasantly
set forth in a story that has not a heavy par
agraph.  Myths ai^d Heroes, by S. F.
Smith, D. D., is very interesting and instruc
tive, and richly worth the attention of intel
ligent readers, younger and older.  My
Mates and I forcibly exhibits the contrasted
results of lives which are and those which are
not animated by a Christian faith and pur
pose.  Mrs. A. E. Porter's new book,
Millie Lee, is fiilly equal to any of her
previous works. The incidents are skilfully
put, the heroine enlists one's sympathy
throughout, and the moral is impressive. 
Sailing Orders, by Mrs. Geo. Gladstone, is
full of the very odor of the sea, and of the
spirit of devotion to the Great Captain. 
Annette L. Noble has written an interestmg
story, entitled St. Augustine's Ladder.
 Wonders near Home, with numerous
illustrations by W. Houghton, is very enter
taining and instructive,— a helper to teachers
and young people. It shows that one need
not go far firom home to find natural wonders
if the eyes are open to see.  Some of the
finest character-painting is to be found in
Pansy's new book. Wise and Otherwise.
There is a wondrous freshness and vitality
appearing on every page.  Little Three-
Year-Old is written in just the style to suit

,the little ones, whose verdict is, that "it's
splendid." It is from the pen of Mrs. C. E.
K. Davis.— —The Mystery of the Lodge,
and Good Work, are two new and very ex
cellent books, by that very excellent and
well-known writer, Mary Dwinell Chellis. —
The author of that fresh and spirited story.
Fabrics, has favored the public with another
volume, entitled Finished or Not. For
thoughtful and appreciative young people it
will have a special charm and large value.
 Will Phillips is for wide-awake boys.
It shows how an academy pupil may be voted
" a real good fellow " by the most audacious,
and at the same time be so true to the Great
Master as to impress all with the presence and
power of the godly element.  Faithful,
but not Famous, is a finely written story,
by the author of Soldier Fritz, Maggie's Mes;
sage, and Helen's Victory. It gives a most
interesting view of the early progress of
Protestantism in Trance.  Ivy Fennha-
VEN pictures no unattainable ideal. It takes
imperfect character and portrays its struggles,
its developments, and its triumphs.  Lit
tle Wavie, the dear httle foundling, will
find an asylum in many a loving heart.
Some books are forgotten. We don't think
any one will forget Little IVavie. -"—Th'e
School Days of Beulah Romney is pro
nounced, by one of our most experienced and
competent teachers, ihe 5est hoarding- school
stojy ever published.  The Romneys of
Ridgemont, by the same author, is intensely
alive in every paragraph.  Kitty Kent's
Troubles, to be issued in a few days, will
increase this author's reputation. She has
already won fame and money as the writer of
the $1000 prize story, "Striking for the
Right."  The Noble Printer, a tale of
the first printed Bible, •will be read. It de
picts, with force and vividness, the life-long
struggle of Guttenberg.  Annie Maylie
is one of the best stories for young people.
As a Sunday School book it could scarcely be
improved.  Zion^s Herald B2.ys, The Luck
OF Alden Farm is oiie of the most successful
books for the young, by one of the best religious
writers of the day.  Grace Avery's In
fluence is a book that will strongly call to a
Hfe that has both nobility and beauty in it.

NOTES.
IN Sunset Mountain, Mrs. Porter, who
is never feeble, or wanting in a high aim,
pictures the life and scenery that make a New
England village noticeable, and give to its
personages an interest that is real and endur
ing.  The preaching of The Marble
Preacher (one of the celebrated Jiooo prize
stories) is most truthful, telling, and success
ful  Ben's Boyhood is a real, life-like
story. Little people will get pleasure and
profit out of it  Peter's Strange
Story, unusual in its plan, and effective in
its presentation, blends a touching pathos and
a wholesome moral lesson.  Nora, the
Flower-Girl — a simple, sweet story for
the wee ones — is fitted to awaken the charity
of the strong for the weak.  Coming to
the Light sets forth the methods by which a
soul finds its way to the higher plane, where
light from above falls freely upon the pathway.
 Margaret Worthington is written
with a thorough appreciation of the quiet,
modest, womanly, but heroic spirit, in which
fidelity to the claims of the gospel sometimes
gets itself embodied in social and domestic
life, and which this young girl so beautifully
and forcibly illustrates. •  Evening Rest is
one of the raost original stories in S. S. lite
rature. It opens a new vein, and works It
with wonderful success.  How and Why
considers practical questions relating to the
Bible. It is a vital subject vivaciously treated.
The ^looo Prize Series comprise sixteen ele
gant volumes, and are pronounced by the
examining committee, Rev. Drs. Lincoln,
Day, And Rankin, superior to any similar
series. The S500 Prize Series, issued by D.
Lothrop & Co., have a standard reputation
for excellence, and have everywhere proved
among the most popular additions to the
Sunday School Library. First series, 8 vols.,
$12.00; second series, 13 vols,, $16.75. 
Ester Ried, Julia Ried, The King's
Daughter, Wise and Otherwise, and
Three People, by Pansy, published by D.
Lothrop & Co., Boston, price, $1.50 each,
are books that do not belong to the average
class of juveniles, and the author is no mere
commonplace writer of religious fiction.

Opinions of the Press.
Striking for the Right, by Julia A.
Eastman, for which the unequalled premium
of $1000 was given. Boston: D. Lothrop &
Co. T\ie.S/>ring/ield Republican szys^ "Here
are beautiful sentiments, whose price is above
gold. The book is bright, and witty, and
wise. We give it our hearty praise." The
S. S. Tifnes says, " It is a thorough speci
men of the ideal volume for juveniles." The
Boston Jourtud says, *' It perpetually puts
God and duty and soul-culture into the very
heart of its sketches and lessons." Of the
second book in the series, the Watchman &*
Reflector says, " Silent Tom is the title of
one of D. Lothrop & Co. 's new books, and it
takes rank among the best of the always ex
cellent issues of this enterprising house. The
aim of the book is high, its teaching is not
less effective for being indirect, and it honors
true religion as much as it exalts literary art."
Kitty Kent's Troubles. By Julia A.
Eastman. The S- S. Times says, "A well-
meant and well-managed story, such as we
have here, is just the thing for the Sunday
School. Its literary merit is very great, as
the author is careful to preserve a sustained
and graceful style throughout the narration."
The Episcopal Register says, " This is an
attractive and vigorous story from a writer
who has won both farfle and money by the pre
vious productions of her pen, and is issued in
Messrs. D. Lothrop & Co.'s usual fine style.
The lesson of Kitty Kent's life is, that the
only road to happiness lies through the land
of goodness, and that the sovereign of this
land is the blessed Saviour."
Anna Maylie. By Ella Farman. Bos
ton : D. Lothrop & Co. Price, $1.50. The
Rural Carolina says, *'A story of earnest
religious work, and is pervaded by a spirit
of sweetness and pathos which must touch
every heart." The iVitness says, "As a Sun
day School book, it could scarcely be im
proved." The Boston Journal says, " On its
literary side it is a superior product. Bul
the excellence and the charm lie chiefly in the
pure, high-toned, gracious and stimulating
religious spirit that pervades the entire work. "
The Chr. Register says, " The story is well
told, touching, and helpful,"