“I thank you for your speech. I think it an honor to
the age in which you live, and believe it will remain a
monument to your genius and eloquence. I am proud of it,
and that you sent it to me. I shall preserve it, and leave
it to my children, as one of the noblest consecrations to
Liberty and Man.”
John W. Osborne, Hospital Steward of the United States Army,
wrote from Washington:--
“That elaborate exposition will endure for ages as a
monument of your noble patriotism and unparalleled
eloquence. Its sentences will be read with grateful emotion
by the freedom-loving people of all nations, and their
prayers for your welfare and warfare will daily ascend to
Heaven.”
Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, a colored clergyman and orator, for
some time settled in New York, wrote from Washington, where he
was on a visit:--
“I was one of the many who heard your speech which you
concluded yesterday afternoon in the Senate of the United
States, and I take this opportunity to tender you my thanks
and undying gratitude for that glorious and inspired
production. I think that I may safely say that you have the
gratitude of my entire race for your fearless and radical
advocacy of the rights of all men, as I know you have their
sincere and ardent love.
“After having slept upon your speech, and the excitement
which was produced at the moment of its delivery is
somewhat subdued, I must say, that, if I were able, I would
cause a million of copies to be printed and scattered over
the land.”
This was followed by the presentation of the Memorial Discourse
by Mr. Garnet in the Hall of the House of Representatives,
Washington, February 12, 1866, with the inscription, “To the
Hon. Charles Sumner, as a small and humble token of respect,
and admiration of the ablest speech ever delivered in the
Senate of the United States.”
* * * * *
Among the most enlightened women of the country the pending
question awakened a deep interest; nor was their testimony
wanting.
Mrs. Josephine S. Griffing, devoted to good works in
Washington, and especially to the care and protection of poor
colored people, young and old, wrote from Washington:--
“I hope I shall not be considered intrusive in expressing
to you my deep gratitude for and high estimation of your
unparalleled speech, made in the United States Senate,
February 5th and 6th, not only as contrasted with that of
President Johnson to the colored delegation, but as an
independent effort, the greatest, because the broadest
in its application, of any ever made before the American
people.”
Mrs. L. M. Worden, sister of the late Mrs. William H. Seward,
and always a warm Abolitionist, wrote from Auburn, New York:--
“Please accept my thanks for your noble speech of the 5th
and 6th of February, which I have read and re-read with
great attention and deep gratitude and admiration. This
‘testimony of the truth’ will add yet another bright page
to the record of your undeviating fidelity to the cause of
Justice and Humanity.”
Mrs. Horace Mann, widow of the philanthropist, teacher, and
Representative in Congress, wrote from Concord, Massachusetts:--
“I presume you will receive a thousand letters expressive
of the satisfaction and delight that your speech upon the
Suffrage question has given; and yet I must add mine,
for it is but rarely that one feels that a moral subject
is exhausted, and you appear to have accomplished this
astonishing result. It is difficult to conceive how
Congress can act otherwise than in the highest manner,
after listening to it and reading it.”
Miss Susan B. Anthony, so earnest to secure suffrage for her
own sex, was not less earnest for the colored race:--
“A thousand thanks for your renewed, repeated protest
against that proposed Amendment. You stand in the Senate
almost the lone man to vindicate the absolute Right. May
you be spared these many years, thus to stand and thus to
speak!”