From his first arrival in Washington as a Senator, as far back
as 1851, Mr. Sumner had been pursued by menace of personal
violence. At the beginning of the present session he received
a warning,[210] while the head of the military police reported
to him at least one conspiracy against his life, with regard to
which he had evidence. The prevailing bitterness, especially
after the speech of President Johnson, arrested the attention
of Hon. A. P. Granger, a retired Representative in Congress
from the State of New York, whose experience in the anxious
days of Kansas, when Mr. Sumner suffered personal violence,
put him on his guard. In a letter from Syracuse, New York, he
expressed his present anxiety:--
“Permit me to say a word as to your personal safety. There
are many of our best men who think more of that than you
do. No man living that Treason would so much rejoice to
see struck down as yourself; and many there are who would
strike, if they dared. I know you think little of danger;
but fear for your country, if not for yourself. Do not
keep your room alone, night or day. Seldom or never go out
after nightfall, and let your painful experience and the
character of the foe teach you to be ever on guard.”