"It is hardly necessary for me to tell you, what you probably see
in the newspapers, that you have become one of the most popular men
in Massachusetts. Even the Whigs are beginning to find out that you
have maintained the character of the State far better than their
own Senator.
"I suppose the idea of expelling you from the Senate, which was
reported in the papers some weeks ago, could never have been
seriously entertained. But the mere suggestion of such an outrage
roused many men who had never been your political friends; for
everybody felt that to attempt such an act would be an indignity to
the State not to be tolerated.
"I find that I have left to the end of my letter, what I meant to
have said in the beginning, that all your friends are delighted
with your course in Congress under the very trying circumstances
of the present session. We all agree that you have fought a good
fight."
William I. Bowditch, Esq., of Boston, communicated the following
incident:--
"One gentleman whom I saw this forenoon said that he involuntarily
gave three cheers, when he had finished reading your speech; and an
'old Hunker' said to me smilingly, 'I really don't know but that I
shall myself come out at last a Sumner man.'"
Dr. James W. Stone, an indefatigable member of the Free-Soil party,
wrote:--
"But I should not only fail to express my own feelings, but also
the universal satisfaction here evinced, did I long delay to
tell you, even if I have time to do nothing more, how great the
enthusiasm is in your behalf, for your noble reply to the unworthy
assaults from Pettit, whose name is more significant of his mental
than of his physical calibre, from Butler the faithless, and from
Clay the slave-hunter, _et id omne genus_. I doubt whether even
you can repress the enthusiasm which so earnestly demands a public
reception for you on your return home."
Hon. Benjamin F. Butler, afterwards General, and Representative in
Congress, wrote:--
"My interest in the subject of the speeches procured me the reports
while they were being delivered. At that time I was at Concord, in
court, seeing people of all parties; and I can assure you, from
observation, that your course in the Senate is sanctioned by the
approving sentiment of Massachusetts."