“I have read attentively your speech made in New York, and,
let me say, I think it exactly suited to the occasion; and
if it finds circulation in Great Britain, it cannot fail to
do us much good in our foreign relations. Plain speech with
John Bull, and to the point frankly, is what always proves
most effective with him, in my experience.”
The late James A. Dix, editor of the _Boston Journal_, declared
his sympathies:--
“I cannot resist the temptation to express the pleasure
which the perusal of your speech on our Foreign Relations
has afforded me. I do not think it extravagant to say that
it is the ablest speech ever delivered in this country.
Certainly it is the ablest of any with which it could
appropriately be compared. In the number, value, interest,
and importance of its historical facts and precedents, in
the apt use of materials derived from laborious research,
and in the lucid treatment of the topics discussed, it is
unsurpassed.”
Major B. Perley Poore, for a long period connected with the
press, wrote from his country home:--
“If human gratitude be among the number of our national
virtues, the highest honors should contribute to reward
you for your address on Foreign Relations, so replete with
patriotism, learning, and practical knowledge, knowledge
of public law and the practice of nations, a thorough
acquaintance with civil government and the great question
of Freedom which underlies and overtops everything else. I
have read it twice in the small type of the _Journal_.”
Pliny Miles, the writer on Postal Affairs, wrote from London to
President Lincoln, who forwarded the letter to Mr. Sumner:--
“Mr. Sumner’s late speech in New York has arrived here in
the journals, and is attracting a great deal of attention.
Quotations and extracts are made from it in the leading
liberal papers; but really the whole speech ought to be
printed here, and circulated in pamphlet form. If sent to
all the members of both Houses of Parliament and to the
press, I think it would do great good.”
Daniel R. Goodloe, for a long time connected with the press,
then of Washington and afterwards of North Carolina, wrote:--
“I regard Lord Russell’s speech at Blairgowrie as a
reply to yours; and the country is indebted to you for
the important concessions he makes, and for the greatly
modified tone in which he speaks of our affairs.”