He [Algernon Sidney] was stiff to all republican principles,
and such an enemy to everything that looked like monarchy, that
he set himself in a high opposition against Cromwell, when he
was made Protector.--BURNET, _History of His Own Time_, Vol. I.
p. 538.
Quant à moi, j’avoue que mon indolence sur cet objet tient à la
confiance intime où je suis que la liberté finira par s’établir
dans l’ancien monde comme dans le nouveau, et qu’alors
l’histoire de nos révolutions mettra chaque chose et chacun à
sa place.--LAFAYETTE, _Mémoires_, Tom. I. Avant-propos, p. v.
Go on, my friend, in your consistent and magnanimous career;
and may you live to witness and enjoy the success of a cause
the most truly glorious that can animate the breast of
man,--that of elevating and meliorating the condition of his
race.--JAMES MADISON, _Letter to Lafayette, 1821_: _Letters and
other Writings_, Vol. III. pp. 237, 238.
* * * * *
This Address was at the invitation of the Young Men’s
Republican Union of New York, before whom the speech on the
Republican party had been given.[51] On the present occasion,
William C. Bryant, justly famous in our literature, took the
chair and introduced Mr. Sumner in the following words.
“I am glad, my friends, to see so large an audience
assembled for the purpose of hearing one of our most
accomplished scholars and orators discourse on a subject
lying apart from the ordinary strifes and immediate
interests of the day. Concerning the services rendered by
Lafayette to our country, to our own Republic, in the most
critical stage of its existence, there is no controversy.
For them we are all grateful. For his personal character
we all cherish a high veneration. And your presence here
to-night in such numbers declares that there are multitudes
among us who cherish and preserve a warm admiration, a
generous and purifying enthusiasm, for the noble examples
of self-sacrifice bequeathed to us by a generation which
has passed away. Among public men, in all times and all
countries, among all that class who have been actors in
the events which make up the history of the world, there
are few, unfortunately, who can compare with Lafayette
in a course of steady, unswerving virtue. Attend, then,
my friends, to the portraiture of that virtue drawn and
set before you in living words by a great artist, Charles
Sumner, of Boston, whom I now introduce to this assembly.”
[_Long continued cheering._]
The newspapers speak of the assembly as crowded and
enthusiastic, in spite of stormy weather. The _Herald_ says,
“The cheering was protracted, and the utmost enthusiasm was
manifested by the audience.” Even the _World_ adds, “The
lecturer was frequently and vociferously applauded, and the
audience gave evidence of deep interest in his remarks.” From
the report in the _Herald_ it appears that the allusions to
Slavery were received always with “applause,” while, at the
remark of Lafayette attributing “the evils of France less to
the madness of violence than to compromise of conscience by
timid men,”[52] there was what the _Herald_ calls “vehement and
long continued applause, and waving of hats and handkerchiefs.”
The temper of the audience was an illustration of prevailing
sentiment.
Beside the newspaper report at the time, this address was
printed at New York in a pamphlet, but from notes of reporters
without revision or help from Mr. Sumner.
* * * * *
In selecting this subject, Mr. Sumner was governed by two
considerations: first, a long cherished desire to pay the
homage justly due in his opinion to an illustrious character
whose place in history was not yet determined, and, secondly,
the conviction, that, in the actual crisis of our affairs, such
an example of fidelity would help to fix popular sentiment. The
sympathy of the audience in all the testimony against Slavery,
and especially in the condemnation of Compromise, showed that
the effort was appreciated. The report in the _Herald_ was
headed “_Sumner on Slavery_.”
Rumors of compromise in certain quarters and menaces from
the South increased the anxiety of the more earnest to take
advantage of every opportunity for demonstration against
Slavery. To all suggestions of concession the North made haste
to answer in the negative. Already began that fidelity under
which the Rebellion finally succumbed and Slavery disappeared.
* * * * *
Mr. Sumner was especially pleased at the appreciation of this
Address as an effort against compromise,--shown by a letter
from a citizen of Kansas, who was present:--
“How timely and impressively that bright example teaches
adherence to Liberty and Principle, and resistance to
concession and compromise, at the present crisis!”
A patriot citizen who heard it at Philadelphia, where it was
given before an immense audience, wrote:--
“Your Lecture has done more good than words can tell. There
is no such thing as calculating its value to our city.”
The _Pennsylvanian_ of Philadelphia, after entitling it “Clear
Grit Abolitionism,” said:--
“The People’s Literary Institute Lecture, at Concert Hall,
last evening, was by that perfect ensample of Abolitionism,
Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts. The hall was crowded,
negroes occupying the front seats and other prominent
places. Sumner’s nominal subject was ‘Lafayette,’ but he
made his sketch of the noble Marquis a vehicle for the
expression of the most ardent wishes and aspirations after
negro equality. The audience applauded the most radical
passages, although a stray hiss now and then betrayed the
whereabouts of a ‘Conservative.’”