“Now we beg leave to submit, that this speech, from this
Senator, at this crisis, comprehends an Abolition warning
to the Administration, and a warning to the States involved
in this Rebellion. Mr. Sumner is supported in his views by
an active Abolition faction, extending from Massachusetts
to Missouri, and with this faction an exterminating
crusade against Slavery is the all-absorbing idea. Let the
President and his Cabinet, then, exert their energies to
the uttermost for a speedy blow or two which will break
the backbone of this Rebellion, or we know not what may be
the consequences to the Administration from the fanatical
hostility of this Abolition faction to the conservative
policy of Mr. Lincoln. On the other hand, we would appeal
to the Union men of the Border Slave States to turn out
at once, and en masse, to the active support of the
Government, and thus restore the Union in its integrity,
including the integrity of Southern institutions, in the
speedy expulsion of the Rebels into the Cotton States. With
the Border Slave States rescued, this whole Rebellion will
soon fall to pieces from its own weight; but every day
that the Rebels continue to menace Washington, to desolate
Missouri, and to hold a threatening lodgement in Kentucky,
the danger to Southern Slavery is increased, and of a
protracted and desolating war of sections, factions, and
races.”
* * * * *
Against these voices were others very different in tone.
The _National Antislavery Standard_ of New York, in an
elaborate leader, united with Mr. Sumner.
“We lay before our readers to-day the admirable speech of
Mr. Sumner before the Republican Convention at Worcester,
Massachusetts. We shall not invite their attention to it,
for we are sure they cannot keep their attention away from
it, and it will well repay all that they have to bestow. It
is a bold, clear, and conclusive exposition of the policy
which the United States Government should adopt, and make
the vital principle of their action, in the present war.
Mr. Sumner is the first public man of eminent station who
has dared to indicate the true and only way of escape for
this nation out of its dangers; and whether his counsel be
hearkened unto or mocked, he will go into history as the
first man of high political rank who has discerned and not
shrunk from proclaiming this saving truth.”
The New York _Independent_ published the speech promptly upon
its delivery, with the remark:--
“The following masterly and patriotic speech was made by
Hon. Charles Sumner at the recent Republican Convention in
Massachusetts which renominated Governor Andrew.”
The same paper, in another issue, followed the speech with a
tribute which has merit of its own.
“TO CHARLES SUMNER.
“We thank thee, Sumner! Thou hast spoken the word
God gave to thy safe keeping; thou hast set
Life, Death, before the nation; thou hast hurled
Thy single pebble, plucked from Truth’s pure stream,
Into the forehead of a Giant Wrong,
And it doth reel and tremble. Men may doubt,
But the keen sword of Right shall finish well
Thy brave beginning.
“Courage, then, true soul!
Not vainly hast thou spoken; angels heard,
And shook from their glad harps a gush of joy
That the _One Word_ was uttered in men’s ears,
The ‘Open Sesame’ by which alone
True Freedom and true Peace might enter in,
Making earth like to heaven.
“Then bide thy time.
What thou hast spoken as ’t were in the ear
Shall be proclaimed on housetops. God locks up
In His safe garner every seed of Truth,
Until the time shall come to cast it forth,
Saying, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill
The broad earth, till it shouts its harvest-home.’
His purposes are sure; who works with Him
Need fear no failure. By my hopes of heaven,
I’d rather speak one word for Truth and Right,
That God shall hear and treasure up for use
In working out His purposes of good,
Than clutch the title-deed that should insure
A kingdom to my keeping!--so, in faith,
I speak my simple word, and, fearing not,
Commit it to His hands whom I do serve.
“And thus it is, O friend, that I have dared
To send thee greeting and this word of cheer.
God bless thee, Sumner, and all souls like thine,
Working serene and patient in His cause!
God give thee of the fruit of thine own hands,
And let thine own works praise thee in the gates
Of the new city, whose foundation-stones
Thy hands are laying, though men see it not!
“CAROLINE A. MASON.
“FITCHBURG, Mass.”