“The speech delivered by the Hon. Charles Sumner, at the
Republican Convention at Worcester, in Massachusetts,
is one of the most significant events of the American
crisis.… In vigorous and eloquent words Mr. Sumner has
told the plain truths which we have frequently reiterated,
and there was not heard even the whisper of a dissentient
voice.[198] He pointed out that Slavery is the great enemy
to the preservation of the Union, and that its eradication
would bring the war at once to a close.… Emancipation must
come, and its calm concession by an act of executive power
can alone prevent its ultimate consummation by red-handed
insurrection. The enthusiastic assent which was evoked by
Mr. Sumner’s noble words--words worthy alike of the man and
of his theme--is a cheering foretaste of the triumph which
cannot be long deferred.”
In the English island of Jersey, one of the Channel Isles, on
the coast of France, the _Independent and Daily Telegraph_
published the speech at length, with an article entitled “The
Orator of Freedom,” where it said:--
“As a general rule, even those who like to listen to good
speeches do not care to read long speeches, good or bad.
But even such persons need not our recommendation to give
their attention to the graceful periods and electrifying
appeals of, probably, the most accomplished of American
speakers,--perhaps we might justly say the foremost orator
speaking the Anglo-Saxon tongue; for, rivalling Gladstone
in genius, he more than rivals the glory of England’s
House of Commons by that holy earnestness which imparts
to eloquence its chief effect, and which naturally is the
product of circumstances rather than of individual will.…
The principles of the Massachusetts Senator command our
thorough adhesion, as his extraordinary talents challenge
our admiration, and his courageous consistency carries
with it our respect. But, although we can make every
allowance for President Lincoln and his ministers, and
those Massachusetts men who hesitate to invoke the sword of
Spartacus, still, we repeat, all our sympathies are with
Mr. Sumner, and the cause of which he is the champion,
and the policy of which he is the exponent.… Although
grammarians will not allow the comparative and superlative
of ‘right,’ and know nothing of ‘righter’ and ‘rightest,’
we must nevertheless affirm that General Butler was right,
General Fremont more right, and that Senator Sumner is most
right.”
Crossing to the Continent, the controversy continues.