“‘Union and Peace,--how they shall be restored.’ You have
shown the way, and the only way. We may have peace on other
terms, but no union _and_ peace. The Free States must
choose between peace, temporary peace, renewed war, and
peace founded upon righteousness, justice, and equity.”
Hon. Amasa Walker, the able writer on Political Economy,
afterwards Representative in Congress, wrote from North
Brookfield:--
“You never made a nobler, braver, or more opportune
utterance than at Worcester on the first instant. But
all Hunkerdom is down upon you for it, as I expected. No
matter,--the people, I trust in God, will sustain you. Your
words meet a most hearty response in the hearts of all
true men, you may rest assured. If your positions are not
sustained by the country, the great contest now going on
will end in failure, and ought to end so.”
David Lee Child, the sincere and lifelong Abolitionist, once a
journalist and lawyer, and always a writer, wrote for himself
and his wife from Wayland, Massachusetts:--
“I was, and my wife was, refreshed and strengthened by your
voice from Worcester. When you gave us the ‘Barbarism of
Slavery,’ the grandest, the most comprehensive, complete,
compact, and conclusive of all your noble utterances
against ‘the sum of all villanies,’ I did not write,
though never before so much moved to do so. We read it
the night that it reached us, and were so exalted by it
that we sat up two hours beyond our time, talking about
it and rejoicing over it. The foes of justice and freedom
accuse you of accelerating the crisis and precipitating
civil war by that speech. I think they are right for once.
The revived victim of frustrate assassins, the calm and
undaunted bearing, the inflexible purpose, the overwhelming
force of facts, argument, and illustration, struck more
terror to the soul of Richard than could the substance of
ten thousand soldiers armed in proof.
“I fully intended to address you as soon as the overflow
of my heart became somewhat proportionate to the capacity
of the pen, and to repeat that quotation from Tully which
Junius aptly uses, though less aptly than it applied then:
‘Quod si quis existimat me aut voluntate esse mutata,
aut debilitata virtute, aut _animo_ fracto, vehementer
errat.’[202] But my dear wife wrote you our joint offering
of admiration and gratitude better than I could do it for
myself.”
Hon. S. E. Sewall, the able lawyer and devoted Abolitionist,
whose sympathy with Mr. Sumner had been constant, wrote from
Boston:--
“As I have not time to call on you just now, I cannot
forbear writing, merely to say how delighted I am with
your speech at Worcester. I see it has roused a good deal
of howling among our wretched editors. But this does not
convince me that your position is wrong, or that it will
not be sustained by the country. Almost every one whom I
see thinks as I do about your speech, and regards it as
eloquent, statesmanlike, and timely. I trust Congress will
think as you do, and act accordingly.”
George Livermore, who so often wrote to Mr. Sumner with entire
sympathy, and soon afterwards contributed an invaluable service
to the African race,[203] expressed his present anxiety.
“I did hope that in this terrible day of our country’s
trial there would be found sufficient patriotism with those
sent to Worcester to cast aside _all party_ considerations
and all disturbing differences, and unite, _before it is
too late_, in trying to save the Government and the Union.…
I trembled when I heard that you had been invited to speak,
and I wept when I read your speech.
“Unless there is a united North, united on the basis of the
Constitution as it is, we are doomed to defeat.”
Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, at the time Consul General at
Montreal, wrote from that city:--
“Thanks for your speech at Worcester. I want you to place
the same question before the Senate.”
Hon. Carl Schurz, at the time Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary in Spain, wrote from Madrid:--
“First let me thank you for the glorious speech you have
delivered before the Massachusetts Convention. I agree with
you on every point, and expect shortly to fight by your
side.”
William S. Thayer, a writer of admirable sense, and Consul
General at Alexandria in Egypt, wrote:--
“Well, after all, your Cassandra-like prophecies as to the
course of public affairs have come true to the letter. Time
will show whether your declaration at the Massachusetts
Convention, that without Emancipation our war will be a
vain masquerade of battles, will not also be realized.
At this distance from home I do not feel qualified to
dogmatize; but we do not appear as yet to have struck our
opponents in a vital part.”
Hon. Montgomery Blair, Postmaster General, wrote from
Washington:--
“Your speech is noble, beautiful, classical, sensible. I
would have timed it differently; but I will take it now,
rather than lose it.”