This letter, after enjoying an extensive circulation in
the newspapers, was preserved as a political document in
McPherson’s “Political History of the Rebellion.”[74]
It first appeared in the _Boston Journal_,[75] with the
caption, “Senator Sumner and the President,” and with these
introductory words:--
“We are permitted to publish the following private letter
from Hon. Charles Sumner, in reply to a letter addressed
to him by a personal friend. Senator Sumner’s hearty
indorsement will not be without its influence upon those
who are impatient at what they term the Proslavery policy
of the President. At the same time there is nothing in
this indorsement which should shake the confidence of
conservative men in his wisdom and prudence.… It is
something to obtain from one who may be regarded as a
representative of this class so handsome a tribute to
the purity of the President’s motives, and so hearty an
indorsement of the correctness of his convictions and
sympathies.”
SENATE CHAMBER, June 5, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR,--Your criticism of the President is hasty. I am
confident, if you knew him as I do, you would not make it.
The President cannot be held responsible for the misfeasance of
subordinates, unless adopted, or at least tolerated, by him. And
I am sure nothing unjust or ungenerous will be tolerated, much
less adopted, by him.
I am happy to let you know that he has no sympathy with Stanly
in his absurd wickedness, closing the schools, nor, again, in
his other act of turning our camps into a hunting-ground for
slaves. He repudiates both, positively. The latter point has
occupied much of his thought, and the newspapers do not go too
far in recording his repeated declarations, which I have often
heard from his own lips, that slaves finding their way within
the national lines are never to be reënslaved. This is his
conviction, expressed without reserve.
Could you--as has been my privilege often--have seen the
President, while considering the great questions on which he has
already acted, beginning with the invitation to Emancipation in
the States, then Emancipation in the District of Columbia, and
the acknowledgment of the Independence of Hayti and Liberia, even
your zeal would be satisfied; for you would feel the sincerity
of his purpose to do what he can to carry forward the principles
of the Declaration of Independence. His whole soul was occupied,
especially by the first proposition, so peculiarly his own. In
familiar intercourse with him, I remember nothing more touching
than the earnestness and completeness with which he embraced this
idea. To his mind it was just and beneficent, while it promised
the sure end of Slavery. To me, who had already proposed a Bridge
of Gold for the retreating Fiend, it was most welcome. Proceeding
from the President, it must take its place among the great events
of history.
If disposed to be impatient at apparent short-comings, think, I
pray you, what has been done in a brief period, and from the past
discern the sure promise of the future. Knowing something of my
convictions, and of the ardor with which I maintain them, you
may, perhaps, derive assurance from my confidence. I say to you,
therefore, Stand by the Administration. If need be, help it by
word and act; but stand by it, and have faith in it.
I wish that you knew the President, and had heard the artless
expression of his convictions on those questions which concern
you so deeply. You might, perhaps, wish he were less cautious,
but you would be grateful that he is so true to all you have at
heart. Believe me, therefore, you are wrong; and I regret it
the more because of my desire to see all our friends stand firm
together.
If I write strongly, it is because I feel strongly; for my
constant and intimate intercourse with the President, beginning
with the fourth of March, not only binds me peculiarly to his
Administration, but gives me a personal as well as a political
interest in seeing that justice is done him.
Believe me, my dear Sir,
With much regard,
Ever faithfully yours,