wrote to another, "Our friend outstrips all imagination. He will leave
us all behind him.... He has been working hard to lay a foundation for
the future. I doubt whether one of his class-mates has filled up the
time since commencement with more, and more thorough labor; and to keep
him constant he has a pervading ambition,--not an intermittent, fitful
gust of an affair, blowing a hurricane at one time, then subsiding to a
calm, but a strong, steady breeze, which will bear him well on in the
track of honor."
In the fall of 1831 Sumner had decided to study law, and began in
earnest at the Harvard Law School. Early and late he was among his
books, often until two in the morning. He soon knew the place of each
volume in the law library, so that he could have found it in the dark.
He read carefully in common law, French law, and international law;
procured a common-place book, and wrote out tables of English kings and
lord-chancellors, sketches of lawyers, and definitions and incidents
from Blackstone. He made a catalogue of the law library, and wrote
articles for legal magazines. He went little into society, because he
preferred his books. Judge Story, a man twice his own age, became his
most devoted friend, and to the end of his life Sumner loved him as a
brother.
Chief Justice Story, whom Lord Brougham called the "greatest justice in
the world," was a man of singularly sweet nature, appreciative of the
beautiful and the pure, as well as a man of profound learning. The
influence of such a lovable and strong nature over an ambitious youth,
who can estimate?
The few friends Sumner made among women were, as a rule, older than
himself, a thing not unusual with intellectual men. He chose those whose
minds were much like his own, and who were appreciative, refining, and
stimulating. Brain and heart seemed to be the only charms which
possessed any fascination for him.
The eminent sculptor, W. W. Story of Rome, says, "Of all men I ever knew
at his age, he was the least susceptible to the charms of women. Men he
liked best, and with them he preferred to talk. It was in vain for the
loveliest and liveliest girl to seek to absorb his attention. He would
at once desert the most blooming beauty to talk to the plainest of men.
This was a constant source of amusement to us, and we used to lay wagers
with the pretty girls that with all their art they could not keep him at
their side a quarter of an hour. Nor do I think we ever lost one of
these bets. I remember particularly one dinner at my father's house,
when it fell to his lot to take out a charming woman, so handsome and
full of _esprit_ that any one at the table might well have envied him
his position. She had determined to hold him captive, and win her bet
against us. But her efforts were all in vain. Unfortunately, on his
other side was a dry old _savant_, packed with information; and within
five minutes Sumner had completely turned his back on his fair companion
and engaged in a discussion with the other, which lasted the whole
dinner. We all laughed. She cast up her eyes deprecatingly, acknowledged
herself vanquished, and paid her bet. Meantime, Sumner was wholly
unconscious of the jest or of the laughter. He had what he
wanted--sensible men's talk. He had mined the _savant_ as he mined every
one he met, in search of ore, and was thoroughly pleased with what he
got."
In manner Sumner was natural and sincere, friendly to all, winning at
the first moment by his radiant smile. A sunny face is a constant
benediction. How it blesses and lifts burdens from aching hearts! Sumner
had heart-aches like all the rest of mankind, but his face beamed with
that open, kindly expression which is as sweet to hungering humanity as
the sunshine after rain. And this "genial illuminating smile," says Mr.
Story, "he never lost."
These days in the law school were happy days for the lover of learning.
Forty years afterward, Mr. Sumner said, in an address to the colored law
students of Howard University, Washington, "These exercises carry me
back to early life.... I cannot think of those days without fondness.
They were the happiest of my life.... There is happiness in the
acquisition of knowledge, which surpasses all common joys. The student
who feels that he is making daily progress, constantly learning
something new,--who sees the shadows by which he was originally
surrounded gradually exchanged for an atmosphere of light,--cannot fail
to be happy. His toil becomes a delight, and all that he learns is a
treasure,--with this difference from gold and silver, that it cannot be
lost. It is a perpetual capital at compound interest."
While at the law school, Sumner wrote a friend, "A lawyer must know
everything. He must know law, history, philosophy, human nature; and, if
he covets the fame of an advocate, he must drink of all the springs of
literature, giving ease and elegance to the mind, and illustration to
whatever subject it touches. So experience declares, and reflection
bears experience out.... The lower floor of Divinity Hall, where I
reside, is occupied by law students. There are here Browne and Dana of
our old class, with others that I know nothing of,--not even my
neighbor, parted from me by a partition wall, have I seen yet, and I do
not wish to see him. I wish no acquaintances, for they eat up time like
locusts. The old class-mates are enough." To another he wrote,
"Determine that you will master the whole compass of law; and do not
shrink from the crabbed page of black-letter, the multitudinous volumes
of reports, or even the gigantic abridgments. Keep the high standard in
your mind's eye, and you will certainly reach some desirable point....
You cannot read history too much, particularly that of England and the
United States. History is the record of human conduct and experience;
and it is to this that jurisprudence is applied.... Above all love and
honor your profession. You can make yourself love the law, proverbially
dry as it is, or any other study. Here is an opportunity for the
exercise of the will. Determine that you will love it, and devote
yourself to it as to a bride."
When the study at the law school was over, Sumner returned to Boston,
and entered the office of Benjamin Rand, Court Street, a man
distinguished for learning rather than for oratory. The young lawyer
succeeded fairly well, though he loved study better than general
practice. Two years later he gave instruction at the law school when
Judge Story was absent, and then reported his opinions in the Circuit
Court, in three volumes. He assisted Professor Greenleaf in preparing
"Reports of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Maine," revised, with
much labor, Dunlap's "Admiralty Practice," and edited "The American
Jurist."
In the midst of this hard work he spent a brief vacation at Washington,
writing to his father, "I shall probably hear Calhoun, and he will be
the last man I shall ever hear speak in Washington. I probably shall
never come here again. I have little or no desire ever to come again in
any capacity. Nothing that I have seen of politics has made me look upon
them with any feeling other than loathing. The more I see of them the
more I love law, which, I feel, will give me an honorable livelihood."
When he visited Niagara, he wrote home, "I have sat for an hour
contemplating this delightful object, with the cataract sounding like
the voice of God in my ears. But there is something oppressive in
hearing and contemplating these things. The mind travails with feelings
akin to pain, in the endeavor to embrace them. I do not know that it is
so with others; but I cannot disguise from myself the sense of weakness,
inferiority, and incompetency which I feel."
When Sumner was twenty-six, he determined to carry out a life-long plan
of visiting Europe, to study its writers, jurists, and social customs.
He needed five thousand dollars for this purpose. He had earned two
thousand, and, borrowing three from three friends, he started December
8, 1837. Emerson gave him a letter of introduction to Carlyle, Story to
some leading lawyers, and Washington Allston to Wordsworth. Judge Story
said in his letter, "Mr. Sumner is a practising lawyer at the Boston
bar, of very high reputation for his years, and already giving the
promise of the most eminent distinction in his profession; his literary
and judicial attainments are truly extraordinary. He is one of the
editors, indeed, the principal editor, of 'The American Jurist,' a
quarterly journal of extensive circulation and celebrity among us, and
without a rival in America. He is also the reporter of the court in
which I preside, and has already published two volumes of reports. His
private character, also, is of the best kind for purity and propriety."
His friend Dr. Lieber gave him some good suggestions about travelling.
"Plan your journey. Spend money carefully. Keep steadily a journal.
Never think that an impression is too vivid to be forgotten. Believe me,
_time_ is more powerful than senses or memory. Keep little books for
addresses. Write down first impressions of men and countries."
Just before Sumner started from New York, he wrote to his little sister,
Julia, then ten years old, "I am very glad, my dear, to remember your
cheerful countenance.... Let it be said of you that you are always
amiable.... Cultivate an affectionate disposition. If you find that you
can do anything which will add to the pleasure of your parents, or
anybody else, be sure to do it. Consider every opportunity of adding to
the pleasure of others as of the highest importance, and do not be
unwilling to sacrifice some enjoyment of your own, even some dear
plaything, if by doing so you can promote the happiness of others. If
you follow this advice, you will never be selfish or ungenerous, and
everybody will love you."
To his brother George, six years younger than himself, he wrote, "Do not
waste your time in driblets. Deem every moment precious,--far more so
than the costliest stones.... Keep some good book constantly on hand to
occupy every stray moment."
As soon as Sumner reached Paris he devoted himself to the study of the
language, so as to be able to speak what he could write already. He
attended lectures given by the professors of colleges, became acquainted
with Victor Cousin, the noted writer on morals and metaphysics, and the
friend of authors, lawyers, and journalists. He said, years later,
in an eloquent tribute to Judge Story: "It has been my fortune to
know the chief jurists of our time in the classical countries of
jurisprudence,--France and Germany. I remember well the pointed and
effective style of Dupin, in one of his masterly arguments before the
highest court of France; I recall the pleasant converse of Pardessus, to
whom commercial and maritime law is under a larger debt, perhaps, than
to any other mind, while he descanted on his favorite theme; I wander in
fancy to the gentle presence of him with flowing silver locks who was so
dear to Germany, Thibaut, the expounder of Roman law, and the earnest
and successful advocate of a just scheme for the reduction of the
unwritten law to the certainty of a written text; from Heidelberg I pass
to Berlin, where I listen to the grave lecture and mingle in the social
circle of Savigny, so stately in person and peculiar in countenance,
whom all the continent of Europe delights to honor; but my heart and my
judgment, untravelled, fondly turn with new love and admiration to my
Cambridge teacher and friend. Jurisprudence has many arrows in her
quiver, but where is one to compare with that which is now spent in the
earth?"
After some months in Paris, Sumner went to England, remaining ten
months, and receiving attentions rarely if ever accorded to an American.
He used some letters of introduction, but generally he was welcomed to
the houses of lords and authors simply because the young man of learning
was honored for his refinement and nobility of soul. He was admitted to
the clubs, attended debates in Parliament, was present at the coronation
of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey, sat on the bench at Westminster
Hall, dined often with Lord Brougham, Sir William Hamilton, Jeffrey of
the _Edinburgh Review_, Lord Morpeth the Chief Secretary for Ireland,
Hallam, Carlyle, Lord Holland, Lord Houghton, Grote, Sydney Smith,
Macaulay, Landor, Leigh Hunt, and scores of others, the greatest in the
kingdom. An English writer said: "He presents in his own person a
decisive proof that an American gentleman, without official rank or
widespread reputation, by mere dint of courtesy, candor, an entire
absence of pretension, an appreciating spirit, and a cultivated mind,
may be received on a perfect footing of equality in the best English
circles, social, political, and intellectual."
Sumner wrote back to his friends in America: "I have made myself master
of English practice and English circuit life. I cannot sufficiently
express my admiration of the heartiness and cordiality which pervade all
the English bar. They are truly a band of brothers, and I have been
received among them as one of them. I have visited many--perhaps I may
say most--of the distinguished men of these glorious countries (England,
Scotland, and Ireland), at their seats, and have seen English country
life, which is the height of refined luxury, in some of its most
splendid phases. For all the opportunities I have had I feel grateful."
Sumner found, what all travellers find, that cultivated, well bred
people all speak a common language, that of universal courtesy and
kindness. The English did not ask if he had wealth or distinguished
parentage; it was enough that he was intelligent on all topics,
considerate, gentle in manner, a gentleman in every possible situation.
Every letter home teemed with descriptions of visits to Wordsworth, then
sixty-nine years of age; to Macaulay, whom Sydney Smith called "a
tremendous machine for colloquial oppression;" to the beautiful Caroline
Norton, the poet, "one of the brightest intellects I have ever met,"
with "the grace and ease of the woman, with a strength and skill of
which any man might well be proud;" to Lord Brougham, with "a fulness of
information and physical spirits, which make him more commanding than
all."
Sumner spent three months in Rome, at first studying the language from
six to twelve hours a day. He became the friend of the artist Thomas
Crawford, then poor, but with high ambition. He wrote his praises home
to his friends, induced them to buy one of his earliest works and
exhibit it in Boston; cheered the half-despairing artist by assuring him
that he would be "a great and successful sculptor, and be living in a
palace," all of which came true. A noble nature, indeed, that could
pause in its own aspiring work and lift another to fame and success!
Six months were spent in Germany by Sumner, where he studied language
and law as earnestly as he had in France and Italy. The rich, full days
of literary intercourse were coming to an end. He wrote to his intimate
friend Longfellow: "I shall soon be with you; and I now begin to think
of hard work, of long days filled with uninteresting toil and humble
gains. I sometimes have a moment of misgiving, when I think of the
certainties which I abandoned for travel, and of the uncertainties to
which I return. But this is momentary; for I am thoroughly content with
what I have done. If clients fail me; if the favorable opinion of those
on whom professional reputation depends leaves me; if I find myself poor
and solitary,--still I shall be rich in the recollection of what I have
seen, and will make companions of the great minds of these countries I
have visited."
In the spring of 1840 Sumner was home again, having been abroad for two
and one-half years. The father and his sister Jane, a lovely girl of
seventeen, had both died during his absence. He went at once to the
Hancock Street home, and began his professional labors from nine till
five or six in the afternoon. In the evening he read as formerly till
midnight or later, going every Saturday evening to spend the night with
Longfellow at Craigie House.
This affection for Longfellow never changed. When the poet went abroad
in 1842, Sumner wrote him, "We are all sad at your going; but I am more
sad than the rest, for I lose more than they do. I am desolate. It was
to me a source of pleasure and strength untold to see you; and, when I
did not see you, to feel that you were near, with your swift sympathy
and kindly words. I must try to go alone,--hard necessity in this rude
world of ours, for our souls always in this life need support and gentle
beckonings, as the little child when first trying to move away from its
mother's knee. God bless you, my dear friend, from my heart of hearts.
My eyes overflow as I now trace these lines."
Sumner was full of incident and vivid description of his life abroad,
and the most charming homes of Boston were open to him whenever he had
the time to visit, which was seldom. The letters from Europe made the
long days of law practice less monotonous. He wrote much on legal
matters; and now, at thirty-three, undertook to edit the "Equity
Reports" of Francis Vesey, Jr., numbering twenty volumes, for two
thousand dollars. By the terms agreed upon, a volume was to be ready
each fortnight. He worked night and day, took no recreation, and soon
broke down in health; and his life was despaired of. He welcomed death,
for he had before this time become somewhat despondent. Most of his
friends were married, and some, like Prescott and Longfellow, had come
to fame already. He felt that his life was not showing the results of
which his youth gave promise.
Had he found at this time "the perfect woman" for whom he used to tell
his friends he was seeking, and made her his wife, there would doubtless
have come into his life satisfaction and rest. That he did not marry was
the more strange since women admired him for the qualities which are
especially attractive to the sex; a knightly sense of honor, fidelity in
friendship, fearlessness, and affectionate confidence.
Sumner recovered his health, while his beloved sister Mary, at the age
of twenty-two, faded from his sight by consumption. He wrote his brother
George: "She herself wished to die; and I believe that we all became
anxious at last that the angel should descend to bear her aloft. From
the beautiful flower of her life the leaves had all gently fallen to the
earth; and there remained but little for the hand of death to pluck.
During the night preceding the morning on which she left us, she slept
like a child; and within a short time of her death, when asked if she
were in pain, she said, 'No; angels are taking care of me.'"
To Charles Sumner this death was an incomparable loss. She was
especially beautiful and lovely, and the idol of his heart. Possibly it
helped to make him ready for his great work.
Into most lives, especially those designed for great deeds, there seem
to come decisive moments when events open the door from the darkness of
obscurity into the noonday glare of fame. Such a time came to Sumner in
1845. He was asked to deliver the usual Fourth of July address at
Tremont Temple, Boston, as Charles Francis Adams, Horace Mann, and
others had done in previous years. He chose for his subject "The True
Grandeur of Nations," showing that the "true grandeur" is peace and not
war. He dealt vigorously with the Mexican War, then impending, as a
result of the annexation of Texas, with consequent enlargement of slave
territory.
Sumner was now thirty-four, well developed physically, his face handsome
and radiant as ever, with the smile of his boyhood, his voice clear and
resonant, his mind full to overflowing. He spoke for two hours, without
notes. He said: "The true greatness of a nation cannot be in triumphs of
the intellect alone. Literature and art may widen the sphere of its
influence; they may adorn it; but they are in their nature but
accessories. _The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation,
sustained, enlightened, and decorated by the intellect of man...._ In
our age there can be no peace that is not honorable; there can be no war
that is not dishonorable. The true honor of a nation is to be found only
in deeds of justice and beneficence, securing the happiness of its
people,--all of which are inconsistent with war. In the clear eye of
Christian judgment, vain are its victories, infamous are its spoils. He
is the true benefactor, and alone worthy of honor, who brings comfort
where before was wretchedness; who dries the tear of sorrow; who pours
oil into the wounds of the unfortunate; who feeds the hungry, and
clothes the naked; who unlooses the fetter of the slave; who does
justice; who enlightens the ignorant; who, by his virtuous genius in
art, in literature, in science, enlivens and exalts the hours of life;
who, by words or actions, inspires a love for God and for man. This is
the Christian hero; this is the man of honor in a Christian land."
The believers in war felt somewhat hurt by Sumner's plainness of speech,
but the city of Boston and the State of Massachusetts awoke to the
knowledge of an eloquent man in their midst, who had doubtless a work
before him. Mrs. Lydia Maria Child wrote him: "How I did thank you for
your noble and eloquent attack upon the absurd barbarism of war! It was
worth living for to have done that, if you never do anything more. But
the soul that could do that _will_ do more."
Chancellor Kent wrote him, "I am very strongly in favor of the
institution of a congress of nations or system of arbitration without
going to war. Every effort ought to be made by treaty stipulation,
remonstrance, and appeal to put a stop to the resort to brutal force to
assert claims of right. The idea of war is horrible. I remember I was
very much struck, even in my youth, by the observation (I think it was
in Tom Paine's 'Crisis') that 'he who is the author of war lets loose
the whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to
death.'"
Seven thousand copies of this oration were distributed by the Peace
Societies of England, and it had a wide reading in our own country.
Sumner was now called upon to speak with Garrison, Phillips, and others,
on the question of the annexation of Texas with her slave territory. He
said, "God forbid that the votes and voices of the freemen of the North
should help to bind anew the fetters of the slave! God forbid that the
lash of the slave-dealer should be nerved by any sanction from New
England! God forbid that the blood which spurts from the lacerated
quivering flesh of the slave should soil the hem of the white garments
of Massachusetts."
The educated Boston lawyer, the friend of hosts of authors and jurists
on both sides of the ocean, the accomplished and aristocratic scholar,
Sumner had placed himself among the despised Abolitionists! Many of his
friends stood aghast, even refusing to recognize him on the street. This
act required great moral heroism, but he was equal to the occasion. The
door had opened to fame and immortality, even though they came to him
through contumely and well-nigh martyrdom.
In 1846, Mr. Sumner spoke before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard
University: "We stand on the threshold of a new age, which is preparing
to recognize new influences. The ancient divinities of violence and
wrong are retreating to their kindred darkness. The sun of our moral
universe is entering a new ecliptic, no longer deformed by those images,
Cancer, Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius, but beaming with the mild radiance of
those heavenly signs, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
"'There's a fount about to stream;
There's a light about to beam;
There's a warmth about to glow;
There's a flower about to blow;
There's a midnight blackness changing
Into gray:
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!'"
Theodore Parker wrote to the orator, "You have planted a seed, 'out of
which many and tall branches shall arise,' I hope. _The people are
always true to a good man who truly trusts them._ You have had
opportunity to see, hear, and feel the truth of that oftener than once.
I think you will have enough more opportunities yet; men will look for
deeds noble as the words _a man speaks_."