“That a lecture should be repeated in New York is a
rare occurrence. That a lecture on Antislavery should
be repeated in New York, even before a few despised
‘fanatics,’ is an unparalleled occurrence. But that an
Antislavery lecture should be repeated night after night
to successive multitudes, each more enthusiastic than the
last, marks the epoch of a revolution in popular feeling;
it is an era in the history of Liberty. Niblo’s Theatre was
crowded last evening long before the hour of commencement.
Hundreds stood through the three hours’ lecture. We give a
full report of the words, but only of the words.”
Other newspapers were enthusiastic in their comments.
The _National Era_, at Washington, in printing the address,
said of its delivery in Metropolitan Hall:--
“Mr. Sumner closed, as he had continued, amid loud and
protracted applause. Especially at the point when he said
that the Fugitive Slave Bill must be made a dead letter,
the audience seemed wild with enthusiasm. Handkerchiefs
waved from fair hands, and reporters almost forgot their
stolid unconcern.”
Such extracts might be multiplied. Beyond these was the
testimony of individuals gratified at the hearing obtained for
cherished sentiments. One wrote from Philadelphia as follows.
“I cannot forbear, not for your gratification, but for my
own, to testify my unbounded sympathy and satisfaction in
the Three Days’ Ovation of May that you have enjoyed in
New York, in reward of your faithful sentinelship on the
ramparts of Liberty in that sin-beleaguered fortress, the
Capitol at Washington, faithfully supporting the cause of
the weak against insolence and haughty vulgarity.… You have
gloriously and faithfully withstood obloquy and reproach:
the hour of triumph is now well assured.”