“Fortunately for Mr. Sumner, events have arisen which have
enabled him to demonstrate that he is not ridden by one
idea. As Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the
most important post that a Senator of the United States
can hold in the present emergency of the nation, he has
shown talents and acquirements which every fair mind
cannot but appreciate. The ‘inevitable negro’ is banished
from this arena, and the country has been astonished by
the solidity of Mr. Sumner’s learning, the amplitude of
his understanding, and the sagacity of his judgment on
all the vital questions which have arisen in his special
department. His speech on the affair of the Trent is a
masterpiece. He goes beyond all the precedents of the
conservative lawyers of New England, and all the arguments
of the Secretary of State, to the essential principles of
International Law, as recognized by the great thinkers and
statesmen of the Continent of Europe, and as contended
for by our own Government. He, the man who has most cause
to hate Slidell and Mason, and who, from his Abolitionist
proclivities, would be most opposed to delivering them
up, is found to exceed even Mr. Seward in his desire to
establish the rights of neutrals and ignore the passions of
the hour.”