“I wish I could tell you how deeply grateful I am to you, and
to God, for the speech you have now been able to make in the
United States Senate. You spoke to the Senate and the nation,
but you have a nobler and a mightier audience. The civilized
world will hear you, and rejoice at the tremendous exposure of
the meanness, brutality, blood-guiltiness, hell-black iniquity,
and barbarism of American Slavery. As one who has felt the
horrors of this stupendous violation of all human rights, I
venture thus far to trespass upon your time and attention. My
heart is full, Sir, and I could pour out my feelings at length,
but I know how precious is your time. I shall print every word
of your speech.”
Hon. S. P. Chase, afterwards Chief Justice of the United States, wrote
from Columbus, Ohio:--
“Your great speech came to me, under your frank, this morning.
I had read it all--in the _Bulletin_ of Philadelphia, in the
_Times_ of New York, and in the _Globe_--before I received the
pamphlet copy. It is gratifying to know that the _New York
Herald_ also prints it, and that, through various channels of
publication, it will reach every corner of the land, ‘_cogens
omnes ante thronum_.’ ‘_C’est presqu’un discours antique_,’
said a French gentleman to me last Saturday. I say, ‘_C’est
bien plus._’”
Hon. Francis Gillette, an Abolitionist, and formerly Senator of the
United States from Connecticut, wrote from Hartford:--
“I cannot tell you how pleased I am with your late speech on
the ‘Barbarism of Slavery.’ It makes a lustrum in the Senate,
and an era in the history of the Antislavery cause. But I am
afraid the bloodthirsty barbarians are intent on assassinating
you. Look out for them, and when they apologize to you with the
pretension of drunkenness, understand them to mean they are
drunk with rage. Do not believe them.”
Hon. Carl Schurz, the German orator, afterwards Senator of the United
States from Missouri, wrote from Milwaukee, Wisconsin:--
“Allow me to congratulate you on the success of your great
speech. It did me good to hear again the true ring of the moral
Antislavery sentiment. If we want to demolish the Slave Power,
we must educate the hearts of the people no less than their
heads.”
Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, so long a champion of Freedom in Congress,
wrote from his home at Jefferson, Ohio:--
“Permit me to congratulate you. My heart swells with gratitude
to God that you are again permitted to stand in the Senate and
maintain the honor of a nation and of mankind. I dared not say
to you how much I feared the effect of that excitement which
I knew must attend you while speaking in the Senate. But now
you have passed the most trying point, I hope no evil effects
will result to your health; but, however health or life may be
affected, you have again spoken.”