“I am scattering through my county the great speech of your
life: I mean your speech on the Barbarism of Slavery. It is
just to the taste of Republicans here,--for the Republicans
here are nearly all Abolitionists.”
Rev. John Pierpont, lifelong Abolitionist, and poet, wrote from the
home of Gerrit Smith, whose guest he was:--
“I finished the reading of your great speech in the car on
my way hither, and, permit me to say, thank you for it with my
whole soul,--notwithstanding the qualified commendations of
it that may have found their way into some of the Republican
papers.”
Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, another lifelong Abolitionist, and able lawyer,
wrote from Boston:--
“I rejoice that you have had the courage to exhibit in a
systematic manner the essential barbarism of the institution.
Everywhere I hear your speech spoken of in the highest terms of
admiration. Even the most desperate conservatives are compelled
to acknowledge your eloquence and ability. Nor do they deny
the justice of your attack on the system of Slavery. But they
say the time you chose for making this assault was inopportune
and ill-judged, that it could only retard the admission of
Kansas, that it is likely to have a bad effect on slaveholders,
etc., etc., etc. It seems to me, however, that no occasion for
denouncing an institution which is the ruin and disgrace of our
nation can be inopportune.”
William Lloyd Garrison, who gave his name to a school of Abolitionists,
and was himself a host in constancy and lofty principle, wrote from
Boston:--
“Allow me warmly to congratulate you upon your complete
restoration to health, and upon the successful delivery
of your great speech in Congress, the potency of which is
seen in the writhings and denunciations of the slaveholding
oligarchy and their base Northern allies, quite as much as in
the commendations and rejoicings of your numerous friends and
admirers.”