“You must permit me, a perfect stranger, to express my cordial
thanks to you for the noble, scathing speech on the ‘sum of
villanies’ with which you enriched our literature on Monday
last in the Senate. This contest is no holiday battle, but the
irrepressible conflict between Right and Wrong. I thank my
God that he has spared your life to tell the world that the
bludgeon of Barbarism did not silence your tongue nor subdue
your spirit. ‘Let the Heathen rage.’ Behind you stand a million
of your fellow-citizens in whose hearts your speech finds an
echo. After reading it through with scrupulous care, I could
not resist the impulse to tell you what I have.”