“Permit me to say I have read it through twice, and parts of
it many times, and that I consider it the most glorious and
most needed speech ever made in the United States. I rejoice
that you have been spared to make it. But be on your guard. The
Demon of Slavery will be revenged, if possible.”
Thomas H. Talbot, a lawyer, who argued well against the Fugitive Slave
Act, wrote from Portland, Maine:--
“I rejoice at your determination to tell the whole truth,
so much needed now, when many acting with you either do not
perceive it or are willing to withhold it, for reasons of
false, fleeting policy. So far you seem not seriously to have
been molested; and yet that you have really achieved freedom of
speech in Washington upon that subject, and to the extent of
your speech, seems almost too much to hope for at present.”
Hon. Woodbury Davis, an earnest Republican, afterwards Justice of the
Supreme Court of Maine, wrote from Portland:--
“Your friends here were alarmed on Sunday evening by a rumor
that you had been attacked again by Southern ruffians. I felt
thankful yesterday morning, when the despatches were published,
to learn that it was no worse. I do not believe there is
another man in the world for whose personal safety so much real
prayer ascends to Heaven.…
“Allow me, as one of the people, though not one of your
immediate constituents, to thank you for your great speech. In
these times, when there is a tendency to _let down_ the great
principles of Universal Liberty in order to gain a temporary
triumph, it was so refreshing to have them so nobly and
faithfully advocated in the great forum of the nation, that
I felt truly grateful to you, and to Him who has preserved
you for such a service. If Slavery is to be restricted, it
is because of its own inherent wrong, _wheresoever_ and upon
_whomsoever_ it rests. And if wrong, we are bound not only to
resist its extension, but by whatever powers we have to seek
its extinction.”
Professor Benjamin Silliman, distinguished in science and venerable in
years, wrote from Yale College:--
“It is a terrible indictment, and supported by such an array
of facts, that, having now gone to the jury, there can be no
doubt as to the verdict, and a verdict without appeal, except
to violence,--against which, as regards yourself personally,
I trust you will exercise a ceaseless, although not a timid
vigilance.”