Boston, 16th Oct., '55.
My Dear Gerrit Smith — Pardon me; but I do not see on
what ground you can be excused from a public lecture here in Boston and also in
New York. Here is an opportunity to do much good. Your presence would give
character and weight to our cause. It cannot afford to miss you.
You excuse yourself on account of your many engagements at
home. I understand these; but we have a right to expect you to make the
necessary sacrifice. You are rich, and can afford it. Let your great
fortune miss for a short time your watchful eye, and come to us in Boston and
New York. One lecture will do for both places.
Here also is an opportunity to commend your views by
argument, and personal presence, which you should not abandon.
I do long to have our great controversy, which is so much
discredited in the large cities, upheld by your voice. Come among us. Let us
have those rich tones, and that generous heart, and that unmitigable hatred of
slavery to leaven our masses. Come. Do.
Ever sincerely yours,
Charles Sumner.
Honorable Gerrit Smith.
SOURCES: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith:
A Biography, p. 225
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