Boston, May 30th, 1852.
Dear Sumner: —
I have been remiss of late about writing to you, but have been hardly in a
state to do more than make the movements which the treadmill of necessity
enforces.
I note what you say about Felton, and your wish that I
should not, in defending you, lose his friendship. I did indeed delay to the
last moment answering his letter; not through fear of losing his friendship,
but from a reluctance to undertake a disagreeable and vain task. On Thursday
evening I wrote to him my reply; the ground I took was, that it would be
utterly useless to try the case between you in the court of the reason; it must
be removed to that of the affections. I then put it to him to say whether, if
he should receive news of your death, he would not then begin to think that he
should have made more allowance for your peculiarities of manner; and even if
what he charged were true, whether he should not rather have kept in mind the
many noble and endearing traits of character, and the devotion to principle
which he admitted you to possess. I gave him credit for honesty of purpose, but
told him that in my humble opinion his public course, or acts, had been hostile
to the sacred cause of humanity. I wrote a long letter of which the above is
the substance. The next evening he appeared at our children's fete, and
said to me briefly but feelingly, “It is all right! all right!” and that was
all.
We had a party got up on my plan. We had about fifty
children, who came early in the afternoon and frolicked to their hearts'
content. Afterward came their parents to tea, and on the whole we had about
eighty persons, whose pleasure and enjoyment it was pleasant to behold. We had
swinging and dancing, and running and tumbling; we had also music, and a
theatrical representation for the big folks. Altogether it was a good affair, a
religious affair. I say religious, for there is nothing which so calls forth my
love and gratitude to God, as the sight of the happiness for which He has given
the capacity and furnished the means; and this happiness is nowhere more
striking than in the frolics of the young. It is true that the sight of any true
happiness should call forth the same feeling; and if we only cultivated it, we
should have a religion that all could enjoy, instead of one that is sad and
repellent to all but a few minds of peculiar stamp.
My vacation is over, and my hopes of seeing you in
Washington are over for the time. I was glad, as were all your friends here, to
hear of your so courteously throwing down the gauntlet, and announcing by a
sort of herald that you would soon appear in the arena. It is well-timed; for
it gives you the advantage of satisfying the anti-slavery people, and does not
give to Webster and others the advantage they might derive from your speaking
before the nominations. What I said about a person to furnish information from
Washington I supposed you would understand. It was for Kossuth, who wished
especially not to have anyone recommended by Senator Cass, but one who would
not be likely to be in the interests of either party. He has agents and
informants in all the courts of Europe; he needs one in Washington; he is
willing to pay a correspondent. It is not a spy, in the obnoxious sense of the
word, but a man who, acting in the interests of humanity, will furnish
information honourably obtained, to be honourably used. Do you know any such?
s. G. H.
SOURCE: Laura E. Richards, Editor, Letters and
Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe, Volume 2, p. 376-8
No comments:
Post a Comment