You will see by the
papers the doings at Washington. The contest on the Speakership is showing its
good influence already.1 The slave-power has received its first
serious check, and all parties see that the slavery question is soon to be
paramount to all others. General Cass's motion in the Senate2 will
probably be defeated; it would certainly be a dangerous precedent.
Nevertheless, I am so sincerely displeased by the conduct of Austria, I should
be willing to see our country depart from its general course of international
usage in order to testify its condemnation of what has occurred. But, alas!
while we have slavery our voice is powerless. Every word for freedom exposes
the horrid inconsistency of our position. The slavery discussion will follow
that of the Austrian mission. In the Senate I predict great weight for my
friend, the new senator from Ohio, Mr. Chase. He is a man of decided ability,
and I think will trouble Calhoun on the slavery question more than any others.
He is in earnest, is a learned and well-trained lawyer, and is a grave, emphatic,
and powerful speaker."3
_______________
1 Howell Cobb of Georgia and Winthrop being
the Democratic and Whig candidates. Ante, p. 148.
2 Looking to a suspension of diplomatic
relations with Austria, on account of her treatment of Hungary.
3 Mr. Chase spoke against Clay's Compromise,
March 26 and 27, 1850, making the most thorough and spirited speech on that
side.
SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 212
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