Congressman Horace Mann, August 12, 1852

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12, 1852.

I never had the slightest doubt that the "old Hunkers" of Massachusetts would rejoice over Rantoul's death. The Hunkers rejoice in his removal, just as the proslavery men rejoiced in Gen. Taylor's death, some of whom said they believed it to be an express interposition of Providence to defeat his work!

Drayton and Sayres are pardoned through Sumner's influence, and off in free territory. This was done last evening. The marshal of the district, who has the control of the jail, received the order for their enlargement last evening. He called on Sumner to go to the jail with him, but learned from the jailer that Mr. Stuart, the Secretary of the Interior, a Virginia man, had sent to him to delay their enlargement till this morning. Sumner saw at once what his object was, — that is, to get a requisition from the Governor of Virginia to take them into Virginia for trial; for some of the slaves whom they took in their schooner were from Virginia. He therefore insisted on the marshal's executing the order of the President for their release immediately; and, as the marshal had no responsible excuse for not complying, they went to the jail, and the men were enlarged. Sumner took them up into the street, and then made arrangements at once for taking them to Baltimore last night, which was done; and this morning they started from Baltimore for a free State, and are safe. He was afraid some sham process would be got up to hold them here until notice could be given to the Governor of Virginia. They are safe. Sumner has done well in this: but it could not have been done until now; that is, until the nominations had been made.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 379

Congressman Horace Mann, August 27, 1852

AUG. 27, 1852.

Sumner spoke about four hours yesterday; and it was a very finished and able speech, sustaining in every point his high reputation as a jurist and a scholar. It was delivered in a very elegant and finished manner. To speak in full, the 26th of August, 1852, redeemed the 7th of March, 1850.

Webster came into the Senate very early in the speech. He took a seat not far from Sumner, and about eight feet from me; so situated that I must look into his face, or turn my head. I looked at him fascinatingly. I think he felt the magnetism streaming out of me. In about two minutes, his countenance fell: he got up and walked round to the other side of the Senate Chamber, staid a while, and went off. Sumner, during all the time he was there, was in the least solid part of his speech. It was one of his best orations, well studied and well delivered, and will tell on the country, and be a speech for a book and for history.

That drunken Clemens of Alabama jumped up instanter, and said,

"Mr. President, it is proper sometimes to take notice of the ravings of a lunatic; but the yelpings of a puppy are not to be regarded."

Miss Dix's bill has gone over to the next session. She sent for me yesterday afternoon in despair. But she has got an appropriation of a hundred thousand dollars for a hospital in this District; and it is thought that her land-bill can be carried next session. It has passed the House, and, unless some amendments are made to it, will not have to come back here again.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 381

Julia Kean Fish to Senator Charles Sumner, August 26, 1852

Permit me, my dear Mr. Sumner, to add my humble tribute of admiration to the congratulations you are receiving from your friends upon the successful defence of freedom made by you this morning. You can afford to look quietly on and let the excitement pass by; the truths brought forward by you to-day must and will make a lasting impression even here, where prejudice holds the common mind fast bound in ignorance and error.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 306

Frances Miller Seward to Senator Charles Sumner, September 18, 1852

[Auburn, N. Y., September 18, 1852.]

I have read with great pleasure your eloquent and convincing argument against the Fugitive Slave bill. This fearless defence of freedom must silence those cavillers who doubted your sincerity.² It is a noble plea for a righteous cause. Hoping and believing — yea, through faith knowing, because His Word hath told us so — that the truth will ultimately triumph, since its abandonment by a majority of the Whig party I have been watching with increased interest the course of those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. May God prosper their efforts! I am truly glad to see that Mrs. Fish has become so warm a convert to principles which have as yet failed to win her husband.

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² An allusion to criticisms on Sumner for his delay in speaking.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 306

Senator William H. Seward to Senator Charles Sumner, September 22, 1852

[Auburn, September 22, 1852.]

Your speech is an admirable, a great, a very great one. That is my opinion; and every one around me, of all sorts, confesses it.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 307

Congressman Horace Mann to Samuel Downer, July 27, 1852

WASHINGTON, July 27, 1852.

MY DEAR DOWNER, — What is said about the Pittsburg Convention? From what I see and hear, I apprehend the current of feeling in Massachusetts sets in favor of nominating Hale, rather than Chase. For any genuine Free-soiler this would be the worst policy. That nomination should be such as to cut into the Democratic party. Notwithstanding all that some of the Free-soil papers say about the equal proslaveryism of Scott and Pierce, it is not at all improbable there is the whole difference between the annexation and the un-annexation of Cuba, between the division and the non-division of California, in these candidates. How, then, can any real lover of liberty fail to give the scales such a turn as shall check slavery, and hold it at bay? Are not our Free-soil friends, in their zeal to help the fortunes of the coalition, misled on this point? You, who have great influence with them, ought to make that influence felt. I wish you were to be at Pittsburg. The nomination there made may bar slavery, or help it on. To-morrow, Sumner means to speak. He needs combativeness, which he has not got. Don't you think I could spare him a little of mine, with advantage to us both? He will make a great speech, be assured of that. He has all the material of all who have hitherto argued the question; and, besides, the greatest speech can always be made on the right side.

I am awfully homesick. The summer is dull: nothing is upon the tapis in which I take any special interest, and my heart is with my family.

With affectionate regards to you and yours,

I am, as ever, your friend,

HORACE MANN.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, pp. 377-8

Charles Francis Adams Sr. to Senator Charles Sumner, August 1, 1852

The result at which you arrived is not in the least surprising to me. You are in your nature more trusting than I, and therefore expected more. Where slavery is concerned I have not a particle of confidence in the courtesy, honor, principles, or veracity of those who sustain it, either directly by reason of selfish interest, or more remotely through the servility learned by political associations. In all other cases I should yield them a share of confidence. I should not, therefore, had I been in your place, have predicated any action of mine upon the grant by them of any favor whatever. They cannot afford to be generous or even just. If you can get even that to which you have a clear right, you will do pretty well; but to get it you will have to fight for it.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 290

Senator Charles Sumner to Samuel Gridley Howe, August 11, 1852

Parker is too impatient. If by chance or ignorance of the currents here I have got into the rapids, my friends should not abandon me. In any event, my course is a difficult one. A Hunker politician told me that he thought I assumed a greater responsibility than any other person here. I know this; but I know also my singleness of purpose, and I know that I am in earnest. The 'Atlas' is false when it says I could have made the speech, — utterly false

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 291

Senator Charles Sumner to Edward L. Pierce, August 6, 1852

I value your friendship, and am glad of your frankness. From other sources I learn the prevailing distrust with regard to me. Thus far, in the consciousness of absolute rectitude and with a soul that never fears, I have been indifferent to such reports; but they come upon me now to a degree that gives me pain. Believe me, I know my rights and duties here, and shall vindicate the one and perform the other. Thus far in Massachusetts I have not spoken often, but my words have been timely and effective. I trust not to lose this character here. All the Democratic leaders and most of the Whigs desired a hearing for me. Cass, Atchison, Soulé, Bright, Norris, and many others told me so before I tried. My remarks were conceived so as to give them an opportunity of granting me the privilege. But after the call of ayes and noes, and the springing of the rattle from those new Union members, they did not dare to vote for me. It is difficult for people at a distance to understand the scene. Many in ignorance think I did not take the right course, or that I did not maintain my position in the proper way. Here on the spot, familiar with the requirements of the occasion, I am now satisfied that under the circumstances I acted for the best. Had I introduced a bill, I could not have spoken except by unanimous consent. Any single person could have stopped me. My first purpose was to try this; but I finally preferred to throw myself upon the majority, and to compel them to the ignoble position before the country of suppressing debate. This has been done, and they are exposed.

I could not have made my speech on the motion to take up, though Mr. Keyes¹ says otherwise. Mr. Mason says I shall not speak this session, that he will prevent me. I have told him that I will speak, and he cannot prevent me     My purpose is to move an amendment to the civil appropriation, when it gets to the Senate, that no sum shall be applied to the execution of the Fugitive Slave bill, which is hereby repealed, and on this amendment to take the floor as a right. Of course there will be an outcry; it will be called factiousness, and the bill itself may be endangered; but I shall proceed. Do not let this be known publicly. There are several subjects which I had intended to discuss here, but which time will not allow at this session. But no effort shall be spared to obtain a hearing on slavery. Have faith!

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¹ Editor of the Roxbury Gazette.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 291-2

Diary of Lucy Larcom, October 22, 1861

I heard Charles Sumner on the Rebellion: my first sight and hearing of the great anti-slavery statesman. He was greeted with tremendous applause, and every expression of opposition to slavery was met with new cheers. He does not seem to me like a man made to awaken enthusiasm; a great part of his address was statistical, and something we all knew before, — the long preparation of this uprising of the rebels; and his manner was not that of a man surcharged with his subject, but of one who had thoroughly and elegantly prepared himself to address the people. At this time we are all expecting orators to speak as we feel, intensely; perhaps it is as well that all do not meet our expectations. One idea which he presented seemed to me to be worth all the rest, and worth all the frothy spoutings for "Union" that we hear every day; it was that our battalions must be strengthened by ideas, by the idea of freedom. That is it. Our men do not know what they are fighting for; freedom is greater than the Union, and a Union, old or new, with slavery, no true patriot will now ask for. May we be saved from that, whatever calamities we may endure!

The ride to and from Boston has a new picture since summer: the camp at Readville, just under the shadow of the Milton hills. It is a striking picture, the long array of white tents, the soldiers marching and countermarching, and the hills, tinted with sunset and autumn at once, looking down upon the camping ground. Little enough can one realize what war is, who sees it only in its picturesque aspect, who knows of it only by the newspapers, by knitting socks for soldiers, and sewing bed-quilts for the hospitals. I should give myself in some more adequate way, if we were definitely struggling for freedom; for there is more for women to do than to be lookers-on.

SOURCE: Daniel Dulany Addison, Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and Diary, pp. 108-9

Wendell Phillips to Senator Charles Sumner, April 27, 1852

I have never, my dear friend, ceased one moment to trust you. Passing over the whole State this winter, lecturing sometimes four nights in the week, I have been asked scores of times by Free Soilers as well as our folks, “Do you put entire trust in C. S.?” Theodore Parker tells me he has met the same questioning many times. My answer has always been the expression, the frank, cordial expression, of most entire confidence in you. I have then dwelt on the expediency of getting acquainted with your audience before speaking; obtaining a point d'appui by showing a knowledge of, and interest in, other questions, etc., — adding that I knew you were acting in concert with, and by advice of, all the prominent friends of antislavery in Washington. This I learned from your letters, but did not say so, as they were marked “confidential,” and I did not wish to compromise you. Last week there was a resolution offered at the Dedham meeting declaring your course inexplicable. I opposed it; went over your whole reform life. “A man of more rightful expectations than any of his age in New England spoke what peace address July 4. Perhaps he did not know then all he was sacrificing; the proof of his true devotion was, that, finding the sacrifice possibly greater than he anticipated, he stood by his position, — never retreated an inch; on the contrary, advanced to the prison discipline struggle, and to a more prominent and radical position on antislavery, etc. Such a man has earned the right to be trusted, even while we do not understand his whole ground or all his reasons. Some men the more radical among his party, I think — expect more from him than he has ever promised; but I believe Charles Sumner will fulfil every promise he has ever made, every expectation he has ever given any one ground for entertaining. I think his course at Washington impolitic and wrong;¹ but that matters not. He has used, I doubt not, his best discretion, and the best advice at hand. He has his way of doing things; he did not suit us wholly while here; it's no surprise to me that his course should not wholly suit us now. I shall trust him at least till the end of the session, and listen then to his explanations.” If you shall always have ten such friends as I have been, your political life will be a happy one, and your fame (were it Sodom) as a fulfiller of all your pledges will be saved."²

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¹ Sumner felt hurt at this phrase in the speech; but Phillips claimed that being addressed to dissatisfied persons it was in the connection judicious, and not open to objection as unfriendly.

² Theodore Parker, though deeply regretting that Sumner delayed his speech so long, nevertheless expressed publicly no distrust of him, and made an apology for his silence at a meeting, July 5, [1852] in Abington. His very cordial and frank letters to Sumner himself rather imply a fear that his fibre was not quite so strong as it should be, and needed to be stiffened.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 285-6

John A. Andrew to Senator Charles Sumner, June 2, 1852

When by the circumstances a speech is an act for liberty, then I trust that you will make it. But when by speaking you feel that you would only drown your own testimony by the sound of your own voice, then it is not such as I am who desire you to break your silence.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 286

Joshua Leavitt to Senator Charles Sumner, June 11, 1852

I like your course, and especially that it is yours, and not any other man's. I told you at the outset to take time, act deliberately, so as to have nothing to take back, and not be in a hurry, and let croakers croak.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 286

Richard Henry Dana Jr. to Senator Charles Sumner, August 9, 1852

We have perfect faith in your course. We believe that if you had been permitted to speak,¹ a better day for the speech could not have been selected than the time you took. If you had spoken, all would have said so. It was just at the right interval between the settlement of the policy of the old parties and the opening of our own. A speech before the conventions of the old parties would have been reckoning without your host. There are some men who think that nothing is doing unless there is a gun firing or a bell ringing. There are superficial persons in whom is no depth of root; they are easily offended. The work we have to do is a long one; there is no pending question. Patience and judgment and preparation are as necessary as zeal, and more rare.

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¹ A reference to the Senate's refusal to hear him, July 28.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 287

Nathaniel P. Banks Jr. to Senator Charles Sumner, August 9, 1852

If the people of Massachusetts who now distrust you could have heard your voice in the Senate, and witnessed the attention you received, they would leave everything to you, knowing that your course would be for the best.

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[BLOG EDITOR’S NOTE: Charles Sumner delivered his eulogy for former United States Senator Robert Rantoul Jr. on the floor of the United States Senate on August 9, 1852, two days after Rantoul’s death.]

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 287

Henry Wilson to Senator Charles Sumner, June 29, 1852

You must not let the session close without speaking. Should you do so, you would be openly denounced by nine tenths of our people. They say they are daily tormented about your silence by the Whigs all over the State, and many of them think you will not speak at all.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 288

John Jay to Senator Charles Sumner, July 5, 1852

I know too well the strength and depth of your antislavery principles, and have been too recently assured of your anxiety to utter your full views touching the Fugitive law to the Senate and the country, to attribute your delay in doing so to any other reason than your belief that an expedient occasion has not yet arrived. Others, however, who confound you with common politicians, attribute your silence to the Southern atmosphere of the Capitol, and profess to believe either that your opinions have become essentially modified, or that you are fearful of encountering the intellectual power of the defenders of Compromise, and incurring the odium and contempt with which the chivalry look down upon an abolitionist. I need not tell you, my dear Sumner, how warmly and indignantly I have repelled, and will continue to repel, all such insinuations against your honor and your integrity, and how confidently I have told your defamers to wait a little while for the promised speech that would silence their croakings, and awaken the country anew with strains of eloquence like those uttered by you in Faneuil Hall. Mr. Webster's awful treachery and shameless apostasy have so weakened the confidence of the people in the power of individuals to hold fast to unpopular truths that the meanness of such lesser traitors as Stanton and John Van Buren has excited no surprise.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 288

Senator Charles Sumner to John Jay, July 8, 1852

I thank you for your watchful friendship. Had I imagined the impatience of friends, I would have anticipated their most sanguine desires. But, with the absolute mens conscia recti, knowing the completeness of my devotion to the cause, I have let time proceed in the full conviction that at last I shall be understood. I fear nothing. I am under no influences which can interfere with this great duty. From the time I first came here I determined to speak on slavery some time at the end of June or in July, and not before, unless pressed by some practical question. No such question has occurred, and I have been left to my original purposes. My time has now come. I wish I could speak this week; but I cannot. For some time I have not been well; I have lost strength, and owing to this circumstance I have not made the preparation necessary. I am now at work, and to this devote myself whenever out of the Senate. Amidst these heats I am doing as well as I can. Your appeal and the interest expressed by others in my speech fill me with a painful conviction of my utter inability to do what is expected. But I shall try to do my duty. As to the responsibilities of standing alone, and as to any answers to me, to all these I am absolutely indifferent, — of this be assured. But when I speak, I wish to speak completely.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 289

Senator Charles Sumner to George Sumner, April 23, 1852

You are right in regarding both the old parties as substantially alike. I do not think that one who looks at principles and seeks to serve his fellowman can have much satisfaction in becoming the hack of one of these combinations; nor would I recommend you to enlist in any public efforts unless for the sake of a cause which you have at heart, or under an impulse too strong to resist. The consciousness of duty done must be your support under the load of misrepresentation and falsehood which are the lot of all in conspicuous stations. I have been tempted to say this by your note. I could not say less; I have not time now to say more.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 280

Senator Charles Sumner to George Sumner, April 26, 1852

If you are conscious that you can speak an effective word for Kossuth's Hungarian career, I should regret not to have it done, though I commend you to the prudence of careful preparation. Boston society, to which you allude, is of course the other way; but your point of view will enable you to look with indifference upon its criticisms. Remember this: while I counsel all caution and a proper reserve, particularly at the beginning, I would not have you sail by the meridian of Boston. Your own soul would rebuke you if you did.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 280