I know not how others are impressed; but I call to mind no incident in history, no event of peace or war,--certainly none of war,--more strongly calculated, better adapted, to touch and exalt the imagination and the heart than his recent…
Charles Sumner
The Public Record
Charles Sumner was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American advocate for the abolition of slavery, and after the war he was a key figure in the Reconstruction era, during which he and other Radical Republicans successfully fought to end slavery and ensure basic rights for Black Americans. He continued advocating for racial equality until his death, lobbying in his final days for a civil rights bill that served as a model for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Historians credit Sumner with coining the phrase "equality before the law," which he first used as part of an early attempt to integrate Boston's public school system.
gutenberg.org
A multitudinous people, outnumbering far the armies of those earlier times, was subdued by his wisdom and eloquence; and this exile, proceeding from place to place, traversing the country, at last, in the very heart of the Kingdom, threw…
Without equivocation, amidst the supporters of monarchy, in the shadow of a lofty throne, he proclaimed himself a republican, and proclaimed the republic as his cherished aspiration for Hungary.
Such a character, thus grandly historic,--a living Wallace, a living Tell, I had almost said a living Washington,--deserves our homage.
There is a time for all things; and the time has come for us to make a precedent in harmony with his unprecedented career.
The occasion is fit; the hero is near; let us speak our welcome.
In our domestic affairs all acts are brought to the Constitution, as to a touchstone; so in our foreign affairs all acts are brought to the touchstone of the Law of Nations,--that supreme law, the world's collected will, which overarches…
But no text of this voluminous code, no commentary, no gloss, can be found, which forbids us to welcome any exile of Freedom.
Such a system would have in it no element of just self-defence, and would open vials of perplexities and ills which I trust our country will never be called to affront.
God forbid that we should ever close our ears to the cry of distress, or cease to swell with indignation at the steps of tyranny!
Could I now approach our mighty guest, I would say to him, with the respectful frankness of a friend: "Be content with the outgushing sympathy which you now inspire everywhere throughout this wide-spread land, and may it strengthen your…
Trust in God, in the inspiration of your cause, and in the Great Future, pregnant with freedom for all mankind.
Do not, under the too plausible sophism of upholding non-intervention, provoke American intervention on distant European soil.
A generous hospitality will not make terms or conditions with a guest; and such hospitality I trust Congress will tender to Louis Kossuth.
But though not present in person, my heart will be with them in every word of honor to that illustrious man, in every assurance of sympathy for his great cause, and in every practical effort to place our country openly on the side of…
So, among the Nations, all violence, and especially all belligerent intervention, should be forbidden by International Law; and I trust the day is not far distant when this prohibition will be maintained by the Federation of Christian…
But be assured I shall rejoice in every word of affection and honor for Ireland, and of sympathy with all her children, especially those patriots who have striven and suffered for the common good.
Clemency: A grace which it can never be otherwise than honorable to ask and honorable to grant.
Lands belonging to the nation, which, it seems, even royal prerogative at this day in England cannot save from taxation, are in our country, under express provisions of compact, early established, exempted from this burden.
But I do confidently submit, that in this peculiar, time-honored immunity, originally claimed by the nation, and conceded by the States within which the public lands lie, there is ample ground of equity, under which these States may now…
I will not believe, however, that any discrimination can be made between particular Land States, on the ground of difference in conditions properly attributable to accidental circumstances.
After the constant charges of squandering the public lands and of partiality to the Land States, I think all will be astonished at the small amount on the debtor side, in the great account between the States and the Nation.
On the one side, they have received little, very little, from the nation,--while, on the other side, the nation, by strong considerations of equity, is largely indebted to them.
Against these clear and well-supported merits, the old States present small claims to consideration.
Let us at all hazards prevent the extension of Slavery and the increase of the Slave Power.
Politicians like Charles Sumner
