Finally, we appeal to the moral and religious sentiments of the Commonwealth. When these are thoroughly moved, there can be no question of the result. We invoke the sympathy of the pulpit. Let it preach deliverance to the captive. We call upon good men of all sects and all parties to lend their support. You all agree in our PRINCIPLES. Do not practically oppose them by continued adhesion to a national party hostile to them. Join in proclaiming them through the new Party of Freedom.
The Resolutions at the close of the Address are omitted, being in the nature of a repetition, which, however important at the time, is of less value as a record of opinions.
[WASHINGTON AN ABOLITIONIST.]
Letter to the Boston Daily Atlas, September 27, 1849.
The Address to the People of Massachusetts, adopted by the Free-Soil Convention, was violently attacked, as will appear from the following reply, written at a hotel in New York, where Mr. Sumner happened to be staying, when he saw the criticism.
New York, Irving Hotel, September 27, 1849.
Gentlemen,—My attention has been directed to-day to an article in your paper of the 25th September, entitled "Mr. Sumner and his Authorities," in which I am charged, among other things, with misrepresenting the opinions of Washington, particularly in the following sentence, in the Address recently adopted by the Free-Soil Convention at Worcester:—
"The first Washington freely declared his affinity with Antislavery Societies, and that in support of any legislative measure for the abolition of Slavery his suffrage should never be wanting."
A more familiar acquaintance with the opinions of our great exemplar would have prevented the writer in the Atlas from falsely accusing a neighbor. It would have prevented him from saying that the letter to Robert Morris, from which part of the above statement is drawn, was written more than ten years before the adoption of the National Constitution, and from dating it in 1776, when the letter in reality bears date in 1786.
I will not doubt your willingness to repair the injustice you have allowed in the columns of the Atlas, and therefore ask you to publish this note, with the accompanying extracts, showing the opinions of Washington.
By these it will appear that Washington freely declared to Brissot de Warville, in a conversation which took place in 1788, and was published in 1791, that he rejoiced in what was doing in other States for the emancipation of the negroes,—that he sincerely desired the extension of it to his own country,—and, contrary to the opinions of many Virginians, expressly said that he wished the formation of an Antislavery Society, and that he would second such a society.
It will appear, also, that Washington said to Robert Morris, in a letter dated April 12, 1786, that in support of any legislative measure for the abolition of Slavery his suffrage should not be wanting,—that he said to Lafayette, in a letter dated May 10, 1786, that gradual emancipation certainly might and assuredly ought to be effected, and that, too, by legislative authority,—that he said to John F. Mercer, in a letter dated September 9, 1786, that it was among his first wishes to see some plan adopted by which Slavery in this country may be abolished by law,—that he said to Sir John Sinclair, in a letter dated December 11, 1796, that Maryland and Virginia must have, and at a period not remote, laws for the gradual abolition of Slavery,—and that by his will, dated July 9, 1790 [1799], he expressly emancipated his slaves.
Thus acting, and thus constantly avowing his sentiments in favor of the abolition of Slavery, Washington is properly called an Abolitionist.
I cannot close without correcting the insinuation of the writer in the Atlas, that it is my wish, or that it is the wish of the Free-Soil party to interfere, through Congress, with Slavery in the States. This is a mistake. Our position is this. They who are responsible for Slavery should abolish it. Our duties are coextensive with our responsibilities. We at the North are responsible for Slavery everywhere within the jurisdiction of Congress, and it is here that we should exert ourselves, according to the principles of Washington, to abolish it by legislative action.
Still further, our sympathies and God-speed must attend every effort in the States to remove this great evil. We should join with Washington in his exclamation to Lafayette, on learning that this philanthropic Frenchman had purchased an estate in Cayenne, with the view of emancipating the slaves on it: "Would to God a like spirit might diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country!"
I will not trouble you with any comment on the other criticisms upon me by the writer in the Atlas.
I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant,
Charles Sumner.
To the Editors of the Atlas.