On the close of the debate, the proposition of Mr. Sumner was rejected by the following vote.
Yeas,—Messrs. Chase, Hale, Sumner, and Wade,—4.
Nays,—Messrs. Adams, Badger, Bayard, Bell, Borland, Bradbury, Bright, Brodhead, Brooke, Butler, Cass, Charlton, Clarke, Clemens, Cooper, Dawson, De Saussure, Dodge, of Iowa, Douglas, Felch, Fish, Geyer, Gwin, Hamlin, Houston, Hunter, James, Jones, of Iowa, King, Mallory, Mangum, Mason, Meriwether, Miller, Morton, Pearce, Pratt, Rusk, Shields, Smith, Soulé, Spruance, Toucey, Underwood, Upham, Walker, and Weller,—47.
Mr. Seward was absent,—probably constrained by his prominence as a supporter of General Scott.
This speech, when published, found an extensive echo. It was circulated not only through the press, but in large pamphlet editions, amounting to several hundred thousand. It was translated into German. Two or more editions appeared in England. In the preface to the English edition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Lord Carlisle associated the speech with that work, and signalized "the closeness of its logic and the masculine vigor of its eloquence." Lord Shaftesbury, in a letter to the London Times, wrote, "What noble eloquence!" Mr. Combe, the phrenologist, in a letter to a distinguished American, which was published at the time, said: "I have read every word of this speech with pleasure and with pain. The pain arose from the subject,—the pleasure from sympathy with and admiration of the speaker. I have long desired to know the merits of that most cruel and iniquitous enactment, and this speech has made them clear as day." The London Examiner said: "Apart from its noble and affecting eloquence, it is one of the closest and most convincing arguments we have ever read on the policy of the earlier and greater, as contrasted with that of the later and meaner statesmen of America." These testimonies might be accumulated. They are introduced only so far as may be important in giving an idea of the contemporaneous reception of this speech. The title had a vogue beyond the speech itself, as it became one of the countersigns of our politics.
Letters also illustrate the speech. Mr. Seward, who was not in his seat at its delivery, wrote, on reading it: "Your speech is an admirable, a great, a very great one. That is my opinion, and everybody around me, of all sorts, confesses it." Mr. Chase wrote also: "I have read, as well as heard, your truly great speech. Hundreds of thousands will read it, and everywhere it will carry conviction to all willing to be convinced, and will infuse a feeling of incertitude and a fearful looking for judgment in the minds of those who resist the light and toil in the harness of party platforms irreconcilable with justice." Mr. Wilson, who had not yet been elected to the Senate, wrote: "I have read your glorious speech. How proud I am that God gave me the power to aid in placing you in the Senate! You have exhausted the question. Hereafter all that can be said will be to repeat your speech. It will afford to any one the most complete view of the questions in dispute of anything ever published." Hon. Stephen C. Phillips, who had taken a leading part in the Free-Soil organization of Massachusetts, wrote: "I regard it as a contribution of inestimable value to our noble cause, worth all the labor, all the time, all the self-sacrifice, and all the misrepresentation it has cost you. It is statesmanlike in all its features, and does all that is necessary to place our simple and entire design in its true light before the country, and before the world, and in the records of history." Wendell Phillips, while differing on some points, wrote: "I have read your speech with envious admiration. It is admirable, both as a masterly argument and a noble testimony, and will endear you to thousands." These extracts, which might be extended, show the response to this effort.