“Hon. Charles Sumner.”
The following extract from a letter of Mrs. Lydia Maria Child, the much-loved and always popular author, shows how this act was regarded at the time.
“Your letter declining the testimonial proffered by your native Commonwealth pleased me more than anything you ever did. I had previously said, ‘I hope Massachusetts will express her gratitude toward him with princely magnificence, and I hope he will transfer the gift to Kansas: that would be morally grand on both sides.’ And Mr. Child answered: ‘Depend upon it, he will do it. Nothing could be more characteristic of the man.’ That letter and Mr. Wilson’s answer to the challenge have revived my early faith in human nature. It is impossible to calculate the salutary influence of such examples.”
FOOTNOTES
[1] Resolutions of the Legislature of South Carolina, December 16, 1835. See also Resolutions of the Legislature of North Carolina, December 19, 1835; of Georgia, December 22, 1835; of Alabama, January 7, 1836; and of Virginia, February 16, 1836. Massachusetts Senate Documents, Sess. 1836, No. 56.
[2] “Ahi serva Italia, … bordello!”—Purgatorio, Canto VI. 76-78.
[3] Civil Code of the State of Louisiana, Art. 35.
[4] Statutes at Large of South Carolina, Vol. VII. p. 397, Act No. 670, sec. 1.