“Mr. Sumner’s speech attracted a large audience to the Senate galleries, which continued well filled during the four hours of his scourging review of Slavery in all its relations, political, social, moral, and economical. There appeared to be a studied effort at indifference on the Democratic side; for only a dozen Senators were in their seats during the first hour or two. Afterward they gradually appeared, and leading Southern members from the House contributed to the general interest by their presence and attention.
“As a whole, this speech was regarded as being more offensive by the South than the one which created such a sensation before, and there is reason to believe, that, but for prudential considerations, it might have been attended with similar results. It was found quite difficult to restrain some decided exhibition of resentment in certain quarters. The only expression of indignation which found vent was in Mr. Chesnut’s brief and angry reply, from which the general temper of the South may be inferred, as he is regarded among the most discreet and considerate in his tone and bearing.”
The correspondent of the Chicago Press and Tribune, under date of June 5, wrote:—
“The speech of Charles Sumner yesterday was probably the most masterly and exhaustive argument against human bondage that has ever been made in this or any other country, since man first commenced to oppress his fellow-man. He took the floor at ten minutes past twelve, and spoke until a little after four. The tone of the speech was not vindictive, and yet there was a terrible severity running through it that literally awed the Southern side. There will, of course, be various opinions as to the policy of this awful arraignment of the Slave Power, yet there can be but one opinion as to its extraordinary logical completeness, and, however it may affect public opinion to-day, it is an effort that will live in history long after the ephemeral contest of this age shall have passed away. Indeed, while listening to it, I could not but feel—and the same feeling was, I know, experienced by others—that the eloquent and brave orator was speaking rather to future generations, and to the impartial audience of the whole civilized world, than to the men of to-day, with a view of effecting any result upon elements with which he was immediately surrounded.”
The correspondent of the New York Evening Post wrote, under date of June 5:—
“Mr. Sumner’s speech was a tremendous attack upon Slavery, and was utterly devoid of personalities. He attacked the institution, and not individuals, but his language was very severe. There was no let-up in the severity from beginning to end. Facts were quoted, and they were allowed to bear against States as well as individuals; but Mr. Sumner made no comment upon that class of facts. While he was exhibiting the barbarous character of Slave-Masters, there was a good deal of restlessness on the slaveholding side of the Senate Hall, as if it required great self-control to keep silence.”
The correspondent of the Boston Traveller wrote at length on the delivery, and the impression produced. Here is an extract:—
“So far as personal violence was to be apprehended, we think he was as unconcerned as a man could be. Anxiety on that account might have been felt by his friends, but not by him. He seemed to be all forgetful of himself, and to have his mind dwelling on the cause to which he was devoted, the race for which he was to plead, and on the responsibility under which he stood to his country and to generations to come.…
“There was something sublime in the ardor and boldness and majesty with which he spoke. At times we could not but forget the speech, and think only of the speaker,—the honorable emulation of his youth, the illustrious services of his manhood, the purity of his aims, the sufferings he had endured, and the merciful Providence which had preserved him. Nothing could surpass the effect of the concluding paragraphs, in which he predicted a Republican triumph in November next.
“The four hours during which we listened to him can never pass from our memory. It would be superfluous here even to enumerate the points of the speech, or to suggest its most powerful passages, for it will be universally read. An arraignment of Slavery so exhaustive has never before been made in our history, and it will supersede the necessity of another. Hereafter, when one desires to prove Slavery irrational and unconstitutional, he will go to that speech as to an arsenal. During a part of its delivery, the Southern Senators, as Toombs and Wigfall, were very uneasy, walking about the Senate, and conversing aloud. Keitt and other members of the House from South Carolina were also in the Senate Chamber, and were rather unquiet. Near Mr. Sumner, throughout his speech, sat his colleague, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Burlingame, and Owen Lovejoy; and had any Southern member attempted a repetition of the Brooks assault, he would have found in either of them a foeman worthy of his steel.