“We give elsewhere, to-day, in full, the speech of Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts, on the great question that is presented to the whole country for judgment in November next.
“Not only the argument it contains, but the place where it was uttered, and the position and character of the man who uttered it, should be taken into consideration, in measuring its bearing upon, and relation to, what may truthfully be called the greatest question of the present age.…
“In that Senate which has so often resounded with the sublimest utterances of human lips and human hopes, Mr. Sumner stands forth the personification of a great and a free State, and the representative man of a great and powerful political party in fifteen of the sovereign States of this Union. He possesses the philosophical acumen of Mr. Seward, without his cautious reserve as a politician,—the honesty of Lincoln, without the craft of a candidate in nomination,—and literary culture, political zeal, and the gift of eloquence, which place him in the very foremost rank as a leader and an exponent of the Black Republican ideas. All of these circumstances combine to give a more deep solemnity to his words, in this grave moment of their utterance.…
“Every man admits that our fraternal relations with the Southern States are productive of unmixed benefit to us and to ours; and yet Lincoln and Seward incite the North to an ‘irrepressible conflict’ with the South; and now comes another mighty leader among the Black Republicans, and proclaims it to be a ‘sacred animosity.’
“This is the burden of Mr. Sumner’s eloquence, and we need not enter upon its details. But there is one characteristic of this speech which is in perfect accordance with the policy of the Black Republican party in the present campaign. The bloody and terrible results which must ensue, if that party succeeds in getting possession of the Federal Government, are kept carefully out of view. John Brown’s practice is taught, but there is no word of John Brown. The social condition of fifteen populous, rich, and powerful States is to be revolutionized; but not a hint of the possibility of resistance on their part, or of the reactive effect of such resistance upon the aggressive North, is dropped.”
On the next day the Herald said:—
“Sumner’s Truthful Exposition of the Aims of Black Republicanism.—Its Teachings in the coming Conventions.
“The perfect platform of the Black Republican party has been laid down by Senator Sumner in his recent speech in the Senate, and it is now before the country for approval or rejection.”
In the same spirit, the Richmond Despatch recognized the speech as an authentic manifestation of Northern sentiment.