Rev. Nathaniel Hall, an excellent clergyman, beloved by all who knew him, wrote from Dorchester, Massachusetts:—
“Nobly you have dared to speak the truth, where to speak the truth, as you well knew, was to imperil life: I do not know in our day a nobler instance of moral bravery. And the speech itself, so clear, so strong, so impregnable in its arguments, so unanswerable in its facts, so unexceptionable in its tone, so free from personalities (save where for truth’s sake and the cause they must have been), so comprehensive, so conclusive, so great, so good, so Christian, so worthy,—yes, of a Christian statesman,—so lifted in tone and character above the utterances of that place,—my soul thanks you for it,—thanks God with added fervor, that he spared your life, and brought you back to your honored seat, and enabled you to such fidelity. It richly pays for these years of waiting.… Whatever a partisan press may say, whatever political opponents and political friends may say, whatever of coolness and mistrust may be expressed, where you had a right to expect sympathy and support, be assured that deep in the hearts of multitudes of all parties you are honored, and will be by increasing numbers. I know it from what I know of human nature in myself. I know that my feelings must be shared. I know that the secret reverence not only of the true-hearted, but of all who have not sunk below the mark where appreciation of true-heartedness is impossible, must be given to him who has stood forth in the intrepidity of a Christian manliness, to declare, in the face and beneath the power of its violators, strong in power and reckless in deed, the eternal law of rectitude and mercy.”
Rev. Convers Francis, the learned professor and stanch Abolitionist, wrote from Harvard University:—
“Thanks, many and most hearty thanks, for that great, very great speech, and for your kindness in sending it to me. What a portraiture of the Barbarism of Slavery! And what a master hand to draw it! Such a picture none but an artist of the highest order could paint. I must tell you, Mr. Sumner, that nothing on this great and fearful subject has ever so filled and satisfied my whole soul. ‘Too severe,’ say some; ‘not good policy to irritate the South.’ I tell them, Not an iota too strong. I would not have a single sentence or word less pungent or forcible, if I could; because every sentence and every word are loaded deep with truth, such truth as I rejoice that somebody is found in our Congress to give utterance to.… You have done great and excellent things before, Mr. Sumner, but this, I must say, seems to me the greatest and most excellent of all. The abundance of facts from the most unquestionable sources, the admirable arrangement, the keen and searching application of the argument, the masterly logic, and the manly eloquence of the speech will make it a document of truth and righteousness for all coming time.”[141]
Rev. John T. Sargent, Abolitionist and faithful reformer, wrote from Boston:—
“Every column of the paper, as I took it up, seemed to gleam on me like the golden lamps of the Apocalypse. How irresistible are your arguments! How pungent, and yet how Christian, your rebuke of this sore iniquity of our time! How sharp and clear goes the sword of your spirit through all the sophistry of your opponents! My soul has been in a glow all through the reading, and over the pathos of parts I have cried as if my heart would break.”
Rev. Frederick Hinckley, Free-Soiler from the start, wrote from Lowell:—
“I write this hasty note to tell you how much I thank you (and I think the heart of New England thanks you, too) for your recent speech on the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ in its moral tone and outspoken truthfulness so far above all other Republican speeches in Congress or Convention, carrying us back to the remembrance of the old Free-Soil times, when the party had more moral than political power, and, not expecting success, could speak right out.”