Alfred Willard, a strong Republican, wrote from New York:—
“The South Carolina Senator spoke truly, in saying your speech was ‘characteristic.’ It was so indeed, not only of yourself, but glorious old Massachusetts, whose happy fortune it is that her Senators dare speak boldly for Truth and Freedom. Sir, you spoke yesterday not for yourself alone; thousands, ay, millions, of American citizens will sympathize to their hearts’ core with every word so fearlessly spoken. As your speech was ‘characteristic,’ so also was the brief South Carolina response.… Your speech will serve admirably, not only as a powerful and able argument for Freedom, but as a campaign document in the coming contest.”
Professor Charles D. Cleveland, the accomplished teacher and early Abolitionist, wrote from Philadelphia:—
“Many, many heartfelt thanks to you, my dear friend, for your noble speech. It takes the only true ground,—the essential barbarism and sinfulness of Slavery. The few lines in reply to the infamous remarks of Chesnut were admirable, just the thing, and I hope his remarks and yours will go with the speech in its pamphlet form. What would I have given to hear it!”
E. M. Davis, merchant and constant Abolitionist, wrote from Philadelphia:—
“So many people will thank you for your timely, noble, and courageous speech that my thanks will hardly reach your ear; yet I must thank you for my own sake. Our family here spent the last three evenings in reading it out aloud, my son Henry being the reader, and you ought to know how sure we are now that you are well, and how thankful we are for it, and how much good this greatest of all your efforts will do.”
Daniel L. Eaton, journalist, wrote from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania:—
“You must permit me, a perfect stranger, to express my cordial thanks to you for the noble, scathing speech on the ‘sum of villanies’ with which you enriched our literature on Monday last in the Senate. This contest is no holiday battle, but the irrepressible conflict between Right and Wrong. I thank my God that he has spared your life to tell the world that the bludgeon of Barbarism did not silence your tongue nor subdue your spirit. ‘Let the Heathen rage.’ Behind you stand a million of your fellow-citizens in whose hearts your speech finds an echo. After reading it through with scrupulous care, I could not resist the impulse to tell you what I have.”
Thomas MacConnell, lawyer, wrote from Pittsburg:—
“I hold Slavery to be a curse and a disgrace to our country and to mankind; and I rejoice to know that we have one man who is not afraid to denounce it as such, in plain Anglo-Saxon, on the floor of the Senate, and in the face of the Slaveholders.”