Miles Pratt, a business man and active Republican, of Watertown, Massachusetts, wrote:—
“I am sure I express the sentiments of nine tenths of the Republicans of this town, when I say that your speech is received with joy by us all. Strange that such papers as the Tribune can wish that it had been made at some other time! We don’t want victory, if at such sacrifice as the Tribune proposes. Let me assure you that such sentiments as you have uttered are what keep very many men in the Republican ranks.”
E. P. Hill, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, wrote:—
“Allow me to congratulate you upon the delivery of one of the most effective speeches upon the great question of the age that have ever been given to the American people. I rejoice most heartily that the facts and sentiments it contains have found a timely utterance, and it is safe to predict for it a decided effect upon the moral sense of the whole world.”
P. L. Page wrote from Pittsfield, Massachusetts:—
“I have just read your speech, ‘The Barbarism of Slavery,’ and, notwithstanding the opinions of some politicians, am glad you have delivered it just as it is. It is terrible, but truthful. I think it will do good. While there is immense sympathy for the Republican party, as a party, there is too little sympathy for the Slave, and too little indignation against that abominable system by which he is held in bondage. The tendency of that speech is to show that it is not this or that measure merely we have to contend with, but the monster Slavery.”
Andrew L. Russell, an excellent citizen, of Pilgrim stock, and an early Abolitionist, wrote from Plymouth, Massachusetts:—
“I have just read your speech with great interest, and thank you for it. It is just the thing, manly and conclusive. I hope in all the copies of your speech Mr. Chesnut’s beautiful specimen of Southern Chivalry manners will be printed, with your rejoinder.
“We must be bold and determined now, and the victory is sure. The ravings of the Oligarchy show that they are wounded.”
Mrs. Lydia Maria Child, of beautiful genius, and equal devotion to the cause, wrote from Wayland, Massachusetts:—