Ebenezer D. Bassett, a colored professor, afterwards Minister at Hayti, wrote from Philadelphia:—
“The speech, which I read in the Herald, is, it seems to me, unequalled by anything in the oratory of modern times, and I venture to predict that future ages will place it, as a work of art, side by side with the matchless De Corona of Demosthenes. It is certainly beyond all praise.”
William Still, colored, and with the natural sentiments of his race, wrote from Philadelphia:—
“In my humble opinion, you have so effectually laid the axe at the root of the tree that thousands and tens of thousands who have been indifferent or Proslavery will henceforth work for the deliverance of the bondman,—will labor to help cut the tree down. Thus I am greatly encouraged, and devoutly hope and pray for a better day for my race soon.”
Robert Purvis, an accomplished gentleman, connected by blood with the colored race, wrote from his home at Byberry, near Philadelphia:—
“Permit me, out of the fulness of my heart, to make to you my grateful acknowledgments for the most powerfully effective speech, in my humble opinion, against the ‘Barbarism of Slavery,’ ever made in this or any other country. Its timeliness, as well as its vital power, stirs within me the deepest emotions, which, indeed, are poorly expressed in subscribing myself as being your grateful and admiring friend and obedient servant.”
H. O. Wagoner testifies to the sentiments of the colored people of Illinois, in a letter from Chicago:—
“For the great words you have spoken, and the ever-memorable services which you have just rendered in the Senate of the United States to the cause of my enslaved and down-trodden fellow-countrymen, I return you not only my own individual heartfelt thanks, but I venture to speak in the name and in the behalf of the seven or eight thousand colored people of the State of Illinois.… Could the poor slave but know the substance of that speech, the circumstances under which it was given, in the very face of the Slave Power,—I say could the slaves be made to comprehend fully all this, it would thrill their very souls with emotions of joy unspeakable.”
This collection, which might be extended, is concluded with a voice from the Land of Slavery. J. R. S. Van Vleet wrote from Richmond:—