“Mr. Sumner was as happy in the manner as he was forcible in the matter of his speech. His commanding person, his distinct utterance, and his graceful elocution combined with the eloquence of his words in keeping the immense auditory to their seats for two hours, without a movement, and almost without a breath, save when the applause broke forth. It is the first time that Mr. Sumner has spoken in public since he was laid low in the Senate House, and New York, by this grand demonstration, has shown its eagerness to welcome him to the field of so many former triumphs.”
In this speech Mr. Sumner sought to popularize his argument in the Senate on the Barbarism of Slavery, with an application to the Presidential election, and at the same time to reassert the positions he had there taken. Its influence was increased by the circulation it enjoyed. Besides the Tribune, Times, Herald, and World, which printed it in full, there was a pamphlet edition of more than fifty thousand copies circulated by the Young Men’s Republican Union. The Secretary of the Republican Central Committee of California wrote, that this Committee, after publishing a large edition of the “Barbarism of Slavery,” published ten thousand copies of the New York speech, which was “read with that attention which the subject elucidated by you readily commands.” Among letters with regard to it, two are preserved as friendly voices.
Hon. W. H. Seward wrote from Auburn:—
“Your speech, in every part, is noble and great. Even you never spoke so well.”
Another friend, who had not agreed with Mr. Sumner at an earlier period, George Livermore, the intelligent merchant of Boston, devoted to books as well as business, being in New York at the time, heard the speech, and, in a letter dated at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, wrote:—
“I can say in all sincerity, that, of all the political addresses I have ever heard,—and for thirty years past I have heard a great many, and from the most distinguished men in the country,—I have never listened to one that would begin to compare with this as a whole. The high and broad ground on which you based your views, the clearness and force with which you presented the subject, the dignity and grace of your manner, and the honest and hearty tone in which you uttered your thoughts, all together make your speech the best one that was ever delivered, as far as my knowledge and experience go.”
These testimonies will at least explain the effect of this speech at the time.
Fellow-Citizens of New York:—
Of all men in our history, there are two whose influence at this moment is peculiar. Though dead, they yet live, speak, and act in the conflict of principle which divides the country,—standing face to face, like two well-matched champions. When I add that one was from South Carolina and the other from Massachusetts, you cannot fail to see that I mean John C. Calhoun and John Quincy Adams.