PUBLIC RECEPTION OF MR. SUMNER,
ON HIS RETURN TO BOSTON:
WITH THE SPEECHES:
November 3, 1856.
As it became known that Mr. Sumner would return home to vote, a Boston committee visited Philadelphia to urge his acceptance of a banquet, with the understanding that he should simply show himself there without speaking. Acting under medical advice, he declined this invitation. The sympathy of the community found vent in a public reception.
The reception of Senator Sumner, on his return to Boston, was an imposing popular demonstration.[1] It was purely a peaceful and spontaneous celebration. There was no organization of enthusiasm; there were no military, no fire companies, no associated bodies, to swell the ranks of the procession or attract attention. Those of his fellow-citizens, simply, who wished to testify respect and sympathy, went forth to meet him; through the mouth of one, the most venerable and honored of their number, they welcomed him on his entrance within the limits of the city, and the chief executive magistrate of the Commonwealth greeted him on his arrival beneath the shadow of the State capitol. In both places, and also before Mr. Sumner’s residence in Hancock Street, there were vast concourses of citizens, assembled to do honor to their Senator.
The weather was favorable; the atmosphere was clear and warm for the season; and although the appearance of the sky at times boded rain, none fell until late in the evening, long after the exercises of the day were concluded.
Mr. Sumner arrived in this vicinity on Sunday morning, November 2d. On Monday he drove from Professor Longfellow’s, in Cambridge, where he had been staying, to the house of Amos A. Lawrence, Esq., at Longwood, in Brookline. Soon after one o’clock, the invited guests, who had assembled at the State House, proceeded in open carriages to Longwood, where they were joined by Mr. Sumner, who passed along the line of carriages, and was silently greeted by the gentlemen rising and removing their hats. The carriages then proceeded across to Roxbury, and thence along Washington Street to the Boston line, which was reached at three o’clock. Here the cavalcade was assembled, together with a vast concourse of citizens.
The chief marshal was General John S. Tyler, assisted by the following gentlemen as aids: Major John C. Park, Colonel R. I. Burbank, Major Moses G. Cobb, E. Webster Pike, Esq., Adjutant-General E. W. Stone, Colonel A. J. Wright, Colonel W. W. Bullock, and Carlos Pierce, Esq.