Letter to the People of Massachusetts, on board Steamer Vanderbilt, New York Harbor, May 22, 1858.
To the People of Massachusetts:—
Two years have now passed, since, when in the enjoyment of perfect health, I was suddenly made an invalid. Throughout this protracted period, amidst various vicissitudes of convalescence, I seemed to be slowly regaining the health that had been taken from me, until I was encouraged to believe myself on the verge of perfect recovery.
But injuries so grave as those originally received are not readily repaired; and a recent relapse painfully admonishes me, that, although enjoying many of the conditions of prosperous convalescence, I am not yet beyond the necessity of caution. This has been confirmed by the physicians in Boston and Philadelphia most familiar with my case, who, in concurrence with counsels previously given by medical authorities in Europe, have enjoined travel as best calculated to promote restoration. Anxious to spare no effort for this end, so long deferred, I to-day sail for France.
To the generous people of Massachusetts, who have honored me with an important trust, and cheered me by so much sympathy, I wish to express the thanks which now palpitate in my bosom, while I say to them all collectively, as I would say to a friend, Farewell!
These valedictory words would be imperfect, if I did not seize this occasion to declare, what I have often said less publicly, that, had I foreseen originally the duration of my disability, I should at once have resigned my seat in the Senate, making way for a servant more fortunate in the precious advantages of health. I did not do so, because, like other invalids, I lived in the belief that I was soon to be well, and was reluctant to renounce the opportunity of again exposing the hideous Barbarism of Slavery, now more than ever transfused into the National Government, infecting its whole policy and degrading its whole character. Besides, I was often assured, and encouraged to feel, that to every sincere lover of civilization my vacant chair was a perpetual speech.
Charles Sumner.
On board Steamer Vanderbilt,
New York Harbor, May 22, 1858.