MY DEAR SIR,—As a servant of the State, I have always recognized the right of my constituents in State Convention to expect from me such counsels on public affairs as I could offer, and I have accepted with gratitude the invitations with which they have honored me. If now, in these dark days, when danger thickens, I do not take advantage of the opportunity you present, believe me, it is not from indifference, nor is it because our duties at this moment are uncertain.
Eagerly do gallant soldiers (God bless them!) rush to the field of death for the sake of their country. Eagerly do good citizens at home (God bless them!) contribute of their abundance, or it may be of their poverty, to smooth the lot of our gallant soldiers. But there is another duty, hardly less commanding. It is union, without distinction of party, to uphold the Government, and also to uphold those who uphold the Government. Therefore do I recognize the just liberality of the call for our Convention, which is addressed not only to Republicans, but also to “all who support the present National and State Governments and are in favor of the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion.” Under such a call there is no patriot citizen of the Commonwealth who may not claim a place.
Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the National Government, beleaguered by a rebel enemy?
Is there a patriot citizen who hesitates to support the State Government, now, under the inspiring activity and genius of John A. Andrew, so efficiently sustaining the National Government?
And is there a patriot citizen who is not for the use of all means necessary for the effectual suppression of the Rebellion?
Were I able to be at the Convention, according to the invitation with which you honor me, gladly would I appeal to all such citizens. This country must be saved; and among the omens of victory I hail confidently that unanimity of sentiment and trust with which all loyal citizens now look to the National Government, determined that nothing of energy or contribution or sacrifice shall be wanting, by which its supremacy may be reëstablished. Another omen is yet needed. It is that the people, forgetting the past, shall ascend to that plane of justice and truth where is the light of candor, and all shall frown indignantly upon the rancors and animosities of party, which even now are so disturbing in their influence, shall silence the senseless prejudices of personal hate, and stifle the falsehoods of calumny, so that here among ourselves there may be unity and concord, giving irresistible strength to our patriotic labors.
Beyond this appeal from heart to heart, I should rejoice to show clearly how to hamstring this Rebellion and to conquer a peace, all of which I am sure can be done. To this single practical purpose all theories, prepossessions, and aims must yield. So absorbing at the present moment is this question, that nothing is practical which does not directly tend to its final settlement. All else is blood-stained vanity. And the citizen soldiers you send forth to battle may justly complain, if you neglect any means by which they may be strengthened. Good Democrats, who have enjoyed the confidence of their party and also public trust,—Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, and Robert Dale Owen, of Indiana,—bear their generous testimony. So also does Parson Brownlow, of Tennessee, in a letter which I have just read, where he says that the negroes “must be urged in every possible way to crush out this infernal Rebellion.” Butler bore his testimony, when, by virtue of an outstanding order of the Rebel Governor of Louisiana, he organized a regiment of colored persons in the national service. Banks also symbolized the idea, when, overtaking the little slave-girl on her way to Freedom, he lifted her upon the national cannon. In this act—the brightest, most touching, and most suggestive of the whole war, which Art will hereafter rejoice to commemorate—our Massachusetts general gave a lesson to his country. Who can doubt that the country will yet be saved?
I hope you will excuse me to my fellow-citizens of the Convention, and believe me, with much regard,
Very faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.