“He spoke under the impression that the English Government was about to permit the Confederate iron-clads to leave this country, and he interpreted their previous policy by this supposed breach of neutrality. Every candid man will make allowance for words spoken under provocation, and distinguish them from the utterances of settled malevolence, such as we were accustomed to hear from the American statesmen now at Richmond, and still hear from their allies in the Northern States.”
In a second article, the same journal criticized the speech at length, saying:—
“It is a strange delusion. It makes one wonder whether it is still possible that a republican legislator, now blinded by panic and perplexed by jealousy, should even yet recover his sense and temper, and see the case as others see it.… Instead of using his influence, as the friend of many Englishmen, to bring the two peoples to a clear understanding, and the calm temper which arises out of it, he has nourished and propagated a delusion, and has applied all his powers of influence and eloquence to raise and kindle the passions of his countrymen against a nation which, if not accustomed to flatter, is capable of a sound and durable friendship with a people exhibiting such qualities as the citizens of the Free States are manifesting now. The American people have nothing to fear from us, while they treat us justly. We believe that Mr. Sumner knows this as well as we do, however he may be for the hour beguiled into passion and error.”
The Scotsman, of Edinburgh, said:—
“The splendid oration which he delivered at New York on the 10th inst., though full of a strange injustice towards ourselves, ought not to lessen our love for the man, and will increase our admiration of the orator and philanthropist; but, if there was any idea that Mr. Sumner could reason clearly as well as feel rightly and speak eloquently, that idea will be dissipated. All the multitude of eloquent and burning words which he pours forth against Slavery will here find ready echo; and even when he enters on accusations against this country, as having ‘intermeddled on the side of Slavery,’ it will be felt that he speaks in the spirit, not of a mean and jealous enemy, but of a high-minded, though mistaken friend. But no non-American man can fail to perceive that there is a grand mistake lying at the root of all the complaints he makes against us: he would have Great Britain in her national capacity to deal with American affairs according to moral sentiments as distinguished from political rules, and he condemns her for doing what he did himself and is doing still.… He tries, indeed, to make a difference between the hypothetical Confederate States and all other Slave States, including the late United States. They will, he says, form a ‘new’ Slave Power. He forgets, that, though the Power may be new, the Slavery will be old.”
The Manchester Guardian said:—
“We receive by the last steamer from New York the report of a speech recently delivered by a person of great consideration in the councils of the present Government at Washington, who maintains that the favor already given to the Confederacy by England deserves the execration of humanity, and supplies, if necessary, abundant cause for war. The speaker to whom we allude is Mr. Charles Sumner, the President of the Committee of the Senate on Foreign Affairs. He denounced, we are told, as ‘a betrayal of civilization,’ England’s recognition of the Confederate States as belligerents, and her proclamation of neutrality. The absurd injustice of this often repeated complaint is sufficiently shown by the simple observation, that, in recognizing the belligerent rights of the South, we did exactly what the Federal Government itself did, and has continued to do from the commencement of the war. We did, moreover, what no power could have avoided, without absolutely intending to take a direct part in the subjugation of the seceding States. But Mr. Sumner correctly appreciates the consequences of this course, as adopted by ourselves and France, in perceiving that it insured to the South the free exercise of all the power of making war from its own resources which an independent state could possess.”
The Economist, of London, a weekly journal, in an article entitled “Mr. Sumner’s Speech at New York,” among many remarks of bad temper and doubtful candor, said:—
“Mr. Charles Sumner has been delivering a speech before a crowded audience in New York which will cause much pain and disappointment to all friends and well-wishers of the Federal United States. It is weak in argument, unfair and unjust in its representations, and bitter in tone and temper. If men of Mr. Sumner’s education and position in America really believe the things they say and indulge the feelings to which they give utterance, it is clearly hopeless to attempt either to enlighten their understanding or to allay their irritation.…