“It is emphatically the speech of the time and crisis, absorbing, superseding, and transcending every other. God bless you for these timely words! They ought to be widely circulated, and reprinted in every corner of our land, East, West, North, and South.”
Rev. George C. Beckwith, Congregational clergyman, and Secretary of the American Peace Society, wrote from Boston:—
“Nothing but the constant feeling that you are constantly overtasked has kept me from writing you on several occasions. I will only just say now, that I owe you a thousand thanks for the great and noble services you are rendering. God give you strength and life and full opportunity to complete your work!”
Rev. R. S. Storrs, the eminent Congregational clergyman, wrote from Braintree:—
“I am sure that I express but the common sentiment of the people all about me, when I say that your own course meets with more than a hearty approval, even admiration and gratitude. May God give you wisdom and firmness equal to the emergency, and crown your arduous labors with the success they deserve!”
E. E. Williamson, one of the earnest men of Massachusetts, wrote from Boston:—
“Your whole argument is founded upon righteousness and justice, and cannot be overthrown. What a glorious record you are making for future generations to peruse with gladness, and by which record your name is made as imperishable as the hills of your native State! I hope God will spare you to finish the good work you are in, and many years after to reap a slight portion of your reward.”
Nathaniel C. Nash, a merchant devoted to the national cause, wrote from Boston:—
“The multitude who thronged to the Senate Chamber, together with the representatives of foreign governments, to listen to your speech (which I term the New Testament of the Nineteenth Century), was an exhibition of the world’s interest in how well or ill you finish the great battle for human freedom, not for one continent, but for civilized man.”
Hon. Charles G. Davis, a stanch Antislavery Republican, wrote from Plymouth:—