“God bless the Christian gentleman and scholar, the ablest of American statesmen! God bless the noble, spotless man, Charles Sumner! is the fervent prayer of four millions of disfranchised Americans, not less than of
“Yours, admiringly and sincerely,
“Ebenezer D. Bassett,[1]
Isaiah C. Wear,
Nathaniel W. Depee.”
Parker Pillsbury, the devoted Abolitionist, wrote at once from the office of the Antislavery Standard, in New York:—
“No need of many words to-day. Your openings yesterday were sublime,—a genuine Apocalypse! God grant it be but the key-note to the grandest oratorio ever performed by less than the morning stars and all the sons of God shouting together!”
Rev. Joshua Leavitt, an editor of the New York Independent, and a constant Abolitionist of great practical sense, wrote from New York:—
“We look to you to forbear when necessary, and to dare when the time is right.”
William Lloyd Garrison, an honored leader in the long warfare with Slavery, who had just returned from a lecture tour in the West as far as the Mississippi, wrote from Boston:—
“I have found but one opinion, whether the test was made publicly or privately, in regard to that questio vexata, Reconstruction,—and that is, that not one of the revolted States should be admitted into the Union without being put under a longer probation.… Thanks for your prompt action and untiring vigilance in this matter, in the series of resolutions presented by you to the Senate.”
William E. Walker wrote from Trenton, New Jersey:—