The Life And Times Of Charles Sumner His Boyhood, Education And Public Career.

The Life And Times Of Charles Sumner: His Boyhood, Education And Public Career.

Elias Nason...

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Preface

The design of this work is to set forth in distinct relief the life, character, and public career of an accomplished scholar, an incorruptible statesman, and an eminent and eloquent defender of human freedom. In every age men have arisen, and, by the force of an original genius and a lofty aspiration, have come to stand as heralds in the fore-front of national progress. Their high mission has been to point with a prophetic finger to the coming issues; to sway and elevate with a commanding eloque

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I.

“Nothing is more shameful for a man than to found his title to esteem, not on his own merits, but on the fame of his ancestors. The glory of the fathers is doubtless to their children a most precious treasure; but to enjoy it without transmitting it to the next generation, and without adding to it yourselves,— this is the height of imbecility.”— The true grandeur of nations, by Charles Sumner. The Sumner family See Genealogy of the Sumner Family, by William B. Trask. Boston: 1854. is One of the

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II.

“What manner of child shall this be?”St. Luke. “And like a silver clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue,— “Excelsior!”” H. W. Longfellow. At the age of Ten years, Charles Sumner was found qualified to enter the Boston Latin School, then under the charge of the accomplished classical scholar Benjamin A. Gould, and noted, as at present, for its thorough and persistent drill in the inceptive classical studies. Here the tall and slender lad applied himself closely to his lessons; studying

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III.

“It is by dint of steady labor; it is by giving enough of application to the work, and having enough of time for the doing of it; it is by regular painstaking and the plying of constant assiduties,— it is by these, and not by any process of legerdemain, that we secure the strength and the stability of real excellence. It was thus that Demosthenes, clause after clause, and sentence after sentence, elaborated, and that to the uttermost, his immortal orations.”— Thomas Chalmers. On leaving college,

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IV.

“He (Charles Sumner) presents in his own person a decisive proof that an American gentleman, without official rank or wide-spread reputation, by mere dint of courtesy, candor, an entire absence of pretension, an appreciating spirit, and a cultivated mind, may be received on a perfect footing of equality in the best circles,— social, political, and intellectual; which, be it observed, are hopelessly inaccessible to the itinerant note-taker, who never gets beyond the outskirts of the show-houses.”

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V.

“Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to doubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple.”— John Milton. “Before thy mystic altar, heavenly Truth, I kneel in manhood as I knelt in youth: Thus let me kneel till this dull form decay, And life's last shade be brightened by thy ray: Then shall my soul, now lost in clouds below, Soar without bound, without consuming glow.” Sir William Jones

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VI.

“Rest not! life is sweeping by: Go and dare before you die. Something mighty and sublime Leave behind to conquer time.” Goethe. In the autumn of this year (1845), Mr. Sumner was called to mourn the loss by death of his beloved friend and counsellor, Chief Justice Story, whom Lord Campbell characterized in the House of Lords as “The First of living writers on the law.”In “The Boston daily Advertiser,” Sept. 16, 1845, there appeared from Mr. Sumner's hand a most eloquent and discriminating eulogy

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VII.

“He put to the hazard his ease, his interests, his friendship, even his darling popularity, for the benefit of a race of men he had never seen, who could not even give him thanks. He hurt those who were able to requite a benefit or punish an injury. He well knew the snares that might be spread about his feet by political intrigue, personal animosity, and possibly by popular delusion. This is the path that all heroes have trod before him. He was traduced and maligned for his supposed motives. He

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VIII.

“Veuillez seulement, et les lois iniques disparoitront soudain, et la violence des oppresseurs se brisera contre votre fermete inflexible et juste. Rien ne resiste a l'union du droit et du devoir.”— Livre Du Peuple, par F. Lamennais. “For what avail The plough and sail, Or land or life, If Freedom fail?” R. W. Emerson. Mr. Sumner neither had nor cared to have much legal practice at this period. His time was, for the most part, spent either among his books— in close communion with the liberty-lov

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IX.

“Oh great design, Ye sons of mercy! Oh! complete your work; Wrench from Oppression's hand the iron rod, And bid the cruel feel the wounds they give. Man knows no master save creating Heaven, Or those whom choice and common good ordains.” Liberty, by James Thomson. “Hear him, ye senates! Hear this truth sublime,— He who allows oppression shares the crime.” Botanic Garden, by Erasmus Darwin. By a famous coalition of the Free-soil and Democratic parties, effected mainly through the agency of Henry

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X.

“Still groan the suffering Millions in their chains; Still is the arm of the oppressor strong; Still Liberty doth bleed at all her veins; And few are they who side not with the wrong: Consider, then, your work as just begun, Until the last decisive act be done.” William Lloyd Garrison. “If any man thinks that the interest of these nations and the interest of Christianity are Two separate and distinct things, I wish my soul may never enter into his secret.”— Oliver Cromwell. Mr. Sumner steadily a

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XI.

“Where is charity? Where is the love of God? Where is the zeal for his glory? Where is desire for his service? Where is human pity, and the compassion of man for man? Certainly, to redeem a captive, to liberate him from wretched slavery, is the highest work of charity, of all that can be done in this world.”— Topografia y Historia De Argel por Fra Haedo. “And 'tis for this we live,— To smite the oppressor with the words of power; To bid the tyrant give Back to his Brother Heaven's allotted hour.

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XII.

“I know no figure in history which commands more of my admiration than that of Charles Sumner in the Senate of the United States, from the hour when Douglas presented his ill-omened measure for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise until the blow of the assassin laid him low. Here was the perfection of moral constancy and daring. Here was sleepless vigilance, unwearying labor, hopefulness born only of deepest faith, buoyant resolution, caring nothing for human odds, but serenely abiding in the p

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XIII.

“Heed not what may be your fate; Count it gain when worldlings hate; Naught of hope or heart abate:Victory's before. Ask not that your toils be o'err Till all slavery is no more, No more, no more, no more!” Eliza Lee Follen. “If our arms at this distance cannot defend him from assassins, we confide the defence of a life so precious to all honorable men and true patriots, to the Almighty Maker of men.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson. Boston deeply felt the blow received by Mr. Sumner; and his reception by

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XIV.

“No skill had he with veering winds to veer; By trampling on the good, himself to rise; To run for any port, indifferent where, So tongue and conscience make fair merchandise.” W. W. Newell. “Spiriti piu nobili del sue, io non ne avea mai conosciuti, pari al suo, pochi.”Le Mie Prigione di Silvio Pellico. Although Mr. Sumner attended to some minor senatorial duties, and watched with an eagle eye the logic of events, it was not until the Fourth day of June, 1860, that he came grandly up to the wor

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XV.

“Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand. Ring out the darkness of the land! Ring in the Christ that is to be!” Alfred Tennyson. The Southern people possess magnanimous traits of character: they are brave, open-hearted, courteous, and hospitable. But the brightness of these noble traits was somewhat shaded by the baleful influence of slavery. They devote much time and attention to political studies; and the controlling power which they long exercised in the national

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XVI.

“Who is the Honest Man? He who doth still and strongly good pursue, To God, his neighbor, and himself most true.” George Herbert. “In all things that hare beauty, there is nothing to men more comely than liberty. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, above all liberties.”— John Milton. “Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye: Thy steps I'll follow with my bosom bare, Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.” Tobias Smollett. Althoug

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XVII.

“The laws, the rights, The generous plan of power, delivered down From age to age by our renowned forefathers, So dearly bought, the price of so much blood,— Oh! Let it never perish in our hands.” Cato, by Joseph Addison. “His public conduct was such as might have been expected from a spirit so high, and an intellect so powerful. He lived at One of the most memorable eras in the history of mankind,— at the very crisis of the great conflict between liberty and despotism, reason and prejudice. Tha

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XVIII.

“Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.”— Abraham Lincoln. “La verite, voila mon offrande cherie. Loin de toi pour jamais le vil encens des cours; Flatter le souverain, c'est trahir la patrie, C'est du bonheur public empoisonner le cours.” P. D. E. Lebrun. “A great man under the shadow of defeat is taught how precious are the uses of adversity; and, as an oak-tree's roots are strengthened by its shadow, so all defeat

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XIX.

“In the long roll of martyrs in the cause of liberty, the name of Charles Sumner shall stand conspicuous, as worthy of the applause and reverence of manhood.”— William L. Garrison. “The dear and noble Sumner! My heart is too full for words; and in deepest sympathy of sorrow I reach out my hands to thee, who loved him so well. He has died as he wished to, at his post of duty, and when the heart of his beloved Massachusetts was turned toward him with more than the old-time love and reverence. God'

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Appendix Sumner's Will

The necessary petition for the probate of the will of Mr. Sumner was filed yesterday afternoon by Francis V. Balch, and will be acted on at the regular session of the court, which sits on Monday, April 6. The will is written wholly by himself, in a handwriting at once bold, clear, and distinct. Each page bears his signature, the name being written in the lower right-hand corner, after the manner of the old-style books, and evidently written as each page was finished. The sheets are bound togethe

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Epitaph

The following may be given as nearly a literal translation: Humanity and Justice mourn and will mourn thee, O Sumner, most renowned fosterer of justice! Justice on account on thy most pure life among the base; humanity in that she never was a stranger to thee. Thou rejoicest in the end of labors and the beginning of immortality. O happy, blessed and fortunate One, in such a death that none like thee bemains, rising to glory, hail!...

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