The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-05-17
SENATOR suMNER,s LECTURE.

4 SfsINAlOh SUMMER
The vast capacity of the Metropolitan Thea
tire was tasked to its utmost last evening, to &C
commodate the great congregation who came
to listen to the eloquence of the Massachusetts
| Senator, Charles Sumner. From floor to roof
| the auditorium was one almost unbroken con
| cave of earnest, intelligent faces of men and
women, gathered from every State in this
Union, and many hundreds could not get into
| the theatre at all. On the platform were the
Hon. Salmon p. Chase, VIM. Lloyd Garrison,
Wendell Phillips, Judge Culver, John Jay, Jas.
Mott, Francis Jackson, Henry G. Wright, and
many other leading men.
Judge VIM. Jay, Chairman of the meeting,
introduced the speaker in the following re-
marks:
"LADIEs AND GENTLEMEN: / have been re-
quested, on the part of the Society, to perform
the pleasing but unnecessary Office of introdu-
cling to you the honored and wel-known advo-
cate of justice, humanity, and freedom, Charles
Sumner. 1t is not for his learning and elo.
quence that / commend him to your respectful
attention; for learning, eloquence, and even
theology ITSELF have been prostituted in the
service of an institution well described by John
Wesley as the sum of all villanies. introduce
him to you as Northern Senator, on whom Ma
ture has conferred the unusual gift of back
bone-a man who, standing erect on the floor
OF Congress, amid creeping things from the
North, with Christian fidelity denounces the
stupendous wickedness of the Fugitive Law
and Nebraska perfdy, and in the name of lib
erty, humanity, and religion, demands the re-
peal of those most atrocious enactments. May
the words he is about to utter be impressed on
your consciences, and influence your conduct"
The appearance of Mr.. Sumner was the sig
nal for most electrifying applause; as he stood
with bowed head, before the thousands assem-
bled, cheer upon cheer and shout upon shout
testified to the hearty sympathy existing be-
tween the orator and his audience. In deep,
full, and sonorous voice, and with a simple,
manly dignity, amid profound silence, he said :
~ am not insensible to this generous ap-
pause, but l accept it not for myself, but in
behalf of the cause / advocate and | am
proud to be introduced on this occasion by a
gentleman whose name, illustrious by father
renown, is illustrious also by his own generous
devotion to the rights of man."
Mr.. Sumner then began by saying, that from
defeat and disparagement enterprises often rose
into triumph.
If truth, like Christianity, was Graded in a
manger, it has like it grown into ample and
glorious proportion. Freedom of discussion,
the first stage ofyictory, has been won. "Give
me where to stand, and l will move the world, !"
said Archimedes. Truth asks no more, and
that she has through much persecution and
much sacrifice finally attained.
The Anti-Slavery enterprise has already &C
complished incaleu]able good. Even now it
touches the national heart as it never before
was touched, sweeping its strings with might
to draw forth emotions such as no political
struggle has ever evoked. 1t moves the young,
the middle-aged, aud the old. 1t enters the
family circle, and mingles with the fame of the
household hearth. 1t reaches the souls of
mothers wives, sisters, and daughters, filling all
with new aspiration for justice on earth, and
awakening not merely sentiment against Sla-
very, such as prevailed with our fathers, but a
deep, undying conviction of its wrong, and a
determination to leave no effort uninterrupted for
its removal. With the sympathies of all Chris.
tendon as allies, it has already encompassed
the slave masters by moral blockade, invisible
to the eye, but more potent than navies, from
which there can be no escape except in final
capitulation. Thus it has created the irresisti-
BILE influence which itself constitutes the begin
ming of success Already there are signs of
change. In common speech as well as in wri-
ting, among slave masters the bondman is no
longer called slave, but serraat-thus, by a
soft substitution, concealing and condemning
the true relation. Even newspapers in the land
of bondage blush with indignation at the hunt
of men by bloodhounds- protesting against
an unquestionable incident of Slavery.
Other signs are found in the added comfort
of the slave; in the enlarged attention to his
wants; in the experiments now beginning, by
which the slave is enabled to share in the profits
of his labor, and thus finally secure his free
dom; and, above all, in the consciousness
among slave masters themselves, that they
dwell now, as never before, under the keen OBJ
servation Of an ever-wakeful Public Opinion,
quickened by an ever-wakeful Public Press.
Nor is this all. Only lately propositions have
been introduced into the Legislatures of differ
ent States, and countenanced by Governors, to
mitigate the existing law of Slavery; and, al
most while speaking, I have received the drafts
of two different memorials-one addressed to
the Legislature of Virginia and the other to
that of North Carolina-asking for the slave
three things, which it will be monstrous to re-
fuse, but which, if conceded, will take from Sla-
very its existing character: l mean, first, the
protection of the marriage relation; secondly,
the protection of the parental relation; and,
thirdly, the privilege of knowledge. Grant these,
and the girdled Upas tree soon must die.
The enterprise had, too, an inherent dignity to
recommend it. 1t seeks to benefit those it has
never seen and who are ignorant of its labors
cal, and has been said to lack the authority of
eminent name. Thus has it ever been with
every noble struggle. 1t is too true that many
neglect the duty of this combat, or satisfy it by
some small contribution. But it needs strong
incessant, organized effort, to kill this foul enact
ment. The people of the North are deeply in
volved in the abolition of scandal which
stains the common national capital, national
statute book, and national flag. And this stain
is inflicted by an ohgarchy Of but three hun
dred and forty-seven thousand slave-masters in
this vast Union, who absolutely exclude from
office all who will not uphold their hideous
traffic. Not alone this, but men who revolt
from the sickening duty are to be forced by
law to aid in bringing back their fellow-men
who may have claimed, that right of freedom
which God gives to all who are crimeless. AS
those who were the agents of the Stamp Act
were blasted with public ignominy by the
fathers of the Republic, so should the agents of
this cursed Fugitive law be blasted by the exc
crations of their sons. With peroration Of
soul-stirring energy, in which he held forth the
importance of union and the claims which the
struggle in which they were embarked had on
every man who loved humanity and freedom,
Mr.. Sumner concluded amid an applause which
had frequently interrupted him in the course of
delivery of his eloquent lecture.
Throughout the two hours and half which
Mr.. Sumner occupied in the delivery of his lee
ture, the audience manifested the most pro-
found attention, at intervals applauding his
efforts right generousy.-M. T. Tribune.
SENATOR WILSON'S LECTURE
Notwithstanding heavy rain, last evening
large assemblage greeted the new Massachu-
sets Senator's first appearance on any stage"
at the Metropolitan theatre. After being intro