Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-02-20
Forney on CHARLES Sumner.
The following is the late letter from Col
Forney to the Piladclphia Press.


The following is the late letter from Col.
Forney to the Piladelphia Press:
Excepting jesse D. Bright and John p.
Hale, Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts,
although still young man has served
longer period in the United States Senate
than any other member now sitting in that
body. No Senator has ever been so bitterly
abused, and so industriously misrepresented
According to the tactics Of the South, by
which the hest men have been blackencd
and the worst men made angels, Charles
Sumner was for long time effectually
damned, equally in the Free and in the Slave
States. shall never forget my sensations
when, in the spring of 1856, was standing
at the railroad station in Lancaster, Pa, on
the eve of starting westward, to help forward
the fortunes of James Buchanan. A .tele-
graph from Washington was handed to me,
announcing he assault, in the Senate Cham
ber, OF Preston s Brooks, ofSouth Carolina,
upon Charles Sumner, of Massachuseffs
Nor can | forget the sentiment that broke
from my lips on that occasion '"This out
rage will lose James Buchanan five North
ern States, should he be nominated for Pros
ident. y For l had read and seen the South
orn aristocracy in its worst phases in the city
of Washington. Minority as this aristocracy
was, its insat;ale NAV could never be graft
fed. The repeal of the Missouri Com pro
mise, so pregnant of evil, gave it no real sat
isfaction. The concessions of the free States
were accepted as SO many tributes to be-
sotted despotism. When Andrew II. Reed
er, appointed Governor OF Kansas by Frank-
lin Pierce, attempted to give practical ex-
preston to his Free State feelings, though
he had served in the Democratic party for
years before, as one Of the champions of the
Southern School, he was hunted like n
criminal, ana almost insulted by such men
as Fl. Cobb and L. NJ. Keitt At that day
S. A. Douglas was the idol of the Southern
aristocracy, because he had consented to the
repeal of the Missoari C5mprUnYise, and
james Buchanan. was doubted and denoun-
ced. because he was was supposed to occupy
an equivocal position on the same question.
In The spring of 1856 the mission of the Dem
ocratic party was unquestonably to maintain
position in the Union by maenanimous
concession tn the free State sentiment, and
/ it was in this sense, and with this under
standing, that the nomination of James
Buchanan was wrung from the Cincinnati
Convention precisely as victim might be
snatched from the jaws of devouring lion.
The enormity of his subsequent treaehery
may be measured and understood when We
reflect that the gallant Douglas would have
been defeated in 1856, because of hisl sup.
posed devotion to the South, and that Jane:
Buchanan was only elected because Of. hi
supposed devotion to the North.
The attack upon Charles Sumner changed
more men in the Democratic party into
enemies of james Buchanan than any othel
event that could have happened. II occur
ed ut time when the whole North wa
awakened to a sensitive suspicion in reearC
to the objects of the Southern politicians
But with that facile and skillful manipula
, tion Of public opinion, always the character
, istic of the pro-slavery leaders, the early in
dirnation thus aroused subsided at las
t into respect for Brooks and ridicule of Sum
t ner. Ii james Buchanan expressed any re
gret when this outrage transpired, il onl
went far enough to show his consistent an
[ constant seliislness-it wasithegegret OF tn
politician and not of the paiIiot. And whe
. Sumner retired TO Esfope and Brooks t
. bis grave, the parasites ofthe South forge
t their hatred OF the one in their shrrow Z
!, he other. 1t was the commonest thing
{ charge upon Charles Sumner that be lacke
! the true spirit Of the fighting, man. =
! could not be a bully, and would not be
a blackguard. And because he did not chooI
d to resent the insults of the vulgar tyrapts Z
% Slavery, he was set down as wanting the Il
y stincts Of a thoroughbred gentleman. Wht
he returned from Europe to resume his Sc
d in tho Senate, he unquestionably rcturnt
under cloud.
n ! am no echb of Mr.. Summers extren
y anti slavery opinons, Idonot copcur vii
ID him on the subject eriHmediate emanoip
ID ton. But cannot withhold from him d
,k tribute Of honest admiration. Of his abilti
id as debater, his ernditioh as Aischolar, al
the comprehensiveness Of his general vie
be on great questions, He speaks easily a
lie well upon amy subject, and takes ffeque
a part in the discussions constantly arising
| the body Of which he is member, WI
as he spoke on the aspect Of our foreign rel
no tions, on the 9th Of January, he spo