The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-10-24
The Talk About senator sumner and
his ~ tGe

! his wife
Boston Correspondence oTtte Ee1V York Express
a public man sometimes becomes so
| public that his private affairs command
/ a publicity which it would be an attec-
| tation of the press not to notice. Hence
1 send you the following: 1.-TWO years
| ago the long known bachelor, Charles
! Sumner, became a Benedick. a highly
| educated, and in many respects an ac-
complishcd man, of good manners and
| better appearance, naturally enough,
| he stood high among the ladies OF BOs-
I ton, and he had no difficulty in winning
the hand OF widow (from one of the
| +. F. of Boston,, who sacrificed no in
considerable jointure in marrying him.
| The HONEYMOON bad all the apparent
charms that hOneymoonS usually have,
when Mrs. Sumner went with her hus-
band to Washington, aud new scenes
ensued. Among the accomplished men
composing the Diplomatic Corps in
| Washington was Baron Holstein, of
Prussia, whom the Prussian King had
attached to the Prussian Legation there,
''tO spy ont the land" Naturally
| enough, he cOurted the acquaintance of
| Charles Sumner, the chairman OF the
| Committee on Foreign Affairs in the
Senate, who, at dinner party, intro
| duced his wife to the Baron, and who
was placed BESIDE her at dinner. An
acquaintance ensued, and friendship
| followed, such as naturally and honor
ably spring up between the sexes with
kindred tastes and aspirations. The
| Baron attended to the lady at matinees
and soirees, and in other public places.
and occasionally escorted her from the
| Senate. where both had been to hear
the Senator speak. Mr.. Sumner, be-
| coming displeased with this acquaint-
anceship-it cannot be properly called
| intimacy-wrote IA letter to Baron HOl-
Z Ia AInVN NITNFV FNN
1t, report says he iusinuated something
not honorable to the wife. The Baron
wrote back letter, in which, in sub
stance, he said there was no cause OF
offense whatever-he had been polite to
madame, as he was TO other ladies OF
similar accomplishments, and nothing
| had ever happened which propriety or
good taste forbade. But il the Senator
was not satisfied with that, he was
ready to give him any such satisfaction
us "a man of honor demanded.
This correspondence was the begin
! ming and end of part first; but Mr.
| Sumner, report says, then became cool
became more reserved in their inter
course. Then Mr.. Sumner, as chairman
of our Committee of Foreign Affairs
wrote to the Prussiau Minister of For
eign Affairs, the distinguished Bis
marck, that il he (Bismarck) would
! recall the t1uTOns ne NoulhutEJ NOuiu, ,be
obliged. The adroit Bismarck yielded
to the potential position of the Ameri-
can chairman OF Foreign Affairs, and
! the Baron was recalled TO Berlin.
Mrs. Sumner next became acquainted
with this correspondence, and, natural
| Iy enough, was indignant beyond all
| power of description. Her indignatisn
| naturally rested upon that part of the
| correspondence which, it was alleged,
touched her honor. The end of all this
| is, that Mrs. Sumner has gone her way
| to Europe-their common establish
ment in Washington being given up,
and another is taken by the Senator for
| the winter.
There is some scandal atloat beyond
\ all this, relating both to the Senator
\ and the lady-such as may be expected
! from early denOuementS in such mar
riage affair-but the basis of The reports
in Boston is such as send you. What
have written is in everybody's mouth,
and il may possibly be erroneous in
some Of the details, but in substance
probably correct. i send 1t to you for
| publication because WHAT If anything,
| is wrong here had better at once be set
right to stop the tongues of the thou
sands that are making more out of u
| fauy