Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-06
Mr.. Garrison to Mr.. Sumner.
The Issues and Bearing of the Presi-
dOntiaI Campaign,

BOSTON, August 8, 1879.
Dear Nr. Sumner; Though l should be
strongly induced, by the friendship existing be.
tween us, TO avoid taking position antagonis-
teal to your own, under ordinary circumstan-
ces even if deemed it erroneous, vet all per-
sonal considerations must be subordinated TO
the public welfare when seriously imperiled
You do not believe in silence in crisis like the
present, nor do ]. 10 your recent letter to GER
tain colored citizens Of Washington, you have
spoken plainly, vehemently, and with rhetori-
cal amplihcation (not for the first tme), in ut
ter condemnation of the president of the United
States; and your advice to the whole body of
| colored voters is, that they concentrate their
SURFACES upon rival candidate in the person
| of Horace Greeley.
In reviewing your letter ] propose to speak
with equal plainness, and as earnestly to coun-
sci my colored countrymen not to follow your
lead IN this matter, but as voters to move
unitedly for the reelection of President Grant,
for every consideration pertaining to their safe.
ty and happiness, to the cause of equal rights.
and to the furtherance Of national peace and
unity.
In apologzlng for your delay in answering
the letter OF inquiry referred to- you state that
you wished to be aided by the information
which time might supply" The kind of in
formation you desired or expected to gain in
the brief space of seventeen days is left TO con-
lecture; but, in view of your long ayoWed es.
arrangement from the present chief magistra te.
1t could not have been needed to intensity your
hostility TO bis administration. Your reply is
dated July 30, and it appears 10 have been as
carefully timed to influence the election in
North Carolina on the LIST OF August, before
anything could be done 10 neutralige its effect.
as was your Grant Indictment speech in the sen.
ate TO determine the action of the PHILADELPHIA
convention These condolences may have been
accidental, and you must not be surprised it,
owing to the well-known infammable state of
your mind, general belief obtains that you
have unfairly availed yourself of opportun tiles
to work fatal division in the republican ranks.
IL affords you much qualification to be singled
out by your colored interrogators as "tha special
advocate of their rights" But this is an as.
sumption which justice, as well as becoming
modesty, should have led you to disclaim even
II it was meant only to describe your congress.
ional career. Similar advocates have from time
to time stood bravely up, both in the senate
and in the house of representatives-WiIso
Hale, Wade, Chase, Giddings, Mann, Lovejoy,
Julian, Palfrey, Thaddeus Stevens, Gerrit
Smith and others-who, if not as copious and
ornate in speech as yourself, have been as I'M
hinehiug, and in their turn most bitterly de.
bounced, to say nothing Of the thousands of
anti-slayery men and women whose lot IL WINS
TO pass through the heat and burden Of the con.
tict, pleading, in season and out of season,
nearly score OF years before your voice was
heard in support Of their holy cause, You
have since rendered eminent service to that
cause your advocacy OF II has been great and
meritorious; but to claim it as peculiar at this
late day, as though you stood alone and almost
single-handed, is personal appropriation very
far removed from self-abnegation, and quite un.
warranted.
The republican party (the product of thirty
years mOrai and religious agitation for the
overthrow of slavery has crushed a vast Sec
tional rebellion for the erection of an independ.
eut slave empire; has emancipated four millions
OF bondmen, and elevated them to the plane of
American citizenship; has reconstructed the re-
Oellous states on a common constitutional
OASIS, with universal liberty; has brought order
out OF chaos, general tranquility out of
widespread disafiection, unexamped prosperity
| out OF ifghtiul devastation, and has advanced
the banner OF liberty and equality far beyond
| the expectation or hope of any man living ten
years ago. The day has gone by therefore, for
| any one TO exhibit remarkable courage or con-
| splculty IN the advocacy of any measure in be.
naii OF the rlghts and interests of our colored
| population, except, indeed, where the old slave
| holding spirit exercises mastery at the sonth
| Nor is It pertinent to the occasion 10 talx of
| their Infinite wrongs, now that they are eman.
| cipated and cnfranchised supplied with multi.
| tudlnous schools and teachers, free TO make
| their own contracts as independent laborers
| protected as husbands and wives, bound ~.
| gether as parents and children, voting and being
| voted for pursuing successfully all professional
| employments, steadily augmeDtng their home
| comforts and laying up wealth, occupying sta.
| tions of trust and emoument, and having their
representatives in every southern legislature on
the floor of congress- True, in certain locali-
ties they are still subjected to many indgnities
and sometimes TO horrible outrages; but these
are INFLICTED by that class Of incorrgihle mis-.