The Portland daily press., 1872-08-01
Charles Summers Letter.

We give to-day the conclusion of Charles
Summers letter, and it is curious to observe
how little effect and sensation is produced by
it, compared with what would have been
caused by a declaration from that source
against the Republican nominee in any former
Presidential contest. 1t is a fresh illustration
of the fact made clear by the cases of Salmon
P. Chase, Horace Greeley and many Others
that, when great leader is palpably swayed
by ambition, prejudice or personal pique, his
power to lead masses of men practically
ceases. The intense malignity shown by Mr.
Sumner in his speeches in the Senate and re-
produced in full vigor in his letter almost
neutralize his power to harm. Men distrust
the accuracy and impartiality of judgment of
one who exhibits such marked bitterness and
intolerance toward the object criticised.
Mr.. Sumner is a victim of morbid selfcon-
sciousness. No man believes so fully and ap-
preciates so highly the vastness of the services
of Charles Sumner to the nation as does
Charles Sumner himself He has come in
later years to regard himself as infallible and
to treat all interference with his views or
policy with fierce disdain. And so distin-
guished had been his services, so high his
character and so remarkable his ability, that
his colleagues and associates have endured
more dictation and more arbitrary domina-
ton from him than would have been borne
from any other or all other men. But this
subsection to the will and caprices of one
man necessarily found its limit, and, when
his purposes were thwarted in one direction,
all the powers of his nature were instantly
turned to denunciation of those who were
bold enough to oppose him. He denounced
the majority of the United States Senate,
composed of men who had always been his
political associates and allies, as corrupt
ring, and debased his high talents and de-
graded his high station in searching for and
proclaiming, as causes of offence against the
President, accusations the most frivolous with
which the intelligence of nation was ever
insulted
The result of the Cincinnati Convention
was evidently keen disappointment to him.
He had hoped for candidate whom he could
support with reasonable dignity and consis-
tency, and he brooded over the unexpected
and untoward ending of that enterprise which
started with so much apparent promise, with
ill-concealed chagrin.
During this long period of incubation, his
friends, who have long admired his great mer-
its, have been hoping almost against hope
that he would gain that greatest Of all victor
ies-a victory over himself-that grace would
be vouchsafed him to stifle his violent sense
of personal neglect, his intense vindictiveness
and ransor; but, alas, the hope was vain-he
who has overcome so many obstacles is van
pushed by himself Charles Sumner strikes
hands with the men against whom he has
waged untiring warfare all these years and
advises "his peculiar people" to turn their
backs on those who saved them and to place
themselves and their future in the hands of
the men whose lives have been spent in reso-
Lutte effort to keep the colored people subject
race. He gravely assures them that they can
gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles;
that the leopard tciH change his spots and the
Ethiopian his skin.
But the negroes are keen observers of what
concerns their own welfare; their instinct is
infalible for their own good. They will not
be deceived by stately, grandiose platitudes
nor misled by incorporate denunciation. The
day when great name was omnipotent has
passed and the motives and feelings which
inspire this outburst are so readily apparent
as to defeat its object. This labored effort is
destined to fall dead and its only effect will be
to consign another great name to the list of
fallen leaders, which already numbers so
many of the illustrious of all times and ma
tnWns