Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-09-05
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON,
His Letter to Senator Sumner
The Massachusetts Senator's Career
Reviewed--Bearings of tho
Present Campaign.

6dC0uSeILS.
DEAR Mr.. SUMNER: Though l should be
strongly induced, by the friendship subsist-
ing between us, to avoid taking position
antagonlstlc to you own, under ordinary
circumstances, even if ! deemed it errone-
Gus, yet all personal considerations must be
subordlnated to the public welfare when Sc
riously imperiled. You do not believe in
silence in crisis like the present, nor do 1.
In your recent letter to certain colored citi-
zens of Washington you have spoken plain
ly, yehemently, and with rhetorical ampli-
fcation (not for the first time) in utter con-
domination of the President of the United
States; and your advice to the whole body of
colored voters is, that they concentrate their
suffrages upon a rival candidate in the per-
son of Horace Greeley.
In reviewing your letter propose to speak
with equal plainness, and as earnestly to
counsel my fellow countrymen not to follow
your lead in this matter, but, as voters, to
move unitedly for the reelection of Presi-
dent Grant, for every consideration pertain
ing to their safety and happiness, to the
cause of equal rights, and to- the furtheranee
of national peace and unity.
In apologizing for your delay in answering
the letter of inquiry referred to, you state
you "wlshed to be aided by the inform alton
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
conjecture; but, in view of your Ions -avowed
estrangement from the present Chief Mag
istrate, it could not have been needed to in
tensify your hostility to his Administration.
Your reply is dated July 90, and it appears
to have been as carefully timed to influence
the election in North Carolina on the LIST of
August, before anything could be done to
neutralize its effect, as was your Grant in
dictment speech in the Senate to determine
g ~ III IL
These condolences may have been acct
dental, but you must not be surprised if,
owing to the well-known inf ammable state
of your mind, general belief obtains that
you have unfairly availed yourself of oppor-
tunities to work fatal division in the Re-
publican ranks.
1t affords you much qualification to be
singled out by your interrogators as "the
special advocate of their rights But this
is an assumption which justice, as well as
becoming modesty, should have led you to
disclaim, even lift was meant only to describe
your Congressional career. Similar advo-
Gates have, from time to time, stood bravely
up, both IN the Senate am House of Repre-
sentatives-Wilson,H Hale, Wade, Chase, Gid
dings, Mann, Lovejoy, Julian, Palfrey.
Thaddeus Stevens, Gerrit Smith and others
who, if not as copious and ornate in
speech are yourself, have been as unfinch-
nounced, to say nothing Of the thousands of
anti-slavery men and women whose lot it
was to pass through the heat and burden of
the conflict, 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 the cause; your advocacy of it as
been great and meritorious; but to claim it
as peculiar at this late day, as though you
-tr 81
personal appropriation very far removed
from self-a5negation, and quite unwar-
ranted.
The Republican party (the product OF
thirty years moral and religious agitation
for the overthrow of slavery has crushed
vast sectional rebellion for the erection of
an Independent slave empire; has emanci-
pated four millions of bondmen, and elevated
them to the plane of American citizenship;
has reconstructed the rebellious States on a
common constitutional basis with universal
liberty; has brought order out of chaos, gem
eral tranquility out of widespread disaffec-
ton, unexampled prosperity out of frightful
devastation; al has advanced the banner
Of liberty and equality far beyond the ex-
pectation or hope of any man living ten
years ago. The day has gone by, therefore,
for any one to exhibit remarkable courage
or conspicuity in the advocacy a any meas
ure in behalf of the rights and interests of
our colored population, except indeed,
where the old slaveholding spirit still exer-
cises mastery at the South. Nor is it peril
nent to the occasion to talk of their "infnite
wrongs" now that they are emancipate
and enfranchsed, supplied with multitude
nous schools and teachers, free to make Their
own contracts as independent laborers, pro-
tected as husbands and wives, bound to-
gether as husbands and children, voting ana
being voted for, pursuing successfully al
professional employments, steadily aug.
menting their home comforts and laying uI
wealth, occupying stations Of trust and
emolument, and having their representa-
tives in every Southern Legislature and OF
the floor of Congress. True, in certain local
tiles they are still subjected to many indig
mites, and sometimes to horrible outrages
but these ere inflicted by that class of incor
rigible miscreants of the South who are jus
now in happy utilization with yourself tx
place Horace Greeley in the Presidential
chair True, there is still, throughout tn,
country, a strong prejudice against socia
equality irrespective of color; but this il
steadily yielding, and in many cases ha
ceased to operate. The special time to ex
press sympathy for the "infnite wrongs" o
the colored race was when they had few t.
interfere for their deliverance from the auc
tion-block and slave-coffle, from the slave
drivers cory lash, from CALLING yokes ant
torturing .humb-screws, from the fangs o
the bloodhounds, from the clutches o
prOwling kidnappers, from inconceivabl
agonies at the burning stake; and when Il
remember those in bonds as bound witt
them" led anywhere else than to the higl
places of the country. And I always deepl
regret, too (as I am quite sure you now do
that for SO many years after the commence
ment of the struggle to effect that deliver
ance, when the elements were melting wit
fervent heat, and mobocratic violence 70
the suppression of anti-slavery discussion
was everywhere prevalent, not excepting i
your own native city, you took 20 activ
part in that conflict, attended no anti-slayt
~ gatherings, gave no visible sign of a live
1y interest in its success; for the first tim
bearing your public testimony against slav.
ry in opposing the annexation of Texa
When elected to the United States Senat
in 1851, you sat nearly eight months in ths
body, speechlesa in respect to the Fugitiy
Slave bill, eliciting strong remonst anct
against your protraeted silence, seeing tina
as the successor of Mr.. Webster, your ele
ton was regarded as an important gain
the cause of impartial freedom. Your s
lence was the more inexplicable, and ful
nlshed just cause for uneasiness, because,
speech made by you before going to Wasl
ington, you said: .The subject will n
admit of postponement or hesits ton. 1t
the subject of subjects. From this time 70
ward it will be entertained by Congress;
will be, as it were, one of the orders of Il
dag; it cannot be passed over or forpotte
= We demand, first and foremo;
the instantrepeal of the Fugitive Slave bill