Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-05-06

peared as distant rs ever; but 1t only ap-
peared so. Deep down, mems
conscience like q volcanic fire was restless,
ready for Il new outbreak as soon as the
thin crust of compromise should crack.
And just then the day was fast approaching
when the moral idea, which so far had
only broken out sporadically. and moved
small numbers of men to open action,
should receive "A reinforcement strong
enough to transform forlorn hope into an
army of irresistible strength One of those
eternal laws which govern the development
of human affairs as erted itself,-the law
that II great wrong. which has heen main
tanned in defiance of the moral sense Of
mankind, must finally, by the very means
and measures necessary for its sustenance,
render itself so insnpportable us to insure
its downfall and destruction.
The speaker painted Mr. Summers early
career in the Senate, and quoted from his
first speech there against slavery the re-
markable words: Whatever l am or
may be, I freely offer to this cause. l
have never been ii politician. The slave
of principle. l call no party MASTER
The faith courage and devotion of the
SSH.tloI uuilHS tlltSc Ht%lS III "Hlti iic
was struck down for his cause were
described, and the straightforward way in
which he met the crisis of 1861.
The emancipation policy was not only the
policy of principle, but also the policy of
safety. Mr.. Sumner urged it with impet-
nous and unfagging zeal. In the Senate
he found but little encouragement.
~,
efforts Nothing could be more interest
ing. nay, touching, than the peculiar rela-
tions that sprung up between Abraham
Lincoln and Charles Sumner. Abraham
Lincoln was a true child of the people.
There was in his heart an ineXhaustible
fountain of tenderness and from it sprung
that longing to he true, Just and mcrciful
to all, which made the people love him.
But he had not grown great in any high
school or craftsmanship. He had from
the humblest beginnings, slowly and Ia
borously. worked himself up, or rather he
had gradually risen up without being
aware of it, and suddenly he found himself
in the foremost rank of the distinguished
men of the land His marvellous success
in his ripper years left intact the inborn
modestv of his nature. His natural gifts
were great; he possessed clear and pen
etrating mind. but in forming his opinions
on subjects of importance. he was so careful,
scientiOus and diffident, that he would al
ways hear and probe what opponents had
to say before he became firmly satisfied of
the business of his own conclusion. He was
not one of those bold reformers who will
defy the opposition of the world and un-
dertake to impose their opinions and will
upon a reluctant age. But every day OF
great responsibility enlarged the horizon
of his mind and every day he grasped the
helm of affairs with Il steadier hand. 1t
was to such man that Sumner, during
the most doubtful days at the beginning OF
the war, addressed his appeals for imme-
diate emancipation, appeals impetuous and
impatient as they could spring only from
his ardent and Overruling convictions.
The President at first passlvely resisted
the vehement cOunsels of the Senator but
he bade the counsellor welcome. Mr..
Sumner he treated rs Il favorite counsellor,
almost like a Minister of State, outside OF
the Cabinet In Mr. Sumner he saw a
counsellor who was no politician, but who
stood before him rs the true representative
of the moral carnestness and the great in
spirations of the common cause. Thus
Nh Lincoln, while scarcely ever fully and
speedily following Summers advice, never
ceased to ask for it, for he knew its Signiii-
canoe. Always agreed as to the ultimate
end. they almost always differed rs to
times and means: but while differing, they
firmly trusted, for they understood one
another.
Sumner loved to tell his friends, after
Lincon's death, how ut one time those
who disliked and feared his intimacy with
:.
rupted, thought it was irreparablv broken
1t was mt the close of i.incoln's admins
tration, in 1860. when the President had
proposed certain measures of reconstruc-
ton, touching the state of Louisiana. The
end of the session of Congress was near III
hand. and the success of the bill depended
on Il vote of the Senate before the hour o
adjournment on the 4th of March. Mr.
Lincoln had the measure very much al
heart But Sumner opposed it. because il
did not contain sufficient guarantees foI
the rights of the cOlored people and by /:
parliamentary manHuvre, simply consum
inc the time until the adjournment came
he. with two or three other Senators, sue
ceeded in defeating it. The papers already
announced that the breach between Lin
coin and Sumner was complete. and coul'
not be healed. But those who said so die
not know the men. On the night of thu
9th of March, two days after Lincoln >:
: second inauguration, the customary inau
guration ball was to take place. Sumne
did not think of attending it. But towards
evening he received Il card from the Presi
dent, which read thus: Dear Mr.. Sum
ner-Unless You send me word to the con
5 trary, shall, this evening, call with IN,
= carriage ut your house, to take you will
me to the Inauguration ball. Sincerely
5 yours, Abraham Lincoln Mr.. Sumner
: deeply touched, at once made up his mine
to 90 to an inauguration ball for the frs
f time. Arrived at the ball room, the Presi
dent asked Mr. Sumner to offer his arm t.
Mrs. Lincoln; and the astonished specta
5 tors, who had been made to believe tina
f the breach between Lincoln and Sumne
= was irreparable, beheld the President
wife on the arm of the Senator, and th
Senator, on that occasion of state, invited
to take the seat of honor by the President
: side. 1t was thus that Abraham LincOll
5 composed his quarrels with his friends
! and at his bedside, when he died, ther
t was no mourner more deeply afflicted thai
Charles Sumner. During the years of tn
7 war. so full of vicissitudes, alarms AM
2 anxieties, Sumner stood in the Senate an
1 in the Presidents closet as the ever-watch
7 ful sentinel of Freedom and equal rights
, No occasion eluded his grasp to push ol
3, the destruction of slavery, not only b
| sweeping DEGREES, but in detail by pursu
t ing it, as with probing-iron, into ever.
nook and corner of its existence. Sue
was the character of Mr.. Summers legis
lative activity during the war.
Mr. Summers great work of reconstruc
;. ton and his craftsmanship in foreign affair
I were detailed, and Mr.. Schurz came to hi
| rupture with his party and spoke eloquentl
: of the purity of Summers motives.
, But when he had pronounced against til
, candidates of his party, worse experience
were for him in store. Journals which fo
wears had been full of his praise now us