Year: 1874

ENGLISH JOURNALS


,,sox TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rRIsuSkI


LONDON. March Awe had the news of Mr. sum
n,rs death Thursday morning The Tunes OF the
same morning, the three other leading Lohdon
,arers Of the following day. contained leading ar
fcles about him. IQuOte below the essential parts
Of them. They express accurately enough the
opnions of different sections of Englishmen respect
ing Mr. Sumner. Ii is not pleasant task to repro
duce what is offensive i'm them, but it would be idle
IN try 10 disgnise the fact that Mr. Sumner OF ate
wears was more disliked in England tnah
any other American. To some extent nc was
aware Of this and il gave him pain. don't sup
nose be cared much for the brutal abuse of such
papers a. The Standard but he was deeply grieyed
10 be misunderstood and harshly censured by old
friends Some things said of him IN private during
his lifetime came 10 his ears, and he WINGED under
them I do not mean that he did not bear that sort
of thing manfully. He was too well used to bearing
main. both physical and mental, to shrink from
either But his sensitveness never left him, and to
the last he felt keenly whatever said against
him. HIS courage did not consist in hardening him
self against cruel taunts, but in enduring stead
fastly the agOny-fOr it was often that-which
ranking shaft caused him. never knew an Ameri-
tad who was profoundly attached to England
His love for this country survived the
ininries she inflicted on his own, nor
was il ever shaken by the injustice done to
himself Mr.. Seward, perhaps excepted, no Ameri-
can in civil life well known in England, or,
fnmerv so much liked His reputation here waS
only less dear to him than his reputation at home.
That he should have hesltated to speak the trnth
when il required to he spoken about England never
occurred 70 him. He spoke of it as freely as he
spoke Of the wicked institutions and criminal do
nestle policy of his own country in the days Of
i-r... En- oil say hp
invented the Indirect Claims, and have always held
him responsible for that long period during which
they were uncertain whether they would execute
the obligations they had accepted under the Treaty
of Washington or repudiate them They never
rould understand how entirely Mr. Sumner
was supported by the opinion of his
,ountrvmen They preferred TO believe that his
opponents stronger than he, and they probably
really did and do believe that the people of America
selected as their mOuthpece on that m0mentous
national question an Irish dOctrinaire writer IN
weekly paper. Here and there you now find an
Enclishman who will admit at most, that Mr.. Sum-
ntr was sincere. have heard one or two say that
he doubtless deceived himself as TO the purport of
his speech. But he has never been forgiven for
il. In a few eases. old personal friendship tri-
nmphed the later anger, and in those cases
ZONE cOrdialty was shown Mr.. Sumner on his visit



Thing 10 say in another letter. and do not stop to
dwell on them now. wish only to say enough to
show the feeling which mderlies such attacks upon
the dead statesman as must quote.


What The Times says is, Oh the whole, less unjust
10 Mr. Sumner than its former assaults on him might
have led us to expect. But there passages which
show curious prejudice matters quite apart from
the English grievance against him. The Times
believes itself able to trace the debasing effects of
public life it exists across the Atlantic IN Mr.
Summers public career and in the development of
his character Ii complains that as Chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs he showed a difficulty
in understanding the attitude of foreign Govern
ments, which made him unjust toward them. Ii
thinks he lost his chaiTmansbip because President
Grant had a contempt for his uninformed Judgment
on foreign aairs-though the sentence is so ambigu-
uus in form that il may mean to attribute the re-
moval TO Mr. Summers contempt for the Presidents
uniformed Judgment. And The lines adds:


When this intrigue proved successful Mr.. Sumner
found himself condemned to the position Of Isolated
critic OF an Administration lie could not control His
last years thus years OF declining power If not OF
Increasing captlousness and his last great expOiths
denunciation OF the Alabama Treaty negotiated be
tween Mr.. Rsverdy johnson and the present Lord
Derby-though, in fact preceding his deposition from
the Charmanship Of Foreign Affairs exhibited acer
hity Of disposition and a spirit of annOsity towards
England which showed that the time had come when he
could ger occupy position of responsibility with
advantage 10 the service of his country.


II is to the honor Of The Times that il nevertheless
lifts itself high enough TO say:


Yet when we look back upon the 80 years during which
Mr. Charles Sumner the foremostn the United
staies admit that his such as TO de-
serve the highest admiration and gratitude OF his fellow
citizens and those who disposed 10 judge his faults
with severity must remember how much there was 10
provoke 20 inemperance Of Judgment the man who was
pursued such anmosity that he barely escaped with
life from a cowardy assault in the Senate Chamber at
Washington


The Daily Ne,cs which, during the arbitration.
one of Mr. Summers most hostile critics, lays aside
its animosIties in order to do him justice. The
article is obviously by one who knew him, and thus
speaks of his appearance and character:


During his visit TO England his friends noticed
that he was growing somewhat bowed and heavy. and
showing rather prematurely the weight of years But
until this very late period he had the advantage of
striking presence of public man in our day mas
displayed. Physically, there was. perhaps, no
statesman Of our time remarkable, except Prince Won
Bismarck; and without odious comparisons 1t may be
observed that Mr. Sumner had very handsome face,
well as a form Of almost gigantic proportions, and
bearing expressive OF singular energy and strength Of
will His character and politician well
IN harmony with his appearance Whatever he willed
he strongly willcd. All the hexbilities and doctes,
all the quckness that suits itself with TO new
dons all the dexerity which extracts the utmost al
vantage out OF unavoidable compromises all the artistic
secontrol with which clever statesmen have sometimes
contrived give 10 defeat itself the appearance Of
qualified vctory-ali this wanting TO Mr.. Sumner.
He had clear principles strong will. and vigorous In
tellect, which straight at obstacles and either
crushed over them at once or drew back and tried
rrush over them again.


lie is described as an impressive and powerful
speaker Ia her than orator as wanting 10 imagn-