C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874.

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[164] Scott. But on reading the speech, he wrote to Mr. Sumner:—‘Your speech is an admirable, a great, a very great one. That is my opinion, and everybody around me, of all sorts, confess it.’

In addition to what he had already said in the Senate, Mr. Chase also wrote:—‘I have read, as well as heard, your truly great speech. Hundreds of thousands will read it, and everywhere it will carry conviction to all willing to be convinced, and will infuse a feeling of incertitude and a fearful looking for judgment in the minds of those who resist the light, and toil in the harness of party platforms, irreconcilable with justice.’

Mr. Henry Wilson, who was afterwards to be elected to the Senate, and from its floor to its Presidency, wrote:—‘I have read your glorious speech. How proud I am that God gave me the power to aid in placing you in the Senate! You have exhausted the question. Hereafter all that can be said will be to repeat your speech. It will afford to any one the most complete view of the questions in dispute, of anything ever published.’

Hon. Stephen C. Phillips, who had rendered important aid in organizing the free-soil party, in Massachusetts, wrote:—‘I regard it as a contribution of inestimable value to our noble cause, worth all the labor, all the time, all the self-sacrifice, and all the misrepresentations it has cost you. It is statesmanlike in all its features, and does all that is necessary to place our simple and entire design in its true light before the country, and before the world, and in the records of history.’

Although Mr. Wendell Phillips differed with Mr. Sumner on some points, he nevertheless wrote:—‘I have read your speech with envious admiration. It is ’