8UMNER, CHARLES. 



781 



constitutional amendment, if not originated by 



him. !iis hourly support, and was 



1 l.y Iiis influence. Ho was also prompt 



in his advocacy of reconstructive measures, 



and in the manifestation of u kindly spirit tow- 



iml tlu- South. He was a d.-cided enemy to 



;..'ii'-y"of President Johnson, and was 



in his Impeachment trial. He voted for 



I'roidi-nt (iratit at his first election, though ho 

 .rticularly active in the canvas. His 

 i on the Alabama claims was vehemently 

 ,;iced abroad, but its principles were those 

 on which the arbitrators subsequently a--tcd, 

 ami to u Inch the British Government gave its 

 reluctant sanction. In December, 1870, ho 

 opposed with great ability and some vehe- 

 mence the project of President Grant for the 

 .ation of. the Dominican Republic, and 

 caused its defeat. The President, at the open- 

 ing of the next Congress, signified his desire 

 to his friends that Mr. Sumner should be re- 

 moved from the chairmanship of the Commit- 

 tee on Foreign Relations, and Senator Cameron 

 was put in his place. In February, 1872, he 

 made one of his finest efforts on the question 

 of an inve-itiiration of the sales of ordnance 

 made by the United States during the Franco- 

 German War. This speech was said even by 

 those most bitterly opposed to him to have 

 been the ablest of his whole senatorial career; 

 but his health was breaking down from the 

 long-continned mental strain, and the old mal- 

 ady which had resulted from the assault upon 

 him returned immediately after the delivery 

 of this speech, nnd his physician ordered him 

 to abstain from all mental labor for the re- 

 mainder of the session. He absented himself 

 for some weeks, but he could not wholly re- 

 frain from taking part in the contest .which 

 was coming. The supplementary civil-rights 

 bill, a measure he had much at heart, was 

 after a severe struggle passed in the Senate, 

 but failed to receive the necessary two-thirds 

 vote in the House. On May 31, 1872, he de- 

 livered a long and carefully-prepared speech 

 vindicating his course, and arraigning the Pres- 

 ident for the alleged misuse of the appointing 

 power. The condition of his health making 

 it necessary for him to go to Europe about 

 the 1st of June, whence he did not return till 

 late in November, he took no part in the 

 presidential campaign of 1872, and declined 

 the nomination for Governor of Massachusetts, 

 which was tendered him. His influence was 

 thrown in favor of Horace Greeley. On tak- 

 ing his seat again in the Senate, in December, 

 1872, he introduced a resolution providing 

 that the names of battles with fellow-citizens 

 shall not be continued in the Army Re:, 

 or placed in the regimental colors of the United 

 States. This resolution excited the indignation 

 of sonu 1 bitter partisans, and a resolution was 

 offered in the Massachusetts Legislature to 

 censure Senator Sumner for an attempt to de- 

 grade the loyal soldiery of the nation and 

 their grand achievements by this proposal. 



This resolution of censure was passed, but the 

 Legislature of 1874 made haste to rescind it, 

 and before his last illness the news reached 

 Washington that Massachusetts bad struck 

 from her ]r-Mativo records her first and only 

 < nt him. During the short session of 

 1872-'73, as well as the early portion of that 

 of 1873-'74, Mr. Surnner seldom mingled in 

 d.-li.-ito. More than once he was alarmingly 

 ill from anyina pectori, and he was compelled 

 to content himself with passing as far as be 

 was able the measures in which he was special- 

 ly interested. During the whole winter of 

 1878-'74 he was an invalid, and constantly 

 under the care of a physician, but was gen- 

 erally in his place in the Senate. The fatal 

 attack of angina commenced on the afternoon 

 of Tuesday, March 10th, but with no consider- 

 able severity till after 6 p. M. For the next 

 twenty hours his suffering was intense and al- 

 most constant, and he died at L'.47 P. M. of 

 Wednesday, March llth. 



In person Mr. Sumner was tall, well formed, 

 and commanding. His voice was remarkably 

 melodious, and his action in speaking graceful 

 as well as animated. His mind was not only 

 marked by the highest characteristics of abil- 

 ity, it was stored with a rich array of elegant 

 and useful knowledge. He was equally at 

 home in the modern and the ancient classics, 

 and could quote from either with singular 

 readiness and accuracy ; and, in addition to a 

 very retentive memory, he was gifted with 

 strong imaginative powers. To the most ele- 

 gant accomplishments he added the sternest 

 purity of purpose. That he sometimes erred 

 from the very intensity of his convictions, his 

 best friends will admit, but no man could ac- 

 cuse him justly of any mean, low, or personal 

 motive in his action. His hands were clean 

 from bribes. 



Mr. Sumner had been a somewhat volumi- 

 nous writer, though every thing from his pen 

 was very carefully prepared, and touched, and 

 retouched, till it satisfied his fastidious taste. 

 Among his smaller works were : " The Schol- 

 ar, the Jurist, the Artist, the Philanthropist " 

 (1846); "Fame and Glory" (1847); "White 

 Slavery in the Barbary States " (1847) ; "Law 

 of Human Progress" (1848); "Finger Point 

 from Plymouth Rock" (1853); "Landmark of 

 Freedom" (1854); "The Antislavery Enter- 

 prise" (1855); "Position and Duties of the 

 Merchant " (1855) ; " Our Foreign Relations " 

 (1863); "The Case of the Florida" (1864); 

 " The Provisions of the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence" (1865); "Eulogy on Abraham Lin- 

 coln" (1865); "The National Security and the 

 National Faith" (1865); "Our Claims on Eng- 

 land " (1869). A collection of his speeches, in 

 two volumes, was published in 1850; his more 

 recent speecnes and addresses were published 

 in 1856, and a collection of his entire works 

 which was in progress at his death, has since 

 been published, with a memoir by Charles A. 

 Phelps, LL. D., in 12 vols., 8vo. 



