Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 4

[129] was proverbial; but it had a limit, and the count passed it. One day, worn out with his constant intrusion, and smarting probably under some offensive expressions, the senator bade him leave,¹—the only time he was ever known to have shown the door to an unwelcome visitor. Gurowski in his published diary² vented his spleen both on Sumner and on Seward, the two best friends he had in Washington, though in each case there was a grain of truth in his satire.³ Poverty and exile had taken all sweetness from the count's nature, if ever there was any there. In his last illness at Washington, Mrs. Charles Eames,⁴ well remembered for her gracious and friendly spirit, took pity on his solitude and forlornness, and gave him a chamber to die in; and among those gathered under her roof to witness the last offices, some of whom had felt his shafts, she was the only mourner.

Sumner wrote to Mr. Cobden, March 16, 1863:—

I am anxious, very anxious, on account of the ships building in England to cruise against our commerce. Cannot something be done to stop them 1 Our people are becoming more and more excited, and there are many who insist upon war. A very important person said to me yesterday: “We are now at war with England, but the hostilities are all on her side.” I know the difficulties of your laws, and how subtle and pertinacious is the temptation of money-making; but it would seem as if there should he a way to prevent the unparalleled outrage of a whole fleet built expressly to be employed against us. Of course in this statement I assume what is reported and is credited by those who ought to be well informed. A committee from New York waited on the President yesterday and undertook to enumerate ships now building in English yards professedly for the Emperor of China, but really for our rebels. The case is aggravated by the fact that their armaments are supplied also by England; and their crews also, for it is not supposed that there will be a rebel sailor on board.⁵

To-day the Cabinet consider whether to issue letters of marque under the new statute. I have seen the President twice upon this question, which I regard as grave, for it is intended as a counter-movement to what is done in England. Even if no mischief ensue, I am sure it will be a bad precedent, which I deplore with my whole soul. I found myself powerless against it in the Senate, for there was a “war fever,” and you know how irresistible and diabolical that becomes. But the President is prudent and pacific, and has listened most attentively to my objections. The original idea is Seward's,