Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 2

[302] You trace it, unlike the Nile, whose sources are still hidden, to its most distant springs, and bring us to stand with you by the side of its gushing waters.

The address on ‘Pauperism’ is a beautiful exposition of a most interesting subject. Your pictures, while they are sketched in perfect taste, are calculated to awaken a lively impression of the melancholy realities which they illustrate. I wish you would tell me whether it is proper, on any occasion, to give alms to a chance beggar or a petitioner who calls at your door. Howe wrote me from Ireland that he had departed from his rule, never to give under these circumstances, in view of the keen misery which was before him; but that he afterwards repented that he did not persevere even there in his stern rule.

I shall come round to see you some evening, very soon. Meanwhile, believe me

Ever very sincerely yours,

Charles Sumner.

To Lord Morpeth he wrote, April 1, 1844:—

I have been pained to hear of the illness of Lord Carlisle. I trust that this note will find him again restored to health, with all your anxieties at rest. . . . I have been through the debate on Irish affairs. Peel shows great address, and seems to be “many-sided.” The argument and tone of the discussion are admirably chosen by him, but they are not illumined by a ray of genius or any felicity of expression; for even the peroration, though in higher ether than Peel usually enters, cannot claim these.

I am glad to say that Clay's prospects brighten daily. He leads in the chances of success at this moment. The weak and wicked machinations of the President to secure the annexation of Texas seem to be discomfited. There is a feeling at the North which proclaims that this act, if successful, shall be considered as a dissolution of the Union.

To John Jay, New York.

Boston, April 6, 1844.

my dear Jay,—I thank you very much for your pleasant letter of March 8, and the accompanying volume of ‘Transactions of the Historical Society.’ I acknowledged by letter the honor that had been done me in making me a Corresponding Member; but in my heart I rendered all my thanks to you, for it must have been your kind appreciation of me that brought my name before your society. Tibi largimur honores.

I thought your articles on the unpleasant church controversy admirable in temper and composition; and, so far as I could judge of a matter so much beyond the pale of my inquiries, unanswerable in argument. The Bishop would have made a worthy adjunct to Pope Hildebrand. My friend, Professor Greenleaf, who takes the deepest interest in the subject, and unites to his