[503]
shocking a person of such fastidious delicacy of sentiment as he manifests!
I am always eager to read your speeches, and you may judge whether under such circumstances I omitted a single line of your last and greatest speech.... The flowers [flower seeds] you sent me have all prospered.
The sight of them has often brought tears to my eyes of late.
You are present to my mind every hour in the day, and all my thoughts of you are baptized with blessings.
May God and good angels guard you, and restore your precious health!
Among the many who during the
summer and
autumn proffered
Sumner hospitality to assist in his recovery were
Francis P. Blair, Sr., from
Silver Springs, Md., the brothers (W. H. and J. T.)
Furness from
Philadelphia, the Barclays from
Baltimore,
Mrs. Wadsworth from
Geneseo,
John Jay from
Bedford,
Mr. Fish from New York and
Newport,
John Bigelow from New York,
Parke Godwin from
Roslyn,
Mr. Pell from the highlands of the
Hudson,
Mr. Adams from
Quincy,
Amos A. Lawrence from
Brookline,
F. W. Bird from
Walpole,
R. B. Forbes from
Milton,
Ellis Gray Loring from
Beverly,
John E. Lodge from
Nahant, and
Joseph Lyman from
Jamaica Plain.
Everywhere in the free States doors would have swung open to receive the honored guest.
Yale College, in August, conferred on him the degree of
Doctor of Laws.
Dr. Woolsey, the president, in communicating the action of the corporation, took occasion to express his hearty concurrence in its action.
He said:—
I would have you believe, my dear sir, that this measure had my own hearty concurrence.
I write also to say that it was not dictated by political feeling, nor simply by recent occurrences, which have called forth the sympathy of a large portion of the American people on your behalf.
Such motives would not justify literary honors.
Still less was this done in order to secure popular favor, which would be most unbecoming for persons discharging the duties of trustees of a literary society.
But the motives which led to this honor were sincere respect for your literary, legal, and political attainments and cultivation, back of which no doubt lay in the minds of all an equally sincere respect for the principles of your political career.
It is proper to add that no outside suggestion of any kind whatsoever led the corporation of Yale College to this vote, but that the thought of it originated entirely within the body.
A like honor came the same year from Amherst College; but it did not come from his own
Alma Mater (Harvard) till three years later.
In
Europe, particularly in
England, the assault was recognized as an event of grave import.
1 George Cornewall Lewis called it
