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aside from the greater question of slavery, to which it was closely related, the two divisions of the
Whigs were absolutely opposed to each other.
Sumner was against all support of the war by any means whatever, and demanded the immediate stopping of the supplies and the withdrawal of our army;
Winthrop, though disapproving certain proceedings which resulted in the war, was for its vigorous prosecution, and maintained the duty to supply the Administration with the men and money required to that end. The issue in
Massachusetts was therefore not between political friends and allies, but between leaders and bodies of men behind them, who, notwithstanding their common name, disagreed radically and fundamentally on questions of morals, politics, and national honor.
There was no occasion for delicate and mincing speech on the one side or the other.
Sumner had a right to strike as hard as he could, and
Winthrop had an equal right to strike back with all his force.
Figuratively, one might see blood on the hands of the other, and the latter might in return point to the former as one of ‘a nest of vipers.’
Historic controversies are never without such incidents, and posterity giving slight heed to them will care only to find out with which party was the essential right.
The controversy concerning
Winthrop created against
Sumner much asperity of feeling in
Boston, broke up his relations with families by whom he had been hitherto received most cordially, cost him friendships which he valued dearly,
1 and secluded him almost entirely from
general society.
It ended his visits at
Nathan Appleton's.
2 Ticknor's door was closed to him;
3 and when a guest at a party there inquired if
Mr. Sumner was to be present, the host replied, ‘He is outside of the pale of society.’
The feeling became so pervasive in
Boston's ‘Belgravia’ that a lady living on Beacon Street, who had invited
Sumner with other guests to dinner, received a withdrawal of an acceptance from one of them when he found
Sumner was to be present, although he was not at all in politics, and had no personal grievance.
Prescott, of gentler mood than his neighbors, though with no more sympathy than they in
Sumner's themes, still welcomed