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of New York,1 the stage being occupied by distinguished citizens, and ladies filling one section reserved for them.
There was not a vacant place in the vast hall,—the scene presented being so different from ordinary political meetings in the city in the quality of the audience as to suggest to an eye-witness that it was more like a great concert or festival.
The enthusiasm as he came upon the platform was universal and intense, and so prolonged that the managers were obliged for some moments to delay the proceedings.
It continued to the end, breaking out from time to time in loud applause followed by perfect silence.
His voice, it was observed, was heard in the most distant part of the hall, showing the fulness of his renewed strength.
The accounts in unsympathetic as well as friendly journals united in describing a scene which has had few parallels in the history of the city.2
The Republican journals of the city which had taken exception to the timeliness of Sumner's speech in the Senate refrained from any similar comments on his New York address (although the speech and the address were of like purport), and the notices in their columns contained only praise.
the reception which the speech had met with from the people, and the extraordinary welcome accorded to its author at Cooper Institute, had cleared the vision of the critics.
The address reached the American public through various channels,—a full report in the four morning journals of the city and in newspapers of other cities, a pamphlet edition of fifty thousand copies issued by the association at whose instance it was delivered, and an edition of ten thousand copies issued by the Republican State committee of New York.
Seward promptly wrote from Auburn: ‘Your speech in every part is noble and great.
Even you never spoke so well.’
This and Sumner's later address at Worcester he called ‘masterpieces.’3
Sumner, as usual, was more sensitive than he need to have been to the criticisms of old friends like Greeley and Bryant, and to the want of response from others; and in a letter to
1 Notwithstanding a fee charged for admission as a contribution to political expenses, three thousand persons were present.
2 New York Herald, July 12; New York Tribune, July 12; New York Evening Post, July 12; New York Times, July 12. Works, vol. v. pp. 191-193.
3 Descriptions of Sumner as an orator, stating his peculiarities, were given by Theodore Tilton in the New York Independent, July 19, and by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe in the New York Tribune, November 16.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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