His death was a serious loss to the anti-slavery Democrats of
Massachusetts and the country. He was one of the three distinguished
men that the county of Essex has produced in his century: Choate,
Cushing and Rantoul. In oratorical power he could not be compared to
Choate. In learning he was of the three the least well equipped. In
logic he was superior to Cushing, and he was more direct, and more
easily comprehended than either Cushing or Choate. He had not much
imagination, and his illustrations were simple and rather commonplace.
As a debater he has had but few equals in our State. He was a radical,
a reformer by nature. He was opposed to capital punishment, an
advocate of temperance, of prison reform, and a zealous free trader.
He made war upon the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 contending that the
Constitution imposed upon the States the duty of returning fugitives
from labor. This theory seemed to me at the time, as the result of a
violent construction of the Constitution, and so it seems to me now.
Nevertheless it satisfied many who wised to oppose the Fugitive Slave
Law, and sustain the Constitution at the same time.
During the Senatorial contest I was urged by the supporters of Sumner
to aid his election, and by the "hunker" wing of the Democratic Party
--I was urged to bring the influence of the administration to bear
against Mr.
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