I will add, that it is a matter of common notoriety that Mr. Douglass did not disguise his feelings on account of this Presidential incident.
Such are the facts and the evidence. I think that you will see, my dear Sir, that, if there is any misstatement, or, as you express it, “perversion of facts,” it is not on my part.
SPEECH INTENDED TO BE DELIVERED AT FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 3, 1872.
LIBERAL REPUBLICAN HEAD-QUARTERS, BOSTON, August 24, 1872.
MY DEAR SIR,--I am directed by the Liberal Republican State Committee to communicate to you a vote of which the following is a copy:--
“_Voted_, That the Chairman, in the name of the Liberal Republican State Committee, invite the Hon. Charles Sumner to address his constituents on Public Affairs in Faneuil Hall, at the earliest day that may suit his convenience.”
Allow me to add my earnest personal wishes that you will be able to comply with the request. “The great soul of the world is just,” and the sober second thought of the people of Massachusetts will, I doubt not, sustain you in the position you have taken in favor of Reform and Reconciliation, and therefore of the election of Greeley and Brown.
DEAR SIR,--I have been honored by your communication of August 24th, inviting me in the name of the Liberal Republicans of Massachusetts, to speak in Faneuil Hall. It is with inexpressible pain and regret that I feel constrained to decline this flattering opportunity.
I had confidently hoped, on returning home, to meet my fellow-citizens in that venerable forum, so dear to us all, and to speak once more on great questions involving the welfare of our country; but recurring symptoms of a painful character warn me against any such attempt. My physician advises that I must not for the present make any public effort, and he prescribes rest. Valued friends, familiar with my condition, unite with the excellent physician.
In submitting most reluctantly to these admonitions, I cannot renounce the privilege of communicating with my fellow-citizens, and therefore hand you a copy of what, with the blessing of health, I hoped to say. In the House of Representatives undelivered speeches are sometimes ordered to be printed. You may follow this precedent with mine, or do with it as you please. Meanwhile accept my best wishes, and believe me, dear Sir,