“_Resolved_, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolves to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each of the Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from this Commonwealth, in the Congress of the United States.”
The Governor of New York addressed Mr. Sumner directly by letter as follows.
“STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. ALBANY, MAY 28, 1856.
“MY DEAR SIR,--From the moment the lightning flashed the intelligence of the barbarous and brutal assault made upon you by the sneaking, slave-driving scoundrel Brooks, the blood has tingled in my veins, and I have desired to express to you, not my abhorrence of the villain, for I could not find words adequate, but my personal sympathy for you, and, in their behalf, that of the people of this State (except a few ‘doughfaces,‘--we have still a very few, the breed is not yet quite extinct here),--assuring you that the hearts of our people are warmly and strongly with you, and that your noble and eloquent speech has already been very generally read by our citizens,--that it is not only entirely approved, but highly applauded,--and that its doctrines, sentiments, and expressions, and its author, will be _sustained_ and DEFENDED by the people of this State.
“Ardently hoping for your recovery and speedy restoration to health, I have the honor to remain, with the highest regard,
Of the resolutions at public meetings a few only are presented.
The following, from the pen of William Lloyd Garrison, were adopted by the New England Antislavery Society.
“1. _Resolved_, That this Convention fully participates in the general feeling of indignation and horror which is felt in view of the recent dastardly and murderous assault made in the Senate Chamber at Washington upon the person of the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, Hon. Charles Sumner, by a fitting Representative of and from the lawless State of South Carolina; that, whether regard be had to the place or to the manner in which it was committed, or to the position and character of the victim, an assault characterized by greater cowardice and ruffianism, or more daring in its contempt for all that is sacred in constitutional liberty, or more comprehensively malignant against the cause of human freedom, cannot be found on the page of history; that it indicates a conspiracy, on the part of the Slave Oligarchy, to ‘crush out’ freedom of speech on the floor of Congress as effectually as it is done on the slave plantation, by putting in peril the life of every Northern Senator or Representative who shall dare to lift up a manly voice against Executive usurpation and border-ruffianism; and, therefore, that whoever shall attempt to find any justification, or to frame any apology for it, will reveal himself to be on a level with the base assailant of as pure and generous and noble a man as ever yet occupied a seat in our national legislature.