, French art, French literature, French philosophy, and
finally attended the debates in the French Parliament, examining the
problems with all the care of a member. He lingered long in England,
where he was welcomed and lionized by the foremost men of letters,
science, philosophy, as well as by the leading clergymen and statesmen
of London. He was an honoured guest not at some, but "at most of the
country seats of England and Scotland." He travelled the circuits as the
companion of the greatest English judges, Vaughan, Parke and Alderson.
He met on a familiar footing Macaulay and Grote, Carlyle and Jeffrey,
Sidney Smith and Wordsworth. But his great year was in Italy, in the
Eternal City, the city of Caesar and Cicero, the city of Horace and
Virgil. In all, Sumner spent thirty years in preparation for his labour.
Few men in American politics have had a wider horizon, a better
equipment in history and literature, or have known so intimately all the
great men in the world of his own generation who were worth knowing. He
went away to Europe an American; he returned a universal man, a citizen
of the world.

Not until 1845, when he was thirty-four years of age, did a really great
opportunity come to Sumner. Boston at that far-off day made much of the
Fourth of July, and looked forward to the holiday as the great event of
the year. During the previous autumn the mayor and aldermen of the city
invited Sumner to deliver the oration. Webster made John Adams say,
"When we are in our graves, our children will celebrate the day with
song and story, with oration and pageant, and the explosion of cannon,
and greet it with tears of joy and exultation." But unfortunately the
speeches of that time had degenerated into false rhetoric, full of
insincerity. In his oration, Sumner left the beaten track and plunged
into an unknown way. His theme was the crime of war. He attacked his
city and his country for spending millions upon fortifications in the
harbour. He affirmed that the best protection of a nation was not dead
stones but living patriots and heroes. He called the roll of the great
wars of history, and found only one or two, like our Revolution, that
were really justifiable. He defined war as the temporary repeal of all
the ten commandments, and an enthronement of all the crimes.

In retrospect we know that Sumner overstated his case. His argument
against physical force would forbid the police in great cities, the
militia on the fr