But instead of writing to Mr.Sumner to correct the statements made in his speech, General Stone, most unwisely and most reprehensibly, addressed to the senator on the 23d of December an ill-tempered and abusive letter.

Mr.Henry Melville Parker of Massachusetts investigated all the facts and incidents of the case, and came to the conclusion that Mr.Sumner, as an act of revenge for the insolent letter, had caused General Stone's arrest.

But the facts do not warrant Mr.Parker's conclusion.
Aside from Mr.Sumner's public denial on the floor of the Senate-- which of itself closed the issue--he was never known to be guilty of an act of revenge.

That passion belongs to meaner natures.
The dates, moreover, remove the imputation of Mr.Parker.

General Stone's hasty and ill-considered letter was placed in Mr.Sumner's hands on Christmas Day, 1861.