Page "Charles Sumner" Paragraph 39

When he returned to the Senate in 1857, he was unable to last a day.

His doctors advised a sea voyage and " a complete separation from the cares and responsibilities that must beset him at home.

" He sailed for Europe and immediately found relief.

During two months in Paris in the spring of 1857, he renewed friendships, especially with Thomas Gold Appleton, dined out frequently, and attended the opera several nights in a row.

His contacts there included Alexis de Tocqueville, poet Alphonse de Lamartine, former French Prime Minister François Guizot, Ivan Turgenev, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Sumner then toured several countries, including Germany and Scotland, before returning to Washington where he spent only a few days in the Senate in December.

Both then and during several later attempts to return to work, he found himself exhausted just listening to Senate business.

He sailed once more for Europe on May 22, 1858, the second anniversary of Brooks ' attack.