CONSTANT EXERTION AND UNION AMONG GOOD MEN.
Letter to a Massachusetts Committee, February 25, 1856.
The papers announce, that the following letter, when read, was received with six rousing cheers.
Senate Chamber, February 25, 1856.
MY DEAR SIR,—I cannot be present at the festival in commemoration of the election of Mr. Banks as Speaker. My duties will keep me here.
But with you I rejoice in this triumph of Freedom, which is the first achieved in the National Government, since the recognition, by the earliest Congress under Washington, of the Ordinance prohibiting Slavery in the Northwestern Territory. To advance this victory, and to obtain its just fruits, there must be no relaxation of efforts, but constant exertion, with union among good men, and a determination to yield no jot in the conflict.
To Massachusetts belongs an honorable place at the head of the battle. May no treason or hesitation of any of her sons deprive her of this post!
Yours, faithfully,
Charles Sumner.