The occasion is kindred to that famous jubilee in sacred history, when the mandate went forth, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” And now this same mandate has gone forth, assuring the return of patriot Unionists to their possessions, and the return of patriot soldiers to their families, and crowning all with Universal Emancipation, sign and seal of union and peace. Such is the mandate of the American people in the reëlection of Abraham Lincoln. I pray that it may all be executed promptly and triumphantly.
Thank God, the pettifoggers of compromise are answered by the people, who demand peace on the everlasting foundations of Union and Liberty. The political barbers, who undertake to prescribe, when they can only shave, are warned that their quackery is at an end.
Accept my thanks and best wishes, and believe me, dear Sir, very faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.
Frank W. Ballard, Esq.,
Corresponding Secretary of the Young Men’s Republican Union.
MR. ASHLEY AND RECONSTRUCTION.
Letter to a Public Banquet in Honor of Hon. James M. Ashley, at Toledo, Ohio, November 18, 1864.
