C. Edwards Lester, Life and public services of Charles Sumner: Born Jan. 6, 1811. Died March 11, 1874.

[20] commenced the opposition which ended in the independence of the Thirteen Colonies.

But we cannot fail to accomplish great good. It is in obedience to a prevailing law of Providence, that no act of self-sacrifice, no act of devotion to duty, no act of humanity can fail. It stands forever as a landmark; as a point from which to make a new effort. The champions of equal rights and of human brotherhood shall hereafter derive new strength from these exertions.

Let Massachusetts, then, be aroused. Let all her children be summoned to join in this holy cause. There are questions of ordinary politics in which men may remain neutral; but neutrality now is treason to liberty, to humanity, and to the fundamental principles of our free institutions. Let her united voice, with the accumulated echoes of freedom that fill this ancient Hall, go forth with comfort and cheer to all who labor in the same cause everywhere throughout the land. Let it help to confirm the wavering, and to reclaim those who have erred from the right path. Especially may it exert a proper influence in Congress upon the representatives of the free States. May it serve to make them as firm in the defence of freedom as their opponents are pertinacious in the cause of slavery.

Let Massachusetts continue to be known as foremost in the cause of freedom; and let none of her children yield to the fatal dalliance with slavery. You will remember the Arabian story of the magnetic mountain, under whose irresistible attraction the iron bolts which held together the strong timbers of a stately ship were drawn out, till the whole fell apart, and became a disjointed wreck. Do we not find in this story an image of what happens to many Northern men, under the potent magnetism of Southern companionship or Southern influence? Those principles, which constitute the individuality of the Northern character, which render it stanch, strong, and seaworthy, which bind it together, as with iron, are drawn out one by one, like the bolts from the ill-fated vessel, and out of the miserable loosened fragments is formed that human anomaly—A Northern man with Southern principles. Such a man is no true son of Massachusetts.

There is a precious incident in the life of one whom our country has delighted to honor, furnishing an example that we shall do well to imitate. When Napoleon, having reached the pinnacle of military honor, lusting for a higher title than that of First Consul, caused a formal vote to be taken on the question, whether he should be declared Emperor of France, Lafayette, at that time in retirement, and only recently, by