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

[23] morals, of freedom, and humanity must regret, these walls, faithful only to Freedom, refuse to echo them. The Whigs of Massachusetts, assembled in Faneuil Hall, must be true to this early scene of the struggles for Freedom; they must be true to their own name, which has descended to them from those who partook of those struggles.

We are a Convention of Whigs. And who are the Whigs? Some may say they are the supporters of the tariff; others, that they are the advocates of internal improvements; of measures to restrain the exercise of the veto power; or of a bank. All these are now, or have been, prominent articles in the faith of the party. But this enumeration does not do justice to the character of the Whigs.

The Whigs, as their name imports, are, or ought to be, the party of Freedom. They seek, or should seek, on all occasions, to carry out fully and practically the principles of our institutions. The principles which our fathers declared, and sealed with their blood, their Whig children should seek to manifest in their acts. The Whigs, therefore, reverence the Declaration of Independence, as embodying the vital truths of freedom, especially that great truth, ‘that all men are born equal.’ They reverence the Constitution of the United States, and seek to guard it against infractions; believing that under the Constitution, Freedom can be best preserved. They reverence the Union of the States; believing that the peace, happiness, and welfare of all depend upon this blessed bond. They reverence the public faith, and require that it should be punctiliously kept in all laws, charters, and obligations. They reverence the principles of morality, of truth, of justice, of right. They seek to advance their country, rather than individuals; and to promote the welfare of the people, rather than of their leaders. A member of such an association, founded on the highest moral sentiments, recognizing conscience and benevolence as its animating ideas, cannot be said ‘to give to party what was meant for mankind;’ for all the interests of the party must be coincident and commensurate with the manifold interests of humanity.

Such is, as I trust, or certainly should be, the Whig party of Massachusetts. It refuses to identify itself exclusively with those measures of transient policy, which may, like the Bank, become ‘obsolete ideas;’ but connects itself with everlasting principles, which can never fade or decay. In doing this, it does not neglect other things; as the tariff, or internal improvements. But it treats these as subordinate. Far less does it show indifference to the Constitution or the Union; for