DUTIES OF MASSACHUSETTS AT THE PRESENT CRISIS. FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. Speech before the Republican State Convention at Worcester, September 7, 1854 255 THE GOOD FARMER AND THE GOOD CITIZEN. Letter to the Norfolk Agricultural Society, September 25, 1854 280 THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT TO BE DISOBEYED. Letter to a Committee at Syracuse, New York, September 28, 1854 282 POSITION AND DUTIES OF THE MERCHANT, ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE OF GRANVILLE SHARP. Address before the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, on the Evening of November 13, 1854 283 WAGES OF SEAMEN IN CASE OF WRECK. Speech in the Senate, on introducing a Bill to secure Wages to Seamen in Case of Wreck, February 12, 1855 324 AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Letter to a Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature, February 12, 1855 331 THE DEMANDS OF FREEDOM: REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT. Speech in the Senate against Mr. Toucey's Bill, and for the Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Act, February 23, 1855 333 ANDREW J. DOWNING, THE LANDSCAPE GARDENER. SPEECH IN THE SENATE, IN FAVOR OF AN ALLOWANCE TO THE WIDOW OF THE LATE ANDREW J. DOWNING, AUGUST 26, 1852. The Civil and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill being under consideration, Mr. Pearce, of Maryland, under instructions from the Committee on Finance, moved the following amendment:-- "For the payment of the arrears of salary due to the late Rural Architect, A. J. Downing, deceased, from the 1st of May, 1852, to the date of his death, and a further allowance to his widow, equal to the salary for one year, $2,500: _Provided_, that the said sum shall be in full of all claim for the services of the said deceased, and for all models, specifications, and drawings, designed for the benefit of the United States, which are not in its possession." In the course of the debate which ensued, Mr. Sumner spoke as follows.