Accept the assurance of the respect with which I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Faithfully yours, CHARLES SUMNER. TWO LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON. LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE FIRST SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 21, 1860. SENATE CHAMBER, February 21, 1860. DEAR SIR,--It would be a pleasure to be with you at your celebration of the Birthday of Washington, according to the invitation with which you have honored me. But other duties will keep me away. It is always a delight to listen to the praise of Washington, particularly when his full life is set forth, and he is shown in his real character, ever wise, firm, and true, teaching two commanding lessons: first, by the achievements and trials of a seven years’ war, that his fellow-countrymen should not be willing to be slaves; and, secondly, by the repeated declarations of his life, and especially by his great example in his last will and testament, that his fellow-countrymen should not be willing to be slave-masters. I do not know for which he is to be most honored. Accept my thanks for the personal kindness of your letter, and believe me, dear Sir, Faithfully yours, CHARLES SUMNER. GEORGE F. GORDON, Esq. MACAULAY ON SLAVERY. COMMUNICATION TO THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE, MARCH 3, 1860. The same paper contained the article of Macaulay entitled “The West Indies,” from the _Edinburgh Review_, January, 1825, Vol. XLI. pp. 464-488. The day after its appearance, the New York Herald, in a leader with the caption, “_Macaulay, Sumner, and Slavery,_” sought to disparage the testimony, saying, among other things:-- “What Mr. Sumner now introduces is a proof how badly off the party must be for weapons, when they rake them up from the dead magazines of another generation, and written by a youth a little over twenty years of age; or Mr. Sumner has not yet recovered his usual strength of mind, since the injury he received a few years ago at the Capitol. And what does his article amount to? That the British planters in the West Indies treated their slaves very badly, which may or may not be true. But from the abuse of the institution in one place he argues against the policy of its continued existence in any other part of the world. He might as well conclude, that, because many of the English are cruel to their horses, and that it was necessary to pass an Act of Parliament for their protection, therefore horses ought to be emancipated in the United States, and let loose through the country. An argument from the abuse to the disuse of anything is the poorest kind of logic.” Such was the tone of discussion on the eve of the Presidential election destined to decide the fate of American Slavery. TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE:--