In this contest there is every motive to union, and also every motive to exertion. _Now or never! now and forever!_--such was the ancient war-cry, which, embroidered on the Irish flag, streamed from the Castle of Dublin, and resounded through the whole island, arousing a generous people to new struggle for ancient rights; and this war-cry may be fitly inscribed on our standard now. _Arise now, or an inexorable slave-driving Tyranny will be fastened upon you. Arise now, and Liberty will be secured forever._ Present my regards to your associates in the good cause, and believe me, my dear Sir, Always faithfully yours, CHARLES SUMNER. SETH WEBB, JR., Esq. LONGING FOR RESTORATION TO ACTIVE DUTIES, WITH APPEAL TO THE YOUNG MEN OF MASSACHUSETTS. LETTER TO THE COMMITTEE OF A YOUNG MEN’S CONVENTION AT FITCHBURG, AUGUST 5, 1856. CRESSON, ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS, PA., August 5, 1856. DEAR SIR,--I wish that I could be with the young men of Massachusetts at their proposed Convention, but I am so feeble still that I am constrained to turn away from all temptations and opportunities of labor. In writing this letter I infringe a rule prescribed by my physician. We have been told that “the duties of life are more than life”; and I assure you that the hardest part of my present lot is the enforced absence from public duties, and especially from that seat where, as a Senator from Massachusetts, it is my right, and also my strong desire at this moment, to be heard. But in the coolness of the mountain retreat where I now am, I begin to gather hope of returning strength,--if too tardily for the performance of any public duties during the session of Congress now about to close, yet in season to take part in the rally of the people for the protection of Liberty in Kansas, and for the overthrow of the oligarchical Tyranny which now degrades our Republic. Meanwhile I commit the cause which we have at heart to the generous sympathies of the people, who will surely rise to smite the oppressor. Especially do I invoke the young. They are the natural guardians of Liberty. Thus has it been throughout all history; and never before in history did Liberty stand in greater need of their irresistible aid. It is the young who give spontaneous welcome to Truth, when she first appears an unattended stranger. It is the young who open the soul with instinctive hospitality to the noble cause. The young men of Massachusetts act under natural impulses, when they step forward as body-guard of the Republican party.