FRANK W. BALLARD, Esq., _Corresponding Secretary of the Young Men’s Republican Union_. MR. ASHLEY AND RECONSTRUCTION. LETTER TO A PUBLIC BANQUET IN HONOR OF HON. JAMES M. ASHLEY, AT TOLEDO, OHIO, NOVEMBER 18, 1864. BOSTON, November 18, 1864. DEAR SIR,--It will not be in my power to unite in the banquet to your most faithful Representative. I know Mr. Ashley well, and honor him much. He has been firm when others have hesitated, and from an early day saw the secret of this war, and, I may add, the secret of victory also. In all questions of statesmanship, which will soon supersede military questions, he has already given assurance of practical wisdom. His various indefatigable labors and his elaborate speech on “Reconstruction” show that he sees well what is to be done in order to place peace and liberty under impregnable safeguards. For myself, I have no hesitation in saying, that, next to the Rebellion itself, I most deprecate a premature State Government in a Rebel State. Such a Government will be a source of sorrow and weakness incalculable. But I am sure that your Representative will fail in no effort to prevent such a calamity. There is also the Amendment of the Constitution prohibiting Slavery throughout the United States. Nobody has done more for it, practically, than Mr. Ashley. Accept my thanks for the invitation with which you have honored me, and believe me, dear Sir, Faithfully yours, CHARLES SUMNER. TO THE COMMITTEE. CASE OF THE FLORIDA: ILLUSTRATED BY PRECEDENTS OF BRITISH SEIZURES IN NEUTRAL WATERS. ARTICLES IN THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER, NOVEMBER 29, 1864, AND JANUARY 17, 1865. The case of the Florida attracted attention at the time, and aroused the British press. Especially to meet the criticism of the latter the first of the following articles was written. Though published in a newspaper anonymously, its authorship was recognized and acknowledged, and it was reprinted in a pamphlet by the Young Men’s Republican Union of New York.