[DANA, RICHARD HENRY]. Autograph letter signed ("Rich. H. Dana Jr.") to Francis Henry Underwood, abolitionist and founder of the Atlantic Monthly (first issue, Nov. 1857). Cambridge [Mass.], 26 February 1856. One sheet, 8vo, folded to make four pages; text covering three pages; signed again by Dana on the forth, otherwise blank page; considerable residue from previous glueing partially impinging on Dana's signature; two small holes in letter's vertical "spine" at fold. An interesting letter in which Dana, sailor, abolitionist, and author of Two Years Before Mast (1840), celebrates Nathan Prentiss Banks's 1856 election as Speaker of the House as a blow against slavery: "...The first lesson it [Banks's election] has taught the friends of freedom is, not to be afraid of victory, and the next is that victory is possible..."