ACCEPTANCE OF SENATORSHIP, ON REËLECTION.

Letter to the Legislature of Massachusetts, January 22, 1857.

In the winter of 1856, the American party having the control of the Legislature of Massachusetts, members of this party were reported as entering into a plan to choose a Senator in place of Mr. Sumner at the expiration of his term, March 4, 1857, thus anticipating the action of the Legislature to be chosen in the autumn following. The plan was discussed in newspapers and in contemporary letters. It excited the anxiety of Mr. Sumner’s political friends so far, that, at their request, he was induced to obtain from the Secretary of the Senate the adverse precedents, which were published at the time in the newspapers. The discussion of the question was arrested by the event which soon followed, turning all eyes to him, and making him more than ever the representative of Massachusetts.

The new Legislature seemed to have been constituted for the reëlection of Mr. Sumner. It came together January 7, 1857, when, even before the message of the Governor, it was insisted that the election should be proceeded with, and January 9th was fixed upon for this purpose. On that day, in pursuance of an order of the House, the Clerk called the roll of members, when each responded viva voce with the name of the person for whom he voted, as follows.

Charles Sumner, of Boston,333
Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston,3
Nathaniel J. Lord, of Salem,2
George W. Gordon, of Boston,1
Erasmus D. Beach, of Springfield,1
Charles B. Goodrich, of Boston,1
Otis P. Lord, of Salem,1
Edward Everett, of Boston,1
William Appleton, of Boston,1
Rufus Choate, of Boston,1
——
Total vote,345
Members absent or not voting,10
——
Whole number of members,355

The announcement of the vote was received with applause.

In the Senate the vote was taken in the same way, January 13th, and every member responded with the name of “Charles Sumner, of Boston,” the vote being unanimous, when the President announced that “Hon. Charles Sumner, of Boston, having received the entire vote of the Senate, in concurrence with the House, is elected United States Senator from this State for the term of six years from the fourth of March next.”