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." The Boston Daily Advertiser noticed this event as follows. "It is impossible to refrain from comparing the election of yesterday with Mr. Sumner's previous election in the same place six years ago. Now he receives nearly all the votes, on the first ballot, taken on the third day of the session, every member speaking aloud his vote. Then he received only the exact number necessary for a choice,- -one more than half the whole number; and the election was not effected until the twenty-sixth ballot, taken on the one hundred and fourteenth day of the session (April 24, 1851), and the votes were thrown in sealed envelopes. Then he was the candidate of a party which threw 27,636 votes in the State, at the preceding popular election, or about one fifth of the whole number. Now he is the candidate of a party which threw 108,190 votes in the State, at the last popular election, or about two thirds of the whole number. Then he was chosen to a body where he could expect to find but two or three associates sympathizing with his sentiments. Now he is a member of a party which has a majority in the lower House of Congress, and numbers a quarter of the members even of the Senate of the United States. Truly, tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis." The New York Tribune had the following comment. "We need not, in view of recent events, point out the change which has taken place in the public sentiment of Massachusetts. It is not too much to say that Mr. Sumner is at this moment the most popular man in the State, the opinions of which he so truly represents. Nor will it do to attribnte this general love, honor, and sympathy entirely to the felonious assault made upon Mr. Sumner. Had he been less true to the cause committed to his keeping, had he trimmed and temporized, and spoken softly when he should have spoken sharply, he would have been safe from the bludgeon of the bully, and might have won the smiles instead of the expectorations of a certain servile Senator. The people of Massachusetts have estimated Mr. Sumner's service in all its length and breadth; they have duly weighed all its incidents and indignities, - what he has suffered, what he has accomplished, and what he has failed to accomplish; and their verdict, expressed in yesterday's almost unanimous vote in the House of Representatives, bestows upon him a crown of honor which may well assuage the hope deferred of a tardy convalescence. Few public men have had such large opportunities; few public men have so nobly improved them." On the 23d of January, 1857, Hon. Charles A. Phelps, Speaker of the House of Representatives, laid before the House the following letter, which was read, and, on motion of Hon. Charles Hale, of Boston, entered at large upon the Journal. FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, HAVE been officially notified that the people of of the Legislature, have charged me with the duty of representing them in the Senate of the United States for another term of six years, on the expiration of that which I now have the honor to hold. This renewed trust I accept with gratitude enhanced by the peculiar circumstances under which it is bestowed. But far beyond every personal gratification is the delight of knowing, by this sign, that the people of Massachusetts, forgetting ancient party hates, have at last come together in fraternal support of a sacred cause, compared with which the fate of any public servant is of small account. When first selected for this eminent trust, I was a stranger to all official life. Untried in public affairs, I was taken up, and placed, without effort of my own, and even without antecedent aspiration, in the station where, after an experience of nearly six years, you now, with spontaneous unanimity, bid me remain. About to commence a fresh term of service, I turn with honest pride to that which is about to close, while I greet anew the duties and responsibilities of my position, hoping, that, by conscientious endeavor, I may do something in the future better than in the past, and mindful that "he that girdeth on his harness should not boast himself as he that putteth it off." The duties of a public servant are not always conspicuous. Much of his time is absorbed in cares which, if not obscure, are little calculated to attract public attention. Massachusetts justly expects that no such interests shall be neglected. But, by solemn resolutions of her Legislature, by the votes of her people, and by the voice of her history, Massachusetts especially enjoins upon her representatives to see, that, at all hazards, and whatever else may suffer, Freedom shall prevail. I cannot neglect this injunction. Alike by sympathy with the slave and by determination to save ourselves from wretched thraldom, we are all summoned to the effort now organized for the emancipation of the National Government from a degrading influence, hostile to civilization, which, wherever it shows itself, even at a distance, is brutal, vulgar, and mean, constituting an unnatural tyranny, calculated to arouse the generous indignation of good men. Of course, no person, unless ready to say in his heart that there is no God, can doubt the certain result. But this result, like every great good, can be accomplished only by well-directed effort. I know something of the labor and trial which such service imposes; I also know something of the satisfaction it affords, giving to all who truly espouse it a better joy than anything in office or honor. In the weary prostration of months, from which I have now happily risen, the sharpest pang came out of my enforced separation from the cause which was so dear to me; and now my content is in the assurance that to this service I may dedicate the vigorous health which, through medical care and the kindly ministrations of Nature, I am permitted to expect. In this well-founded assurance, I welcome the trust which has been again conferred upon me, while I once more bespeak the candid judgment of my fellowcitizens, and once more invoke the guardianship of a benignant Providence. I have the honor to be, fellow-citizens, with grateful regard, Your faithful servant and Senator, BOSTON, January 22, 1857. CHARLES SUMNER. The following tribute, taken from contemporary newspapers, attests a feeling much above that of ordinary politics, and therefore illustrates this record. "CHARLES SUMNER, OF BOSTON.' "Three hundred and thirty-three members answered to their names, with the words, "CHARLES SUMNER, of Boston"; and as the Clerk responded with the same words to each vote, they rang upon the ears of the large assembly more than six hundred times during the hour occupied with calling the roll.' "It is said, no sound is ever lost, - that every word uttered upon earth is echoed and reechoed through space forever.' "Old Massachusetts! nobly thou This day thy work hast done; "Three hundred voices on the air, "Throughout the land, beyond the sea, "Throughout the land, beyond the sea, Voices are ever echoing A name that ne'er will die. |