sess it. But when I think what it requires, I am obliged to say, that its honors are all eclipsed in my sight by its duties.

"Your appointment finds me in a private station, with which I am entirely content. But this is not all. For the first time in my life, I am now called to political office. With none of the experience so amply possessed by others, to smooth the way of labor, I might well hesitate. But I am cheered by the generous confidence, which, throughout a lengthened contest, persevered in sustaining me, and by the conviction that, amidst all seeming differences of party, the sentiments, of which I am the known advocate, and which led to my original selection as a candidate, are dear to the hearts of a large majority of the people of this Commonwealth. I derive, also, a most grateful consciousness of personal independence from the circumstance, which I deem it frank and proper thus publicly to declare and place on record, that this office comes to me, unsought and undesired.

"Acknowledging the right of my country to the service of her sons, wherever she chooses to place them, and with a heart full of gratitude that a sacred cause has been permitted to triumph through me, I now accept the post of Senator.

"I accept it as the servant of Massachusetts;

mindful of the sentiments solemnly uttered by her successive Legislatures; of the genius which inspires her history; and of the men, her perpetual pride and ornament, who breathed into her that breath of Liberty, which early made her an example to her sister States. In such a service, the way, though new to my footsteps, will be illumined by lights which cannot be missed.

"I accept it as the servant of the Union; bound to study and maintain, with equal patriotic care, the interests of all parts of our country; to discountenance every effort to loosen any of those ties by which our fellowship of States is held in fraternal company; and to oppose all sectionalism, whether it appear in unconstitutional efforts by the North to carry so great a boon as Freedom into the slave States, or in unconstitutional efforts by the South, aided by Northern allies, to carry the sectional evil of Slavery into the free States; or in whatsoever efforts it may make to extend the sectional domination of Slavery over the National Government. With me the Union is twice-blessed; first, as the powerful guardian of the repose and happiness of thirty-one sovereign States, clasped by the endearing name of country; and next, as the model and beginning of that all-embracing Federation of States, by which unity, peace, and concord will finally be organized among the na

tions. Nor do I believe it possible, whatever may be the delusion of the hour, that any part thereof can be permanently lost from its well-compacted bulk. E Pluribus Unum is stamped upon the national coin, the national territory, and the national heart. Though composed of many parts united into one, the Union is separable only by a crash which shall destroy the whole.

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Entering now upon the public service, I venture to bespeak for what I may do or say that candid judgment, which I trust always to extend to others, but which I am well aware the prejudices of party too rarely concede. I may fail in ability; but not in sincere efforts to promote the general weal. In the conflicts of opinion, natural to the atmosphere of liberal institutions, I may err; but I trust never to forget the prudence which should temper firmness, or the modesty which becomes the consciousness of right. If I decline to recognize as my guides any of the men of to-day, I shall feel safe, while I follow the master principles which the Union was established to secure, and lean for support on the great triumvirate of American Freedom--Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson. And since true politics are simply morals applied to public affairs, I shall find constant assistance from those everlasting rules of right and wrong, which are a law alike

to individuals and communities; nay, which constrain the omnipotent God in self-imposed bonds.

"Let me borrow, in conclusion, the language of another: 'I see my duty; that of standing up for the liberties of my country; and whatever difficulties and discouragements lie in my way, I dare not shrink from it; and I rely on that Being, who has not left to us the choice of duties, that whilst I shall conscientiously discharge mine, I shall not finally lose my reward.' These are the words of Washington, uttered in the early darkness of the American Revolution. The rule of duty is the same for the lowly and the great; and I hope it may not seem presumptuous in one so humble as myself to adopt his determination, and to avow his confidence.

"I have the honor to be, fellow-citizens,

"With sincere regard,

"Your faithful friend and servant,

"BOSTON, May 14, 1851."

"CHARLES SUMNER.

Among his first important efforts in the Senate was his defence of the policy of Railroads, in the new and enterprising States of the West. On the 27th of January, 17th of February, and 16th of March, 1852, he spoke ably and efficiently on the Iowa Railroad Bill-a bill granting the right

of way, and making a grant of land to the State of Iowa, in aid of the construction of certain Railroads, in said State. While showing the great advantages which would be derived to the whole Union, from the construction of Railroads throughout the States and territories of the great West, he very beautifully and eloquently remarked:

"Thus much for what I have to say in favor of this bill, on the ground of justice to the States in which the lands lie. If this argument did not seem sufficiently conclusive to render any further discussion superfluous, at least from me, I might go forward, and show that the true interests of the whole country-of every State in the Union, as of Iowa itself -are happily coincident with this claim of justice.

"It will readily occur to all, that the whole country will gain by the increased value of the lands still retained and benefited by the proposed road. But this advantage, though not unimportant, is trivial by the side of the grander gains— commercially, politically, socially, and morallywhich will necessarily accrue from the opening of a new communication, by which the territory beyond the Mississippi will be brought into connection with the Atlantic seaboard, and by which the distant post of Council Bluffs will become a suburb of Washington. It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of roads as means of civilization.