December 18, 1861, Mr. Sumner offered the following resolution,
which, on his motion, was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.
“_Resolved_, That Trusten Polk, of Missouri, now a traitor
to the United States, be expelled, and he hereby is
expelled, from the Senate.”
Mr. Sumner produced a letter from Mr. Polk, which had found its
way into the newspapers, where he says: “Dissolution is now
a fact,--not only a fact accomplished, but thrice repeated.
Everything here looks like inevitable and final dissolution.
Will Missouri hesitate a moment to go with her Southern
sisters? I hope not.”
Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, thought the letter was “not
genuine,” and added:--
“He is a native of my own State; from early boyhood he
has been an exemplary Christian, a member of a religious
denomination; and when the phrase is used in that letter,
professing to have been written by Trusten Polk, that he
had to ‘ante up $200,’ I am satisfied the language is not
the language of Trusten Polk. He is not familiar with
scenes where hundreds of dollars are ‘anted up.’”