I have been officially notified that the people of
Massachusetts, by concurrent votes of both branches 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 fellow-citizens, 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,