Elias Nason, The Life and Times of Charles Sumner: His Boyhood, Education and Public Career.

[140] Webster to the senatorial chair; having had, on the twenty-fifth and last ballot in the House, a hundred and. ninety-three votes, the exact number necessary to a choice. It is said that the turning vote was cast by the late Capt. Israel Haynes of Sudbury, a lifelong Democrat, who voted for Mr. Sumner only on the day of his election, and then simply, as he affirmed, “on principle, and because he believed him to be the better man.” The votes used at this twenty-fifth ballot were preserved by the Hon. Otis Clapp, who, in April, 1873, presented them to the New-England Historic-Genealogical Society, where they now remain.

Although some thought this triumph of the progressive party would carry with it serious disaster to the Union, “The evening Transcript” very sensibly remarked:--

We are not prepared to proclaim the country ruined in consequence of this event. Mr. Sumner is a forcible and eloquent speaker, an apt scholar, a man of superior abilities, of polished address, and extensive acquaintance with the men and events of his times; and he may become a statesman of mark in the political arena. He will probably act and work with the Whig party on all questions but one,--a vital and momentous one, it is true, as he will find when he gets to Washington. Massachusetts might have