Rantoul, and retired from the Senate. This act was followed by attacks
upon me, by Senators and by newspapers, the charge being that I had
driven Mr. Winthrop from the Senate and at a time when an important
question relating to the tariff was pending. Neither Mr. Winthrop nor
any of his friends made any explanation. Mr. Lincoln came to me and
expressed his regrets that the attacks had been made, and he
volunteered to use his influence with the _Daily Advertiser,_ and
induce it to suspend its attacks. This he did, I presume, as that
paper made no further allusion to the subject. As for myself, I
remained silent, following a rule that I had formed early in life, to
avoid public controversy concerning my own acts. This rule, however,
was not an inflexible one.
Mr. Winthrop was then a candidate for the Senate against Mr. Sumner.
He was sensitive, no doubt, and he may have felt that it was his duty
to present Mr. Rantoul's credentials without delay. That was the
proper course, probably, and the question whether his term in the
Senate was continued a few days was of no public or personal
consequences whatsoever. Up to that point Mr. Winthrop's career had
been one of uninterrupted success. He was the favorite of Boston, and
he belonged to an old and venerated family. His talents were of a high
order, his education the best that the times afforded, his character
without a blemish, and there was no reason arising from personal
conditions why he should not have become the representative man of the
State.
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