the conduct of Mr. Speaker Blaine, charged with having received stock in a railroad at a price less than its value; but this charge was referred to a sub-committee on which Mr. Hoar was not placed. He declined the nomination to the forty-fifth Congress in 1876, and in 1877 he was elected United States senator from Massachusetts as successor to Senator George S. Boutwell, whose term would expire March 4, 1877. He was continuously reelected to the United States senate without party dissent, being chosen again in 1901 for a six-year term to March 4, 1907. In state politics Mr. Hoar presided over the Republican state conventions of 1871, 1877, 1882 and 1885 and in national politics he was a delegate to the Republican national conventions of 1876, 1880, 1884 and 1888, from the Worcester district in 1876, and from the state-at-large heading the delegations of 1880, 1884 and 1888, and presiding over the convention of 1880.
In the United States senate his ability as a statesman was at once recognized, and his service in committee has been fully as important as his discussions and debates before the assembled senate. He served as chairman of the committee on Privileges and Elections in seven congresses and was a member of the committee in fourteen congresses. He also served on the committee on the Judiciary, as a member during fourteen congresses and as chairman during five congresses. Of the committee on Claims he was a member during four congresses. He served on the committee on Patents in two congresses; on the joint committee on the Library in five congresses, chairman of the select committee on Relations with Canada in eight congresses, and as a member in nine congresses. Of the select committee on Woman Suffrage he was a member in five congresses, serving as chairman in the fifty-fourth Congress. He also served on the committees on Civil Service, and on Engrossed Bills and Rules, in four congresses; on the select committees on the Centennial of the Constitution of the United States and the Discovery of America in two congresses; and on the select committee on Nicaragua Claims in three congresses. His course in the senate was eminently conservative, a trait inherited from Puritan ancestors; and when he supported a radical measure it was only when led by the voice of his own conscience. His aim in legislation appears to have been to maintain a free and enlightened government and to help to provide such a government for all men who desire it and are able to conduct it. In the matter of the acquisition of territory by the
