During my absence, some of the leading Republicans of the District issued an appeal recommending me as a candidate for Congress.

There were five or six other candidates.

They were all of them men of great popularity, with hosts of friends and supporters.
Among them was John D.Baldwin, then holding the seat, a veteran in the Anti-Slavery Service, editor of the Worcester _Spy,_ one of the most influential papers in New England.

It had been the almost unvarying custom of the people of Massachusetts to reelect an old member who had served as faithfully as Mr.
Baldwin.

Another candidate was Francis W.Bird, one of the founders of the Anti-Slavery Party, and a man who had been a powerful supporter by speech and pen and wise counsel and large influence of the Republican Party since its foundation.
He was supported by the powerful influence of Charles Sumner, then at the height of his popularity, and by Adin Thayer, the ablest political organizer in Massachusetts.