“JOHN MUNROE, B. G. WAINWRIGHT, ELLIOT C. COWDIN, SAMUEL P. HOLMES, A. P. MONTANT, THOMAS N. DALE, G. F. T. REED, JAMES W. TUCKER, GEORGE T. RICHARDS, A. K. P. COOPER, GEORGE MILNE, C. L. SHARPSTEEN, HENRY WOODS, W. ENDICOTT, JR., JOHN C. MARTIN, WALTER H. LEWIS, GEORGE L. TODD, DAVID LANE, V. MUMFORD MOORE, J. H. DEMING, JOS. D. B. CURTIS.” To this invitation Mr. Sumner returned the following reply. HÔTEL DE LA PAIX, RUE DE LA PAIX, April 30, 1857. GENTLEMEN,--I have been honored by your communication of the 28th April, where, after referring to my services as Senator of the United States, in language generous beyond the ordinary experience of political life, you are pleased to invite me, in the name of the American merchants residing in Paris, to a public dinner, at such time as may be most convenient to myself. The voice of hospitality is pleasant in a strange land. But the hospitality which you offer is enhanced by the character and number of those who unite in it, among whom I recognize well-known names, intimately associated with the commerce of my country in one of its most important outposts. There is one aspect in which your invitation is especially grateful. It is this. If I have been able to do anything not unworthy of your approbation, it is because I never failed, whether in majorities or minorities, against all obloquy, and at every hazard, to uphold those principles of Liberty which, just in proportion as they prevail under our Constitution, make us an example to the nations. And since my public course cannot be unknown to you, I am permitted to infer that the public testimony with which you now honor me is offered in some measure to those principles,--dearer to me than any personal distinction,--with which I am proud to know that my name is associated.