WHEREAS, Objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at twelve o'clock on the 4th of March next, to receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the Executive: Now, therefore, I, James Buchanan, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this, my proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business, at the capitol in the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at twelve o'clock at noon on that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice. [Sidenote: [L. S.]] Given under my hand and the seal of the United States at Washington, the 11th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-fifth. JAMES BUCHANAN. By the President: J. S. BLACK, _Secretary of State_. Sixteen new Senators then took the oath of office, and at fifteen minutes past one o'clock James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln entered the Senate chamber, arm in arm, accompanied by Senators Foote, Baker and Pearce, members of the Committee of Arrangements, and were conducted to seats in front of the secretary's desk. In a few moments afterward, those assembled in the Senate chamber proceeded to the platform on the central portico of the eastern front of the capitol, to listen to the inaugural address of the President elect. Then the oath of office was administered to him by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the administration of the government by the Republican party had commenced. The business of this extra session of the Senate was chiefly limited to the confirmation of executive appointments, although there were some exciting discussions upon the political situation. Mr. Chandler, on taking possession (as the new chairman) of the room of the Committee on Commerce, had his righteous wrath at the men who had availed themselves of their official positions to plot treason against the government still further stimulated by finding in one of the drawers of the large committee table the original draft of the secession ordinance of Alabama, which had been prepared in the national capitol by Senator Clement C. Clay, his predecessor in the chairmanship of the committee.[19] This illustration of Southern perfidy Mr. Chandler carefully kept, and at his death it was among his private papers. The executive session of the Senate closed on March 28, 1861, and Mr. Chandler at once returned to Detroit.