The kinetics of phenylmethanesulfonyl chloride in methanol-water, ethanol-water, acetone-water and acetonitrile-water has been investigated. The rate was faster in protic solvents than in aprotic solvents while susceptibility of rate to the ionizing power, i. e., m of the Winstein plot and solvation number of the transition state were much smaller in protic solvents. This was considered in the light of initial state stabilization by hydrogen-bonding solvation of the protic solvents. It was concluded that the reaction proceeds by an $S_N2$ mechanism in which bond-formation precedes bond-breaking at the transition state in all solvent systems.