cess. At the
close of the contest it was found that he had lost votes. His
friends charged that his loss was due to the secret opposition of
Josiah G. Abbott, who was a rival to Mansur, in the city of Lowell.
In 1844 Mansur retired from the field and Abbott became a candidate.
Mansur's friends were opposed to the nomination of Abbott, and by their
action the nomination came to me. The district was then hopeless. In
1842 the Dorr question was uppermost in the public mind. That had lost
its power. In a Presidential contest Massachusetts was Whig by an
immense majority. National questions were all-controlling. I was
renominated for Congress in 1846 and 1848. I canvassed the district
and made speeches in the principal places but as to success I never
had any hope.

The 17th day of June, 1843, Mr. Webster delivered the address upon the
completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. President Tyler and some
members of his Cabinet were present. The concourse of people was so
great that experts were justified in estimating the number at one
hundred thousand. This was the third opportunity that I had had to
hear Mr. Webster speak. The first was in the Senate in January, 1839.
A few days later I was present in the gallery of the Supreme Court
room, and heard the argument in the case of Smith _v._ Richards.

Mr. Webster appeared for Smith and Mr. Crittenden for Richards. The
subject was the sale of a gold mine in which fraud was alleged by
Smith. The judgment was for Richards, three judges dissenting. For
the first time I heard the word "denizen," used by Mr. Crittenden.

The election of 1844 was disastrous to the Democratic Party of
Massachusetts. George Bancroft was its candidate for Governor. He was
an enthusiastic leader, but not a popular candidate. I recall the
circumstance that I met him during the canvass at the head of Hanover
Street, Boston, when some news favorable to Polk had been received. He
had a small cane in his hand which he whirled in the air, and shouted:
"Glorious! Glorious!" until we were surrounded by a crowd of men and
boys.

At the November election I was defeated by a majority of seventy-six, I
think, in a vote of about four hundred. I had some political sins of
my own that intensified the hostility of my Whig neighbors, and many
Democrats voted the Whig ticket.

The act requiring the treasurers and cashiers of corporations to return
the names of stockholders to the assessors of the c