er of mine is printed therein. I had no idea
at the time that Motley had any feeling on account of his defeat, but
Mr. Hooper informed me that it led him to abandon politics. If so I
may have been the unconscious cause of a success in literature which he
might not have attained in public, political life.

At this session I inaugurated a movement for the reorganization of
Harvard College. The contest was continued in 1848, '49 and '50. In
1851 I was elected Governor and the Legislature, under the lead of
Caleb Cushing, passed a bill by which the overseers of the College were
made elective by the Legislature. It was a compromise measure, and its
immediate results were not favorable to the College. The lobby became
influential in the selection of overseers and unemployed clergymen of
various denominations were active in lobbying for themselves. After
a few years' experience the election of overseers was transferred to
the Alumni, with whom the power still remains. The bill which I
introduced, the reports and arguments which I submitted to the House,
aimed at the reorganization of the corporation and the election of the
corporators by the Legislature.

In the years 1849 and 1850 the town of Concord was represented by the
Hon. Samuel Hoar, and he led in the defence of the College. He was no
ordinary antagonist. First and last I have been brought into
competition with many men of ability, and I have not often met a more
able reasoner. He spoke without notes, his only aid being his pocket
knife which he held in his right hand and dropped by regular processes
into his left hand, where he changed the ends of the knife and then
resumed the automatic process.

My own argument I have not read for many years, but it is not unlikely
that it contains as much ingenuity as can be found in any argument that
I have ever made. The movement attracted a good deal of interest in
the State. The College was in control of the Unitarians exclusively,
and it was far from prosperous. The final change of the Board of
Overseers gave a popular character to the institution, and it was one
of the elements of its recent prosperity. For the moment the managers
of the College were very hostile to me, but in the course of ten years
all feeling had disappeared, and I enjoyed the friendship of Presidents
Sparks, Felton, and Walker.

The College conferred upon me the degree of LL.D. in 1851. That honor
had no significance as it was given to