MORRIS, GEORGE P. 



MORTON, MARCUS. 



555 



burg in 1836, Mocqnard was one of his party, 

 and rendered him essential service. In 1840 

 he started Le Commerce, a paper devoted to 

 the interests of the Bonaparte family, and in 

 every way sought to propagate the doctrine of 

 Louis Napoleon. Naturally he was one of the 

 most active opponents of Louis Philippe and 

 the Orleans dynasty in 1848, and aided power- 

 fully in the election of Louis Napoleon as Presi- 

 dent of the French Republic, and in the coup 

 ' of Dec. 1852, was the confidant, if not 

 the prompter, and certainly the most trusted 

 adviser of his imperial master. He had been 

 his private secretary from the time of his elec- 

 tion to the Presidency. From 1852 to his 

 death, he was ever the confidential friend and 

 mouth-piece of Napoleon III. The decrees, 

 proclamations, and manifestoes of the emperor 

 owed their final form to him, and often not a 

 little of thoir character. If Napoleon wished 

 to feel the pulse of Europe on any great ques- 

 tion, like that of the Italian "War, the Polish 

 Insurrection, or the European Congress, Moc- 

 quard presently put forth a tentative pamphlet 

 on the subject, not always avowing the em- 

 peror's determinations, but stating the argu- 

 ments which would justify a given course of 

 action. "With all these duties, he still found 

 time for literary labor in the region of imagina- 

 tion and fancy. He wrote several historic 

 dramas for the stage, between 1857 and 1862, 

 all of which had a remarkable popularity. The 

 most celebrated of them were " Tircuse de 

 Cartes," 1859; "Massacres de Eyrie," 1860; 

 "Prise de Pekin," 1861. He also published in 

 the " Hetue Europeennc" and afterwards in 

 book form, a novel entitled "Jessie," of great 

 merit, and which was very successful. 



MORRIS, GEORGE P., an American poet and 

 journalist, born in Philadelphia, October 10th, 

 1802, died in New York, July 6th, 1864. He 

 commenced his literary career in New York, 

 where, at 15 years of age, he wrote verses for 

 several of the newspapers. In 1823 he associ- 

 ated himself with Samuel Woodworth in the 

 publication of the " New York Mirror," a week- 

 ly journal of great merit, which, after a success- 

 ful career of 19 years, succumbed in 1842 to 

 the commercial disasters of the times. It was 

 the first periodical of its kind which relied in 

 any considerable degree upon native talent, and 

 through its columns Bryant, Hoffman, Paulding, 

 Leggett, Halleck, Fay, Willis, and other authors, 

 gave to the world some of their most charac- 

 teristic productions. In 1843 Mr. Morris started 

 the "New Mirror," which did not live beyond 

 its third volume ; and in 1844 he established in 

 New York the "Evening Mirror," in which he 

 was assisted by Mr. N. P. Willis. This was 

 succeeded in 1845 by the "National Press," the 

 title of which in 1846 was changed to the well- 

 known one of the " Home Journal." In con- 

 junction with Mr. Willis he edited this paper 

 until a short time previous to his death, when, 

 on account of failing health, he desisted from 

 literary labors and retired. As a journalist he 



was sprightly and entertaining, though of late 

 years his contributions in that capacity were few. 

 As a poet, however, and more particularly as 

 a song-writer, Mr. Morris acquired his chief 

 reputation ; and many of his lyrical efforts have 

 had a prodigious popularity. The familiar lines 

 " Woodman spare that Tree " have circulated, it 

 is said, by millions of copies, and are enjoyed 

 wherever the English language is spoken. 

 Others, as " We were Boys Together," " Land- 

 Ho ! " "Long Time Ago," "My Mother's Bible," 

 and " Whip-Poor- Will," were universal favor- 

 ites in the concert room while it was still 

 fashionable to sing English songs, and are iden- 

 tified with pleasing melodies written for them 

 by Stephenson, Bishop, Balfe, and other Eng- 

 lish composers. His remaining writings com- 

 prise "The Deserted Bride and other Poems," 

 a Revolutionary drama entitled "Briercliff," and 

 a variety of miscellanies in prose and verse. 

 The last complete edition of his poems appeared 

 in 1860. He also edited a volume of "Amer- 

 ican Melodies," containing songs by upwards of 

 250 native authors, and. in conjunction with 

 Willis, the " Prose and Poetry of Europe and 

 America." He resided for many years at Un- 

 dercliff, a beautifully situated country seat 

 among the Hudson River Highlands, and was 

 customarily addressed as General Morris, deriv- 

 ing the title from his commission of brigadier- 

 general in the New York State Militia. 



MORTON, MARCUS, an American statesman 

 and jurist, born in Freetown, Mass., February 

 19th, 1784, died in Taunton, Mass., February Cth, 

 1864. He was graduated at Brown University 

 with high honors in 1804, and after pursuing 

 his legal studies at the law-school in Litchfield, 

 Conn., where John C. Calhoun was his fellow- 

 student, commenced practice in Taunton in 

 1807. He soon became a prominent leader of 

 the Democratic party in Massachusetts, and from 

 1817 to 1821 represented his district in Con- 

 . where he cast his vote against the Mis- 

 souri Compromise bill. He was Lieutenant- 

 Governor of Massachusetts in 1824-'25, dis- 

 charging for a part of the time the duties of 

 Acting Governor, and in the latter year was 

 appointed by Gov. Lincoln a Justice of the 

 Supreme Court. In this position he won very 

 high distinction for sagacity and juridical learn- 

 ing, his reputation being in nowise affected by 

 the fact that during the fifteen years he occu- 

 pied a seat upon the bench he continued to be 

 annually nominated candidate for Governor by 

 the Democratic party, then in a hopeless minor- 

 ity in the State. In 1839, after an animated 

 canvass, he was elected Governor by a major- 

 ity of one in the popular vote over Edward 

 Everett, and filled the office until January, 1841. 

 At the annual election in November, 1842, there 

 was no choice by the people, and he was elected 

 Governor by the Legislature, holding office until 

 January 1844. In 1845 he was appointed coL 

 lector of the port of Boston, but resigned that po- 

 sition upon participating in 1848 in the Free Soil 

 movement which nominated Yan Buren for Pres- 



