GEORGE SEWALL BOUTWELL. 25 



there were four abolitionists who held the balance of power. 

 After several trials the Whigs succeeded in electing Daniel P. 

 King, of Danvers, by the help of one or more of the aboli- 

 tionists. There were several contested seats, and when the 

 house had been purged, as the process was called, the Demo- 

 crats were in a majority. The session was a short one. A 

 few political measures were passed, salaries were reduced, and 

 much below a reasonable compensation for those days even. 

 Governor Morton had a Democratic Council, but they were 

 not agreed in policy and the administration lost strength even 

 with Democrats. Its defeat, in the autumn was inevitable, 

 and Gov. Morton ceased to be a candidate for an office that 

 he had sought in twenty elections and gained in two. With 

 others I lost confidence in his ability, but that confidence 

 I afterwards regained. 



He was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Con- 

 vention of 1853, and in that body his ability was conspicuous. 

 His style was clear and logical, and his processes of reason- 

 ing were legal and judicial in character. In his speeches he 

 avoided authorities and spurned notes. He prepared himself 

 by reading and reflection, and the arrangement was dictated 

 by the logic of the case. His speeches were the speeches of 

 a strong man, and he was a dangerous antagonist in debate. 

 His reasoning was faultless and he kept his argument free 

 from all surplus matter. 



In a conversation that I once had with him at his home in 

 Taunton, he said that the best legal argument to which he 

 had ever listened was made by Samuel Dexter. As Governor 

 Morton had heard Pinckney, Wirt, Webster, Mason, Choate, 

 Curtis and many others, the praise of Dexter was not faint 

 praise. 



IX. 



The Election of 1840. 



In the early summer of 1840 the great contest began, which 

 ended in the defeat of Mr. Van Buren and the election of 



