the occupation of a farmer. He has living three sons and four daughters. Since then he has been much in public life. Never seeking office, his people appear to have been the more willing to confer it upon him. His political cotemporaries, it is said, call him the "lucky man;" on which good-natured soubriquet he himself somewhere remarks, "If to obtain office without effort, and without the sacrifice of honor and principle, be 'luck,' then have I had my full share."

In 1836-7 he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives; in 1838-9 a member of the Senate, and in 1840-1, president of that body, a station which, before his time, we believe, had always been filled by a lawyer. In 1843, when parties were nearly balanced in the Legislature, he was again a member of the House of Representatives, and, after many unsuccessful ballotings for other candidates, on the fourth day his name was brought forward, and he was elected speaker by a majority of one vote, in a House containing nearly four hundred members. The records show that his character and capacity as a presiding officer were appreciated and respected, even in those times of high political excitement.

At an early period of life, he shared with Harrison Gray Otis alone the distinction of having filled the station of presiding officer of both houses of the Legislature of Massachusetts. While a member of that body, he was often appointed on important committees. Among the measures reported and advocated by him was the one which authorized an agricultural survey of the state, a measure which has since been adopted by other states; also several other surveys and measures having for their objects improvements in agricultural and natural sciences. He has ever interested himself warmly in the cause of benevolence and charity, and to his exertion, in part, is to be attributed the great enlargement of that noble monument of the benevolence and humanity of Massachusetts, the State Lunatic Hospital. Of this institution he held for five years, under the appointment of the governor and council, the office of trustee.

Several unsuccessful efforts to elect a representative from the second Congressional District of his state having been made, he was nominated for the office while yet speaker of the House of Representatives of his state, and, in the month of June,

1843, was elected by a small majority. He has since been twice re-elected by large majorities, though at special elections.

He is a thorough Whig. As a debater he is apt and ready, speaking but seldom, and when he does speak, directing his remarks at once to the point under discussion. He truly says of himself, in a speech delivered at the last Congress, “You, Mr. Chairman, who have been an attentive member since first had a seat in this hall, know that I have seldom addressed the House except with the purpose of affording aid and comfort' to some of the many deserving citizens who have suffered from the tardy justice of their country." In the committee-room he is an active and efficient man of business; and to no member of either House is the class of citizens to whom he alludes more indebted for diligent investigation into their claims, or for unwearied efforts to lead them to successful results. We speak particularly of that class of claimants falling under the head of Revolutionary Pensioners.

He has entitled himself to the gratitude of sick and disabled seamen in all parts of the country for his efforts on several occasions in bringing the House to vote the appropriations requisite to supply deficiencies in the Marine Hospital fund; and, in the same connection, we notice propositions introduced by him to appropriate money for the payment of pensions to wounded privateersmen, as pledged by the act of June 26th, 1812.

It has been a favorite project of his to prohibit spirit-rations in the navy, and to supply money as a substitute. He has, in more than one instance, carried amendments to this effect through, when naval appropriation bills were under considera

tion.

He has especially vindicated and defended the policy of boun ties to vessels employed on our coast fisheries. He has argued that the policy was one which the French and English nations adopted, and that, if the bounty was taken away, the vessels of those nations would come into our ports and undersell us.

Among the more local measures which he has introduced or advocated, we note, appropriations for the completion of the breakwater at Sandy Bay; for the improvement of the harbor at Lane's Cove; for the preservation of Lynn Harbor and Nahant Beach; bills to erect monuments to General Warren and

General Herkimer; and a proposition for the erection of a lunatic asylum for the reception of insane persons in the military and naval service of the United States, of the insane poor of the district, and such other insane persons as might be committed by their friends.

He was one of the "fourteen" who voted against the act of the 13th of May, 1846, recognizing the existence of war with Mexico [see title, ROBERT C. WINTHROP]; and he has avowed his determination to vote against all measures not designed for its speedy termination. On the 16th of the following July, he prepared an amendment (which was rejected) to the bill making appropriations for the support of volunteers and other troops, providing "that immediate measures be taken for the peaceful and honorable settlement of all difficulties and differences between this country and the sister republic of Mexico." He believes the war to be unjust, wanton, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. "I think," he says, "it was bad in its inception, has been bad in its progress, and that nothing but evil can be its consequences. A treaty might have been made and peace secured without recourse to these last, worst arguments, the cannon, the sword, and the bayonet; but the object desired was not peace with Mexico, but a piece of Mexico. I may have erred in my judgment, but such was, and such remains, my honest conviction. In a minority of fourteen, I voted against this war upon a feeble and distracted, a priestridden and faction-torn sister republic. For this we have been called traitors and cowards. If an earnest desire to save my country from ruin and disgrace be treason, then am I a traitor; if the fear to do wrong make a man a coward, then I am a coward. I will make no empty boast of an ardent love of country, but I mean that my life and conduct shall manifest it. I hear many men talk of their willingness to shed the last drop of blood in this Mexican war, but most of them are careful not to expose themselves where they may shed the first drop.

"I will sustain and defend my country with the best effort of my feeble power when she is right, and when I think she is on the wrong track I will exert my best efforts to get her on the right. He is the coward who is afraid to stand up manfully for truth, justice, and liberty. He is a coward whose voice sticks in his throat when danger, disgrace, and ruin threaten his counVOL. I.-H H