letter of Mr.
Calhoun with his frank upon the right-hand corner. I had not
previously seen a letter envelope.

Governor Morton's administration was a failure, and at the election in
1843 he was defeated by Governor Briggs. The State was a Whig State,
and a Democratic administration for two successive years was an
impossibility. My impressions of Governor Morton underwent several
changes. Previous to his election in 1843 I had regarded him as one
of the able men of the country. His lack of courage, and his apparent
desertion of his friends in 1843 produced an unfavorable impression
upon me both of his character and of his abilities. As to his
character, my impressions remain. Of his abilities I can have no doubt.

With some exceptions the policy and measures of the Democratic Party
in 1843 were crude and unwise. They demanded changes under the name
of reforms. The chief measure was a bill to reduce the salaries of
public officers, including the salaries of the governor, the lieutenant
governor, and the judges of all the courts. The Whigs resisted the
passage of the bill, upon the ground of its injustice to the persons in
office, and of its unconstitutionality in respect to the salaries of
the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court.

The bill became a law, and upon the return of the Whigs to power in
1844, the salaries of the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court were
restored, and they were reimbursed for the loss sustained by the act
of 1843. At the session of 1844 I made an argument upon the
constitutional question, but it was of no avail. As I have not read
my own argument since 1844 I am not prepared to say that it is
unsound.

By the election of 1843 Governor Morton was defeated. George N. Briggs
who had been for many years a member of Congress from the Berkshire
District, was elected Governor, and with him a majority of his
political friends in the two Houses. Governor Briggs held the office
until January 1851. He was a man of fair, natural abilities, with a
taste for politics. He had risen from a low condition of life but he
was entirely free from the vices of the world. As a rigid temperance
man and opponent to slavery, the middle classes of the State became
his supporters without argument. He held the office for seven years,
but he was defeated by the coalition of 1850.

Among the leading members of the House in 1844, was Joseph Bell, then
recently from Hanover, N. H. He was named second o