ered the address before the literary societies of Amherst College at Commencement this summer; and an oration at Bloody Brook, on the anniversary of the fall of the Flower of Essex," in 1676. I hastened home from the latter place, to attend a meeting at Faneuil Hall, (by request of the committee of arrangements), on the subject of the Western RailRoad, when I made the closing speech. It is contained in my volume, as well as the others delivered this year.

In Nov. 1835 I was chosen Governor by a majority of about 10,000. The Antimasonic party generally supported me. Its leaders, however, had already determined, if possible, to carry over the party to the support of the national administration, whose candidate for Lieutenant Governor they supported. This state of things created jealousies and embarrassments. I lost the support of some Masonic Whigs and of some Jackson Antimasons.

My object was the same which Mr. Adams announced as his own, in the address to the People, in which he withdrew himself from being one of the three highest candidates before the Legislature: viz. to reunite the Antimasons and Whigs on honorable terms. It was the object of the leaders of the Antimasons to transfer their party to Mr. Van Buren. On this point, early in my administration, we broke, and the aforesaid leaders became my bitterest foes. They became at the same time, (as fast as any regard to appearances would permit), unscrupulous supporters of the administration of the General Government and of Mr. Van Buren.

Of the subjects recommended by me to the attention of the Legislature several received their favorable consideration. They appointed a Board of Commissioners to inquire into the practicability and expediency of reducing the Common Law to a uniform and systematic code. The House of Representatives passed an act abolishing capital punishment in certain cases, which however was lost in the Senate. The Legislature authorized a subscription of one million dollars to the stock of the Western Rail-Road, a measure which I had greatly at heart. They offered a bounty on improved principles on the culture of silk. They made an appropriation for preserving the papers in the public archives, and passed joint resolutions on several subjects in pursuance of the recommendations of the Message.

I made it a principal object of my attention, to serve the militia, and for this purpose attended several of the brigade reviews in the neighborhood and on Connecticut River. I also was present at several military festivals, beginning with the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, in June. On these various occasions, I made addresses on the importance of the militia, particularly for the support of the law in time of peace. I attended the Centennial Celebration at Springfield in May and that at Dedham in September. My ancestor Richard Everett was a grantee of both towns. I made a visit to New Bedford and Nantucket: at the former place there was a meeting on the subject of the Bunker Hill Monument, at which I made a speech. I was present at the exhibition of the Essex County Agricultural Society at Danvers and by desire of the Committee made a short address. The most interesting public occasion this year was the Centennial Celebration at Cambridge, at which, on a very short notice, I presided. I made several speeches this season, in addition to those here mentioned at military and other festivals.

The Antimasonic party in Massachusetts, though ostensibly kept up by the Van Buren leaders in that party, was in reality dissolved. The votes were divided between the two political parties, and I was in consequence re-elected by a majority diminished by three or four thousand votes.

At the ensuing session a definite Commission was appointed to reduce the criminal law to a code; a Board of Education established; a revised Geological Survey ordered, and other measures proposed by me instituted or carried on; among them may be mentioned the erection of a chapel at the State Lunatic Asylum at Worcester. It was my wish that a considerable portion of the surplus revenue [received from the National Treasury] should be devoted to Education, but on this subject. other views prevailed. At the close of this session I negatived a resolution by which the two houses raised their own compensation. It passed by acclamation without my signature; but I was fully sustained by the people. [This was the solitary exercise of the veto power by Mr. Everett while Governor.]

The National Lancers, a fine troop of horse, was raised this summer. The first suggestion of this company was made by me, and on their appearance at Commencement this year, agreeably to an intimation made when I first advised the raising of the company, I presented them a standard.

In the course of the summer I attended the usual round of military and festive occasions. I attended the Commencement at Williams College, and delivered an address by invitation of the literary Societies there. I also delivered an address at the Mechanics fair.

These two addresses were repeated by me in several places as introductory lectures to Lyceums. I also wrote and delivered an introductory lecture before the Society for the Diffu sion of Useful Knowledge on the History and Composition of the English Language, and before the Historical Society on the Discovery of America by the Northmen.

In the course of the autumn we had visits from the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes of Indians. We gave the first deputation under Keokuk (of which the famous Black-Hawk was a member) a public reception.

I was re-elected by a majority of 17 or 18,000— the largest majority ever given in Massachusetts at a contested election. The principal business of the session was the discussion of the Bank question. The measure of appointing Bank Commissioners proposed by me was adopted. One of the first measures adopted by the Legislature was to reduce the rate of compensation of the members of the two Houses to its former

amount.

Nothing of importance to be noted has occurred to me this summer, during which I have been rusticating at Watertown. I attended the School Convention of Dukes County at Martha's Vineyard and the Abbot festival at Exeter. I delivered the address at the eighteenth anniversary of the Mercantile Library Association last evening, and am to attend the School Convention at Taunton on the 10th of October.

In my official capacity, I have endeavored to promote reform in the law to encourage internal improvement and the development of the physical energies of the State: to elevate the standard and advance the cause of Education:- to revive the militia and arrest the progress of disorder in the archives and place them in a condition to be easily consulted: and to contribute to the unfolding of the natural wealth of the Commonwealth and its agricultural resources. Laws and resolves relative to all these interests have passed, more or less under the influence I have been able in various ways to exert ; though I have at all times been willing to keep my own agency

out of view; and, of course, have no claim but that of joint action with liberal and patriotic members of the Legislature.

It has, at the same time, been my study to assume as little as possible the outward circumstance and display of office, and to pass undistinguished as a citizen, wherever it was possible with propriety to do so.

I have endeavored, both in my present and former official station, not to let political life entirely draw me away from literary pursuits. Of my literary efforts since I came into Congress I am well aware too little cannot well be said, but I have given to them all the time I could possibly spare. I will in a day or two send you a memorandum of my articles in the North American Review written in this period.

The above with all my other communications on this subject is commended to your friendly and confidential eye by Yours ever affectionately,

E. E.

Mr. Everett terminates his fragment of autobiography in the year 1838. In the following year the international complications of the North-Eastern Boundary led to his addressing a strong appeal to President Van Buren as to the defenceless condition of Boston Harbor, in case of war, followed by a vigorous vote of the Legislature passed at his instance. In the month of September he delivered one of his most successful occasional speeches, at the Cape Cod festival at Barnstable.

In November the forces opposed to his re-election as Governor rallied on the ground of opposition to a licence law passed by the Legislature of 1838, and signed by him as Governor, though with considerable reluctance, restricting the sale of liquor. There was then required for popular election an absolute majority of all the votes. This Hon. Marcus Morton received by one vote in 100,000. In the winter, Mr. Everett delivered a memorial address on John Lowell, jr., the founder of the Lowell Institute, as introductory to the Lowell Lectures.

In June 1840 he sailed in the ship "Iowa" from New York with his family for a protracted residence in Europe, landing at Havre. After some short stay in Paris they departed through Fontainebleau, Chalons, and Lyons to Avignon, where they were detained by the sickness of one member, but forced to leave the city in about a fortnight in a boat, the floods of

the Durance having filled the streets and the courtyard of their hotel. Passing down the Rhone to Marseilles, they went by steamer to Leghorn, and through Pisa to Florence, where they passed the ensuing winter and summer, the latter at the Villa Careggi, the actual house where Lorenzo de' Medici died in 1492. Mr. Everett found his stay in Florence eminently congenial. He made several agreeable acquaintances, and received special kindness from the Grand Duke Leopold, under whose auspices an assembly of Italian Scienziati was gathered this year. A most admirable bust of him was executed by Hiram Powers, whom Mr. Everett always held to be the first of American sculptors.

Mr. Webster having come to the office of Secretary of State in 1841, Mr. Everett received a commission as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to London. It was feared this nomination might fail of confirmation in the Senate, certain Southern Senators having expressed their opposition to Mr. Everett as an "abolitionist," owing to some opinions he had expressed as Governor, particularly one relating to the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. It was however confirmed by a handsome vote, Messrs. Henry Clay and Rufus Choate being especially conspicuous in its support.

On receiving news of his appointment, Mr. Everett made hasty visits to Naples and Rome, and returning rapidly through France, arrived in London in December 1841. Sir Robert Peel's government had just come into power, which the conservatives retained throughout Mr. Everett's mission. His relations with all its members were extremely friendly, especially with the Earl of Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, in whose wisdom and good will Mr. Everett had the utmost confidence. The serious questions then agitated between the two countries on the right of search, the North-Eastern and North-Western Boundaries, the seizure of the "Creole," and many others, demanded the utmost tact on the part of our minister, and Mr. Everett had the satisfaction of maintaining the most friendly relations with the English government. That government having determined to settle the North-Eastern Boundary and some other questions by their special envoy Lord Ashburton, Mr. Everett was not without hopes that the North-Western would be entrusted to himself; but the peculiar