The judgment was for Richards, three judges dissenting. For
the first time I heard the word "denizen," used by Mr. Crittenden.
The election of 1844 was disastrous to the Democratic Party of
Massachusetts. George Bancroft was its candidate for Governor. He was
an enthusiastic leader, but not a popular candidate. I recall the
circumstance that I met him during the canvass at the head of Hanover
Street, Boston, when some news favorable to Polk had been received. He
had a small cane in his hand which he whirled in the air, and shouted:
"Glorious! Glorious!" until we were surrounded by a crowd of men and
boys.
At the November election I was defeated by a majority of seventy-six, I
think, in a vote of about four hundred. I had some political sins of
my own that intensified the hostility of my Whig neighbors, and many
Democrats voted the Whig ticket.
The act requiring the treasurers and cashiers of corporations to return
the names of stockholders to the assessors of the cities and towns
where the stockholders resided with the amount of stock held by each,
could not be overlooked by those who had suffered. The recollection of
my part in the business was still fresh in the minds of the victims.
Next the scheme for the annexation of Texas was treated as a Democratic
measure, and every Democrat suffered for the sin of the party.
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