Theretofore they had been added
to the Common School Fund. As a member of the committee, I opposed the
measure, and the bill was lost. The subject is mentioned in Holmes'
Life of Motley, and a letter of mine is printed therein. I had no idea
at the time that Motley had any feeling on account of his defeat, but
Mr. Hooper informed me that it led him to abandon politics. If so I
may have been the unconscious cause of a success in literature which he
might not have attained in public, political life.
At this session I inaugurated a movement for the reorganization of
Harvard College. The contest was continued in 1848, '49 and '50. In
1851 I was elected Governor and the Legislature, under the lead of
Caleb Cushing, passed a bill by which the overseers of the College were
made elective by the Legislature. It was a compromise measure, and its
immediate results were not favorable to the College. The lobby became
influential in the selection of overseers and unemployed clergymen of
various denominations were active in lobbying for themselves. After
a few years' experience the election of overseers was transferred to
the Alumni, with whom the power still remains. The bill which I
introduced, the reports and arguments which I submitted to the House,
aimed at the reorganization of the corporation and the election of the
corporators by the Legislature.
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