but Boutwell, then a young man from some country town [Groton,
Mass.], rose, and as Motley always said, demolished the report, so
that he was unable to defend it against the attack. You can imagine
his disgust, after the pains he had taken to render it unassailable,
to find himself, as he expressed it, 'on his own dunghill,'
ignominiously beaten. While the result exalted his opinion of the
speech-making faculty of a Representative of a common school
education, it at the same time cured him of any ambition for
political promotion in Massachusetts."

To my letter of inquiry about this matter, Hon. George S. Boutwell
courteously returned the following answer:--

BOSTON, October 14, 1878.

MY DEAR SIR,--As my memory serves me, Mr. Motley was a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives in the year 1847 [1849]. It
may be well to consult the manual for that year. I recollect the
controversy over the report from the Committee on Education.

His failure was not due to his want of faculty or to the vigor of
his opponents.

In truth he espoused the weak side of the question and the unpopular
one also. His proposition was to endow the colleges at the expense
of the fund for the support of the common schools. Failure was
inevitable. Neither Webster nor Choate could have carried the bill.

Very truly,
GEO. S. BOUTWELL.