Resigning from the army in 1836, he became a civil engineer and constructor of railways, and was engaged under the war department in survey work.
Resigning the secretaryship in 1848, he was elected to the national House of Representatives as an anti-slavery Whig to succeed John Quincy Adams, and was re-elected in 1849, and, as an independent candidate, in 1850, serving until March 1853.
Resigning office in March 1878, he resumed the practice of law, and secured the annulment of Garibaldi's marriage.
He was given the degree of Doctor of Letters in the university of Calcutta and accepted a knighthood in 1915, but addressed a letter to the Viceroy in 1919, resigning the title as a protest against the methods adopted for the repression of disturbances in the Punjab.
There may be a difficulty in fixing responsibility upon any person, or small group of persons; because cases may arise in which the executive, being unable to act without the concurrence of the legislature, can hardly be blamed for failing to act, while yet it is unable to relieve itself by resigning; while on.
