He matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1835, left in his freshman year, and was graduated from Harvard College in 1836.
He studied law in Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar in 1842, meanwhile being elected to the state Assembly in which he served during the years 1841-43.
On his return from Naples he became a member of the board of directors of Girard College, Philadelphia, and was a member of the state House of Representatives in 1856.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for reëlection.
On Jan. 10, 1850, he was appointed chargé d'affaires to the Two Sicilies and was stationed at Naples until Aug. 26, 1853.
In manner he was said to be most agreeable and conciliating.
He was a frequent contributor to American magazines and newspapers for many years and was also the author of several works.
His Notes of a Tour through Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Arabia Petræa to the Holy Land (2 vols. , 1842) is sometimes referred to as "Morris' Travels. "
He published in 1854 The Turkish Empire: Its Historical, Statistical and Religious Condition, translated from the German of Alfred de Bessé, giving an idea of the "past and present condition of the Ottoman people and empire. "
In 1854 he also published from the original of Theodor Mügge, Afraja, a Norwegian and Lapland Tale, or Life and Love in Norway, which Bayard Taylor called "one of the most remarkable romances of the generation. "
Another translation was his Corsica, Picturesque, Historical and Social (1855), from the German of Ferdinand Gregorovius, which contained a sketch of the early life of Napoleon.
Morris left Turkey in 1870 and returned to the United States.
[Biog.
Dir.
Am.
Cong.
(1928); S. A. Allibone, A Critical Dict.
of English Lit.
and British and Am.
Authors, vol.
II (1870); Pub.
Ledger (Phila. )
, Jan. 2, 1882; Probate Court records, Phila. ; records of the U. S. Dept. of State. ]
He was then elected as a Whig representative to the Twenty-eighth Congress for one term, 1843-45.
He took a leading part in the movement for the organization of the Republican party and was elected to the Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh congresses and served from Mar. 4, 1857, to June 8, 1861, when he resigned.
By his first marriage he had two daughters, one of whom survived him.
He had married, July 15, 1847, Elizabeth Gatliff Ella, daughter of John Ella, of Philadelphia.
His wife having died sometime prior to 1870, he married Susan Leighton, in Philadelphia, in October 1876.
His wife having died sometime prior to 1870, he married Susan Leighton, in Philadelphia, in October 1876.
He had married, July 15, 1847, Elizabeth Gatliff Ella, daughter of John Ella, of Philadelphia.
