o " o .'- -^^o* .• 'hV ■^0' P'^^ ^^^ '^^ A.^ //C^Va!*'. \ J>^ ^'■ * .4^ >^ ^!i^^.* . ^^ ^^ -: '^O^ ' "^-^^^.^^ •^0^ .j5'=^<* 1/ N<> V^^ <^ 0".'^O. ^-^^^ ^^•^^. -J .i> ^* ^ "^ •^i^« aV *^ .O" ,. " • ^ "^ .V -v.. *<{>. ri> . ■ • - CORRESrONDENCE ME. WEBSTER 1^15 Nero §ampsl)ire Ncigljbors WASHINGTON: GIDEON AND CO., PRINTERS. 1850. n CORRESPONDENCE MR. WEBSTER CjXB NctD i^amp5l)ire 2fttgl)b0r0. WASHINGTON : GIDEON AND CO., PRINTERS. 1850. & opvu. n ^i»p^ ^ COREESPONDENCE. Salisbury, N. H., August^ 1850. To THE Hon. Daniel Webster: It has occurred to us, the undersigned, that while commendation is reaching you from all quarters of our common country, for your recent exertions in behalf of the Union and Constitution, a token of remem- brance and gratitude from the place of your birth, from the home of your youth, and the scenes of your earlier professional efforts, would not be un- acceptable. We cannot allow this occasion to pass without as- suring you of our unfaltering confidence and respect ; without assuring you that your old neighbors and their descendants are as ready to perform their con- stitutional duties as to vindicate their rights; that we are devoted to the Union as it is ; that we adhere to the whole Constitution ; and that, while we trust in its protection, we will uphold its power. Your recent labors to remind a distracted people of the duties which they owe to a common country, and the blessings which they derive from a common Constitution, are, in our judgment, as important as any which you have performed in a long public ser- vice, crowned as that service has been with unsur- passed ability and success. To you, more than to any statesman of modern times, do the people of this country owe their national feeling, which we trust is to save their Union in this its hour of trial. We have carefully considered what you have said and proposed; and, as we understand the matter, you are now upon the same ground as when, twenty years ago, you crushed nullification. Now as then, in spite of local prejudices and fac- tions, sound constitutional and national principles will prevail; and if the voice of general commendation is occasionally broken by impotent censure, it will not disturb you, because it must remind you that it is Fac- tion, and not the Union, which is overthrown. Respectfully, your friends and fellow-citizens. (Signed) EBENEZER PRICE, ENOCH CORSER, ABRAHAM BURNHAM, THOS. PETTENGILL, NATH. BOUTON, HEZEKIAH FELLOWS, EDWARD BUXTON, DAVID AMES, EPH. PLUMMER, ABIEL GERRISH, THOMAS LITTLE, WORCESTER WEBSTER, J. GREENOUGH, PAUL PEARSON, WILLIAM PEARSON, WM CHANDLER, EPH. LITTLE, J. C. GAGE, L. J. JOHNSON, LUTHER GAGE, CALVIN GAGE, J. KIMBALL, N P. AMES, J. H. CLEMENT, T. R. LITTLE, J. W. LITTLE, C. E. SMITH, JOSEPH AMES, WILLIAM PATRICK, CALEB B. TRACED, ASA P. TENNEY, EDMUND WORTH, PARKER NOYES, GEORGE W. NESMITH, S. B. LITTLE, DAVID AMBROSE, HENRY GERRISH, JOSEPH PILLSBURY, GEORGE LITTLE, ENOCH LITTLE, F. L. BURBANK, J. B. GREENOUGH, JACOB TRUSSELL, CHAS. C. COFFIN, A. R. CHANDLER, H. W. PILSBURY, J. C JOHNSON, HIRAM GAGE, JAMES BRIGGS, S. K. CHOATE, E. G. WOOD, S. G. CLEMENT, T. D. LITTLE, MOSES FELLOWS, CALEB SMITH, REUBEN JOHNSON, ALMON HARRIS, R. GAGE, DAN'L CARTER, DAN'L S. BALCH, N. CLARK, Jr., JOHN JOHNSON, SAM'L M. DUREYE, J. BATCHELDER, DAVID HANNEFORD, DEXTER PRITCHARD, N. CHANDLER, JNO. JAMESON, SAM'L C. FLANDERS, HIRAM SIMPSON, ROYAL CHOATE, SAM'L GEORGE, JAMES COLBURN, JNO. HARRIS, A. G. STEVENS, D. J. DANIELS, J. G. O. PEABODY, CHAS. GARLAND, WM. FLANDERS, AUSTIN F. PIKE, GEO. ATKINSON, E. F. GREENOUGH, AMOS WEBBER, ABNER WINN, HORACE D. LEWIS, JOHN G. WARREN, A. O. BLANDING, CALVIN GERRISH, H. C. SARGENT, FARNUM COFFIN, JAMES T. BOYNTON, GEORGR S. ROYCE, JOHN FRENCH, M. A. KILDUN, JOS. GERRISH, PHINEAS J. PEARSON, DAVID JACKMAN, S. A. AMBROSE, NATHAN PEARSON, HENRY ROLFE, J. K. BRISKETT, T. C. ROLFE, A. ROLFE, JACOB HOSMER, JNO. A. COBURN, ELDAD TENNEY, SAM'L OSGOOD, JOSEPH CLARK, MILTON GERISH, IRA GREELY, JNO. TAYLOR, HENRY BURLEY, JONATHAN LEVETT, WM. D. LADD, RALPH WEBSTER, ED. P. COGSWELL, AMOS WEBSTER, REUBEN FELLOWS, JEREMIAH MORRILL, R. S. MORRILL, J. S. BROWN, J. W. STEVEN, WM. G. McQUESTEN, G. McQUESTIN, PETER COFFIN, WM. W. KILBORN, JOS. CHADWICK. Washington, ^Ist Sept.^ 1850. Gentlemen : I have received your letter of last month, expressing your approbation of my public political conduct, and especially of my efforts in Con- gress, to settle questions which have long agitated the country and disturbed its peace. Happily, gentlemen, those questions are now, I trust, disposed of, and better prospects open upon the country. The thirty-one American States stretch over a vast extent of country, running through several de- grees of latitude and longitude, and embracing many varieties of soil, climate, institutions, habits, and pur- suits ; yet over all, the Union and the Constitution still stand, everywhere giving protection and security, and everywhere cherished, at the present moment, with general and warm patriotic regard. The inter- ests of the different parts of the country, though various, are not opposite ; flowing, indeed, in diverse channels, but all contributing to swell the great tide of national prosperity. Under the operation of the Constitution, we have now been for sixty years free and happy; civil and religious liberty have stood firm and unshaken ; popular education has received a new impulse and a wider spread ; and moral and religious instruction has become characteristic of our age ; 8 agriculture, commerce, and manufactures have been steadily encouraged and sustained ; and, under the blessing of Providence, general competency and satis- factory means of living have everywhere rewarded the efforts of labor and industry. And, in the mean time, gentlemen, the country has attained to such a degree of honor and renown, that every patriotic man, in addition to his own individual means of en- joyment, derives a positive pleasure from participating in the reputation of his country. Of what other country upon earth can this be said, with so much truth? Who, then, would undermine this Union? Who would raise his hand against this Constitution? Who would scoff at those political and social bless- ings which Providence has never before seen fit to vouchsafe, in such abundance, to any community of men ? Self love, our hopes for the future, national pride, and gratitude to God, all conspire to prompt us to embrace these institutions of our native land with all the affections of our hearts, and to defend them with all the strength of our hands. In a critical hour, and not without some personal hazard, I have discharged my duty and freed my conscience, to its very depth, in public efforts to maintain them, limited only by the measure of my ability. And since these efforts are regarded as having contributed some- thing to the adjustment of dangerous controversies, and to the establishment of peace and harmony among fellow-citizens and brothers, I desire no re- 9 ward but the cheering voices of good men, and the approbation of my own conscience. And now, Friends and Neighbors, I could pour out my heart in tenderness of feehng for the affec- tionate letter which comes from you. Approving voices have been heard from other quarters ; other commendations have reached me, high enough and warm enough to demand, as they have received, my most grateful acknowledgments and regard. But yours comes from home ; it comes from those whom I have known, and who have known me, from my birth. It is like the love of a family circle; its influ- ences fall upon my heart as the dew of Hermon. Those of you who are the most advanced in age have known my father, and my family, and especially that member of it, whose premature death inflicted a wound in my breast, which is yet fresh and bleeding. Some of you were my companions in the country schools; with others I have partaken in the sports of youth, the cheerful labor of the field of agriculture, and in the associations and exercises of early man- hood. I see on the list learned and now aged and venerable clergymen ; professional gentlemen and magistrates, of my own age, whom 1 have long honored and esteemed ; and others of all classes and all pursuits in life. There are on the list, also, not a few, who bear my name and partake my blood. What 1 was in early hfe you all know; towards what 10 I may have done at subsequent periods, for the good of the country, you have ever manifested sufficiently favorable and partial regard ; and now, after I have been called upon to act a part in a more important crisis, perhaps, than any other of my life, your kind regard, your neighborly recognition of former times and former friendships, and the affectionate terms in which you express yourselves, make your letter a treasure, precious in my esteem, which I shall keep near me always, while I live, and leave for the grati- fication of those who may come after me. Your obliged friend and neighbor, DAN. WEBSTER. To Rev. Ebenezer Price, Kev. Abraham Burnham, D. D. Rev. Wm. Patrick, Rev. Caleb B. Tracey, Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, D. D. Rev. Asa P. Tenney, Rev. Edmund Worth, Fev. Enoch Corser, Hon. Parker Noyes, Hon. Thomas H. Pettengill, Hon. George W. Nlsmith, and others. W46 .0'