AN ORATION

ON

THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES

OF

DANIEL WEBSTER,

DELIVERED DECEMBER 18, 1852,

Upon request of the Citizens of Cincinnati,

BY ALPHONSO TAFT.

O I N O I N N A T I:
PRINTED BY THE CINCINNATI GAZETTE COMPANY.
1 8 5 3 o

C()RltESPONDENC1+J.

 _n

CINCINNATI, Decenihcr 24, 1852.

Anmowso '1‘AF'r, ESQ,

DEAR Sm :-The undersigned, Committee of Arrangements, rep-
resenting their fellow citizens of Cincinnati, respectfully request, for publication,
a. copy of the able and eloquent OI-ction, delivered by you, on the 18th instant,
upon the Life and Public Services of DANIEL WEBSTER.

Respectfully yours,

NATJEIANIEL WRIGHT‘,
P. B. MANCIIESTER,
JOHN D. CALDWELL,
OSGOOID MUSSEY,
STEI’I~IEN MOLI'J.‘OR,
CHARLES S. POMEROY,
C. 1’. NORTON,

JOHN L. MINER,
GEORGE CRAWFORD,
JOHN W. I~IARTWELL,
CHARLES 1*‘. SCHMIDT.

To ALPIIONSO '1‘Iu«*'r, Esq.

 

CINCINNATI, December 24, 1852.

GIENTLEMEN:--Ag1‘0OE1IJIy to your request, I herewith submit, for publication, a
copy of my Oretion upon the Life and Public Services of DANIEL WEBSTER. Iam

gratified to know that you regard it as worthy of being preserved, and read.
Yours, very respectfully, .
ALPHONSO TAFT.

To NATHANIEL WRIGHT, and others.

ORATION-

ON the 24th of October 1852, the spirit of DANIEL
Wnesrnn, Which, for forty years, had exerted a high and
controlling influence among men, took its flight from our
World. How sad-—--how sorrowful-—----to know, that that
mighty mind, so long the pride and glory of our age and
country, and that heroic heart, which had so often stood
against the assaults of foes, and against the frowns of
friends, has been Withdrawn from earth forever! In the
full maturity of his intellect, before his powers had given
evidence of decay, while holding a post of the highest
trust and honor under the present administration of our
Government, his career has suddenly drawn to a close.

The public mind was not prepared for this event. So
long had the people of this country been accustomed to
look to him for opinions on public affairs, and so often
found him able to speak, in perilous national emergences,
the great word that gave guidance and deliverance to the
nation; so steadily had the light of his great intellect
burned without flickering, and with increasing brilliancy,
that they felt sure of his life, for many years to come.
CALHOUN had clied,---but his declining health had prepared
the public to expect his departure. CLAY had died,——--~but
his strength had yielded to advancing age, and his demise
was not unexpected.

 

(ii

But Webster is no more I That clear and connnand-—
iiig voice will pour forth no more eloquence 2 That
majestic form, that colossal head, those dark and solemn
eyes, those expressive lips, that God-like presence, We
shall see no more! And we are now assennbled, a por-
tion of the citizens of the West, to share with the citi-
zens of the North, and the South, and the lllast, in
doing; honor to his memory. These funeral honors can-
not add to his fame, nor affect his present state of ex-
istence. He is beyond the reach of our praise, or our
censure. But to us, and to those who are to come after
us, they may be useful. 4

The fame of her illustrious benefactors, is among the
richest treasures of a nation, and as such is to be cher-
ished by the living generati.ons of man. What were an-
cient Greece, or Rome, in the light of histor , Without the
renown of her heroes and statesmen, her poets and ore»-
tors? What were England herself, Without the recorded
fame of her distinguished sons ‘E’ And what can our own
country hope to be, if she fail to treasure up, for the
benefit of the present, and coiniiig generations, the memo-
ries of her departed patriots, and orators, and statesmen,
and scholars. It is not, therefore, so much to exalt his
character, that We are assembled, as to elevate our own,
by lifting our eyes to behold that great example, illustra-
ted by a long; and luminous career, which is now finished
by his death, and placed high in the heavens, to be seen
and admired by all men~—---—1ihe the bow that gilds the clouds,
and overarches the firmarnent.

When a public benefactor dies, it is rightthat the living
pause in their labors, to review his career, and contribute
their willing aid to perpetuate his virtues and his virtu-
ous deeds. A

M‘
3

Of every great man, there is imioii that is not mortal»
His famous achievments, hi.s recorded thoughts, and his
great exainple, live after him, in the memories of men,
and in history. Our Wasnineron yet lives, by his exalted
character and illustrious deeds, which have filled the
earth with his renown, and conferred substantial honor
and respectability upon his country. He lives, and will
live, in the enthusiastic veneration and regard of every
American; while his great example will never cease to
instruct and to bless us, and all generations of American
citizens. All the distinguished Revolutionary patrihts
who, though dead, yet speak to us by their courageous ex--
ample, will ever live, in the traditions and in the history
of their country. Still more fortunate are they, who,
with thoughts truly valuable, have been able to clothe
them in language so attractive, as to be read, not only by
their contemporaries, but by all posterity.

The thoughts of a great man thus preserved, triumph
over death and the grave, and render him more intimate-
ly known to posterity, than could his personal presence.»
if he were permitted to rise from the grave, and meet
them face to ii-ice.

In entering upon the duty of pronouncing the eulogy
of Mr. Webster, it is impossible to forget, that Clay and
Calhoun, who for more than thirty years, have divided
with him, the admiration and applause of the American
people, have but recently preceded him to the tomb.
Webster is the last of the three immortal names, that
have long stood on the American roll of fame, so high
that the interval between them and all the other distin-
guished men of their time and country, has been wide
and Well defined. They rose above all their contempora-

8

ries early in life, and retained their pre-eminence undis-
puted,  the end of it.

England had her Pitt, and Fox, and Burke, who gain-
ed a like ascendency, and maintained it for twenty years.
Justly proud is old England, of their fame; and ever
cherished, is the memory of their deeds, their characters,
and their contests; and she Would suffer her navy to be
sunk, or any other disaster to befall her, as soon as she
would suffer the character and achievments of either of
these great men, to be blotted from her history. In
later times, she has had her WELLINGTON, who has also
now gone down to his grave. The Duke was not
born to die. His name belongs to his country; and no
treasures of silver or gold, could tempt her to forget the
hero of Waterloo. -

CLAY, CALHOUN, and Wnssrnn belong to the historical
period, immediately succeeding that of the Revolutionary
heroes. That period has furnished many instances of
men who live in the memories of this, and will live in the

memories of all succeeding generations of men, by their

high services.

Jackson, the younger Adams, Harrison, Taylor, Mar-
shall, Story, Woodbury, Silas Wright, with a host of
others who have gone before Clay, Calhoun, and Web-
ster, have taken their places in the American firma-~
ment, with Washington, the elder Adams, Jefferson,
Madison, Hamilton, and the other fixed stars of the con-
stellation of Revolutionary patriots and heroes. A

r A country that can lose a Clay and a Webster in one

year, and that has buried an Adams and a Jefferson in one
day, will not be pronounced, by the civilized World, barren
of genius, or unproductive of great and good men. ,

9

When Mr. Webster first took his place in Congress, as
a Representative from New Hampshire, in 18]}, Mr.

Clay had been several years in the councils of the nation, a
and Mr. Calhoun had already served one term in Con- a

gross. Calhoun and Webster Were of the same age, be-
ing both born in 17 82. Clay was five years their senior.
Since that thirteenth Congress, these three have been
marked m.en. Although Mr. Webster, after four years of
service in Congress, retired to private life, and pursued
his professional practice for seven years, and was conse-
quently less before the public, yet he had already taken
his rank among men, along side of Clay and Calhoun 5
and after his return to Congress in 1823, they three have
had no rivals but themselves. Each has in turn shown
himself equal to any position under the Government.

They have shone alike, in the halls of legislation, and
in the Cabinet; and the influence of each of them has
been constantly felt throughout the country, to the day
of his death. ;

They have, each, towered high above the incumbents of
the Presidential office, for a quarter for a century, in the
qualifications which are supposed to fit men for that posi-
tion. They have, each of them, contributed largely to the
making of other men Presidents. They have, each of
them, aspired to the Presidency themselves; but neither
of them has attained to that honor, and but one of them,
has ever received the nomination of either of the great
political parties of the country.

Mr. Clay wasthe champion of the West. None ever
excelled him in the elements of character, which make
a man personally influential and popular, in a republican
Government. Bold, enterprising, of a surpassing elo~

2

10

quence, with a voice of the richest melody, of prodigious

. compass, and ever obedient to his will,--—-~he was endowed
with a towering genius, as well as a lofty ambition.
- L His style of oratory was clear, persuasive, and impas-

sioned, copious and felicitous in language, and enriched
with the ripe iiuits of experience in public affairs. He
was singularly dextrous and happy, in all the arts of par-
liamentary debates. He was a man of undoubted patri-
otism, and of elevated and liberal statesmansliip. He was
a man of national, and not of local views. He was truly
an American. He wrote with clearness, ‘elegance, and
force; and his diplomatic correspondence, when Secretary
of State, under Mr. Adams’ administration, would do
honor to anygovernment of any country. He was knowii
to be a man of high honor and great gallantry, possessing
the rare combination of a bold and imperious temper, with
political sagacity and practical wisdom. ‘His early educa-
tion was such, as a poor boy, of true genius, with 9 an in»
satiable thirst for knowledge, and an unconquerable am-
bition, in a» free country, may obtain. Suchcpportunities
as occured, he improved. “Times and seasons happen to
all men,” but few there are who improve them as did Henry
Clay. On coming to his majority, he was admitted to the
bar at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1797----practised law with
the most brilliant success-——at once became a favorite with
the people ,-,-min 1803, had a seat in the Kentucky Legis-
lature, and stood foremost among the first; in 1806, was
elected to the Senate of the United States, to fill a
vacancy for one year, where he at once tool; a high rank,
and after fresh services in the State Legislature, was
elected to fill another vacancy in the United States Senate,
commencing in 1809. On the expiration of that term,

11

in 1811, he was elected to the House of Representatives,
of which he was chosen speaker, the first day he took his
seat in it; which position he continued to hold, till in
1814, he was sent as one of the Commissioners to nego-
tiate the treaty of Ghent. Without attempting to follow
him through his long and illustrious career, it must
suffice for the present occasion, to say-———--of his great deeds,
are they not written in the book of the record of his
country, there to be known and read of all men. '

1 Mr. Calhoun was the champion of the . South. , ,He V

came into Congress in the year 1811, having already dis-

tinguished himself in the Legislature of South Carolina. _ 1‘

Mr. Calhoun was endowed with great and original intel-

lectual power, and had the advantages of a thorough edu- a

cation. He thought, with clearness and precision, and
expressed his thoughts, with masterly eloquence. His
style was remarkable for its condensation and force. pp Of a
highand unbending character, with an energy and activi-
ty that yielded to no opposition or discouragement, he
was too 1nuch under the influence of principle, and the
deductions of 1 his powerful logic, to follow implicitly any
party. 1 His career in Congresscommenced and long con~
tinned, with the mostliberal and national views. He was
in the Cabinet of Mr. Monroe, and was Vice President
under both John Quincy Adams and General Jackson.
Later in life, he became impressed with the idea, that the

1 General Government bore with unjust severity upon the

South. He became seriously concerned for the relative

' political strength of the South, and this concern 1 had a

powerful influence upon his destiny, On thetwo subjects

of the tariff andslavery, local influences, at length, gained A

a controlling influence 1 over him. But he was undoubtedly

12

sincere in his opinions. He gave the strongest evidence
of his sincerity, when be abandoned the fair prospect,
which lay before him, of the Presidency, for his favorite
doctrines, resigning the high position he held, as Vice
President, in a popular administration, and placing him-

self in a hopeless minority. The doctrines of Nullification A

and Secession resulted from his opinions on the high tariff ;
and the doctrine of Disunion, from his opinions on the
question of Slavery in the Territories, and on the general
idea of  balance of power, between the North and the
South.

a He regarded the,South, as the weaker section of the A

nation, and liable to be oppressed by the action of the
General Government, under the influence of the superior
weight of the Free States, and dependent for its safety, on
the preservation of the accustomed equilibrium of political
power in the Senate of the United States. W
On entering Congress, Mr. Calhoun had at once as-
sumed a rank of extraordinary elevation and . influence,
and rose rapidly to the summit of fame as a parliamentary
debater and statesman. In logical power, he was the supe-
rior of Mr. Clay, and the equal of Mr. Webster. His career
was in length equal to that of Mr. Webster, and of trans-
cendent brilliancy. He differed from Mr. Clay more than
from Mr. Webster, in his style of composition and oratory.
With less of ornament derived from the imagination than
Webster, he had the same compact logic. His speeches
were all earnest and eloquent. Without going far for
illustrations, his figures of rhetoric, and all his language:
were felicitous and captivating. He was in every sensea
 man. He was peculiar and original. W We
shalliii~i3  his like again. ‘ W W i W W i

 

13

On the whole, while Mr. Calhoun was more sectional in
his opinions, than Mr. Clay or Mr. Webster; he was per»
haps less a partizan, than either, Neither he, nor Web-
ster, however, could follow the behests of party with much
alacrity, where their own well reasoned judgment and
conscience did not go decidedly with them. Their con-
duct was very much controlled by principle, and the older
they became, the more difficulty they found, in submitting
to the dictation of party. This was a prominent reason,
why neither of them was nominated for the Presidency,
for which they were both so eminently qualified, and to
which they both ardently aspired. Mr. Clay, on the other
hand, while he took no sectional views, but comprehended
the entire country in his policy, was a strict adherent to
party organization, over which his promptness, energy,
and genius gave him a decided control. A i it

Such were Mr. Webster’s two great contemporaries,
who have for near forty years been associated with him in
the minds of mankind, and who with him have contributed
to the intellectual illumination of this western hemisphere.
God forbid, that one laurel should ever be plucked from
the head of either of these, his great rivals ; or that the
dust of detraction and envy should ever be allowed to soil
the splendor of their fame; In - death, as in life, they all
belong to their country; and their renown can no more
be spared, now that they are dead, than their services
could be dispensed ,with,while they were living. Webster
needs not the disparagement of any of his contemporaries,
In his life-time, he was too magnanimous to accept such
service from others,and his lofty spirit would spurn such

service now. I would gladly avoid all comparisons, which 
might cause sensations not entirely pleasant to the friends A

14

of either of these illustrious characters. I am content
with Webster as he was; and will consent to borrow no
man’s laurels, to adorn his brow.

Daniel Webster, was the son of Ebenezer Webster and
Abigail Eastman, and was born in that part of Salisbury,

A New Hampshire, now known as Franklin, on the 18th

day of January, A. D. 1782, in the last year of the Revo-
lutionary War. A

Ebenezer Webster, was a native of New Hampshire,
and is said to have been of Scotch descent. He was a
large, erect, athletic man, with only such education as he
acquired by himself, after having served out his appren-
ticeship to a farmer, who neglected to give him any op-
portunity at all, for school instruction. He was a good
man; loved his family, and his conntry; was laborious
and exemplary, and shunned none of the hardships and
and dangers incident to a border life, in the times of the
French, and Revolutionary wars. He was a ranger, in
the old French war, fighting under the British flag, against
the French, till the peace of 17 63,rising from a common
soldier, to the rank of a captain. ,

When the troubles arose between England and the

A American colonies, Captain Webster, with all his kindred,
. espoused the cause of the colonies, with burning zeal.
He had the courage of a lion- “ I-Ie commanded . a com- A

pany, at the battle of Bennington, under General Stark.
He Was also at the battles of White Plains and Rhode
Island. On the night after Arnold deserted, at West
Point, Captain Webster was made officer of’ the guard of

a Washington himself, who calling him into his tent, and
A pleating. him la, glass of wine, said: “ If I can’t trust

you,  Webster,  can’t trust any man.” A

  15

After the war, Ebenezer Webster was elected to the
bench, and remained a Judge for many years, and until
his death, universally respected, both. as a man and a
Judge.

Ebenezer Webster’s second wife, Abigal Eastman, was
a woman of superior mind, and possessed a force of char-
acter, which was felt throughout the circle in which she
moved. Proud of her two boys, Ezekiel and Daniel, and
ambitious that they should excel, she breathed into their
youthful breasts, aspirations, which “grew with their growth
and strengthened with their strength,” till, from the
humblest condition, and the most unpromising and limited
prospects, they were raised by merit, to the i‘l1"Sl3 rank of
men, with prospects as wide as their country. No small
part of their success in life, was to be ascribed to the
elevated hopes, and early promptings, of that “excellent
mother.” They received from her, both instruction and
rigorous discipline. A

Aside from his mother’s teachings, Daniel’s opportuni-
ties for instruction were only such as were afforded by the

i ordinary District or Common Schools, of that early. day,

in the newer parts of New England. Imperfect, however,

by A ,those schools were, a willing and vigorous mind could

make. respectable progress in them; especially, Whenthere
was a fond and capable mother, at home, to aid and en-

courage him. It was, undoubtedly, the progress made by A

the boy at home,.and.in those Primary Common Schools,
which awakened, in the mind of the or father, the idea of
giving him better opportunities. ‘p A

When he was fourteen years of age, his father took him
to Phillips Academy at Exeter, an institution of great and
continued usefulness, from that dayto‘ the present. Here,

16

he found himself in the midst of incitements to study,
with greater facilities for learning, than he had ever be-
fore known or imagined. The boys of our days, who
have been tenderly raised, and gone leisurely to school
from childhood, without any of the drudgery of labor,
can have no conception of the avidity with which young
Daniel Webster, who had spent the most of his days
since his childhood, at hard work on the farm, now devour-
ed the lessons that were set for him. He made rapid
progess ; but he was a modest boy, and found it quite
impossible to perform the exercise of declamation. He
committed to memory many pieces, but when his name
was actually called, he was paralyzed and could not rise
from his seat. This circumstance, Mr. Webster related
of himself in after life. How lO1".lg it was, or how far he
had advanced “in his studies, before he could summon
sufficient assurance, to speak in the presence of his in-—
structors and his fellows, does not appear. That he did,
however, somehow overcome that infirmity, the world
has had good reason to know.

His going to Exeter, seems to have been designed,

as a preparation, not for college, but for school keep-
ing',in the winter seasons. He had not then aspired

to at college education; he did not suppose it possible i

for his father to incur so heavy an expense. Col-
lege privileges were, in those days, reserved for here
and there one, whose circumstances were peculiarly
fortunate. In the first place, the father must be wealthy,

according to their primitive ideas of wealth; and A

in the next place, the boy must be elected, out of the
fa“ where there were more boys than one,for so high

 

w a promtion. it That more than oneboy,iout of any one

17

family, should be sent to college, was a contingency not
to be thought of. l Here was Daniel, one of ten children,
with quite a number of brothers, and a father who had
not been in school a day in his life, and who was under
the necessity of working hard to support his family. The
chance of his obtaining so great, so uncommon a privilege,
seemed to him so small, that he had never entertained
the idea for a moment. But that father, who had keenly
felt the want of an education himself, and who had in
him :33. heart, large enough for a whole race of princes, de-
termined to do something for his boy, Daniel, who had
shown so much aptitude to learn.

After a few months’ residence at Exeter, his father
came for him, and on their way home the subject of his
going to college was first mentioned to Daniel, by his
father. The many anxious conferences, which had taken
place between the father and the mother on this great
question, deliberating how they should be able to meet
this large expense, with their ‘narrow means, history has
not preserved. Mr. Webster says, in an autobiographical
memorandum of his boyhood:

“e I remember the very hill we were ascending, through
deep snows, in a New England sleigh, when my father
made known this purpose to me. I could not speak.
How could he, I thought, with so large a family and in such
narrow circumstances, think of incurring so great an ex-
pense for me. A warm glow ran over me, and I laid my
head on y .father’=s sh<oulder,‘ancl wept.” l

a How deeply did he....fei;e1 the importance of the propo-
sition of his father I  aw, that it would open to him:

i the Way to a new and. ore elevated sphere of action.

One great, if not the great iliement of success. in his case,
3 i   i l  

18

was his thorough appreciation of a liberal education, as
Well as of the cost and difficulty of obtaining it. If some
ingenious instructor of youth could discover a process of
intellectual discipline, by which young gentlemen could
be made to appreciate the privileges of a liberal educa-
tion, Without being poor, he would be entitled to higher
honor, and a richer reward, than was he, who invented the
steam engine. The privileges of a classical and scientific
education, are lightly esteemed by those whose parents
are able, Without inconvenience, to send them to college.
The difiiculties in the way of attaining an object, wonder-
fully enhance its value. There is no reasoning, like
poverty, to convince the student of the importance of an
education, which costs money. Necessity, which is so ex-
cellent a mother of invention, is also an admirable en-
forcer of truth upon the minds of the young. Daniel, who

, had heretofore Worked hard upon his father’s farm, needed

no argument on the subject, to satisfy him that an edu-
cation Was the greatest blessing that could be conferred
upon him in this world; because it opened the Way to
every thing on earth that looked to him desirable,-that
he would be successful, Was, therefore, just as certain, as
that his life and health should be spared, While he strug-
gled for the prize. A A l _ W
In one year he Was prepared for college, and admitted
at Dartmouth, where he remained the full term of four
years, devoting himself faithfully and successfully to his
studies. The long winter Vacations, however, were devo-
ted to teaching, to eke out the means of‘ paying his ex-
penses. Indolent students can find no encouragement in
his college course. As an evidence of the estimation, in
which he was held at Dartmouth, it is sufficient to men-

19

tion, that, in his Junior year, he, and not a Senior, was
selected to deliver the Fourth of July Oration, and it was
thought worthy of being printed in a pamphlet. This
performance shows that the spirit of Seventy-six had made
a strong _impression on his mind ;--—-—--that the scenes and
sentiments of the Revolution were familiar to him, and
that patriotism had an early growth in his heart. The
style of the piece was clear and animated,--—-in some

parts of it, a little florid,--—-and would, perhaps, better

please those of his critics, who have denied him the
possession of imagination, than his later, and more ma-
ture productions.

In the meantime, he had interceded with his father,
for his elder brother, Ezekiel’s education, and besides
teaching in Winters, during his college course, con-
tinued the business of teaching, after graduating, for one
year,——-—-paying his board by recording deeds,-—-that at the
end of the year he might carry home his unbroken salary
of $3350, to be applied mainly to the education of his
brother Ezekiel. In 1801, he graduated, with distinguish-
ed honor; and after the one year’s service, as a teacher,
and three years’ study of the law, was admitted to the bar
in 1805, as a young man of decided promise. To be
near his father, who had become old and infirm, he opened
an office in the neighboring village of Boscawen. But
his design was to settle ultimately in Portsmouth, the
principal commercial point in the State. In 1806, his
fatherdied, not, however, till he had heard Daniel argue
one cause, and saw with a fond father’s delight, the evi-
dent signs of coming success. a . r

Ini1807, Mr. Webster moved to Portsmouth, leaving
his office at Boscawen, to his brother Ezekiel. Nine years

20,

he remained in Portsmouth, with a leading practice at the
bar, becoming well known thoughout the State, and also
in Massachusetts. It was a fortunate circumstance for
him, that the bar in New Hampshire, numbered at that
time, Jeremiah Mason, as one of its members, as well as
other very eminent men, and that Samuel Dexter, and
Joseph'Story, of Massachusetts, names well-known to
fame, practised in the courts of that State. But his early
contests werechiefly with Mr. Mason, a lawyer of the
highest eminence and talents. He was Mr. Webster’s
senior by many years, but was in the meridian of life, at
that time. No young lawyer ever had a more vigorous
course of discipline than Daniel Webster received, at the
hands of Jeremiah Mason; and what is alike creditable
to both, they remained warm and generous friends, through
all their professional contests. Here Mr. Webster laid the
foundation of his reputation as  lawyer, which soon
placed him at the head of the profession in the State
where he resided. A A .

In 1812, he first conse;ntied to be acandidate for office,
and was elected to Congress, and took his seat at the
extra session, in May, 1813... The war with England
was then waged, and raging. . His course was thoroughly’
patriotic, notwithstanding his party connections. He
seconded no: refusal of supplies, nor any factions opposition
to the administration. . He urged the increase of the navy,
and opposed a bank whose paper was not to be converti-
ble into specie. , Many persons who have long regarded
Mr. Webster’s public character with favor, and even; with
admiration, yet, suppose that in the inexperience of early
life,and in the heat of party excitement, during the last
War  Englandr, his G0n.greS,Si01:La1, cmalrse. was not such,

 

21

as to commend itself to the favor of a patriotic people.
But, there is nothing in the history of that period of his
life, that need to give his friends concern, or that can
give his enemies joy. It was a trying time, for one not
belonging to the dominant party. His Constituents were
deeply interested in navigation and commerce on the
ocean, and taking counsel from their interest, they had
opposed as unnecessary, the declaration of War, which in-
volved the destruction and loss of their property. But
political life had had no charms for Mr. Webster up to
that time. 111 1813,. he entered Congress fresh from the
bar.

How he could have gone through those exciting, and,
to politicians, perilous times, and escaped all participation
in the Hartford Convention,and the political heresies of
New England, which proved to be so fatally unpopular, has
puzzled his adversaries, Who have often had occasion to
cast about for something to say, against the Achilles of
the North.

In the year 1838, a great debate arose in the Senate
of the United States, upon the Sub-Treasury, in which
Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Webster, bore the lead-
ing parts, and which was sometimes called the battle of

A the giants. In the excitement of the contest, the dis-—

cussion ran far beyond the immediate question before

them, and became more personal than was usual with

either of these great debaters. Mr. Calhoun “ carried the
war into Africa,” in the Congressional phrase of A the time,
and, among other topics, hinted that he might attack Mr.
Webster With efl°ect,for his course during the “late war,”
as the last war with England Was then called. Mr. Web-
ster said in reply, “Sir, lam glad this subject has been

22

alluded to, in a manner which justifies me in taking pub-
lic notice of it, because I am well aware, that for ten
years past, infinite pains has been taken to find something
in the range of these topics, which might create prejudice
against me in the country. The journals have all been
pored over, and the reports ransacked, and scraps of para-
graphs, and half sentences l1ave been collected, fraudu-
lently put together, and then made to flare out, as if
there had been some discovery. But all this failed. ’_I_‘he
next resort was to supposed correspondence. My letters
were sought for, to learn if, in the confidence of private
friendship, I had ever said any thing which an enemy
could make use of With this view, the vicinity of my
former residence has been searched, as with a lighted
candle. New Hampshire has been explored from the
mouth of the Merrimack to the White I-Iills. In one
instance, a gentleman had left the State, gone‘ five hundred
miles off, and died. His papers were examined: a letter
was found, and I have understood it was brought to
Washington. A conclave was held to consider it, and the
result was, if there was nothing else against Mr. Web-
ster, the matter had better be let alone. Sir, I hope to
make every body of that opinion, who brings against me
a charge of want of patriotism. Errors of’ opinion may
be found, doubtless,“ on many subjects; but as conduct
flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know
thatno act of my life has had its origin in the want of
ardent love of country.” i b

After reviewing the part he took in Congress during
the war, and triumphantly defending his course, he closed
that portion of his speech in the following words: “ So
much, sir, for the war, and for myconduct and opinions

23

as connected with it, and, as I do not mean to recur to
this subject often, nor ever, unless indispensably neces—
sary, I repeat the demand for any charge, any accusation,
any allegation whatever, that throws me behind the hon-
orable gentleman, or behind any other man, in honor, in
fidelity, in devoted love to that country in which I was
born, which has honored me, and which I serve ; I, who
seldom deal in defiance, now, here, in my place, boldly
defy the honorable member to put his insinuation in the
form of a charge, and to support that charge by any
proof whatever.” i

Mr. Calhoun made no further allusion to the last war.
It is to be remembered, that this occurred in the Senate
of the United States, in the presence of several, who had
been fellow members with him, of the thirteenth Congress:
and witnesses of his whole conduct in Congress, during
the war; and if anything could have been brought forward,
it would have been done, by others, if not by Mr’ Calhoun.
It is undoubtedly true, that, though generally regarded
as one .of the Federal party of thatiday, then, as in later
times, he avoided all the excesses, and many of the errors
of hisparty. , I 

In 1816, afterfour years’ service in Congress, at the
age of thirty-four years, he removed his residence to Bos-
ton, Massachusetts, where he devoted himself seven years
to his profession. During this time, many and great
causes were argued and tried by him, and so distinguished
did he become, that some causes became celebrated be-
cause he appeared in them. In 1818, he argued the
Dartmouth College case,before the Supreme Court of the
United States. This College had been founded by .Dr.
Wheelock, on private funds, under a royal charter, before

24

the Revolution. The Legislature of New Hampshire en-
acted a law to place the institution under a new Board of
Trustees or Directors, changing the government, and to
some extent the character of the institution. The old
Board did not consent to this, and disputed the validity
of these acts, on the ground that the old charter was a
contract, and the Legislature was prohibited by the Con-
stitution, to impair its obligation. The highest Court of
New Hampshire sustained the new acts of the Legisla-
ture, against the old Board of Trustees. Great excite-
ment arose on the subject in New Hampshire, and great
consternation among the friends of the College, and, also,
among the friends -of like institutions.

The question whether all eleemosynary and educational
corporations, were to be subject to the changing will of
political legislatures, and to be thrown into the vortex of
party excitement, was vital to their stability and useful-
ness. Mr. Webster felt more than an ordinary interest

in the result of it. T It was the case of his own alma m.azfer,,

who had witnessed the first budding of his genius. The
question was then, new under our Constitution. It is said
that before hearing theargument, Judge Story, having
looked over the papers of the case, remarked, that he did
not see that there was anything in it. Mr. Webster,
made the opening argument, and before he had finished,
the court was convinced, and the law established. Judge

L Marshall declared it the best argument he had ever heard,

and Judge Story often referred to, und spoke of it, with
enthusiasm. This was Mr. Webster’s first appearance in
thatiihiglm tribunal, and perhaps, he never appeared in it
to better advantage. Here, began his great Work of ex-
  Gionstitution of the United States.

 

. in V
A; , W
,

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es
2::
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25

It was his fortune, afterwards, to argue many causes of
great national importance, before the highest legal tribu-
nal of the country, involving theconstruction of the Con-
stitution; and by his arguments, to contribute largely to
the formation of those judicial opinions, which have illus-
trated and expounded that sacred instrument. But his
supremacy in the forum has not been questioned, for a
great many years, and it is only necessary to remark, that
his professional labors ran on, parallel with his labors as a
Legislator and Diplomatist, and that his achievements at

c the bar alone, were sufficient to fill up the measure of the

fame of the greatest lawyers the world has known. But
here we must take leave of him as a lawyer, without men-
tioning many celebrated causes, in which his genius illus-
trated and contributed to the establishment of important
principles of constitutional law. a

I In 1823, Mr. Webster was againelected to Congress-
His former experience in Congress had satisfied his am-
bition in that direction, and he was exceedingly adverse
to abandoning his lucrative practice for the unquiet life
of a political man. He said in his speech on his reception

in Boston, in July last: “ It is now, gentlemen, thirty

years since I came to this city of Boston. I In my early
manhood, I had had some, but not much experience in
political affairs. I had left the world of politics, I thought
forever, and I came hereto pursue my profession, to earn
my living, and maintain and educate my chiil-dren.”“ i‘? It

I was enough for me, and fulfilled all my expectations in

life, that I should be able moderately to provide for my
own necessities, by my professional labors, and enjoy the
pleasures of the intellectual and agreeable society of the

* town of Bo,sto.(n.”

4 V

W26  

“ But no man knows his own destiny,-—--—at least I did
not know mine. ‘ ‘As I was sitting in my office, poring
over Mansfield and Blackstone, in the year 1823, in the
month of October, there came a committee to me. They
did not look like clients ; I did not believe they had any
law suits; Thomas II. Perkins was chairman; another of
the members is now living——-~—-Mr. Wm. Sturgis,-—and they
stood up straight in my presence. I threw down my law
books, and they said: ‘ Sir,we have come to tell you
your destiny; you must give up these law books. We
come to tell you that on Monday next, you will be chosen
to represent the city of Boston, in the Congress of the
United States. We come to make no request, we come
to enter into no discussion, we take no answer.’ Col. Per-
kim made a graceful bow, and with his committee went
off.”

The strife of party was not congenial to Mr. Webster’s
nature. During the seven years of his retirement from
political life, the storm of party had passed by. Mr.
Monroe had served out his first term of the Presidential
office, and had been elected for the second, without oppo-

sition. All parties were dissolved in the general confi-

dence which was accorded to the administration. The
names of Federalist, and Republican, were no longer heard.
If ‘F some prejudices remained longer than their causes,
as the waves lash, the shore for a time after the storm
has subsided,”--—-“ the tendency of all political elements
was to repose.” It was probably this calm state of the
political ocean, which reconciled Mr. Webster again to em-
bark upon it. Since that election, his life has been a
public one,——-devoted to his country. i ~ I
Among the first efforts which signalized his return to

27

Congress, was the introduction of a resolution,—---“ that
provision ought to be made by law, for defraying the ex-
pense incident to the employment of an agent or com-
missioner to Greece, whenever the President shall deem
it expedient to make such appointment.”

The object of this resolution, was to encourage the
brave Greeks, to maintain their cause against the Turks
with the assurance, that their independence would be ac-
knowledged without delay, when they had fought their
way to freedom. He made an elaborate speech. His re-
collections of classic Greece warmed his imagination in
the cause of modern Greece. He felt, also, that America
had an interest in their cause. i A .

After the overthrow of Napoleon, the monarchs of
Russia, Prussia, and Austria formed what was commonly
called, “ the Holy Alliance,” by which, after sundry un-
meaning generalities, with which to blind the public,“ they
proclaim the doctrine, that no change ought to be made

i in governments, or laws, which does not emanate from

those, “ whom God had made responsible for power; and
engage to assist each other to suppress rebellion and rev-0
olution, and claiming that the powers have an undoubted
right to take a hostile attitude in regard to those states
in which the overthrow of the governmenttmay operate as
an example. ‘” These sovereigns had also cast oppre-
bium upon the cause of Greece, fearing the example of her
success, far more than sympathizing with her. sufferings,

under the bloody tyranny of her Turkish masters. lg Scio,

peopled with 130,000 of the most civilized and refined
of the Greeks, had been burnt, and nearly all p the unofl
fending inhabitants slaughtered in a single day, and the
remnant of the people of that devoted island, who es-

28

caped the sword, had been sold into distant and hopeless

bondage. Yet, these A christian sovereigns did not hesi-
tate to countenance the Turk, and frown upon the Greek.

Mr. Webster was of opinion, that popular liberty was
a subject interesting to America, and that she had as good
a right to encourage, as the European monarchs had to
discourage a heroic people, struggling against fearful odds,
for political independence. The kings had claimed the
right to interfere by force, to defeat the progress of pop-
ular liberty,—-——a claim justified by no law of nations; and
Mr. Webster contended, that We had a perfect right, and
that it was our duty, at least, to make manifest our sym-
pathy for the oppressed, in their struggles to be free.

The object of sending the agent or commissioner, pro-
vided for by the resolution, was to enquire into the true
condition of the contest, in order that our government
might welcome the new republic into the family of nations,
the instant she became entitled to that honor. Into this
cause, Mr. Webster poured his whole soul, at the same
time enlightening the discussion with much political in-
formation and learning. Mr. Clay came to his assistance
and made an eloquent speech for the resolution. But
Mr. Randolph and many others took the opposite ground,
and theresolution ‘was ‘lost. The discussion, however,
was published, and was useful to liberty, and served to
encourage the suffering Greeks, thoughlfar ‘ away, in the

if midst of theirperils of War, to hope for friendly counten-

ance from the great American Republic. i ,

. When Hungary was fighting to lmaintain the banner
 freeidom against Austria, our Government sent Dudley
r:il:»:ann, an agent, on alike mission of inquiry, which was
mad»  subject of complaint by Chevalier Hulsemann,

 

29

n the part of Austria :--and in his answer to that com»-
plaint, Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, had an op-
portunity to re-assert and maintain his own views on the
subject. How the chevalier was answered, is not unknown
in Europe, or in America.

The next great subject of debate, which arose after his
return to Congress, was the Tariff, upon which, his course
has been often and severely censured. But it is probable
that most of this censure has originated in a want of a
just comprehension of his views, and in a want of proper
knowledge of the circumstances of the case. "It is said
that his course upon the tariff has been inconsistent. Up
to 1824, and in the session of1824.-, Mr. Webster opposed,
————-strenuously opposed,--the levying of a high tariff for
protection.’ In the session of 1824, he made at great
speech against the bill, then brought forward, enacting
very high duties for the protection of American manu-
factures, amounting to absolute prohibition of the foreign
articles, in many cases. I-Iisl speech has been often
quoted. It was an argument of the Tariff Question,
upon the principles of political economy, and has been
regarded, by not a few, as unanswerable. Mr. Clay was
then Speaker of the House, but took a leading part in
the discussion of the bill, making one of his greatest.ef-
forts in its favor. o t . h

After much discussion and de.1iberation, the bill was

passed, and thereby the policy of the government was
A supposed to be settled. Domestic manufactures were,

thenceforth, to receive the patronage of the government,
by high duties upon foreign manufactures ;-—high enough
to give a decided advantage to the home manufacturer, if

not amounting to an absolute prohibition of the foreign .

30

article. Mr. Webster led New England in her opposition
to the adoption, by the General Government, of this
policy. He did not oppose a moderate encouragement,
to domestic manufactures, by such a just discrimination
in the laying of duties, as should keep up healthful com-
petition. That policy had existed from the foundation of
the government, and at that time, had no opponents.
But, the act of 1824, advanced a long way beyond, and
established a new policy,»--—the high protective policy. It
proposed to change, and did change, the investments
of capital; it proposed to rear up, and did rear up, im-
mense manufacturing establishments, founded upon the
stability of that policy.

In 1828, when it was found that the law, by unforeseen
circumstances, worked a particular hardship to one class
of manufacturers, and failed of its object, an amendatory
act Was introduced, and Mr. Webster, although greatly
disapproving of many things in the bill, voted for it, for
the justice it gave to that class.

When the capital of the country had, upon the invita-
tion, and under the encouragement of the government,
assumed the form of domestic manufactures, and when
the industry of the country had adjusted itself to the policy
and laws of the land,-———a policy not sought by it, but
forced upon it, by the National Legislature, and it was
then proposed, by the Compromise act of 1833, to level
the tariff to a perfect horizontal, excluding all discrimina-
tion, he opposed the proposition. A .

In 1828, he voted to amend the act of 1824, which

had been found to operate unjustly in one particular; and

 he ,opposed the abandonment of the principle of
discriation, contained in the Compromise act.

31

Whoever shall take the trouble to review all his pro-
ductions, relating to the tariff, will find, that Mr. Web-
ster’s opinions were the result of an intelligent theory,
founded upon much reading, and an extensive analysis
of facts. He deprecated Violent changes in the laws, that
affected the modes of employment, and the profits, of labor
and capital. He deprecated the immense sacrifices of prop-
erty, and the ruin to whole classes of industrious individu-
als, that were the inevitable result of fickle legislation, on
the part of the government, upon these vast interests.

' He did not regard it as so important, after all, what was

the policy of the government on the subject of the tariff,
as that, that policy should be known, and permanent. In
allthis, he may have been wrong. But who, of all his
accusers, havebeen able to show us more practical, and
better doctrines, than arelcontained r in his speeches and
writings,upon this difficult and complicated subject?
But it is impossible to notice all the prominent occa-
sions, on which his great parliamentary efibrts were put
forth.   His speeches in the convention of Massachusetts
for forming a new constitution ; his speech upon the
Panama mission, which was intended to carry into prao-
tical operation, the declaration of President Monroe, in
his message of 1823, that we should consider any attempt
on the part of the European powers to extend their sys-
tem of interference with independent nations, on the
principles of “the Holy Alliance,” to any portion -of the

A Western Hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safe-

ty;----his eloquent, zealous, and successful efibrt for the
rewarding of the Revolutionarysoldiers in their old age
with pensions, which seemed to flow as much from the
heart as from the head; his powerful discussions of ques-

82

tions relating to the currency, and commercial exchanges,
and the finances of the country, including his speech
against the bank of 1815, and that upon his own resolu-
tions in 1816, requiring the revenue to be paid in the legal
currency of the United States, by which a sound circulating
medium was restored to the country, as well as numerous
more recent productions on the subject; his report on
the apportionment of representation, the principle of
which, though it did not then prevail, was afterward adopt-
ed by law; his speeches on the Presidential veto, and on
the removal of the deposits; his speech on the Presiden-
tial protest, Which is a masterly exposition of the Con-
stitutional limitations upon executive power; hispspeech
on the appointing and removing power of the President,
which, also, casts a strong light upon that part of the

1 Constitution; his speech upon slavery and the slave-trade,

in the District of Columbia; his speech on the Louisville
canal, in which he urged the most liberalpolicy toward
the West, placing that important improvement upon the
same ground, with theimprovement of the “harbors, piers,
and breakwaters on the sea coast ;” his speech on the
right of pre-emption to actual settlers on the public lands,
in which he differed from Mr. Clay and the Whig party,

, and advocated that right, upon the principle, that the

government Treasury ought not to be enriched by depriving
the settlers of their improvements, but ought to be con-
tent with the fair value of their lands; his speeches upon
the Sub-Treasury, in thegreat contest with Mr. Calhoun
in 1838; with a great many other ofhis distinguished

A ,4 parliamentary efforts;—--every one of which has embalm-
1  great truth, ,a,fl"eotin the welfare of our country,

in   that   to live forever in the memo-

   

33

ries of mankind, and to exert as high an influence upon
the future generations of his countrymen, as they have
exerted upon his contemporaries;-—all these monuments of
his genius, and of his ardent love of country, we must
pass by. The extent of his productions transcends the
scope of an occasion like the present.

Mr. Webster’s style of composition, was suited to the
expression of important thought. «It was so clear as to
be transparent. He could not be misunderstood, without
great prejudice, or great want of honesty, on the part of
those who heard, or read, or criticised him. Without be-
ing ambitious of ornament, he was always tasteful and
classic, always interesting, always suggestive of thought,
always making progress.

He was entirely free from what most writers of our
time, and of all times, have a great deal of; a constant
straining after effect, by sounding words, and brilliant
figures. With an imagination stronger than most men,
and a lively fancy, by which he could, at will, invoke to
his aid all forms of comparison and figurative illustration,
he used them in a manner so happy and judicious, aster
give pleasure to the imagination of the reader, and inform
his understanding, and convince his reason, at one and
the same time go and so chastened and tasteful, as not to

detract, in any manner, from the iclearnesis and simplicity

of his discourse. i

Many persons, who were accustomed to admire high

sounding a phrases, and extravagant comparisons, have sup-
posed that his style. was wholly destitute of ornament.
An amusing instance of this kind of estimate of Mr.
Webster’s style was told by himself; in the latter years of
his life, after his writings had become acknowledged
. 5 v

34

imodels of English composition. Before he had become

so widelyknown, he had, as chairman of a committee of
Congress, carefully prepared. a report, to be read before
the House. On reading it over to the Committee, for
their approval, one member, who was a man of conse-
quence in his part of the country, remarked that he
found no fault with the matter of the report, but would
remind Mr. VVebster, that the subject had excited a good
deal of attention, in the country, and the report would
be , extensively read, and it seemed to him, that more
pains should betaken with the style of it. Wllheyreport
was carefully read over again, when the committee, man,
with a good deal of kindness, said, he supposed it would
have to do 5 he would not object to its being reported to
the House, but, in candor, would remark to Mr. Webster,
that,‘ for an eclucated mom, he had the poorest style of any
person he had ever known. From some recent criticisms,
we might infer, that this distinguished Congressmanwas
not more self-complacent, nor more mistaken in his esti-
mate of Mr.iWebster’s style of composition, than some
who profess to be critics now—a-days, have been, both in
their estimate of the man, and of his works.

, But, simple as was his style, it was not unadorned.
Histhoughts, always happy, and well conceived, were

embodiedin the most, felicitous words to be found in the

language for the purpose, and every production was en-
richedwith tasteful pi and pertinent illustrations, beautiful
conceptions, drawn from the natural world,-—---classical is al-
lusions, void  of A pedantry, but gracefi1l,~—-—,historical allu-

 sions,—-—~comparis,ons,—e-antitheses, and, in short, every
t  of rhetorical. figure was employed with exquisite

it taste“;-s~+all,which,like so many diamonds, and precious

35

stones, added beauty and richness to the original thought

i-—--—the pure gold, in which theywere set.‘

He touched nothing which he did not adorn- Itis
probable, that no man of modern times, has givenmore
care and thought, to the perfection of his style of eX-
pression, Whether Written, or spoken, than Mr. ‘Webster.
He used to say, that “there was a great deal in scratch-
ing out.” He once said to a friend, that “ he had been
all his life trying to get rid of words”, He was iiuniliar
with our English and American classic‘ authors, as well
as with our English and American history.‘ He was
familiar, also, with the best of the ancients classics. ~ All
these sources were made tributary to the perfection of a his
style of composition, by a mind, which, I verily believe
has had no superior inancient or modern times. ‘

Quotations,-—-————and those only from standard Works,——~—-
were sparinglyiused by him,‘and never, unless they were
so peculiarly appropriate, as to adorn his own thought,
and delight his hearer. To say, that he was destitute of
historical knowledge, as has been recently done, by some
one, since his death,--—-vvhose principal object seemed to
be, to say something different from all other.s,----~is an t ab-
surdity toogross to be entitled to anyrespect. “All his
speeches, and all his public addresses, contained happy

historical allusions, and illustrations, which gave a ripe-
ness, that distinguished them from ‘the prolductions‘ of

nearly all the orators and statesmen of the age. ~ l n n
In a long andeventful ‘lcareerof public life, Mr.
Webster has encountered many occasions of great .difii—

culty and responsibility, putting to severe proof, both his a

firmness and his patriotism. Of these, I propose to notice

-three instances, which have arrested public attention, and

36

have awakened a warmth of applause, and a severity of
censure, altogether beyond what falls to the lot of com-
mon men. A  

The first instance, was his conflict with Gen. Hayne
of South Carolina, in 1830, in the Senate of the United
States, upon Mr. Foote’s resolution, relating to the public
lands. The resolution itself, which was made the occasion
of that famous debate, was of no importance. General
Jackson had just been elected President, by an over-
whelming majority. Mr. Adams’ administration had
gone out of power, unpopular, and New England, which
had given him a zealous support, was visited with an ex»-
traordinary amount of odium. Mr. Adams was a New
England man 1 He was not popular, and his A administra-
tion was regarded as a New England administration. The
canvass had been bitter and unsparing, and even the tri-
umph of victory did not seem to mollify the asperity
of the parties. Mr. Clay had, with Mr. Adams, been
driven from the public councils. It seemed to be a set-
tled design, that the North should answer for all the sins
she had ever committed, or been charged with, and the
friends of the last administration, who had survived the
overthrow of Mr. Adams, should be publicly arraigned,
tried, condemned, and executed.

Mr. Foote’s resolution was the first opportunity, which
presented itself for the attack. Mr. Benton commenced
it, and was followed by others, of whom Gen. I-Iayne was

i by far the most prominent and formidable. The Western
and Southern friends of the administration made com,-
mon cause against the obnoxious East. The blows were
canned mainly at the head of Mr. Webster, as an Eastern

m,,and  malst pronent friend of the last adminis-

37

tration still in Congress 5 and he was looked to, for an
answer, if, haply, any answer could be given.

General Jacksonls administration was then new and
popular, and the attack upon the North had such a zealous
concurrence of some of General J acl:son’s friends, and
was so determined, and overbearing, and able, that it pro-
duced a painful depression, amounting to consternation,
in the mindsof the friends of the former administration.
Expectation was all against them-—-——-they had been beaten
at the polls—---tlieir policy condemned by the people, and
they were regarded as doomed men.

But what added immensely to the interest of the oc-
casion was, that Hayne and his friends, then for the first
time, brought into the Senate of the United States, the
fully declared doctrines of Nullification. This was vastly
more important, than all the party and sectional bearings,
which had been given to the debate. The South were
peaceably to nullify the tariff laws of Congress, as “ dan—
gerous, deliberate, and palpable violations of’ the Con-
stitution.” ‘ o l
i Of the result or that debate, but little need be said.
The world knows it by heart. The North was defended,

and justified. The tide of abuse, which had been, for

many days rising against her, was rolled back upon the

r heads of those who had contributed to swell that tide.

N ullification was met, comprehended, and overthrown,
forever. Claiming to be a peaceable remedy under the
constitution, it was, then and there, shown by an argument
of absolute demonstration, to be rebellion and revolution

. against the constitution. When that T day’s sun went
down, the great Southern doctrine, of Nullification was at
A an end... i The plausible logic of those who brought it into

38

—being, could not again revive it. That great speech,

‘ ter of their?“”“

justly entitled Mr. Webster to the appellation of the
“Defender of the Constitution.” The speech, itself, pos-
sessed all the varied merit of the renowned speech of
Demosthenes for the Crown. It abounds in incident, in
retort, in oratorical wit, in classic allusions, in happy com-
parisons, and illustrations; in historical reminiscences,
in clear statement, and in the most sublime bursts of pa-
triotic eloquence, as well as in unerring and unanswerable
logic. T T T

The men of the North, who had been so long oppressed
with chagrin and mortifioation, lifted up their drooping
heads, and stood erect again, and walked proudly down
the Pennsylvania avenue. The North was again respect-
able. N o mortal, ever before or since, so bore the Whole
North, with all her i institutions, A upon his own broad
shoulders, as did Daniel Webster, on that glorious day.
No other debate of our times, has left so lasting an im-
pression on the minds of men. ,

The doctrines of Nullification and Secession were again
argued by Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Webster in 1833, with
more deliberate preparation, and with, perhaps, even
greater display of ability. But the impression on the
popular mind was not so thrilling. The victory had al-
ready been decided. rNullification had been condemned ;
and Secession, which was but another ‘name for the same
thing, shared the same fate; [ General Jackson had declared
against it, and the country Was safe. The Nullifiers had
been efiectually severed from the administration.

What would have been the result, if there had been A

no;such demonstration of the true and dangerous charac—~
ilotctrines, on that occasion, A,  is impossible

 

39

now to determine. l With the powerful advocacy of Gen.
eral I-Iayne, and the still more powerful support of Mr.
Calhoun, and the general favor, which, it at fiI'Sl3 received
from many friends of the administration, if it had not been
met by a demonstration of its danger and absurdity, with
an energy and an eloquence, which carried that demon-
stration home to all hearts, Greneral Jackson might pos-
sibly have been deluded, as were some of his most promi-
nent followers, into a toleration, or even a passive sup-—
port, of the 2 Carolina doctrines. These doctrines were
not well understood, and the source from which they
emanated, was then influential andpopular.

Another trying occasion in the career of Mr. Webster,
occurred after the death of Gen. Harrison, while he was
a member of Mr. Tyler’s A cabinet. In 1841, Gen. Har-
rison and the Whig party came into power, and Mr. Web-
ster became Secretary of‘State. He was then, fifty-nine
years of age. A new field was now opened to him. For,

i although he had been sufficiently prominent in 1824, to

have entitled him to a place in the cabinet of John
Quincy Adams, this was his first executive appointment.
The foreign relations of the country were, at that time
involved in great difficulty, and doubt. Several grea
questions were pending between the British and Ameri-

can governments,-—-—o1d questions that had become more

and more annoying, andlwhich more and more threatened
a rupture ‘between these powerful. nations. For fifty-
eight years,——ever since the treaty of peace, of 1783,
the north-eastern boundary of the United States had
been unsettled, and for most of that time, had beenthe
subject of serious controversy,--—bafiling the diplomacy
of every administration, Whig and Democratic, from that

40

of Washington, down to that of Van Buren. Foreight
years, John Quincy Adams, as Secretary of State under
Monroe, and four years as President, with Henry Clay,
his Secretary of State, labored in vain to relieve our for»-
eign relations of this formidable question.

Surveys, explorations, reports, and fruitless arbitrations
were all that had been accomplished; while the subject
became every year more and more involved. Gen. Jack»
son took it in hand with his characteristic energy; but
in every message, he reported this leading question of
our foreign relations, unsettled, and he left it to his suc-
cessor, Mr. Van Buren, as far from a settlement, as he
found it. Mr. Van Buren and his Secretary of State
had no better success. Every year, this vexed question
came round in the message, as the most prominent, the
most pressing, and the most difficult of all our nationa.l
controversies; and involving the peace of the country.
Projects and counter projects for a. new exploration were

made, and also, for a new arbitration. But the details of ,

their plan, after four more years of industrious negotia-
tion, had not been agreed upon, when, with all its pro-
found intricacies, in 1841, it fell into the hands of Gen.
Harrison. r

In the mean time, dangerous collisions had arisen.
Maine had lost her patience and taken up arms,-—-«-Gren.
Scott had been sent to therfrontier, and the danger of a
rupture was imminent. The apprehension of war,»-———-which
is half as bad as war itself,———--had become constant, in-

' terrupting the commerce, and seriously affecting the bus- A

iness by of the country. A A
Another question of scarcely less difficulty and danger,

was that .owing out of the destructtion of A the stearnboat

Caroline, and thelarrestof McLeod. r S

41

The Caroline, which, in the year 1837, had been engaged
in the service of the rebel forces, against the government
of Canada, along the line of the United States, in defi-
ance of the laws of both countries,---had been seized by
the British troops, on the American side of the line, set
on fire, and sent over the falls of Niagara; and in the ac-
complishment of this purpose, one man was said to have
been killed. The British government at once avowed the
act as its own. After three years of negotiation on this
subject, without any result, McLeod, a British subject,
was arrested in the State of New York, for murder,---on
the ground that he was in the expedition against the
Caroline. When it was known in England, that a British
subject was about to be tried for his life, on account of
serviceslrenderecl as a British soldier, in obedience to mili-
tary command, the national spirit was roused, and the
government of England remonstrated in the most decided
terms against the trial of McLeod. This was the state
of things, when Mr. Webster took charge of our foreign

relations. McLeod’s release was demanded, and war was ’

denounced, if he should be held. Here, then,Was an-
other emergency. . l p .

Another irritating question, was that of the right of
search, or visit, which had long threatened the peace of
the two’ countries, and had been the subject of many in-
effectualsattempts to make a treaty. The question also,

of the iimpressment of American seamen into the British

service, vvhich had been the chief cause of the last war

with England, but had’ been left out of the treaty of peace

at Ghent, still remained open.

Such were but a part of the controversies on hand, in

the State Department, when Mr. Webster took charge of
6

42

it. To every one of them, he addressed himself, on
taking the office, with all the enthusiasm of his youth.
He thought he saw how to accomplish something great
and good for his country, and creditable to himself.

As to McLeod, he assumed the responsibility of saying
to the British government, that inasmuch as it avowed
the act, for which he was arrested, as its own, our govern-
ment, holding z'Z responsible, would scorn to hold McLeod;
but demanded satisfaction for the violation of our terri-
tory in crossing the line to seize the Caroline. Our gov-
ernment was at once placed in the right, and war between
two mighty nations was averted, in perfect consistency
with the highest honor of both, by a prompt admission
and assertion of the true principles of public law. An
ample apology, “ all that a ‘nation of high honor could
give, and all that a nation of high honor would ask,” was
obtained for the violation of our territory in seizing the
offending boat.

Unwilling to waste his strength in the further prosecu-
tion of what seemed to him the futile proceedings in
which the North-eastern boundary had become involved,
Mr. Webster proposed at once to abandon them ; and in-
vitecl the British government, to authorize her represen-
tative to treat upon the footing of a conventional line,
with equivalents. That government accepted the pro-
posal, and at once commissioned Lord Ashburton, as a
special minister, with full power to undertake A the great
work of negotiating on that, and other subjects, with Mr.
Webster, at Washington. is i a ‘v p i v A

In the meantime, General a Harrison had died; Mr-
 hiad, su,oce;eded;; many of the leading Whig mea-

sures  i been brouht forward ‘and: pi-arsseid through Con-

43

gress, and become laws, but theBank bill had been lost
by a disagreement between the President and the Con-
gress. The merits of that controversy it is not necessary
to discuss; but so high did the excitement rise, that all
the members of the Harrison cabinet resigned their places,
with the exception of Mr. Webster. The Secretary of
State stood alone. A

Then it Was, that he felt the Weight of the displeasure
of his own party, which demanded that he should resign

also. He had learned to bear, with equanimity, the re-‘

preaches of the other party, but the taunts of his own
friends put his philosophy to an unaccustomed test. His
motives were freely impugned, his moral character and
his political character aspersed, and all his conduct de-
nounced. Anon, he was patronized with unmeaning re-
grets, with faint expressions of hopes of restoration to
favor, and with officious advice for the future, from politi-
cal busy-bodies, which were really worse to bear than the
outspoken rage of the unthinking multitude,

But his purposes were not shaken. Being in a posi-
tion, where he could accomplish something valuable for
his country, he “ staid there.” And this was the only
reason, he deigned to render for his conduct. T

The responsibility of undertaking to agree upon any

conventional line, by which a portion of the tsterritory

claimed by Maine, should be surrendered for equivalents,

and to say what those equivalents should be, in the ex»

cited state of the public mind, was too heavy, and fraught
with too much danger, to be assumed for any light cause.
Maine and Mas:sachusetts were, at once, invited to ap-
point commissioners, to representthem in the negotiation 5

A —-—~—-ameasure of undoubted policy.

44

In six months’ time, all these several subjects of angry
controversy,—-—-all delicate, all difficult, and most of them
of long standing, were settled, by a treaty which received
the sanction of the Senate by a vote of thirty-nine to
nine; satisfied Maine, Massachusetts, ‘ New Hampshire,
Vermont, and New York, all of which States were direct-
ly interested in the result; and secured to the United
States important advantages, among which, was the own-
ership of a strip of land, extending the whole length
of the north line _of New York and Vermont, including

Rouse’s Point, a place of great importance in a military A

point of view. Rouse’s Point had been fortified many years
ago, upon the supposition, that it was south of the 45th
degree of North latitude, the line between Canada and the
United States. But on investigation, the parallel proved
tobe further south than had been supposed, and Rouse’s
Point, with a long strip of land in on possession, actually
belonged to Canada, according to the treaty of 17 83_
This treaty of 1842, re-established the old line of occu-
pancy. By the settlement of the dispute as to the North-
western-most head of the Connecticut river, New Hamp-—
shire gained a hundred thousand acres of land.

The suppression of the slave-trade on the coast of

Africa, to which both parties had long been pledged be-- \

fore the world, but to effect which, they had not been able
to agree upon any plan, was providedfor by a small squadron
to be kept by each, party in that service, with instructions
enabling them to co-operate in carrying out the great end
of breaking up that horrid traific. This provision super-
seded the much talked of quintuple treaty with right of

search, the European powers having adopted this, and

given up their own plan.

45

For the first time in the history of diplomacy, wasalso
then introduced into a treaty, a provision for the I extra-S
dition of persons charged with high crimes. Up to that
time,.every nation, civilized as well as savage, had been
a secure refuge for the murderers, robbers, and pirates of
foreign lands. This stipulation has also been followed, as
a model, in subsequent treaties between the nations of
Europe, and is likely to become a principle of public law.
Nor was the subject of impressment overlooked. The
doctrine. _ of our own government was distinctly and
authoritatively announced by Mr. Webster, and responded
to by Lord Ashburton, in a manner to show that, that
ancient pretension of England was given up forever; and
that hereafter, “In every regularly-documented American
merchant-vessel, the crew who navigate it, will find their
protection in the flag which is over them.” A

Such were some of the objects, to which Mr. Webster
devoted himself as Secretary of State, and for which he
remained in office under President Tyler, instead of resign-
ing, as did his colleagues. He had prepared himself for
these services, and whosoever shall review the State pa-
pers produced by his pen, during that dark. and tempes-
tuous period, will wonder that so much could have been
done so well, in so short a time;

The history of diplomacy furnishes no parallel. For
the hope of accomplishing these greatobjects ; averting
the horrors of war; securing the blessings of peace,-—-

permanent peace,-—-—-and national good will 5 providing a

friendly and successful method of suppressing the slave
trade, and advancing the administration of criminal justice;
he chose to suffer afflictin, in the detraction and abuse

, heaped upon him by his own party. N 0 other American

46

combined in himself the influences necessary to negociate
that treaty. He had the confidence of Maine and Massa-
chusetts, and England, as well as that of his own govern-
ment. If he had abandoned his post, who could have
taken up and executed his plans ?--—and how uncertain
would have been the result? Fifty years had been spent
by former negotiators, both Whig and Democratic, and
their only progress had been backward. He had origin-
ated a plan of his own, involving the highest personal risk
and responsibility on his part, but promising immense good
to his country, if he succeeded. He believed he could
accomplish that good, and was Awflling to incur that risk.

The crises of 1842, are now past, and we can look back
upon them without apprehension. But

“If again the rude whirlwind should rise 1

The dawnings of peace, should fresh darkness deform,
The regrets of the good. and the fears of the wise.
Shall turn to the Pilot that weathered the storm.”

But the treaty of Washington, and the correspondence
connected with it, formed a part, only, of the diplomatic

services of Mr. Webster, under Mr. Tyler’s administration. a

It was under his guidance, that diplomatic relations were
opened with the Imperial Court of China, resulting in a
treaty of amity and commerce. His letter of instruc-
tions to Mr. Cushing, the Commissioner to the Celestial
Empire, and the letter addressed to the Emperor, and
signed by the President, are specimens of genius, taste,

and judgment. It is hardly too much to say, that they

are inimitable. A A . . A
The correspondence between the Spanish government,

a on  Amisted case, justifying the course of our govern-

rejecting the claims of Spain, for indemnity; the

4:7

as   . 
correspondence I I the German Zoll Vererng the cor-
respondence with Portugal respecting. the duties on wines,
and the true construction of the treaty with that govern-
ment; the correspondence with the Mexican authorities
respecting the American citizens captured at Santa Fe,
which resulted in saving them to their friends and country;
the famous correspondence with the Mexican minister,
Bocanegra, upon the Independence of Texas, in which the
pretensions of Mexico, that Texas was still a province of
that government, were answered and refuted in a manner
to set the matter at rest; the correspondence upon the
independence of the Sandwich Islands; and, what I have
ever regarded as, at least, equal to any of his diplomatic
productions, his letter to Mr. Everett, then our Minister
to the court of St. James, of March 28th, 1843, on the
question of the right, put forth by the British government,
to visit merohantmen, to see if they had slaves, in which
the right of visit is shown to be identical with the right
of search, and the claim of the British Ministry as to both
demonstrated to be Wrong, and forever laid at rest, each
and all of whichbear. the marks of his genius and his labor,
and, besides forming an important part of the history of our
country, are a rich accession to American literature. .
Under Mr. Webster’s hand, diplomacy assumed a new
character. Instead of cocealment, circumlocution, and
delay, an open and direct style of intercourse with the
representatives of foreign Courts, was introduced. We
find that  Websterand Lord Ashburton took up the
great matters between the nations represented by them,
in the most frank and practical way. No two merchants
could go more directly and in a more business fashion
about the statement of an open account, than did these

48

negotiators go about adjusting the North-eastern bound-«
ary, the case of the Caroline and of McLeod, the right of
search, impressment, the suppression of the slave trade,
andthe extradition of criminals. E w
The fairness and directness of that correspondence, on
both sides, challenge universal admiration. All ceremo-
nious preliminaries were dispensed with. Some of the
old Senators, who had a relish for the ancient precedents,
were astonished to find no protocols, no cautious steps, by
which the diplomatists gradually approached each other;
no ingenious language, by which each negotiator, upon
the principle of Talleyrand, concealed his own thoughts,
and the intentions of his own government. All was open
and out-spoken, like the intercourse of friends; and what
Would have run through many years of the old fashioned
deceitful diplomacy, was finished in less than six months.
Another consequence was, that there was created a mu-
tual confidence between the negotiators; and that confi-
dence extended from themselves to their governments, and
people. Who of our own country did not regard Ash-
burton as a friend? The same sentiment, only in a greater
degree, existed in England toward Webster. He was the
medium of communication between our country and Eng-»

‘, land fora longer time, and was therefore better known in
England than was Ashburton in America. In England,

Mr. Webster was regarded as the great Pacificator of our
country. , i A
His justice, and his knowledge of public law, were uni-

“ versally acknowledged in Europe, and as a statesman and

diplomatis 1:, his position was peculiar and commanding.
He is, undoubtedly, contributed largely to elevate the
estimafl set? upon American character,in.Europe. A What

 

49

American, abroad, has not felt that influence, and been
proud to acknowledge himself . a countryman of Daniel

Webster. ,   V
His character was a guaranty, that peace would con-

tinue. The nations of Europe, for the first time, have
thought it no dishonor to receive the exposition of pub-
lic law from an American Secretary. He dared to pro-
pose what was right, and at once to waive those claims,

p which, though doubtful to others, were clearly wrong to

him.

And now, after the lapse of ten years from the inaugu-
ration of General Harrison, as we turn back to consider
the Whig measures, resulting from the great triumph of
1840, how little remains to remind us of Whig power, be-
yond the labors of the Secretary of State? The great
measures of the party, which were passed through Con-
gress, have all been repealed, and now live only in history-
But the Treaty of Washington remains, a monument, alike
of Whig power, and patriotic service, and will remain for—-

ever; and will form an important chapter in the, history,

of the Union, when the parties, and the partiz.ans, of 1842,
and 184L3,will be unregarded,if not unknown. _    W   -

The next important epoch, in the career of Mr, Web-
ster, was the 7th of iMarch 1850, when he delivered‘
the speech, in which, he anjounced to the country his
opinions on the great vquestpio then pending in Congress,
between the North andthe South. it Much has been 
of that speeich. Perhaps. no man has ever been more
perseveringly pursued, with denunciation and abuse, than
he has been,by a class of persons in the FreeStates, since
that day. His position on that occasion, therefore, are-
quires our attention.  in W

7

50

A crisis had come, when the Union was believed, by the
the most experienced and best men in the I nation, and by
him among them, to be in imminent peril. Men of local-
ized minds, on both sides of Mason and Dixon’s line, had
agitated the questions, growing out of the annexations from
Mexico, till, at least one of the opposing sections of the
country, was almost ripe for separation. Nor had this
peril been unlbreseen or iifltblcl, by Mr. Webster, when
these conquests were made, and territories acquired. He
then anticipated the trials, that would come, when the
questions of Slavery and Freedom should be applied to the
new acquisitions, and trembled for the result. This was
the ground of his opposition to the ratification of the
treaty, which gave us those immense regions to contend
about. This danger, not manifest to others then, became
palpable to all, in the progress of events, most exactly as
he had foretold. All, or almost all, saw the crisis at hand,
and felt the danger. The infatuated lovers of strife and
disunion, both North and South, were in ecstacics, as
they saw the angry passions rise in Congress, and “else-
where, throughout the country. The men of most ex-
perience, and with the largest opportunities for observation,
at the seat of government, were appalled at the prospects.
No healing measure could pass through the Senate, if
every. Senator adhered‘ to the extreme local vievvsof the
section of country from which he came. TheMissouri
question had shaken the country to its centre; but here
Were more and greater questions, than that of the admis-
sion of Missouri. Here was Clalifornia, with her free con-

stitution, knocking for admission. A I-Iere were Texas and

   

W .Mexico, contending, with arms in their hands, for
«react of country claimed by both.?’%r.l Here were New

51

Mexico and Utah, without a government, and Congress,
after six month_s of strife and furious contest, Wholly nu-—
able to give them one. And here Were, the deep and
ominous complaints from the South, that the obligations
of the constitution, as to the reclamation of fugitives from
service, were repudiated by the North.

Then it Was, that Mr. Webster came forward, and held
up to each of the opposing sections, the mirror of truth,
and signified by the speech above referred to, the terms
upon which he would vote for a compromise. On the one
hand, California was to be admitted, notwitlistanding the
irregularities of her application, with her constitutional
prohibition of slavery 3 and Texas was to yield a portion
of the territory claimed by her, to the United States, for
a consideration. On the other hand, the Territories were
to receive Territorial governments, without the proviso;
and an amendment of the Fugitive slave law was to be
passed, with the purpose of carrying out the provision of
the Constitution on that subject.

Without some conciliatory measures, like these, the
government could not proceed T Legislation had come to

a stand. It is vain to speculate upon the acau.ses,uWcih a

had brought the country into that unhappy state. The
South had, undoubtedly, been sadly disappointed. The
discovery of the gold mines, had brought to Cahfrnia, an
unexpected influx of population from theVFree Stat"es,Who
had at once formed a cons‘titution, shutting the door on
slavery, and presented themselves to Congress, for admis.»
sion. New Mexico had , shown the same disposition on
the subject of slavery; and of Utah, the South had never
anything to hope. The hopes of the South, in relation to
the extension of slave territory, were signally, and in la

52

wonderful manner disappointed. She saw that she was
about not only T to lose her ascendancy _in the Senate,

which she had hoped from the annexation of Texas, but i

by the admission of California, to be thrown into a minori-
ty, withthe decided prospect, thatNew Mexico and Utah
would soon be added to the roll of the Free States. Her
politicians were struck with despair. So great was their
distrust of the justice of the North, that they feared that
if they once became subject to her power, they would no
longer have any guaranty, against tyranny and oppres-
sion. Their attachment to the Union, was weakened.
They felt, that they were about to be deprived of that
equality of’ power in the Union, which they had been
taught to believe essential to the security of equal privi-
leges to all its members. They had, therefore, no such
strong bond, to attach them to the Union, as had the
people of the North, who were just about to enter into

the undisputed majority. in both houses of Congress. It

was manifest to .Mr. Webster, that there must be concilia-
 »I’eo"n and liberality, or that all would be lost. In ‘this, he
concurred with Mr. Clay, Gen. Cass, Mr. Benton, and the
--most experienced statesmen and patriots of the nation.
Here we are met, by men who Were not in that part of
the country where the danger was manifest, with the as-
sumption, that no danger existed ;--:---but that California
could have been admitted, the proviso put on the territo-
ries, the Fugitive slave law rejected, and every measure of
the North carried with as high hand, and the Southern
members, and the Southern people, finding they could not
ilntimidate. the North, would submit and be quiet. T

 

 the first place, this assumption is contradicted and

disproved, by the witnesses, whose opportunities of knowl-

53

edge entitle them to credit. It is disproved, by the uni- A

form testimony of both parties in the South, the region

l where the danger lay. It is also contradicted, by the

testimony of the most experienced statesmen, of both
parties, in the North, who were at the seat of government,
and had the best opportunities to ascertain the truth, on

the subject. Besides, the Congress had ceased to make

progress in business. SlX..II1011l3i1S had been spent in cri-
mination and recrimination, and nothing had been accom-
plished, and there was no prospect of anything being ac-
complished. _

It is an easy thing pertly to deny the existence of
danger, When the danger is past, or at a distance.
Indeed it is natural, to flatter ourselves that things will go
on, as they have done, especially if the cloud which is
charged with. danger, is distant. Such has been the eX--
perience of all the nations that have fallen by civil com-
motion,-———-pand what republic, but this, has escapedthat
very catastrophe ?

The majority has generally thought all was secure, and
that their opponents were only seeking to gain their points
by threats of rebellion. Like the dwellers upon the earth
when Noah was preparing for the flood, they believe noth-
ing which they do not, with their own eyes, behold. When
the patriot, seeing the true nature of theperil, seeks to
overcome itby the appropriate mea, Wheiencountersthe
scoffs and cntumely of all this class of unbelievers. Some
have thought they ‘could findcountenance in thus deny-
ing the testimony of the best Witnesses, by alleging r the
regular progress of business in the country, and especially
by asserting that the stock market remainedquiet.

Without admitting that the value of the public funds.

54

was undisturbed during those perils, or that they furnish
a true index of the actual danger, its is sufficient to re-

mark, that the apprehension of a rupture was allayed, by T

the confidence of the whole country in the men at the
head of affairs in Washington. If Webster, and Clay,
and Class, and Benton, and Fillmore, and others who acted

with them, had not been in the Senate, or at the head of

the government, who can tell how the stocks would have
stood ? Nay, if these wise and patriotic statesmen had
been removed, at that crisis, and replaced with those
other statesmen who believe that the Union will take care
of itself, and that Congress is a safe and cornrnodious
place for the exhibition of champions, but who cannot
reconcile ourOonstitution with the higher law of God;
and they retained the same opinions, when in power, which
they had advocated when trying to get into it,—--——who
doubts that the greatest consternation would have prevail-
ed, and that it would have affected the funds in the market,
and every kind of business ?

There is but one theory which can explain that point
in the career of Mr. Webster. It has been charged by
some, occupying extreme grounds in the North, that it

was an ambitious bid for the favor of the South. Like .
the disappointed partisans of 1842 and 1843, these men

can see no room for patriotism. Believing him to beambi-
tious, they infer that he was unpatriotic. They forget that
the favor of the North was far more valuable to him,

than that of the South, and that Daniel Webster was not .

blind, nor idiotic. They it forget to consider that Mr.

rWebster had, on former occasions, stood against his party,

for principle. They forget to give him any credit for the

eXperi*etl:*ce~ he had had, and the uniform tattachmentwhich, A

U55

from his earliest life, he had shownasfor the Union. , They

or forget to consider that his means of information as to

the real danger to that Union, were better than their
own, and as good as any one in the Union possessed, and
that other minds of the first order and greatest experi-
ence in the country, North and South, were of the same
opinion. They forget, above all, that they were them-
selves under the strong influence of local excitement, and
were consequently very liable to be mistaken.

But, how was the North affected by this great series
of measures ‘Z, In the first place, she secured a decided
supremacy in both houses of Congress, by the admission
of the new and glorious State of California; with the pros-
pect of several more Free States, to be formed out of
Utah and New Mexico. In the next place, the line of
Texas was settled, and a portion of the immense territo-
ry claimed by her, relinquished, by which, even a part of
the territory before subject to be made the abode of
slaves, under Texan laws,-—-——larger than the State of Ohio,
-—--was given up to the General Government, and is now
free soil.

They lost theiWilmot Proviso. But what was that
proviso, but a prohibition of slavery? No slavery existed
in New Mexico, or Utah. . New Mexico had no law tol-
grating slavery, and she soonafter voted herself a consti-
tution, expressly excluding it;----and who supposed that

i slaves were likely to find their way to Utah? Those

countries were not suited to support the institution ; and
the people, as well as their laws, were decidedly opposed
to it. How can slavery be introduced into those territo-
ries? Whoever shall venture to carry his slaves thith-

r er, therebymakes them free. It has been decided by the

56

highest Court in the Union, that slavery is the “creature
of the municipal law. Without legal provisions it can-
not exist. New Mexico and Utah have no more law for

slavery, than has Massachusetts; and are as much free

countries, with this difference, that Massachusetts has
the power to enact slavery, if she should so determine,
which New Mexico and Utah cannot do, without the ap-
proval of the general government. How then are slave-
holders to gain such an ascendancy, as to pass laws cre-
ating slavery, when they cannot carry a single slave into
the country, and keep him such. In other words, how
can New Mexico be made a slave country without slave-
holders? And how can she have slaveholders, when, by
her laws, no man can hold slaves? The law is clear on
the subject, and the result is inevitable.

But Mr. Webster said, that the nature of these coun-
tries rendered slavery impossible,-—-a reg-,i.o11 of lofty moun-
tains, and narrow vales,-——of streams which are dry at large

part of every year,-——of a soil that without irrigation, is A

barren; where neither cotton, nor sugar, nor rice,-—-——the
great products of slave labor,-——-—can be raised.

There can be no doubt that Mr. Webster and those
Northern men who acted in concert with him, believed that

slavery never could be introduced into New Mexico or T

Utah, and that the Wilrnot Proviso was a mere Zmmm;
fuZmen ;—---a taunt, irritating to the South, and useless to
the North; and under the circumstances of the country,

only mischievous in its influences. T The appropriate use-

of a proviso of that kind, is to be applied to a region
likely to be T occupied by slaves.‘ When Texas was free-

ceived into the Union, with the sure prospect of slavery,‘

 

the  spots, Proviso would have been asensible.  A

57.

But Mr. Webster is charged with inconsistency because“

he had said he was unalterably opposed to the extension of
slavery ; and had said that the Wilmot Proviso men were
not entitledto take out a patent for this prohibition, as
any invention of their’s; and that he had himself always:
acted upon it, and always intended to act upon it.
But he never pledged himself to go for applying this pro-
viso when it was unnecessary. This proviso is, in fact,
not a principle. It is but a means to an end. If the end
is attained, the proviso has no application, and is useless.

What Mr. Webster did pledge himself to, was, opposi-
tion to the extension of slavery. To this pledge he has
ever been true. If they who are so loud in their denun-
ciations of him, had all been as true to that principle as
he, when Texas was brought into the Union, the extension
of slavery might possibly have been earlier limited. l ’ W

But it is said, that Mr. Webster favored the present
Fugitive slave law. . Though not in the Senate, when the
bill was actually passed, he may be considered as favoring
the series of measures, of which this formed a part. In
February, 1850, however, he prepared, or caused to be
prepared, an act amendatory of the Fugitive act of 1793,
and on the thirdof June, introduced it to the Senate,
by whose order? it was printed. This bill contained a pro-.
vision ‘for a trial by jury, in all cases Where the person
claimed as a slave, should, “ under oath, deny, that he
owed service to. the claima .” This bill was afterwards
superseded by the bill of Mr. Mason, which was passed
after Mr. Webster became Secretary of State. v

But a Fugitive slave law has been in force since 1793",
which allowed no a jury; and, notwithstanding the clamor

  l on this subject, there never has been a single authentica-

8

58‘

ted case, under the old law, or under the new,--so far as
I have been able to learn,——---where a free man has lost his
liberty by it; and there is no probability that there ever
will be such a case. Slave-holders are not about to ex-
pose themselves to the hazards of coming to a Free State,
to subject freemen to bondage. To reclaim their slaves,
requires all their courage. No, the objection to this law
goes against the Constitution itself. It is not‘ any appre-
hension that free men will be carried into slavery, against
the Constitution, but that slaves will be reclaimed, accord»-
ing to the Constitution.

Mr. Webster held, and it was a ruling principle of ac-
tion with him, that if we would have our Constitution
perpetual, we must abide by, and observe it,-——--that if we
would have its manifold blessings ourselves, we must per-
form our duty under it, and not repudiate our solemn ob-
ligations to others. , Such were his views on this subject;
and there is no reason to doubt his sincerity. It was in
perfect consistency with his whole life.

He was undoubtedly, first, and last, and always, oppos-
ed to slavery; but his mind never narrowed itself down

i to the idea of overturning this wide spread institution,

by encouraging here and there a negro, to run away from
his master. a He took broader views of the subject. He
may havebeen in a error. But such were his principles,
and they were undoubtedly honest. Love of country was
a living, active principle, of his . whole life. A It overruled
his party predilections; it overruled his sectional pre-

, judices; it inspired his mind with a highland“ glowingzeal, r
 .  encountered the greatest obstacles with hope and
i f 2;  and enabled him to stand alone, for his country, .

  

st, the voice of hisown friends, and evenagainst the

,..;».\;,»«m-A-.§:a.s<

59

voice of his own Massachusetts. It was this elevated

and impartial character, that gave him sofwide an influ-
ence inthe Union. The South saw and felt the noble
principles of his conduct, and listened to his advice.
They felt, that he was not contending for a victory over
them, but for justice to all. The same elevation of char-
acter, Which gave him influence with foreign nations, and
caused them to confide in his justice, gave him weight
with those sections of the country, most distant from that
Where he was born, and where he resided. .
But how impotent and how absurd are the reproaches
cast upon him by a class of deluded men, who declare
that he has not been true to the North! Who of them
all, has shown. a steady and poten.t friendship tothe North,
to compare with him? Nay, all of those who have sought
to fill the ears of the public with maledictions against his
fair fame, andwho have labored hard to deprive the coun-
try of the honor of producing the greatest man of the
age,—--what have they all done for freedom, or for the
North, that could have entitled any one, or all of them,
to lecture Daniel Webster on that subject,‘ or that can
warrant them now to malign his memory? W

Daniel Webster not a friend to the North! The his- A

toryof What he has done,‘ and Whatrhe has been, for the
N orth, and for the whole 1 country, th~ou,h he be’i1ow‘ead,

will yet do for the N orth,-——-for old iMas.saclfusietts her- "

 

self,-—-what il'rons of .such men, as are these his malign-
ers, could“ not, and would not do, if they could live on
earth forever. cl He not a friend to the North, and her in-9
stitutionsl What has his whole: life been, but one living,
glowing epistle, unto all men, of the merit, and glory of
the North T? How poorly could the,North spare the fame,

60

or the services, of Webster! Obliterate his name, char-
acter, and services from the record of the last fifty years,
and how differently would read the history of the United

. States? But immeasurably greater would be the loss to the

North, than to the South, by such an obliteration. The
South would still have her Clay, and her Calhoun.

But against slavery itself, Webster has rendered more
substantial service, than any of these philanthropists.
What he has said on that subject, has been read by mil-
lions, and already, by more than one generation. Wlien
he met the South on the Foote resolution, he put slavery
Where it belonged,--—--the first on the catalogue of mighty

, evils; but he has not deemed it useful, or proper, to pur-

sue the slave-holcler, with abuse and invective. This,
would be neither noble, nor fair, nor politic. Ranting
about slavery, effects no good object. Indeed, the most
famous of these declaimers against slavery and slave-
holders in our country, have exerted no good influence on
the minds of those who have the control of that institu-
tion; they have obtained some undeserved praise from
one another ,-., they have caught some crumbs of office,
that the two great parties could not agree how to distribute

among themselves; but the evidences of any good ac-

complished by them for the slave, or the slave-holder, for
the Free States, or the Slave States, or the United States,
are altogether wanting. . i l . i l

i It has been Mr. Webster’s misfortune, that hehas stood

peculiarly in the Way of all that class of men, who were
A i 3 too uch infatuated on any subject, to submit to the Con-

tution; they did not like that instrument——he loved it,
  :,l.~always defended fit, with his best efforts ;, they agi-
i  Ea,  spoke great deal, and  few read their lu-

 
 
 

61

cubrations; he spoke, and the nation read, and gave heed
to what they read. When these men were in a fair

. Way to get up an excitement in Massachusetts, or in some

other corner of the Union, a few sober and just words
fitly spoken by him, blighted their prospects. They have
been peculiarly annoyed by him. Not that he has
sought to annoy anybody, but, that as he preserved the
even tenor of his own way, his influence has, incidentally,
kept them in check. All the enemies of the Constitution
hated Webster; they could never derive any comfort from
him. Especially was he odious to the disunionists of the
north, because being himself from their vicinity, he was a
more fatal extinguisher, to them, than any Southern man
could be. They delighted in the opposition of the South.
Indeed, opposition, from any source, exhilarated them. It
caused a commotion, and kindled a flame, and gave them
consequence and hope. It was this incidental extinguish-
ment, which they detested.

I would not be understood, as denying to many of’ this
class of persons, sincere and honest purposes. I regard
their doctrine as one of the numerous forms, which hu-
man infatuation assumes, growing Stronger and more in-
tolerant, in proportion to the absurdity of the opinions

r upon which it is founded. Mr. Webster always gave them,

credit for sincerity and honesty,—--—a compliment they
Were not  careful to reciprocate.  l l A
Mr. We

ester lovedthe Union, and cherished it, as the ark

of our liberties. Though conservative, he was not against

progress. He readily fell into the support of useful and
liberal improvements. But he dared not let go the Con-
stitution of our government, which he regarded as the

62

best gift from God to our fathers, and entirely consistent
with the highest law, known on earth, or among men?“

A We have another field to notice, in which Mr. Webster
shone with original and peculiar lustre. His Orations and
Addresses, on anniversary and other occasions, form a most
important accession to American literature.

The oration delivered by him, on the second centennial
celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims, in the year
1820, was the first of that class of productions, which
have been incorporated into his published Works. That
discourse combined the excellencies of the historian and
the poet, with those of the orator. By the force of his
imagination, the Pilgrims seemed to live again, and to
pass in review before us. The imagination of Homer has
clothed the heroes of Greece, and of Troy, with no more
life-like characters, and with no more poetic interest, than
those with which Webster has invested the Pilgrims and
their early history. He caught the inspiration of the oc-
casion. He comprehended and felt the full nature of the
events and characters he celebrated. He stood on the
rock of Plymouth, two hundred years from the day upon

* N0'I'iEp:--—-It has been reported, since the decease of Mr. Webster, that he said
before his death, that he had made a mistake in his seventh of March speech; and
some newspapers have given currency to the report. That it was a fiction, was
manifest. But wishing authentic information, I addressed a note of inquiry to
Mr. Webster’s son on the subject, and received the following reply:

Bosrosr, December 27, 1852.

MY DEAR. Sm :—--The report to which you refer, viz: that my father said he made

a mistake in his seventh of March speech, is in every respect untrue. The assertion

 it  and you have my authority for denying it.

there been occasion, he woialidlhave done the thing over again. The belief

that by effort he had , aided to preserve the Union, and restore. good feeling

throngheiittthe country, cheered him to his latest hour. a, 
  _ T T “ Always yours, . ”

 
   

FLETCHER pwnnsrnn.

63

which that rock “received the feet of the Pilgrims,” and
his great heart heaved with genuine emotions, as he poured
forth the true, and yet poetic thoughts, inspired ‘in his
heart, by the place, the time, and the assembly ;—-—-——com-
mencing with the exclamation: “Let us rejoice that we
behold this day! Let us be thankful that we have lived
to see the bright and happy breaking of the auspicious
morn which commences the third century of the history
of New England, * *, Forever honored be this, the
place of ourfathers’ refuge. Forever remembered the day
which saw them weary and distressed,-——-broken in every
thing but spirit, poor in all but faith and courage,--—-at
last secure from the dangers of wintry seas, and impres-
sing this shore with the first footsteps of civilized man.”

And when he has introduced us to the puritans them-
selves, and taught us their character, the constancy of
their ‘faith, their sincerity, their perseverance, and the
variety of their qualifications, and put in their mouths
words which breathe thefwell known sentiments, we seem
to hearthose devoted patriarchs of New England exclaim,

, “ If God prosper us, if God prosperus, we shall here

begin a work that shall lastfor ages‘; we shall plant here
a new society, in the principles of the fullest liberty
and the purest religion; we shall subdue this wilder-
ness which is before us; we shall fill this region of
the great continent, which stretches almost from pole
to pole,  civilization and christianity; the temples
of the it  l

 

 shall rise, where now ascends the

sake of t idolatrous sacrifice; fields and gardens, the A

flowers of summer, and the waving and golden harvests of
autum, shall «»spread3 over a thousand hills, and stretch
fallen a thousand valleys never yet, since’ the creation,

64

reclaimed to the use of civilized men. We shall whiten
this coast with the canvas of a prosperous commerce; we
shall stud the long and winding shore, with a hundred
cities. That which we sow in weakness shall be raised in
strength. From our sincere, but houseless worship, there
shall spring splendid temples to record Grod’s i goodness;
from the simplicity of our social union, there shall arise
wise and politic constitutions of government, full of the
liberty which we ourselves bring and breathe; from our
zeal for learning, institutions shall spring, which shall
scatter the light of knowledge throughout the land, and,
in time, paying back where they have borrowed, shall con-
tribute their part to the great aggregate of human knowl-

edge; and our descendants, through all generations, shall

look back to this spot, and to this hour, with unabated
affection and regard.”

After sketching with historic accuracy, and poetic fer-
vor, the events preceding the emigration of the Pilgrims
to this country, and the causes of these events, and the
purposes which led them to encounter the perils of the
sea, and of the wilderness, and of the savages, and after
tracing in a comprehensive form, and with a master hand,
the consequences that had resulted from that early settle-
ment to the century then past, and the consequences
that would result a from that event, to the centuries to
come, with some important observations upon the true
principles of our society and government, as Well as upon
our institutions and our duties under them, his audience

are introduced into the august presence of their fathers

 

 lived a hundredyears ago, and of their descendants, A

who all live a hundred years hence, and running forward
to the lorin g of the next centennial, the orator r meets

65

the future generations “ with cordial salutatiosn, ere yet
they have arrivedon the shore of being.”  y

“ Advance, then, ye _ future generations! We would
hail you as you rise in your long succession, to fillthe
places which we now fill, andto taste the blessings of ex-
istence where we are passing, and soon shall have passed
our own human duration. We bid you welcome to the
pleasant land of the Fathers. We bid you welcome to the
healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England.
We greet your accession to the great inheritance which
we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of a
good government and religious liberty. We welcome you
to the treasures of science, and the delights of learning.
We welcome you to the transcendent sweets of domestic
life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and child-
ren. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of
national existence, the immortal hope of christianity, and

the light of everlasting truth.” i

That greeting shall live from generation to generation,
and as often as it shall be repeated on the 22nd of De-
cember, shall gladden the hearts of the sons of the Pil-
grims, wheresoever dispersed “ throughout the Axnerican
Union,.-”—-Wether on the Atlantic slope, on the Ohio, on

the Lakes, on the Mississippi, on the Gulf  .Mexico, on A

the" Pacific, or at their own wintry hoesin New Enland.
And as it shall be wafted forward on te tide of time,
from age to age, it will everywhere be received ith the
voice of acclamation and joy, by each new and rising gen-
eration; andthe hearts of those who shall repair‘ to the

rock of Plymouth, on the morn of the third centennial,

will swell with admiration and gratitude, as they shall ac-
9

66

cejpt that Welcome, coming down to them from a former

tiO7

century.

The rock may crumble and Waste under the corroding
power of time. But the oration of 1820 is of immortal
material, and, surviving the rock itself, will prolong the
memories of the Forefathers, when the granite bowlder
of Plymouth has gone to everlasting decay.

His next public oration was delivered at the laying of
the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument, in the year
1825. Here, again, he seems, first of all, to have con-
ceived the true idea of the occasion. The first great bat-
tle of the Revolution was to be celebrated on the ground
where it was fought, and that spot was to be marked for
immortality, and beautifully does he declare the purpose
of that WOI'k..--“ We come, as Americans, to markaa spot
which must forever be clear to us and to our posterity. We
wish that whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his

eye hither, may behold that the place is not undistinguish- .

ed where the first great battle of the Revolution was
fought; a We wish that labor may look up here and be
proud, in the midst of its toil. if ii We wish, finally,
that the last object to the sight of him who leaves his na-
tive shore, and the “first to gladden the sight of him who
revisits it, may be something which shall remind him of
the liberty and glory ofhis country. Let it rise! let it
rise, till it’ meet the sun in his coming ; let the ear-

liest lightiof the morning gild it, and parting day, linger

, and play on its summit.” i ‘ a   j ‘  
a In this, as in all his productions, we find the love of

America, and  American Union, wich cyst rlnelasiiwith the

 e intensity,. in both his earlier and his later produc-
Heidoes not turn the occasion to the purpose of

   

67

.fostering the localpride of New England. He   exalts a.

spirit of union and harmony, and seeks deeply to , enforce
the conviction and to cherish‘ the habitual feeling that
these States are but one country. i T

The, presence of Gen. Lafayette, whowas on his tour
of the United States, added a peculiar interest to the oc-
casion. The oration was published far and wide, andcon-
tributed largely to the completion of the monument itself,
by the popularity awakened in its behalf.

But theoration delivered eighteen years after, on the
completion of the-monument, has always seemed to me,
as a whole, to surpass the former. I cannotbelieve, how-
ever, that ancient or modern oratory has furnished any
specimens superior to either of them.

Again we find him rapt with the inspiration of the oc-
casion. The first great battle of the Revolution, with its
causes and consequences, was all before him. Here, was
realized his own definition of eloquence. Here was “ the
man, the subject, and the occasion.” The monument was
finished. There it stood, “rising over the land and f over
the sea,” while he enrobredi";tit;«r.ti"
grandeur of its well-known purpose, and made i thefinonue
ment itself the orator of the occasion. , With outstretch-
ed arms, he gazed upon the lofty column, and said: “The
powerful speaker stands motionless before us. alt is a
plain shaft. L Itfbears no inscription frontingfithe rising
sun, from which the future antiquarian ‘shall, wipe the
dust. Nor does the rising sun cause tones] of music to
issue from its summit. . But at ; the risintgf , the sun, and
at the setting of the sun, in the “blaze orfanolon jday,rand
beneaththe milder eifulgence. of lunar light, it looks, it
speaks, it acts, to the full comprehension of every Ameri-

 

  r~ the  idigfnity and .*,C{3:1‘a.,l up

68

can mind, and the awakening of glowing enthusiasm in
every American heart. ’*‘ * Today it speaks to us.
Its future auditories will be the successive generations of
men, as they rise up before it and gather round it. Its
speech will be of patriotism and courage; of civil .and re-
ligious liberty; of free government; of the moral im-
provement and education of mankind; of the immortal
memory of those, who, with heroic devotion, have seen»
ficed their lives for their country.” The same enthusias-
tic love of the whole American Union, hallowed the rock
of Plymouth in 1820, sanctified the corner stone in 1825,
and now exalted the cap-stone, of the monument, in
1843. Who does not feel, that it was the man himself,
with his own true natural impulses, that exclaimed,
“ Woe betide the man who brings to this day’s worship,
feeling less than wholly American! Woe betide the man
who can stand here with the fires of local resentments
burning, or the purpose of fomenting local jealousies and
the strifes of local interest, festering and rankling in his
heart.” I r

His love and reverence for Washington, which was only

_ second to his love of the American Union, broke forth on

 occasion in a passage of transcendent eloquence,
which seems to exalt even the character of the illustrious
father of his country. And finally, he closes the whole
discourse, by teaching the ingenuous youth of after ages,

the patriotic . ejaculation, “Thank God, i I ---—-~ I also,-—-am

anAmerican.’’ . ‘ “ I A A
Itis impossible to conceive, of a moreperfect ebodiment

 of vivid, glowing patriotism, than is fiirnished by that dis-
ebursre; . The Colliseum and the A Parthenl arose="in an age ’
ofliesuencex and of art. They. have survilaed the dark ages.

69

But who the orator was, that expressed the sentiment of
the occcasion of the commencement, or of the completion,
of those grand and classic structures, We are as ignorant
as we are of the purpose of the erection of the pyramids.
Whenthe Colliseum and the Parthenon shall have per-
ished, the monument of Bunker Hill Will live in the clas-
sic eloquence of the orations with which it has been con-
secrated. A

The oration upon the death of Adams and Jefferson,
was delivered in 1826, and like each of the three orations
I have last referred to, stands out from the literary pro-
ductions of the age, a classic Work of genius and art.
N o statue of Phidias, or of Powers, is more perfect and
complete, or delightful to contemplate. Its colossal gran-
deur does not impair its beauty. The imagination per-
formed its work here, as at Plymouth, and as at Bunker
Hill.

Their part in the Declaration of Independence, which
was the “crowning mercy ” of the lives of these immortal
sages and patriots, was re-produced, in a style so true to
their characters, so true to the history and spirit of 177 6,
and so truly. eloquent, that we almost cease to regret, that
the 
Oongressl of i76,“were never reported; nay, We deem it
fortunate, that an occasion was thus   the
genius of Webster, to enrich the literaturepf 
with one of his happiest productions. T make  speech
for old John Ads, was a bold undertaking.  It was not
like the writing of speeches for the generals and dema-
gogues of Rome, or of Greece, to incorporate . in Roman
or Grecian history. Neither Livy, nor Thucydides, or

 

Xenophon, ever put words in the mouth of such a man

underrs of the eloquence of John Adams, in the ‘A

70

“ as John Adams. But the attempt of Mr. Webster was

not more daring, than it was successful; and the elo-
quence of Adams will be known to posterity more effec-
tually through this single production of his eulogist, than
from all the history of the times, or even from his own
Works. Henceforth, no power on earth can separate the
name of Webster, from the name of Adams and Jef-
ferson. That history of the life and death of Adams and
Jefferson, which should omit the name of Webster, would
be imperfect; and the biographer of Webster, as he de-
lineates his character, and follows down the course of his
illustrious life, will pause to inform his readers that Adams
and Jefferson, who were so happy in leaving this earth
together, on the anniversary of their own glorious Dec-
laration of Independence, were equally fortunate in their
eulogist, by Whose eloquence, their memories, which were
before immortal, have received a richer fragrance and a
more enchanting beauty. i A
Mr. Webster’s speech at apublic dinner on the centen-
nialof the birth of Washington, in 1832, has united his

name to that of the father of our country, by ties that

can never be shaken. He has often, on other public oo-
casions, recurred to the character of Washington, with the
most ‘ardent love and filial reverence. No man has pro-
nounced such breathing thoughts and burning Words, over
the memory‘ of Washington, as r Webster. Washington
had cherished the same uncompromising, undying passion
for the Union, Whole and entire, which Webster loved
from  .eerh‘eet. youth, and which he continued to ‘love
with   increasing ardor to the end of life.   This centennial

i disec-."i%%yse in honor of Washington, is A replete with patri-

otic wenth:  conjtrasts i the character of Washing-

71

ton, with “ the hundreds whom is party excitement, and
temporary circumstances, and casual. combinations, have
raised into transient notoriety, and who sink again, like
thin bubbles, bursting and dissolving into the great ocean,
while Washington’s fame is like the rock which bounds
that ocean, and at whose base its billows are destined to
break harmlessly forever.” We cannot, on the present
occasion, longer delay in the delightful field of his literary
taste and genius.

His introductory lecture, read in the year 1828, be-4
fore the Boston Mechanics’ Institution, displaying new
powers of mind, as it opened a new field of exertion; his
great speech at Niblo’s Garden in New York, in 1837,
combining the best and highest specimens of his style,
with the most important discussion of political and Con-—
stitutional principles, in which he created and consecrated
the motto, “that we have one country, one Constitution,
one destiny,” his speech in Fanueil Hall, on the 30th of
September, 1842, after the completion of the treaty with
Great Britain, made in the midst of A the obloquy and
slanders heaped upon him, as a remaining member of Mr.
Tyler’s cabinet, and in the face of the leaders of the
Whig party, who demanded his resignation of office,---a
speech, beautiful in its style, and of the most intense in-
terest for its matter, and exhibiting a peculiar instance of
moral courage, of which I know not that our country has
furnished any other like example; his speech at a public
dinner in Philadelphia, in 1846, containing an elaborate
discussion of his doctrine of improving the rivers and har-
bors of the country, the liberality of which ought ever
to endear his memory to the people of the West; the
address delivered at the laying of the corner stone of the

72

addition to the Capitol, on the Fourth of July, 1851,
abounding in useful historical reminiscences and reflec-
tions, as well as new incitements to patriotism, and to
love of the Union; his address at the triennial celebra-
tion of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, at Ox-
ford, in the year 1839; and his discourse in the State
House in Boston, on the agriculture of England, after his
return from Europe, in the same year, which surprises us
with the extent of his observations and knowledge on that
important subject, and discloses how near to his heart, lay
the agricultural interests of his own country ;------all of
these, with numerous other addresses on similar occasions,
rich in every merit of oratory, taste, patriotism, and
genius, we must leave untouched, to delight those who
shall find time to read and tostudy them for themselves.

One other literary production, however, has presented
his intellectual power and acquirements in an aspect so
new and surprising, as to forbid our omitting to mention
it. I refer to the discourse read before the Historical
Society in New York, but a few months before his decease.
History was his theme, and by his clear and broad defi-
nitions and his happy illustrations of history itself, as well
as by his critical comments upon the great authors of the
world, both ancient and modern, both in history and in
poetry, he discloses a part of the secret of his own literary
taste and power. This work, was wholly aside from his
accustomed sphere of public effort. It was a new devel-
opment of the wonderful fertility of his mind in his old
age,which, like the great tragedy of “(Edipus at Colon,”
composed by Sophocles in his old age, and read before his

judges, to prove himself of 1 sound mind, disproves, bee-

yond¥trove1'sy, all intellectual decay ~.1nMr. Webster,

73

if it does not establish an absolute growth of mental
power, to the last. , A . A

I have thus imperfectly sketched the works of Mr.
Webster in the several departments of his greatness, as
a lawyer, as a legislator, as a diplomatist and statesman,
as an orator and author.

As a man, Mr. Webster had, with high intellectual cul-
tivation,“ a heart filled with simple, natural impulses. He
loved nature with enthusiasm, and wherever he went, had
an eye to observe her. Natural affection was strong in
him. Father, mother, brothers, sisters, children, when
they lived, were ever dear to him, and when they died,
he never ceased to cherish their memories. It was this,
which led him to purchase and keep the homestead of his
father in New Hampshire, where were the graves of the
family, and to which every year he could repair and re-
new his remembrances of his dear departed kindred. His
mother’s garden, he preserved as carefully as if she were
alive, at whatever cost. That ..f‘ excellent mother,” who
breathed into his youthful mind aspirations far above
his early condition, and , urged him forward in AA the rugged
path a of A improvement, was never absent from his memory.
His heart was large ‘and generous, and.“ floated in a deep
sea of human aflections,” which knew no ebb. while life
continued. His first humble earnings were not hoarded,
nor enjoyed by himself, but were consecrated to the
education of his brother Ezekiel. Even in old age, he

retained the feelings and sentiments instilled into his A

mind in childhood, by his parents. A From them, he had

early learned to reverence the Supreme Being. No pro-

fane word, even in the stormiest periods of his life, es-

caped his lips. They were religious persons. Death found
10

74

him, also, a christian. The calmness and dignity of his
dying hours, the unwavering faith in God, the earnest
and emphatic testimony to the truth of the Bible, the
clear light of his full orbed intellect as it descended to

the horizon of time,» beaming with the radiance of reli-

gious and philosophical truth, formed a sublime and beau-
tiful period to his career on earth, and have left upon the
public mind an unfading image of the great and the good
in man, not surpassed, in value, by his most splendid
achievements.

‘Of his imind,it may be said, that it was remarkable

alike, for its powers of analysis, and of generalization.

The most complicated subjects, of which ordinary minds,

‘could form no clear and satisfactory cronception, under his A

inspection fell apart into their elements, “ discreet and

distinct,” every element retaining its just proportion,
and all equally simple and comprehensible; and when he
had satisfied his own intellectual gaze in upon the mys-
teries of the subject, and had chosen his language, in
which to present it to other «minds, the whole confusion

and complication were dispelled and gone. to

1 Take, for instance, the doctrine of State sovereignty,
and State subordination to our United States government,
under the Constitution. There was a time, when that
subject was so difiicult, that the nation was greatly divided

upon it, and when it sreemed, that the Nullifiers had a fair V

‘prospect of prevailing, under the plausible notion, that
there was impliedly reserved to the States by the Consti-

r ‘tution, a rigt to nullify laws whicli were unconstitutional,
S and that ina,sm*uch‘l as the States, aswell as the Uited
 fies, were rtsovereign, rtheyitwere to be considerefd parties

; i V ‘s,-"t«{:‘l‘
, M0‘ i t ‘

  

 e lflldnistitution, as ‘at acempact, between ‘inepfendet

75

bodies; and that being so, each State was as much en,
titled to the privilege of deciding what was constitutional
and what wasunconstitutional, as was the United States;
and this, it was claimed, was the true construction of that
instrument. Many other considerations were thrown in,
to make the question complex and mysterious. The
whole subject came to be regarded as extremely deep,
and difficult, if not quite unfathomable. Mr. Webster
brought to bear upon it, first, the power of his analysis, j
and afterwards, the power of his language, to explain to
others what he so clearly comprehended himself; and the
subject at once lost all its difficulty, and the only wonder
in the mind of the reader of the debate between I-Iayne
and Webster, is, that there should ever have been any
question about it. Indeed, it is not unfrequently said,
that Mr. Webster has had quite too much credit for that ef-
fort, as the subject was so plain that it argued itself, and
any other man could have done the same thing. Few
subjects have been submitted to his analysis, and been
expounded by his language, which were ever after com-

plicated in any such .senlse, as that they could not be; .

well understood. It is thus that he has made plain the
great principles of our ’G0ns12il91,11;io.n.,q .a,md, cnt deep it the

cliannels in wliicyh our A govcrnllli ism. run, W3 hope it

foreve1*.,.     l   l   
The adoption of the Constitution of the UnitedlStates

‘.1 i
y

by our forefathers, ,left a most important duty to be per.-

formed by the next generation. That a fundamental law
was to be construed and 1 defended in its true meaning.
This last duty  just as essential, as the original adoption
of the instrument. Thoughnot born to make the Con-
stitution, Mr. rWebste,r has lived in the period of time,

76

when that Constitution was to receive its construction;
and to that construction he has contributed, not by
official power, but by the unassisted force of his own rea-
son, and argument, and eloquence. - T
The greatest constitutional contests, which have estab-
lished the meaning of that instrument on points of tran-
scendant importance, were fought by him, when in a mi-
nority. In the great debate on Foote’s Resolution, his
contest was against fearful odds. But he carried convic-
tion to the hearts and minds of Gen. Jackson and the
People, and established his own opinions, as the law of the
land. T t
r The magnitude of the service rendered in expounding
truly the lConstitution, and defending it against perver-
sion, cannot well be over estimated. This is the funda-

mental ilaw. Statutes are made and unmade, with the

rising and falling of this or that party, and change with
the ceaseless fluctations of Congress. But the Constitu-
tion abides, and is to afi'ect the destiny of the nation while
it exists. For this great service Mr. Webster seems to
have been raised up. With Marshall on the Bench, and
Webster at the Bar and in the Senate, our Constitution
has received its construction and direction for ages. Lesser
minds may now administer it with comparative safety.
Webster, having discovered the great land-marks along
the Constitutional coast, has taught them to future navi-
gators; and wherever there are hidden rocks and shoals,
he has raised high and brilliant beacon—lights that will

A shine forever. But it may be doubted whether even
. Webster could have satisfactorily performed this 'wpr1<

for country, without aCalhoun and a Hayntie. iHow
\  more effectually ihave T the -doctrines of Se»cession and

 

77

Nullification been overthrown, than they could ever have

been, if they had been advocated by men of less ability?
Who, in after; times, will attempt to support a doctrine,
which Calhoun could not maintain? Webster and Cal-
houn were born for that service, and thoroughly have they
performed it. ,

But Mr. Webster saw, that, to render our government
permanent, beside a just construction of its powers, it
wanted a careful cultivation in the’ minds of the people,
of regard and reverence for our institutions; a pride in
our common national renown ;. a patriotic admiration and
love of our glorious Union, as well as a spirit of concilia-
tion and harmony. It was with this view, that he poured
forth among his fellow citizens, his fervid thoughts, ever
exalting the “liberty and union ” of our own happy land,
with a love of country, which knew no bounds but the
entire Union, which never became weary, nor cold, nor
impatient, and which warmly cherished a spirit of friend-
ship between opposing sections of the Union. Here was
no pretence ; no hollow hearted professions to catch the
popular favor. It was a genuine passion which could not
be repressed, and which over-rode all other considerations.
He spoke the sentiments of his heart on all matters of
public moment, out where they might. He had thought
for the age and country in which he lived too long, to fear
to igivethe expression of his true sentiments. He claimed
this immunity for himself. No man, therefore, was ever
more frank and fearless in the utterance ofhis undisguised
sentiments, than he. . l . .

But it has been saidthat he was ambitious ; and it has
been inferred that because he was ambitious, he was, there—
fore, not honest in the measures he advocated. It is also

78

said that it was an unpardonable weakness in him, to de—
sire the Presidencv, as it could not add to his fame. It
seems to be considered criminal in one so great to aspire
to oifice. Such aspirations are to be left to meaner per-—
sons, who have small qualifications, and no principle. I
must beg leave to differ from the tenor of these opinions
on the general subject of ambition. God has planted in
man all the passions of the human heart, and among them,
ambition; and none is more indispensable to his useful»
ness than tliis. What man ever accomplished anything
valuable without it? All created intelligences have it.
The angels are not destitute of it. If they were, they
wouldibe too inanimate to fulfil their heavenly destiny.
Ambition for high office is tolerated by such political
censors, without complaint, in inferior men, whose chief
qualification is their ambition. I But the instant it is sus-
pected that a man of high qualifications seeks a corres-

ponding office, he is condemned as ambitious, and all

his actsare regarded with distrust and disparagement.
Undoubtedly, ambition, like all the other passions, may
be indulged to excess. It is a powerful passion, and needs
to be under the control and guidance of principle.

I have always supposed that Mr. Webster had in his
heart a lofty and well A sustained ambition 5 not like that
of the majority of men, because his tastes and his ideas
were diiferent from theirs; not vulgar, not captivated with
show or flattery, but grand and peculiar, suited to his na—
ture. I have never doubted, that his first ambition was to

excel all competitors in merit. Hence, he added to the “

greatness of his natural endowments, great industry, and
 icultivation. ‘W I have never believed that his ambition

 

was  .g1i:t.ter, asadi sow, and hon or of ioifice. That

79

. was not the object he sought 3‘ and yethe desired office.

His first, his chief ambition, was to build up for himself
great attainments, great services, at great character, and
as a consequence, great fame. But he never coveted
anything not founded on adequate merit. He sought no
promotion, till he had earned it, nor until he was thor-
oughly prepared for the discharge of the duties it devolved
upon him, and then he did desire it. And he was right.
He ‘could not make his great powers useful to the world,
without position, nor could he cultivate those powers to
their highest perfection without opportunity.

There were those who thought they saw an unjustifia-
ble ambition in Mr. Webster, even in his taking the office

of Secretary of State, in 1841, and regretted that he had

not declined any Cabinet appointment, remaining in the
Senate. If he had followed such suggestions, l1ow much of
high service the country would have lost, and how mighty
an accession to his own fame would have been rejected.
Besides, his own powers would have lacked their full de-
velopment, which he valued more than riches or honors.
But when he had satisfied himself, and had shown the

world of what he was capable, in the department of State,

and had stopped the mouths of those who had said he
lacked the power of originating great measures, he still
was not -satisfied. He desired the Presidency. There
are lthose who cannot see why Daniel Webster, who tow-
ered so farabtovethe incumbents of that officeiand above

A his competitors,shou1d desire the Presidency. But he

was unquestionably right in supposing that the highest
ofiice in the gift y of ;, thegArnerican people would crown his

fame as a public character. If he became no greater by the A l

exercise of his powers  the executive office, his position

80

would have been more elevated in the eyes of the world.
It would have been an acknowledgment from his country,
Which he had ever loved and served, before the nations of
the earth, that his vast fame was well deserved. It would
have made his character and life, not greater, but more
conspicuous and elevated in the sight of mankind. “ Pyr-
amids are pyramids in vales,” but they look down on
the surrounding world still more imposing from an emi-
nence. The most stupendous structures of the earth, owe
much to the sites upon which they stand.

Undoubtedly Mr. Webster was ambitious to be Presi-
dent. He thought he had earned that distinction by his

, services. He thought the Presidency an office worthy of

his ambition. He thought, he could accomplish some-
thing in that position honorable to the nation; and add
something to the stability of the American Union.

by But he never sought promotion by the intrigues and
arts usual with candidates for that position. He dis-
paraged no man, and suffered no slander against his rivals
which he could prevent. “ Iithank God,” said he, “that
if I am gifted with little of the spirit, which is able to
raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I I trust,
of that other spirit, which would drag angels down.”

' Hisambition for the Presidency was secondary to his
desire for true excellence. Much as he would have been
pleased with the first office in the gift of the American
people, he would never have purchased it, by a sacrifice
of any portion of his Well earned fame. “ The past, at
least,” he intended to keep “secure.” I

A  A But what’ exalts him above competition, andadds lustre

to  his achievements, is that he has made himselfk the
 character I of our country, and, ay Ilinzot say, of

  

81

our age ;———--classic as an orator, as an author, as a states-
man, as a patriot, as a man. . His style of thought, of ex-
pression, and of action, had ever a classic grace which
hallowed what he said, and what he did, and made it [it

forperpetual remembrance. His taste was not confined,

to his composition andoratory. His farm bore evidence
of his classic taste on all its spacious fields. Every room
of his residence was made interestinganddelightful, with
the same all-pervading sense of the beautiful and appro-
priate. I-lis thoughts would be read, for their own intrin-
sic value and beauty, in whatever style they might be
couched; and his style of oratory and writing would at-
tract the attention of‘ mankind and be read, if’ the topics
of thought were as remote from any practical use to us,
as are the subjects of the eloquence of Demosthenes and
of Cicero. Men will never cease to be charmed with the
classic beauties of these two ancient orators. Never will
they want readers, while a literary taste is cultivated
among men. They have already survived the middle ages;
they have survived the interest in the topics of which they
spoke ; they have survived the memories of all contem-
porary orators; they have long survived the governments
under which they flourished, and all the institutions of

their time. There were not wanting numerous orators in

ancient Greece;--men of eminence and renown, whose
productions were well regarded in their day; But Demos-
thenes comes down to us through the dark night of bar-
barism, alone. Rome had many famous orators, before
and after Cicero, and in his time,——men of high integrity
and of distinguished eloquence, but Cicero alone, of the
Roman orators, stands on the shelves of modern libraries.

Both of these ancient classic orators, have delighted the
11 i C

82

+_scholars, and contributed to the great Work of forming the
taste, of every succeeding age since their time. In all

_nntiquity, embracing many nations of people, and many
centuries of time, but two truly classic orators have been

produced. How enviable their destiny 1 The light of
Ctlieir classic minds shines brightly yet, upon our pathway,
.‘difl’using a pleasant and useful influence wherever civiliza-
tion and refinement are known. Who .can estimate the
vast aggregate of influence, which has already been shed
abroad on the world throughout the twenty centuries past;

and which will be rained on all future ages, and on all

civilized nations, hereafazer, by these two solitary classic
orators of antiquity? I might speak of them as the
medium through which much of the history of those ane-

ttcient Republics has been brought down to our times. I
"might speak of theelevation and dignity they have each

coriferred upon his age and countr r. Greece and Rome
are judged from the specimens which have come down to
us. The nation that produced a Demosthenes, or a Cicero,
we involuntarily regard as learned, refined, eloquent,
classic. The world never cares to reflect, that Greece has
=produced buttons Demosthenes, and Rome but one Cicero,
ittncl that of all their other orators, none are read, and but
few have been preserved, even in parchment, to our times.
By Demosthenes, Greece is known and judged; and by
‘Cicero, Rome is known and judged. .

, Webster is our American classic. By him our country
is hereafter to be known and judged,in respect of those
qualities and attainments which have found in him their

 

rgeidelig andtby himshe is already knowngand ; judged,to

 ttlextent, in other nations of the earth. A He has
i    thevsiide of Demosthenes and 1”Cicero,

>94‘:  i.

   

.91

T83

and henceforth will shine as a fixed -star of A the first ma:
nitude in the pure sky of classic literature. l I hope 
shall not be deemed disloyal to the supremacy of Greece
and Rome, when I add, that in my opinion, his light is
destined to out-shine that of the ancient orators. All
his eloquence is informed with the spirit of modern pat-
triotism, and modern intelligence, and deals in truths that
are of practical importance to all who read, and will con-
tinue to be of practical iimportlance, at least, so long as
the “liberty and union,” of the United States shall .con-
tinue. The ancient classics live now mainly in their

literary excellence. VVe do "not resort to them for in-~

struciion in the true principles of Republican government,
or forjust ideas of ,patriotism or of science. The works
of our American orator, combine the delights of taste and
genius, withthe enlightened principles of a civilization
and a liberty, such as neither Greece, nor Rome, in her
best days, ever saw; with the golden treasures of useful
knowledge, and with a fervor of patriotism, which,uncon_-

refined by sectional limits,

r ii“,Sp‘1'éads undivided, iopeerates ‘un“sp“eri7t;‘”g l l

comprehendingall that is American, and regarding with

equal intensity the East, A the West, the North, and tire.

South, of this great Republic. Here is a body of classic
literature, the like of which can hardly be found in the

productions of any man, in any country of modern, or of

ancient times; and the value of which to mankind cannot

i. be measured by any of the usual conceptions of human

greatness and human achievement. If we compare it, with

the life and services of the men of the greatest achieve- A

. ments, in military and political life ;, if we compare it with a

  j‘.»~teest;pages oftheir countries’ history, but whe pthe,;,1,

A read as ' craters and a writers, he froxvns ape

war

84

Wellington,--the comparison is vain. For,.altl1ou,gh-.the
illustrious Duke, ‘ rendered high services to 
awakened the highest enthusiasm, and secured perpc’ ‘\
admiration, among men,   enriching the history of 
world with his renown, both as a soldier and as a states-l
man, how little has he left to form the taste, and guide
the genius, of the future generations of mankind! l His-
tory will speak eloquently of his achievements, and pos-
terity may read that history with admiration and delight;
but where are his own great thoughts ‘Z Alas, hehas not
clothed them in the language of classic literature, which,
alone, could render them immortal. But the Duke will fare
 well, in this respect, with posterity, as the great mass of
craters, and statesmen, and writers. Time is severein his
criticisms; and condemns almost all the orators of the earth
to a short lived existence. I-Ie allows them. to live as
”s~tat{esmen,‘asi soldiers, as men of renown, to adorn the

3

  

     
  

 in their own proper words and ‘thou,g;l;r;si
srtlieirpr it A

 
 
  

 

llll 
“ tr.

   

tion, and buriestheir sp<eeche.s in the
their mortal bodies. a ‘Few and far b

   

AA iilhumaniirreloquence, ‘andipreservei it to after ages,

“ ’gainst the tooth of time,
And raz me of oblivion.”

A A  teen, are those A
   lrtf‘f,7lg,eniAu’es, to our dearth, which iiitouchr with im-- e

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