4 o .0 -i« ^.1 6 - - - m 9 ' ^^ V ^ ^°*s ^o ■c-P '^ ..^ v/"^" .V ^v '•;*. o^iv .-> ^/^V'* ^ A^^" *.To= -^P-^ ^o *,V,- v^o'^^"'" ^^^ *•V1• yv vr><5 <<-V ^ V^^c' "^^^V ''J^^c^ ^^v ^V*^^ ' - ,'h'f \V«^^ -'^^^ (O. <;, •0' vj .-» .*'*°-- "^^0^ ^*^°^ n"^ " o ^ '^ ** . . s * A PROCEEDINGS AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE RESTORATION OF THE BIRTH PLACE HOUSE OF DANIEL WEBSTER AT THE BIKTII PLACE IN FRANKIJN, NEW HAMPSHIRE. ON AUGUST 28, 1913 Single copifs of this account of the full proceedings at the Webster Birtli place Celebration may be obtained of the Ruinford Press, Concord, N. H., with paper covers at iO cenls eacii, .50 copies lialf pri(«; with board covers at i5 cents each or leather btjuiid at 50 cents each. I'ublished by the Webster Birth Place Association, organized as a cor|)oratir of .\ndover, ex-Governor of New Hamp.shire til .\i|(lnss by Rev. Arthur Little of Newtonville, Ma.ssachusetts ()2 Closing address by lion. Clarence E. Carr, \ ice-President of the .\.s.so- ciation (W> Benediction by Rev. II. ('. .McDougall W» Story of the restoration of tlie birth place; organization of tiie WCti- Hter Birth Place .\.ssociation of October 20. 1910, with li.^t of offi- cers ;iii(l members and contributors: don:ition :ind freedom from taxation granted by the legislature <>( New Hjimijshire 70 Newspa|)er accounts of relebration, and newspa|>er comments Sti Appendix — Fac-simile of Miss Edna Dean PnM-tor's j)oein on Mr Web- ster; Mr. Chandler's note to his address 107 Map of Webster Birth Place Farm US PROCEEDINGS AT THE Celebration of the Restoration of the Birth Place House OF DANIEL WEBSTER at the Birth Place in FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE ON AUGUST 28, 1913 Published by the Webster Birth Place Association, organized as a corporation under the statutes of New Hampshire on October 2(5, 1910 CONCORD. NEW HAMPSHIRE THE RUMFORD PRESS Girt Pubiishar THE DANIEL WEBSTER BIRTH PLACE CELEBRATION. The gathering was called to order by Chief Justice Frank N. Parsons who said, ''I believe in the existence of Almighty God who created and governs the whole world." That was the opening sentence of Webster's confession of faith which he sent to his old pastor, Mr. Worcester. Let us, as we have met here today, invoke that Almightj^ Power in which he believed. One comes to us today from the Elms Farm, which was Webster's. I ask him to express in words the thoughts which are in the minds of all — the Reverend Rufus P. Gardner. INVOCATION BY REV. RUFUS P. GARDNER. Let us unite in prayer. Lord, Our God, we beheve it is very fitting, indeed, that we should look to Thee upon this occasion and remember that not only our fathers could trust in Thee but that it is well for the sons and daughters to rely upon the same Divine Power. And so at this time with that confession of faith in our thought that has alread}' been expressed we bow down and acknowl- edge our dependence upon Almighty God. We are glad as we gather here in honor of one who was, indeed, of great honor to our state and to our nation, that at one time being asked what he considered to be the greatest thought that could possibly fall from human lips or the greatest obliga- tion under which man was placed to the Almighty, he said that it was his personal obligation to his God. And so reverently we look to Thee, kind Father, and ask that Thy blessing. Thy smile may abide with us as we gather here. We know today that from generation to 3 generation there has been a strong belief in God as the Father of all, and so we acknowledge gratefully at this hour the Fatherhood of God, and we ask that this Father- hood may be impressed upon each and every one of us as we have gathered here at this anniversary', and we are glad that, as the years have been passing, we have learned to think more about the brotherhood of man, the knitting of heart to heart and of life to life, and are seeking to go forth to do good to our fellowmen wherever they maj-- be found and under whatever conditions they may exist; and so may these two beautiful thoughts rest with us at this time — the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man. We know that today we shall hear many excellent things expressed concerning him who was a great leader in our state and in our nation. Reverently we would pay rever- ence to his name. And now seeking Thy blessing upon us, upon all who have gathered here upon this occasion and all that it means to the city, to the state and to the nation, we ask it all in the name of our common Lord and Master as we seek His blessing to rest upon us in every sense of the term. Amen. ADDRESS BY CHIEF JUSTICE PARSONS. Members of the Daniel Webster Birth Place Association, Ladies and Gentlemen: We are met upon the spot where the greatest American of his time if not of all time, first saw the light of day, a spot already dedicated, already consecrated by what he did who was here born. The world well knows what he did and will always hold in respectful love and veneration the place of his birth. We are met here to celebrate the fact that this spot is now placed beyond the touch of hands ignorant or thoughtless of his life and service. We are met to rejoice in the substantial restoration of the humble surroundings from which he came and to plan that the same be kept unharmed through all time as a memorial of him and as proof of the low estate from which great- ness may arise. Some one hundred and fifty years ago at the close of the French and Indian war, Ebenezer Webster who had been one of the Rogers Rangers in that war, just attaining his majority and just married, sought a home. He pushed up the ]\Ierrimack to the land which he later in life acquired, the Elms Farm of Daniel Webster, the Orphans' Home Farm of today. Here he turned into the hills and followed the brook which runs before us until he came to the Beaver Meadows which lie to the south, in miniature an intervale like the intervale by the river. Here he made his ''pitch" and built the settler's cabin of logs. Beyond to the north was the forest and the savage. Here for fifteen years Webster's father held a post on the border line of civiliza- tion, his house the last upon the Indian trail to Canada. The site of the cabin is indicated by the boulder upon the opposite side of the road. Later a frame house in which Webster was born was built where the house stands restored today. The flood of the tide which has created a nation in pop- ulation and wealth greater than the wildest dream of its founders has made an eddy about the spot upon which we are. Untouched by the main current it remains as when Webster saw it. Kearsarge still stands in the west; Punch Brook is still famous for trout. The growth on the hills has been cut and grown again, removed and grown, but except for such temporary change we may feel certain that the view of hill, meadow, wood and mountain upon which we gaze is what Webster saw when he visited the spot of his birth. On my first knowledge of the farm, some forty years ago, the title stood ostensibly in one Hiram Shaw, but the property was practically owned by Judge Nesmith, the life-long friend and admirer of Webster, who held an overdue mortgage for more than its value. Subsequently the place came to Judge Nesmith by foreclosure. Alter Judge Nesmith's death his heirs, believing the property should be held by the state for all time in memory of Air. Webster, asked the state to purchase it at what they considered a low price. But there were watch dogs of the treasury. Some one scented a scheme to obtain more than the value through a sale to the state and nothing came of the offer. Later the property was sold, the lumber on it bringing more than the price asked the state. After- ward there were various changes of title and the greater part came into the possession of the local building and loan association by foreclosure some three years ago. The situation was brought to the attention of ex-Senator William E. Chandler. Impressed with the belief that the place of Webster's birth should be rescued from the condi- tion into which it had fallen and preserved as a memorial in such manner as would honor the state which gave him birth, with characteristic energy and zeal he joined in a campaign with that object. The Webster Birth Place Association was formed under his direction, the title perfected, the actual site discovered and the restoration proceeded to the point at which you see it. Air. Chandler has been a moving spirit in all that has been done and is entitled to a large share of the credit for what has been accomplished. This meeting is his suggestion and plan. Because of illness, from which I am happy to say Air. Chandler is now recovering, he is unable to be present. At the last moment we have been forced to present the play with Hamlet absent. Suddenly I find placed upon myself the honor of welcoming you who have come to aid and rejoice with us in what has been accomplislied. I do so most sincerely in the name of the Association and of its President, but with the greatest regret, however, that you cannot have that welcome from Senator Chandler in person. "I still live," said Webster. Then it is said he died. But the personality of the man could not die. What he was, what he accomplished could not be wiped away as with a sponge by a physical change. That what Webster was, the principles he stood for, the forces he embodied still Uve not only in the hearts and minds of his friends and neighbors in FrankUn, in Sahsbury, in New Hamp- shire, but in the whole country, this great gathering over sixty years later at the humble house of his birth makes clear. Webster still lives! As President of the Association, Mr. Chandler expected to preside at this meeting and had partially prepared notes of the'remarks assigned to him upon the program, and is willing that what he has prepared should be read. A distinguished son of New Hampshire, the late United States minister to Greece and Montenegro, has consented to act as reader. I have the honor to present the Honorable George Higgins Moses. Vice-President Clarence E. Carr tendered a motion as follows : Before we listen to the address of Senator Chandler to be read by Mr. Moses, it seems to me at this time it is fitting and proper that we should instruct the Vice-Presi- dent of this association, the Chief Justice of our state, to send to Senator Chandler the regrets of the Webster Birth Place Association for his absence, our own goodwill and the best wishes of his fellow-citizens for his speedy recovery; these being our greetings to the man of large heart, broad views, great knowledge of and deep interest in the affairs and history of New Hampshire. The motion was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. 8 OPENING ADDRESS BY WILLIA:\I E. CHANDLER It is my privilege to open the proceedings of this occasion by telling you what has been done by our Birth Place Association for the restoration and permanent preservation of the little dwelling-house in which Daniel Webster was born on the eighteenth day of January, 1782, upon the spot where it now stands — then a part of the town of Salisbury, now a part of the city of Franklin. ]Mr. Webster, in addition to his surpassing qualities as an orator and statesman of world-wide fame, was pre-eminently inspired by constant admiration and affec- tion for the works of nature — for the jo3'ous places, scenes and other aspects of the physical world appearing before him; such as are so indispensable to the happiness of every one of us in this troublesome yet wonderful world in whose vicissitudes we must live on, until there is lov- ingly opened before us the better, and, we hope, a little easier life for spiritual and immortal mankind. At a mass meeting at Saratoga on August 19, 1840, Mr. Webster, after attributing to political opponents the origin of a reproach that Candidate General William Henry Harrison had been born in a log cabin, went on to say: "It did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin; but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log cabin, raised amid the snowdrifts of New Hampshire at a period so early that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chinmey and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it to tench them the hardships endured by the gener- ations which have gone before them. "I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of this primitive abode. I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in affectionate veneration for him who reared and defended it against savage violence and destruc- tion, cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, through the fire and blood of seven years' revolu- tionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his country and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted forever from the memory of mankind." On October 11, 1828, Mr. Webster wrote a letter on ''Local Associations" to his friend, Jacob McGaw, who had written to him about a trip to Kingsbridge, White Plains, Benn's Heights and other historic places he had recently visited. He wrote: "I never knew a man yet, nor a woman either, with a sound head and a good heart, that was not more or less under the pow^r which these local associations exercise. "It is true that place, in these things, is originally accidental. Battles might have been fought elsewhere as well as at Saratoga or Bennington. Nevertheless, here they were fought; and nature does not allow us to pass over the scenes of such events with indifference, unless the scenes themselves have become familiar by frequent visits to them. For my part I love them all, and all such as they." And again, to Chancellor James Kent, on June 5, 1832, concerning the former's speech at Mr. Irving's dinner, Mr. Webster wrote: "One line for the purpose of saying that the speech is a delightful little thing, just, sweet, affectionate. When I read the paragraph in which you prefer what relates to the blue hills and mountain glens of our own country to sketches of foreign scenes and foreign countries, I wanted to seize your hand and give it a hearty shake of sjmipathy. Heaven bless this goodly land of our fathers! Its rulers and its people may commit a thousand follies, yet Heaven bless it! Next to the friends beloved of my heart, those same hills and glens and native woods and 10 native streams will have my last earthly recollections. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." Moved by this same kind of inspiration which always controlled jMr. Webster, as well as by a sense of neglected duty towards the humble home of their greatest public man, citizens of New Hampshire, aided by many friends elsewhere, have at last rescued his birthplace from private control and — either in the hands of our Association or belonging in trust to the city of Franklin — the little building as it was in 1782 and as you now see it, with the 130 acres of the farm of Captain Ebenezer Webster, wherein were born Ezekiel and Daniel Webster, children of Abigail Eastman (not in the log cabin in which were born their brothers and sisters, the children of Alehitable Smith) — will stand in the far future a precious and attractive reminder of perhaps the most noted orator and statesman of this or any of the nations of the highest civilization in the world. The log cabin in which the brothers and sisters were born was located upon the same home-house-lot and the site is to be so marked by a boulder and a suitable tablet giving the result of the latest careful research. It is intended by the Association to improve and make pleasing the buildings you see — the birthplace building, the larger mansion and the large barn; and also to beautify the 130 acres by walls, gateways and modest monuments as well as by landscape gardening so as to make the whole most attractive to visitors from near and far away during all time to come. The next Webster home was three miles away, down on the banks of the IVIerrimack and known as the Elms Farm; and the last was at Marshfield, in Massachusetts, on the shores of the "sounding sea," where INIr. Webster so much indulged his pleasure in nature, and where he died on October 24, 1852. It is not my province at this time to speak at any length 11 of the public life of Mr. Webster. It has been my privilege to do so on two occasions: in the senate on December 20, 1894, upon the presentation by New Hampshire of the Stark and Webster statues to the National Gallery in the Capitol at Washington; and upon the presentation, on January 18, 1900, of the statue of Webster to be placed by Stilson Hutchins, a native of New Hampshire, on Massachusetts Avenue of the Capital City. Senator Gallinger took part in the proceedings in the senate and had hoped to be here today. Our principal speaker is a son of Dartmouth, Representative Samuel W. McCall, who has studied and eulogized Mr. Webster and his works with discrimination, power and eloquence. [At this point, upon the understanding that, when the proceedings of this day shall be published in final form, each speaker is privileged to extend his remarks by a general and generous ''leave to print," Mr. Chandler brings to attention, at some length, two episodes in Mr. Webster's career which he characterizes as epochal in their nature — as national events rather than orations in the career of a great orator.] The first of these, naturally, is Mr. Webster's contest against the right of a state to leave the Union and in vindi- cation of the power of the nation, within constitutional limits, to impose its legislative will upon the several states. This episode of Mr. Webster's labors for the Union and the Constitution culminates in the reply to Haj-ne which, Mr. Chandler declares, destroyed the doctrine of nullifica- tion. In support of this declaration he quotes the words of Secretary John D. Long when, as the President's spokes- man, he received for the nation the statue of Webster to which reference has already been made, joining with his praise of Webster's overwhelming arguments in the senate the luminous judgments of John Marshall on the bench; and saying of the Constitution framed by George Wash- ington and his associates, that to Webster and Marshall "we owe its development, by interpretation and con- 12 struction, into the great charter of powers which now constitute the national autho^it3^ They illuminated its letter with the national spirit. They breathed into its frame the full life of national sovereignty. ... As they prevailed, so they made the United States indis- soluble by internal convulsion and equal to the emer- gencies of the future which confronted them or which confront us." The second event to which Mr. Chandler refers is Web- ster's connection with and support of the compromise measures of 1850, indicated by the "Seventh of IMarch Speech" of that year. The reply to Hayne, he says, brought to Webster nothing but fame and honor. The Seventh of March speech produced severe condemnation from the North and resulted in Webster's failure to secure the nomination to the presidency in 1852, which, Mr. Chandler asserts, should have been his. 'Sir. Chandler contends that the contemporarj' criticism of Webster in 1850 has no justification for its continuance now; for he argues, no one at that time believed that, as a sequence, would follow the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the abandonment of the Wilmot proviso, the struggle in Kansas and at last the war for secession, while on the other hand every reasonable human being hoped that continued conciliatory legislation would in time come to find a wise solution of the problem of slavery in the United States. ]\Ir. Webster's course was based, says Mr. Chandler, upon an honest motive; and in this is to be found a perfect answer to the criticism of the moment — which should long ago have disappeared, he urges, in the further light of the certain knowledge that Webster, had he lived, would have supported Lincoln and the Union and the war to preserve it, no less earnestly than did Stephen A. Douglas, the destroyer of the Missouri Compromise. 13 [Mr. Chandler here referred to the emancipation of the slaves and to a history of American slaverj^ contained in an address of his before a Grand Army Post at Nashua, N. H., on May 30, 1889, now printed as an appendix, and said :] God hardened Pharoah's heart so he would not let the children of Israel go until there had come the plagues and the slaughter of the first born of Egypt. So an overruling Providence may have ordered the Compromise measures of 1850. Without them Secession would then have been attempted with as many slave states as free states in the Union and the result might have been two American republics, one slave and one free . The delay of ten years and the destruction of the Missouri Compromise by an infatuated south may have been necessary to arouse the north and give it victory, with Abraham Lincoln to destroy slavery. So if General McClellan had won victories in 1862 and captured Richmond the war might have ended with slavery not destroyed as a consequence thereof. Mc- Clellan was defeated and retreated to a gunboat on the James to write a letter to Mr. Lincoln telling him how the war ought to be conducted with slavery preserved, which singularity Mr. Lincoln told me he at once regarded as showing McClellan's expectation to be a candidate for President in 1864. It is impossible to estimate the impor- tance of the ten years' delay of the crucial struggle from 1850 to 1860. "God moves in a mysterious way his won- ders to perform!" Mr. Chandler's closing words were these, spoken in behalf of the Webster Birth Place Association. With appreciative thanks for all aid we have received and for the attendance this day, we promise that this sacred spot shall be preserved and made attractive to all the future generations of New Hampshire men and women and shall be made an historic spot of sentiment and affec- tion to all true Americans. 14 The Presiding Officer: The political animosities of the early years of the republic were more bitter than those now on the stage of public life can easily appreciate. Though Webster was at times at variance with the sentiment of the political majority of the state, and though the state was early obliged to yield him to the larger field furnished by Massachusetts, as whose representative his fame as a legislator was won, the state has always claimed him and his glory as hers and has placed his figure with that of Stark in the Statuary Hall of the Nation. The fault of the legislature which neglected the opportunity to pur- chase the birth place of which I have spoken is atoned by the hberal appropriation for the purposes of the Associa- tion made at the last session. I take this opportunity to express the satisfaction of the Association with such ap- proval of its purposes, and, in its name, to thank the repre- sentatives of the legislature and the executive here present therefor. New Hampshire is now honored in the executive office by a prominent member of Webster's profession, like him a graduate of Dartmouth College. I have the honor and the pleasure of presenting the Governor, His Excellency Samuel Demeritt Felker. ADDRESS BY GOVERNOR SA]\1UEL DE.MERITT FELKER. In the summer of 1839 there appeared in the streets of London a man five feet ten inches tall, weighing less than one hundred and ninety pounds, who attracted universal attention, and who was pointed out by the common people with the remark, "There goes a king.'' Sidney Smith exclaimed when he saw him, "Good heavens, he is a small cathedral by himself." Carlisle said of him, "Not many days ago I saw at breakfast the notablest of all your nota- bles. He is a magnificent specimen. As a logic fencer, 15 advocate, or parliamentary Hercules, one would incline to back him at first sight against all the extant world. " Since Socrates there has seldom been a head so massive, so high. Certainly his was a great body, and a great brain. Whence came this man? In what mould was he cast? WTiat were his surroundings and what state produced him? Ebenezer Webster, his father, a man of no mean ability, was born in the southern part of this state in 1739, descended from the Puritans of Scotch extraction. When of age he enlisted in the Rogers Rangers who in desperate forest fighting had no equals. Webster, strong and daring, did his full share. When the war closed in 1763 he settled in this town, then the farthest outpost of civilization. He was a splendid product of ancestors who had been yeomen and pioneers for generations. His wife died ten years later, and in 1774, he married again. Soon after his sec- ond marriage the alarm of war with England sounded and Ebenezer Webster raised a company of two hundred men and marched at their head to Boston. He was high in the confidence of Washington, by whom he was con- sulted about the state of feeling in New Hampshire. ^Mien there was treason, and rumors of further treason, caused by Arnold's treason, Washington said to him, ''Captain Webster, I believe I can trust you," and he was placed in command of the guard before Gen. Wash- ington's headquarters the night after Arnold's treason. His neighbors trusted him and he held practically every office within their gift. He came verj' near being elected to Congress. He sat as one of the judges in the courts of New Hampshire. Such was this man, practically without education, whose native genius and common sense raised him to such a plane. From such a father, with such force of will, mind and character, did Daniel Webster spring. His mother was Abigail Eastman, a woman of good sturdy New Hampshire stock, who was willing to make all sacri- fices necessary for the education of her children. Webster was a sickly child and for that reason was not 16 required to work like other children of the household and it was during these years that he imbibed the love of country life and country sports that ever after clung to him. He walked two and a half miles to school in the winter months and for a short while was sent by his father to Exeter Academy, a school which had just started, and finally he was under the instruction of Rev. Samuel Wood of Boscawen for a brief period. He was j&fteen years of age when his father first made known to him his intention to send him to college. '"I remember," says Mr. Webster, ''the very hill we were ascending in the old sleigh when my father made known to me this purpose. I could not speak. I thought of the large family and limited circumstances of my father and how could he incur so large an expense for me. A warm glow ran all over me and I laid my head upon my father's shoulder and wept." In Webster's freshman year in college his studies were Ovid, the ^Eneid, the Xew Testament in Greek, and alge- bra. There has been a good deal said about Webster's indifference to the college curriculum and that he followed a desultory course of reading by himself. However, his moral character and his devotion to duty have received the highest commendation from his teachers and class- mates. As a writer and speaker he had no equal. Webster, while not the ranking head of his class, had the broadest mind and influence of any of its members. His advan- tages in his bo^'hood were very limited and it is amazing that he was able at the age of nineteen to lead his class in depth of thought and elegance of literary expression. During his junior year in college, when a lad of only eighteen, he was invited by the townspeople to deliver the Fourth of July address which is still extant and shows some of the power which Ik^ afterwards exercised so potently. After graduating from college he read law with Christo- pher Gore of Boston, a man of ability, and a United States senator. He was admitted to the bar in 1805 and practiced for two years at Boscawen, where he was referred to by Judge Jeremiah Smith, on listening to his mere stating of a case, as "the most remarkable young man I have ever met." He moved to Portsmouth in 1807 and practiced law there for the next eleven years. He was fortunate in having for an opponent Jeremiah Mason, a man fifteen years older than himself, whom Webster in after years said, he con- sidered the best lawyer he had ever known. The fact that he had to contend with a man older than himself and of such great legal acumen as Mr. ]Mason, put Webster upon his mettle, so to speak, and we find that during those ten years, he may be said to have reached the very acme of his power, standing at the head of his profession, and being the leading practitioner in the highest state and national courts. During this period he had served two terms as New Hampshire's representative in Congress and had become the leader of his party, and had attained a national reputation. He was a Federalist and opposed to the Embargo Act, and the War of 1812 with Great Britain. Within four j^ears after he left New Hampshire to go to Massachusetts, he had made his celebrated argument in the Dartmouth College case, secured the vindication of the Kenistons in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and delivered the Plymouth oration, which placed him in the first rank of advocates and orators. His appearance before the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dartmouth College case, was his first effort before that august tribunal, and by that argument he stepped, with a single stride, to the foremost position at the bar of that court. History presents no parallel. Webster's strides in material prosperity were very marked after he went to Massachusetts. He was, indeed, the idol of Boston and of Massachusetts, certainly up to the time of the Seventh of March speech, 1850. He ap- 18 peared in nearly every large case before the United States Courts. He served in Congress of the United States nineteen vears, and was secretarv of state under Tvler and Fillmore. Webster was for a sound currency, and at first for a low tariff. As the interests of Massachusetts changed in re- gard to the tariff his views changed. Although rather inclined to be independent, yet after the Whig Party came into existence he supported its policies. In the Plymouth address of 1820 !Mr. Webster made an attack on slavery and the slave trade which he little dreamed would be quoted thirty years thereafter against him as an inconsistency. Webster's position with reference to the constitution was that there was no constitutional right for a state to withdraw from the national union. He did, like other great New Englanders who believed with him, look upon the Federal constitution as a series of com- promises among conflicting interests and argued that under such a constitution national politics at every crisis ought to be governed by the same spirit of concession which made the constitution possible. In the great debate, in his repl}' to Hayne, and throughout his whole life, he maintained that the constitution was above the state and should be obeyed by each individual in his individual capacity, and by each state as well. He was by temperament extremely conservative. He was not a radical nor a reformer. He lacked the initiative. The great secret of Webster's strength as a speaker lay in the fact that he made it a point to understate, rather than to overstate his confidence in the force of his own arguments and the logical necessity of their conclusions. A\'ebster's speeches, addresses, arguments and state papers read today as fresh to his readers as they were to his hearers; Henry Clay's need the grace and animation of the speaker; while Calhoun held his hearers by the easy, flowing sentences that were designed to support his fine spun theories. 19 Webster had strongly given the public the impression while combating the disunion sentiment of the South that he was also against slavery as it existed under the con- stitution, and they little realized how he could be consistent and vote for the compromise of 1850. Let us see what that was. After the war with Mexico and a large amount of territory had been ceded by Mexico to the United States, it was proposed by the Wilmot proviso that no territory obtained by the United States should allow slavery or involuntary servitude within its boundaries. This was extremely obnoxious to the South, and six or seven Southern states were prepared to secede; these states had all passed secession resolutions. There had also sprung up in the North the abolitionists or free soilers some of whom sought the dissolution of the union and declared themselves enemies of the constitution and friends of the new confederacy of states where there should be no union with slave holders. At this juncture Henry Clay, then past seventy-two years of age, came forward with his last great compromise ; to admit California as a free state and to establish territorial government for the rest of the territory without any pro- vision for or against slavery. Webster supported this proposition on the ground that the condition of the soil and industries of the territories were such that it would be practically impossible to employ negro labor, and that it would avoid offending the South by settling the same for all time in advance; thereupon was raised around his head a storm of opprobrium and calumny. If the Seventh of March speech had not been made, Webster probably would have been the idol of the new free soil party. That Daniel Webster justly believed there was real danger to the country was sufficiently proved by the Civil War. That he acted from patriotic motives those who reviled him the most have since admitted. Practi- cally every Republican senator, who abandoned in 1861 the provision of the Wilmot proviso when organizing the 20 territories of Colorado and Nevada, had in 1850 heaped reproaches upon Mr. Webster for not insisting upon the same provisions for the same territory. The danger to the union which they found a good reason for receding from their position had been cruelly denied to Mr. Webster as a justifying motive. "My paramount purpose," Lincoln wrote to Greeley, "is to save the Union. If I could save the Union without freeing any of the slaves I would do it, and if I could save the Union by freeing all of the slaves I would do it." Sup- pose the South had accepted Lincoln's proposition to Greeley and returned to the union with the full promise and understanding that they were to keep their slaves. What would have been Lincoln's position in history, and would any of the calumny heaped upon Webster have been Lincoln's share? It may be idle to inquire but it all shows that the people, and not Mr. Webster had changed. The radicals North and South were in control, and were governed by the impulse which a little later expressed itself in the lines: "Not another word, try it with the sword, Try it with the blood of your bravest and your best." Could Webster have been at the field of Gettysburg this summer and seen the reunion of the blue and the gray, could he have seen the Constitution honored and obeyed in all the length and breadth of this land: could he have seen a reunited country without one star tlimmed and their numl)er increased from thirty-one to forty-eight, he would, indeed, think he liad not lived in vain. His was not the eloquence of an exiMring nation, l)Ut the elo- quence which told of future victory, of future glory, and of future greatness. We are honored by the presence of the head of Webster's Alma Mater: and. likewise, by tlie representative of that sister state, once i)art and i)arcel of the body of this state, to whom wen- it inor(> fitting tliat Webster should turn. 21 when leaving his native state, for the broader field, for the expression of his niasterl}' efforts; and again by rep- resentatives of that great and lasting national Congress wherein Webster served for nineteen years; and yet again by many other noble and patriotic citizens who will ad- dress us; to these, as to all others here present, I extend the greetings of the State of New Hampshire. It is highly fitting that this primitive abode of the great expounr'er of the Constitution, the greatest orator of all times, a product of our soil, should be preserved as an object lesson to our children and our children's children to the remotest time. To those, to whose patriotic spirit and admiration for that which is good and great in the public service, is due the formation and completion of the plans whereby this historic spot has been preserved against further encroach- ment and the house restored to its former site and condi- tion, the Sovereign State of New Hampshire extends its fullest appreciation and gratitude. It is deeply indebted to you, and not alone for the mere immediate results which you have here produced, but more for the lasting and permanent spirit which your works will tend to induce and foster in the coming generations, finding its expres- sion in the greater admiration of the foremost of all her sons, Daniel Webster. POEM BY MISS I:DXA DEAN PROCTOR. The presiding officer introduced Honorable Henry H. Metcalf to read a poem on Mr. Webster by Miss Edna Dean Proctor. ]Mr. Metcalf said: Mr. President, I do not know any basis of propriety upon which I am selected to read this poem of Miss Proctor except the fact that I am a kinsman of hers and that our maternal great grandfathers. l)efore the Revolution, settled on the soil of Hopkinton. where, many years later, Daniel Webster courted Grace Fletcher. 22 Daniel Webster. At his birth place, Salisbury (Franklin), New Hampshire, August, 2S, 1913. Hail to the home that reared him! hail to the hills, the stream, That heard his earliest accents, that shared his earliest dream ! A place it is for pilgrimage— for gratitude to shrine A name and fame whose grandeur will never know decline; And with honor and remembrance and reverent accord. For his greatness and his service we bless and praise the Lord. From his own Kearsarge and Katahdin to Shasta's dome of snow, From Superior's pines to the tropic Gulf where the palm and the orange grow, He loved his land and in dreams beheld the splendor of its prime — A mighty nation nobly dowered for a destiny sublime; And he strove to weld the States in one with a strength no power could sever, For the cry of his heart was. Liberty and Union, now and forever ! We think of him as a mountain peak that towers above the lea, Where sunshine falls and lightnings flash and all the winds blow free; And his voice comes back like the swelling chant, within some minster old. That floods the nave and thrills the aisles and dies in a strain of gold! So lofty his eloquence, grand his mien, had ho walked the Olympian plain The hstening, wondering throngs had thought great Zeus come down to roii2;n; 23 For beneath the blue or in stately halls, he swayed the hearts of men, As the boughs are swayed by the rushing wind that sweeps o'er wood and glen — As the earth is swayed by the primal fires that burn beyond our ken. And when nor plea nor prayer availed war's awful strife to shun. His fervor glowed in the flag aloft and nerved each North- ern gun, And above the roar of battle and the rage of mad endeavor, His cry still echoed, Liberty and Union, now and for- ever! Do we look alone at the wounding thorn when the crimson rose waves high? Do we hear but the one discordant note as the symphony rolls by? The clouds on his fame are like morning mists in the path of the full-orbed sun, For his glorious, deathless words will shine Down the years with a light divine till dawns and days are done ! And whatever world has gained him it will be a heaven to him That the Union lives, resplendent, not one star lost or dim. Hail to the home that reared him! hail to the hills, the stream, That heard his earliest accents, that shared his earliest dream ! And while the skies enfold Kearsarge and the meadows Merrimack river, From sea to sea, shall our watchword be His patriot heart-cry. Liberty and L'nion, now and forever! Edna Dean Proctor. 24 The Presiding Officer: Daniel Webster and Dart- mouth College are names woven together in the legal mind of America. It is difficult to think of one without the other. Webster's success in the Dartmouth College case at Washington gave the college national fame, while the breach with the state authorities thereby created has long since been closed. I present with honor and pleasure, Ernest Fox Nichols, President of the College which Webster loved. ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT NICHOLS. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Governor, Ladies and Gentlemen: We are gathered here at Webster's birth place. The place of W^ebster's intellectual birth and of the first awakening of his greatest powers was Dartmouth College. Here was the home of his childhood; there the suiToundings and formative influences which developed his manhood and gave direction to his growing purpose. The college called out his best. Great loj^alty to his college, faith in her, love for her, Webster showed in ways which few men have been given power to display. Throughout his life the influence of the college was ever strong u])on him. There are several stories extant of Webster's life in college, which, if true, reveal the growing strength of his personalit}' and his firm determination to fight his own way in the world, always with loyalty to his ideals hut without other fear or favor. I shall relate but one of these stories. I know not whether this story be true or no, but it is one which at first thought you might perliai)s least expect me to tell. Webster's college course was ended, so the story runs. The Commencement exercises of the class of 1801 were over, and together with his classmates Webster had re- ceived his diploma. As the assemblage passed out of the church ^^'ebster turned aside, walked round behind the 25 church, and there tore his diploma in shreds, saying, ''If I cannot succeed without this, I would rather fail." Here it may be noticed that in destroying his diploma, if he did so, AVebster in no way diminished nor altered the educa- tion he had received. All the opportunities he had so- esteemed and so earnestly worked for, opportunities which his father and his family had made such great sacrifices to- secure for him — he had profited by them all and bore their fruits within him. The alleged act was but a protest against the all too common custom of young men of relying, too largely upon letters of recommendation for opportunity and success. ]Many young men in our colleges today are there, con- sciously or unconsciously, to gain college recognition, to get a diploma for the distinction, social and other, which that certificate from a good college always confers. The matter of getting an education in the true sense, of quickening, rectifying, strengthening, their mental powers is by some boys considered as either incidental to getting a diploma or synonymous with it. This confusion of ideas was quite as noticeable in Web- ster's day as in ours, but his mind was clear, he saw the difference. He realized that power comes through knowl- edge, that understanding grows with knowledge and knowl- edge with understanding, that a diploma is but an outward and visible assertion of another's inward and invisible stores. He felt the upbuilding which his college training had wrought within him and he felt his competence ta prove it to any man. He wanted no letters of introduction. He would make his own way without leaning on the high reputation of his college, nor would he use her name and influence to forward his personal fortunes. Who better than he knew what the college had given him. and who better than he understood the high uses of that gift? If that did not suffice it were better to remain unknown. True to his ideals, chivalrous as a knight of old. he would 26 not i)roclaiin his mistress until he could do her both honor and service. In the life of every man there are two incidents of large significance, two things which broadly determine his alle- giance. One is the place of his origin, the other the institu- tion which educates him. New Hampshire claims, not only Webster's birth place, but Webster's college as well. Fortunately there has been but one short period in the long life of college and state when a divided allegiance was possible. On that occasion Webster did not hesitate to defend the charter of his college by using all his magnificent powers of logical argument and persuasive oratory in one of the greatest appeals ever made before a court of justice. He carried all before him and gained one of the most sweep- ing decisions ever pronounced by the Nation's highest tribunal. Dartmouth College joins most heartily in the spirit of this celebration and as one of the oldest residents of Xew Hampshire expresses gratitude and appreciation for the interest and generosity of the members of the Webster Birth Place Association, whose labors have made possible the preservation of this memorial to the greatest son of not only Xew Hampshire but of Dartmouth College also. Added note: Between tlic speaking of this address and the printing of it, facts and records have been brought to my attention which wholly disprove the story of Webster's destroying his diploma. Yet viewed in its true light this anecdote is so typical of Webster's personality, indejieu- dence of cliaracter, and chivalrous impulsiveness, it is small wonder the storv once invented found wide circulation. 27 ORATION BY HONORABLE SAMUEL W. McCALL FOR MASSACHUSETTS. The Presiding Officer: You have already been told through ]\Ir. Chandler that Congressman McCall is to make an address. New Hampshire has done so much for Massachusetts by sending down men to hold office there and furnishing summer homes for them in which to recuperate from the stress of life in Massachusetts that we feel little compunc- tion in drafting a Massachusetts man when we have special need of service. New Hampshire did not furnish McCall to Massachu- setts. She only educated him at New Hampton and Dart- mouth and lets him live here more or less in the summer. At the celebration of Webster's graduation at Dartmouth some years ago, Mr. McCall gave an elaborate address and more recently he assisted in the same way at the dedication of the Historical Society Building at Concord. Mr. ]\IcCall has done and is doing so much for us that it seemed to me I ought to find something especially nice to say about him in j^resenting him to this audience. I have done my best but I cannot improve upon what was said twelve years ago by the first citizen of New Hampshire, William J. Tucker. I use that with appreciation, not apology: ''Samuel Walker McCall, student of men and events, who reads the issues of the times not in the glare of the hour, but in the light of history, steadfast in conviction, strong in utterance, in action above expediency." I present, Samuel Walker ]\IcCall of ^Massachusetts and Lancaster, New Hampshire. 28 :vIR. McCALL'S ORATION. You do me an honor which would much more worthilj^ be borne by a son of New Hampshire, when you ask me to speak to you on an occasion especially commemorating the kinship between Daniel Webster and this splendid little Commonwealth. She is the proud mother of many great sons. In art, in letters, in oratory, in statesmanship and in whatever contributes to our civilization, the nation, indeed, owes her a heavy debt. But I think I may say without disparagement of the others that we meet today to do honor to the greatest of her children. Proud as you are of Webster, you recognize that his fame is no mere local concern of your own but is a precious possession of the whole nation. And you consecrate this place today as a national shrine to which all Americans may come and have their patriotism rekindled. It is a very human trait that leads us to commemorate on all suitable occasions the lives of great men. We cele- brate their birthdays. We look for the anniversaries of great happenings associated with their fame and com- memorate them. We seek out the spots where they were born, the houses in which they lived and we affectionately mark them. And the Scotch, as if shrewdly to Hote the event which makes reputations secure, celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the death of their great poet. It is a good trait but it would be a better one if men would not so often fail to show their appreciation while the object of it still lived. It is poor recjuital that tiie loving homage of later generations can make for \\\c {-oKl neglect which contemporaries have bestowed upon some man of genius. The Com IXC of Webster. But among all the occasions of the character of which I have sj)okcii tiiere is none that conies (juite so closely to the heart or so vividly brings the life of a great man before 29 us again as that which we observe today. It is more than an occasion based upon the calendar when we strive for a brief moment to arrest the steady and resistless flight of time. When we celebrate the birth we celebrate the dawn- ing of a fame. It may have been a birth under most un- promising surroundings, shadowed by poverty and want. It may have been upon a bleak hillside in some poor country whose boundaries hold none too good opportunities even for its most favored children. But it is given those who follow to see the end from the beginning and not to be shut in bv the doubt and darkness that envelop the cradle. Thus it is that the Christian world takes its inspiration from the manger at Bethlehem. Thus it it that we seek out the little hut where Lincoln was born as marking the spot where heaven touched the earth and wrought a prodigy. And so todaj^ you bid us come to the birth place of Daniel Webster and to gather strength from looking upon the same hills and fields and valleys that he first looked upon on his coming into the world. Here and in the near neigh- borhood he made his home until he came to manhood. Spread out before you are the fields over which his young feet sped. Not far away you may hear the plashing of the river and the singing of the brooks where the old Eng- lish sailor taught him to fish. Here were his father and mother and his brother, Zeke, between w^hom and himself there was a comradeship which may serve forever as an example to brothers. All these scenes were absorbed bj' his young spirit and became a part of the fibre of his being. How our patriotism is stirred as we consider the wondrous destiny that was wrought out between the first glimpse of the world, taken upon this spot and the last weary look out of the Marshfield windows. It surely was not an unpropitious beginning of a career. Poverty there was in plenty. But there was a certainty that hard work would wring a living from the soil, and there T\ere great stores of health in the bracing air of these hills. Povertv of that sort is far better than the luxury which 30 pampers and cloys the child of fortune. It sets the mind and bodj' at work and gives them the necessary discipline of labor. It awakens the combative energies and fosters self-reliance, inde})endence and fertility of invention. There was a fitness in the time of his birth. It was almost coincident with the birth of the nation, with the infinite possibilities that lay before it and with its political mechan- ism still to be shaped and developed so that it might serve the chief ends of government both in peace and war. And so his great work waited for his coming. He learned the history' of his country first-hand from a father who had fought in two wars, had served under the eye of Washington and borne an honorable part in winning our independence. He was reared in a home that was pure and sweet. He could have been brought up with no sturdier stock of men than those who lived about him and his contact with them strengthening his native qualities of self-reliance and courage. He was sent to two noble institutions gf his own State, Exeter and Dartmouth, already strongly established, and he was educated for the bar under happy auspices. He must then be accounted fortunate in the beginnings of his life and the early associations which clustered about h'un. He was not, to use Burke's phrase, "rocked and dandled into a legislator,'' but he was disciplined in a far better school for a j'outh of heroic mould and it may be doubted whether any great man was ever better born and nurtured to be a statesman. Webster Stronger Than Ever. To do him justice today one has only to speak the general acclaim of his countrymen. His life left no hard riddle. It did, indeed, end in bitterness and sorrow. But no cal- umny could mar the brightness of his day and the half dozen decades that have rolled away since his death show him to be one of the mountain summits of our history. In the swift movement of tliat time how many of the lower levels have sunk below the horizon? How quickly even 31 great men have disappeared from the common view. But Webster glitters in the air. He looms up even more grandly than he did a half century ago. We can comprehend more clearly now the greatness of the work he did and we can see that his fame is destined to increase with the growth of the nation he did so much to fashion and to preserve. ]\1any Unique Distinctions. He had more than one unique distinction. For more than a quarter of a century he was by general consent the leader of the bar of his country. His superb argument in the Dartmouth College case, made when he was thirty-six years old, set a new standard even in our highest tribunal and thence onward his services were sought in the most important cases before the Supreme Court and especially in those involving constitutional questions. He acquired a weight second only to that of the court itself and his opinion is cited today as high authority. His argument in the Knapp trial, remarkable in its effect upon those who heard it, will, in its published form, defy comparison with any other argument ever made to a jury. If he had never become distinguished in other fields his preeminence at the bar would insure him an enduring fame. Preeminent as an Orator. But his preeminence as a lawyer was the least of his great distinctions. As an orator he attained a place alone among his own countrymen and it is doubtful if he is sur- passed by any orator who ever lived. He will stand the dual test of the immediate effect and the permanent value of what he said. He is preeminent as an orator — judged •by either test alone and judged by a combination of the two I do not know where his rival may be found. The immediate effect of speech is of the first importance in j&xing the quality of an orator but the agitation of small matter with great wit, the vehement displays of passion will not make a great orator even if the listeners at the 32 moment are stirred to the point of frenzy. On the other hand, we should not accord the rank of a great oration to a literary masterpiece delivered in a decorous and drowsy fashion and leaving the audience in a condition for slumber rather than action. ]\Iuch as we should prefer the literary masterpiece to the empty declamation, the former would have failed at the moment, just as the latter succeeded even if it had succeeded also in cheapening a cause for the next day and all subsequent time. A great speech nmst make a deep impression at the time of deliv- ery. It must also bear permanently the marks of real intellectual power. Mere leaders of mobs cannot take their place among the great orators, however effective they may be at the moment. Neither passion nor reason can bear the palm alone but great speaking, as ]\Iacaulay said, must show a fusion of both. It is difficult to exaggerate in the imagination the immediate effect of the speaking of Webster when he was fully aroused. George Tichnor, who was far from emotional, said of the Plymouth speech, "His manner carried me away completely — it seems to me incredible. Three or four times I thought my temples would burst with the gush of blood." Opinions like this might easily be multiplied concerning his other great speeches. His manner kindled great crowds as it did Tichnor. Remarkable Physicai^ ExD head, with wide arrliod brows, the 33 strong and stately figure, the face looking as if carved out of granite and yet speaking in every line, all gave the idea of tremendous power. No other figure of his time was comparable in the impression it made upon the general mind. He seemed much larger than he was. William Lloyd Garrison, who differed from him very widely, speaks of his "Atlantean massiveness" and adds, ''his glance is a mingling of the sunshine and lightning of heaven; his features are full of intellectual greatness." To the same effect but more picturesque were Sydney Smith's character- izations, a "steam engine in trousers" and "a small cathe- dral all by himself." Many similar opinions might be cited from Carlisle, Hallam, Theodore Parker and other notable men upon both sides of the Atlantic. This mag- nificent appearance was fully matched by the character of his speech, and when he was deeply stirred and animated by a dramatic talent which was almost the greatest of his qualities, one does not need to be told by his contemporaries that the effect of his speaking was astounding. None of the Tricks of Literary Art. Fox's epigram upon Thurlow that no man could be as great as he looked, was often leveled at Webster. But when one regards the high mark Webster sometimes reached in his speeches one can wonder whether any man could look as great as he was. The speeches of his mature years show most strikingly the literary quality, and yet they had no trace of the spoken essay. First and foremost and throughout them all they were speeches and showed none of the tricks and pedantries of the literary art. His first object had come to be to give suitable expression to his thought and his style became simple and majestic because his thought was simple and majestic. It was shaped by the multitude of occasions which he encountered and mastered. He was never consciously constructing master- pieces and painfull}' fashioning built-up periods for suc- ceeding generations to admire. If he made a great speech 34 it was because a great occasion demanded it. He never wasted his oratory or tried to speak better than he could but he naturally arose to the demand that was made upon him. If the occasion was a commonplace one, he did it the justice not to exaggerate it, and if it was a very great one he never fell below it. Thus his swelling flow of speech moves on like a mighty river seeking its level under the certain impulse of the law which governs it, now spreading itself out in languid flow, now rising to meet the obstruc- tions in its path and rushing on, splendid and resistless over every obstacle. The Best of English Prose. From the eighteen volumes of his works that have been preserved one can extract much that is not Uterature and never was intended to be literature. He can find a good deal of dry reading. When he was writing his farmer about the planting of crops or making a speech upon a ceremonial occasion, he did not assume the grand manner. But from those volumes may be gleaned a great mass of genuine literature, perhaps a greater mass than can be credited to any other American, and some of it deserves to rank with the best prose in the English tongue. But in judging it we must remember that far the greater part of it was in the form of speech, and he would have fallen short of being the great orator he was had he subordinated the orator to the essajdst. Literary pyrotechnics were little to his taste, neither would they have served his purpose which was usually the severe one of swaying the judgment while he banished the prejudice of those who heard him. Rarely did he permit himself to make an appeal to preju- dice, but he sought to influence the action of men through an appeal to reason. The difference between a speech which is real literature of its kind and a speech which is literature of another kind may be seen by reading a great speech of Webster's by the side of one of Burke's. Take the speech of the former, 35 ambitiously called the "Constitution and the Union," but which has made the Seventh of March as famous as the Ides of the same month, and which will always be named from the day on which it was spoken. I am not now refer- ring to the controverted questions put in issue by that speech but to its form and structure, and in form and sti'ucture, while it was not his greatest speech, it was yet a very great one. It is simple, conversational and yet condensed in style, consecutive and reasoned from begin- ning to end, rising naturally to heights of eloquence, and one can read every word of it at a single sitting and feel his interest increase to the very end. If the same severe test be applied to a speech of Burke's of equal length one will find himself disposed to hurry over parts of it. He will, indeed, become enraptured by magnificent outbursts here and there but he will find it discursive, amplified with the completeness of a philosophical essay and lacking the simplicity and driving force necessary to command the attention in a speech. If one could leap from peak to peak he would find Burke's speeches delightful reading, but if he must toil painfully across the intervening ravines and valleys he may easily understand how it was that that superb rhetorician and philosopher came to be called "the dinner bell of the House of Commons." The Battle Note in Debate. The great debating speeches of Webster reflect the battle note. One can appreciate the enormous difficulties upon him when he arose to reply to Hayne and can understand the concern which was felt by his New England friends. As he proceeded we see these difficulties vanish one by one until he has surmounted them all with ease. His reply to the personal attack upon himself was crushing in its effect. Instead of widening the sectional breach by the character of his defense of New England he outshone his antagonist in the eloquence with which he eulogized South Carolina and, trampling sectionalism under his feet, he made his 36 immortal plea for nationality and union. Judged by its immediate efTect, b}' its intrinsic quality and the momen- tous influence it exerted upon the development of the nation it must be accorded the first place among all speeches of statesmen. As a maker of history it must rank with the few great decisive battles of the world. As an intellectual product the reply to Hayne was at least equaled by others of his speeches. When was there such another plea made to a jury as that in the White murder trial? A great lawyer once said to me that he placed this speech by the side of Macbeth. It has the rapidity of motion, the dramatic fire, the passion, and the command of the springs of human action which bring to mind the greatest of tragic writings. The Vision of the Poet. He had the vision of the poet as well as the grasp of the statesman. There is, indeed, a vast richness of the sane imagination in such passages as that on the greatness of England or in the speech at the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill ^Monument, of which he said: "Let it rise, let it rise till it meet the sun in his coming. Let the earliest light of the morning gild it and parting day linge; and play on its summit. " There is no redundancy here. There is no pretence, but the upward sweep as unerring, strong and darting as the flight of an eagle. He never seemed to labor. He attained the great heights easily and without eff"ort. When extravagance of expression was the rule he practised a severe restraint. He did not indulge in the style of oratory which expends superlatives upon trifles and leaves little for the great emergencies of the State. Such an exami)lc was never of greater moment than at a time when every economic diff'erence is apt to be exag- gerated into a momentous issue, has lavished upon it all the passionate declamation which should be reserved for threatened li))erty, and when the cause of every self-seeking candidate is made synonymous with the stability of our 37 political and social structure. His reason and imagination worked together and he sometimes ventured on prophecies which were fulfilled with startling literalness. Ten years before the Civil War, in speaking at the laying of the corner- stone of the extension of the Capitol, he addressed "the men of western Virginia" and asked: "Do you look for the current of the Ohio to change and to bring you and your commerce to the tide waters of the eastern rivers? What man in his senses can suppose that you would remain part and parcel of Virginia a month after Virginia had ceased to be part and parcel of the United States?" Virginia was declared to be out of the Union on ^Nlay 23, 1861, and the legislature of West Virginia was organized on July 2 oi the same j-ear. Literary Quality in Writing. His literary quality is shown not merely in speech, but in writings which were never meant to be spoken. Mr. William Everett quotes Samuel Rogers, whom he terms "a remarkably fastidious judge," as saying he knew nothing in the English language so well written as Web- ster's letter to Lord Ashburton upon the subject of im- pressment of seamen. Whether this praise be too high or not, I do not know where there can be found in English a state paper that is its equal in dignified and restrained power and in overwhelming weight of argument. It was followed by no treaty, but it put an end to the discussion of a question which had been a serious one for more than half a centur}" and had brought about one war. Noth- ing remained to be said upon the subject. ]MosT Stately Figure of His Time. But great as were Webster's attainments as a lawyer, orator and master of English style, yet if we thought of him in a single relation it would be as a statesman. Un- doubtedly much was due to the harmonious blending of all his great qualities, and the lawyer and the orator were in 38 large part responsible for the statesman. But he possessed a peculiar quality of mind which made him right upon the mightiest issue in our history, and he had that dignity and distinction of character which ennobled every cause he touched and helped put our government upon a loftier plane. He was not merely the greatest orator, but the most stately figure in the politics of his time. He was national-minded. Without seeking expansion through im- perialism and conquest, he inevitably took that view of his country and its institutions compatible only with its unity and greatness. There was an affinity between the aspirations of his nature and a great and free country, and it is impossible to imagine him upon the side of a national government with no real power and subject to all the discords and varying whims of a score of little sovereigns. Always on Side of Nationality. Our political literature was full of support for nullifica- tion. Calhoun's belief in it had been strengthened, if, indeed, he did not first learn it, in Xew England itself. There was no stale in which it did not find lodgment and in some portions of the Union it was the prevailing belief. In the loose thinking of the day there seemed a necessary connection between individual liberty and the exalted notion of state sovereignty which made the Constitution a mere compact, and not the charter of a Nation. Webster inevitably ranged himself upon the side of nationality. He became its prophet. All his splendid talents he devoted to its service. He spoke in the very crisis of our liistory, when difficulties were appalling, and when the development of our institutions might easily have put nullification in the ascendency, and he spoke with an effect which was aug- mented with the flight of time. It is not extravagant to say that had it not been for him we should not today be one nation. \\'hat more glorious distinction than that could a statesman have? 39 A Limit to Ambition. And then there is the dignity with which he bore himself. If the statesman's calling shall ever be put upon the level of the auctioneer's, as sometimes seems not unlikely, it will be only after the influence of Webster's example shall have ceased. He had an instinct for public service, but he had high notions concerning the lengths to which he should go to enter it. He weightil}" declared that solicita- tion for high public office was inconsistent with personal dignity and derogatory to the character of the institutions of the country. He lived up to that declaration. He retired from the House of Representatives and twice again from the Senate. He resigned as secretary of state to take up his law practice. He had an ambition to be president, but he destroyed his fairest chance of winning the office when he was asked for a pledge by a powerful body of men, regarding appointments to office, and he refused to make it. ''It does not consist," he said, ''with my sense of duty to hold out promises, particularly on the eve of a great election, the results of which are to affect the higher interest of the countrv. " Ignored the Little Politician. More than once his motives were assailed but, excepting when he turned upon one slanderer and annihilated him, his only answer was to elevate his office by the manner in which he carried himself. He had nothing in common with the little breed of noisy politicians who defame their own virtue by always vaunting it. During the five years when he represented our government before other nations as secretary of state he elevated his country in the eyes of the world. If Carlisle was willing to back him "as a Parlia- mentary Hercules against the whole extant world,'' his matchless series of state papers from that on Impressment to the Hulsemann letter establishes his equal preeminence in that field. 40 He believed profoundly in popular government and his democracy was bred in the bone. The Democrats were not democratic enough, he once declared. Tliey were aristocrats. He was opposed to the caucus because it made "great men little and little men great. The true source of power is the people.'' The theme of his noble Greek speech was against the theory that society should not have a part in its own government. But he believed in a popu- lar will worked out in laws passed by representative assem- blies, and was against anything resembling autocracy. The contest of the ages, he once said, has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. He seemed the embodi- ment of the ideal of the Greek poet, ''the ordered hfe and justice and the long, still, grasp of law, not changing with the strong man's pleasure. n The Seventh of March Speech. • I shall not reopen the controversy which so long disturbed the country over the Seventh of March speech. If the making of the speech is conceded to have been a mistake one can find comfort in the saying of ]\Ir. Thomas B. Reed that the man who never made a mistake never made any- thing. But I fancy that some of the worst things said about that speech were said by those who never read it. Whether or not the speech did much to avert disunion at that time it is, I believe, amply sufficient to fight its own battles. But from the standpoint of his happiness, it would have been better far for him if his good angel had led him out of public life before he made it. It set upon his track the cry of calumny as it has rarely followed any man. Except as it embittered his last hours liow petty it all now seems. With so nuicli falseliood and so little truth how secure and impregnable it leaves his fame. L.\STiNG AND Priceless Fame. His faults were those of a great and lavish nature. If he sometimes forgot to pay his debts he often forgot to 41 demand his own due. They said he was reckless in expense. But instead of squandering his substance at the gambUng table according to the common vice among the statemen of his day, his extravagance consisted in the generous entertainment of friends, in choice herds of cattle and in the dissipation shown in cultivated fields. If he put Story under tribute to serve him upon public questions he him- self would neglect the Senate and the courts and for nights and days watch by the bedside of a sick boy. His faults did not touch the integrity of his pubUc character and were such as link him to our humanity. If he had been impec- cable, incapable to err, with no trace about him of our human clay, a Titan in strength but with no touch of weakness, we should be dedicating today the birth place not of a man but of a god. A superb flower of our race, he was still a man and he is nearer to us because he was a man. Product of this soil and these mountain winds, of this sky, the sunshine of the summer and of the winter snows, the hardships of the frontier, the swift-moving currents of his country's life, the myriad accidents that envelop us all, we reverently receive the gift and thank God today for Daniel Webster as he was. We who meet here may speak for the millions of our countrymen when we do this homage to his memory. We reverence the great lawyer, the peer- less orator and the brilliant Hterary genius. But most of all we honor the memory of the statesman who kindled the spirit of nationality so that it burned into a flame, who broke through the strong bonds of sectionalism and taught men to regard their greater country, and w^hose splendid service in making his country what she is and what she may hope to be has won for this son of New Hampshire a lasting and a priceless fame. 42 ADDRESS OF UNITED STATES SENATOR GALLIXGER The Presiding Officer : In comment upon the proposed celebration we are now holding, a Boston newspaper que- ries whether Franklin is now raising a senator for ]Massa- chusetts' use. If that was intended a slur upon the ability of this community with Webster gone, the answer is that since Webster's time Franklin has furnished from its citizens a senator of the United States, and Salisbury is also now doing so. Upon yonder hill Senator Gallinger makes his home. He has been interested in the Association from its inception, and has been active and helpful in every way. He consented to take part in these exercises and would be with us except for the imperative demand for his presence in Washington. He had prepared, in expec- tation that he might be able to be with us, an address which will be read by the Honorable James O. Lyford, Naval Officer of the Port of Boston, whom I now present. SENATOR GALLIXGERS ADDRESS. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: On this obscure and historic spot one of the few really great men that the world has produced was liorn. In this age of great opportunity it is difficult to fully realize the obstacles that stood in the pathway of this remarkable product of more than a century anil a (juarter ago. His brave fath(>i- had fought under Stark at Bennington, and so far as his limited means would allow IkuI given the son the advantages that tlic schools of that day supplied. Private instruction was supi)lemented by tlio teachings of Phillips Exeter Academy and Dartmouth GoUege. the latter then a struggling institution of learning in the wilds of New Hampshire. Webster graduated from Dartmouth 43 111 years ago, and to the day of his death cherished a love that was sublime for the old college. At one time he was under the private tutelage of Rev. Dr. Wood of Boscawen, a famous scholar and preacher, and it is related that on a certain occasion, to punish Webster for some infraction of the rules, he was given an unusual task in Latin to be learned in a specified time. Doctor Wood did not believe that the boy could accomplish the task, but it is said that at the end of the allotted time Webster rattled off the lines that were given to him to commit, and continu- ing without interruption recited as many more. This was perhaps the first practical demonstration of the great intellect that in later years thrilled the world with its wonderful power and genius. It would be presumptuous in me, a layman, to attempt to discuss the place that Webster should hold in the pro- fession of the law. Others better qualified than I will discuss that matter. It is sufficient for me to say on that point that impartial history will place him among the great constitutional lawyers, not only of this but of all countries, and beyond a doubt his fame as a jurist will last throughout the ages. ^Yho can tell the extent of the influence that Webster's reply to Hayne had on the result of the Civil War? Who can estimate how many inteUigent Northern soldiers, recaUing Webster's unanswerable defense of the Union and the Constitution, looking in the heat of battle at the flag which typifies our national strength, and which stands sponsor for the institutions built uj) under the protection it gives, fought more desperately than they would have fought had not those thrilling words of Webster, ^'Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable" been ringing in their ears. The truth is the battle that Webster fought in 1830 in behalf of constitutional govern- ment had a mighty influence upon the outcome of the Civil War, if, indeed, it did not make the success of the Union arms possible. In his reply to Hayne, Webster struck a death blow to the doctrine of nullification, which 44 South Carolina, in the interest of slave labor and free trade^. advocated, and which President Jackson summarily dealt with. Chief Prize Denied Him. Webster was a great lawyer, a great secretary of state and a great senator, but the chief prize for which he con- tended — the presidency of the United States — was denied him. That he would have graced that exalted position as he graced the various high places which he filled during his eventful and remarkable career, no man doubts, but in the economy of things the presidency was for others and not for him. Just how much that disappointment tinged his later years it is not for us to know, but beyond doubt that indomitable spirit and unequaled intellect keenly felt, with some degree of bitterness, the blow that shattered his highest ambition, and may have had something to do with his famous Seventh of March speech, delivered two years before his death, and which alienated from him a large proportion of his most devoted friends, and yet it may well be questioned whether or not even that speech, which created such an intense feeling throughout the North, ac- companied by the most severe denunciations, cannot be interpreted to mean that Webster considered it his last effort to save the Union from dissolution. He saw with true insight the coming storm that burst ten years later, and apparently was willing to make any possible sacrifice to avert it. Seventh of March Speech. In that speech he made concessions to the South that were entirely foreign to anything that he had ever declared in previous years, and it is not to he wondered at that the people of the North looked upon it as a compromise with the South, and a j)ractical surrender of his anti-slavery convictions. True, after a little there was a change of sentiment to a considerable extent. Men like Rufus Choate, B. K. Curtis, Prescott, the historian, and many 45 other men eminent in business and literary pursuits, joined with others, the total being 987, in a friendly letter to Mr. Webster concerning which Theodore Parker, in his Discourse on the Death of Daniel Webster, said: ''You know the indignation men felt, the sorrow, the anguish. I think not a hundred prominent men in all New England acceded to the speech. But such was the power of that gigantic intellect, that eighteen daj's after his speech nine hundred and eighty-seven men of Boston sent him a letter, telling him that he had 'pointed out' the path of duty, convinced the understanding and touched the conscience of a nation." In that last great speech it is related by I\Ir. Sydney George Fisher, in his book entitled '"The True Daniel Webster," that Webster rose in his usual cool, indifferent way, passed his hand over his brow, surveyed his hearers with that master eye, thanked the gentleman who had given him the floor, and then spoke that exordium which has always been considered so beautiful and touching. For the Union. These were his words: "I wish to speak today not as a Massachusetts man nor as a Northern man, but as an American and a member of the senate of the United States. . . . The imprisoned winds are let loose. The East, the North, and the stormy South combine to throw the whole seas into commotion, to toss its billows to the sky, and disclose its profoundest depths. ... I have a part to act, not for my own security, for I am looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the wreck, if wreck there must be, but for the good of the whole, and the preservation of all: and there is that which will keep me to my duty during this struggle, whether the sun and the stars shall appear, or shall not appear for many days. I speak today for the preservation of the Union. 'Hear me for my cause." I speak today out of a solicitous and anxious heart, for the 46 restoration to the country of that quiet and that harmony, which make the blessings of this Union so rich and dear to us all." In his reply to Hayne, which has been known as the Great Debate, Webster gave utterance to the following splendid outburst, showing that at all t'mes and on all occasions the preservation of the Union was uppermost in his mind : "I came into public life, sir, in the service of the United States. On that broad altar my earliest and all my public vows have been made. I propose to serve no other master. So far as depends on any agency of mine, they shall con- tinue United States; united in interest and affection; united in everything in regard to which the constitution has decreed their union; united in war for the common defense, the common renown and the common glory; and united, compacted, knit firmly together in peace, for the common prosperity and happiness of ourselves and our children." A Permanent ^Memorial. Desirous of establishing a permanent memorial to Daniel Webster at the place of his birth, a few of his New Hamp- shire admirers purchased the farm and planned the restora- tion of the house. Equally admiring friends, the country over, contributed to the work of restoration, and the birth place of the illustrious man, whom we today honor, is restored to its original form. It is placed on the ancient foundations, and stands today in every respect precisely as when erected by the father of the great senator. A large proportion of the structure is the original building and the addition is a perfect reproduction of the part that at some time was destroyed. Here let the birth place stand— a memorial and a shrine— where patriotic Americans and lovers of liberty from all lands can gain insiiiration for the duties of citizenship and renew loyal devotion to the fun- damental ])rin('i])lcs of a government that typifies what the great Lincoln declared it to be, a government ''of the people, for the people and by the i)eople. " Had it not been for 47 the matchless defense of the Constitution and the Union on the part of Webster we might not be privileged to live under such a government today, but thanks be to Heaven, New Hampshire supplied the champion, and to borrow the words of Garfield, uttered on a solemn occasion, ''God reigns, and the government at Washington still lives." Long may we as a Nation be led by that same divine hand, and long (indeed, while time lasts) may the memory and the deeds of Daniel Webster be cherished in the hearts of all who honor intellect, admire greatness, and acknowledge with reverence the heroic deeds, splendid achievements, and patriotic services of this greatest of all Americans. LETTERS FRO:\I GUESTS INVITED TO SPEAK. United States Senator Hoke Smith. United States Senate, Washington, D. C, August 26, 1913. Honorable William E. Chandler, Waterloo, New Hampshire: My dear Mr. Chandler — It is with sincere regret that I am unable to attend the exercises on the twenty-eighth. During childhood I was taught to reverence the marvel- ous intellect of ]Mr. Webster. My father had heard him speak, and knew him personally, and from my father my earliest recollection is rich with stories of the boyhood of this marvelous man. It may well be claimed that no man with greater intellect ever lived, but his devotion to his country was greater than his intellect. At times he differed with his political associates, but this was due to devotion to his country dominating his life. I cannot but feel how my own father would have appre- ciated my presence on such an occasion as that which you are about to celebrate, and this adds to my regret that my duties in Washington prevent me from being with you. Very cordially yours, Hoke Smith. 48 United States Senator Henry F. Hollis. United States Senate. Washington. D. C, August 14. 1913. Hon. J. H. Gallinger, United States Senate: My dear Senator — I am greatly obliged for your kind letter of August 11, asking me to be present and make a brief address at the Webster celebration August 2S. You will realize, I am sure, that it will be impossible for me to be present on account of the Tariff Bill. Every Democratic Senator has to be on hand until that bill is disposed of. Sincerely yours, Henry F. Hollis. United States Senate. August 26. 1913. The Webster Birth Place Association, Franklin, X. H.: Gentlemen — ^I regret exceedingly that the pendency of the Tariff Bill prevents my attendance at the Webster Birth Place on Thursday, August 28. Ordinarily I could leave for two or three days, but the political situation is extremely critical at just this time so that my presence is imperatively required. I have already visited the Birth Place, and I shall do so again at the first opportunity in order to note the changes that have been made by your Association. Sincerely yours, Henry F. Hollis. Representative Raymond B. v'^tevens. s. House of Represeulalives. U August 14, 1913. Honorable J. H. Ciallinger, United States Senate: My dear Senator Gallinger — I should like very much to attend the celebration planned for August 28 at the Daniel 49 Webster birth place but the Banking and Currency Bill will be reported to the House soon and consequently I shall be unable to leave Washington. Sincerely yours, R. B. Stevens. Representative Eugene E. Reed. House of Representatives, U. S., August 12, 1913. Honorable J. H. Galltnger, United States Senator, Washington, D. C: Dear Mr. Gallinger — Appreciating your splendid cour- tesy of August 11,1 regret to say I fear it will be impossible for me to attend the celebration in honor of Daniel Webster on August 28. Yesterdaj- the Currency Bill was intro- duced in Democratic caucus. Its consideration will, no doubt, consume a period of two weeks, after which it will undoubtedly be taken up in the House. I, therefore, feel I must forego the pleasure of a visit to New Hamp- shire. With sincere regards, I am, Cordially yours, Eugene E. Reed. Hon. William D. Sawyer, [Chairman New York Local Committee.] New York, N. Y., August 27, 1913. To Hon. William E. Chandler, President Webster Birth Place Association: It is a great disappointment that imperative and unpost- ponable professional duties hold mo here. I join in with you in tribute to the great man whose monumental services to his country are fittingly recalled in this time of apparent distrust of the great instrument of liberty which he defended so nobly. William D. Sawyer. 50 The Presiding Officer: Webster, while the greatest, was not the only great man that has gone out from Salis- bury. The locality has produced many strong men who made marks upon the times in which they lived. Brother Rolfe in his history of Sahsbury gives a long list which he calls the roll of honor, the Bartletts, the Eastmans, the Haddocks, the Pettingills, the Pingrees, the Smiths, the Sawyers, the Gales, and others. One of that number went out of Salisbury north instead of south, but he did not escape office by going to Vermont instead of Massachusetts. I present the Honorable Samuel Everett Pingree, of distinguished military fame and at one time Governor of Vermont. ADDRESS BY EX-GOVERXOR SAMUEL E. PIXGREE OF VERMOXT. Your Excellency, Mr. Chief Justice, Ladies mid Gentlemen: It gives me a peculiar pleasure and a joyful state of feeling that I have very seldom, if ever before, enjoyed, to come back to my native town from the hills of Vermont and see such a demonstration as I see here today in honor of one of my old townsmen, and for the perpetual preserva- tion of the birth place of Daniel Webster. In my busy life and in various lines of it, it has been my pleasure and my duty to be present at social functions and on historic occasions quite a number of times, but I want to say, that, though this may be my last, it is cer- tainly the most agreeable to my soul of any kindred oc- casion that I ever had the honor of being present at. When I stand here on what was once the soil of my native town, when I think over the names of those ancient families on these four town ranges through Salisbury, when I think of the Pettengills, of the Bartletts, of the Eastmans, 51 of the Fellows, of the Greeleys, the Dimlaps, the Websters, and the Scribners and Smiths, — oh, I could tell you of a long catalogue of notable men whom my boyhood knew seventy years ago, and they were most of them the personal acquaintances and friends of Daniel Webster. From my youth up until I left this region, I have had occasion to hear of that wonderful man from the lips of these and other men that knew him well; and now to come here to his birth place and see an audience that we could count rather by thousands than by hundreds — to see the interest that they feel in commemorating and perpetuating the sacred- ness of that birth place; and when I see this distinguished galaxy of gentlemen from New Hampshire and Massa- chusetts, many of whom I have known in middle life and in old age, but none in youth, save one, because they are much younger than myself generallj^ — I feel the greater gratification that I have come down from the New Hamp- shire Grants to assist, in my small way, in this pious public duty. And I want to say, fellow-citizens, that I stood here until this service was fairly opened and I could see no man on this stand that I did not rank in years. I made up my mind that I was the dean in years of this occasion, though in nothing else, but pretty soon I saw trip across this stage my beloved old friend, Judge Cross of Manchester, that dear old man whom I have known well over seventy years, and who at the Dartmouth Commencements, now- a-days, has to march at the head of the procession, and it made me feel young again to yield the honor to him, the grand old man of the alumni of his Alma Mater. Fellow-citizens, I was written to by my old friend, William E. Chandler, to come down here today and shake hands with you gentlemen, and he added: ''If the spirit moves you I want you to talk about five minutes to the people." I assured him that I did not expect I would be able to do that, but although I am so deaf I have heard but little 52 that has been said here today by these distinguished gentle- men, yet- 1 could see the inspiration of the occasion and it lifted me up to say something. I have jotted down for the sake of greater accuracy a few brief words that I wanted to say to you concerning Daniel Webster, not that I knew him well personally, for. although I have come to my eighty-second year, I never was personally accjuainted with Mr. Webster. I never saw him but once and that was from the rear, and I will tell you how that happened. My father and I were riding from Franklin Milage down to what we now call the Orphans Home, or Web.ster Place, and we met a distinguished gentleman — evidently distin- guished from the company he kept — riding in a carriage, and as soon as we passed by, my father said to me, "Samuel, did you know that gentleman'.^" I said no. "That was Daniel Webster," he replied. I turned my head and saw him from the rear. Now if you want to know why I did not see Daniel Webster face to face I will tell you. It was because a colored person was driving with him. He had his negro servant along and he was the first darkey I ever saw, and I couldn't distinguish Mr. Webster wlyle he was in sight. I have al- ways regretted more than I can express that I never saw that arching brow, those cavernous eyes, and that god- like head. 1 desire to saj' to you in a few words some of the things that give my impressions and my historic acquaintance with Daniel Webster as an American, as a man who loved the American Union, and I do not intend to toucli on any other of his great virtues, as I know his every charat'teristic will 1)(^ justly |)resented by distinguished orators. In all his great orations- tiiat one at Plymouth Rock commemorating the landing of the Pilgrims — those two at Bunker Hill when the cornerstone of the monument was laid and when the capstone was fitted — in the great eulogies on Adams mik! Jefferson — in the great debates on nullification and secession — and as nuich as any in 53 that great Seventh of March speech — the principal theme of all is most conspicuous in his expression of adoration of our matchless Constitution and his love for the Union. While he loved the state of his nativity, and while he loved the state of his adoption, his great concern on all occasions was to embrace his whole country in his expanded heart. Daniel Webster was in every sense an American. His public action and speech seem, as they are reviewed here today, like the statesmanship and patriotism of al- most his only democratic prototype, that great Athenian orator whose platform always was that ''in a republic the constant aim of the good citizen should be the dignity, permanency- and preeminence of the commonwealth and at all times and under all circumstances his spirit should be truly loyal." Daniel Webster was as much that as ever Demosthenes was. No man in public or private life from 1820 to 1850 knew better the true and growing temper of both North and South than Daniel Webster, and fully and prophetically realizing the ti-ue and dread fruition of these conflicting sentiments to the integrity of the republic, he did and said, in all his public utterances, all that could be done and all that could be said by any man to cultivate and strengthen the sentiment and bonds of that nationality that bound the states together and made them one. It would seem as if the most conspicuous idea which was made more sacred than any other by the golden circles of his expressive oratory, that idea which was the pole star of his political faith and the touchstone by which his standard of patriotism and statesmanship was measured, was the idea that the United States of America was one nation. He believed that without this basic idea as the cardinal doctrine and political life of all sections and all men, the success and perpetuity of American republican institutions were no longer possible. He believed that the claim of the right of secession at 54 the will of a state, the right to snatch a star from the blue field of the old flag, the right to repudiate all or any of the sacred obligations which bound the states together and made them one — was the outgrowth of a fatal heresij, a political Demon which should be exorcised by all the elo- quence of his might and main, and to this effort his life was divinely consecrated, and through his efforts to this end, the heresy was long suppressed. As the champion of the Union in the time of its earliest perils, and as the expounder and defender of the Constitu- tion, when first assaulted, no man in American history, North or South, of today calls his preeminence in question. All those great sallies of patriotism never lost power and control over the hearts and minds of men in his day and generation, but they continue to burn and live through the terrible throes of those years when, as he prophesied and deprecated, "the land was rent with civil feuds and drenched with fraternal blood," and the spirit of those great orations will continue to ''still live" so long as coun- try love continues to inspire the hearts of Americans. That hist infirmity which our fathers had to deal with so tenderly and which ever filled their minds with the deepest concern, weighed as heavily on the soul of Daniel Webster sixty and seventy years after the formative com- promise of our Constitution, as it ever did on the souls of Washington and Adams and Hancock and Jefferson and Jay and Madison, and this yj)irit shows forth in that beauti- ful and inspired apostrophe and prayer of his closing plea for the Union in the United States Senate: "When my eyes shall behold lor tlio last time the sun in Heaven may they not see it shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent: on a land rent with civil feuds and drenched, it may be. in fraternal blood, but rather let tluMii behold the gorgeous ensign of the Re- jHiblic still full high advanced, its arms and trojihies stream- ing in all their original luster in e\ery land and on every 00 sea and in every clime under the whole Heaven, bearing upon its ample folds no such miserable motto as ' What is it all worth?' or those other words of delusion and folly 'Liberty' first and 'Union' afterwards; but everywhere streaming on its ample face that other sentiment dear to every American heart, 'Liberty and Union, now and for- ever, one and inseparable.' " Fellow-citizens, one of the first speeches I ever learned was the one of which that is the conclusion. If I ever read anything outside of the Holy Writ that has been an in- spiration from my youth to my age, to make me love my country it is that speech, and every one of our children from generation to generation ought to have it by heart just as they do the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. ADDRESS BY HONORABLE DAVID CROSS. The Presiding Officer: With the exception of ]\Ir. Carr, Vice-President of the Association who has the close, we have now heard all whose names appear upon the program that are with us. You have noticed Judge Cross is with us, who more than any one here present reaches back to Webster's time and can give us personal recollections of the period, if not of the man. I have asked Judge Cross to say a few words and although no time for preparation has been allowed him, he has granted my request. Ladies and Gentleman, Judge David Cross. JUDGE CROSS' ADDRESS. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: We meet to memorialize the birth place of Daniel Web- ster. As we look upon this small country house, in form and locality exactly as in 1782, a feeling stronger than for anv one man touches our hearts; and we wish to know 56 about Ebenezer Webster, the father, his wife and children living here when Daniel Webster was born. It is 150 years since Ebenezer Webster left Kingston and made his way through deep forests and by untraveled paths to this place, and built a log house, and provided for himself and family a home. Ebenezer Webster, as historians say, 'Vame of a race of commonwealth builders who for a century had lived and fought on the soil of New Hampshire, and was himself a splendid type of sturdy and vigorous manhood." His 3'outh was spent in the exciting times of what is called the King George's War, when the French and English were continually at war, and he himself an officer in the famous corps known as "Rogers Rangers." To make a livehhood from such a soil and in such a climate as this was of itself difficult. Before he had time to remove forests and cultivate the land, he was called and left his home, and was a leader in the battles of Concord, Bunker Hill, Bennington, White Plains and Ticonderoga. The marvel of it is that this man, never inside a school- house as a pupil, educated himself so that he held for years all the offices in the town, as selectman, moderator, mem- ber of the legislature and of the Constitutional Convention, and one of the "side judges" in Hillsborough County. He was a leader in battle and a leader in all the building of the town, the State, and the Nation. In 17S1) eight states had voted to adoj)t the Constitution of tlie United States and five had voted against it. It required two thirds of all the states to agree to its adoption. At the winter session of the (Convention at Exeter Ebenezer Webster, under instructions of his constituents, voted against its adoj)ti()ii. The Convention adjourned to the June following. Mr. ^^'('l)st('r advised his constituents to reconsider their action mikI allow ihcir ch^legate to vote as li(> thought l)cst. This was a (ritical period in the Nation's history. If New Ilanijishire should xote again as befoic. the chances were that the Constitution would 57 be rejected, and that each state would be an independent nation of itself, or part of a weak and useless confederacy. The voters of Salisbury reconsidered their action. Mr. Webster returned to Exeter in June, made a speech which turned the tide, a large majority voted to ratify the Con- stitution, and New Hampshire was hailed as the ''ninth star" in the constellation of the thirteen United States. Curtis in his life of Webster says, at one time Daniel Webster, referring to this speech of his father, repeated it word for word, expressing for it much pride and admira- tion. Allow me to give here this speech exactly as reported: "Mr. President, I have listened to the arguments for and against the Constitution. I am convinced such a government as that Constitution will establish if adopted. — a government acting directly on the people of the states, — is necessary for the common defense and the general wel- fare. It is the only government which will enable us to pay off the national debt — the debt which we owe for the Revolution, and which we are bound in honor fully and fairly to discharge. Besides, I have followed the lead of Washington through seven years of war and I have never been misled. His name is subscribed to this Constitution. He will not mislead us now. I shall vote for its adoption. " This speech of Ebenezer Webster, in immediate effect and in results following, ranks with that of his son, Daniel Webster, in his reply to Hayne; in its beautiful simplicity and comprehensiveness it reminds one of the address of Lincoln at Gettysburg. If at some future day a statue of John Langdon shall be placed in our state house yard, there should stand by its side the statue of Ebenezer Webster, ecjually worthy with Langdon of such a position. Here 150 years ago commenced a Puritan New England home, and if hereafter men and women shall come from the North, from the South, from the East, and from the West, and from Foreign Lands, they will look upon yonder house not simply as the birth place of Daniel Webster, but as a 58 typical New England country home of the Colonial and Revolutionary days. Daniel Webster was the product of this New England home. A New England home! What was it? What has it been and what has it done for this State, for the Nation, for the world for the past two hundred }'ears. I wish I had the time and the ability to recite the marvelous, yet beautiful story of the New England home. I wish I could bring before you something that would enable you to see as I see in j'onder house the family of Ebenezer Webster in 1782. As I look I seem to hear in that old house the clang of the loom, the whir of the wheel, and the song of the mother at her work. Some of us had a New England home in childhood and know what it was. I remember, as if but yesterday, more than ninety j-ears ago, my childhood home, the loom, the spinning wheel, the books, the prayers, and the rich "counter" voice of my mother in cradle song and old religious hymns. Daniel Webster once said he could not remember the time when he could not repeat the whole of Watts Hymns, Cowper, and Pope, and a large part of the Bible, learned at his mother's knee. Daniel Webster was great as a lawyer, great as a statesman, great as a diplomatist, great as an orator, remarkable in his varied knowledge in many departments. In the combination of all these qualities he had no superior, and I believe no equal. Yet, as I recall his life, he is more to be loved as a man than in anytliing lie achieved. He carried into his mature life, even to his last day. tlic keen sense of humor and tli(> joyous s])irit of his college life. He was my Dartmouth brother. He refounded Dartmouth College. His love for Dartmouth was expressed before the United States Supreme Court at Washington, in a tribute of matchless power and eloquence. I saw and heard him at Orford in 1S4() in a political speech for "Tippe- 59 canoe and Tyler Too," I heard him at Bunker Hill in 1843. I saw and heard him in Court, and in the Senate of the United States. I have not time to do justice to his achievements, but I ask that you read the three volumes, of five or six hundred pages each, of the letters — letters written when he was in college, while a student at law, while practicing law in the court, while a member of the Senate of the United States, letters written during his whole life. Read the volumes of speeches, especially read the volume of six hundred pages or more, entitled '' The Great Speeches of Daniel Webster. " There is nothing in literature more delightful or more profitable to read than these letters and these speeches. I have read them many, many times and year after year I return to read and enjoy. Rufus Choate, being asked to criticise one of Webster's speeches said, ''I would as soon think of correcting the Psalms of David." Edward Everett, being invited to criticise or say wherein was any fault in the Plymouth address, said " I would as soon think of wiping the apple of my eye with a crash towel." In 1821 Ex-President John Adams wrote to Mr. Web- ster in part as follows: "If there is one American who can read your Plymouth oration without tears I am not that American. This oration will be read five hundred years hence with as much rapture as it was heard. It ought to be read at the end of every century and indeed at the end of every year forever and forever." New Hampshire is proud of her mountain scenery, her valleys and hills, lakes and rivers, but she points with more pride to her illustrious sons, Ebenezer and Daniel Webster. I heard Rufus Choate in his Eulogy of Daniel Webster at Dartmouth College in 1853. In all the records of such literature you cannot find its equal. Listen to a few words out of its sixty-four printed pages. "Such a character was made to be loved; it was loved! 60 His plain neighbors loved him and one said, when he was laid in his grave, how lonesome the world seems. Edu- cated young men loved him. The ministers of the Gospel, the general intelligence of the country, the masses afar ofif, loved him. They heard how tender the son had been, the husband, the brother, the father, the friend and neighbor; that he was plain, simple, natural, generous, hospitable, the heart larger than the brain; that he loved little children and reverenced God, the Scriptures, the Sabbath Day, the Constitution and the law, and their hearts clave unto him. " Men and women of New Hampshire, remember this typical New England. Puritan home. Make your homes such as Ebenezer Webster made his. Teach your children to work for the upbuilding of the town, the State and the Nation as did Ebenezer Webster. Teach your children to defend constitutional government and the Union of the States, "one and inseparable," as did his illustrious son, Daniel Webster. The Presiding Officer: Most New Hampshire men who leave the state acquire prominence in their new homes, and hold office. Probably it is easier thus, because there is less New Hampshire competition. In the adjoining town of Andover resides a distinguished native of New Hampshire who did not have to leave the state to get office. I present the Honorable Nahum J. Bachclder, not long since Governor of the state. Gl ADDRESS BY EX-GOVERNOR NAHUM J. BACHELDER. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I assume that I am honored with a place in the program on account of other reasons than ability to make an ex- tended address. I assure you I shall not attempt it and will detain you but a moment. No state excels New Hampshire in her contribution to the list of leaders in social, educational, political and industrial affairs of the Nation, and the name of Daniel Webster easily heads that list. We have listened today to a recital of facts connected with his marvelous mental development, his great self- reliance and the great achievements which are sure to follow such a combination of qualities. This is well, for there may be among the granite hills of New Hamp- shire today some youth who will be inspired by the stories told upon this occasion to become as illustrious in his day and generation as was Mr. Webster in his. And further, you will allow me to emphasize in a word what has been so well said here in regard to Mr. Webster's interest in agriculture. The Daniel Webster plow with which he turned the rugged soil of his New Hampshire farm has more than a national reputation, and the incident of his oxen being driven past his windows when he was Ijing upon his dying bed, that he might look into their peaceful eyes, was a pathetic event in the life of this great statesman. Doubtless, while engaged in those great conflicts in national affairs, his mind reverted to the pastoral scenes w^hich he loved so well, thereby deriving inspiration and furnishing force to his expression. When these conflicts, one after another, ended, he found solace and comfort, and inspiration for other battles, in turning the soil of his New England farm, among his farm animals which he 62 • loved to caress, and in mingling with the country folk for whom he always entertained the highest respect. History tells us that all the great leaders of the world have ever manifested an interest in husbandry, and with- out attempting to make an address I will, in closing, paraphrase that sentiment uttered by Daniel Webster upon an important occasion which reverberated around the world, and so was well typified in his own life: Agricul- ture and patriotic public service, one and inseparable, now and forever. I thank you. The Presiding Officer: I also have the pleasure of introducing the Reverend Ai-thur Little whose right to speak I place on the fact that he spends the summer time in the town of Webster. Our right to hear him rests upon other grounds. ADDRESS BY REV. ARTHUR LITTLE. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: There have been very few men in the country or in the world large enough to go round, so that all could have a share. Daniel Webster is an exception. Born in New Hampshire, adopted bj^ Massachusetts, he was restricted to no state lines. ]More than any other man of his time he belonged to the whole nation and to the world. He lived and thought and spoke in terms of national expansion, greatness and renown. He is the gift of New Hampshire to the world. His preparation for college antl his early career as a lawyer were in Boscawen, my native town. For this reason, among others, his name has been a household word in my home from my childhood. His brother, Kzekiel. was my father's personal friend, l^oscawen has always cherished his name as a most precious asset in her notable history. Among the great men who have given distinction to the town are 63 Daniel Webster, Ezekiel Webster, Gen. John A. Dix, Charles Carleton Coffin, Gerrish Farmer, and Moody Currier, once governor of New Hampshire. Personally, it gives me great pleasure to share in the services of this memorable occasion. They are most appro- priate. I rejoice in the splendid work of discovery and restoration done by this Association. It has thus dis- charged a debt long overdue, and deserves the gratitude not only of the citizens of New Hampshire, but also of the nation. . The generous homage to the memory of Mr. Webster, shown by the presence of the vast assemblage of men, women and children, is spontaneous, sincere and well deserved. His faults have been condoned or forgotten, while his virtues and achievements will live and shine with ever increasing lustre, as long as the American Union, which he more than any other man helped to preserve, shall stand. There are two impressions of this day that ought not to be forgotten. The first is that, with all his greatness, with all his transcendent gifts, and noble companionships, he never lost his fondness for the farm and his neighbors. He had the utmost respect for an honest farmer. A majority of this audience are farmers. Mr. Webster loved the farm. - He was to the manor born. He was familiar with the shovel and the hoe, with summer's heat and winter's cold, with hard work and meagre returns for exacting toil. He was one with you. This touch of nature brings the great man whose memory we revere into veritable kinship with those in the humbler walks of life. Another thing. We live under the only flag and in the only country where a man, born amid surroundings so ob- scure and disadvantages in early life so great, ever could hope to rise to such sublime heights as he attained. This is the glory of America. This is the glory of the American Union, whose maintenance and defense became the master passion of his life. This more than ever is the glory of our 64 country today. Equality of opportunity is the claim we make. There is not a bov in Salisbury or in Franklin, or in Boscawen, or Webster, or any other town in the state of New Hampshire who, if he realizes his opportunities, his advantages, his possibilities in this greatest of all the years, 1913, may not attain a position of honor, of usefulness, of influence among his fellowmen quite commensurate with his capacity. Boys, get fresh inspiration here this after- noon from the story of this great life! You will never hear it recited again with as much minuteness and clearness and distinctness and correctness as you have heard it today. You will never meet on another occasion that will have in it half the inspiration that comes to you this hour. Go home, and if you haven't a copy of ^Vebster's life and speeches, send or go to a library and get one and familiarize yourselves with hig great career! We do not half realize the power of great memories to stir the heart, quicken the conscience, reinforce the will and kindle afresh our patriotic zeal and love for our country. I am glad to have had a share in the stirring memories that have enriched this occasion. They will give fresh impulse and incentive to our dailv life. (( Such spots as this are Pilgrim shrines, Shrines to no creed or sect confined; The Delphian vales, the Palestines, The Meccas of the mind." And let us cherish the hojie that this may become a Mecca towards which we shall turn with unreluctant feet, not once in a lifetime, but, if possible, once a year, and stand with bowed heads and thankful, loving, appreciative hearts by this sacred spot — the l>irlli place of Daniel Webster. The Presiding Officer — Chief Justice Parsons: My part in the day's work is now ovei-. Whon the next speaker 65 begins, the presiding officer is through. We have kept the best for the last. I present the Honorable Clarence Edgar Carr of Andover, Vice-President of the Association. ADDRESS BY CLARENCE E. CARR. Mr. Chairman, Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before I proceed to a consideration of the great subject of this occasion, there is another to which I wish to call your attention. " Things seen are temporal; things unseen are eternal." Before you are the temporal evidences of the place where one of the greatest American statesmen was born. In your minds and hearts, and in the minds and hearts of the American people have been inculcated those principles for which Webster stood and which are of the " unseen and eternal." It is not our purpose to absorb to ourselves all the credit and honor of replacing these buildings as an everlasting monument to the great man who was born here and the things for which he stood. Therefore, we extend the privi- lege to you and all others. Instead of investing in the stocks of railroads which may fluctuate, of industrials which you know not of, and in other things which have a material value, I ask you in behalf of the Webster Birth- place Association, to see its treasurer and buy some of its stock, thereby helping to preserve the birthplace and memory of Daniel Webster which have an unseen and eternal value. Invest in this stock to preserve this shrine where all true men and women and patriots may come to renew their pledges of devotion to our common country, and honor New Hampshire's Jove-like son who struck such blows for you and me and hberty. 66 We are here to testify to our appreciation of the spirit and purposes of Daniel "Webster. His love of liberty, his struggle for the Union and his devotion to the government as instituted by the fathers for the protection of liberty and the perpetuity of the Union endear him to every heart and place us un^der obligations we can only requite by being good, patriotic American citizens. The statesman born here blazed our way. From the argument in the Dartmouth College causes to his Seventh of March speech, Webster's vast and varied statesmanship was constructive and evolutionary, sane, splendid, and vindicated in the main by subsequent events. ]\Iore clearly than any of his fellows he saw the future possi- bilities of this country. His spirit infused into the hearts of a people made Appomattox possible. His thought was the foundation idea of this nation. He battled for American democracy. ''The basis of a successful democracy is moral sovereignty." "American democracy is still on trial." AMiile we believe in the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of the Republic, its success is not yet fully attained. If we disregard the lessons of history, if we are careless of our rights and duties, if ambition and greed reign, if the Caesar idea waxes and the Jesus idea wanes in our national life, again in coming times and on coming issues, as in '01. we may have to cut the political dykes which surround us and once more purge our land with the red waters of the sea of battle. God grant this may not hajipen! Pray God we may 1)0 true. ^lay we so understand the logic of events that our industrial inde})endenco will be as benefi- cent as our political indeixMidence. ^lay we know our opportunities and meet our responsibilities. ]\Iay we not forget the Lincoln lesson that, however strong, no man is as strong as the law; however good, no man as good as justice; and however wise, no man possesses the wisdom of mankind. Mav we also heed the further lesson that 67 the American people will not long accept as matter of charity that to which they are entitled as matter of right. Let us be true to Webster's idea of Union, true to his spirit of Liberty, true in our devotion as was he to our republican government, with all it implies, through which alone the ultimate triumph of American democracy is possible. The fundamental principles of our government for which Webster stood were Union and Liberty. What kind of Union? The moulding together of independent commonwealths, best calculated when independent to conduct their domestic affairs, and best calculated as a common whole to give national strength, to exercise a dominating influence for good among nations, and to protect our people in the enjoyment of the blessings of freedom and opportunity — ''an indissoluble union of indestructible states." What kind of Liberty? It is that divine liberty which alone can make a nation's influence immortal. Its spirit is in these hills and moun- tains amid which Webster was born. He caught it from the echoes of the American Revolution. He read it in the story of Marston Moor and Runnymede, and in the waters set free in the Netherlands by William the Silent. He found it in those legends which showed the yearnings of men's hearts in the German forests when Caesar with Roman arrogance bordered the Rhine, and built his wall across an island in the sea. He found it in the wisdom and experience of mankind, as, reiterated by the ]\Iaster on Sinai's heights, it floated down through the ages in the language of the Second Commandment. Its source is Justice; its ends, equal rights, equal oppor- tunities, beneficent laws and equal protection under them. How mightily Webster strove to make his idea the ruling passion of a people, we know; with what success, our devotion and that of coming generations will answer. From this platform this afternoon you have heard 68 a distinguished representative from ^Massachusetts, ^Ir. McCall, suggest that the Seventh of ]\Iarch speech might have been omitted. Permit me to say, God forbid. AMien He who rules over the destinies of nations sought for some hand in this world of ours which would strike a blow for liberty that would ring down the ages, he came in the language of the old legend to this modern Arthur, and placed in his hands the sword of the Union — the excalibur of our liberties — and charged him — "Use it well and guard it well. So that after time may tell Of thy country and of thee, Blazoned on whose shield shall be ]Might and right and liberty." And so my friends, I would not expunge one single word or letter or mark from the Seventh of ^larch speech, which taught and is teaching American j^outh that there is something beyond power, something beyond place, and that is love and devotion to the American Union. Dominated by Webster's thought, animated by his spirit, and dedicated to the principles which he gave the strength of his life to defend, let us go hence determined to preserve upright and transmit pure our Constitutional- Republican-Representative Government whose strength is Union and whose object is Liberty! So may AVebster's work have its fulfillment and Web- ster's vision come true. May we and our children, and our children's children so live as to make possible the triumph of American democracy, and history record that "ours came among the nations of th(> world as the Christ came among the sons of men." Our Father, God, benign, supreme. Whose light for all the worlds doth beam The centuries through, whose hand doth roll Their records in an endless scroll, 69 We come to Thee in faith and trust To show us what we ought and must. Our fathers Thou liast guided well, And may the ages later tell Of us, their children, strong to save The nation that through Thee they gave; A sacred trust that will endure Preserved upright, transmitted pure. For all the steps by progress made, For all the power for good arrayed, For men courageous, steadfast, free, Co-workers in our land with Thee, We give our thanks. And from the stars That shine beA'ond our prison bars. With simple hearts Thy love to feel. Thy purposes, O God, reveal! And when with vision larger grown, In time we comprehend Thine own. Thy children, still Thy servants meet, Let us, in love, before Thy feet Pour forth the prayer of virile men, And strive toward heights beyond our ken With faith in life, and love, and Thee, And in Thy blessed Liberty. BENEDICTION BY REVEREND HENRY C. McDOUGALL. Holy Father, may Thy eternal blessing and Thy love rest upon and abide with us, now and forever. Amen. ORGAxXIZATIOX OF THE WEBSTER BIRTH PLACE ASSOCTATIOX. This organization was made on October 26, 1910. under the corporation laws of New Hampshire in lx4ialf of thirteen mem- bers, who had decided to become purchasers of the birth place, being Frank X. Parsons, Wilhani E. Chandler, Alvah W. SuUo- waj', Warren F. Daniell, Edward G. Leach, Omar A. Towne, John W. Staples, Augustine R. Avers, Jacob H. Gallinger, Clarence E. Carr, John K. Eastman, Henry M. Baker, and Charles S. Collins. Five persons being enough to start such a corporation the articles were signed on the above date only by the eight members first above named.* The movement originated with the Franklin Board of Trade on March 14, 1910, as appears in the Journal-Transcript of March 17 as follows: Webster's Birthplace. committee named to act on conservation of the property. At a meeting of the Franklin Board of Trade, IMonday even- ing, IMarch 14, 1910, a resolution regarding the conservation of the Daniel Webster birth place was offered by Hon. Edward G« Leach, and was adopted by unanimous vote. By the terms of this resolution, following a prcam])le defining its ]:)urpose, it falls upon the President of the Franklin Board of Trade to appoint the committee called for by the resolution. Whereas, the Franklin Board of Trade are of the opinion that the present is a mo.st favorable oi)])ortunity to take action toward the j^ermanent conservation of the birth place of Franklin's most illustrious son, Daniel Webster, in an ajiprojiriate manner ; *A previous birth place orKunization had been made umler the laws of New iranipshirc on Jaiuiarv 121, 1904, by Arthur C. Jackson, Omar A. Towne, Aupustinc R. Aycrs. Barron Shirley. John W. Staples and Charles S. Collins, but all the rights of that corporation and the birth place lands and buildinjis have been duly acquired by the present Webster Birth Place Association organized on October 26, 1910. 70 71 Resolved, That a committee of nine citizens of Franklin and vicinity be selected, of whom the President of this association shall be one, and the others to be selected by him, as a com- mittee to consider and formulate such plan of action as they may consider most appropriate for the accomplishment of the desired object. After due consultation and consideration the President of the Franklin Board of Trade has appointed the following committee : Hon. Frank N. Parsons, Chief Justice Supreme Court; Hon. William E. Chandler, Ex-Senator of the United States; Hon. Jacob H. Gallinger, United States Senator; Hon. John R. Eastman, Trustee of Dartmouth College; Hon. Edward G. Leach; Hon. Alvah W. SuUoway; Hon. Clarence E. Carr; Omar A. Towne, Editor Journal-Transcript. John W. Staples, President Franklin Board of Trade. In the Journal-Transcript of March 24 appears the following: "The committee appointed by Dr. John W. Staples, Presi- dent of the Franklin Board of Trade, to take action toward the permanent conservation of the birth place of Daniel Webster, met Tuesday afternoon, March 22, at the law office of E. G. Leach. No definite action was taken and adjournment was made to a later date when it is expected all the members of the committee will be present and visit the birth place. Those at the meeting Tuesday were Hon. Frank N. Parsons, Hon. A W. Sulloway, Judge 0. A. Towme, Dr. John W. Staples, Hon. E. G. Leach, Prof. John R. Eastman and Hon. Clarence E. Carr. Senator Galfinger and ex-Senator William E. Chandler ^^-ere unable to be here." Articles of Lxcorporatiox and By-Laws, state of new hampshire. Office of Secretary of State. I. Edward X. Pearson, Secretary of State of the State of New Hampshire, do hereby certify that the following and hereto attached articles of association of tlio Webster Birth Place Asso- 72 elation have been recorded in "Records of \oluntary Corpora- tions," ^'ol. 15, pages 230-231, at Concord, this 31st da}' of October, 1910. In Testimony Whereof, I hereto set my hand and cause to be affixed the Seal of the State, at Concord, this 31st day of October, A. D., 1910. Edward X. Pearson, Secretary of State. ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION. We, the undersigned, five persons of hiwful age, associate ourselves together agreeably to the provisions of Chapter 147 of the Public Statutes of the State of New Hampshire to form a corporation bj" the following articles of agreement: 1. The name of said corporation shall be the Webster Birth Place Association. 2. The object of said corporation is the purchase, and preserva- tion and improvement of the farm in Franklin, X. H., upon which Daniel Webster was born, the collection and preservation of personal property formerly owned by or associated with him and by such means or any other to preserve and honor his memory. 3. Its place of business shall be Franklin, X'^ew Hampshire. 4. Said corporation shall have no cajiital stock, but may acquire, by gift or otherwise, and hold, real and personal estate for the imrjjose of its organization. All property owned by it shall |je held solely for that puj'pose. In case, however, the said corporation having acquiretl saitl property shall be dissolved or become unable to carry out the ])ur])ose of its organization the property of the corporation shall belong to the City of Franklin to be held for the purpose above set forth. "). The members of said corporation shall consist of the umler- signed and such others as may lie cli'ctcd to membership at the first meeting, or afterwards, in accorthince with the l)y-laws. G. The first meeting of the corjioration for organization, electii^n of members and officers, and ado])tion of by-laws sliall be held at the office of V. X. Paisous in Franklin. X. II., on ^^'e(l- 73 nesday, October 26, 1910, at two o'clock in the afternoon. At this meeting a majority of the signers hereto shall have full power. Franklin, N. H., October 2G, 1910. Frank N. Parsons, Main St., Franklin, N. H. W. E. Chandler, Concord, N. H. Warren F. Daniell, Franklin, N. H. Edward G. Leach, Franklin, N. H. Omar A. Towne, Franklin, N. H. John W. Staples, Franklin, N. H. Augustine R. Ayers, Concord, N. H. Alvah W. Sulloway, Franklin, N. H. Franklin, N. H., Records. Received and recorded October 29, 1910. Corporation Book, pages 59 and 60. Attest: Frank H. Daniell, City Clerk. BY-LAWS OF WEBSTER BIRTHPLACE ASSOCIATION. Article I. Members. 1. Any person approved by the Executive Committee may become a member of the association upon payment of ten dollars and continue such membership by th(^ payment of such annual dues as may be voted. 2. All persons contributing one hundred dollars or more each shall be continued as members Avithout payment of annual dues. Article II. Meetings. The annual meeting of the corporation shall be held on the second Saturday in October in each year at such hour and place as may be designated by the President. Special meetings may be called at any time by the President and shall ])e called by him upon the request in writing of seven members. Notice of meetings and of the business to be transacted shall be given by 74 the Clerk by publication in the Journal-Transcript six days before the day of the meeting. At any regularly called meeting the members present shall constitute a quorum. Article III. Officers. 1. The officers of the corporation shall be a President, three Vice-Presidents, Clerk, Treasurer and a Board of Trustees con- sisting of the officers named and nine trustees. The President, Clerk, and Treasurer shall be chosen each year at the annual meeting. Three Trustees shall be chosen annually at said meet- ing, who shall hold office for three years each. 2. The Trustees shall fill by appointment any vacancy occur- ring in their number or any office of the corporation, such appointee to hold office until the next annual meeting. 3. The Trustees shall be the Board of Management. They shall have all the powers of the corporation not required b}' law or these by-laws to be exercised by the members. The trustees may appoint an Executive Committee of five persons, who shall have all the powers of the trustees and shall hold their positions at the pleasure of the trustees. 4. The Clerk shall be clerk both of the corporation and the Board of Trustees. Article IV. Amendment. These by-laws may be amended at any regular meeting, notice of the proposed amendment having been given in the call of the meeting. STATE OF NEW H.\MPSHIRE. AN ACT Exempting from Taxation the Daniel Webster Birth Place. Be it enacted by the Senate ayid House of Representatives in General Court convened: Section 1. That the Daniel Webster birth place at Franklin, N. H., having been purchased by the Webster Birth Place Asso- ciation for the sole ])ur))()se of ]>reserving tlie same in suitable 75 manner for the benefit of the jieopk', and said association liaving provided tliat the same should revert to the city of Franklin whenever said association shall fail to properly care for the same, is hereby exempted from taxation together with any fund that may be raised for the perpetual care thereof by said association. William J. Brittox, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Enos K. Sawyer, , ,, , _ ^^,„ President of the Senate. Approved March 14, 1913. Samuel D. Felker, Governor. STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. Joint RESOLrTioN for Aid in the Restoration and Maintenance of the Birth Place of Daniel Webster. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened. That the sum of fifteen hundred dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated for the purpose of aiding in the restoration and maintenance of the birth place of Daniel Webster, said sum to be paid to the treasurer of the AVebster Birth Place Association and expended under the direction of said association; and the governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant for said sum out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Approved May 21, 1913. OFFICERS OF THE WEBSTER BIRTH PLACE ASSOCIATION. President, William E. Chandler, Vice-Presidents, Chief Justice Frank N. Parsons, Clarence E. Carr and F. G. W^ebster. Treasurer, John W^. Staples. Clerk, Omar A. To^^'ne. Trustees, Alvah W. Sulloway, Jacob H. Gallinger, Edward G. Leach, John R. Eastman*, Augustine R. Aj^ers, Frank R. Wood- ward, W^arren F. Daniell*, [Denison R. Slade has taken the place of Professor Eastman and Warren Fisher Daniell the place of his father], Frank Proctor and Charles S. Collins. * Deceased. 76 Local Committees. Boston— Charles K. Darling, chairman, Lewis A. Armistead*- secretary, Chief Justice John A. Aiken, Samuel L. Powers, Mel- vin O. Adams, James O. Lyford, Robert Lincoln O'Brien, Ralph S. Bartlett, Louis A. Coohdge. New York — "William D. Sawyer, chairman, George WiUiam Burleigh, Philip Carpenter,. Newbold Leroy Edgar, George S. Ed- gell, Joseph H. Emery, Amos Tuck French, WiUiam B. Greeley, Luther B. Little, Edward H. Peaslee, Ruel "\V. Poor, Philip A. Rollins, Edwin W. Sanborn, Gilman H. Tucker, Charles X. ^'ilas. Franklin — Mayor William W. Edwards, chairman; Thomas F. Clifford, secretary; Edward G. Leach, Frank Proctor, Omar A. Towne, John W. Staples, Rev. Alva H. ]\Iorrill, Rev. Rufus P. Gardner, Hon. Enos K. Sa\\^^er, president state senate, ex-Mayor Seth AV. Jones, Frank R. W^oodward, Warren F. Daniell, Jr.,. Richard W. SuUoway, Augustus B. Sa\\yer, Councilman Arthur M. Hancock. LETTEE OF APPRECIATION. Waterloo, N. H. August 30, 1913. Hon. W. W. Edwards: Mayor of Franklin and Chairman of the Local Webster Birth Place Cele- bration Committee : Mil Dear Mr. Mayor: It was a great relief and pleasure to me on my sick bed on Thursday afternoon to hear of the large attendance and gratifying success of our celebration; and it has added to my delight to hear from many commendations how much is due to the complete organization of your committee and to the fidelity and energy of every sub ehairnuin and member thereof. Where all did so well I cannot discriminate. Through you I give the warmest thanks of the Webster Birth Place Association to yourself and to your committee for what they have done to make the restoration of the Webster birth place house of January 18, 1782, and the celebration of that event on August 28, 1913, a credit to our Association, to the people of Franklin, Salisbury and the grand old towns round about, and to our friends and assistants from all directions. A delayed duty has been, at last, well performed. Very respectfully, Wm. E. Chandler. President of the Wehstcr Birth Place Association. Concord — Frank S. Streeter, chairjuan; Harry J. Brown, secretary; Ciiarlcs J. French, Samuel C. Eastman, James W. Rem- ick, Benjamin A. Kimball, William ]\L Chase, Charles R. Corn- ing, George H. ]\Ioses, Alvin B. Cross, Benjamin W. Couch, AAilliani J. Ahem, AMlliam F. Thayer, John D. Bridge, Henry H. t i Metcalf, Allen HoUis, Edson J. Hill, William D. Chandler, Charles R. Walker, Burns P. Hodgman, David E. Murphy, Josc])h S. Matthews, Edward C. Niles. Warner— Edward H. Carroll, chairman; jMason T. Ela, Fred H. Savory, Arthur H. Fish, George W. Bence, Andrew J. Hook, Henry Eunnels, Elmer Bartlett, C. M. Adams, Charles H. Hardy, Frederic S. Howell, Fred C. Brockway, Winfred J. Chase, Fred A. Clark, Robert F. Ohver, Charles H. Dow, Carl L. Cutting, John P. H. Chandler, Walter H. Craig, Edward Lee Carroll, George W. Rogers, Edward J. Trask, John J. Shurtleff, Seymour Colby, J. E. Sanborn, Herbert N. Lewis, secretary. Lancaster — ^Irving W. Drew, chairman; Chester B. Jordan, Moses A. Hastings, Fred C. Cleveland, W. H. Leith, Henry P. Kent, Rolhn E. Webb, W. H. McCarten, George M. Stevens. TiLTON— Charles E. Tilton, William H. Moses, Otis Daniell, Arthur S. Brown, J. E. Smith, Arthur T. Cass, Harris A. Morse, Charles P. Herrick. Berlin— George F. Rich, Daniel J. Daley, Robert H. Cham- berhn, Herbert L Goss, Abraham M. Stahl, John B. Gilbert, Holman A. Drew. Lisbon— Augustus A. Woolson, Fred E. Thorpe, Miss Mary R. Cummings, Dr. Edgar O. Grossman, Mrs. C. C. Moore, Miss Nettie L. Kelsea, B. S. Webb. Hillsborough— Hon. J. B. Smith, S. W^ Holman, K. D. Pierce, R. G. Smith, G. W. Haslet, W. H. IManahan, W. P. Bailey, Rev. R. W. Wallace, Rev. J. G. Leclerc, Rev. J. N, Seaver. Hanover— Prof. E. J. Bartlett, Mr. P. R. Bugbee, Prof. J. F. Colby, Prof. C. F. Emerson, Prof. H. D. Foster, Dr. J. ]NL Gile, Prof. Craven Laycock. Whitefield— Frank P. Lewis, W. G. Hadley, D. C. Woodman, C. jNL Grey, Dr. Anninna C. Rondinella, Dr. G. H. Morrison, L. 0. Shurtleff, Dr. J. W. Warden, C. C. King, F. W. Page, G. L. Crockett, ]\L J. Lyster, Dr. Gertrude A. Walker, Dr. R. E. Wilder, Dr. H. M. Wlggin, H. A. Graves, A. F. Stoughton, J. C. Trickey. Portsmouth — Hon. Alfred F. Howard, Col. E. Percy Stod- dard, Rear Admiral Joseph Foster, Hon. Charles A. Hazlett, Hon. Calvin Page, Hon. John Pender, Hon. True L. Norris, Hon. Woodbury Langdon, Rev. Alfred Gooding, Dr. John H. Neal, Hon. Benjamin F. Webster. 78 Xewport — William F. Richards, Jesse M. Barton, G. Harold Edgell, D. Sidney Rollins. Dublin and Vicinity — George B. Leighton, Dublin; John E. Allen, Keene; "Wallace ]Mason, Keene; Charles G. Shedd, Keene; E. H. Kidder, Dublin; John C. Gray, Dublin; George D. ^larcom, Dublin, Henry AVhite, Dublin. Bristol — Fred A. Spencer, Dr. George H. Galley, Richard "W. Musgrove, Henry C. Whipple, Frank N. Gilman, Fred H. Ackerman, Henry C. Field, WiUiam C. White, George B. Ca\'is, Ira A. Chase. ^Manchester — G. Waldo BroA\'ne, L. Ashton Thorpe, Charles J. Hadley, Fred W. Lamb, Harry T. Lord, Frank W. Sargeant, H. Fox Davis, William P. Coburn, John Dowst. Peterborough — Robert P. Bass, Miss Mary Morrison, George E. Adams, Prof. WilUam H. Scofield, ]\Irs. Jennie H. Field, A. W. Noone, Major James F. Brennan. Laconia — Woodbury L. ]\Ielcher, Samuel B. Smith, Charles W. Vaughan, Edwin P. Thompson, Stephen S. Jewett, Edmund Little, James S. Smith, Henry B. Quinbj', William F. Knight, James H. Story, George D. Mayo, Oscar L. Young, Dennis O'Shea, William Wallace, Oscar A. Lougee, Frank H. Lougee, Lawrence Baldi, Henry B. Tilton, True E. Prescott, Henry B. Clow, Lewis S. Perley, Charles G. St. Clair, Bert S. Dearborn. Claremont — H. W. Parker, F. P. ]\Iaynard, George A. Tenney, George H. Stowell, J. D. Upham, F. H. Foster, E. A. Quimby, H. B. Glidden, W. H. H. Moody, H. 0. King, A. W. Hawkes, H. G. Sherman, T. W. Fry, E. A. Noyes, L G. Colby. Salem — Wallace W. Cole, Fred C. Buxton, Dr. V. X. Sikorsky, F. D. Wilson, W. L. Duntley, Charles F. Kimball, F. P. Wood- bury, Dr. L. F. Soule, C. P. Bennett, Dr. E. A. Wade W. D. Pulver. New Hampshire State Senate Special Committee Charles B. Rogers, Pembroke; James B. Wallace, Canaan; Samuel H. Edes, Newport; John Scammon, Exeter; Frank J. Beal, Plymouth. 79 New- Hampshire House of Representatives Special Committee Benjamin W. Couch, Concord; Thomas F. CUfford, Frankhn; A. T. Burleigh, Frankhn; Henry J. Van VHet, Manchester; W. E. Beainan, Cornish; Charles J. O'Neil, Walpole; E. G. Eastman, Exeter; Albert De Merritt, Durham; Olin H. Chase, Newport; William J. Ahern, Concord. MEMBERSHIP OF THE ASSOCIATION. Life Members. Edgar Aldrich, Littleton. *Henry M. Baker, Bow. Clarence E. Carr, Andover. William E. Chandler, Concord. W. ^Murray Crane, Dalton, Mass. *Warren F. Daniell, Franklin. Jacob H. Galhnger, Concord. Henry P. Kent, Lancaster. New Hampshire Daughters of the American Revolution. Frank Proctor, Franklin. Nathaniel Stevens, North Andover, Mass. Frank 8. Streeter, Concord. Alvah W. Sulloway, Franklin. C. H. Tenney, New York City. Edward Tuck, Paris, France. F. G. Webster, Boston. William Whitman, Boston. Levi Woodbury, Washington, D. C. Frank R. Woodward, Hill. Members and Contributors. Aiken, John A., Chief Justice, Boston. Anderson, ]\Irs. Lars, Boston. Ayers, Augustine R., Concord. Abbott, Olivia B., Concord. Aiken, Charles W., Brooklyn, N. Y. Adams, William H., Campton. Adams, ]\Iclvin O., Boston. Armistead, Lewis A., Boston. Bass, Robert P., Peterborough. Branch, Oliver E., Manchester. » Deceased. 80 Browne, A. B., Washington, D. C. Blair, Henry W., Manchester. Blair, Henry P., Washington, D. C. Brown, Elisha R., Dover, Bingham, George H., ^Manchester. Barnard, F. E., Boston. Bartlett, Ralph S., Boston. Burleigh, George Wm., New York City. Bridge, John D., Concord. Brooks^ James Carter, Chicago, 111. Brown, All)ert O., ]\Ianchester. Bayley, Edwin A., Boston. Benton, Josiah H., Boston. Churchill, Winston, Cornish. CooUdge, Louis A., Boston. Carpenter, Philip, New York City. Chandler, ^\'illiam D., Concord. Curriden, Samuel W., Washington, D. C. Carr, A. P., Tell City, Ind. Cross, Mrs. Ehzabeth ^I., Concord. Cain, Orville E., Newport. Cross, David, Manchester. Corning, Charles R., Concord. Colhns, Charles S., ISTashua. Chase, William M., Concord. Chamberlin, Robert N., Berlin. Crafts, G. P.. Manchester. Currier, Frank D., Canaan. Carpenter, George A., Wolfeboro. Crowley, James B., Nashua. Colby, James F., Hanover. Carroll, Edward H., Warner. Dillaway, W. E. L., Boston. Doilge, Frederick, Boston. Darlington, Joseph J., Washington, D. C. Dcar])orn, Josiah G., Manchester. Darling, Charles K., Boston. Daniell, Warren F., Franklin. Davis, D. Ned, Franklin. Dully, W. F., Franklin. Estabrook. Vrod W., Nashua. Edwartls, Artliur ]\I., San Francisco. *Eastman, John R., Andover. Edgcll. George S., Newi^ort. * Deoeasod. 81 Edgell, G. Harold. Newport. Edson, John J., Washington, D, C. Eastman, Samuel C, Concord. Entwistle, Thomas, Portsmouth. Edgar, Newbold LeRoy, New York City. Emery, Joseph H., New York City. Edwards, AVilliam W., Franklin. Ellis and Ellis, Franklin. French, George B., Nashua. Foote, James L., Slatington, Pa. French, Amos Tuck, Tuxedo Park, N. Y. Gile, John M., Hanover. Gile, Mrs. John M.. Hanover. Greenleaf, Charles H., Franconia. Goldsborough, R. H., Washington, D. C. Glover, Charles C, Washington, D. C. Gallagher, Charles T., Boston. Greeley, WiUiam B., New York City. Gardner, Rufus P., Franklin. Graves, E. E., Penacook. Griffin, E. L., Frankhn. Harrison, Charles E., Brooklyn, N. Y. Howard, Alfred F., Portsmouth. Hoitt, Charles W., Nashua. Hamilton, George E., Washington, D. C. Hollis, Allen, Concord. Henderson, John B.. Jr., Washington, D. C. Hill, Edson J., Concord. Henry. John H., Lincoln. Hale, Edwin P., Boston. ♦Harrison, ^Mrs. Phebe B., Everett, Mass. Hancock, A. ]\I., Franklin. Hancock, G. L., Franklin. Jewett, Stephen S., Laconia. Kelley, John W., Portsmouth. King, Clarence P., Washington, D. C. Kellogg, William P., Washington, D. C. Kimball. Benjamin A., Concord. Keith, W. E., San Jose, Cal. Killeen, Mrs. Jessie Gove, Concord. Kennedy, Crammond, Washington, D. C. ♦Deceased. 82 Leach, Edward G., Franklin. Little, C>Tus H., ^Manchester. Lamer, John B., Washington, D. C. Lisner, A., Washington, D. C. Leiter, Joseph, Washington, D. C. Leddy, John, Epping. Livermore, Arthur L., New York City. Lj-ford, James 0., Concord. Little, Luther B., New York City. Morton, Levi P., New York City. Melcher, Woodbury L., Laconia. McLean, John R., Washington, D. C. Macfarland, Henry B. F., Washington, D. C. Moses, Arthur C, Washington, D. C. Maynard, F. P., Claremont. Matthews, Joseph F., Concord. Morrill, Luther R., Tilt on. ]\IcVeagh, Franklin, Dublin. Moses, George H., Concord. Marvin, Winthrop L., Boston. Neale, S. C, Washington, D. C. O'Brien, Robert Lincoln, Boston. Oyster, James F., Washington, D. C. Parsons, Frank N., Franklin. Peaslee, Robert J.. ]\Linchester, Parker, ]\Iyron M., Washington, D. C. Parker, Hosea W., Claremont. Powers, Samuel L., Boston. Peaslee, Edward H., New York City. Poor, Ruel W., New York City. Perry, R. Ross, Washington. D. C. Pingree, Samuel E., White River Junction, Vt. Richards, William F., Newport. Rudolph, Cuno H., Washington, D. C. Remick, James W., Concord. RolHns, E. H., Sons, Boston. Rogers, George S., Lebanon. Rollins, Philip A., New York City. Rossiter, William S., Concord. Robie, Samuel H., Chelsea, Mass. Smith, John B., Hillsborough. Staples, John W., Franklin. 83 Shepard, Marion T., Canton, Mass. Stevens, Henry W., Concord. Shurtleff, A. J., Concord. Stellwagen, Edward J., Washington, D. C. Snow, Leslie P., Rochester. Sulloway, Frank J., Concord. Spencer, F. A., Bristol. Stahl, A. M., Berlin. Stevens, George M., Lancaster. Sargeant, F. W., Manchester. Sullivan, R. G., Manchester. Smith, Thomas W., Washington, D. C. Smith, Converse J., Oakland, Cal. Sawyer, WiUiam D., New York City. Sanborn, Edwin W., New York City. Sulloway, Richard W., Franklin. Slade, Denison R., Center Harbor. Towne, Omar A., Franklin. Thorne, John C, Concord. Taylor, E. W. B., Haverhill, Mass. Treat, Frederick H., WajTie, Pa. Tuttle, James P., ]\Ianchester. Tenney, George A., Claremont. Thayer, WiUiam F., Concord. Thaj^r, William W., Concord. Tucker, Gilman H., New York City. Taylor, Charles H., Woburn, Mass. Upham, J. Duncan, Claremont. Vilas, Charles N., New York City. Woodworth, ]\Irs. Mary, Concord. Weeks, John W., Newton, Mass. Wallace, J. B., Concord. Worthington, A. S., Washington, D. C. Woodward, S. W., Washington, D. C. Walker, Reuben E., Concord. Wallace, Sumner, Rochester. Webster, C. P., Franklin. Worcester, Franklin, Hollis. Worthen, T. W. D., Hanover. Young, John E., Exeter. 84 LETTERS TO SENATOR GALLINGER FROM VARIOUS MEMBERS. James F. Oyster, Washington, D. C: "I hope some day to be able to tour New Hampshire, and it would give me great pleasure to hunt up the old-fashioned resi- dence of the great Daniel Webster. I thank you for the oppor- tunity of participating in this great work." S. \y. Woodward, Washington, D. C: "I am glad to be associated with the movement." Levi W^oodbury, Washington, D. C: "I am heartily in favor of the movement of the Webster Birth Place Association." Henry P. Blair, Washington, D. C: "An opportunity to participate in something worth while, in which I am glad to have a part. My father is also interested." Henry B. F. Macfarland, Washington, D. C: " I take a deep interest in everything that relates to the great- est American la^^yer who never sat on the bench." A. B. Browne, Washington, D. C: "Since my school-boy days I have been a great admirer of Daniel Webster. I have a portrait of him which hangs on my library wall in company with Alexander Hamilton, Chief Justice Marshall and Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw. My deep regret is that we do not have a modern Webster." John B. Larner, Washington, D. C: "I believe that it will ])e a great thing to preserve suitably Daniel Webster's birth place at Salisbury, N. H." J. J. Darlington, W\^shington. D. C: '•T have long been an admirer of Mr. Webster, and his por- trait has for many years hung upon the walls of my office." S. 0. Neale, Hot Spring."^, Va.: "It is a most commenda])le undertaking to thus preserve the birth place of one of the greatest men our country has produced. 85 We are too apt to forget in these clays those who, by their wisdom and abihty, have made to a large extent the history of the United States." William H. Adams, Campton, N. H.: "I feel proud to become a member of the 'Webster Birth Place Association' of New Hampshire. I am much interested in the Websters, as I am myself a remnant from the Thomas Webster family, by the marriage of Sarah Webster to Thomas Bartlett whose daughter, Sarah Bartlett, married Col. Winborn Adams." CuNO H. Rudolph, Washington, D. C: "I consider it quite a privilege to aid in the good work of the Webster Birth Place Association." NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE CELEBRA- TION AND NEWSPAPER COMMENTS. DANIEL WEBSTER BIRTH PLACE CELE- BRATION ON AUGUST 28, 1913, AT FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE. Notice is hereby given of the above celebration of the restora- tion of the house in which Mr. Webster was born on January 18, 1782, in SaHsbury, now a part of Franklin, about two and one- half miles west from that city. The work of restoration has been done in the name of the Webster Birth Place Association, and a visit to the farm of about 130 acres, the small birth place house and the later and larger old-fashioned residence close by, will fully repay the journey by railroad and highway, and especially by automobiles. The Northern Railroad from Franklin to Grafton was opened on the 28th of August, 1847, and Mr. Webster attended and made an address at Grafton; and the exercises on August 28, 1913, to recall the career and patriotic services of Mr. Webster will, it is believed, be worthy of the occasion. A program ^^'ill be published shortly. Remarks will be made bj' officers of the Association. Governor Samuel D. Felker will speak for the State and Honorable Samuel W. McCall for Massachusetts. Representation has been re- quested from Dartmouth College, the Em])ire State and some Southern State, and President Wilson has been asked to come over from his cottage at Cornish. The oflEicers of the Association now request inimediate prepara- tion for a full attendance bj' local organizations not only in New Hampshire and Massachusetts but everyw^here north and south where the citizens of the present generation appreciate and admire the great qualities of Daniel Webster. Concord, N. H., July 21, 1013. 86 87 IN MEMORY OF WEBSTER. Successful Celebration Held by the Web.ster Birth Place Association. [From the Franklin Journal-Transcript of September 4, 1913.] The memory of Daniel Webster was appropriateh' honored Thursday, August 28, 1913, when a large number of citizens of New Hampshire and prominent visitors from other states at- tended the patriotic exercises held in Franjvlin to celebrate the completion of the restored birth place of Webster. The exer- cises were held on the hill near the old Webster farm and the program included a number of historical and patriotic speeches by distinguished orators from this and other states, honoring the memory of Webster and expressing satisfaction that the great statesman's birth place was to be suitably preserved. Not for years, if ever before, has Franklin entertained so large a crowd. Ideal weather conditions prevailed. The day was perfect. Hardly a cloud appeared in the sk}' and a gentle breeze prevailed on the hill, where the exercises of the day took place. Early Thursday forenoon Franklin began to take on a holiday appearance. At 12 o'clock the stores and business places closed for the day. IMany blocks and private dwellings exhibited stars and stripes. The first event of the day was a free band concert on the High School grounds at 10 a. m., by Nevers' Second Regiment Band of Concord. Transportation between Franklin and the birth place began early in the forenoon and every method of conveyance was used. A number of automobiles were pressed into service and were used for conveying the general public. ]Many went by team and others on bicycles. A number walked the entire distance. The only disagreeable feature of the entire day was the trip to and from the birth place. As a result of continued dry weather and the large amount of traffic the dust was very thick. The exercises at the birth place commenced at 1 o'clock with a concert by the band. This was followed by speaking by some of New England's prominent men. A large tent was erected on the brow of the hill. Under the 88 tent were placed more than 500 chairs. The sides of the tent had been removed and hundreds of people stood surrounding those who were seated. The speakers' stand was at one end of the big tent. The stand was covered and was attractively and appropriately decorated with red, white and blue bunting and flags. Two flags floated in the breeze from two new flag poles near the tent. Upon the stage was a large picture of Webster. The speakers stood behind Webster's dining room table which Avas taken from the Elms Farm, now the Xew Hampshire Orphans' Home, for the occasion. On the stage, also, was the Webster pew, which many years ago w^as in the Village Congregational Church in Franklin. Many of the chairs upon the platform were old fashioned and dated from Webster's time. Chief Justice Frank N. Parsons of Franklin, first vice-president of the Association, presided over the exercises, in the absence of Hon. William E. Chandler, the president of the Association, who was detained at his summer home in Waterloo by illness. General expressions of regret were heard upon all sides in regard to Mr. Chandler's enforced absence. It was largely due to his interest and efforts that the work of restoring the birth place was carried out. The Webster celebration was also planned by him. The opening invocation was given by Rev. Rufus P. Gardner of Franklin, superintendent of the Xew Hampshire Orphans' Home. Remarks were then made by Chief Justice Parsons. On motion of Hon. Clarence E. Carr of Andover, second vice- president of the Association, a rising vote was taken expressing regret at the absence of ^Ir. Chandler and the hope that he would soon be returned to his former good health. Mr. Chandler's introductory remarks written by him for the occasion were read by Hon. George H. Moses of Concord, late United States minister to Greece. An original poem by Edna Dean Proctor of Hcnnikcr was read by Hon. Henry H. ^MetcaJf of Concord, state historian. The opening address was given by Governor Samuel D. Felker of Xew Hampshire. He was followed by President Ernest Fox X'ichols of Dartmouth college. The orator of the day was Hon. Samuel W. McCall of Massa- chusetts, ex-member of Congress, who in answering felicitous introduction of the presiding officer explainetl that the Xew Hamp- 89 shire chief justice and he used to room together when they were members of the class of 1874 at Dartmouth College. Senator Jacob H. Gallinger of Concord was unable to be pres- ent, being detained in Washington, and his address was read by Hon. James O. Lyford of Concord, naval officer of the Port of Boston. Letters of regret were read from Senator Henry F. Hollis of New Hampshire, Congressmen Eugene E. Reed and Raymond B. Stevens of New Hampshire and Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia. A telegram of regret was also read from Hon. William D. Sawyer, chairman of the New York City committee. Ex-Governor Pingree, the next speaker, is a native of Salis- bury and at the time of the celebration was 81 years old. During his very interesting address he referred to once seeing Webster. Mr. Pingree, then a boy, was driving with his father from Salis- bury to the Webster Place, Franklin. On their trip they met a gentleman and his coachman. After the two teams had passed :Mr. Pingree's father told him that the distinguished looking man they had just met was Daniel Webster. ^Nlr. Pingree turned around and got a good back view of Webster. He explained that the reason that he had not noticed Webster when they met was the fact that the coachman was the first darkey he had ever seen and boy-like his attention was glued to the colored coachman. Mr. Pingree was followed by Judge David Cross of Manchester, New Hampshire's grand old man. Judge Cross, 96 years old, made one of the hits of the day. He was easily heard by all and spoke with wonderful force. He referred to having seen and heard Webster on several occasions and gave a very interesting word picture of the great statesman. In closing he made a strong plea for the New England family, saying that the Webster family was typical of New England. Judge Cross was followed by ex-Governor Nahum J. Bachelder of New Hami^shire; ex- Governor Bachelder was followed by Rev. Dr. Arthur Little of Dorchester, ^lass., a native and summer resident of Webster. Vice-President Clarence E. Carr of the Birth Place Association gave the closing address. Benediction was pronounced by Rev. H. C. McDougall, and was preceded by the audience joining in singing the first and last verses of America, the singers being led by the band. It is seldom that a speaking program of such length sustains 90 •itself at so high a level of excellence. The presiding officer, al- though summoned hastily to take the chair, was most happy both in his opening address and in the brief characterizations with which he presented the several speakers. The speakers in turn took up the salient features in the great career which made the celebration possible. The large and representative audience fully met the fondest ■expectations of the managers of the celebration. It is conserva- tively estimated that there were between 3,500 and 4.000 people present. The arrangements were carried out in a very dignified manner. There were no vendors on the grounds. Light refreshments were sold by Messrs. Joyce and Young, the caretakers of the property, who had the exclusive privilege. They also sold post card views of the birth place. George G. Williams of Littleton conducted a sale of photo- graphs of Daniel Webster. Great interest was taken in the Pathe moving picture company's representative, Frank Morris, who came on from St. Louis to take views of the celebration. The Governor, President Nichols of Dartmouth College, ex-Congressman McCall, ex-Governor Bachelder, Gen. Frank S. Streeter and other distinguished guests posed for the "movies." Those present in Governor Felker's party were members of hi^ council, William H. Sawyer of Concord, Lewis G. Gilman of Manchester, Albert W. Noone of Peterboro, Daniel W. Badger of Portsmouth and George W. ]\IcGregor of Littleton and their ladies, and Major Charles E. Tilton of the Governor's staff and Mrs. Tilton of Tilton. Just outside the door of the restored birth place was placed a register for the names of visitors. Owing to the crush of guests manj' did not tarry to write their names, but during the day nearly 1,500 registered. An illustration of the wide interest that was taken in the birth place is the fact that on the four days following the celebration 400 more visitors, who called to view the premises, registered in the new book. The parking arrangement for automobiles and teams was admirably' carried out under the direction of D. Xed Davis and W. F. Daniell, Jr.. of the transportation committee. The 91 400 automobiles were parked in the large field in front of the house. Teams were also arranged so that there was no delay in leaving the grounds after the exercises were over. Hardly an accident happened during the entire day to mar the arrangements. There was a collision between Clarence Shaw's automobile and a car from the Prescott garage, slightly damaging a fender and lamp on Mr. Shaw's car. No one was injured. When Daniel Webster was born on January 18, 1782, the humble home in which he first saw the light of day was in Salisbury, now a part of Franklin, as when Franklin became a town by taking parts of Salisbury, Northfield, Andover and Sanbornton in 1828, that part of Salisbury upon which the birth place was located was included in the portion of the town that became Franklin. Tra- dition says that when Daniel Webster was born the clearing around his father's home was the furthest north in Xew Hamp- shire. There was only a bridle path to the place and the house was located so as to face the old saw mill at the dam at Punch brook. This accounts for the back side of the house facing the present highway. When Daniel was three j'ears old his father, Captain Ezekiel Webster, moved to the Elms Farm at Webster Place, now the Xew Hampshire Orphans' Home. After Webster's father had moved to the Elms the old house in which Daniel was born was moved across the road and attached to the big two-storj' farm building as an ell. The cellar of the birth place was filled in and its location forgotten. On October 26, 1910, in the office of Chief Justice Parsons, at Franklin, N. H., the Webster Birth Place Association was formed and the birth place property was later purchased. The old house was restored to its original appearance and moved back to its original foundation. The old fireplace with its big iron crane was rebuilt in the kitchen or living room and the house now looks as nearly as possible as it did when Webster was born. The fire- place is built of bricks excavated from the cellar. It was viewed with great interest by the thousands of visitors at the celebration. The house had been equipped with many interesting souvenirs and relics of Webster's time. There was A continual stream of visitors passing through the restored birth place all day. In the big farm house across the yard one room was under the charge of members of Abigail Webster Chapter, D. A. R.. of 92 Franklin. Here were shown many Webster relics, a glass show case being filled with souvenirs of the great statesman. A number of the visitors arrived in Franklin in the forenoon and took dinner at The Odell, Landlord Vittum furnishing a special dinner for the occasion. More than 125 were present at dinner and over 200 registered during the day. A souvenir menu was furnished. Among those who registered at The Odell were Governor Felker and party. Earl Annis and wife, Mrs. R. Annis, M. Barne!< and Edwin ('. Kirk, and ^vife of Manchester, A. R. Kittredge of Dover, Judge Ooss of Manchester, Allen E. Cross of Brookline, Mass., Henry S. Roberts of Wolfeboro, Henry P. Kent and R. E. Webb of Lancaster, Mrs. S. ]\L Richards, Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Kidder, Miss Katherine Kiddrr, Miss Edith Rich- ards, William F. Richards of Newport, Rev. Dr. A. A. Berle of CamV)ridge. J. H. Whittemore of Boston, Francis Bingham White of Wellesley, William J. Alicrn of Concord, State Treasurer (leorge E. Farrand of Concord, William J. Starr of Manchester, J. B. Tennant of Concord, Attorney CJeneral James P. Tuttle of ]\Lan- chester, George P. Hadley of Goffstown, Mr. and ]\Irs. Edwin J. Bagley of Lexington, Levi Woodi)ury and sister of Washing- ton, D. C, Harry T. Knight of Boston, H. A. Elliott and wife and son, R. A. Elliott and wife of Des Moines, Iowa, Lois Perkins of Norwich, Alfred J. McClure. Jr., of Concord. Mr. and Mrs. G. J\L Wason of Haverhill. Mass., Mrs. H. R. Frost of Boston, Miss F. L Rogers of Derry, E. Percy Stoddard of Portsmouth, Col. Daniel Hall, Mrs. Hall, Mr. andMrs. H. W. Owen of Dover, Gen. J. N. Patterson of Concord, Fred Jones of Lebanon. William Beaman of Cornish, Frank Cabot of Windsor. Vt., Walter Saxey of Windsor. \ t.. W. E. Kinney of Claremont, William II. Draper and wife, H. K. Draper and wife. H. K. Draper, Jr., of Canton, Mass., ^L J. Wentworth of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Lei^ham, Miss Phillis L('i)ham of Providence, Cornelia W. Proctor of Bos- ton, Edward M. Cogswell of Concord, Warren Stajiles of Burling- ton, Vt., Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Baker of lirooklyn. Prof. James F. ColV)V, Prof. ('has. N. Emerson and Perley R. Buglieeof Hanover, William H. Mitchell of Acworth, George H. Richter of Boston, E. F. Baker of Suncook, John C. Thome of Concord, E. L. Davis and Mr. and Mrs. M. '!'. Ilia of Warner. Other well known New Hampshire men at the celebration were Gen. Frank S. Strcetcr of Concord, ex-Senator Henrv W. I^lair 93 of Manchester, Judge Edgar Aldrich of Littleton, Hon. Benjamin A. Kimball of Concord, Frank P. Carpenter of Manchester, Charles W. Varney of Rochester, Harry J. Brown, Esq., of Con- cord, Postmaster Julian F. Trask of Laconia. Among the out-of-town newsj^aper men present were Editor S. H. Robieof the Chelsea, Mass., Evening Record, Owen Flanders of the Boston Post, H. C. Pearson of the Concord Monitor, Edward J. Gallagher of the Concord Patriot and Editor Olin H. Chase of the Newport Repuhlican Champion. The officers of the Daniel Webster Birth Place Association are President, WiUiam E. Chandler. Vice-Presidents, Chief Justice Frank N. Parsons, Clarence E. Carr, F. G. Webster. Treasurer, John W, Staples. Clerk, Omar A. Towne. Trustees, Alvah W. Sulloway, Jacob H. Gallinger, Edward G. Leach, John R. Eastman,* Augustine R. Ayers, F. R. Woodward, Warren F. Daniell,* Frank Proctor and Charles S. Collins. Franklin Local Committee — Mayor William W, Edwards, chairman, Thomas F. Clifford, secretary; Edward G. Leach, Frank Proctor, Omar A. Towne, John W. Staples, Rev. Alva H. Morrill, Rev. Rufus P. Gardner, Hon. Enos K. Sawyer, ex-Mayor Seth W. Jones, Frank R. Woodward, Warren F. Daniell, Jr., Richard W. Sulloway, Augustus B. Sawyer, Councilman Arthur M. Hancock. The guides included Miss Addie E. Towne, Miss J. Estelle Clifford, Miss Florence Kelley, Miss Louise Kelley, Miss Gladys Webster, Miss Maude Judkins, Fred Durham, Louis Judkins, Carl H. Prescott, Donald Gilchrist, James ]McDougall and John Holmes. The messenger boys were Donald Walton, John Shirley, John Partelo and Robert Daniell. The Daily Patriot. The Patriot of August 28 gave an account of the celebration and published portions of the speeches; adding: Among those from Concord who attended were Rev. and Mrs. O. C. Sargent, ]Mr. and Mrs. Charles Morton, Joseph S. Mat- ♦Decea3«»d. 94 thews and family. General Frank S. Streeter, Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Kimball, Mr. and IMrs. Henry A. Kimball, ■Mr. and Mrs. George H. Moses. William J. Starr, W. D. Chandler and family, H. C. Pearson. J. Irving Holt, E. J. Gallagher, WilUam J. Ahern, Ho-R-ard Kimball. Major Arthur Chase, WiUiam H. Head, Mr. and !Mrs. Alvin B. Cross, Frank J. Sulloway, Dr. Ehzabeth Hoj-t-St evens. Harry J. BrowTi, George E. Farrand, Attorney- General Tuttle. H. H. [Nletcalf and James 0. Lyford. The Manchester Union. Fraxklix. Aug. 28. — A grand celebration today marked the completion of the task undertaken several months ago by the Webster Birth Place Association to restore to its original hkeness the house in which Daniel Webster was born. It is conceded that few, if any, movements of the kind were ever more successfully carried out than the achievement of this Association under the guiding hand of ex-Senator WiUiam E. Chandler, president of the organization, and his able coterie of officers. BuiLDixG IS Recoxstructed. The birth-place building had been somewhat dismembered and its original location nearh' lost. The Association located the building site, and having a large portion of the house, placed it on the old foundation walls, reconstructed enoiigh new struc- ture from old building material to restore the house to its original size. The material for the fireplace and chimney was also at hand to use in the reconstruction. A Large Attexdaxce. Hundreds of the citizens of this state, and big delegations from other states, gathered for the celebration; Governor Fclker and his council and staff. President Ernest Fox Nichols and a delegation from the Dartmouth College faculty, and many celebrities from cities and to^vTis of this state and Massachusetts were on hand and several orators of renown contributed brilliant speeches. Speeches by Promixext Mex. Ex-Congressman Samuel W. McCall of Massachusetts was the leading speaker of the afternoon. Governor Felker contributed 95 a fin'e oration. President Nichols, ex-Governor Pingree of Vermont, ex-Governor N. J. Bachelder of this state, Hon. Clarence E. Carr, vice-president of the Association, Rev. Dr. Arthur Little of Boston, and Hon. David Cross of INIanchester, also contributed eloquent speeches. Judge Cross of Manchester, whose speech was not on the program and was of an imprompta nature, was one of the best-received of the afternoon. Chief Justice Frank N. Parsons of this city presided in the absence of ex-Senator Chandler, kept away by illness. A poem written for the occasion by Edna Dean Proctor was read by Hon. H. H. Metcalf. The Boston Globe. Franklin, N. H., Aug. 28. — The celebration today at the birth place of Daniel Webster proved one of the greatest events in the history of Franklin. Fully 5,000 gathered at the restored birth place to listen to the exercises. Some of New England's most noted men were on the list of speakers, including Samuel D. Felker, President Ernest Fox Nichols of Dartmouth College, ex-Congressman Samuel W. McCall of Massachusetts, ex-Governor Samuel E. Pingree of Vermont and ex-Governor Nahum J. Bachelder of New Hamp- shire. The orator of the day was ex-Congressman McCall. The exercises opened at 10 o'clock with a band concert on the Franklin High School grounds. People had been gathering at the birth place, 3^ miles from this city, all of the forenoon. At 1 o'clock the band gave a concert at the birth place, a stand having been erected on the top of a hill back of the Webster barn, and at 2 o'clock the exercises proper began. A large tent had been pitched on the hill and this was packed, while hundreds stood outside. The speakers' stage contained Webster's dining-room table, and by this the addresses were delivered. Also on the platform was the Webster pew, taken many years ago from the Congregational Church in this city. Then follows an account of the speeches. The Boston Journal. Franklin, N. H., Aug. 28. — Several thousand people gathered at the birth place of Daniel Webster today to pay honor to his 96 memory and to observe the formal opening of the restored Web- ster farmhouse. Commemorative exercises were begun today with addresses by former Congressman Samuel W. McCall of Massachusetts, Governor Samuel D. Felker of New Hampshire and others. The Webster estate, which covers about one hundred and thirty acres, is situated about two miles west of Franklin. At the time of Webster's birth, January 18, 1782, the house stood in what was then the town of Salisbury. In 1828 Salisbury became a part of Franklin. Then follows an account of the proceedings. The Boston Herald. Franklin, N. H., Aug. 28. — Commemorative exercises at the birth place of Daniel Webster, together with the formal opening of the restored Webster farm, were begun today and will be con- cluded tomorrow. Several thousand people from neighboring cities and towns in central New Hampshire attended the exercises. The introductorj^ remarks, which were to have been made by former United States Senator William E. Chandler, were read in his absence by George H. Moses of Concord, while James 0. Lyford performed a similar service for United States Senator Jacob H. Gallinger. The principal s])eakers today were Chief Justice Frank N. Parsons, first vice-president of the Webster Association; Clarence E. Carr, second vice-president, who read manj^ letters, and Gov- ernor Samuel D. Felker. Remarks were also made by President Ernest F. Nichols of Dartmouth College and the principal oration was delivered by former Congressman Samuel W. ^NlcCall of Mass- achusetts. Congressman McCall said, in part: Then follows Mr. McCall's speech. The Boston Herald. Our Greatest Senator. In Franklin. N. H., today, admirers of Daniel Webster will set •apart, with ai)i)roi)riate ceremonies, his birth place as a perma- ment memorial. Sanuiel W. McCall, whose capacity ns a public 97 speaker is equaled by few present-day statesmen, will deliver the oration. Others of national reputation will contribute to the success of the occasion. With the flight of time and the changing perspective in which the world holds its great historical characters, Webster still re- tains several titles to preeminence that seem secure. He re- mains our greatest senator. Nol)ody attempts to pay tribute to the up]ier branch of our national congress as an institution without calling it "the Senate of Wel^ster, Clay, Calhoun," etc. The lists of names appended in such a phrase as this vary with the times, the locality and the point of view, but every list begins with Webster. He thus symbolizes the Senate, at a great period, and one likely to be long considered its greatest period. Steel engravings of the Senate, seen on the walls of public edifices and in private homes, almost invariably picture that body with Web- ster in action. And yet he was not a long-time senator. He served less than twenty years in all. He held other offices, twice that of secretarj^ of state, in rather acute crises of our politics and history. But few people think of him as our minister of foreign affairs. It is as a great senator that he stands out. This is because it was in the Senate that Webster found the forum for the exposition of the point of view with, which his name will be forever associated. He gave the American people a sense of national unity. To that idea they did not come naturally. An emphasis of the rights of states grew logically out of the indi- vidual assertiveness of the revolutionary period. At the open- ing of the last century we were all. North and South, as occasions invited, more or less reliant on state sovereignty. And we usu- ally referred to our structure of government as a confederacy. At about the right time Webster came along, ancl with an imagination which pictured the national aspiration, drilled that into the American people in a series of orations, the stately elo- quence of which has rarely been equaled and never excelled. The Washington monument was in building in the great days of Webster. Its memorial blocks, contributed by various states, mu- nicipalities and civic bodies, still bear silent testimony to the extraordinary power of the Massachusetts senator over the thought of his time. To the national idea he asked not only the states to subordinate their individual interests, but to it he subordi- 98 nated his OAvn native intuition? in regard to human shivery. On the altar of the Union he thus placed a great sacrifice. Dying in 1852, Webster was not permitted to see the land rent in that fratricidal strife which he, better than any other man of his time, had foreseen. But when that struggle came, the national spirit which his eloquence had aroused beat in the hearts of the armies of the Union. Even the great Whig states of the South, because loyal to his teachings, entered into the confederacy' reluctantly or not at all. And everywhere that the appeal to the Union arrested the wandering steps of men it was because of that national sentiment which Webster, more than anybody else, had through the years been building up. Verily he was the "Defender of the Constitution." The Boston Advertiser. Franklin, N. H.. Aug. 28. — Commemorative exercises at the birth place of Daniel AVebster together with the formal opening of the restored Webster farm took place today. Several thousand people from neighboring cities and towns in central New Hampshire composed the main portion of the gathering, while the formal exercises included addresses by a number of well-known speakers. Then follows an account of the proceedings and Congressman McCall's speech under the head "^McCall Depicts Webster's Greatness." The Boston Evening Transcript. Franklin, X. H., Aug. 28. — Coniniemorative exercises at the birth place of Daniel Webster, together with the formal opening of the restored Webster farm, took place today. Several thous- and people from neighboring cities and towns in central New Hampshire composed the main portion of the gathering, while the formal exercises included addresses by a numl)er of Avell- known speakers. We ])ublish the wliole of the principal address, that of Con- gressman Samuel \\'. McCall. The pious labors which were con>umnialeil today in the dedi- cation of the rescued and restored house in which Daniel Webster was born at Franklin, N. H., should receive the reward of national appreciation, for if Webster was a son of New Hampshire he was 99 the guardian of that conception of American nationality which we all today accept. . . . The house which i.s dedicated at Franklin today can have been in its best estate but a t}q:)ical dwelling of a New England yeoman of the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It must derive its impressiveness entirely from associations, scanty as it is in dimensions and bare of architectural attractions. Yet it well may be among the shrines of American pilgrimages, for it is the birthplace of him who did more to shape and fix the political faith of America than any other man between AVashington and Lincoln. The Providence Journal. "Massachusetts, there she stands!" But the great senator who said this, was born in New Hampshire; and that state does well to claim a part of his fame by setting apart and dedicating his birth place as a permanent memorial. It wall be a national shrine, for Daniel Webster belongs to the whole Nation. The Franklin Journal-Transcript. The Webster celebration is not a state or city affair. It is something of national importance. Men from all sections of the country have contributed money. The celebration is the conception of Hon. William E. Chandler. Through his large national acquaintance it has been possible to accomplish w^hat a man of more limited influence could not possibly have done. The consummation of the movement is something which will be very gratifying to all admirers of noted men. The Newport Champion. The celebration being held at the birth place of Daniel Webster, in Franklin, formerly Salisbury, today has not only a sentimental significance but a moral which is capable of practical application as well. Testimonials to the memory of the dead are practically useful only as they serve as lectures to the living. The possi- bilities of the life of Webster as a subject for moralizing are almost beyond calculation. But perhaps the most obvious and beneficial lesson taught by his extraordinary life is the degree of existence of possibilities in the surroundings of every American boy who is 100 mentally and physically sound. Born in an obscure locality and reared in circumstances which to the average boy of today would be classified as in the pale of poverty, with almost no opportunity for youthful education, and forced to seek employment at an early age, he rose, by diligent effort and persistent appUcation, to the position which makes his memory on the present day a subject for reflection. The exercises at the Daniel Webster birth place celebration at Frankhn last week were befitting the occasion, and the occasion demanded something out of the ordinary. The memory' of Daniel Webster is one of the precious heritages of New Hampshire, and to keep it alive is one of the duties of the generations to come. The Nashua Telegraph. The services commemorating the restoration of Webster's birth place in Franklin were admirably expressive of the venera- tion of the state. ]Mr. AlcCall's depiction was eminently artistic in the high lights in which Webster's characteristics were set forth with such simplicity, felicity and restraint. To re-create the famiUar with such an impress of freshness and originality of handling is an essay which is here sho\ATi with surpassing success. From now on the attraction to this old homestead will be un- failing. The birth place of Daniel Webster can never cease to be of moving affection to his countrymen. Another memorial of world-wide interest has been added to the treasures of New Hampshire. The Keene Sentinel. The opening of the ])irth place of Daniel Webster to the public was recently accomplished with a wealth of oratory and eloquence. The restoration of the old house has been brought about by admirers of the great statesman, and the house will be open as a memorial for the use of the pul)lic who care to visit it. It is a worthy object, a memorial to the great nationalist and defender of the constitution. He in-ejiarcd the loyal citizens of our coun- try for the great civil war, although he did not live to see the struggle between the two sections. The tributes of the speakers and the writers at the memorial exercises were wortliy of their themes. Among the best stands that of former Congro.^^mnn McCall of ^lassaohusetts. eulogist 101 of Webster at the anniversary exercises at Dartmouth College several years ago. The Dover Democrat. That was a great and notable celebration they had at Franklin Thursday in honor of the memory of Daniel Webster, when formal exercises wore performed in dedicating the restored birth place of New Hampshire's greatest son. The historical and patriotic speeches were first class and did honor to the man for whose memory they spoke. New Hampshire now has the real thing to show visitors. It may not rival Virginia's Mt. Vernon, or ]\Ionticello, but as the years pass, and the men who actually saw Daniel Webster have passed on, this uniquely restored birth place of the greatest orator America has produced will grow more precious \\-ith the succeeding years. The Concord Monitor. The Restokation a Good Thing. It is good to hear that since the dedication of the restored Daniel Webster birth place there are many visitors to it daily and that a large percentage of the motor tourists through the ]Merrimack valley make the detour of a few miles at Franklin which is necessary to reach the site. It is good to hear this because it shows that the spirit of ven- eration is not yet dead among us; that we still hold in respect the great names of our history and are interested in the places connected intimatelj' with their lives and achievements. It is good to hear this, also, because it shows that far from all of our tourist visitors are chiefly interested in getting over our good roads and incidentally wearing them out, as fast as possi- ble, without much regard for anything but the comparative excellence of the chefs and cuisines at the morning, noon and night stopping places. ]\Iany of the increasing thousands who come to us every spring and summer and autumn are genuinely appreciative of such of the attractions of New Hampshire as are brought to their atten- tion. They admire our magnificent scenery and they take a real interest in our history when they come to know about it. The restoration of the Daniel Webster birth place, with the 102 wide publicity whicli has been given to tiie good work, has done great service in thus enlightening the public. There are many other ways in which it could and should be further carried on. To mention l)ut one way, which a local hotel has successfuUy initiated, the hotels, boarding hou.ses, restaurants, tea rooms, garages and other places vi.sited and patronized by the traveling public should have for distribution printed lists of the sights worth seeing in their immediate vicinity. A party's stay for an hour may thereby in many cases be prolonged for a day or for several days. And that is what we all should wish and work for — to have our visitors stay with us long and get as well acquainted with us and as interested in us. our peoj^le, our state and our history as possible. The Concord Monitor, August 25, 1913. The birth place of Daniel "Webster is today restored to its orig- inal site and its original form, and thus the hopes of those active in this patriotic project are at last realized. The birth place and other buildings on the Webster place are to be held in sacred trust by an incorporated association of public-spirited men of New Hampshire, to be cared for and permanently preserved. To this place, as to a patriotic shrine, coming generations will wend their way, here to learn something of the hardships of the early generations of our nation's history, here see a typical home of that period of frontier life with its privations as well as its dangers. The place and its surroundings will peculiarly illus- trate the modest home of by-gone days, where all the tlomestic virtues were developed and filial and fraternal ties strengthened — and where from the Avell-conned pages of the Holy Bible was procured, as promised to all who seek, the sought-for light, and from which was generated the warm atmosphere of mutual love and devotion, Avherein, as a result, peace as well as high jniri^ose did abound and abide. It will be a weak and witless man who. coming here, has not spread before him a page of our nation's history that is of ines- timable as well as of ever-increasing value — who takes not with him a keener anil truer insight into the danger and the struggle of patriotic sires — and comes not away with an ajipreciation hitherto unknown of tiie cost if not tlu> value of lilx-rties regulated 103 by law from ocean to ocean, from lakes to the gulf, — with one common language and one common national aspiration, to wit (as uttered by another homely but no less true American than was here given birth), that government of the people, by the people, and for the j^eople shall not jierish from the earth. New England holds within her l)orders many historic shrines, precious in the sight of every lil)erty-loving American. Each one in turn awakens memories which excite a thrill in and quicken the beating of every patriotic heart. It thus holds Plymouth Rock and Provincetown. It holds Boston, and Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill. And this celebration commemo- rates the dedication to the American people for all time of an- other historic place, to which thoughtful parents will bring their sons and their daughters, here to learn lessons, and from which will ])e drawn inspirations not suggested by any other place. The South has its INIount Vernon, made forever sacred by the dust of Washington there reposing. The historic Potomac River lies very close to the heart of the American people, for its waters once reddened by the blood of a bitter Civil War lash the shores of that beautiful estate, in perpetual requiem of this greatest of good men and the best of great men. From that stately man- sion of wealth and power, and the nearby place of sepulture, the visitor comes away with his intellect stirred by the high aims faithfully adhered to throughout his marvelous career of oppor- tunity, by reflection upon the wisdom and the wonderful influ- ence upon his associates and contemporaries, and more than ever strengthened in the belief that only by the aid of a kind Providence was this austere man given to bring deliverance to this nation in the germinal period of its existence. New Hampshire today presents to the Republic a shrine hardly less sacred, — but where not only the intellect but the kindliest im- pulses of the heart are stirred and which, as with Mount \'ernon, will grow more precious with each succeeding year; the Republic, whose present form may well be said to be due to the powerful influence and great example of Washington, stands before the world todaj', higher in honor than ever before in its hi.story, an example to every people of the globe, a light and inspiration to mankind. Not a stripe of its flag has been erased, not a single star has been obscured. This happy condition, pictured by INIr. Webster as no other public man of his day was able to present 104 it to the American people, is now realizetl. Love of an insepa- rable and indissoluble union of the states was with him a passion. Great and powerful and learned and eloquent as he was he in- spired the thoughts and aspirations of his time as no other man in anj' count r}- in the written history of the ages was enabled to do, but at the sacrifice of high ambitions and life-long friend- ships; at the hazard of losing the love and loyal devotion of life- long adherents throughout the Kepublic won by a long life of high endeavor and great achievement, he strove hard to avert the on-coming conflict. He truly was a prophet, for he saw into the future A^th further ken than any other man of his day, a future not far distant — which would not only engulf the nation in civil and fraternal strife, but bring distress and death to al- most every home in the land, his oami household among the number. In this present happy condition of a united country, with the blessings of a union Avhich he strove to perpetuate unbroken, and all the greater because of the civil strife now fast fading from memory, its resentments fast becoming obliterated, and with its disturbing cause forever removed, the people of this nation are today able to see the modest habitation restored to its first condition in which was born to humble parents, and where the first lessons in life struggle were learned, a man whose labors, supplementing those of the revered Washington, have placed his memory under the perjietual del)t of the American people. The Concord Monitor. The fates were kind to the Webster Birth Place Association on Thursday in all respects save one — the single regret lieing that former Senator William E. Chandler was unable to be jjres- ent to witness the success which has crowned his efforts in bring- ing tlic Association's work to fruition. !Mr. Chandler's preponderant share in the undi'rtakiug was fully recognized by all and was fittingly characterized by Chief Ju.stice Parsons in his opening address. It was given further recognition just jM-ior to the reading of ^Ir. Chandler's jirejiaretl address when tlic lion. Clarence E. Carr moved that the thanks of the Association and of the audience be sent to Mr. ( handler for his Work in hrhalf of thr cause and that the gathering voice 105 its best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery from the ill- ness which kept Mr. Chandler at home. A mianimous rising vote carried this motion. The only speakers not previously announced in the ])rogram were two veteran sons of New Hampshire, Judge David Cross of ^Manchester and the Rev. Dr. Arthur Little of Newton, Mass. Their vigorous discourses gave much pleasure to their hearers. It is seldom that a speaking program of such length sustains itself at so high a level of excellence. The presiding officer, though summoned hastily to take the chair, was most happy both in his opening address and in the brief characterizations with which he presented the several speakers; and they, in turn, whether speaking from preparation or impromptu, took up, with little overlapping of thought, the salient features in the great career which made the celebration possible. The central feature of the program, of course, was jNIr. McCall's oration; and in it he once more, to use Senator Chandler's phrase, "eulogized Mr. Webster and his works with discrimination, power and eloquence." The attendance was large and representative; and fully met the fondest expectations of the celebration's managers. Much credit is due to the Franklin committees of arrange- ment, who planned with admirable forethought to meet all the needs of the occasion. To the Rev. Rufus P. Gardner of the Orphans' Home at Elms Farm, the large audience is especially indebted for the excellent planning which made them so com- fortably situated for the long program of oratory and music. The Concord Monitor. There is still a chance for all to aid in the good work of preserving the Daniel Webster birth place by joining the Asso- ciation and contributing to its permanent fund. Incidentally it may be remarked that Dartmouth College had the splendid representation which was apiiroi^-iate for it on the Daniel AVebster birth place program. President Nichols and that distinguished alumnus, Hon. Samuel W. McCall, were both at their best on the great occasion. lOG The New York Tribune, August 29, 1913. DuiXG Homage to \\'kbster. Franklin, X. H., Aug. 28. — Exereisps celebrating the restora- tion of the house in which Daniel Webster was born on January 18, 1782, took place today. The homestead is a small wooden .structure, about two and a half miles west of the business district of Franklin, and was fast falling into decay when it was acquired by the Webster Associa- tion, which took over the whole Web-ster estate of about one hundred and thirty acres. When Webster first saw the light, the home stood in what was then the town of Salisbury. Init in 182.3 the jilace was incorjinrated in the town of Franklin. Among the speakers today were Governor S. D. Felker and ex-Representative Samuel W. IMcCall of ^Massachusetts. The Youth^s Companion. The issue of August 21 has a sketch by Park Pressey of the restored birth place with exquisite pictures of the same, and as it was before restoration when it stood as it had been used for a part of the larger mansion house, also with a picture of the Web- ster house at Elms Farm. APPENDIX TO MR. CHANDLER'S REMARKS. Decoration Day Address of William E. Chandler, ON Thursday, May 30, 1889, at Nashua, N. H., Before John G. Foster Post No. 7, G. A. R. [Extracts from Part Relating to History of Slavery.] It would not be wise, within the limits of this discourse, to attempt to give a history of American slavery. From its feeble inception, and its recognition in the Constitution of 1788, the authors of which instrument did not venture there to call it by its dishonoring name, down to its final destruction, in 1866, by the 13th amendment of that Constitution, an outline of events will suffice for present purposes. At first slavery assumed somewhat the character of a paternal institution. Its evils were a cloud no bigger than a man's hand. It seemed unnatural to America, and our forefathers believed that it would gradually disappear at no distant day. But at last it became the great, overwhelming national evil, the sum of all villainies, dominating all other interests, by reason of the acquisition of the slave regions of Louisiana, and the invention by Eli Whitney of the cotton gin, which caused an increased adaptation of slave labor to the production of the great American staple. Cotton becoming the chief American product for expor- tation, the South grew rich and prosperous through its culture. Cotton became king. The cotton lords became the wealthiest class in the country. But wealth was not the only advantage which slavery came to give to the South. It was also soon discovered by tiie slave- owners that slavery, thus made so profitable, would give them overwhelming political power in the government, such as the framers of the Constitution had not imagined when they pro- vided that in fixing the basis of representation in the Presidential Electoral College and for representatives in the popular branch of the National congress, there should be added to the total white population three fifths of all other persons, meaning the slave population. As the inevitable result the South took control of 107 108 the government. A slave aristocracy grew up which dominated the nation with inexorable power. It controlled everj- congress, it selected all Presidents, it took possession of the supreme court; and when the Northern conscience concerning slavery — found to be thus protected and favored by the Constitution — began to show itself, the slave-owners resisted all attempts to restrict or limit the institution, or to place it where the founders of the Constitution believed it should be placed — in a condition of progress towards final extinction. The declared policy of the slaveholding interests soon came to be this, — that the slave states should exceed, or at all events equal, the free states, so that there should never be a majority from the free states in the United States senate; and that when- ever in the growth of the nation new states should be added to the Union, if the slave states could not be kept in the majority, there should, at least, be admitted a slave state for -every free state, so that there should be no opportunity afforded by legis- lation for weakening slavery in its intrenched position in the National government. The thirteen original states had arranged themselves seven free, six slave. Louisiana, with slavery, became a state in 1812; and the free and slave states were thus made equal. Thenceforth the slave power took care that new states should come in only in pairs: — Kentucky and Vermont; Tennessee and Ohio; Indiana and Mississippi; Illinois and Alabama; Elaine and Missouri (the free states here gaining the ^lissouri Compromise, dedicat- ing to freedom in the future all the Louisiana purchase, except Missouri, north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude) ; Arkansas and Michigan; Florida and Iowa, ^^'hen Mr. Polk became Presidejit, fifteen states had been admitted — eight slave and seven free; and the states were twentj'-eight in number — free fourteen, slave fourteen. Next the Mexican War, unjustifiably waged to enlarge the area of slavery, gave to the Union the slave state of Texas; but the free state of Wisconsin was close at the door and kept the balance even. But in proportion as slavery, through the facilities which it affordctl for accjuiring wealth, ami through the political power which it gave to ambitious men, strengthened its hold upon the South and the nation; so hatred of slavery, based upon its in- human and unchristian character, grew stronger at the North. 109 Widespread agitation began; the privilege of free speech was fully- exercised; and that great anti-slavery conflict ensued, the ac- counts of which must form the greater part of our history during our first hundred years; and this conflict, from the very consti- tution of human nature, could end only in the destruction of slavery or in its complete and overwhelming ascendency in the nation. Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward are both recorded as having said that it was impossible that this country could long exist half slave and half free. At Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858, Mr. Lincoln said, — "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all another. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push i't forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South." At Rochester, New York, October 25, 1858, Mr. Seward said, — "It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation, or entirely a free labor nation. Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina and the sugar plantations of Louisiana will ultimately be tilled by free labor, and Charleston and New Orleans become marts for legitimate merchandise only, or else the rye fields and wheat fields of ^Massachusetts and New York must again be sur- rendered by their farmers to slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men." In 1850 the contest over slaver}- assumed such proportions and such bitterness that good men of all parties found their fears lest there should be a dissolution of the Union reaching a culminating point. As a result of this crisis of fear the compromise measures of that year were adopted, and during the presidential canvass of 1852 both political parties of the country acquiesced in them, and declared them to be final and perpetual. But the result of the election of 1852, when a pro-slavery president was chosen 110 from New Hampshire, indicated to the slave interests that the Northern people, in their fears that the slavery conflict would bring a dissolution of the Union, would submit to almost any measure for the protection of slavery which might be demanded by its advocates. The compromises of 1850 had also proved unsatisfactory to the South. Although it had obtained the passage of a fugitive slave law, it had been compelled to consent to the admission of the free state of California, which had sud- denly through the discovery of gold sprung into being as a great and prosperous commonwealth, and this admission, without that of any counterbalancing slave state, had at last broken the Southern scheme and made the Union of states one containing sixteen free states to fifteen slave states. From these two conditions — the belief that the North would submit to every demand of slaver}-, and the dissatisfaction of the South because it had lost the balance of power- — came the repeal of the ^Missouri Compromise, which repeal, it was absurdly contended, was a legitimate outcome of the compromises of 1850, whereas it was in fact an absolute violation and destruction of those measures, and opened up to slaverj^ a vast and fertile territory which under the Missouri Compromise had been forever consecrated to liberty and to free institutions. In aid of the new Southern demand came the Dred Scott Decision, in which the Supreme Court asserted a principle never before seriously contended for by the South, that slavery instead of being an exceptional and local institution was entitled to be universal and national, and that the slave-owner had a right to take and hold his slaves in all the territories of the Union. With this reopening of the anti-slavery struggle, came the memorable conflict on the plains of Kansas to decide whether that territory should become another free state, to give to freedom two majority of the states, or whether it should be wrested from freedom and admitted as a slave state under the Lecompton constitution, to make the slave states again equal in number to the free states. In this momentous contest the North and freedom triumjihed. The dark tide of slavery which had swept from Missouri over the Kansas l)order, was driven back; free state settlers from New England controlled Kansas, and thwarted all attempts of the slave 1)0 wer to organize its government. The issue, which had become the absorbing national question, was taken into the Ill presidential election of 1860. The Republican party, which had been formed to resist slavery extension, nominated Air. Lincoln. The Democratic party broke into two fragments, and Mr. Lin- coln was elected President. This election of Mr. Lincoln cer- tainly gave no just cause for war, but the South saw in the result the defeat of their plans for slavery extension, and the destruction of their method of protection for slavery. They determined to resist the new administration facing toward freedom: they or- ganized a Southern Confederacy based on slavery: and thus came our great conflict, a battle on the one side for the dissolution of the Union in order to secure the extension into free territory of the crime of human slavery, and on the other side a contest for the restriction of slavery within its existing limits, the consecra- tion to freedom of all the great unorganized territories of the United States, and the ascendency of freedom in America through the maintenance unbroken of the Constitution and the Union. Thus it clearly appears that the war was on account of slavery, and did not arise from any other cause. [Following this page is a fac simile of the poem written for the occasion bv Miss Edna Dean Proctor] ^ 4 i A I i ia i i i ^ ■^ Lr> ^ •1 1 ^'i^ * J » o THE WEBSTER Rlirril Pf.ACE ASSOCIATION. OF KUAN KLIN, NICW HAMPSHIRE, As will be seen by visitors the lar}j;e ilwelling-hoiise, barn and other buililino;s are out of repair. Urgent rej)airs have been made upon them, but much yet remains to be done. The grounds and approaches also call for exjienditure l)eyond the present resovirces of the Association. The legislature of New Hani]islure at its late session v()t(>d niublic annual reports of all receipts and expenditures, — and also make acknowledgment of all moneys received from every source. The undersigned have been appointed a committee to solicit new members and contributions. We seek as many life members and donations as we can obtain, but are exceedingly desirous of having as anmuil members those friends who feel that they cannot afford, or do not care to liecoine life mem- bers, and we are much in immediate need of such $10 member8hi]>8 as they may be willing to use as their method of now making such contributions even without continuing their memberships. Under the by laws no one can be made liable for any future payment without his express jirior consent. A])plications for niembershij)S, with checks, may be sent to the Treasurer, Dr. John W. Sta])les, Franklin, N. H., or remittances may be made to any one of the undersigned : Ai.VAH W. SuLi-owAV. Franklin. Edward G. Leach, Franklin, Committee Clarence E. Carr. Andover, on Jacob H. Gallinger, Concord, Membership. William E. Cha.vdler, Concord, J October 11, 1913. 5EC 1 2 I9IS The Restored Birth Place House. Photograph by Hon. George B. Leighton, Mouadnock, N. H. The Larger Mansion House. 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