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 ^A-^ 
 
 WEBSTER ON HIS FARM. 
 
J V\\\.'At.'s'\Ta.\a.\t. 
 
THE YOUNG AMERICAN'S LIBRARY. 
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER, 
 
 THE STATESMAN AND THE PATRIOT. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 % 
 
 NUM-EROUS ANJJCDGTES. ^ 
 
 WiW) ailustratinns. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 LINDSAY & B L A K I S T N. 
 
 1853. 
 [^ ' 
 
£7-340 
 
 I 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Cong;ress, in the year 1853, by 
 LINDSAY & B L A K I S T N, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BT J. FAGAN. 
 
 PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This Life of Daniel Webster is written for the 
 young ; and for that reason, as is elsewhere said, 
 the events of his boyhood and college-days are 
 dwelt upon with more minuteness than those of 
 his after life. 
 
 For a man occupying the high place which he 
 held in the eye of the nation, his private charac- 
 ter was little known. He had not the winning 
 address which draws the great multitude. People 
 did not call him by the familiar terms with which 
 popular idols are designated. He was not covet- 
 ous of parade and personal attentions. He never 
 courted the fashion, or appealed to the prejudice, 
 
 of the hour. He never threw himself upon the 
 
 (iii) 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 wave of popular feeling, to be borne on to distinc- 
 tion. He was not calculated to win 
 
 " Golden opinions from all sorts of people." 
 
 He was ambitious. But his was not that 
 ambition which desires to make an impression, 
 and thus obtain preferment and honor. It was 
 that proud ambition which knew his own strength, 
 and waited for the world to recognize it. The 
 greatest "special pleader" of his day, he was no 
 " special pleader" for himself; for he felt his own 
 superiority, and his own integrity of motive. He 
 could take care of his own honor ; and disdained 
 to explain, to excuse, or to apologize, even when 
 his friends and constituents saw things from a 
 different point of view than that on which he 
 stood. 
 
 He waited for the hour when his own country- 
 men should do him justice. The hour has come 5 
 but now — 
 
 " Him nor carketh care nor slander, 
 Nothing but the small cold worm 
 Fretteth his enshrouded form." 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 The voice of eulogy falls unheeded on " the dull 
 cold ear of death." 
 
 It is due to ourselves that, as a nation, we 
 should know the man who, more than any of his 
 contemporaries, raised this people in the esteem 
 of the world. It is proper that our young men 
 should know him. If they would learn the 
 history of their land, they must read his life, and 
 study his writings. This little volume is intended 
 to place him before them in those aspects of his 
 life and character which, in works of higher merit, 
 may be overlooked. 
 
 Free use is made of the many biographical, and 
 other notices, which have already been published 5 
 and to the respective authors we here make our 
 acknowledgments. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Opening Remarks — The Webster Family — Birth of Daniel— His 
 Parents, Brothers and Sisters — His Early Years — Remarks of 
 Mr. Hillard — Mr. AVebster's Reference to his Birthplace — 
 Daniel Webster's first Teachers — Mr. Thomas Chase — Mr. James 
 Tappan— Letters of Mr. AVebster to Mr. Tappan— The old School- 
 master's Recollections of his Pupils — Mr. Webster's generous 
 Presents to his old Instructor — Mr. William Hoyt — Daniel 
 Webster's first Copy of the Constitution of the United States — 
 Long Walks to School — Daniel Webster's Father a natural 
 Elocutionist — The Son taught by the Father — Little Dan's 
 Reading — Anecdote Page 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Daniel Webster's Habits as a Boy — His Employments and In- 
 dustry — The Saw-mill — Reading while the Saw moved — The 
 Bible, Shakspeare, and Pope's Essay on Man — Watt's Hymns — 
 Too much Light — The Social Library — Chevy Chase — Webster's 
 manner of Reading — Anecdotes of his Boyhood — Daniel as an 
 Office Boy — Latin Grammar — His first intimation that he was to 
 go to School — The Journey to Exeter — His Examination by the 
 Principal of Phillips Academy — His Diffidence and Application 
 — Daniel's marked Success — Returns to Salisbury, and com- 
 mences as Schoolmaster — He is placed with Dr. Wood, of Bos- 
 cawen — His Emotion upon hearing that he was to be sent to 
 
 College 35 
 
 (vii) 
 
Viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Virgil and Cicero — Don Quixote — Grotius and Puffendorf — A 
 long Ptecitation — Daniel a poor Harvester — A new Impetus to 
 his Studies — Advantages of Education in the Olden Time — 
 The Journey to Hanover — The true-blue Suit — Storm and Delay 
 
 — Arrival at Hanover — Making Toilet in Fast Colors — Manly 
 Appearance, in Spite of Disadvantages — Daniel enters as Fresh- 
 man — His Habits while at Dartmouth — His Manner of Compo- 
 sition — Fondness for Out-door Exercise — Apostrophes to the Cod 
 and the Trout — Mr. Webster and the Farmer — Mr. Webster and 
 the Quails — His First Trout 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Studies of the first two Years at Dartmouth — Young AVebster a 
 Schoolmaster in the Vacations — His Fondness for a Scholar's 
 Life — His desire that his Brother Ezekiel should share his Pur- 
 suits — Difficulties in the Way — The Young Men pass a Night 
 in considering them — Importance of Ezekiel's aid to his Father 
 
 — Daniel introduces the Subject to the Old Gentleman — The 
 Mother called in to advise — Her prompt Decision — Ezekiel enters 
 upon a Course of Preparation, and Daniel returns to College — 
 Change in his Costume — His Attention, through Life, to Personal 
 Neatness — Third Year in College — Mr. Webster takes high 
 Rank — Fourth of July Oration in 1800 — Anecdote of General 
 Stark 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Specimens of Daniel Webster's College Composition — The Dart- 
 mouth Gazette — Man — Essay on Peace — Eulogy on a Classmate 
 — AVashington — Later Poetry — "The Memory of the Heart" — 
 Mr. Webster an Improvisator — Mr. Webster and the Child — 
 Commencement Exercises — Mr. Webster's Disappointment — 
 Professor Woodward's Opinion of Mr. AVebster — The Pupil's 
 kind Recollections — Lessons of Daniel Webster's Childhood, 109 
 
COXTEXTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mr. "Webster at Frjeburg — His Labors as Assistant Recorder of 
 Deeds — His Economy and Prudence — His continued Efforts at 
 Improvement — Rev. Mr. Fcssenden — Hon. T. W. Thompson — 
 Mr. Webster resumes his Law Studies — Coke upon Littleton — - 
 Webster upon Coke — Webster as a Collector of Debts — Mr. 
 Webster goes to Boston, and enters the Office of Hon. Christo- 
 pher Gore — Character of that Gentleman — Mr. Webster's con- 
 tinued Industry— He is tendered the Clerkship of a New Hamp- 
 shire Court — Under Advice of Mr. Gore he declines it — The 
 Astonishment and Chagrin of his Father 124 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 Mr. Webster admitted to the Bar — Establishes himself in New 
 Hampshire — His first cause — Death of his Either — A son's 
 testimony— The trial of a dumb depredator— Fourth of July 
 Oration in 1806 — Opinions of France — Relations of A^ri- 
 culture and Commerce — Monthly Anthology — Mr. Webster's 
 first criminal case — His fatiguing journeys — His abhorrence 
 of affectation — Mode of addressing a jury — Admission to the 
 Superior Court 145 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The New Hampshire Bar — Mr. Webster and Jeremiah Mason — 
 Professional Anecdotes— The Drilled Witness— Webster's Farm 
 —Mr. Webster's Marriage— State of the Country and of Parties 
 
 — New England Interests — The Bar as an Introduction to 
 Public Life — Mr. Webster in "caucus" — Popular Enthusiasm 
 
 — Mr. Webster's Professional Industry — His Habits of Early 
 Rising — His Letter upon the Morning 1G2 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Webster a Candidate for Congress — His account of his Ser- 
 vices in the State Legislature — Mr. Webster elected Represen- 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 tative from New Hampshire — Appointed a Member of the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs — Mr. AVebster's First Speech — 
 Resolution of Inquiry relative to the Berlin and Milan Decrees 
 —Character and Impression of Mr. Webster's Speech— Remarks 
 upon the Navy and the Embargo — Loss of Mr. Webster's House 
 \jy ]?ire — Re-elected to Congress — Position of the Country after 
 the War— Attitude of the South towards a Tariff— Mr. Webster's 
 Course on the Bank and Tariff Questions — Death of Mr. Web- 
 ster's Mother 183 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Webster's removal to Boston — His entrance upon Professional 
 life in that Metropolis — His manner at the Bar — Personal 
 Characteristics — Death of his Child — The Dartmouth College 
 Case — Mr. Webster as a Constitutional Lawyer — The United 
 States Supreme Court — Dartmouth and the Indians — The Nan- 
 tucket Friend — Summary of his Professional career 203 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Pilgrim Address at Plymouth — A Prophecy — Its fulfilment — 
 Foundation of Bunker-Hill Monument — Completion of the Monu- 
 ment — Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson — Other Eulogies — The 
 Washington Address, in 1832 — Address at the Capitol enlarge- 
 ment — The Trial of the Knapps for the Murder of Captain 
 Joseph White — Power of Conscience 223 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Mr. Webster's reluctance to re-enter Congress — His Election 
 in 1822 and 1824 — Present of an Annuity — Speech upon the 
 Greek Question — The Panama Mission — Mr. Adams's Adminis- 
 tration — Mr. Webster's Labors in Committee — His Election as 
 Senator — Death of his Wife — Webster and Ilayne — Death of 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 Ezekiel "Webster — Nullification — The Bank Question — Fancuil 
 Hall Dinner — Visit to England — Mr, "Webster as Secretary of 
 vState — Again in the Senate — Mexican "War — Death of his Son 
 Edward — Again Secretary — Ilulseman — Kossuth 237 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Elms Farm — Marshfield — Close of Mr. "Webster's Life — His Illness 
 and Death — His Burial — His "Will — Religious Opinions — Con- 
 clusion 2G0 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Opening Remarks — The Webster Family — Birth of Daniel — His 
 Parents, Brothers and Sisters — His Early Years — Remarks of 
 Mr. Ilillard — Mr. Webster's Reference to his Birth-place — 
 Daniel Webster's first Teachers — Mr. Thomas Chase — Mr. James 
 Tappan — Letters of Mr. Webster to Mr. Tappan — The old School- 
 master's Recollections of his Pupils — Mr. Webster's generous 
 Presents to his old Instructor — Mr. William Iloyt — Daniel 
 Webster's first Copy of the Constitution of the United States — 
 Long Walks to School — Daniel Webster's Father a natural 
 Elocutionist — The Son taught by the Father — Little Dan's 
 Reading — Anecdote. 
 
 In a republican country, the circumstances of 
 birth confer no chaim to honor or distinction ; and 
 the descendants of great men and pubhc benefac- 
 tors are entitled to no consideration on account of 
 their parentage, except so far as the son is per- 
 
 2 (13) 
 
14 LIFE OF 
 
 mitted to share in the sentiment of gratitude 
 due to the father. And, when that son is worthy, 
 and honors the memory of his parents by perpetu- 
 ating their virtues, he is entitled to an honest 
 pride in his ancestry. This is a natural feeling, 
 which no political theory can eradicate. But 
 when, on the other hand, the unworthy son of a 
 worthy parent degrades his family, he meets with 
 a contempt proportioned to the esteem in which 
 his ancestors were held. This is natural justice, 
 w^hich no law of primogeniture can wholly avert, 
 and which, in the absence of such laws, is always 
 meted out to the transgressor. 
 
 Still, in a biographical work, it is a proper com- 
 pliment to the subject to notice his ancestry ; and, 
 furthermore, it is useful as exhibiting the circum- 
 stances and associations which combined, in early 
 life, to form the characters of those who are worthy 
 of such commemoration. The family to which 
 Daniel Webster belonged was of Scottish origin, 
 but the descendants had resided so long in Eng- 
 land, previous to their emigration to America, that 
 all distinct traces of this extraction were lost. 
 Thomas Webster emigrated from Norfolk, England, 
 in 1656, sixteen years after the landing of the 
 Pilgrims at Plymouth. He settled at Hampton, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 15 
 
 on the sea-coast of New Hampshire. From him 
 descended two of the most remarlcable men this 
 country has produced; Dr. Noah Webster, the 
 author of the American Dictionary of the English 
 language, and Daniel Webster, the distinguished 
 statesman, whose life we are about to hold up as 
 an example for the emulation of his young 
 countrymen. 
 
 Daniel Webster, of the fourth generation from 
 the original settler, Thomas, was born in Salisbury, 
 NcAV Hampshire, on the 18tli of January, 1782. 
 His father, Ebenezer Webster, was a soldier in 
 two wars — serving as a member of a volunteer 
 corps in the French war, which closed in 1763, 
 and afterward employing his military experience 
 in the protracted struggle which established the 
 freedom of the United States of America. As 
 commander of a volunteer company he served 
 under Stark in the memorable battle of Benning- 
 ton, and performed a most important part in that 
 engagement. He was present at the battle of 
 White Plains, and w\as distinguished as a popular 
 and most efficient commander. He was of athletic 
 stature and commanding appearance ; having been 
 trained in that border school of hardship and 
 endurance, which gave to the founders of this 
 
16 LIFE OF 
 
 Republic the physical development which seconded 
 their mental and moral strenccth. 
 
 The township of Salisbury was mostly settled 
 by retired soldiers of the French w^ar. Ebenezer 
 Webster being one of the original grantees, and 
 his tract lying in the northerly part of the town- 
 ship, his son used to say of him, that, for many 
 years, the smoke of his cabin ascended nearer the 
 North Star than that of any other of his Majesty's 
 New England subjects. To the north, as far as 
 the boundaries of Canada, all was a wilderness. 
 Ebenezer Webster settled on this tract in 1764, 
 and, very soon after, his wife died, leaving five 
 ^children. This family consisted of three sons and 
 two daughters. Mr. Webster then married Abigail 
 Eastman, of Salisbury, and by this second union 
 became the father of three daughters, and tw^o 
 sons, Ezekiel and Daniel. Of the sons by the first 
 marriage one died young, and the other removed 
 to Canada. The third son, Joseph, will be noticed 
 in these pages in connection with our subject. 
 Ezekiel, the only brother of Daniel by the same 
 mother, lived to share the hopes and almost the 
 triumphs of the rising statesman; but he died 
 twenty years before Daniel, all the others, with the 
 exception of one sister, having preceded him to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 17 
 
 the grave. That sister, the youngest of the family, 
 died in 1S31. 
 
 Thus, being the nintli child in a family of ten, 
 we may readily infer that his father, a backwoods 
 settler, had not sufficient means to afford any great 
 educational advantages to Daniel Webster. But 
 he received the tuition of circumstances — adverse 
 circumstances — a hard discipline to undergo, but 
 productive of solid and enduring results. An 
 eloquent writer, in noticing the early years of the 
 distinguished statesman, says: "Daniel Webster 
 was fortunate in the outward circumstances of his 
 birth and breeding. He came from that class in 
 society whence almost all the great men of Ame- 
 rica have come, — the two Adamses, Washington, 
 Hancock, Jackson, Jefferson, Clay, and almost 
 every living notable of our time. Our Hercules 
 was also cradled on the ground. He had small 
 opportunities for academical education. The 
 schoolmaster was ^abroad' in New Hampshire; 
 he was seldom at home in Salisbury. Only two 
 or three months in a year was there a school, and 
 that was two or three miles off. Thither went 
 Daniel Webster, a brave, bright boy, ' the father 
 of the man.' The school-house of New England 
 is the cradle of her greatness." 
 
 2=:: 
 
18 LIFE OF 
 
 Hon. George S. Hilliard spoke as follows, upon 
 the occasion of the funeral obsequies of Daniel 
 Webster, in Boston, concerning the surroundings 
 and associations of the lad, whose fame as a man 
 is now spread throughout all the world : " He was 
 fortunate in the accident, or rather the Providence 
 of his birth. His father was a man of uncommon 
 strength of mind and worth of character, who had 
 served his country faithfully in trying times, and 
 earned, in a high degree, the respect and confi- 
 dence of his neighbors; — a man of large and 
 loving heart, whose efforts and sacrifices for his 
 children were repaid by them with most affectionate 
 veneration. The energy and good sense of Daniel's 
 mother exerted a strong influence upon the minds 
 and characters of her children. He was born to 
 the discipline of poverty, but a poverty such as 
 braces and stimulates, not such as crushes and 
 paralyzes. The region in which his boyhood was 
 passed was new and wild, books were not easy to 
 be had, schools were only an occasional privilege, 
 and intercourse with the more settled parts of the 
 country was difficult and rare. 
 
 " But the scarcity of mental food and mental 
 excitement had its advantages, and his training 
 was good, however imperfect his teaching might 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 19 
 
 have been. His labors upon the farm helped to 
 form that vigorous constitution, which enabled him 
 to sustain the immense pressure of cares and duties 
 laid upon him in after years. Such books as he 
 could procure were read with heartfelt avidity, 
 and all the powers of his mind devoted to their 
 study. The conversation of a household, presided 
 over by a strong-minded father, and a sensible, 
 loving mother, helped to train the faculties of the 
 younger members of the family. Nor were their 
 winter evenings wanting in topics which had a 
 fresher interest than any which books could 
 furnish. There were stirring tales of the Eevolu- 
 tionary struggle and the old French war, in both 
 of which his father had taken a part, with many 
 traditions of the hardships and perils of border 
 life, and harrowing narratives of Indian captivity, 
 all of which sunk deep into the heart of the 
 impressible boy. 
 
 " The ample page of Nature was ever before his 
 eyes, not beautiful nor picturesque, but stern, wild, 
 and solitary, covered with a primeval forest, in 
 winter swept over by tremendous storms, but in 
 summer putting on a short-lived grace, and in 
 autumn glowing with an imperial pomp of coloring. 
 In the deep>, lonely woods, by the rushing streams, 
 
20 LIFE OF 
 
 under the frosty stars of winter, the musing boy 
 gathered food for his growing mind. There, to 
 him., the mighty mother unveiled her awful face ; 
 and there, we may be sure that the dauntless 
 child stretched forth his hands and smiled. We 
 feel a pensive pleasure in calling up the image of 
 this slender, dark-browed, bright-eyed youth, going 
 forth in the morning of life to sow the seed of 
 future years. A loving brother, and a loving and 
 dutiful son, he is cheerful under privation, and 
 patient under restraint. Whatever work he finds 
 to do, whether with the brain or the hand, he 
 does it with all his might. He ojDens his mind to 
 every ray of knowledge which breaks in upon 
 him. Every step is a progress, and every blow 
 removes an obstacle. Onward, ever onward he 
 moves; borne against the wdnd and against the 
 tide by a self-derived and self-sustained impulse. 
 He makes friends, awakens interest, inspires hopes. 
 Thus, with these good angels about him, he passes 
 from boyhood to youth, and from youth to early 
 manhood. The school and the college have given 
 him what they had to give ; an excellent profes- 
 sional training has been secured ; and now, with 
 a vigorous frame and a spirit patient of hibor, 
 with manly self-reliance, and a heart glowing with 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 21 
 
 generous ambition and warm affections, the man, 
 Daniel Webster, stej^ped forth into the arena of 
 hfe." 
 
 At the time when Daniel Webster was born, 
 nearly twenty years after his father's settlement 
 in Salisbury, the original cabin had given way to 
 a more substantial house. That house has also 
 been removed, and the traces of the cellar alone 
 indicate the spot where it stood. Near the site is 
 an old well, excavated by his father; and the 
 premises are sheltered by a giant elm, planted a 
 year or two before the birth of Daniel. Under 
 this elm Mr. Webster, when a man, and engaged 
 in the labors of his profession, or the cares of 
 State, always sat at least once in s, year, and 
 drank of the waters of the well which his father 
 had dug. The site of the old house and of the 
 log-cabin, the fruit and other trees which his father 
 and grandfather had planted, and the many ob- 
 jects which recalled the memory of his childhood, 
 were to him sources of inspiration. His feelings 
 are well expressed in a speech which he made in 
 1840, when General Harrison was a candidate for 
 President of the United States. He said : " It is 
 only shallow-minded pretenders who either make 
 distinguished origin matter of personal merit, or 
 
22 LIFE OF 
 
 obscure origin matter of personal reproach. Taunt 
 and scoffing at the humble condition of early life 
 affect nobody, in this country, but those who are 
 foolish enough to indulge in them ; and they are 
 generally sufficiently punished by public rebuke. 
 A man who is not ashamed of himself need not 
 be ashamed of his early condition. 
 
 " 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 snow-drifts of New 
 Hampshire, at a period so early, that when the 
 smoke first rose from its chimney and curled over 
 the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a 
 white man's habitation between it and the settle- 
 ments on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still 
 exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my 
 children to it, to teach them the hardships endured 
 by the generations wdiich have gone before them. 
 I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the 
 kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching 
 narrations and incidents which mingle with all I 
 know of this primitive family 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 ever I fail in affectionate veneration for 
 him who raised it, and defended it against savage 
 
DANIEL Ti^EB ST ER. 2 
 
 o 
 
 violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic 
 virtues beneath its roof, and, through the fire and 
 blood of a seven years' revolutionary war, shrunk 
 from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his 
 country, and to raise his children to a better con- 
 dition than his own, may my name, and the name 
 of my posterity, be blotted forever from the 
 memory of mankind." 
 
 There were other reminiscences connected with 
 a log building, which were dear to Mr. Webster, 
 and are interesting to those who read his life. The 
 first school-house which j^oung Daniel ever entered 
 was built of logs, and in this humble building the 
 boy studied the rudiments of the education which, 
 by the aid of natural talents, seconded by appli- 
 cation, made him the great jurist and statesman. 
 Daniel's first school experience was not in a public, 
 but in a "subscription school," opened at the 
 request, and under the patronage of Colonel 
 Webster, his father, and other residents in the 
 vicinity. The teacher was Mr. Thomas Chase. 
 Daniel Webster had, however, before entering 
 this school, the privilege of the best of teachers, 
 his mother. She taught him to read, and the first 
 book which he remembered reading was the Bible. 
 The mother of Ezekiel and Daniel Webster had a 
 
24 LIFE OF 
 
 mother s ambition for her children, and a strong 
 mind and capacity to direct them. As Daniel 
 was only about four years old v/hen he entered 
 this school; much could not have been required of 
 the teacher. Daniel appears to have enjoyed ad- 
 vantages superior to those of his brothers. Some- 
 thing of this was obtained by his early delicate 
 appearance, and something, no doubt, by the fact 
 that he was the youngest of nine children. His 
 brother Joseph used to say of him, in a good- 
 humored way, that " Dan was sent to school, that 
 he might know as much as the other boys ! " 
 
 Of Daniel's other teachers in his infancy we 
 happen to possess some very pleasant memorials. 
 One of them, James Tappan, died at Gloucester, 
 Massachusetts, since the death of Mr. Webster. 
 In 1851 he reminded his distinguished pupil that 
 he was still alive, and received from him the 
 following letter : 
 
 " Washington, Feb. 26th, 1851. 
 
 " Master Tappan, — I thank you for your letter, 
 and am rejoiced to hear that you are still among 
 the living. I remember you perfectly well as a 
 teacher of my infant years. I suppose my mother 
 must have taught me to read very early, as I have 
 never been able to recollect the time when I could 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 25 
 
 not read the Bible. I think Master Chase was 
 my earhest schoohnaster, probably when I was 
 three or four years old. Then came Master 
 Tappan. You boarded at our house, and some- 
 times I think in the family of Mr. Benjamin San- 
 born, our neighbor, the lame man. Most of those 
 whom you knew in New Salisbury have gone to 
 their graves. Mr. John Sanborn, the son of Ben- 
 jamin, is yet living, and is about your age. Mr. 
 John Colby, w^ho married my eldest sister, 
 Susannah, is also living. On the North road is 
 Mr. Benjamin Pettingill. I think of none else 
 among the living whom you would possibly re- 
 member. You have, indeed, lived a checkered 
 life. I hope you have been able to bear prosperity 
 with meekness, and adversity with patience. 
 These things are all ordered for us, far better than 
 we can order them for ourselves. We may pray 
 for our daily bread ; we may pray for the forgive- 
 ness of sins ; we may pray to be kept from tempta- 
 tion, and that the kingdom of God may come, in 
 us, and in all men, and his will everywhere be 
 done. Beyond this, w^e hardly know for what 
 good to supplicate the Divine Mercy. Our 
 Heavenly Father knoweth what we have need of 
 better than we do ourselves, and we are sure that 
 
 3 
 
26 ' LIFE OF 
 
 his eye and his loving kindness are upon us and 
 around us, every moment. I thank you again, 
 my good old schoolmaster, for your kind letter, 
 which has awakened many sleeping recollections ; 
 and with all good wishes, 
 
 " I remain your friend and pupil, 
 
 "Daniel Webster." 
 
 A correspondent of the Boston Transci'ipt, Avho 
 met Mr. Tappan at Gloucester in the summer of 
 1852, gives us the schoolmaster's reminiscences of 
 his pupil. " Master Tappan" at that time was in 
 his eighty-sixth year, somewhat infirm, but with 
 his intellectual faculties bright and vivid, espe- 
 cially on the subject of his old pupil, whom he 
 esteemed the foremost man of his time, and in 
 whose fame he took a justifiable and natural pride. 
 " Daniel was always the brightest boy in the 
 school," said Master Tappan, " and Ezekiel the 
 next ; but Daniel was much quicker at his studies 
 than his brother. He would learn more in ^ve 
 minutes than any other boy would in five hours. 
 One Saturday, I remember, I held up a handsome 
 new knife to the scholars, and said the boy who 
 would commit to memory the greatest number of 
 verses in the Bible, by Monday morning, should 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 27 
 
 have it. Many of the boys did well ; but when 
 it came to Daniel's turn to recite, I found that he 
 had committed so much that, after hearing him 
 repeat some sixty or seventy verses, I was obliged 
 to give up, he telling me that there were several 
 chapters yet that he had learned. Daniel got 
 that jack-knife. Ah ! Sir, he was remarkaljle, 
 even as a boy ; and I told liis father he would do 
 God's work injustice, if he did not send both 
 Daniel and Ezekiel to college. The old man said 
 he could not well afford it; but I told him he 
 must, and he finally did. And didn't they both 
 justify my good opinion?" 
 
 The paper containing this notice of "Master 
 Tappan" was sho^vn to Mr. Webster, and he 
 instantly wrote and despatched the following 
 letter to the old gentleman : — 
 
 '' Boston, Juhj 20th, 1852. 
 
 " Master Tappan, — I learn with much plea- 
 sure, through the public press, that you still con- 
 tinue to enjoy life, with mental faculties bright 
 and vivid, although you have arrived at a very 
 advanced age, and are somewhat infirm. I came 
 to-day from the very spot in which you taught 
 me ; and to me a most delightful spot it is. The 
 
28 LIFE OF 
 
 river and the hills are as beautiful as ever, but the 
 graves of my father and mother, and brothers and 
 sisters, and early friends, gave it to me something 
 of the appearance of a city of the dead. But let 
 me not repine. You have lived long, and my life 
 is already not short, and we have both much to 
 be thankful for. Two or three persons are yet 
 living, Vv^ho, like myself, were brought up sub tua 
 ferula. They remember ' Master Tappan.' And 
 now, my good old master, receive a renewed tri- 
 bute of affectionate regard from your grateful 
 pupil, with his wishes and prayers for your happi- 
 ness in all that remains to you in this life, and, 
 more especially, for your participation hereafter 
 in the durable riches of righteousness. 
 
 "Daniel Webster." 
 
 The "renewed tribute of affectionate re2:ard" 
 spoken of in the above letter was an enclosure of 
 twenty dollars. In the first letter, sent the year 
 before, Mr. Webster enclosed fifty. It is pleasant 
 to record these evidences of the affection of the man 
 for the teacher of his childhood ; and it is useful 
 also to notice what appreciation the aged states- 
 man had of the services of those who introduced 
 him to the first humble acquisitions in the course 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 29 
 
 of education which made him great. We have 
 got another memorial of Mr. Webster's early 
 teachers, preserved by his private secretary, Mr. 
 Lanman. It is a memorandum of his conversa- 
 tion respecting Mr. Hoyt. 
 
 "Mr. William Hoyt was, for many years, 
 teacher of our county school in Salisbury : I do 
 not call it village school, because there was at that 
 time no village ; and boys came to school in the 
 winter, the only season in which schools w^ere 
 usually open, from distances of several miles, 
 wading through the snow, or running upon its 
 crust, with their curly hair often whitened with 
 frost from their own breaths. I knew William 
 Hoyt well, and every truant knew him. He was 
 an austere man, but a good teacher of children. 
 He had been a printer in Newbury port, wrote a 
 very fair and excellent hand, was a good reader, 
 and could teach boys, that which so few masters 
 can or will do, to read well themselves. Beyond 
 this, and a very slight knowledge of grammar, his 
 attainments did not extend. He had brought w^ith 
 him into the town a little property, which he took 
 very good care of. Pie rather loved money ; of 
 all the pronouns preferring the possessive ; he also 
 kept a little shop for the sale of various connno- 
 
 3* 
 
30 LIFE OF 
 
 dities. I do not know how old I was^ but I 
 remember having gone into his shop one day, and 
 bought a small cotton pocket-handkerchiefj with 
 a Constitution of the United States printed on its 
 two sides; from this I just learned either that 
 there was a Constitution, or that there were United 
 States. I remember to have read it, and have 
 known more or less of it ever since. William 
 Hoyt and his wife lie buried in the grave-yard on 
 my farm, near the graves of my own family. He 
 left no children. I suppose that this little hand- 
 kerchief was purchased about the time that I was 
 eight years old, as I remember listening to the 
 conversation of my father and Mr. Thompson 
 upon political events which happened in the year 
 1790." 
 
 The Constitution of the United States was only 
 ratified in 1789 by the several States, and had 
 hardly, at the time when Daniel Webster com- 
 menced the study of it, gone into operation. The 
 purchase exhausted his juvenile purse; and the 
 afternoon and evening of the day on which it 
 came into his possession were spent in poring over 
 and spelling out its provisions. Little could his 
 parents then have dreamed that the thoughtful 
 boy was entering upon the course of study, at 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 31 
 
 eight years of age, which should qualify him for 
 the title of " Expounder of the Constitution." 
 
 There were three school-houses in the township 
 of Salisbury, which were situated several miles 
 apart. The first was near Colonel Webster's resi- 
 dence ; the next at perhaps three miles' distance ; 
 the third in the extreme part of the township. 
 The teacher divided his time between the three. 
 When the school was in the centre school-house, 
 young Daniel went in the morning, taking his 
 dinner, and returned at night; and when the 
 schoolmaster was in the western part of his cir- 
 cuit, the young student boarded near the school- 
 house, going on foot on Monday morning, and- 
 returning on Saturday evening. Such disadvan- 
 tages, as we should now consider them, were, by 
 the youth of that day, considered to be great 
 opportunities. 
 
 We have mentioned Daniel's indebtedness to 
 his mother for early instruction. It is due to his 
 father also to state that his influence and example 
 did much for his child. Colonel Webster was a 
 man of strong natural talents, and is said to have 
 had an intuitive knowledge of the principles of - 
 elocution. His voice was loud, clear, and musical, 
 and his reading and speaking were of the best 
 
32 LIFE OF 
 
 school of natural oratory. The books he delighted 
 to read aloud for the gratification of his family 
 and others, were the Bible, Shakspeare, and Pope's 
 Essay on Man. To his occupation as a farmer he 
 added that of an innkeeper ; a calling which, in 
 those days, was held in high respect. The 
 Governor of Vermont at that time united the 
 vocations of Governor and landlord. General 
 Putnam and several others of the Revolutionary 
 officers were innkeepers. And when Colonel 
 Webster, in 1791, was appointed an Associate 
 Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, he still 
 continued, for some years, to entertain travellers 
 — the gentlemanly host — happy to receive guests, 
 who, in his pleasant society, forgot that they were 
 not visitors on purely friendly terms. Colonel 
 Webster excelled in conversation ; and his know- 
 ledge of the Constitution and laws was such as to 
 command respect for his opinions. Of course, a 
 judge not educated to the law was not expected 
 to make decisions on mere technical points; but 
 the union of practical business men and farmers, 
 with lawyers, upon the bench, has been found to 
 have an exceedingly good influence in County 
 Courts in rural districts; and, in former years, 
 
D A X I E L W E B S T E R . 33 
 
 when profession ill men were rare, was a necessary 
 expedient. 
 
 With an inherited taste and capacity for elocu- 
 tion, and the lessons of his father added to those 
 of his teachers, Daniel was the pet of the travel- 
 lers who stopped at the inn. As they drew near 
 the house, they thought of the young orator \ and 
 when they stopped, and the future statesman, 
 then a dark-looking boy, had watered their horses, 
 or assisted them in helping themselves, the 
 teamsters were wont to say, " Now, let us go in, 
 and hear little Dan read a Psalm." What primi- 
 tive days wxre these! And how different a race 
 of men were those old backwoodsmen from their 
 descendants, wdio claim to have improved under 
 the benefit of modern advantages ! No doubt we 
 have gained much, but in the changes of time we 
 have lost something too. The teamsters who 
 could listen w^ith delight to a Psalm of David, and 
 the tavern in which a boy could be educated in 
 such tastes, belonged to a more simple, certainly 
 a not less virtuous era than the present. 
 
 A few years ago, wdien Daniel Webster, the 
 Senator of the United States, visited the West, a 
 citizen of one of the new States, who had immi- 
 
34 LIFE OF 
 
 grated from New Hampshire^ met him and re- 
 membered him. 
 
 " Is this," he asked, " the son of Col. Webster ?" 
 
 " It is, indeed," was the rej)ly. 
 
 "What," repeated the man, "is this the lutle 
 black Dan who used to water the horses ?" 
 
 " Yes," rejoined the great Daniel Webster, " it 
 is the little black Dan who used to water the 
 horses." 
 
 He was proud of his history. "If a man finds 
 the way alone," says the writer from whom we 
 derive this anecdote, " should he not be proud of 
 having found the way ?" 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Daniel Webster's Habits as a Boy — His Employments and In- 
 dustry — The Saw-mill — Reading while the Saw moved — The 
 Bible, Shakspearc, and Pope's Essay on Man — Watt's Hymns — 
 Too much Light — The Social Library — Chevy Chase — Webster's 
 manner of Reading — Anecdotes of his Boyhood — Daniel as an 
 Office Boy — Latin Grammar — His first intimation that he was to 
 go to School — The Journey to Exeter — His Examination by the 
 Principal of Phillips Academy — His Diffidence and Application 
 — Daniel's ma,rked Success — Returns to Salisbury, and com- 
 mences as Schoolmaster — He is placed with Dr. Wood, of Bos- 
 cawen — His Emotion upon hearing that he was to be sent to 
 College. 
 
 The death of no other man in America has 
 called out more anecdotes and traditions, than 
 were thrown to the world upon the demise of 
 Daniel Webster. As remarked in the j^receding 
 chapter, our desire is to furnish the youth of 
 America with an account of those traits of his 
 character, which all would do well to emulate. 
 In doing this, we make free use of whatever has 
 fallen under our notice, endeavoring to separate 
 the true from the false, and to correct such erro- 
 
36 LIFE OF 
 
 neons statements as have gained currency, through 
 the desire of all to contribute something to the 
 common stock of anecdotes. 
 
 The writer of a very interesting article upon 
 Webster, in Putnam's Monthly Magazine, opens 
 by stating that he had visited the place of his 
 nativity, and conversed with the friends of his 
 boyhood, corresponded with most of his surviving 
 classmates and college friends, and examined hun- 
 dreds of his letters. As the result of his investi- 
 gations the writer has presented us with many 
 important facts and conclusions, of which free use 
 is made in this volume, with this general acknow- 
 ledgment. 
 
 '^ Daniel Webster performed the ordinary ser- 
 vices of a boy upon his father s farm. His taste 
 for agriculture, and his fondness for rural life grew 
 directly out of the associations of his childhood. 
 Imagine to yourself a slender, black-eyed boy, 
 with serious mien and raven locks, leading the 
 traveller's horse to water when he alighted at his 
 father's inn ; driving the cows to pasture at early 
 dawn, and returning with them at the gray of 
 evening ; riding the horse, to harrow between the 
 rows of corn at weeding-time, and following the 
 mowers with a wooden spreader in haying-time ; 
 
25^^-,. .^ 
 
 YOUNG DANIEL IN THE SAW MILL. 
 

 DANIEL WEBSTER. 37 
 
 and you have a true idea of the lad and of his 
 duties. In dress, in the means of social and in- 
 tellectual culture, his condition was far below that 
 of the sons of farmers and mechanics of the 
 present day. Many anecdotes have been pub- 
 lished, of his incapacity for manual labor, or of 
 his aversion to it. The testimony of his early 
 companions and neighbors contradicts, in general 
 and in particulars, all stories of his idleness. 
 
 ''He was an industrious boy. He labored to 
 the extent of his strength. He was the youngest 
 son, and, perhaps, on that account received some 
 indulgences. Men are now living who labored 
 with him, in the field and in the mill — who shared 
 his toils and his sports. They affirm that he 
 always ' worked well and played fair.' Boj^s in 
 those days were usually trained to hard service. 
 I have heard Mr. Webster say that he had charge 
 of his father's saw-mill, and was accustomed to 
 tread back the log-carriage, Svhen he was not 
 heavier than a robin.' An old schoolmate of his 
 told me that the mill was owned in shares, by 
 several of the neighbors, who used it in turn. 
 Boys were put into the mill to tend it, when it 
 required the weight of two of them to turn back 
 the ' rag-wheel ' and bring the log-carriage to its 
 
 4 
 
38 LIFE OF 
 
 place to commence a new cut. He informed me 
 that he had labored many a day with Daniel 
 Webster, in this old mill, and that his companion 
 was ever ready to do his part of the service. The 
 same boy, Daniel, was accustomed to drive the 
 team into the woods, where his elder brother, 
 Ezekiel, cut the logs and assisted in loading them." 
 This mill has been, of late years, regarded as 
 almost classic ground. Mr. Webster, who was 
 notable for his attachment to the scenes of his 
 youth, conducted his guests over the places marked 
 in his memory, with honest pride. And the resi- 
 dents near these locaUties, admiring the man who 
 in his fame never forgot " the rock whence he was 
 hewn," gave to the haunts of the " little black 
 Dan" a fame and a consequence which is usually 
 reserved to be conferred by posterity. General S. 
 P. Lyman, for many years the friend and intimate 
 of Daniel Webster, gives the following descrijDtion 
 of the place, and notice of its memoirs : 
 
 " In the bed of a little brook, near where Daniel 
 Webster was born, are the remains of a rude mill 
 which his father built more than sixty years ago. 
 The place is a dark glen, and was then surrounded 
 by a majestic forest, which covered the neighboring 
 hills. To that mill, Daniel Webster, though a 
 
 . 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 39 
 
 small boy, went frequently to assist his father. 
 He was apt in learning anything useful, and soon 
 became so expert in doing everything required, 
 that his services as an assistj^nt were valuable. 
 But the time spent in manual labor was not mis- 
 spent as regarded mental progress. After ' setting 
 the saw' and Hioisting the gate/ and while the 
 saw was passing through the log, which usually 
 occupied from ten to fifteen minutes for each 
 board, Daniel was reading attentively some book, 
 which he was permitted to take from the house. 
 He had a passion, thus early, for reading history 
 and biography." 
 
 There, surrounded by forests, in the midst of 
 the great noise which such a mill makes, and this 
 too without materially neglecting his task, he 
 m^ade himself familiar with the most remarkable 
 events in history, and with the lives and charac- 
 ters of those who have furnished materials for its 
 pages. What he read there he never forgot. So 
 tenacious was his memory, that he could recite 
 long passages from books which he read there, and 
 scarcely looked at afterward. The solitude of the 
 scene, the absence of everything to divert his 
 attention, the simplicity of his occupation, the 
 thoughtful and taciturn manner of his father, all 
 
40 LIFE OF 
 
 favored the process of transplanting every idea 
 found in these books to his own fresh, fruitful and 
 vigorous mind. 
 
 Books were, however, hard to find in that se- 
 questered place ; and the young student, voracious 
 of knowledge, was forced to read over and over 
 again the old, because he could not obtain new. 
 The Bible, Shakspeare, and Pope's Essay on Man, 
 we have already mentioned as favorites with his 
 father. With the first-named, the first of all 
 books, he was very familiar, his early taste for 
 poetry leading him to delight in studying the 
 poetical portions of the inspired volume. The 
 traces of this familiarity with Scripture, common 
 to most men of enlarged minds, may be found 
 continually in his writings and speeches. Pope's ' 
 Essay on Man he committed to memory on the 
 very day it fell into his hands ; before he was 
 fourteen years of age. When once asked why he 
 committed that poem at so early an age, he 
 replied, " I had nothing else to learn." 
 
 Since at twelve he " had nothing else to learn," 
 we may presume that he had before that com- 
 mitted to memory Watts' Hymns and the metrical 
 version of the Psalms. He was accustomed to 
 say. in his later years, that he could repeat any | 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 41 
 
 stanza of Watts, of which he heard the first Uiie ; 
 so closely did what he had conned in the forest 
 adhere to him. He needed to read poetry but 
 twice to be able to repeat it. While such a dearth 
 of books existed, he conned his father's collection 
 over and over. Newspapers were not then flying 
 Hke winged seeds of good and evil all over the 
 land, and even a new almanac was a treasure. 
 Ezekiel and Daniel had frequent disputes, in their 
 limited world of literature and knowledge ; and, 
 on one occasion, after going to bed, a question 
 arose as to something in the new ahnanac. They 
 rose and struck a light to settle the dispute, and, 
 in their eagerness and carelessness, set their bed 
 on fire. On being questioned the next morning 
 as to the cause of the accident, Daniel answered, 
 " that they were in pursuit of light, and got too 
 much of it." 
 
 Books soon became more abundant. Some of 
 the biographers of Webster state that he enjoyed 
 access to a "Circulating Library." But the col- 
 lections of ephemeral and trifling literature known 
 under the name of circulating libraries, and col- 
 lected with the purpose of attracting the thought- 
 less, and ministering to the folly of readers for 
 mere amusement, were at that time almost un- 
 
42 LIFE OF 
 
 known ; and we presume that, to this day, there 
 never has been such a collection within twenty 
 miles of Daniel Webster's birth-solace. The library 
 to which he had access was what is called a 
 " Social Library," collected through the exertions 
 of his father, the clergyman, and Thomas "VY. 
 Thompson, Esq., a lawyer. The Social Library 
 was divided into shares, at a fixed price, which 
 every member of the company paid upon entrance, 
 each share entitling the holder to certain privi- 
 leges, and being subject to an annual assessment, 
 for the purpose of increasing the number of 
 volumes. Purchases were made by careful com- 
 mittees ; and, although we know nothing of Salis- 
 bury Social Library, we venture to say, from our 
 knowledge of other similar institutions, that 
 young Daniel had a better opportunity for mental 
 improvement in this collection, "^^ though /ei<;," 
 than the present generation of youth, whose 
 spending-money will furnish them with pubhca- 
 tions too cheap to be good; and too much like 
 locust swarms in number to pass under the censor- 
 ship of their elders. 
 
 One of Mr. Webster's eulogists has remarked of 
 him, that "he had read much, but not many * 
 books. With the best English writers he was en- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 43 
 
 tirely familiar, and took great pleasure in reading 
 them, and discussing their merits." Among the 
 books in the library at Salisbury was the Spectator. 
 Of this work he was very fond ; and, in after life 
 he related a circumstance, which shows how pre- 
 dominant was his love of poetry. He said he 
 remembered turning over the leaves of Addison's 
 criticism of Chevy Chase, to pick out and read 
 connectedly the verses which Addison had quoted. 
 For recreation and amusement his preference 
 settled upon biography and travels ; and this may 
 have been a part of his " social library" education. 
 The number of such books formed a much larger 
 portion of the current publications at the end of 
 the last century than at present ; the novel had 
 not obtained its present unjust proportion in the 
 province of belles-lettres. General Lyman de- 
 scribes his manner of reading ten years before his 
 death, which indicates the habit formed, w^hen to 
 obtain a new book was an event of which he was 
 disposed to make the most. He first went over 
 the index, and apparently fixed the frame-work 
 of it in his mind; then he studied mth equal 
 earnestness the synopsis of each chapter. Then 
 he looked at the length of the chapter. Then, 
 before he began to read it, he took an accurate 
 
44 LIFE OF 
 
 survey of its parts. Then he read it; passing 
 rapidly over what was common-place, and dwelling 
 only on what was original and worthy of note. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that Daniel Webster, 
 whose playfulness of character remained through 
 his life, was different from other boys in his fond- 
 ness for amusement in his childhood. And, al- 
 though he " played fair and worked well," he had 
 a boy's choice for play above work, which he 
 exhibited upon occasion. His surviving school- 
 mates deny, however, that his fondness for hunt- 
 ing and fishing caused him to play the truant 
 from school. They say that he was always pre- 
 sent, when the school was open, and always in 
 advance of his associates. In the laborious occu- 
 pations of the farm there were, of course, some 
 things which he could not do. He did not remain 
 at home long enough to learn to mow. An anec- 
 dote in reference to this has long been stereotyped, 
 and current in the papers. His awkward hand- 
 ling of the scythe induced several attempts on the 
 part of his father to '^ hang" the instrument better 
 — that is, to affix it to the handle. But Daniel 
 could not be brought to like the " hang," and his 
 father told him at last that he must suit himself. 
 Hanging it at once upon a tree, he said, " There, 
 
DANIEL TV^EBSTER. 4.5 
 
 father, that's the hang to suit me." To mow re- 
 quires a strength and dexterity which are seldom 
 possessed by boys of ten or twelve years of age. 
 Daniel's wit hel23ed him out on this as well as 
 other occasions. The two boys, Ezekiel and 
 Daniel were once left a task to perform, in the 
 absence of their father. His return showed the 
 work still undone. 
 
 " What have you been doins; ? " the father asked 
 of the elder boy, in a tone of natural vexation. 
 
 " Nothing, Sir," Ezekiel was obliged to confess, 
 with the evidence before him. 
 
 " And you, Daniel," said the father, " what have 
 you been doing ? " 
 
 "Helping Zelce, Sir^ 
 
 The force of logic usually owes much to the 
 inclinations of the person who is to be convinced. 
 Colonel Webster required that his sons should go 
 regularly to church on every Sunday, though the 
 distance was about four miles ; and Daniel com- 
 plained of the hardship of so long a walk. To 
 this the father answered : 
 
 " I see Deacon True's boys there every Sunday 
 morning, and I never heard of their complaining." 
 
 " Oh, yes, Sir," answered Daniel, " but the Dea- 
 
46 LIFE OF 
 
 con's boys live halfway there^ and have only half 
 as far to walk." 
 
 " Well," said his father, " you may dress your- 
 self early, and run up to Deacon True's, and then 
 you will have no farther to go than they." 
 
 This was conclusive. To visit Deacon True's 
 boys was never a hardship, and Daniel, thereafter, 
 was always ready to go early, and walk to church 
 with them. 
 
 In 1795, when Daniel was in his fourteenth 
 year, Mr. Thompson, the lawyer in Salisbury, in- 
 duced him to stay in his office during his neces- 
 sary absence, to answer the questions of chents 
 and others. His intelligence and his aptitude for 
 learning had undoubtedly procured him this pre- 
 ference; and, trifling as the circumstance then 
 appeared, it combined with others to rule his life. 
 Many lads, in such a place, would have nursed 
 habits of idleness, and amused themselves with 
 marbles, outside of the door, or invited other lads 
 to play with them. Or they would, in these days 
 of abundance of bad books, dissipate their time in 
 reading piratical romances, or lives of highway- 
 men. Mr. Thompson, who knew his lad, furnished 
 him with better amusement. He handed him a 
 Latin grammar, to fill up his leisure ; and j^oung 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 47 
 
 Daniel committed lesson after lesson, with hearty 
 good-wdll ; having no higher immediate object than 
 to escape idleness, and gratify Mr. Thompson. 
 He had never thought of studying Latin or Greek ; 
 and going to college was a thing so clearly among 
 impossibilities, as he then thought, that the idea 
 of such a happiness never occurred to him. He 
 thought he must make the most of his advantages, 
 and procure a good common school education. It 
 was during this year that the following incident 
 occurred, which we give in Mr. Webster's own 
 w^ords. It is extracted from a letter wa^itten by 
 Mr. Webster, while spending a summer vacation 
 among the scenes of his youth. 
 
 " Looking out at the east windows at this mo- 
 ment, with a beautiful sun just breaking out, my 
 eye sweeps over a rich and level field of one hun- 
 dred acres. '^ ^ I could see a lamb on any part of 
 it. I have ploughed it, and raked it, and hoed it; 
 but I never mow^ed it. Somehow I never could 
 learn to hang a scythe. I had not wit enough. 
 My brother Joe used to say that my father sent 
 me to college, in order to make me equal to the 
 rest of the children ! 
 
 "Of a hot day in July — it must have been in 
 one of the last years of Washington's administra- 
 
48 LIFE OF 
 
 tion — I was making hay with my father, just 
 where I now see a remaining elm tree. About the 
 middle of the afternoon, Hon. Abiel Foster, M. C, 
 who lived in Canterbury, six miles off, called at 
 the house, and came into the field to see my father. 
 He was a worthy man, college-learned, and had 
 been a minister, but was not a man of any consi- 
 derable natural power. My father was his friend 
 and supporter. He talked a while in the field, 
 and then went away. When he was gone, my 
 father called me to him, and we sat down beneath 
 the elm, on a hay-cock. He said, ' My son, that 
 is a worthy man. He is a member of Congress. 
 He goes to Philadelphia, and gets six dollars a 
 day, while I toil here. It is because he had an 
 education, which I never had. If I had received 
 an equally good education, I should have been in 
 Philadelphia in his place. I came near it, as it 
 was. But I missed it, and now I must continue 
 to work here.' 
 
 " ' My dear father,' said I, ^you shall not work. 
 Brother and I will work for you, and wear our 
 hands out, and you shall rest.' 
 
 " And I remember to have cried ; and I cry now 
 at the recollection. 
 
 " ^ My child,' said he, ' it is of no importance to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. - 49 
 
 me ; I now live but for mv children. I could not 
 give your elder brother the advantages of know^- 
 ledge, but I can do something for you. Exert 
 yourself; improve your opportunities; learn, learn; 
 and, when I am gone, you will not need to go 
 through the hardshijDS which I have undergone, 
 and which have made me an old man before my 
 time." 
 
 Master Tappan, as we have seen, had spoken 
 to Colonel "Webster of the capacity of his sons. 
 Mr. Thompson seconded the schoolmaster's advice, 
 that Daniel should be educated ; for, the remark- 
 able tenacity of Daniel's memory, and the ease 
 with which he had committed the grammar, had 
 much surprised and pleased the lawyer. Daniel's 
 mother urged that he should have an opportunity 
 for the development of his powers. Brother Joe, 
 who, with his waggery, had a right good heart, 
 added his voice, putting the case in the humorous 
 light to which reference has already been made. 
 And the slight form of Daniel was also urged, as 
 making it necessary that he should be enabled to 
 pursue some less laborious occupation than that 
 of a New Hampshire farmer. It was, therefore, 
 determined that Daniel should be qualified to teach 
 a country school, that his winter months might be 
 
 5 
 
50 LIFE OF 
 
 profitably passed, v/ithout the exposure of wood- 
 cutting and other whiter avocations in New Eng- 
 land. In the summer he could still assist upon 
 the farm. There were many such instances within 
 their knowledge, and the young teachers had done 
 well. With these views, it was determined to 
 send Daniel Webster to Phillips' Academy in 
 Exeter. 
 
 This Academy, one of the best in the United 
 States, had then been founded about fourteen 
 years, and was under the charge of the same 
 principal, Dr. Benjamin Abbott, who lived, and 
 remained at Exeter, until after his Salisbury pujoil 
 and many others had attained high positions in 
 life. On a bright morning in May, 1796, Daniel 
 Webster, with his father, set out for Exeter. 
 Daniel rode on a side-saddle, which was sent to 
 Exeter for a lady to return upon to Salisbury; 
 for, in those days, carriages were few and roads 
 bad. Dressed in his home-made suit, and thus 
 curiously mounted, Daniel rode forth to seek his 
 fortune ; not in any knight-errant or erratic mood, 
 but with the fixed purpose of making the best use 
 of the advantages which the partiality of his 
 father had opened to him. The journey required 
 the greater part of three days — two nights being 
 
DANIEL VrEBSTEll. 51 
 
 spent upon the road. On the fourth day, the 
 father took his son to apply for admission into the 
 Academy. Fifty years ago there was much more 
 dignity preserved among official personages than 
 at present; and young Daniel, with a beating 
 heart, but still self-possessed, presented himself 
 for examination. Dr. Abbott handed him the 
 Bible, and requested him to read the twenty- 
 second chapter of the Gospel according to St. 
 Luke. 
 
 Probably no task could have been given in 
 which the lad of fourteen could have acquitted 
 himself to better advantage. He was familiar 
 with the book, and accustomed to read aloud. 
 With an accent and emphasis which evinced his 
 knowledge of what he read, and his ability to 
 convey the meaning to his hearers, Daniel read of 
 the treachery of Judas, the Last Supper, the 
 agony in Gethsemane, the betrayal of the Sa^dour, 
 the weakness of Peter, the Mock Trial before the 
 Council, and the other incidental themes of the 
 chapter. Daniel was in a strange place, and 
 before a different auditory from the travellers who 
 had so often listened to him. He had not the 
 assurance of the love and admiration of his 
 hearers, as Avhcn he went over the hke passages 
 
52 LIFE OF 
 
 at his father's fireside. But he concentrated his 
 mind on the subject-matter, and forgot all else in 
 its solemn meaning. Dr. Abbott listened with 
 admiration, and suffered him to proceed to the 
 end of the long chapter. He had never heard it 
 read better ; and when Daniel closed and returned 
 him the book, he simply said, without asking 
 another question, " Young man, you are qualified 
 to enter this institution." 
 
 Daniel remained only nine months at Exeter. 
 His first entrance was a sore trial ; for, notwith- 
 standing his innate consciousness of power, his 
 unfashionable wardrobe, his unpolished manners 
 and general rustic appearance, exposed him to the 
 derision of lads, who would now be forgotten but 
 for their accidental meeting as classmates with 
 Daniel Webster. A few days after entering the 
 institution he returned to his lodgings in great 
 despondency, and told his friends that the city 
 boys in the Academy were continually laughing 
 at him, because he w^as at the foot of the class, 
 and came from the back-woods. This petty social 
 tyranny, so common among boys, completely de- 
 pressed the future orator. In referring to his 
 school-days, Mr. Webster tells us : " I believe I 
 made tolerable progress in most branches which I 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 53 
 
 attended to while in this school, but there was one 
 thing I could not do — I could not make a decla- 
 mation ; I could not speak before the school. The 
 kind and excellent Buckminster sought especially 
 to persuade me to perform the exercise of decla- 
 mation, like other boys, but, notwithstanding, I 
 could not do it. Many a jpiece did I commit to 
 memory, and recite and rehearse in my own room, 
 over and over again ; yet, when the day came, 
 and the school collected to hear the declamations, 
 when my name was called, and I saw all eyes 
 turned to my seat, I could not raise myself from 
 it. Sometimes the instructors frowned; some- 
 times they smiled. Mr. Buckminster always 
 pressed and entreated, most winningly, that I 
 would venture, venture only once. But I never 
 could command sufficient resolution." It is stated 
 that Daniel was effectually discouraged when first 
 called upon. He became embarrassed, burst into 
 tears, and sat down. 
 
 Joseph Stevens Buckminster was one of the 
 tutors in the Academy ; Nicholas Emery was an- 
 other. Both these gentlemen, as well as Dr. 
 Abbott, discerned the rustic boy's talent ; and the 
 progress which he had made in his Latin recrea- 
 tions, in Mr. Thompson's office, stood him in good 
 
 5* 
 
64 LIFE OF 
 
 stead. Mr. Emery, who was made acquainted 
 with Daniel's difficulties and troubles with the 
 boys, treated him with marked kindness, by way 
 of encouragement. He urged him to pay no heed 
 to their taunts, but give his whole thoughts to his 
 books, and all would come out right. At the end 
 of the first quarter, Mr. Emery mustered his class 
 in a line, and formally took the arm of young 
 Webster, and conducted him to the head of the 
 class, saying at the same time that this was his 
 proper position. Cheered by this triumph, Daniel 
 applied himself with new diligence. After the 
 review at the end of the second quarter, when the 
 class was again mustered for the summing up, Mr. 
 Emery said, 
 
 " Daniel Webster, gather up your books, and 
 take down your cap." 
 
 Strangely puzzled to know what this could 
 mean, and fearing that he was to be expelled, the 
 lad silently obeyed. 
 
 "Now, sir, you will please report yourself to 
 the teacher of the first class ; and you, young 
 gentlemen, will take an affectionate leave of your 
 classmate, for you will never see him again." 
 
 Such was the mode in which he had distanced 
 those who had affected to despise him, and pre- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 55 
 
 sumed upon their better dress and fuller pockets, 
 to tease the backwoods boy. 
 
 It will be readily supposed that such progress, 
 and in so short a period, could only have been 
 accomplished by diligent study. The qualification 
 of young Webster for a schoolmaster was still the 
 leading object of his studies ; and Latin was pur- 
 sued as a secondary branch. The English branches, 
 such as would be needed for the instruction of a 
 country school, received his chief attention. Col. 
 Webster's limited means made it necessary that 
 this object should be pursued with the strictest 
 economy ; his whole estate being worth less than 
 three thousand dollars. To prosecute his studies 
 at a less expense, Daniel was removed from 
 Exeter, and placed in the family of the Rev. Dr. 
 Samuel Wood, of Boscawen, were board and 
 tuition were given him for one dollar per week. 
 
 But, in the interim between leaving Exeter and 
 going to Boscawen, young Daniel, now in his six- 
 teenth year, had an opportunity to show how far 
 his education to that date could be made available. 
 While he continued his own studies at home, a 
 class was collected for him to teach, few, if any, 
 being younger than he, and some of them his 
 seniors. He was found fully competent, and the 
 
56 LIFE OF 
 
 proceeds of this school no doubt were applied to 
 the relief of his father in bearing the expenses of 
 his education. Many a distinguished man in New 
 England has "worked his way" in the same mode; 
 and it has proved a most excellent preparation for 
 after life ; teaching them practically the cost and 
 the value of their education. 
 
 The impression which Daniel made upon Dr. 
 Abbottj at Exeter, was not lost, although he was 
 removed from that institution. Dr. Abbott was 
 an intimate friend of Dr. Wood, and they had an 
 interchange of opinions upon the rare talents 
 which the lad had exhibited. Dr. Wood was one 
 of the trustees of Dartmouth College, and it was 
 upon his earnest recommendation that Daniel 
 should be fitted for that institution, that his father 
 consented. Dr. Wood proposed to attend to the 
 preparatory studies of the lad; and it was this 
 which determined the farther progress of Daniel. 
 Up to this time the original purpose only had been 
 entertained — to educate a county schoolmaster. 
 Dr. Wood had experience and discrimination. He 
 resided in Boscawen, beloved and respected, over 
 half a century ; and, during that period, person- 
 ally instructed one hundred and fifty-five pupils in 
 his own house. Of these, one hundred and ^ye 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 57 
 
 entered college. About one-third of Dr. Wood's 
 pupils became clergymen, twenty took up the pro- 
 fession of the law, and a few graduated as physi- 
 cians. Among his pupils, Dr. Wood had the 
 honest pride to see many of the leading men of 
 New Hampshire, and some who have achieved a 
 national reputation. 
 
 While on his way to Boscawen with his father, 
 to take his place in the household of Dr. Wood,, 
 Daniel was first apprised of the conclusion vfhich 
 his father and his teachers had reached concerning 
 him. The old-fashioned mode of treating chil- 
 dren, — and we are inclined to think that the 
 modern is far from being in all respects an im- 
 provement, — kept the will and purposes of the 
 hoy in abeyance to the authority of the parents. 
 So, while Drs. Wood and Abbott had consulted 
 and advised, and Colonel Webster had consented, 
 Daniel's mind was undisturbed by any speculation 
 upon the future. 
 
 The advantages of a college education were 
 above the highest dreams of the lad. His emo- 
 tions, when the intention of his father were com- 
 municated to him, exceeded his power of expres- 
 sion. While he eagerly assented, and felt, to use 
 his own words, " as much exultation one moment 
 
58 LIFE OF 
 
 as ever was felt by a Eoman Consul, to whom a 
 triumph had been decreed/' m the next he was 
 unmanned by his feelings. "I remember," he 
 once said, " the very hill which we were ascending, 
 through deep snows, in a New England sleigh, 
 when my father made known this promise to me. 
 I could not speak. How could he, I thought, with 
 so large a family, and in such narrow circum- 
 stances, think of incurring so great an expense 
 for me ? A warm glow ran all over me, and I 
 laid my head on my father's shoulder and wept." 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 59 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Virgil and Cicero — Don Quixote — Grotius and Puffendorf — A 
 long Recitation — Daniel a poor Harvester — A new Impetus to 
 his Studies — Advantages of Education in the Olden Time — 
 The Journey to Hanover — The true blue Suit — Storm and Delay 
 — Arrival at Hanover — Making Toilet in Fast Colors — Manlv 
 Appearance, in Spite of Disadvantages — Daniel enters as Fresh- 
 man — His Habits while at Dartmouth — His Manner of Compo- 
 sition — Fondness for Out-door Exercise — Apostrophes to the Cod 
 and the Trout — Mr. Webster and the Farmer — Mr. Webster and 
 the Quails — His First Trout. 
 
 Daniel Webster did not commence his prepa- 
 ration for College like a lad who could go through 
 it as a routine duty, occupying the time of an 
 established course, and pursuing it at his leisure. 
 It was all important that he should reduce the 
 expense of his education, by shortening the time 
 employed in acquiring it. He entered Dr. Wood's 
 family at the beginning of March, 1797; and, in 
 August of the same year entered Dartmouth Col- 
 lege. The good use of his limited opportunities, 
 which he had already made, prepared him for this 
 
60 LIFE OF 
 
 very brief course. And yet, though Daniel 
 AVebster had the strongest inducements to exer- 
 tion, and possessed wonderful natural powers, we 
 are not to suppose that the preparation made in 
 so very short a period was anything like thorough. 
 Daniel had already some acquaintance with the 
 rudiments of the Latm language, and he had, 
 moreover, a fondness for it. He had neither time 
 nor money to expend on things not absolutely ne- 
 cessary, and his preparation in Greek was barely 
 sufficient to fulfil the requirements of the college, 
 upon admission. He gave only two months to 
 this language ; and this imperfect prejDaration he 
 always regretted. In college it was always a task 
 rather than an intellectual pleasure ; and, as lately 
 as the year before his death, he expressed his re- 
 gret that he had not j)ursued the Greek language, 
 till he could read and understand Demosthenes in 
 his own tongue. What Daniel Webster was com- 
 pelled to forego, by want of opportunity, should 
 not be neglected by those who have time and j 
 means. The deficiency that he acknowledged, 
 would be more apparent in a man of less natural 
 capacity. 
 
 The Latin language was his delight. He read 
 the entire -^neid as a pleasant occupation, long 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. Gl 
 
 before he was called to recite it, in the course of 
 instruction. When he entered the class of young 
 men who were preparing for college with Dr. 
 Wood, he found them reviewing Cicero's orations. 
 Daniel had never read them ; but he commenced, 
 and kept pace with his classmates ; and he has 
 been heard to say that no task was so easily ac- 
 complished by him as the reading of Cicero. Pro- 
 bably the "Social Library" had rendered him 
 familiar with the history and themes of the Latin 
 orator; and he could enter with understanding 
 into his thoughts, and apj)reciate his argument. 
 At Boscawen he found another " Social Library ; " 
 and in this he sought relaxation from his severer 
 studies. It was his rule to work with all his heart 
 and mind while at work, and when he sought 
 relief to abandon himself to it. At Boscawen he 
 met, for the first time, an English translation of 
 Don Quixote. Pie bears the same testimony to 
 the interest of this work, that other men of mind 
 have done. " I began to read it," he says, " and 
 it is literally true that I never closed my eyes 
 until I had finished it ; nor did I lay it down any 
 time for five minutes ; so great was the power of 
 this extraordinary book upon my imagination." 
 But his imagination was not alone consulted in 
 
 G 
 
62 LIFE OF 
 
 his leisure ; for, besides Virgil and Cicero, which 
 he read with his tutor, and other classics which 
 he looked over under the same direction, he read, 
 in the original, two large works of Grotius and 
 Puffendorf. 
 
 With Daniel Webster's residence at Dr. Wood's 
 an anecdote is connected, which implies a good 
 reproof of those who would neglect study for 
 amusement, and cite his example as their apology. 
 Mr. Webster had a very retentive memory, and 
 could, in a few moments, commit what it cost 
 others hours of labor to accomplish. This faculty 
 in memorising made him appear negligent, to the 
 superficial observer, who measured study by the 
 time occupied, rather than by the results obtained. 
 His favorite recreations were walks with his gun 
 and his rod. His precej^tor once hinted to him, 
 that the spending of so much time in rambling 
 might have an injurious influence upon the habits 
 of the other boys. He did not complain that his 
 task was neglected^ nor that he w^as unprepared 
 for his recitations. 
 
 The sensitive lad could not endure any suspi- 
 cion that he neglected his duties. He applied 
 himself instantly to Virgil, and spent the entire 
 night at his self-imposed task. The next morning 
 
DANIEL "WEBSTER. 63 
 
 he read his hundred hues without tripping or 
 mistake. Dr. Wood expressed his approbation, 
 and prepared to leave, as he had an engagement, 
 of which, by the way, Daniel was aware. " I can 
 recite a few more lines," said the lad. " Well, let 
 us have them," said the Doctor ; and a hundred 
 more were read. Breakfast was repeatedly an- 
 nounced, and the Doctor, impatient to go, asked 
 how much farther he could read. " To the end 
 of the Twelfth Book," was the reply. The Doctor 
 complimented him upon his recitation, but begged 
 to be excused from so long a session. " You may 
 have the whole day, Dan, for pigeon-shooting," 
 said his tutor, when retiring. But the conscien- 
 tious lad never gave the Doctor an opportunity to 
 reprove him again, and avoided even the appear- 
 ance of neglect, by strictly keeping his study 
 hours. 
 
 While Daniel was studying with Dr. Wood, his 
 father sent for him to come home, and assist for a 
 few days in harvesting. He packed up his bundle 
 of clothes and answered the summons. On the 
 next morning he went to work in the fields, while 
 the father visited a neighboring town upon busi- 
 ness. His slender limbs proved unequal to the 
 labor, in which he probably over-exerted himself. 
 
64 LIFE OF 
 
 and he returned to the house before noon with 
 bhstered hands. His mother readily excused him 
 from farther labor. An hour after dinner, ho^v- 
 ever, found Daniel so much refreshed, that he put 
 the old family horse in harness, and, placing his 
 sisters in a wagon, drove to a famous hill, where 
 he, boy-like, worked harder in running than he 
 could have done in the hay-field. His father 
 laughed upon hearing from Daniel and his mother 
 the report of the day's work; and the next 
 morning handed Daniel his bundle of clothes, and, 
 with a smile, pointed towards Boscawen. The boy 
 walked off, and, as he left the house, his old 
 friend, Thompson, asked, " Where, now^, Dan ?" 
 " Back to school, sir," said the boy. " I thought 
 it would be so," said the other, with a quiet laugh : 
 and the boy walked back to his preceptor. Dr. 
 Wood, who had probably regretted the harvest 
 excursion as lost time, received him with a cordial 
 greeting, and told him that, with hard study, he 
 might enter Dartmouth College at the next com- 
 mencement. At this time Daniel did not even 
 know the Greek Alphabet ; but, with the encou- 
 ragement of his tutor, and characteristic energy, 
 he applied himself to the work, and accomplished 
 it. His father had told him that he should go to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 65 
 
 college, "if he was compelled to sell every acre 
 of land to pay the exj^ense." 
 
 Daniel appreciated the sacrifice, and looked for- 
 ward with high expectations to the privilege. 
 Now, by the increase of opportunities, and the 
 high improvement, in cities and large towns espe- 
 cially, of public schools, education has become a 
 far different matter. There is much less differ- 
 ence, now, between the acquirements of the colle- 
 gian and the information of those who have not 
 the privilege of academic education, than there 
 was in the days of Daniel's boyhood. From the 
 common school to the college was a long remove. 
 The college graduate was a man distinctly marked, 
 because few lads commenced such higher branches 
 as are now included in our pubhc-school courses, 
 except with a view to enter the learned professions. 
 Edward Everett, in his Memoir of Webster, has 
 the following remarks upon the subject : 
 
 " In truth, a college education was a far different 
 affah' fifty years ago from what it has since 
 become, by the multiplication of collegiate insti- 
 tutions, and the establishment of public funds in 
 aid of those who need assistance. It constituted 
 a person at once a member of an intellectual aris- 
 tocracy. In many cases it really conferred quali- 
 
 6-^ 
 
66 LIFE OF 
 
 fications, and in all was supposed to do so, without 
 which professional and public life could not be 
 entered upon with any hope of success. In New 
 England, at that time, it was not a common occur- 
 rence that any one attained a respectable position 
 in either of the professions, without this advantage. 
 In selecting the members of the family who should 
 enjoy the privilege, the choice not unfrequently 
 fell upon the son whose slender frame and early 
 indications of disease, unfitted him for the la- 
 borious life of our New England yeomanry. 
 
 While Daniel Webster was prejDaring to enter 
 college, his friend. Dr. Wood, who was a Trustee 
 of Dartmouth, was preparing the Faculty to re- 
 ceive him. The Doctor went to them personally 
 to recommend Daniel, " not so much for what he 
 had learned, as for what" he told them, " he could 
 learn, if he had an opportunity." Mr. Thompson 
 was also a member of the Board of Trustees, and 
 their joint influence, with that of Dr. Abbott, and 
 the respect in which Mr. Webster's father was 
 held, procured the application of the young man 
 a respectful consideration, and predisposed his 
 examiners to be lenient. 
 
 It is noticeable how much the self-reliance of 
 Daniel Webster had been increased by success, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. G7 
 
 and by the knowledge of what he could effect if 
 he bent his energies to the work. He saw the 
 young gentlemen at Dr. Wood's, who were to enter 
 with him at college, fully prepared, and leisurely 
 reviewing the books which he was first reading, 
 with all the disadvantages of haste and want of 
 time. Nevertheless, he persevered in his original 
 intention. 
 
 The incidents of his journey to Dartmouth are 
 among the most interesting passages of his boy 
 life; and we dwell upon such, because it is for 
 youth we are writing. The details of the events 
 of the manhood of such men as Webster cannot 
 be compressed within our space. And, in the 
 larger and more elaborate works, which are de- 
 voted to the public life and ser^dces of statesmen, 
 the particulars which we seek to preserve are 
 passed over. 
 
 Daniel Webster's first Dartmouth suit was true 
 blue, domestic manufacture, coat, vest, and panta- 
 loons. The writer of this memoir remembers that 
 homespun manufacture well — literally redolent of 
 the substances which gave it its hue, — stealing 
 and giving color as well as odors, for, where the 
 perspiration oozed from the skin, the colors struck 
 in. Those, as we have already remarked, were 
 
68 LIFE OF 
 
 not the days of public conveyances. Daniel set 
 out from home on horseback, his books and ward- 
 robe packed in saddle-bags. Hardly had he left 
 the house when a furious storm burst upon the 
 traveller. It continued two days, and swelled the 
 mountain streams, which he had to pass, to tor- 
 rents, washing roads, and carrying away bridges. 
 The delays which this inopportune tempest caused^ 
 protracted his journey, and, on his arrival, he had 
 no time to lose. The Faculty was in session for 
 the examination of candidates, and his presence 
 was required immediately. 
 
 Professor Shurtleff, now one of the Faculty of 
 Amherst College, entered the institution at the 
 same time, as a student. He says : " I put up, 
 with others, at what is now called the Olcott 
 Plouse, which was then a tavern. We were con- 
 ducted to a chamber where we might brush our 
 clothes, and make ready for examination. A 
 young man, a stranger to us all, was soon ushered 
 into the room. Similarity of object rendered the 
 ordinary forms of introduction needless. We 
 learned that his name was Webster; also where 
 he had studied, and how much Latin and Greek 
 he had read, which, I think, was just to the limit 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. G9 
 
 prescribed by the law at that period, and which 
 was very much below the present requisition. 
 
 Daniel found, on attempting his toilet, that the 
 fast colors of his new suit were fast in discharging 
 from their proper place, and no less fast in adhering 
 where they were not desired. He was blue 
 throughout — linen and skin, and all. He improved 
 his phght as well as he could, but after all his 
 efforts, he says of himself, that he was not only 
 " Uach Dan, but hlue Dan." He stated what op- 
 portunities he had had, what time he had spent 
 in preparation, and what books he had read, and 
 recounted his wayside disaster. " Thus, you see 
 me," he said, " as I am ; if not entitled «to your 
 approbation, at least to your sympathy." The 
 diffident boy among boys, could hold up his head 
 before men. He answered the questions addressed 
 to him without embarrassment, and with full pos- 
 session and command of his resources. Like many 
 other lads of nervous sensibility, he found what 
 he had feared as a fiery ordeal, a much less severe 
 trial than he expected, and was entered as a 
 Freshman at Dartmouth College. 
 
 Hon. John Wheelock, LL. D., w^as President 
 of Dartmouth College at the time of Mr. Webster's 
 entrance. Hon. Bezaleel Woodward, and Rev. 
 
70 LIFE OF 
 
 John Smith, D. D., were among the Professors. 
 These gentlemen, and particularly the latter, were 
 so much impressed with his character and talents, , 
 that his Dartmouth experience proved a good re- 
 commendation to his further progress, as we shall 
 presently see. Professor ShurtlefF, whom we have 
 already quoted, thus bears testimony to Mr. Web- 
 ster's habits while at Dartmouth : 
 
 " Mr. Webster, while in college, was remarkable 
 for his steady habits, his intense application to 
 study, and his punctual attendance upon all the 
 prescribed exercises. I know not that he was ab- 
 sent from a recitation, or from morning and evening 
 prayeri in the chapel, or from public worship on 
 the Sabbath ; and I doubt if ever a smile was seen 
 upon his face during any religious exercise. He 
 was always in his place, and with a decorum 
 suited to it. He had no collision with any one, 
 nor appeared to enter into the concerns of others, 
 but emphatically minded his own business. But, 
 as steady as the sun, he pursued with intense ap- 
 plication the great object for which he came to 
 college. This, I conceive, was the secret of his 
 popularity in college, and his success in subsequent 
 life." 
 
 Another authoritj^, the writer of a paper in 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 71 
 
 Putnam's Monthly, speaks as follows respecting 
 Mr. Webster's career in college : " It has been so 
 commonly reported about our colleges that Web- 
 ster was not a laborious student, that many gen- 
 tlemen who have written eulogies upon the illus- 
 trious statesman and orator, have felt bound to 
 apologize for him as a scholar. This is all wrong. 
 His early life was as strongly characterized by 
 those homely virtues, industry, perseverance, and 
 punctuality, as his later career. It may safely be 
 questioned whether any undergraduate of any of 
 our New England CoUeiies ever left behind him 
 so many written and printed proofs of his talents 
 and application, as Mr. Webster. He always 
 scorned the imputation of idleness. When in- 
 formed that such a tradition prevailed among stu- 
 dents, he exclaimed, ' What fools they must be, to 
 suppose that a man could make anything of him- 
 self without hard study !' He regarded every hour 
 of his student life as sacred to study and reflection ; 
 that his first object was a thorough mastery of his 
 daily tasks, and his next purpose was, to store his 
 mind with useful knowledge. His solitary wan- 
 derings were devoted to reflection, and frequently 
 to the composition of his themes ; his social inter- 
 
72 LIFE OF 
 
 course was always rendered profitable by literary 
 conversation." 
 
 The classmates of Mr. Webster, quoted by the 
 last-mentioned writer, thus speak of his college 
 life : " His habits were good. He had the highest 
 sense of honor and integrity. He was sure to 
 understand the subject of his recitation; some- 
 times, I used to think, in a more extended and 
 comprehensive sense than his teacher. He never 
 liked to be confined to small technicalities or 
 narrow views, but seemed to j)ossess an intuitive 
 knowledge of whatever subject he was considering. 
 He did not find it necessary, as was the case with 
 most of us, to sit down to hard work three or four 
 hours, to make himself master of his lesson, but 
 seemed to comprehend it in a larger view, and 
 would, sometimes, procure other books on the 
 same subject, for further examination, and employ 
 hours in close thought, either in his room or in his 
 walks, which would enlarge his views, and, at the 
 same time, might, with some, give him the char 
 racter of not being a close student. 
 
 " His great powers of memory he turned to good 
 account, both in retaining the thoughts of others, 
 and in fixing the results of his own reflections. 
 He was accustomed to arrange his thoughts for 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 73 
 
 debates and declamations in his solitary rambles 
 upon the borders of neighboring brooks, angling 
 for trout, or scouring the surrounding forests in 
 quest of game. When his tlioughts were once 
 arranged in his mind, the busmess of writing was 
 merely mechanical. Amusement and study were 
 so strangely wedded, that careless observers mis- 
 took the profound thinker for a heedless trifier. 
 He comj^osed his college themes at his leisure, and 
 icrote them just before they were due. Accord- 
 ingly, he was often knowai to commence the 
 writing of a public declamation after dinner, 
 which he was to s^Dcak at two o'clock the same 
 day. The New Hampshire hour for dinner, fifty 
 years ago, as it still is in many rural districts, was 
 meridian. In one instance, while writing, a sudden 
 flaw of wind took away his paper through the 
 open window, and it was last seen flying over the 
 meeting-house. He appeared upon the stage, not- 
 withstanding his loss, and spoke with his usual 
 fluency and eloquence. 
 
 General Lyman records a conversation with a 
 lady who resided in Hanover when Mr. Webster 
 was at Dartmouth. She was somewhat younger 
 than he, and, among the memories of her girlhood, 
 are recollections of Daniel Webster, of whom her 
 
 7 
 
74 LIFE OF 
 
 brother was a classmate. She says that Mr. 
 Webster was of slight form, and had the appear- 
 ance of a person of feeble constitution. He was 
 a brunette in complexion ; his hair was black as 
 jet, and, when turned back, displayed a forehead 
 which always excited great admiration. His dark 
 eyes shone w^ith extraordmary brilliancy. In his 
 youth, among other soubriquets, Mr. Webster had 
 that of " All Eyes." With this delicacy of consti- 
 tution, we may readily suppose that the out-door 
 recreations, invigorating yet not violent, in w^hich 
 Mr. Webster indulged, were as necessary to the 
 health of his body as to the strength of his mind. 
 Probably, to them, and to his habit of early rising, 
 and devoting the morning to study, Mr. Webster 
 owed that renovation of his physical strength, 
 which made him in after years as remarkable for 
 his iron constitution, as in youth he had been for 
 an opposite appearance. He was quite an adroit 
 sw^immer and skater, and a very good marksman. 
 In the pursuit of anything he was an enthusiast. 
 The brooks on his father's farm were, in those 
 early days, famous for trout, and young Daniel 
 knew all their haunts and habits. With his 
 fishing-rods, cut from the bushes, and his horse- 
 hair lines, of his own manufacture, he was ready, 
 
WEBSTER FISHING AT FRYBURG. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 75 
 
 at every proper moment of leisure, while at home, 
 in college, and even to the last days of his life, to 
 follow the streams, and take the fish which can 
 only be captured by skill and patience. 
 
 By the side of the brook many of his college 
 themes w^ere composed. In the solitude of the 
 forest, or the trout run, he arranged his legal argu- 
 ments. On the day preceding that on which he 
 was to deliver the address of welcome to General 
 Lafayette, in Boston, in 1825, Mr. Webster was 
 out rod-fishing in his yacht. The sport was not 
 good, and the party were about giving it uj) in 
 despair, when Mr. Webster hooked a large cod, 
 and, just as its nose appeared above water, he ex- 
 claimed, in a loud and pompous voice, " Welcome ! 
 all hail ! and thrice welcome, citizen of two hemi- 
 spheres ! " We may imagine the amazement of 
 the party when, on the next day, they heard these 
 words addressed to the nation's guest. Such inci- 
 dents exhibit what his thoughts were occupied 
 with, even during his apparent abandonment to 
 amusement. 
 
 Another anecdote, of a similar nature, is related 
 respecting Mr. Webster's composition of his famous 
 address, delivered on Bunker Hill. It was arranged 
 in his mind, and studied by the side of Marshpee 
 
76 LIFE OF 
 
 Brook, fishing-rod in hand. As he landed in 
 quick succession a couple of huge trout, and trans- 
 ferred them to his basket, he thus apostrophized 
 them, " Venerable men ! you have come down to 
 us from a former generation. Heaven has boun- 
 teously lengthened out your lives, that you might 
 behold this joyous day." .Stern and thoughtful 
 as Mr. Webster appeared in public, he had a high 
 zest for humor; and, that the above sentence, 
 which occurs in his speech, should have been first 
 addressed to the fishes, while his mind was occu- 
 pied with it, is perfectly in character wdth his 
 playfulness in private life. He very much en- 
 joyed a harmless joke, even when he was the 
 subject of it, and used to relate the following with 
 great glee : 
 
 He wxnt from Marshfield, some years since, on 
 a trouting expedition to Sandwich. Coming to a 
 fine stream, he stepped from his wagon, and 
 meeting the owner of the farm, the usual saluta- 
 tions passed. Mr. Webster inquired if there were 
 any trout in the stream. 
 
 " Well," said the farmer, " some people fish here, 
 but I don't know what they do get." 
 
 " I '11 throw my line in," said Mr. Webster, " and 
 see what there is." 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 77 
 
 Mr. Webster ^Yalked the banks of the stream, 
 trying his kick, and the old farmer followed him. 
 Mr. Webster soon remarked, 
 
 " You have some bog on your farm." 
 
 ^^ Yes," rejoined the farmer, '^ and that ain't the 
 worst of it." 
 
 Mr. Webster still continued to throw his line 
 into the deep pools. After a silence of a few 
 moments, he said, 
 
 " You have plenty of briars here." 
 
 " Yes," said the farmer, " and that ain't the worst 
 of it." 
 
 Mr. Webster began to get somewhat discouraged. 
 To be sweltering in the heat of an August day, 
 bitten by mosquitoes, scratched by briars, and yet 
 not be able to raise a single fish, was too much for 
 his patience — dropping his rod, he remarked, 
 
 " I do not beheve there are any trout here." 
 
 "And that ain't the worst of it," reiterated the 
 farmer. 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Webster, " I would like to 
 know what tlie worst of it is ? " 
 
 " There never was any here^^ replied the waggish 
 farmer. 
 
 While Mr. Webster, in 1851, was engrossed 
 with the affairs of the nation, as Secretary of 
 
78 LIFE OF 
 
 State, he was almost in the daily habit of fishing 
 at the Uttle Falls of the Potomac. His only and 
 constant attendant on these occasions was his 
 Private Secretary, Mr. Lanman, whom he called 
 for the purpose at the early hour of four, in the 
 morning. He was pleased if he caught a few 
 rock-fish or bass, and quite contented if he caught 
 nothing ; for he enjoyed the fresh air and exer- 
 cise, and returned from the fishing-ground before 
 the public offices were opened. Air and exercise 
 were his mental stimulus. He had no boyish 
 fondness for taking the lives of animals, and never 
 hesitated to reprove those who had this weakness. 
 Mr. Lanman relates that, while he was walking 
 with Mr. Webster one morning, at Marshfield, 
 they were joined by a Boston gentleman. A flock 
 of quails ran across the road, and the stranger 
 worked himself up into an intense excitement, 
 and exclaimed, " Oh ! if I only had a gun, I could 
 easily kill the Vv^iole flock ; have you not one in 
 your house, Mr. Webster ?" Mr. Webster calmly 
 replied that he had a number of guns, but that no 
 man whatsoever was ever permitted to kill a 
 quail or any other bird, a rabbit or a squirrel, on 
 his property. He then proceeded to comment on 
 the slaughtering propensities of the American 
 
D A X I E L WEBSTER. 79 
 
 people, remarking that, in this country, there was 
 an almost universal passion for killing and eating 
 every wild animal that chanced to cross the path- 
 way of man ; while in England and other portions 
 of Europe, these animals were kindly protected 
 and valued for their companionship. " This, to 
 1 me, is a great mystery," said he, " and, so far as 
 my influence extends, the birds shall be protected." 
 Just at this moment one of the quails mounted a 
 little knoll and poured forth a few of its sweet 
 and peculiar notes. Mr. Webster continued, 
 " There, does not that gush of song do the heart 
 a thousandfold more good than could possibly be 
 derived from the death of that beautiful bird ?" 
 The stranger thanked Mr. Webster for his reproof, 
 and said afterward that this little incident had 
 taught him to love the man whom he had before 
 only admired as a statesman. 
 
 Having gone before the course of our narrative, 
 to insert in this place anecdotes of the latter part 
 of Mr. Webster's life, we may correct the error by 
 going back to his early childhood, and showing 
 who taught him to fish. While a bare-footed boy, 
 in his fifth year, he was riding with his father 
 upon the same horse. " Dan !" said the Colonel, 
 " how would you like to catch a trout ?" Of course 
 
/ 
 
 80 LIFE OF 
 
 the lad could not but like such an achievement. 
 They dismounted, and the father cut a hazel-twig, 
 to which he affixed a hook and line, which he 
 produced from his pocket. Turning over a flat 
 stone, he found a worm for bait, and told his son 
 to creep upon a rock, and carefully throw it to the 
 further side of a deep pool. The boy did as he 
 was bidden, hooked a fish, lost his balance, and 
 fell into the water ; whence he was drawn ashore 
 by his father, still clinging to his end of the line, 
 while the fish was fast to the other. And that 
 was the way Daniel Webster's first trout was 
 landed. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 81 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Studies of the first two Years at Dartmouth — Young Webster a 
 Schoolmaster in the Vacations — His Fondness for a Scholar's 
 Life — His desire that his Brother Ezekiel should share his Pur- 
 suits — Dijfficulties in the AVay — The Young Men pass a Night 
 in considering them — Lnportance of Ezekiel's aid to his Father 
 — Daniel introduces the Subject to the Old Gentleman — The 
 Mother called in to advise — Her prompt Decision — Ezekiel enters 
 upon a Course of Preparation, and Daniel returns to College — 
 Change in his Costume — His Attention, through Life, to Personal 
 Neatness — Third Year in College — Mr. Webster takes high 
 Hank — Fourth of July Oration in 1800 — Anecdote of General 
 Stark. 
 
 During the first year at college, Mr, Webster's 
 studies were the Greek and Latin languages, the 
 rules for speaking and composition, and the ele- 
 ments of mathematics. In the second year new 
 books were taken in these languages, and logic and 
 the higher branches of mathematics were added. 
 Greek and mathematics were not studies in which 
 his mind was interested. Logic, rhetoric, and the 
 belles-lettres, history, biography and poetry were 
 his delight. In geography, ancient and modern, 
 
/ 
 
 82 LIFE OF 
 
 he was a proficient. In the Latin language he 
 was, from the first, at home. The dictionary and 
 grammar were impressed on his memory, and he 
 read the Latin classics as a recreation, and not as 
 a task. " If," he says, " at this early stage I had 
 a desire for the future, it was to write as Yirgil 
 and Tacitus wrote, and to speak as Cicero spoke." 
 But, though a good scholar, he did not rank as the 
 best during his first years in college. Nor was it 
 to be wondered that he could not, under his disad- 
 vantages, rank with those who had entered with 
 everything in their favor. 
 
 We have mentioned Mr. Webster's first attempt 
 at school-teaching, in 1797. In 1798 he again 
 taught in his college vacation. A new school- 
 house had been erected in Salisbury, at " Shaw's 
 Corner ; " and Mr. Webster received for his second 
 attempt — having gained one year in age, and more 
 in experience — six dollars a month. During his 
 first term of teaching, his salary was only four 
 dollars. Many of the district schools in New 
 England are thus taught by students ; but, during 
 the last fifty years, the salary has advanced from 
 this low standard, which was the rule when the 
 student preparing for college was required to pay 
 only one dollar per week for board and tuition. 
 
% 
 
 D A N I E L W E B S T E R . 83 
 
 At the end of Daiiiers second year he spent a 
 vacation at home. With advancement in his 
 colleofe course, and additional attention bestowed 
 upon English literature, Mr. Webster was more in 
 his element. Having reached a breathing-place 
 in his progress, he began to feel more sensibly the 
 happiness he enjoyed. Professor Sanborn thus 
 narrates one of the most honorable passages in 
 Daniel Webster's hfe : " He had tasted the sweets 
 of literature, and enjoyed the victories of intel- 
 lectual eflbrt. He loved the scholar's life. He 
 felt keenly for the condition of his brother Ezekiel, 
 who was destined to remain on the farm, and 
 labor to lift the mortgage from the old homestead, 
 and furnish the means for his brother's support. 
 Ezekiel was a farmer, in spirit and in practice. 
 He led his laborers in the field, as he afterwards 
 led his class in Greek. Daniel knew and appre- 
 ciated his superior intellectual endowments. He 
 resolved that his brother should enjoy the same 
 privileges as himself. 
 
 " That night the two brothers retired to bed, 
 but not to sleep. They discoursed of their pros- 
 pects. Daniel utterly refused to enjoy the fruit 
 of his brother's labor any longer. They were 
 united in sjnnpathy and affections, and they must 
 
84 LIFE OF 
 
 be united in their pursuits. But how could they 
 leave their beloved parents, in age and solitude, 
 with no protector ? They talked and wept, and 
 wept and talked till dawn of day. They dared 
 not broach the matter to their father. Finally 
 Daniel resolved to be the orator upon the occasion. 
 Judge Webster was then somewhat burdened with 
 debts. He was advanced in age, and had set his 
 heart upon having Ezekiel as his helper. The 
 very thought of separation from both his sons was 
 painful to him. When the proposition was made, 
 he felt as did the Patriarch of old, when he ex- 
 claimed, 'Joseph is not, and will ye take Benjamin 
 away ? ' 
 
 "A family council was called. The mother's 
 opinion was asked. She was a noble-minded 
 woman. She was not blind to the superior en- 
 dowments of her sons. With all a mother's par- 
 tiality, however, she did not over-estimate their 
 powers. She decided the matter at once. Her 
 reply was, ' I have lived long in the world, and 
 been happy in my children. If Daniel and 
 Ezekiel will promise to take care of me in my old 
 age, I will consent to the sale of all our property, 
 at once, and they may enjoy the benefit of all that 
 remains after our debts are paid.' This was a 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 85 
 
 moment of intense interest to all the parties. 
 Parents and children all mingled their tears to- 
 gether, and sobbed aloud at the thought of sepa- 
 ration. The father yielded to the entreaties of 
 his sons and the advice of his wife. Daniel re- 
 turned to college ; Ezekiel took his little bundle 
 in his hand, and sought on foot the scene of his 
 preparatory studies. He resided, like his brother 
 Daniel, at Boscawen, with Dr. Wood, and in one 
 year went through his preparatory studies, entering 
 at Dartmouth in 1803. 
 
 Young Webster's dress and appearance upon 
 entering college we have already described. The 
 accomplishment of his wishes and hopes respecting 
 his brother opened a new era in his feelings. He 
 was more elastic in spirits. Deeming nothing a 
 trifle which affected the estimation in which others 
 held him, and thence reflected disagreeably upon 
 himself, he introduced a change in his costume. 
 He remembered the mortification to which he was 
 exposed at Exeter, and, after the commencement 
 of his junior year, dressed better than the average 
 of his class — but not foppishly. Throughout his 
 life Mr. Webster paid strict attention to the pro- 
 prieties of costume. He considered it a duty to 
 be so prepared in all particulars, that those with 
 
 8 
 
86 LIFE OF 
 
 whom he was to converse, or the audience whicli 
 he was expected to address, should perceive thai 
 he entertained a proper respect for them. He 
 paid strict attention to the lesser as well as more 
 important requirements of etiquette, and wa& 
 always dressed in a becoming manner. His favo- 
 rite and almost uniform costume for the Senate, 
 the Bar, or public meetings, was a blue coat with 
 gilt buttons, a buff-colored vest, and black panta- 
 loons. We mention these matters here, because | 
 the hint for his attention to them appears to have- 
 been taken by him from his early school expe 
 riences ; and because, while foppishness is ridicu-: 
 lous, and expensive clothing is not desirable oi 
 necessary, cleanliness of person, and a proper re- 
 gard to the customs of society, are due to ever^ 
 man's regard for health, and his respect for his 
 friends. f 
 
 In the third year of his college course, besidesj 
 the lano:ua<]fes, Daniel read Natural and Moral 
 Philosophy, and Rhetoric. "Watts on the Mind'i 
 and " Locke on the Conduct of the Understand- 
 ing," which were not in the regular college course, 
 he committed to memorj^ Besides regular atten- 
 tion to his prescribed studies, he improved the 
 opportunity of his enlarged access to books, tc 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 87 
 
 read whatever was useful or graceful in English 
 literature. As a classical and belles-lettres scholar 
 (Greek always excepted), as a writer, and as a 
 debater, he ranked first in his class. One of his 
 classmates thus speaks of him : " The truth is, 
 that by his thorough investigation of every sub- 
 ject and every study, whilst in college, he rose to 
 the very pinnacle of fame ; and, since he has left 
 college, all that he has had to do was to sustain 
 his elevated position ; and all his classmates have 
 been compelled to look up high to see him, which 
 I have always been proud to do." 
 
 In the year 1800, Daniel being then eighteen 
 years old, his friends and admirers, in college and 
 out, united in a pressing invitation to him to de- 
 liver to the citizens of Hanover an oration on the 
 Fourth of July. So much were the people pleased 
 with it, that they requested a copy for publication, 
 and it was printed. The edition of Daniel "Web- 
 ster's works, published under his eye, does not 
 contain it. Undoubtedly he regarded it as too 
 crude and boyish to be included among his more 
 mature writings. Perhaps — and very probably — 
 he had not reserved a copy, and had nearly for- 
 gotten it. It was not among the subjects of which 
 he most delimited to converse. Delivered over 
 
88 LIFE OF 
 
 half a century ago, while the wounds of the Re- 
 volution were yet fresh, it has a haughty bitterness 
 towards Britain which we do not find in Mr. 
 Webster's later speeches. Daniel's father was an 
 earnest Federalist — so much so, that it is related 
 of him, that being taken sick on a journey while 
 passing through a village noted for its opposite 
 political character, he begged his physician to 
 remove him as soon as possible out of the place. 
 " He was born," he said, " a Federalist, had lived 
 a Federalist, and could not die in any but a Fede- 
 rahst town !" Young Daniel's allusion to France, 
 and his commendation of the course of the then 
 Executive of the United States, the elder Adams, 
 show that the young man shared in the political 
 feelings of his father. Whatever reasons may 
 have operated with the editors of Mr. Webster's 
 speeches, to reject this in teres tmg memorial of his 
 youth, its insertion comes strictly within our place. 
 It was the first strictly public performance of the 
 young man ; and, making all proper allowances 
 for the circumstances which we have noted, it is 
 not at all unworthy of his fame. It was but re- 
 cently rescued from oblivion by General Lyman ; 
 and we present it entire, that our young readers 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 89 
 
 may compare it with the great orator's later 
 speeches, and draw their own conchisions. 
 
 The oration was preceded by the usual forms, 
 the ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and marching 
 in procession. Prayer, an anthem, and the reading 
 of the Declaration of Independence, opened the 
 exercises. Those celebrations of the Fourth in 
 country towns were great affairs, even thirty years 
 ago. As the nation grows older, if it loses some 
 of the extravagance and boasting spirit of its 
 youth, we fear that it loses also something of the 
 sentiment of patriotism, and fervency of natural 
 love and veneration for its great men. Daniel, of 
 course, did himself justice in the delivery ; and 
 we may well imagine that his performance pro- 
 duced a great sensation. The pamphlet copy of 
 it bears on the title-page the following motto, from 
 Addison : 
 
 ^' Do thou, great Liberty, inspire our souls, 
 And make our lives, in thy possession, happy, 
 Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence.'' 
 
 " Countrymen, Brethren, and Fathers : 
 
 " We are now assembled to celebrate an anni- 
 versary, ever to be held in dear remembrance by 
 
 8* 
 
90 LIFE OF 
 
 the sons of Freedom. Nothing less than the birth 
 of a nation — nothing less than the emancipation 
 of three millions of people from the degrading 
 chains of foreign dominion, is the event we com- 
 memorate. 
 
 " Twenty-four years have now elapsed since 
 these United States first raised the standard of 
 Liberty, and echoed the shouts of Independence. 
 
 '' Those of you who were then reaping the iron 
 harvest of the martial field, whose bosoms then 
 palpitated for the honor of America, will, at this 
 time, experience a renewal of all that fervent 
 patriotism ; of all those inscrutable emotions which 
 then agitated your breasts. As for us, who were 
 either then unborn, or not far enough advanced 
 beyond the threshold of existence, to engage in 
 the grand conflict for Liberty, we now most cor- 
 dially unite with you, to greet the return of this 
 joyous anniversary, to welcome the return of the 
 day which gave us Freedom, and to hail the rising 
 glories of our country ! 
 
 " On occasions like this, you have hitherto been 
 addressed from the stage, on the nature, the origin, 
 and the expediency of civil government. The 
 field of political speculation has been explored, by 
 persons possessing talents to which the speaker of 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 91 
 
 the day can have no pretensions. Declming 
 therefore a dissertation on the principles of civil 
 polity, you will indulge me in slightly sketching 
 those events which have originated, nurtured, and 
 raised to its present grandeur, this new republic. 
 
 "As no nation on the globe can rival us in the 
 rapidity of our growth since the conclusion of the 
 Revolutionary War, so none, perhaps, ever en- 
 dured greater hardships and distresses than the 
 people of this country previous to that period. 
 We behold a feeble band of colonists, engaged in 
 the arduous undertaking of a new settlement in 
 the wilds of North America. Their civil liberty 
 being mutilated, and the enjoyment of their reli- 
 dous sentiments denied them in the land that 
 gave them birth, they fled their country, they 
 braved the dangers of the then almost unnavi- 
 gated ocean, and sought, on the other side of the 
 globe, an asylum from the iron grasp of tyranny, 
 and the more intolerable scourge of ecclesiastical 
 persecution. 
 
 "But gloomy indeed was the prospect when 
 they arrived on this side of the Atlantic. Scat- 
 tered in detachments along a coast immensely 
 extensive, at a distance of more than three thou- 
 sand miles from their friends on the Eastern Con- 
 
92 LIFE OF 
 
 tinent, they were exposed to all those evils, and 
 encountered or experienced all those difficulties to 
 which human nature seemed liable. Destitute of 
 convenient habitations, the inclemencies of the 
 seasons harassed them, the midnight beasts of 
 prey prowled terribly around them, and the more 
 portentous yell of savage fury incessantly assailed 
 them. But the same undiminished confidence in 
 the Almighty God which prompted the first settlers 
 of this country to forsake the unfriendly climes 
 of Europe, still supported them under all their 
 calamities, and inspired them with fortitude almost 
 divine. Having a glorious issue of their labors 
 now in prospect, they cheerfully endured the rigors 
 of the climate, pursued the savage beast in his 
 remotest haunt, and stood, undismayed, in the 
 dismal hour of Indian battle. 
 
 " Scarcely were the Indian settlements freed 
 from those dangers which at first environed them, 
 ere the clashing interests of France and Britain 
 involved them anew in war. The Colonists were 
 now destined to combat with well-appointed, well- 
 disciplined troops from Europe ; and the horrors 
 of the tomahawk and the scalping-knife were 
 again renewed. But these frowns of fortune, dis- 
 tressing as they were, had been met without a 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 9 
 
 o 
 
 sigh, and endured without a groan, had not Great 
 Britain presumptuously arrogated to herself the 
 glory of the victories achieved by American 
 militia. Louisburg must be taken, Canada at- 
 tacked, and a frontier of more than one thousand 
 miles defended by untutored yeomanry, while the 
 honor of every conquest must be ascribed to an 
 English army. 
 
 "But while England was thus tyrannically 
 stripping her colonies of their w^ell-earned laurels, 
 and triumphantly weaving them into the stupen- 
 dous wreath of her own martial glories, she was 
 unwittingly teaching them to value themselves, 
 and eiFectually to resist, on a future day, her un- 
 just encroachments. 
 
 " The pitiful tale of taxation now commences — 
 the unhappy quarrel which resulted in the dis- 
 memberment of the British Empire has here its 
 origin. England, now triumphant over the united 
 powers of France and Spain, is determined to re- 
 duce to the condition of slaves her American 
 subjects. 
 
 "We might now display the Legislatures of the 
 several States, together w^tli the general Congress, 
 petitioning, praying, remonstrating, and, like duti- 
 ful subjects, humbly laying their grievances before 
 
94 LIFE OF 
 
 the throne. On the other hand v/e could exhibit 
 a British Parhament, assiduously devising means 
 to subjugate America; disdaining our petitions; 
 trampling on our rights ; and menacingly telling 
 us, in language not to be misunderstood, ' Ye shall 
 he slaves ! ' We could mention the haughty, ty- 
 rannical, perfidious Gage, at the head of a standing 
 army ; we could show our brethren, attacked and 
 slaughtered at Lexington ; our property plundered 
 and destroyed at Concord ! Recollections can still 
 pain us with the spiral flames of burning Charles- 
 town, the agonizing groans of aged parents, the 
 shrieks of widows, orphans and infants ! 
 
 " Indelibly impressed on our memories still live 
 the dismal scenes of Bunker's awful mount, the 
 grand theatre of New England bravery; where 
 slaughter stalked, grimly triumphant ; where re- 
 lentless Britain saw her soldiers, the unhappy in- 
 struments of despotism, fallen in heaps beneath 
 the nervous arms of injured freemen ! 
 
 " There the great Warren fought, and there, also, 
 he fell ! Valuing life only as it enabled him to 
 serve his country, he freely resigned himself a 
 willing martyr in the cause of Liberty, and now 
 he 's encircled in the arms of glory. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 95 
 
 " Peace to the patriot's shade — let no rude blast 
 Disturb the willow that nods o'er his tomb; 
 Let orphan tears bedew his sacred urn, 
 And Fame's loud trump proclaim the hero's name, 
 Far as the circuit of the sphere extends. 
 
 " But, haughty Albion, thy reign shall soon be 
 o'er ! Thou shalt triumph no longer ; thine em- 
 pire already reels and totters; thy laurels even 
 now begin to wither and thy frame decay. Thou 
 hast at length roused the indignation of an in- 
 sulted people; thy oppressions they deem no 
 longer tolerable. 
 
 "The 4th of July, 1776, has now arrived, and 
 America, manfully springing from the torturing 
 fangs of the British Lion, now rises majestic in 
 the pride of her sovereignty, and bids her eagle 
 elevate his wings ! 
 
 " The solemn Declaration of Independence is 
 now pronounced, amidst crowds of admiring citi- 
 zens, by the supreme council of our nation ; and 
 received with the unbounded plaudits of a grateful 
 people ! 
 
 " That was the hour when patriotism was 
 proved — when the souls of men were tried. It 
 was then, ye venerable patriots, it was then you 
 lifted the indignant arm, and unitedly swore to be 
 
96 LIFE OF 
 
 free I Despising such toys as subjugated empires, 
 you then knew no middle fortune between Liberty 
 and Death. Firmly relying on the protection of 
 Heaven, unwarped in the resolution you had 
 taken, you then, undaunted, met — engaged — de- 
 feated the gigantic power of Britain, and rose 
 triumphant over the aggressions of your enemies. 
 
 " Trenton, Princeton, Bennington and Saratoga 
 were the successive theatres of your victories, and 
 the utmost bounds of creation are the limits of 
 your fame ! The sacred fire of freedom, then en- 
 kindled in your breasts, shall be perpetuated 
 through the long descent of future ages, and burn, 
 with undiminished fervor, in the bosoms of mil- 
 lions yet unborn. 
 
 "Finally, to close the sanguinary conflict, to 
 grant to America the blessings of an honorable 
 peace, and clothe her heroes with laurels, Corn- 
 wallis, at whose feet the kings and princes of Asia 
 have since thrown their diadems, was compelled 
 to submit to the sword of Washington. 
 
 '* The great drama is now completed : our Inde- 
 pendence is now acknowledged ; and the hopes of 
 our enemies are blasted forever. Columbia is now 
 seated in the forum of Nations, and the Empires 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 97 
 
 of the world are amazed at the bright effulgence 
 of her glory. 
 
 " Thus, friends and citizens, did the kind hand 
 of over-ruling Providence conduct us, through 
 toils, fatigues, and dangers, to Independence and 
 Peace. If piety be the rational exercise of the 
 human soul, if religion be not a chimera, and if 
 the vestiges of heavenly assistance be clearly 
 traced in those events which mark the annals of 
 our nation, it becomes us, on this day, in considera- 
 tion of the great things'which have been done for 
 us, to render the tribute of unfeigned thanks to 
 that God, who superintends the universe, and 
 holds aloft the scale that weighs the destiny of 
 nations. 
 
 " The conclusion of the Eevolutionary War did 
 not accomplish the entire achievements of our 
 countrymen. Their military character was then, 
 indeed, established; but the time was coming 
 which should prove their j)ractical sagacity — their 
 abihty to govern themselves. 
 
 " No sooner was peace restored with England, 
 (the first grand article of which was the acknow- 
 ledgement of our Independence,) than the old 
 system of confederation, dictated at first by neces- 
 sity, and adopted for the purposes of the moment, 
 
 9 
 
98 LIFE OF 
 
 was found inadequate to the government of an 
 extensive empire. Under a full conviction of this, 
 we then saw the people of these States engaged 
 in a transaction, which is undoubtedly the greatest 
 approximation towards human perfection the po- 
 litical world ever yet witnessed, and which will, 
 perhaps, forever stand in the history of the world 
 without a parallel. A great Republic, composed 
 of different States, whose interests in all respects 
 could not be perfectly compatible, then came deli- 
 berately forward, discarde<i one system of govern- 
 ment, and adopted another, without the loss of 
 one man's blood. 
 
 a There is not a single government now existing 
 in Europe, which is not based in usurpation, and 
 established, if established at all, by the sacrifice 
 of thousands. But, in the adoption of our present 
 system of jurisprudence, we see the powers neces- 
 sary for government, voluntarily flowing from the 
 people, their only proper origin, and directed to 
 the public good, their only proper object. 
 
 " With peculiar propriety we may now felicitate 
 ourselves on that happy form of mixed govern- 
 ment under which we live. The advantages re- 
 sulting to the citizens of the Union are utterly 
 incalculable, and the day when it was received by 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 99 
 
 a majority of the States shall stand on the cata- 
 logue of American anniversaries, second to none 
 but the birth-day of Independence. 
 
 " In consequence of the adoption of our present 
 system of government, and the virtuous manner 
 in which it has been administered by a Washington 
 and an Adams, we are this day in the enjoyment 
 of peace, while war devastates Europe. We can 
 now sit down beneath the shadow of the olive, 
 Avhile her cities blaze, her streams run purple with 
 blood, and her fields glitter with a forest of bayo- 
 nets! The citizens of America can this day 
 throng the temples of Freedom, and renew their 
 oaths of fealty to Independence ; while Holland, 
 our once sister republic, is erased from the cata- 
 logue of nations ; while Venice is destroyed, Italy 
 ravaged, and Switzerland — the once happy, the 
 once united, the once flourishing Switzerland — 
 lies bleeding at every pore ! 
 
 " No ambitious foe dares now invade our country. 
 No standing army now endangers our liberty. 
 Our commerce, though subject in some degree to 
 the depredations of the belligerent Powers, is ex- 
 tended from Pole to Pole; our Navy, though just 
 emerging from non-existence, shall soon vouch for 
 the safety of our merchantmen, and bear the 
 
100 LIFE OF 
 
 thunder of Freedom around the balL Fair science, 
 too, holds her gentle empire amongst us, and- 
 almost innumerable altars are raised to her, 
 divinity. Yale, Providence and Harvard nowj 
 grace our land ; and Dartmouth, towering majestic j 
 above the groves which encircle her, now inscribes • 
 her glory on the register of fame. Oxford and 
 Cambridge, those oriental stars of literature, shall 
 soon be outshone by the bright sun of American 
 science, which displays his broad circumference in i 
 uneclipsed radiance. 
 
 " Pleasing indeed were it here to dilate on the ;j 
 future grandeur of America ; but w^e forbear, and :! 
 pause for a moment to drop the tear of affection l' 
 over the graves of our departed warriors. Their 
 names should be mentioned on every anniversary 
 of Independence, that the youth of each succes- 
 sive generation may learn not to value life, w^hen 
 held in competition with their country's safety. ' 
 
 " Wooster, Montgomery and Mercer fell bravely 
 in battle, and their ashes are now entombed on 
 the fields that witnessed their valor. Let their 
 exertions in their country's cause be remembered, 
 while liberty has an advocate, and gratitude has 
 a place in the human heart. 
 
 " Greene, the immortal hero of the Carolinas, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 101 
 
 las since gone down to the grave, loaded with 
 lonors, and high in the estimation of his country- 
 nen. The courageous Putnam has long slept with 
 lis fathers ; and Sullivan and Cilley, New Hamp- 
 hire's veteran sons, are no more remembered 
 among the living. 
 
 " With hearts penetrated with unutterable 
 mef, we are at last constrained to ask, where is 
 our Washington ? where the hero who led us to 
 victory? where the man who gave us freedom? 
 where is he who headed our feeble army, wdien 
 destruction threatened us? who came upon our 
 enemies like the storms of winter, and scattered 
 them like leaves before the Borean blast ? Where, 
 0, my country ! is thy political saviour ? Where, 
 0, humanity ! thy favorite son ? 
 
 " The solemnity of the assembly, the lamenta- 
 tions of the American people will answer, ^Alas, 
 he is no more — the mighty is fallen ! ' Yes, Ame- 
 ricans, Washington is gone ! He is now consigned 
 to dust, and sleeps in ^duU, cold marble.' The 
 man who never felt a wound but when it pierced 
 his country — who never groaned but when fair 
 Freedom bled — is now forever silent ! 
 
 " Wrapped in the shroud of death, the dark 
 dominions of the grave long since received him, 
 
102 LU^E OF 
 
 and he rests in undisturbed repose ! Vain were 
 the attempt to express our loss — vain the attempt 
 to describe the feeUngs of our souls ! Though 
 months have rolled away since his spirit left this 
 terrestrial orb, and sought the shining worlds on 
 high, yet the sad event is still remembered with 
 increased sorrow. The hoary-headed patriot of 
 '76 still tells the mournful story to the listening 
 infant, till the loss of his country touches his 
 heart, and patriotism fires his breast. The aged 
 matron still laments the loss of the man beneath 
 whose banners her husband has fought, or her son 
 has fallen. At the name of Washington the sym- 
 pathetic tear still glistens in the eye of every 
 youthful hero. Nor does the tender sigh yet 
 cease to heave in the fair bosom of Columbia's 
 daughters. 
 
 " Farewell, Washington, a long farewell ! 
 Thy country's tears embalm thy memory ; 
 Thy virtues challenge immortality; 
 Impressed on grateful hearts thy name shall live, 
 Till dissolution's deluge drown the world ! 
 
 "Although we must feel the keenest sorrow at 
 the demise of our Washington, yet we console 
 ourselves with the reflection that his virtuous 
 
DANIEL AVEBSTEK. 103 
 
 compatriot^ his worthy successor, the firm, the wise, 
 the inflexible Adams, still survives. Elevated by 
 the voice of his country to the supreme executive 
 magistracy, he constantly adheres to her essential 
 interests, and with steady hand draws the dis- 
 guising veil from the intrigues of foreign enemies, 
 and the plots of domestic foes. 
 
 " Ha\ang the honor of America always in view, 
 never fearing when wisdom dictates, to stem the 
 impetuous torrent of popular resentment, he 
 stands amid the fluctuations of party and the ex- 
 plosions of faction, unmoved as Atlas, 
 
 " While storms and tempests thunder on its brow, 
 And oceans break their billows at its feet. 
 
 "Yet all the vigilance of our Executive, and all 
 the wisdom of our Congress, have not been suffi- 
 cient to prevent the country from being in some 
 degree agitated by the convulsions of Europe. 
 But why shall every quarrel on the other side of 
 the Atlantic interest us in its issue ? Why shall 
 the rise or the depression of every party there, 
 produce here a corresponding vibration? Was 
 this continent designed as a mere satellite to the 
 other? Has not Nature here wrought all her 
 operations on the broadest scale ? Where are the 
 
104 LIFE OF 
 
 Mississippies and the Amazons, the Alleghanies 
 and the Andes of Europe, Asia, and Africa ? The 
 natural superiority of America clearly indicates 
 that it was designed to be inhabited by a nobler 
 race of men, possessing a superior form of govern- 
 ment, superior patriotism, and superior virtues. 
 
 " Let the nations of the East vamly waste their 
 strength in destroying each other. Let them aspire 
 at conquest, and contend for dominion, till their 
 continent is deluged in blood. But let none, how- 
 ever elated by victory, however j)roud of triumph, 
 ever presume to intrude on the neutral position 
 assumed by our country. 
 
 " Britain, twice humbled for her aggressions, has 
 been taught to respect us. But France, once our 
 ally, has dared to insult us ! She has violated her 
 treaty obligations — she has depredated on our com- 
 merce — she has abased our government and 
 riveted the chains of bondage on our unhappy 
 fellow-citizens. Not content with ravaging and 
 depopulating the fairest countries of Europe ; not 
 yet satisfied with the contortions of expiring re- 
 publics, the convulsive throes of subjugated na- 
 tions, and the groans of her own slaughtered 
 citizens — she has spouted her fury across the | 
 Atlantic ; and the stars and stripes of the United 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 105 
 
 nStates have been almost attacked in our harbors ! 
 When we have demanded reparation, she has told 
 us, ^Give us your money, and we will give you 
 peace.' Mighty nation ! Magnanimous Republic ! 
 Let her fill her coffers from those towns and cities 
 which she has plundered, and grant peace if she 
 can to the shades of those millions whose death 
 she has caused. 
 
 " But Columbia stoops not to tyrants ; her spirit 
 will never cringe to France ; neither a supercilious, 
 five-headed Directory, nor the gasconading pilgrim 
 of Egypt, will ever dictate terms to sovereign 
 America. The thunder of our cannon shall en- 
 sure the performance of our treaties, and fulminate 
 destruction on Frenchmen, till the ocean is crim- 
 soned with blood and gorged with pirates ! 
 
 "It becomes us, on whom the defence of our 
 country will ere long devolve, this day most se- 
 riously to reflect on the duties incumbent upon us. 
 Our ancestors bravely snatched expiring Liberty 
 from the grasp of Britain, whose touch is poison ; 
 shall we now consign it to France, whose embrace 
 I is death ? We have seen our fathers, in the days 
 of our country's trouble, assume the rough habili- 
 ments of war, and seek the hostile field. Too full 
 of sorrow to speak, we have seen them wave a 
 
106 LIFE OF 
 
 :ffi 
 
 id: 
 
 ^ 
 
 last farewell to a disconsolate^ a woe-stung family. 
 We have seen them return, worn down with fatigue 
 and scarred with wounds ; or we have seen them 
 perhaps, no more. . For us they fouglit — for u{ 
 they bled — for us they conquered. Shall we 
 their descendants, now basely disgrace our lineage 
 and pusillanimously disclaim the lineage be 
 queathed to us? Shall we pronounce the sac 
 valediction to freedom and immortal Liberty or 
 the altars our fathers have raised to her ? No 
 The response of the nation is, ' No ! ' Let it b<' 
 resfistered in the archives of Heaven. Ere th< 
 religion we profess, and the privileges we enjoj 
 are sacrificed at the shrine of despots and dema 
 gogues — let the sons of Europe be vassals ; let hei 
 hosts of nations be a vast congregation of slaves 
 but let us, who are this day free, whose hearts an 
 yet unappalled and whose right arms are ye\ 
 nerved for war, assemble before the hallowec 
 temple of' American Freedom, and swear to the 
 God of our Fathers, to preserve it secure, or die 
 
 at its portals ! " | 
 
 I 
 
 Such was the oration. If it pleased his audi- 
 tory, we may well imagine with what delight hie 
 father pored over the printed pages of his son's' 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 107 
 
 laiden effort — the father, who, in his dedining 
 ays, when he engaged in conversation with a 
 tr anger, did not fail to speak of his " son at Dart- 
 Qouth." He was the old man's idol, and, as Dr. 
 Uexander, of Princeton, remarks, of that son "it 
 vas easy to see that he was proud." 
 
 I There are faults in the style, extravagances to 
 vhicli Daniel's poetical mind led him, but which 
 le afterwards corrected — and corrected by diligent 
 abor. There are prejudices, received at second 
 land from traditionary sources, which his reading 
 ifterwards modified. And there are boastful ex- 
 pressions about the young Republic of America, 
 ^vhich a more mature taste led him to abandon, 
 »vhile he lost none of his true patriotism. But 
 *vho can wonder at such things, at that day, and 
 M. a young man accustomed to such encounters as 
 ohe follo^ving, which is related by Mr. Lanman : 
 I " Daniel's Mher and General Stark, the hero 
 ;3f Bennington, were fast friends on the battle- 
 field, and afterwards in the walks of civil life. 
 Professional business, early in Mr. Webster's career, 
 called him to Manchester, the residence of General 
 Stark. He found him surrounded with friends, 
 and in the midst of convivial enjoyment. The 
 parties were introduced, and the General, who no 
 
108 LIFE OF 
 
 doubt knew all about the son from his old com 
 rade in arms, cried out, 'Why, Dan AYebster 
 you're as black as your father; and he was S( 
 black that I never could tell when he was coverec 
 with powder, for he was one of those chaps wh( 
 are always in the thickest of the fight ! ' " 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 109 
 
 CHAPTER V, 
 
 Specimens of Daniel Webster's College Composition — The Dart- 
 mouth Gazette — Man — Essay on Peace — Eulogy on a Classmate 
 — Washington — Later Poetry — "The Memory of the Heart'' — 
 Mr. Webster an Improvisator — Mr. Webster and the Child — 
 Commencement Exercises — Mr. Webster's Disappointment — 
 Professor Woodward's Opinion of Mr. Webster — The Pupil's 
 kind Recollections — Lessons of Daniel Webster's Childhood. 
 
 Poetry was a favorite exercise with Daniel 
 Webster while in college. Indeed, it is said that, 
 attracted by the brilliant and fervid style of Pre- 
 sident Wheelock, he gave stronger indications of 
 rising to eminence in poetry, than in law or 
 politics. He often wrote in verse for public decla- 
 mation ; and, in his early compositions, exhibited 
 great fertility of imagination. Close study and 
 laborious mental discipline tempered down this 
 habit of mind, and made his style more terse and 
 vigorous ; although to the last, at proper opportu- 
 nities, he exhibited his power in pathos and word- 
 paintmg. Some early specimens of his poetry, 
 contributed to the " Dartmouth Gazette," we sub- 
 
 10 
 
110 LIFE OF 
 
 join. The contents of this sheet were furnished! 
 by the Faculty and students of the College, and! 
 there was no more frequent contributor tham 
 Daniel Webster. The following extracts are from 
 a poem published in the "Gazette." 
 
 " When that grand period in the Eternal Mind, 
 Long pre-determined, had arrived, behold 
 The universe, this most stupendous mass i 
 
 Of things, to instant being rose. This globe. 
 For light and heat dependent on the sun. 
 By power supreme was then ordained to roll, 
 And on its surface bear immortal Man, 
 Complete in bliss, the image of his God. 
 His soul to gentle harmonies attuned, 
 Th' ungoverned rage of boisterous passions knew not. 
 Malice, revenge, and hate were then unknown ; 
 Love held its empire in the human heart — 
 The voice of love alone escaped the lip, 
 And gladdening Nature echoed back the strain. 
 O, happy state ! too happy to remain ; 
 Temptation comes, and man a victim falls ! 
 Farewell to peace, farewell to human bliss, 
 Farewell ye kindred virtues, all farewell ! 
 Ye flee the world, and seek sublimer realms. 
 • Passions impetuous now possess the heart, 
 And hurry every gentler feeling thence. 
 
 * ^t» ^^ ^f^ m^ 
 
 #^^ 't^ ^^ ^^ 
 
 Is it now asked why man for slaughter pants, 
 Kaves with revenge, and with detraction burns ? 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. Ill 
 
 Go ask of jEtna why her thunders roar, 
 "Why her volcanoes smoke, and why she pours 
 In torrents down her sides the igneous mass 
 That hurries men and cities to the tomb ! 
 These but the effects of bursting fires within, 
 Convulsions that are hidden from our sight, 
 And bellow under ground. Just so in man, 
 The love of conquest and the lust of power 
 Are but the effects of passion unsubdued. 
 T' avert the effects, then deeply strike the cause, 
 Overcome the rage of passion, and obtain 
 The empire over self. This once achieved, 
 Impress fair virtue's precepts on the heart. 
 Teach to adore his God, and love his brother ; 
 War then no more shall raise the rude alarm. 
 Widows and orphans then shall sigh no more, 
 Peace shall return, and man again be bless'd. 
 
 
 In perfect accordance with the sentiment of 
 this poetry, is a prize essay on peace, written by 
 Daniel Webster while in college. " For what was 
 man created," he asks, " but to cultivate the arts 
 of peace and friendship, to beam charity and be- 
 nevolence on all around him, to improve his own 
 mind by study and reflection, to serve his God 
 with all the powers of his soul, and finally, when 
 the days of his years are numbered, to bid adieu 
 to earthly objects with a smile, to close his eyes 
 on the pillow of religious hope, and sink to repose 
 
112 LIFE OF 
 
 in the bosom of his Maker ? Why, then, is the 
 object of our existence unattained ? Why are the 
 fairest countries on the earth desolated and de- 
 populated mth the ravages of war ? Why are 
 the annals of the world crowded with the details 
 of murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes that 
 strike the soul with horror but to name them? 
 0, corrupted nature ! 0, depraved man ! Those 
 who are delighted with tales of bloodshed and 
 destruction find a rich repast in the daily accounts 
 from Europe, where 
 
 " ^ Gigantic slaughter stalks with awful strides, 
 And vengeful fury pours her copious tides/ 
 
 " But, to the child of humanity, to the man of 
 true benevolence, it is a sad and painful reflection, 
 that iniquity should usurp the reign of justice, 
 that the liberties and lives of millions should be 
 sacrificed, to satiate the ambition of individuals, 
 and that tyrants should wade through seas of 
 blood to empire and dominion. War, under cer- 
 tain circumstances, is proper, is just. When men 
 take arms to burst those chains that have bound 
 them in slavery, to assert and maintain those pri- 
 vileges which they justly claim as natural rights, 
 their object is noble, and we wish them success." 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 113 
 
 As a specimen of the poetic style of Mr. AYebster's 
 early prose writings, we give the following extract 
 from a eulogy pronounced by him on a classmate, 
 who died in 1801. His name was Ephraim 
 Simonds. He was universally beloved, and a 
 dear friend of Mr. Webster. 
 
 ^^All of him that was mortal now lies in the 
 charnels of yonder cemetery. By the grass that 
 now nods over the mounds of Sumner, Merrill, 
 and Cook, now rests a fourth son of Dartmouth, 
 constituting another monument of man's mortality. 
 The sun, as it sinks to the ocean, plays its depart^ 
 ing beams on his tomb, but they reanimate him 
 not. The cold sod presses on his bosom; his 
 hands hang down in weakness. The bird of the 
 evening shouts a melancholy air on the poplar, 
 but her voice is stillness to his ears. While his 
 pencil was drawing scenes of future felicity, — 
 while his soul fluttered on the gay breezes of 
 hope, — an unseen hand drew the curtain, and 
 shut him from our view." 
 
 After a glowing exordium, the orator proceeded 
 to paint the virtues of the deceased ; and dwelt 
 with an especial earnestness upon his religious 
 excellence. 
 
 " To his surviving friends, gladdening is the re- 
 
 10^^- 
 
114 LIFE OF 
 
 flection that he died, as he lived, a firm behever 
 in the sublime doctrines of Christianity. * * * -h 
 Whoever knew him in life, or saw him m death, 
 will cordially address this honorable testimony to 
 his memory : 
 
 " ' He taught us how to live, and 0, too high, 
 
 The price of knowledge, taught us how to die ! ' " 
 
 The eulogy was published, and after Mr. Web- 
 ster left college other students committed portions 
 of it for declamation. At the time of the original 
 delivery a large audience was moved to tears, and 
 even when repeated at second hand, by the young 
 orators, its effect was not lost. This eulogy was 
 admitted to be the most beautiful and finished 
 performance of Mr. Webster's college life, — unsur- 
 passed in the traditions of the college, as it was 
 unequalled by contemporary efforts. The son of 
 religious parents, and educated under religious in- 
 fluences, the young orator did not fail to take the 
 occasion to exhibit the power of religion to sustain 
 and console in scenes of sorrow, persecution, and 
 death. Scripture images and allusions were very 
 frequently introduced by Mr. Webster in his 
 writings and speeches. The following apostrophe 
 to Washington is from one of his earliest poems : 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 115 
 
 " Ah, Washington ! thou once didst guide the helm, 
 And point each danger to our infant realm ; 
 Didst show the gulf where Faction's trumpets sweep, 
 And the big thunders frolic o'er the deep ; 
 Through the red wave didst lead our bark, nor stood. 
 Like Moses, on the other side the flood. 
 But thou art gone — yes, gone — and we deplore 
 The man, the Washington, we knew before. 
 But when thy spirit mounted to the sky. 
 And scarce beneath thee left a tearless eye — 
 Tell, what Elisha then thy mantle caught. 
 Warmed with thy virtue — with thy wisdom fraught ?'' 
 
 The following graceful trifle was written in 
 1839 — forty years after the time of which we are 
 writing. It is entitled " The Memory of the 
 Heart." 
 
 ^' If stores of dry and learned lore we gain. 
 We keep them in the memory of the brain ; 
 Names, things, and facts, whate'er we knowledge call. 
 There is the common ledger for them all ; 
 And images on this cold surface traced 
 Make slight impressions and are soon effaced. 
 
 "But we've a page more glowing and more bright. 
 On which our friendship and our love we write ; 
 That these may never from the soul depart, 
 We trust them to the memory of the heart. 
 There is no dimming — no effacement here ; 
 Each new pulsation keeps the record clear ; 
 Warm, golden letters all the tablet fill, 
 Nor lose their lustre till the heart stands still. '^ 
 
116 LIFE OF 
 
 Mr. Webster possessed a great and ready com- 
 mand of words, and must have been a sparkling 
 contributor to the recreations of the hterary 
 society of which he was a member in Dartmouth, 
 since in later years he has given frequent evi- 
 dences of his ca23acity to trifle elegantly, as well 
 as to wield the ponderous arms of logic and argu- 
 ment. On one occasion, while Mr. Webster was 
 Secretary of State, a farewell dinner was given to 
 Senator Foote, who had been elected Governor of 
 Mississippi, and was going home to assume his 
 new duties. At the close of the dinner, Mr. 
 Foote addressed Mr. Webster in a parting speech, 
 in which he so exhausted the language of felici- 
 tous compliment, that the company present were , 
 curious to know what Mr. Webster could say in 
 answer. 
 
 Gracefully to acquit one's-self in such a dilemma, 
 is a task of which few men are capable, and those 
 who have least depth can often support them- 
 selves under the weight of compliment with more 
 address than the profoundest thinkers. Mr. Web- 
 ster slowly rose from his chair and answered Mr. 
 Foote, not in prose, but in j^oetry. The farther 
 he proceeded, the happier was he in his improvi- 
 sation ; and the comj)any were completely taken 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 117 
 
 by surprise at this new phase of Mr. Webster's 
 mind. The long slumbering poetry of his nature, 
 extinguished as it had seemed for nearly half a 
 century, by the cares of State and the labors of 
 the law, burst forth to the admiration of those 
 who had not suspected that such a vein existed in 
 his composition. The poetry was far above medi- 
 ocrity, and the circumstances of the occasion 
 showed that it must have been extempore. At 
 another time he was unexpectedly presented, at a 
 banquet, with a bouquet of flowers, by a beautiful 
 and graceful child. In a similar fit of inspiration 
 he addressed her in acknowledgment, in a strain 
 of prose poetry, abounding with graceful and 
 beautiful images. Mr. Webster could also, upon 
 occasion, trifle in an amusing style of composition. 
 Among his college exercises, a classmate remem- 
 bers a composition, every line of which ended 
 in io-n. 
 
 At the commencement of Dartmouth College, 
 in the year in which he graduated, Mr. Webster's 
 share of .the public exercises was a discourse on 
 the then recent discoveries in chemistry, particu- 
 larly those of Lavoisier, then just made public. 
 Mr. Webster also delivered an oration before " The 
 United Fraternity," upon '' The Influence of 
 
118 LIFE OF 
 
 Opinion." A contemporary newspaper says : ^' A 
 numerous audience manifested a high degree of 
 satisfaction at the genius displayed. Elegance of 
 composition and propriety of delivery distin- 
 guished the performance." 
 
 One of Mr. Webster's eulogists, Mr. Hillard, 
 says of him : " He was an ambitious man. He 
 desired the highest office in the gift of the people. 
 But on this subject as on all others there was no 
 concealment in his nature. And ambition is not 
 a weakness, unless it be disproportion ed to the 
 capacity. To have more ambition than ability is 
 to be at once weak and unhappy. With him it 
 was a noble passion, because it rested upon noble 
 powers. He was a man cast in a heroic mould. 
 His thoughts, his wishes, his passions, his aspirar 
 tions, were all on a grander scale than those of 
 other men. Unexercised capacity is always a 
 source of rusting discontent. The height to which 
 men may rise is in proportion to the upward force 
 of their genius, and they will never be calm till 
 they have attained their predestined elevation." 
 
 The child is father of the man, and the same 
 characteristics w^hich Mr. Hillard notices in the 
 character of the statesman, were observable in the 
 young man amid the objects of college rivalry. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 119 
 
 His friends conceded liim the first rank, and in 
 the debates and exercises of the society of which 
 he was a member his position was unequivocal. 
 No one thought of Daniel Webster as second to 
 any. But even giant intellect cannot supply that 
 knowledge of particulars, which must be acquired 
 by longer study and better opportunities than 
 young Webster had enjoyed. While in the general 
 summing up he was probably unquestionably su- 
 perior to all his classmates, in the details he had 
 not that proficiency which, by the strict rules of 
 college judgment, entitles a student to the highest 
 honors at graduation. He thought, as did his 
 personal friends also, that the valedictory would 
 be assigned to him in the Commencement exer- 
 cises ; but the Faculty gave this honor to acquire- 
 ments rather than to genius; and following, as 
 was their duty, the custom and precedent of the 
 institution, assigned the valedictory to him who 
 strictly merited it, rather than to one who would 
 undoubtedly have most distinguished himself, and 
 honored the institution in the performance. Young 
 Webster was grievously disappointed at this deci- 
 sion, and, in the presence of his classmates, de- 
 stroyed his diploma as Bachelor of Arts, before he 
 left the college. We presume, however, the dis- 
 
120 LIFE OF 
 
 apj)ointment was of salutary influence. Had he 
 graduated with the highest honors, he might have 
 misunderstood his real position. The check this 
 incident gave to him was a good discipline. He 
 was spurred to continued study after he left the 
 institution ; a course he might not perhaps have 
 taken had he carried away all the honors at Com- 
 mencement, as he had done during the last two 
 years in the unofficial judgment of the college. 
 
 We are not to suppose, however, that Mr. Web- 
 ster's vexation about the circumstance was any- 
 thing more than a temporary and natural emotion 
 in a high-spirited boy. Nor did the Faculty regard 
 it in any serious light, or abate their admiration 
 of his genius, and their estimate of his capacities. 
 Professor Woodward was accustomed to speak of 
 Mr. Webster in high terms. He said : " That 
 man's victory is certain who reaches the heart 
 through the medium of the understanding. He 
 gained me by combating my opinions ; for I often 
 attacked him merely to try his strength." Pro- 
 fessor Woodward died just as Mr. Webster was 
 entering upon the practice of law, and the highest 
 honors were paid to his memory by the Faculty, 
 the Students, and the Alumni of the College. 
 Mr. Webster lamented the death of his old friend, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 121 
 
 IS a child laments the death of an indulgent 
 father. Mr. Webster, through life, often spoke of 
 lim. He said that Dr. Yf oodward taught him how 
 bo think, and to express his thoughts with brevity, 
 instead of indulging in the redundant style to 
 which at first he was too much inclined. " That 
 ^reat scholar," said he, " taught me how much I 
 could strike out of whatever I wrote or spoke, 
 and still have enough to communicate all I desired 
 
 to say." 
 
 Professor Woodward directed Mr. Webster's 
 attention to the field in which he afterwards was 
 so eminent. The themes of his conversation were 
 the services and talents of such men as Ames, the 
 Adamses, Henry, Hamilton, and other great Ame- 
 rican statesmen and orators of that era. From 
 the journals he became familiar with the speeches 
 and characters of Pitt, Burke, and the other lead- 
 ing men on the European side of the ocean. The 
 Fourth of July oration which he delivered in his 
 junior year, shows how well read he was in 
 European politics and history. 
 
 Thus passed the college life of Daniel Webster. 
 Laborious in his studies and correct in his habits, 
 he received the following praise from the venerable 
 
 11 
 
122 LIFE OF 
 
 professor of whom we have spoken : " Daniel was 
 as regular as the sun. He never made a mistake; 
 he never stooped to do a mean act; he never 
 countenanced by his presence or conversation any 
 college irregularities." Hon. Edward Everett thus 
 sums the lessons of the youth of Daniel Webster : 
 " The poor boy at the village school has taken 
 comfort, as he has read that the time was when 
 Daniel Webster, whose father told him he should 
 go to college, if he had to sell every acre of hi^ 
 farm to pay the expense, laid his head on the; 
 shoulder of that fond and discerning parent, and 
 wept the thanks he could not speak. The pale 
 student who ekes out his scanty support by extra 
 toil, has gathered comfort when reminded tbat 
 the first jurist, statesman and orator of the time 
 earned wdth his weary fingers, by the midnight 
 lamp, the means of securing the same advantages 
 of education to a beloved brother. Every true- 
 hearted citizen throughout the Union has felt an 
 honest pride, as he re-peruses the narrative, in 
 reflecting that he lives beneath a Constitution and 
 a Government, under which such a man has been 
 formed and trained, and that he himself is com- 
 patriot with him. He does more; he reflects 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 123 
 
 jvitli gratitude that, in consequence of what that 
 aian has done, and written, and said — in the 
 cesult of his efforts to strengthen the piUars of the 
 Union — a safer inheritance of civil liberty, a 
 tronger assurance that these blessings will en- 
 iure, will descend to his children." 
 
124 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Mr. Webster at Fryeburg — His Labors as Assistant Recorder of 
 Deeds — His Economy and Prudence — His continued Efforts at 
 Improvement — Rev. Mr. Fessenden — Hon. T. W. Thompson — 
 Mr. "Webster resumes his Law Studies — Coke upon Littleton — • 
 Webster upon Coke — Webster as a Collector of Debts — Mr. 
 Webster goes to Boston, and enters the Office of Hon. Ohristo- | 
 pher Gore — Character of that Gentleman — Mr. Webster's con- ' 
 tinued Industry — He is tendered the Clerkship of a New Hamp- 
 shire Court — Under Advice of Mr. Gore he declines it — Tho 
 Astonishment and Chagrin of his Father. 
 
 As soon as Mr. \yebster liad completed liis 
 college course, he entered the office of his old 
 friend, Mr. Thompson, as a student. But his 
 father's poverty, and the necessity of provision 
 for his brother's education, pressed hard upon him, 
 and the necessity became obvious and im]oerious, 
 that the young student, now in his twentieth 
 year, should do something, not only for his own 
 support, but to meet the requirements of his 
 father's family and his brother's tuition. Ezekiel 
 had entered at Dartmouth during Daniel's last 
 year there. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 125 
 
 In this dilemma, a way was opened. Eev. Dr. 
 John Smith recommended him as principal of an 
 [academy at Fryeburg, in the State of Maine (then 
 a district of Massachusetts). Dr. Smith, Pro- 
 fessor of Greek, Hebrew, and Oriental languages 
 at Dartmouth, w^as the author of a Latin Gram- 
 mar, edited some of the classics, and published 
 also a Hebrew Grammar. He was a man whose 
 word had weight, and whose recommendation was 
 no small honor. Thus, in Mr. Webster's early 
 ; life, we find every one who had to do with his 
 culture and training, added to their immediate 
 instruction their good offices, to advance him still 
 farther. His schoolmasters and his friend, Mr. 
 Thompson, urged his being sent to Phillips Aca- 
 demy. Dr. Abbott, the Principal of that institu- 
 tion, united with Eev. Dr. Wood, a Trustee of 
 Dartmouth, to procure his introduction there ; and 
 upon leaving college, his late teachers recom- 
 mended him to the trustees of the Fryeburg Aca- 
 demy. It is stated that, since the establishment 
 of Dartmouth College, over three-fourths of the 
 students have taught school during three months 
 in the year. There is a singular propriety and 
 fitness in this. Information is scattered among 
 the children of the people, who thus indirectly 
 
 11* 
 
126 LIFE OF 
 
 sustain the college, bv aidinn: in the maintenance 
 
 of the under-2'raduates. 
 
 Mr. TTebster remained at Fryeburo: nine months, 
 performing the duties of his post to the entire 
 satisfaction of the trustees, who, at the close of 
 his engagement passed a respectful and affectionate 
 vote of thanks to the young teacher. The school- 
 house Tras burned down many years since, but the 
 records of the trustees of the Academy are still 
 in existence. In IS 31, Mr. Webster, while return- \\ 
 ing with his son from a tour to the White Moun- 
 tains, turned aside for a few davs amid the scenes 
 of his early labors in Fryeburs:. There is Loye- 
 well's Pond, of bloody memory, the scene of 
 '•Lovewell's fight." Here, in 1725, Captain John 
 Lovewell, at the head of thirty-fiye men, met 
 eighty sayages, under a chief named Paugus. Of 
 the Indians sixty were killed, and the remaining; 
 twenty fled, leaying the remains of Loyewell's 
 band, only nine in number, masters of the field. 
 The commanders of both parties were among the 
 slain. Here, Mr. Webster, while ensrao^ed as a 
 teacher, pursued the soUtary rambles which were I 
 his recreation, with his book and fishing-tackle. 
 But more interesting memorials than all others to 
 his son, were the records aboye mentioned, and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 127 
 
 two large bound volumes of deeds, in the office of 
 the register, written by Mr. Webster's own hand, 
 in a neat style of penmanship. In addition to 
 his duties a.s preceptor, Mr. Webster copied deeds 
 for the register s office, at the rate of twentv-five 
 cents each ; and this more than met his personal 
 expenses, reserving the whole of his salary, which 
 was §350 per annum, to aid in meeting his bro- 
 ther's expenses at Dartmouth, and to defray the 
 cost of his own professional education. These 
 volumes, large folios, are monuments of what is 
 seldom foimd allied to areat senius — patient 
 industry : and thev excite the more wonder when 
 it is remembered that thev were the extra work 
 of less than a year, written after spending the 
 usual hours in the duty of teaching. Mr. Web- 
 ster laughingly said, as he looked at them, nearly 
 half a century after thev were written, that the 
 ache, which so much writing' caused, was not yet 
 out of his fingers ! 
 
 While at Fryeburg, Mr. Webster borrowed and 
 read, for the first time, Blackstone's Commentaries. 
 He had also the use of the library of Rev. Wm. 
 Fessenden, and the advice and encouragement of 
 that gentleman. Under his counsel, he reviewed 
 his college course, and strengthened himself in the 
 
128 LIFE OF 
 
 points of useful or agreeable knowledge, where lie 
 found or thought himself deficient. Of the Latin 
 Classics he remained, through life, an admirer. 
 Yet his was not the blind worship of the ancient 
 which overlooks modern and contemporary excel- 
 lence. Mr. Webster delighted to read and re- 
 peruse what pleased him ; preferring to master a 
 few excellent books, rather than read indiscrimi- 
 nately. While at Fryeburg, he committed to 
 memory Fisher Ames's celebrated speech on the 
 British Treaty. 
 
 Returning home in September, 1802, with what 
 to him, at that day, was a full exchequer — be- 
 tween two and three hundred dollars — Mr. Web- 
 ster resumed his place in the office of his old 
 friend and neighbor, Mr. Thompson. As this 
 gentleman was Mr. Webster's first teacher in the 
 science of law, our readers may be interested to 
 know something of him. He was a graduate of 
 Harv^ard College, Cambridge, and for some time a 
 tutor in that university. He studied law with 
 Theophilus Parsons, in Newburyport, and, when 
 admitted to the bar, opened an office in Salisbury, 
 where, as we have already stated, he became early 
 interested in Mr. Webster. He had an extensive 
 and lucrative practice, was a gentleman of honour- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 129 
 
 able character, and stood high in the public esti- 
 mation, as well as in his profession. He was one 
 of the trustees of Dartmouth, and represented New 
 Hampshire once in the United States House of 
 Eepresentatives. He was several times a member 
 of the State Legislature, and served a term as a 
 senator in Congress. In 1809, he left Salisbury, 
 and removed to Concord, the capital of New 
 Hampshire. He lived till 1819, long enough to 
 discern the commencement of the fulfilment of 
 the promise of his pupil's childhood, and to see 
 his bare-footed office-boy enter upon a career in 
 which he left his early friends far behind. 
 
 For two years Mr. Webster pursued his studies 
 with Mr. Thompson, having a fellow-student in 
 Parker Noyes, Esq., who was in the office when 
 Mr. Webster entered, and who remained after he 
 left, and succeeded to the business of Mr. Thomp- 
 son, on his removal to Concord. Mr. Noyes 
 shared in the interest which all who met young 
 Daniel entertained for him, and he was a worthy 
 companion for the ambitious student. Like all 
 who were connected with Mr. Webster's youth, he 
 was a man of a character to elevate and improve 
 his junior. The office still remains as in the day 
 when Webster read and studied there, fifty years 
 
130 LIFE OF 
 
 ago. General Lyman, Avho has the interest of a 
 devotee in all that pertains to Mr. Webster, thus 
 speaks of the old building : — " There stand the 
 identical tables, book-cases, desks and chairs, which 
 stood there in Mr. Webster's time. It is still a 
 law-office, but years and years have gone by since 
 the venerable proprietor (who is rich enough to 
 forego the practice of the law) gave audience to 
 his clients in these rooms. There are the old 
 registries of law-suits, with entries made in the 
 hand-writing of Mr. Webster ; and there are the 
 old books on which his mind dwelt so intently, 
 and from which he drew some of the knowledge 
 to which the most eminent judges have so often 
 listened, to be instructed and convinced." 
 
 Mr. Webster had, as his first book to read. Coke 
 upon Littleton, as was the custom at that period. 
 As the result of his own experience, Mr. Webster 
 says : — "A boy of twenty, with no previous 
 knowledge of such subjects, cannot understand 
 Coke. It is folly to set him upon such an author. 
 There are propositions in Coke so abstract, and 
 distinctions so nice, and doctrines embracing so 
 many distinctions and qualifications, that it re- 
 quires an effort not only of a mature mind, but 
 of a mind both strong and mature, to understand 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. ±31 
 
 him. Why disgust and discourage a young man, 
 by telling him he must break into his profession 
 through such a wall as this ? " 
 
 Many of the valuable works which have been 
 published on the science of law, had not then 
 appeared, and Mr. Webster had to grope in the 
 dark, in unravelling black-letter webs, and de- 
 ducing premises which have been unravelled hy 
 others. Along with his law-studies he kept up 
 his research into English history, and his enjoy- 
 ment of the Latin and English Classics. He read, 
 during these two years, Sallust, Coesar, and Ho- 
 race. Some of the odes of the latter, which he 
 translated, have been published. He devoted 
 much time, also, to more intelligible law authori- 
 ties than Coke. 
 
 Before his second year was closed, he sliowed 
 himself competent to advise, frequently writing 
 out opinions upon the cases submitted by clients, 
 which Mr. Thompson adopted and signed as his 
 own. He had great tact in the arrangement of 
 the facts to be drawn from witnesses on the stand, 
 and in marshalling the testimony and arranging 
 details. General Lyman relates an amusing anec- 
 dote of the young student's success in collecting 
 certain moneys due to a road-contractor. A turn- 
 
132 LIFE OF 
 
 pike was to be built, the contract being founded \ 
 on subscriptions pledged by propertj-holders in 
 Portsmouth, and along the line of the proposed 
 improvement. In the midst of the work, from 
 some dissatisfaction, the subscribers refused to 
 pay. In this dilemma, the contractor aj)plied to 
 Mr. Thompson for advice. He wrote urgent let- 
 ters to the delinquents, and sent Mr. Noyes, his 
 elder clerk, but neither of these measures pro- 
 duced any money. Mr. Webster then volunteered. 
 He came dashing into Portsmouth, with his horse 
 in a foam ; and, giving out that he had come " to 
 get the money," desired the presence of the Sheriff 
 of the county. Asking the privilege of Hon. Jere- 
 miah Mason, he sat down at his table, and com- 
 menced the filling out of a writ for every delin- 
 quent; and, in those days, a debtor who could, 
 must find bail, or be committed upon a vv^rit, to 
 await trial. A parley was soon proposed, and he 
 courteously but peremptorily stated his intention 
 to deliver the writs, at a certain hour, to the 
 Sheriff for execution, if the demands were not 
 satisfied. When his horse was brought to the 
 office-door, for him to mount on his return, the 
 delinquents findmg that he was as good as his 
 word, and that costs and trouble were inevitable, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 133 
 
 unless they redeemed their subscriptions, paid 
 )ver the money as fast as he could receive it; and 
 16 hurried back to his principal with the funds, 
 nuch to the astonishment of Messrs. Thompson 
 and Noyes, and to the satisfaction of Captain 
 Kimball, the contractor. 
 
 I Having acquired all that could be learned in 
 .the limited practice of a country office, Mr. Web- 
 iBter repaired to Boston. This was a step taken 
 'with the advice and consent of his father, who 
 had consulted the circle of legal friends with 
 whom, as a judge, he was acquainted. The young 
 country-lawyer's clerk found, however, that he 
 had left home in leaving New Hampshire. His 
 application w^as declined by several of the leading 
 members of the Suffolk Bar; but he persevered, 
 ambitious, and sure of his own strength, until he 
 obtained admission into the office of Hon. Christo- 
 pher Gore. This was one of the fortunate events 
 of Mr. Webster's life. In many other offices, his 
 training would have been such as to make him a 
 mere lawyer. Mr. Gore had at that time given 
 up the common business of his profession — the 
 details of ordinary practice, which Mr. Webster 
 had already become familiar with. He did 
 nothing as an attorney or soHcitor; but being 
 
 12 
 
134 LIFE OF 
 
 much distinguished as a counsellor, was consulted 
 in affairs of such importance as demanded great' 
 legal learning. He was a statesman and a civi- 
 lian, a gentleman of the old school of manners, 
 and a rare example of distinguished intellectual 
 qualities, united with practical good sense and 
 judgment. He was a graduate of Harvard, tho- 
 roughly educated; and in his classical tastes could 
 sympathise with his pupil. He was acquainted 
 with most of the great men of his time, at home; 
 and abroad; having jDassed several years in Eng-- 
 land as a commissioner, under Jay's treaty, for: 
 liquidating the claims of citizens of the United I 
 States for seizures by the British cruisers, in the 
 early wars of the French Kevolution. His library, 
 amply furnished with works of professional and 
 general literature, his large exj)erience of men and .: 
 things, and his uncommon amenity of temper,, 
 combined to make the period passed by Mr. 
 Webster, in his office, one of the pleasantest of 
 his life. 
 
 Mr. Knapp, the American Biographer, says of 
 Mr. Gore's manner with his students, that he soon 
 forgot or laid aside the office relation, and they 
 stood to each other as mutual and intellectual 
 friends, without regard to the difference in their 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 135 
 
 ;Gspective ages. Mr. Gore had a happy perspi- 
 cuity of style, and communicated what he had to 
 :onvey with so much exactness, discrimination, 
 ind taste, that his hearers seized his meaning, and 
 became famiHar with the facts and principles 
 brought forward, without lahor. In commercial 
 and international law, he had a high reputation. 
 He had been several years familiar with the best 
 English lawyers, the forms and proceedings in the 
 courts, and the customs of counsellors and advo- 
 cates ; and imparted to Mr. Webster a knowledge 
 which books did not convey — the living law which 
 governs courts, and can only be obtained by prac- 
 tice and observation. 
 
 The young lawyer had now reached a genial 
 atmosphere, and his mind expanded under the 
 realisation of the scope and magnitude of law as 
 a science. The glimpses which he had discerned 
 from a distance were verified, and distinctly ex- 
 tended ; and the noble ambition which was part 
 of his nature, found scope. But Daniel Webster 
 was no dreamer, to lose time in speculations and 
 abstractions, which could be made profitable by 
 diligence. The advantages which Mr. Gore's 
 ofiice and assistance opened to him, were not 
 thrown away. He regularly attended the sessions 
 
136 LIFE OF 
 
 of the courts, and reported their decisions. He 
 read with care the leading elementary works of 
 common and municipal law, with the best authors 
 on the law of nations — some of them for a second 
 and third time; diversifying these strictly pro- 
 fessional studies, with more agTceable but not less 
 useful reading. History is often the interpreter 
 of law; and to English History, as well as to 
 American colonial and political memoirs and 
 treatises, Mr. Webster devoted great attention.. 
 Shakspeare, Bacon, Milton, Burke, and Johnson,, 
 were said to be his favorites for miscellaneous 5 
 reading. His chief study, however, was the com--! 
 mon law; and more especially that part of it which 
 relates to the now somewhat obsolete science of 
 special pleading. He regarded this not only as ai| 
 most refined and ingenious, but a highly instructive 
 and useful branch of the law. Besides mastering 
 all that was contained in Viner, Bacon, and other 
 books then in common study, he waded through 
 Saunders' Reports, in the original edition, and 
 abstracted and translated into English, from the 
 Latin and Norman-French, all the pleadings con--! 
 tained in the two folio volumes. This manuscript 
 still remains, a monument of his industry. Both 
 as an exercise of the mind, and as an acquisition 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 137 
 
 of useful learning, this work was of great advan- 
 tage to him in his professional career. By the 
 familiarity which he thus obtained with the forms 
 of special pleading, guided by the clear teaching 
 and practical suggestions of Mr. Gore, young 
 Webster came soon to be regarded as a great 
 special pleader. An edition of Saunders has since 
 appeared, which makes the useful parts of the 
 work much more accessible ; but it is very much 
 to be questioned whether the time saved by the 
 student, by such aids, is not saved at the sacrifice 
 of mental discipline. What is acquired by labor 
 is longer retained, and more profoundly impressed 
 upon the mind. 
 
 In January, 1805, the clerkship of the Court 
 of Common Pleas for the county of Hillsborough, 
 New Hampshire, fell vacant. The office was 
 worth $1500 per annum; in those days more than 
 a competence — absolute wealth. The expenses 
 incurred in educating his children pressed hard 
 upon Daniel Webster's father, and he had mort- 
 gaged his property to meet it. A mortgaged farm 
 — his children away — and himself in years, made 
 a complication of anxiety in which the children 
 deeply shared, without, at that period, the means 
 of removing it. Ezekiel Webster, who had his 
 
 12=^ 
 
138 LIFE OF 
 
 brother's habits of application, was teaching a 
 select school in Boston, to assist in discharging the 
 mortgage ; and for a portion of the time he added 
 the labors of an evening school for sailors and 
 apprentices. In addition to his other employ 
 ments and avocations, Daniel assisted his brother, 
 taking his place when ill, or when absent from 
 any other cause. Some of the first men in Massa- 
 chusetts, Edward Everett among them, are proud 
 to say that thus they received a portion of their 
 education from Daniel Webster. In his speech 
 upon the life and character of "Webster, delivered 
 at the meeting of the citizens of Boston, Mr. 
 Everett feelingly and gracefully alluded to this 
 circumstance; and referring to other and later 
 connections with the great dead which he had 
 enjoyed, and to the evidences of his friendship, of 
 which he was afiectionately proud, he quoted a 
 letter from Mr. Webster, which he had received a 
 short time before his death. In this letter, Mr. 
 Webster thus refers to their friendship : " We now 
 and then see, stretching across the heavens, a 
 clear, blue, cerulean sky, without cloud, or mist, 
 or haze. And such appears to me our acquaint- 
 ance, from the time when I heard you for a week 
 
I 
 
 DANIEL TTEBSTER. 139 
 
 recite your lessons in the little school-liouse in 
 Short Street, to the date hereof." 
 
 Mr. Webster's father was cne of the Judges of 
 the Court of Common Pleas for the county of 
 Hillsborough. He had only to express a wish 
 that his son should receive the appointment, and 
 that wish was gratified. Delighted with his suc- 
 cess, he at once advised his son of it. The young 
 man who felt so warmly for his friends, had deeper 
 feelings for his kindred ; and Daniel's delight was 
 not less than his father's. Now their embarrass- 
 ment was at an end, and the inconvenience which 
 his aged parents were suffering on account of their 
 children, would be removed. He regarded it as 
 an early realisation of the benefits which an edu- 
 cation had promised him; and though it was 
 certainly a sacrifice of the high hopes of distinc- 
 tion which his young ambition had promised, he 
 was glad, at such a sacrifice, to promote the 
 happiness of those to whom his heart was knit. 
 Under the influence of these feelings, he an- 
 nounced his good fortune to his legal counsellor 
 and friend, and was astonished to hear Mr. Gore 
 peremptorily and vehemently interpose his dissent 
 — his utter disapprobation of the proposed change. 
 
140 LIFE OF 
 
 " But," replied Daniel, " my father is poor, and I 
 wish to make him comfortable in his old age." 
 
 Mr. Gore admitted that such an appointment as 
 Daniel had received, was a great compliment to 
 so young a man ; he acknowledged the force of 
 family affection ; but told him he would be much 
 more able to gratify his friends by his professional 
 labors, than in a clerkship. " But," he continued, 
 " you should think of the future more than the 
 present. Become once a clerk, and you will 
 always be a clerk, with no chance of obtaining a 
 higher position. Go on, and finish your studies. 
 You are poor enough, but there are greater evils 
 than poverty. Live in no man's favor; what 
 bread you do eat, let it be the bread of indepen- 
 dence; pursue your profession; make yourself 
 useful to your friends, and a little formidable to 
 your enemies, and you have nothing to fear." 
 
 Mr. Webster appreciated the force of these 
 suggestions, so far as his own wishes and hopes 
 were considered ; but there still remained all the 
 difficulties in the case — the real difficulties, which 
 words could not remove — his father's embarrass- 
 ments. In this dilemma, a friend, Rufus Green 
 Emery, advanced the money necessary to relieve 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 141 
 
 his father's estate ; and Mr. Webster, thus forti- 
 fied, hastened home to announce in person to his 
 father, his determination. He looked round for a 
 country sleigh, for in those days there were no 
 stages to the interior of New Hampshire ; and 
 finding one which was returning from market, 
 took passage with the owner, and in tw^o or three 
 days was set down at his father's door. The same 
 journey is now made by railroad in about four 
 hours. At that time the winter was the great 
 season for travelling ; and the snow^, hard beaten, 
 was the nearest approach to a railroad wdiich 
 people knew. The writer well remembers the 
 business activity of a Boston winter in the olden 
 time ; when the inn-yards were crowded wdth 
 loads of frozen pork in sledges, and barrels of 
 apples, and other country produce, carefully 
 wrapped in blankets and old quilts to keep out 
 the frost, were exchanged for groceries, and other 
 foreign products. Mr. March, in his interesting 
 w^ork, " Daniel Webster and his Contemporaries," 
 thus describes the scene between Daniel and his 
 father : 
 
 " It was evening when he arrived. I have 
 heard him tell the story of the interview. His 
 
142 LIFE OF 
 
 father was sitting before the fire, and received him 
 with manifest joy. He looked feebler than he 
 had ever appeared; but his countenance lighted 
 up, on seeing his clerh stand before him in good 
 health and spirits. He lost no time in alluding to 
 the great appointment — said how spontaneously 
 it had been made — how kindly the Chief Justice 
 proposed it, and with what unanimity all assented. 
 During this speech, it can well be imagined how 
 embarrassed Mr. Webster felt, compelled, as he 
 thought from a conviction of duty, to disappoint 
 his father's sanguine expectations. Nevertheless, 
 he commanded his countenance and voice, so as 
 to reply in a sufficiently assured manner. He 
 spoke gaily about the office ; expressed his great 
 obligation to their Honors, and his intention to 
 write them a most respectful letter ; if he could 
 have consented to record any body's judgments, he 
 should have been proud to have recorded their 
 Honors'.' He proceeded in this strain, till his 
 father exhibited signs of amazement; it having 
 occurred to him, at lengih, that his son might all 
 the time be serious. ' Do you intend to decline 
 this office?' he asked. 'Most certainly,' replied 
 his son ; ' I cannot think of doing otherwise. I 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER DECLINES THE CLERKSHIP. 
 
1 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER. 143 
 
 mean to use my tongue in the courts, not my pen ; 
 to be an actor, not a register of other men's 
 actions.' 
 
 " For a moment, Judge Webster seemed angry. 
 He rocked his chair slightly ; a flash went over 
 his eye, softened by age, but even then black as 
 jet; but it immediately disappeared, and his 
 countenance resumed its habitual serenity. Pa- 
 :ental love and partiality could not, after all, but 
 have been gratified with the son's devotion to an 
 honorable and distinguished profession, and his 
 evident confidence of success in it. ' Well, my 
 son,' said the Judge, ^your mother has always 
 said that you would come to something or nothing, 
 she was not sure which. I think you are about 
 settling that doubt for her.' " 
 
 In a few days, Daniel returned to Boston, and 
 the subject was never again alluded to in the 
 family. Mr. AVebster says that his father's eyes 
 were brimful of the tears of gratitude, as he spoke 
 of the appointment ; and that when he heard his 
 son decline it, he could scarce believe his own 
 ears. Before Mr. Webster left home, he had the 
 satisfaction of giving his father the means to 
 remove the mortgage, and to pay all the debts 
 
f 
 
 144 LIFE OF 
 
 which had been contracted on account of himself 
 and his brother. The money came, as we have 
 stated, in part from Mr. Emery, and in part from 
 Daniel's earnings, and his brother's. He wrote a 
 grateful and respectful letter to the judges, and 
 felt that restored serenity which every one expe- 
 riences when a troublesome question is deter- 
 mined. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 145 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mr. Webster admitted to the Bar — Establishes himself in New 
 Hampshire — His first cause — Death of his father — A son^s 
 testimony — The trial of a dumb depredator — Fourth of July 
 Oration in 1806 — Opinions of France — Relations of Agri- 
 culture and Commerce — Monthly Anthology — Mr. Webster's 
 first criminal case — His fatiguing journeys — His abhorrence 
 of affectation — Mode of addressing a jury — Admission to the 
 Superior Court. 
 
 In March, 1805, Mr. Gore moved the admission 
 of his pupil, Daniel Webster, to practise at the 
 Bar of the Court of Common Pleas, for Suffolk 
 County. In introducing him, Mr. Gore spoke 
 with emphasis of his remarkable talents and 
 attainments, and confidently predicted his future 
 eminence. The prediction had, no doubt, its 
 influence in producing its own fulfilment; both 
 by its stimulus upon the mind of the young 
 lawyer, and by its weight upon those who heard, 
 from Mr. Gore, a commendation much warmer 
 than the mere course of professional courtesy 
 would warrant or require. 
 
 Lo 
 
146 LIFE OF 
 
 Mr. Webster had resolved to establish himself 
 in his native state. Local attachments and filial 
 affection induced him to this determination ; and 
 perhaps he felt a natural diffidence, which led him 
 to try his first practice in a narrower sphere than 
 Boston, and to avail himself of his early friend- 
 ships and connections. His Boston acquaintances 
 and friends, hearing of Mr. Webster's intention to 
 settle in New Hampshire, promised him their 
 business; and as at that time there were many 
 mercantile failures, Mr. Webster commenced at 
 once a lucrative employment in the collection of 
 debts. After he had been admitted to the Bar, 
 he went from Boston to Amherst, where his 
 father's court was in session, and returned home 
 with him. His original purpose had been to 
 settle in Portsmouth, that being the only seaport 
 in the state, and the place of the principal com- 
 mercial business. But the age of his father, then 
 in his sixty-seventh year, determined Daniel to 
 remain near him ; and he opened an office in the 
 neighboring village of Boscawen. 
 
 In September of the same year, 1805, Mr. 
 Webster first appeared in court for the trial of 
 a cause. His father was on the bench, and the 
 court was held in Plymouth, then the county-seat 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 147 
 
 of Grafton. Among the members of the Bar 
 present were Mr. Webster's old friend, Mr. Thomp- 
 son, and several others to whom he had been in 
 the habit of looking up with reverence and 
 respect. The Sheriff of the court was Col. William 
 Webster, a connection of the family, who had 
 never seen Daniel Webster before, and who relates 
 that he was ashamed to see so lean and feeble a 
 young man come into court bearing the name of 
 Webster. He thought when Mr. Webster rose, 
 that he could not stand up long. His misgivings 
 were soon dissipated, however, as the debutant 
 had well prepared himself; and in this, his maiden 
 speech, surprised the court, and caused confident 
 auguries of his future eminence. It was such an 
 introduction to the law-seeking public, as there- 
 after ensured him crowds of clients. 
 
 Mr. Webster's father died in the Spring follow- 
 ing. Let us quote Mr. Webster's own language 
 respecting him : " My father, Ezekiel Webster, 
 was the handsomest man I ever saw, except my 
 brother Ezekiel. He died in April, 1806. I 
 neither left him nor forsook him. My opening an 
 office at Boscawen was that I might be near him. 
 I closed his eyes. He died at sixty-seven years 
 of age, after a life of exertion, toil, and exposure; 
 
148 LIFE OF 
 
 a private soldier, an officer, a legislator, a judge; 
 every thing a man could be, to whom learning 
 'never had disclosed her ample page.' My first 
 speech at the bar was made when he was on the 
 bench. He never heard me a second time. He 
 had in him what I recollect to have been the 
 character of some of the old Puritans. He was 
 deeply religious, but not sour. On the contrary, 
 good-humored and facetious, showing, even in his 
 age, with a contagious laugh, teeth all as white as 
 alabaster ; gentle, soft, playful ; and yet having a 
 heart in him that he seemed to have borrowed 
 from a lion. He could frown — a frown it was — 
 but cheerfulness, good-humor, and smiles, com- 
 posed his most usual aspect." 
 
 As throwing light on the character of father 
 and children, we preserve the following anecdote 
 of the early years of the two brothers, Ezekiel 
 and Daniel. The incident is related by a corres- 
 pondent of the Boston Traveller. The vegetables 
 in the garden had suffered very much from the 
 depredations of a woodchuck. Daniel, some ten or 
 twelve years old, and his older brother Ezekiel, 
 had set a trap, and succeeded in capturing the tres- 
 passer. Ezekiel proposed to kill the animal, and 
 end at once all further trouble from him; but 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 149 
 
 Daniel looked with compassion on his meek, dumb 
 captive, and offered to let him again go free. The 
 boys could not agree, and each appealed to their 
 father to decide the case. " Well, my boys," said 
 the old gentleman, " I will be the Judge. There 
 is the prisoner (pointing to the woodchuck) and 
 you shall be the counsel, and plead the case for 
 and against his life and liberty." 
 
 Ezekiel opened the case with a strong argu- 
 ment, urging the mischievous nature of the crimi- 
 nal, the great harm he had already done, said 
 that much time and labor had been spent in his 
 capture, and now, if he was suffered to live and 
 go again at large, he would renew his depreda- 
 tions, and be cunning enough not to suffer himself 
 to be caught again, and that he ought now to be 
 put to death ; that his skin was of some value, 
 and that to make the most of him they could, it 
 would not repay half the damage he had already 
 done. His argument was ready, practical, to the 
 point, and of much greater length than our limits 
 will allow us to occupy in relating the story. 
 
 The father looked with pride upon his son, who 
 became a distinguished jurist in his manhood. 
 " Now, Daniel, it is your turn ; I'll hear what you 
 have to say." 
 
 'C <' 
 
150 LIFE OF 
 
 'Twas his first case. Daniel saw that the plea 
 of his brother had sensibly affected his father, the 
 Judge; and as his large, brilliant black eyes 
 looked upon the soft, timid expression of the ani- 
 mal, and as he saw it tremble with fear in its 
 narrow prison-house, his heart swelled with pity, 
 and he appealed with eloquent words that the 
 captive might again go free. God, he said, had 
 made the woodchuck ; he made him to live, to 
 enjoy the bright sunlight, the pure air, the free 
 fields and woods. God had not made him, or 
 anything, in vain ; the woodchuck had as much 
 right to live as any other living thing ; he was 
 not a destructive animal, as the wolf and the fox 
 were ; he simply ate a few common vegetables, of 
 which they had a plenty, and could well spare a 
 part ; he destroyed nothing except the little food 
 he needed to sustain his humble life; and that 
 little food was as sweet to him, and as necessary 
 to his existence, as was to them the food upon his 
 mother's table. God furnished their own food; 
 he gave them all they possessed ; and would they 
 not spare a little for the dumb creature, who 
 really had as much right to his small share of 
 God's bounty, as they themselves had to their 
 portion ? yea, more, the animal had never violated 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 151 
 
 the laws of his nature, or the hiws of God, as man 
 often did ; but strictly followed the simple, harm- 
 less instincts he had received from the hand of 
 the Creator of all things. Created by God's hand, 
 he had a right, a right from God, to life, to food, 
 to liberty ; and they had no right to deprive him 
 of either. He alluded to the mute but earnest 
 pleadings of the animal for that life, as sweet, as 
 dear to him, as their own was to them, and the 
 just judgment they might expect if in selfish 
 cruelty, and cold heartlessness, they took the life 
 they could not restore again — the life that God 
 alone had given. 
 
 ' During this appeal, the tears had started to the 
 old man's eyes, and were fast running down his 
 sun-burnt cheeks ; every feeling of a father's heart 
 was stirred within him ; he saw the future great- 
 ness of his son before his eyes ; he felt that God 
 had blessed him in his children beyond the lot of 
 common men ; his pity and sympathy were awa- 
 kened by the eloquent words of compassion, and 
 the strong appeal for mercy ; and forgetting the 
 Judge in the man and the father, he sprang from 
 his chair, (while Daniel was in the midst of his 
 argument, without thinking he had already won 
 his case,) and turning to his older son, dashing 
 
152 LIFE OF 
 
 the tears from his eyes, exclaimedj " Zeke, Zeke, 
 YOU let that woodchuck go !" 
 
 On the fourth of July, 1806, Mr. Webster was 
 chosen by the people of Concord to deliver an 
 oration. This, like the oration of 1800, is not 
 included in Mr. Webster's published works, and 
 we avail ourselves of the abstracts and extracts 
 made by General Lyman, that our readers may 
 compare it with his earlier performances. The 
 subject of the speech was the possibility of 
 preserving the present form of our government, 
 the solitary representative of republican institu- 
 tions. " When we speak," said Mr. Webster, " of 
 preserving tlie Constitution^ we mean not the paper 
 on which it is written, but the spirit which dwells 
 in it. Government may lose all of its real char- 
 acter, its genius, its temper, without losing its 
 appearance. Eepublicanism, unless you guard it, 
 will creep out of its case of parchment, like a 
 snake out of its skin. You may have a Despot- 
 ism under the name of a Republic. You may 
 look on a government and see it possess all the 
 external modes of Freedom, and yet find nothing 
 of the essence, the vitality of Freedom in it; just 
 as you may contemplate an embalmed body, 
 where oil hath preserved proportion and form, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 153 
 
 and nerves without motion, and veins void of 
 blood." 
 
 Ij Among the most dangerous enemies of our 
 government, he instanced the passions and vices 
 of the people. But considering that evil commu- 
 nications corrupt systems as well as individuals, 
 he enlarged on the dangers which threatened its 
 well-being from its foreign relations. Intimately 
 connected as was our country with foreign nations 
 by commerce, which, from its nature, cannot exist 
 without rivalship, he inferred the necessity and 
 policy of granting it a protection sufficient to 
 defend it from the interruptions and aggressions 
 which the spirit of rivalship, and the injustice of 
 other nations may dispose them to infer. The 
 want of protection to commerce will be more fatal 
 
 , to our agriculture than either the drought or the 
 mildew ; for in this instance, were it left to our 
 choice, we should certainly imitate the conduct of 
 David, by choosing " to fall into the hands of the 
 Lord (for his mercies are great), and not to fall 
 into the hands of men." 
 
 The following sketch of the character of the 
 French empire will be read with interest, as 
 coming from a strong mind, contemporary with 
 the events on which it dwelt. 
 
154 LIFE OF 
 
 " We seem to be carried back to the Eoman 
 age. The days of Csesar are come agam. Even a 
 greater than Caesar is here. The throne of the 
 Bourbons is now filled by a new character of the 
 most astonishing fortunes. A new dynasty hath 
 taken place in Europe. A new era hath com- 
 menced. An empire is founded, more populous, 
 more energetic, more warlike, more powerful, than 
 Ancient Rome, at any moment of her existence. 
 The basis of this mighty fabric covers France, 
 Holland, Spain, Prussia, Italy, and Germany; 
 embracing perhaps an eighth part of the popula- 
 tion of the globe. 
 
 " Though this Empire is commercial in some 
 degree and in some parts, its ruling passion is not 
 commerce but war. Its genius is conquest, its 
 ambition is fame. With all the immorality, the 
 licentiousness, the prodigality, the corruption of 
 declining Rome, it has the enterprise, the courage, 
 the ferocity, of Rome in the days of the Consuls. 
 While the French Revolution was acting, it was 
 difficult to speak of France without exciting the 
 rancor of political party. The cause in which the 
 leaders professed to be engaged, was too dear to 
 American hearts to suffer their motives to be 
 questioned, or their excesses censured with just 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 155 
 
 severity. But tlie Revolutionary drama is now 
 closed — the curtain hath fallen on those treuiend- 
 ous scenes, w^hich, for fourteen years^ held the eye 
 of the world — that meteor which, ' from its horrid 
 hair shook pestilence and war/ hath now passed 
 off into the distant regions of space, and left us 
 to speculate coolly on the causes of it>s appearance." 
 
 It wdll be perceived that, passing from boyhood 
 to manhood in years, Mr. Webster had not changed 
 his opinions in relation to France. His political 
 preferences were strongly marked. At the time 
 when Mr. Webster delivered this oration, the gun- 
 boat policy of Mr. Jefferson had been brought 
 forward, and the embargo hinted at, thus leaving 
 foreign commerce undefended, and protecting by 
 annihilating it. Mr. Webster's political bias led 
 him to strong opposition to any policy which 
 should include the abandonment of protection to 
 the naval interests. He reviewed the position of 
 the United States in regard to both the great 
 belligerents, Britain and France ; and urged the 
 importance of protecting the commercial interests 
 of the country. 
 
 " Nothing is plainer," he said, " than this : if 
 we will have commerce, we must protect it. This 
 country is commercial as well as agricultural. 
 
156 LIFE OF 
 
 t 
 
 Indissoluble bonds connect liim who ploughs the 
 land with him who ploughs the sea. Nature has 
 placed us in a situation favorable to commercial 
 pursuits, and no government can alter the destina- 
 tion. Habits confirmed by two centuries are not 
 to be changed. An immense portion of our 
 property is on the waves. Sixty or eighty 
 thousand of our most useful citizens are there, 
 and are entitled to such protection from the 
 government as their case requires." 
 
 Thus, though Mr. Webster had at this time no 
 thoughts of becoming a politician, we find him 
 honestly exhibiting his political preferences, and 
 exhibiting the opinions of which at no distant 
 period, he was to become the public champion. 
 He was attentive to his profession, and not neglect- 
 ful of his literary tastes and avocations. From 
 his quiet office in Boscawen he furnished articles 
 for the Monthly Anthology, published at Cam- 
 bridge, and supported by the pens of the most 
 distinguished American waiters of that day. It 
 was edited by his old Phillips Academy friend and 
 fellow-student, Joseph Stevens Buckminster; and 
 in this field Mr. Webster could give free scope to 
 his brilliant imagination. 
 
 The second effort of Mr. Webster at the bar 
 
DANIEL W K B S T E R . 157 
 
 was the defence of a man arraigned for murder. 
 He was not yet admitted to practice in the court 
 in which the man was tried ; and perhaps the 
 case was one of guilt so obvious that only the 
 custom of the court made the assignment of coun- 
 sel necessary. The murder was foul and horrid, 
 jDcrpetrated on an innocent man ; a fellow prisoner 
 for debt. They were in the same room, and no 
 provocation was given by the victim which could 
 in any degree palliate the offence. The fact of 
 killing could not be questioned, and the defence 
 was narrowed down to a single point, the insanity 
 of the prisoner. This plea, while often least 
 tenable in fact, gives scope for legal ingenuity in 
 an inverse ratio to its basis. There were no proofs 
 of the man's former insanity — but his malignity 
 of disposition was notorious. Mr. Webster argued 
 that the very enormity of the deed, perpetrated 
 without any of the motives which operate upon 
 most minds, furnished presumptive proof of the 
 prisoner's alienation of mind ; and even the cool 
 deliberation and apparent serenity which he ex- 
 hibited at the time the deed was done, were proofs 
 that reason was perverted, and that a momentary 
 insanity had seized him. 
 
 The court and jury were deeply interested in 
 
 14 
 
158 LIFE OF 
 
 the young advocate's masterly analysis of the 
 human mind. He opened all the springs of action, 
 and described and classed every faculty of the 
 mind so lucidly and philosophically that it was a 
 new school for those who heard him. He showed 
 the different shapes insanity assumed, from a 
 single current of false reasoning upon a particular 
 subject, while there is a perfect soundness of mind 
 upon every other; to the reasoning aright upon 
 wrong premises and to the reasoning wrong upon 
 right j)remises, up to those paroxysms of madness, 
 when the eye is filled with strange sights, and the 
 ear with strange sounds, and reason is entirely 
 dethroned. As he laid open the infirmities of 
 human nature, the jury were in tears and the by- 
 standers were still more afiected; but common 
 sense prevailed over argument and eloquence, and 
 the wretch was condemned and executed. The 
 speech lost nothing of its efiect upon the people 
 by the decision of the jury, and was long the 
 subject of conversation. It is much to be regretted 
 that less eloquent pleas have often since defeated 
 in our courts the ends of justice. 
 
 Mr. Webster's early career at the bar was 
 attended with as much labor and unremitted 
 study as his course through college had been. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 159 
 
 Indeed, he graduated with a reputation which it 
 was no small task to sustain. He might, as many 
 other precocious students have done, have lived a 
 short time upon his college laurels, and then have 
 passed into obhvion. Life, with him, was an 
 earnest struggle ; and as a specimen of the physi- 
 cal endurance which he sustained, he stated to a 
 friend that he had, during his early years as a 
 lawyer, frequently, at sunset, put his saddle on 
 his horse, and ridden Mty miles, to be present at 
 the opening of court the next morning. On one 
 occasion, after a toilsome series of days and nights, 
 he was journeying on horseback, along a lonely 
 road, when he fell into a profound study upon the 
 merits of the case he was to argue the next morn- 
 ing. Long and tedious was the trial, as it pro- 
 ceeded in the chamber of his brain ; when, just as 
 the jury were to pronounce the verdict, a drop of 
 water fell on his hand, and he awakened from 
 sleep, comfortably seated under a tree, whither his 
 horse had carried him. After this nap in the 
 saddle, he hurried away, to finish, in his waking 
 hours, the work he had done in his dream. 
 
 Li the long years of Mr. Webster's legal prac- 
 tice, nearly half a century, it is stated that he was 
 employed as junior counsel in not more than about 
 
160 LIFE OF 
 
 a dozen instances. He had, almost from the first, 
 not so much a reputation to achieve, as to defend. 
 Much was expected of him; and while other 
 young practitioners were gaining experience in 
 lesser cases, and inferior courts, Mr. Webster was 
 thrown at once into a line of practice which re- 
 quired all his talents, and imposed upon him 
 constant study. He always prepared himself with 
 great industry and care — not relying upon his 
 conscious powers, but supporting his eloquence by 
 facts and precedents. He considered it an insult 
 to his auditory, at all periods of his life, to come 
 before them unprepared. He abhorred affectation 
 — and most of all, the affectation of speaking on 
 the spur of the moment, and without previous 
 thought. A friend of his, in speaking of his 
 habits and characteristics, says : " I have often 
 thought, from my long acquaintance with Mr. 
 Webster, that if other men could think as long, 
 and as closely, and as profoundly, their public 
 efforts would equal his ; for I have never known 
 a man in my life who made such preparation for 
 what he had to say before the court, before the 
 Senate, or before the people. He did not think 
 he had any right to offer extemporaneous thoughts 
 before a multitude of his fellow-citizens, no matter 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 161 
 
 who they were. He thought he was to dress 
 himself in his best garments — that he was to 
 appear and dehver his best thoughts, in his best 
 style, to those who stood to hear him. And thence 
 it happens that he always gave, in the course of 
 his long life, thoughts which were the result of 
 thorough preparation : the public came to under- 
 stand that what Mr. Webster said was worth 
 reading. Hence, what he did say was read more 
 than the productions of any man who was his 
 compeer in the country." 
 
 In opening a case, he secured his jury by a 
 plain, intelligible statement, usmg such clear and 
 unadorned language as could not be mistaken, and 
 thus gave evidence of his intention not to distort 
 or to mislead. He gained their confidence before 
 he appealed to their reason. 
 
 In May, 1807, Mr. Webster was admitted as 
 attorney and counsellor of the Superior Court of 
 New Hampshire; and in September he relin- 
 quished his office and practice in Boscawen to his 
 brother Ezekiel, and removed to Portsmouth. 
 
 14* 
 
162 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 The New Hampshire Bar — Mr. Webster and Jeremiah Mason — 
 Professional Anecdotes — The Drilled Witness — Webster's Farm 
 — Mr. Webster's Marriage — State of the Country and of Parties 
 
 — New England Interests — The Bar as an Introduction to 
 Public Life — Mr. Webster in " caucus" — Popular Enthusiasm 
 
 — Mr. Webster's Professional Industry — His Habits of Early 
 Rising — His Letter upon the Morning. 
 
 Among the distinguished men with whom Mr. 
 Webster was brought into competition at the bar 
 of the Superior Court of New Hampshire, were 
 Jeremiah Mason, Edward St. Loe Livermore, 
 WilUam King Atkinson, and George Sullivan. 
 Jeremiah Smith was Chief Justice of the State ; 
 and having been an early and attached friend of 
 Mr. Webster's father, the son succeeded to his 
 friendship. Samuel Dexter and Joseph Story, of 
 Massachusetts, were occasional practitioners in the 
 New Hampshire courts. To meet such men, Mr. 
 Webster was obliged assiduously to prepare him- 
 self; and by close study to supply his lack of 
 experience. He sounded his clients thoroughly^ 
 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 163 
 
 and explored every point which the opposite party 
 were likely to make; acquainting himself care- 
 fully with the weakness as well as the strength 
 of his own side, and of the other. He was very 
 rarely surprised by any new or unexpected testi- 
 mony ; and even though some unlooked-for deve- 
 lopment occurred, he betrayed no astonishment. 
 
 As Mr. Mason and Mr. Webster were the 
 acknowledged heads of the bar, they were usually 
 engaged in the same causes, and most generally 
 opposed to each other. They travelled together, 
 occupied apartments in the same house, and sat 
 at the same table ; by their friendly intercourse 
 exciting the wonder of men, who could not com- 
 prehend how the two great advocates could deal 
 such hard blows in argument, and still be warm 
 friends. Mr. Mason died in 1849 ; and Mr. Web- 
 ster, in a speech at the meeting of the Suffolk 
 Bar, made the following allusion to their early 
 and continued friendship : " The proprieties of 
 this occasion compel me, with whatever reluctance, 
 to refrain from the personal feelings which arise 
 in my heart upon the death of one with whom I 
 have cultivated a sincere, affectionate, and un- 
 broken friendship, from the day that I commenced 
 my own professional career, to the closing hour of 
 
164 LIFE OF 
 
 his life. I will not say, of the advantages which 
 I have derived from his intercourse and conver- 
 sation, all that Mr. Fox said of Edmund Burke ; 
 but I am bound to say, of my own professional 
 discipline and attainments, whatever they may be, 
 I owe much to that close attention to the dis- 
 charge of my duties, which I was compelled to 
 pay for nine successive years, from day to day, by 
 Mr. Mason's efforts and arguments at the same 
 bar. Fas est ah lioste doceri ; and I must have 
 been unintelligent indeed, not to have learned 
 something from the constant displays of that 
 power which I had so much occasion to see and 
 to feel." While conversing upon his connection 
 with Mr. Mason, Mr. Webster once said : " If any 
 body should think me somewhat familiar with the 
 law on some points, and should be curious enough 
 to desire to know how it happened, tell him that 
 Jeremiah Mason compelled me to study it. He 
 was my master." 
 
 It is related that the first meeting of Mr. Web- 
 ster with Jeremiah Mason, as opposing counsel, 
 was in a criminal case. The person accused being 
 a man of some note, great efforts w^ere made to 
 defend him; and Jeremiah Mason, as the most 
 prominent member of the Portsmouth Bar, was 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 1G5 
 
 engaged for the defence. In the absence of the 
 prosecutmg attorney, Mr. Webster was delegated 
 to conduct the prosecution for the State. The 
 accused was acquitted; but Mr. Mason acknow- 
 ledged the high, open, and manly ground taken 
 by Mr. Webster. He did not resort to technicali- 
 ties, but confined himself to the law and the flicts, 
 and commanded the high respect of bench and 
 of bar. 
 
 An amusing anecdote of Mr. Webster's early 
 professional career, as related by himself, is given 
 in Lanman's " Private Life." " Soon after com- 
 mencing the practice of my profession at Ports- 
 mouth," said Mr. AYebster, " I was waited on by 
 an old acquaintance of my father's, resident in an 
 adjacent county, who wished to engage my pro- 
 fessional services. Some years previous, he had 
 rented a farm, with the clear understanding that 
 he could purchase it, after the expiration of his 
 lease, for one thousand dollars. Finding the flirm 
 productive, he soon determined to own it ; and as 
 he laid aside money for the purchase, he was 
 tempted to improve what he felt certain he should 
 possess. But his landlord, perceiving the property 
 was greatly increased in value, coolly refused to 
 receive the one thousand dollars, when, in due 
 
166 LIFE OF 
 
 time, it was presented ; and when his extortionate 
 demand of double that sum was refused, he at 
 once brought an action of ejectment. The man 
 had but the one thousand dollars, and an unble- 
 mished reputation ; yet I willingly undertook his 
 case. 
 
 " The opening argument of the plaintiff's 
 attorney left me little ground for hope. He 
 stated that he could prove that my client hired 
 the farm ; but there was not a word in the lease 
 about the sale, nor was there a word spoken about 
 the sale when the lease was signed, as he could 
 prove by a witness. In short, his was a clear 
 case, and I left the court-room at dinner-time with 
 feeble hopes of success. By chance I sat at table 
 next a newly-commissioned militia officer, and a 
 brother lawyer began to joke him about his lack 
 of military knowledge. 'Indeed,' he jocosely 
 remarked, 'you should write down the orders, and 
 
 get old W to beat them into your sconce, as 
 
 I saw him this morning with a paper in his hand, 
 teaching something to young M in the court- 
 house entry.' Can it be, thought I, that old 
 
 ,W , the plaintiff in the case, was instructing 
 
 young M , who was his reliable witness ? 
 
 "After dinner the court was reopened, and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 1G7 
 
 M was put on the stand. He was examined 
 
 by the plamtiff's counsel, and certainly told a 
 clear, plain story, repudiating all knowledge of 
 any agreement to sell. When he had concluded, 
 the opposite counsel, with a triumphant glance, 
 turned to me, and asked me if I was satisfied. 
 ' NcTt quite,' I replied. 
 
 "I had noticed a j^iece of paper protruding 
 
 from M 's pocket, and hastily approaching 
 
 him, I seized it, before he had the least idea of 
 my intention. ' Now,' I asked, ' tell me if this 
 paper does not detail the story you have so clearly 
 told, and if it is not all false ?' The witness huns: 
 down his head with shame ; and when the paper 
 was found to be what I had supposed, and in the 
 
 very hand-writing of old W , he lost his case 
 
 at once. Nay, there was such a storm of indig- 
 nation against him, that he soon removed to the 
 West. 
 
 " Years afterwards, visiting New Hampshire, I 
 was the guest of my professional brethren at a 
 public dinner; and towards the close of the 
 festivities, I was asked if I would solve a great 
 doubt by answering a question. 'Certainly.' 
 ' Well then, Mr. Webster, we have often wondered 
 how you knew what was in M 's pocket !' 
 
 I' " 
 
168 LIFE OF 
 
 Another anecdote of Mr. Webster's professional 
 life in Portland is characteristic of the man. One 
 of his clients, a^fter gaining a certain suit, found 
 himself unable to pay his lawyer, and insisted 
 upon deeding to him a piece of land, situated in 
 a neighboring county. So, for some j'sars the 
 matter rested, until, ha23pening to be in the 
 neighborhood, it occurred to Mr. Webster to look 
 up his property. He found an old woman living 
 upon it alone, in an old house among the rocks. 
 He questioned the old lady about the farm, and 
 was told that it was the property of a lawyer 
 named Webster, and that she was daily expecting 
 him to come and turn her out of doors. Mr. 
 Webster made himself known, assured her that 
 she need not fear any such summary process, 
 made her a liberal present, and took his departure ; 
 not, however, till he had made her glad by 
 accej)ting her humble hospitality. The place is 
 still known as " Webster's Farm," but it is believed 
 that he never took formal possession of the 
 property. 
 
 Mr. Webster was now in a position to settle 
 himself in life, and he was united in marriage 
 with Grace Fletcher, a young lady who had been 
 admitted to a share in his hopes and plans, long 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 1G9 
 
 before they had attained that definiteness which 
 they now possessed. She was about his own age, 
 and hved to share many of his successes, and to 
 verify the truth of their young hopes in the fame 
 of her husband. 
 
 From the complexion of Mr. Webster's early 
 orations, specimens of which we have given, the 
 reader has perceived that he had decided political 
 opinions, and a manly way of expressing them. 
 The early part of the present century was marked 
 by much greater excitement upon political subjects 
 than we have witnessed since. There may have 
 been less printing and publishing, but there was 
 deeper feeling, for more was at stake. The policy 
 and powers of the government had not been 
 settled. Many questions which are now deter- 
 mined by precedent, had then to be decided for 
 the first time. And, in the decision, mere ab- 
 stractions were not the points at stake, but the 
 wealth and prosperity of the people and the very 
 existence of the government. The great European 
 powers, at war with each other, were disposed to 
 treat this country as a mere colonial dependency 
 of Europe, and to decide upon international rights 
 and questions without recognising her existence 
 as a power among the nations of the earth. Hon. 
 
 15 
 
170 LIFE OF 
 
 Edward Everett, in his memoir of Daniel Webster, 
 thus sketches the position of the nation and of the 
 parties within it. 
 
 " The pohtics of the country were in such a state, 
 that there was scarcely any course which could be 
 pursued with entire satisfaction by a patriotic 
 young man, sagacious enough to penetrate behind 
 mere party names and to view public questions in 
 their true light. Party spirit ran high ; errors 
 had been committed by ardent men on both sides ; 
 and extreme opinions had been advanced on most 
 questions, which no wise and well-informed person 
 at the present day would be willing to espouse. 
 The United States, though not actually drawn to 
 any great length into the vortex of the French 
 Eevolution, were powerfully affected by it. The 
 deadly struggle of the two great European belli- 
 gerents, in which the neutral rights of this country 
 were grossly violated by both, gave a complexion 
 to our domestic politics. A change of administra- 
 tion, mainly resulting from difference of opinion 
 in respect to our foreign relations, had taken place 
 in 1801. If we may consider President Jefferson's 
 inaugural address as the indication of the principles 
 on which he intended to conduct his administration, 
 it was his purpose to take a new departure, and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 171 
 
 to disregard the former party divisions. ' We 
 have,' said he, in that eloquent state paper, ' called 
 by different names, brethren of the same principle. 
 We are all republicans, we are all federalists.' 
 
 " At the time these significant exj)ressions were 
 uttered, Mr. Webster, at nineteen, was just leaving 
 college, and preparing to embark on the voyage 
 of life. A sentiment so liberal was not only in 
 accordance with the generous temper of youth, 
 but highly congenial with the spirit of enlarged 
 patriotism which has ever guided his public course. 
 There is certainly no individual who has filled a 
 prominent place in our political history, who has 
 shown himself more devoted to principle, and less 
 to party. While no man has clung with greater 
 tenacity to the friendships which spring from 
 agreement in political opinions, no man has been 
 less disposed to find in these associations an in- 
 strument of monopoly or exclusion in favor of 
 individuals, interests, or sections of the country. 
 
 "But, however catholic may have been the 
 intentions and wishes of Mr. Jefferson, events both 
 at home and abroad were too strong for him, 
 and defeated that policy of blending the two great 
 parties into one, which has always been a favorite 
 — perhaps we may add a visionary project — with 
 
172 LIFE OF 
 
 statesmen of elevated and generous characters. 
 The aggressions of the belligerents on our neutral 
 commerce still continued; and, by the joint effect 
 of the French Berlin and Milan Decrees, and the 
 British Orders in Council, it was all but swept 
 from the ocean. In this state of things, two 
 courses were open to the United States as a grow- 
 ing neutral power : one, that of prompt resistance 
 to the aggressive policy of the belligerents; the 
 other, that which was called the ' restrictive sys- 
 tem,' which consisted in a*n embargo on our own 
 vessels, with a view to withdraw them from the 
 grasp of the foreign cruisers, and in laws inhibiting 
 commercial intercourse with England and France. 
 There was a division of opinion in the cabinet of 
 Mr. Jefferson, and in the country at large. The 
 latter policy was finally adopted. It fell in with 
 the general views of Mr. Jefferson, against com- 
 mitting the country to the risks of a foreign war. 
 His administration was also strongly pledged to 
 retrenchment and economy; in the pursuit of 
 which a portion of our little navy had been 
 brought to the hammer, and a species of shore 
 defence substituted, which can now be thought of 
 only with mortification and astonishment. 
 
 '' Although the discij^line of j)arty was suffi- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 173 
 
 ciently strong to cause this system of measures to 
 be adopted and pursued for years, it was never 
 cordially approved by the people of the United 
 States of any party. Leading republicans, both 
 at the South and the North, denounced it. With 
 Mr. Jefferson's retirement from office, it fell rapidly 
 into disrepute. It continued, however, to form 
 the basis of our party divisions, till the war of 
 1812. In these divisions, as has been intimated, 
 both parties were in a false position; the one 
 supporting and forcing upon the country a system 
 of measures not cordially approved of even by 
 themselves; the other, a powerless minority, 
 zealously opposing those measures, but liable for 
 that reason to be thought backward in asserting 
 the neutral rights of the country. Among these, 
 mature beyond his years, was Mr. "Webster." 
 
 We have already quoted, from his Concord 
 oration, his strong arguments in favor of cherish- 
 ing and defending the commercial interests of the 
 United States. New England was deeply inte- 
 rested in commerce. New Hampshire, with its 
 one sea-port, has in its coat-of-arms a ship on the 
 stocks. The active industry of New England, 
 without the agricultural facilities of other States, 
 was necessarily drawn into commerce and the 
 
 15='= 
 
174 LIFE OF 
 
 fisheries. The commercial restrictions which pre- 
 ceded the war, fell heavily upon this portion of 
 the confederacy ; and it is asking too much of any 
 community, however patriotic, to demand their 
 hearty approval and advocacy of measures which, 
 if they benefit the country, do it at the expense 
 of a portion of the citizens. There is always a 
 choice of measures ; and it is entirely too harsh a 
 judgment to say of those who prefer one course 
 above another, that they are necessarily deficient 
 in patriotism, because they elect that political 
 course which would do them least injury. 
 
 The Bar has usually been, in the United States, 
 the best introduction to public life. The talents 
 and eloquence of lawyers become matters of pub- 
 lic notoriety. Parties are anxious to secure the 
 aid of talent. Governments invite its co-operation 
 and assistance. The people at large expect and 
 demand that the powers which are exhibited for a 
 fee, in the cases of individuals before the courts, 
 should be heard for love of country, in behalf of 
 the nation ; and the natural and necessary ambi- 
 tion of men who are conscious of intellectual gifts, 
 and who derive mental nourishment from the 
 excitement of admiration, predisposes them to 
 listen to these calls. We are not to wonder, then, 
 
DANIELWEBSTER. 175 
 
 that Mr. Webster was early drawn into politics. 
 There is a sympathy between that science and the 
 science of law" — if indeed they may not more 
 properly be treated as different branches of the 
 same subject. But while party spirit ran high, 
 and amounted in many cases to personal bitter- 
 ness, it is but justice to Mr. Webster to say that in 
 this respect, throughout his whole life, he kept a 
 watch upon himself; and his course is unmarked 
 by the personal quarrels which have been the 
 unfortunate incidents in the lives of many other 
 statesmen. 
 
 When he entered the political arena, it was at 
 once to be acknowledged as a leader. It was a 
 tribute to his commanding talents ; for he never 
 resorted to the arts which designing men practise 
 to obtain popular favor. Indeed, in this respect 
 he did less to conciliate and win general affection 
 than would have been perfectly allowable. He 
 was direct and bold, coming ojoenly to what he 
 designed to say, without circumlocution, without 
 evasion, and without flattery. 
 
 Mr. Webster was one of the leading spirits in 
 many political gatherings in and near Portsmouth. 
 We shall not particularise, but present, from the 
 account of a witness, an idea of his manner and 
 
176 LIFE OF 
 
 his subject matter. The writer says that he was 
 traveUing through Portsmouth, and was about to 
 leave the place. His carriage had been brought to 
 the inn door, when the hostler said, " Sir, are you 
 going away ? Mr. Webster is to speak to-night." 
 The gentleman, having heard this before from 
 others, his equals, and finding even the hostler at 
 the inn the admirer of Mr. Webster, determined 
 to wait, and see and hear for himself this man 
 who could win " golden opinions from all sorts of 
 peo|)le." He went early to the Hall where the 
 meeting was to be held, and found it already filled 
 to overflowing. Courtesy to a stranger, joined, 
 perhaps, to a natural pride in their townsmen, 
 induced members of the crowd to give way, and 
 leave him room to stand. 
 
 A tremendous noise soon announced that the 
 orator had arrived ; but upon the organization of 
 the meeting, several gentlemen preceded Mr. 
 Webster. They were listened to with polite 
 apathy, but the enthusiasm of the crowd was 
 reserved for Daniel Webster. When he arose at 
 length, it was some moments before the cheering 
 would permit him to be heard. When order was 
 restored, he went on with great serenity and ease 
 
DANIEL AVEBSTER. 177 
 
 with his remarks, without making the slightest 
 effort to command applause. 
 
 The audience quietly listened. Now and then 
 there were murmurs of approbation, which indi- 
 cated that the crowd needed only some one to set 
 the example, to break out into applause. But 
 every indication of such a demonstration w^as 
 repressed, that all might hear; and when the 
 speech closed, the pent-up enthusiasm broke out 
 in long and heart-felt demonstrations of admira- 
 tion. The speech was strong, gentlemanly, and 
 appropriate, but without a spark of the dema- 
 gogue in it. The gentleman whose impressions 
 we are recording, says that the most remarkable 
 fact to him was that a promiscuous audience 
 should have had the good taste to relish sound, 
 close reasoning, in a place where vague declama- 
 tion is usually received with most favor. 
 
 But while thus interested in public concerns, 
 Mr. Webster was still indefatigable in his profes- 
 sional pursuits. The secret by which he accom- 
 plished so much, may be gathered from the 
 following reminiscence, given by a legal gentle- 
 man in Providence, in an address in honor of his 
 memory. 
 
 "I had directions from a client, in 1818 or 
 
178 LIFE OF 
 
 1819, to consult him upon a case of some import- 
 ance, a case in which were presented numerous 
 cross-questions of law and equity, so ensnared 
 and entangled, that it required days and weeks 
 of hard labor to discover a channel-way over its 
 shoals and amid its rocks. I called on Mr. 
 Webster on the evening of my arrival in Boston, 
 and stated the case. He saw its difficulties, and 
 observed that the early morning was the period 
 for such a labor, and requested me to meet him 
 in his study at an early hour, which I accordingly 
 did. 
 
 " Before the hour of dinner he had threaded all 
 the avenues and cross-paths of the labyrinth, and 
 he gave an opinion so clear and so comprehensive, 
 that at the dinner-table I was induced to ask him 
 what had been his system of mental culture. He 
 gave me an outline, and the reasons in support of 
 it. It was this — that so far as training was con- 
 cerned, the system which experience had shown 
 to be most conducive to physical, was equally 
 conducive to mental power. That the training 
 in both cases should be the same. That it was 
 a law of our natures, that the body or the mind 
 that labored constantly must necessarily labor | 
 moderately. He instanced the race-horse, which 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 179 
 
 by occasional efforts, in which all its power is 
 exerted, followed by periods of entire rest, would 
 in time add very largely to its speed; and the 
 great walkers or runners of our own race, who 
 from small beginnings, wdien fifteen or twenty 
 miles a day fatigued them, would in the end walk 
 off fifty miles at the rate of five or six miles an 
 hour. I think that he also mentioned the London 
 porter, who at first staggering under a load of 150 
 or 200 pounds, would in time walk off with six 
 or eight hundred pounds with apparent ease. 
 The same law governs the mind. When em- 
 ployed at all, all its powers should be exerted to 
 its utmost. Its fatigue should be followed by its 
 entire rest. He stated that he was generally in 
 his study at five in the morning ; that whatever 
 mental occupation employed him, he put out all 
 his power; and when his mental vision began 
 to be obscure, he ceased entirely, and resorted to 
 some amusement or light business as a relaxa- 
 tion. I remember distinctly his quotation from 
 Chesterfield : " Do one thing at a time ; and what- 
 ever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." 
 
 Many write and talk eloquently of the morning, 
 who have no practical knowledge of its beauties 
 and its salubrity. Mr. Webster acted as well as 
 
180 LIFE OF 
 
 wrote. We subjoin here a letter written by him 
 several years ago, and dated at Richmond, at five 
 o'clock on a Spring morning. 
 
 " My dear Friend : — Whether it be a favor or 
 an annoyance, you owe this letter to my early 
 habits of rising. From the hour marked at the 
 top of this page, you will naturally conclude that 
 my companions are not now engaging my atten- 
 tion, as we have not calculated on being early 
 travellers to-day. 
 
 " This city has a pleasant seat. It is high ; the 
 James River runs below it; and when I went out, 
 an hour ago, nothing was heard but the roar of 
 the Falls. The air is tranquil, and its tempera- 
 ture mild. It is morning, and a morning sweet 
 and fresh, and delightful. Every body knows the 
 morning in its metaphorical sense, applied to so 
 many occasions. The health, strength, and 
 beauty of early years, lead us to call that period 
 the ^morning of life.' Of a lovely young woman, 
 we say she is ' bright as the morning,' and no one 
 doubts why Lucifer is called ' son of the morning.' 
 
 " But the morning itself, few people, inhabitants 
 of cities, know any thing about. Among all our 
 good people, not one in a thousand sees the sun 
 rise once in a year. They know nothing of the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 181 
 
 morning. Their idea of it is, that it is that part 
 of the day which comes along after a cup of coffee, 
 or a piece of toast. With them morning is not a 
 new issuing of light, a new bursting forth of the 
 sun, a new waking up of all that has life from a 
 sort of temporary death, to behold again the works 
 of God, the heavens and the earth ; it is only a 
 part of the domestic day, belonging to reading the 
 newspapers, answering notes, sending the children 
 to school, and giving orders for dmner. The first 
 streak of light, the earliest purpling of the East, 
 which the lark springs up to greet, and the deeper 
 and deeper coloring into orange and red, till at 
 length the *^ glorious sun is seen, regent of day' — 
 this they never enjoy, for they never see it. 
 
 " Beautiful descriptions of morning abound in 
 all languages, but they are the strongest, perhaps, 
 in the East, where the sun is frequently the object 
 of worship. King David speaks of taking to 
 himself Hhe wings of the morning.' This is 
 highly poetical and beautiful. The wings of the 
 morning are the beams of the rising sun. It is 
 thus said that the sun of righteousness shall arise 
 Svitli healing in his wings' — a rising that shall 
 scatter life, and health, and joy, throughout the 
 Universe. Milton has fme descriptions of morn- 
 
 16 
 
182 LIFE OF 
 
 ing, but not so many as Shakspeare, from whose 
 writings pages of the most beautiful imagery, all 
 founded on the glory of morning, might be ful- 
 filled. I 
 "I never thought that Adam had much the; 
 advantage of us, from having seen the world while 
 it was new. The manifestations of the power of 
 God, like His mercies, are ^new every morning,' 
 and fresh every moment. We see as fine risings 
 of the sun as Adam ever saw ; and its risings are 
 as much a miracle now as they were in his day, 
 and I think a good deal more ; because it is now 
 a part of the miracle that for thousands and thou- 
 sands of years he has come to his appointed time, 
 without the variation of a millionth part of a\ 
 second. Adam could not tell how this might be. 
 I know the morning — I am acquainted with it, 
 and I love it. I love it fresh and sweet as it is — 
 a daily new creation, breaking forth and calling 
 all that have life, and breath, and being, to new 
 adoration, new enjoyments, and new gratitude." 
 
DANIEL T^^EBSTER. 183 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Webster a Candidate for Congress — His account of his Ser- 
 vices in the State Legislature — Mr. Webster elected Represen- 
 tative from New Hampshire — Appointed a Member of the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs — Mr. Webster's First Speech — 
 Resolution of Inquiry relative to the Berlin and Milan Decrees 
 — Character and Impression of Mr. Webster's Speech — Remarks 
 upon the Navy and the Embargo — Loss of Mr. Webster's House 
 by Fire — Re-elected to Congress — Position of the Country after 
 the War— Attitude of the South towards a Tariff— Mr. AVebster'a 
 Course on the Bank and Tariff Questions — Death of Mr. Web- 
 ster's Mother. 
 
 In 1812, Mr. Webster having reached thirty 
 years, the age which the Constitution requires, 
 was brought forward by his friends as a candidate 
 for Representative from New Hampshire, in the 
 National Legislature. His whole public life has 
 been spent in the service of the United States. 
 In allusion to this subject, he said in a speech to 
 the citizens of Syracuse, N. Y. : 
 
 "It has so happened that all the public services 
 which I have rendered in the world, in my day 
 and generation, have been connected with the 
 
184 LIFE OF 
 
 general government. I think I ouglit to make an 
 exception. I was ten days a member of the 
 Massachusetts Legislature (laughter), and I turned 
 my thoughts to the search of some good object in 
 which I could be useful in that position ; and after 
 much reflection, I introduced a bill wdiich, with 
 the general consent of both Houses of the Massa- 
 chusetts Legislature, passed into a law, and is now 
 a law of the State, w^hich enacts that no man in 
 the State shall catch trout in any other than tlie 
 old way, with an ordinary hook and line. (Great 
 laughter.) With that exception, I never was 
 connected, for an hour, with any State govern- 
 ment in my life. I never held office, high or low, 
 under any State government. Perhaps that was 
 my misfortune. 
 
 "At the age of thirty I was in New Hamp- 
 shire practising law, and had some clients. John 
 Taylor Oilman, who for fourteen years was 
 governor of the State, thought that, a young 
 man as I was, I might be fit to be an Attorney 
 General of the State of New Hampshire, and he 
 nominated me to the Council; and the Council, 
 taking it in their deep consideration, and not 
 happening to be of the same politics as the 
 governor and myself, voted, three to one, that I 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 185 
 
 was not competent, and very likely tliey were 
 right. (Laughter.) So you see, gentlemen, I 
 never gained promotion under any State govern- 
 ment." 
 
 The people, however, thought that Mr. Webster 
 was fit to represent his native State in Congress. 
 The ticket upon which his name led was elected 
 by a majority of from two to three thousand. 
 The contest was close. The election was then by 
 "general ticket," all the names being placed on 
 one ballot, and the vote of the whole State 
 requiring to be ascertained, before it could be 
 known who was elected. Those were not the 
 days of railroads and magnetic telegraphs, and 
 suspense played with the fears and hopes of those 
 who felt an interest in the the contest. When at 
 length it was ascertained that the "Federal 
 ticket," on which Mr. Webster's name was borne, 
 was elected, the rejoicings of the townsmen and 
 immediate constituents was very great. It was 
 unquestionably a great triumph to Mr. Webster ; 
 and his brother Ezekiel shared his pleasure. 
 Joseph, the waggish brother, who would by this 
 have perceived that Daniel was admitted to 
 "know as much as do the rest of his family," 
 died two years previously. He was a genial and 
 
186 LIFE OF 
 
 kind-hearted man, and his brothers deeply la- 
 mented him. 
 
 Col. Samuel L. Knapp, one of the earliest biog- 
 raphers of Mr. Webster, thus speaks of his 
 personal character and opinions upon his entrance 
 into public life. " Fully persuaded of the true 
 course, he followed it with so much firmness and 
 principle, that sometimes his serenity was taken 
 by the furious and headstrong as apathy; but 
 when a fair legitimate opportunity offered, he 
 came out with such strength and manliness, that 
 the doubting were satisfied, and the complaining 
 silenced. In the worst of times, and in the dark- 
 est hour, he had faith in the redeeming qualities 
 of the people. They might be wrong ; but he saw 
 into their true character sufiiciently to believe that 
 they would never remain permanently in error. 
 In some of his conversations upon the subject, 
 he compared the people in their management of 
 national afiairs to that of the sagacious and indefa- 
 tigable raftsmen on his own Merrimack, who had 
 falls and shoals to contend with on their way to 
 the ocean; guiding skilfully and fearlessly over 
 the former, between rocks and through breaks, 
 and when reaching the sand-banks, jumping off 
 into the water with lever, axe, and oar, and then 
 
WEBSTER EXPOUNDING THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 187 
 
 pushing, cutting, and directing, till they made all 
 go, to the astonishment of those looking on. 
 
 Mr. Webster took his seat in Congress at the 
 extra session of 1813. He had prepared himself 
 for his post as a legislator, as he was accustomed 
 always to prepare himself for any new position, 
 by careful exammation of the duties it would 
 impose, their nature, and his capacity for them. 
 Mr. Clay, one of the great leaders of the war 
 party, had come into the House upon that 
 impulse, and was elected Speaker by a large 
 majority. Mr. Webster, the known representa- 
 tive of a different interest, was by the Speaker 
 placed upon the Committee on Foreign Affairs, at 
 such a juncture the most important committee in 
 the House. His fellow-members were Calhoun, 
 Grundy, Jackson of Virginia, and Ingersoll and 
 Fish of New York. Whether this appointment 
 was the consequence of some rumors of his talents, 
 then little known in Washington, and entirely 
 untried everywhere, as a legislator, or whether 
 Mr. Clay, bound in courtesy to give New England 
 a voice, chose Mr. Webster as a new member, and 
 not obnoxious from any previous Congressional 
 passages, it is impossible to say. Undoubtedly, 
 both reasons had their weight. 
 
188 LIFE OF 
 
 Mr. Webster's first speech in Congress was made 
 in introducing a series of resolutions, requesting 
 the President to inform the House when, and by 
 whom, and in what manner the first intelligence 
 of the repeal of the Decrees of Berlin and Milan 
 was given to the government of the United States. 
 The object of these resolutions was to elicit a 
 communication on this subject from the Executive 
 which would unfold the proximate causes of the 
 war with Great Britain, so far as they were con- 
 nected with these decrees. No full report of this, 
 Mr. Webster's maiden speech in Congress, has ever 
 been published. The resolutions involved nice 
 points of inquiry, and produced a long debate — 
 an event unforeseen and undesired by Mr. Web- 
 ster. The first Orders in Council of Great Britain, 
 were issued in retaliation for the Berlin Decree of 
 Napoleon. The French answered by the Milan 
 Decree, and the British retaliated by further 
 Orders in Council. The operation of both was to 
 destroy the commerce of neutrals altogether ; for 
 while the English decrees made vessels liable to 
 seizure which did not touch at a British port and I 
 obtain what amounted to a new clearance, the 
 French decree "denationalised" all vessels which 
 submitted to any such recognition of British supre- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 189 
 
 macy. Between the two fires, neutral commerce 
 could not fliil to be destroyed. The British Orders 
 were conditional in their operation, ceasing upon 
 the revocation of the French decrees ; and one of 
 the causes of complaint against Great Britain was, 
 that the Berlin and Milan Decrees were repealed, 
 while Great Britain still refused to rescind the 
 Orders in Council. The American diplomatists 
 insisted that the French decrees had ceased to 
 exist ; but the French Government failed to sup- 
 ply any proof of the fact, until after war was 
 actually declared between the United States and 
 Great Britain. Then, a document bearing a 
 previous date w^as produced. Everything, even 
 to this day, is involved in doubt, except the fact 
 that the two belligerents, in their war of annoy- 
 ance against each other, cared nothing about the 
 United States or their commerce ; and the farther 
 fact that the French Government did not hesitate 
 to employ falsehoods, evasions, and forged state 
 papers, by which an unsatisfactory and half-way 
 revocation of her Orders was procured from Great 
 Britain — the administration of that country 
 yielding it with about as good a grace as a man 
 would pay a check which he had strong suspicions 
 was counterfeit. 
 
190 LIFE OF 
 
 No full report of Mr. Webster's s^oeech has been 
 preserved. We gather, from extemporaneous 
 accounts, that he placed in juxtaposition the con- 
 flicting statements and evidence. The response 
 to the resolutions, after they had been the subject 
 of several weeks' debate, was a full report to the 
 House of all that they called for, the majority for 
 their passage being large. The debate was not so 
 much upon the expediency of the resolutions, as 
 upon the general subject. It took a wide range ; 
 but after his opening speech, Mr. Webster did not 
 address the House upon the subject. 
 
 Mr. March, who has carefully collated the 
 newspaper reports, and the reminiscences of those 
 who were present at Daniel Webster's first appear- 
 ance as a parliamentary orator, gives a graphic 
 and animated account of it. Mr. Webster dis- 
 played a cautious regard for facts, a philosophical 
 moderation of tone, a fulness of knowledge, and 
 an aptness of historical illustration, which asto- 
 nished the House. There was no exaoro'eration 
 of statement or argument — no sophistry or un- 
 called-for rhetoric. Upon the subject of interna- 
 tional law, he was well read; and the science 
 which so few country lawyers would have thought 
 it necessary to become proficient in, now stood 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 191 
 
 liim in great stead. The oldest parliamentarian 
 could not have exhibited more propriety and 
 decency of manner and language, nor the most 
 able logic been more perspicacious and convincing. 
 There was a harmony between his thought and 
 its expression, that won attention, and compelled 
 admiration. His opening w^as simple, unaffected, 
 and without pretension; gradually gaining the 
 confidence of his audience by its transparent sin- 
 cerity, and freedom from any attempt at display. 
 As the orator continued, and grew animated, his 
 words became more fluent, and his language more 
 nervous; a crowd of thoughts seemed rushing 
 upon him, all eager for utterance. He held them, 
 however, under the command of his mind, as 
 greyhounds with a leash, till he reached the close 
 of his speech, wdien, warmed by the previous re- 
 straint, he poured them all forth, one after ano- 
 ther, in glowing language. 
 
 The speech took the House by surprise, not so 
 much from its eloquence, as from the vast amount 
 of historical knowledge and illustrative ability 
 displayed in it. How a person, untrained to 
 forensic contests, and unused to public affairs, 
 could exhibit so much parliamentary tact, such 
 nice appreciation of the dilhculties of a difficult 
 
192 LIFE OF 
 
 question, and such quiet facility in surmounting 
 them, puzzled the mind. The youth and inexpe- 
 rience of the speaker had prepared the House for 
 no such ]3erformance, and astonishment for a time 
 subdued the expression of admiration. 
 
 As in previous cases where Mr. Webster had 
 appeared in an arena new to him, he at once took 
 his position among the first. It may probably be 
 safely said that no other member, before or since, 
 ever made so profound an impression in an open- 
 ing speech. Members left their seats, and stood 
 or sat in front of him; and when it was over 
 many went up and congratulated the orator. 
 Chief-Justice Marshall, who was among his hear- 
 ers, says : " I did not at that time know Mr. 
 Webster, but I was so much struck with the 
 speech, that I did not hesitate then to state that 
 Mr. Webster was a very able man, and would 
 become one of the very first statesman in America; 
 perhaps the very first." 
 
 It was during Mr. Webster's service in the thir- 
 teenth Congress, that Mr. Lowndes made of him 
 the remark which, by its terseness and strength, 
 became everywhere familiar. " The North has 
 not his equal, nor the South his sujoerior." He 
 did not intrude himself into every debate, but 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 193 
 
 wisely reserved his powers for the subjects which 
 he had well considered, and in which he felt the 
 deepest interest. We have already indicated his 
 feelings upon the subject of commerce and an 
 increase of the navy. While not an advocate of 
 the war, and particularly opposed to the mode in 
 which it was conducted, and the policy of the 
 government, he never refused his vote to any 
 measure for the defence of the country. His 
 freedom from the bitterness of party spirit pre- 
 vented his partaking in the extravagance which 
 was exhibited on both sides by men of greater 
 zeal and less prudence. There are no such fiery 
 passages in his speeches, no such heated personal 
 attacks as mar the pleasure with which we look 
 over the earlier speeches of Henry Clay. We 
 present some extracts from his speeches on the 
 increase of the navy, and the true policy of our 
 country, as it was afterwards vindicated by our 
 gallant navy. 
 
 '^ The humble aid," he said, " which it would be 
 in my power to render to measures of Government, 
 shall be given cheerfully, if Government will pursue 
 measures which I can conscientiously support. If 
 even now, failing in an honest and sincere attempt 
 to procure an honorable peace, it will return to 
 
 17 
 
194 LIFE OF 
 
 measures of defence and protection^ such as reason j 
 and common sense and the public opinion all call 
 for, my vote shall not be withheld from the means. 
 Give up your futile projects of invasion. Extin- 
 guish the fires which blaze on your inland frontiers. 
 Establish perfect safety and defence there by 
 adequate force. Let every man that sleeps on 
 your soil sleep in security. Stop the blood that 
 flows from the veins of unarmed yeomanry and' 
 women and children. Give to the living time to 
 bury and lament their dead, in the quietness of 
 private sorrow. Having performed this work of 
 beneficence and mercy on your inland borders, 
 turn and look with the eye of justice and com- 
 passion on your vast population along the coast. 
 Unclench the iron grasp of your embargo. Take 
 measures for that end before another sun sets upon 
 you. With all the war of the enemy upon your 
 commerce, if you would cease to make war upon 
 it 3^ourselves, you would still have some commerce. 
 That commerce would give you some revenue. 
 Apply that revenue to the augmentation of your 
 navy. That navy in turn will protect your com- 
 merce. Let it no longer be said, that not one ship 
 of force, built by your hands since the war, yet 
 floats upon the ocean. Turn the current of your 
 
D A N I E L WEBS T EH. 105 
 
 efforts into the channel which pubUc sentiment 
 has ah'eady worn broad and deep to receive it. A 
 naval force, competent to defend your coasts 
 against considerable armaments, to convoy your 
 trade and perhaps raise the blockade of your rivers, 
 is not a chimera. It may be realized. If, then, 
 the war must continue, go to the ocean. If you 
 are seriously contending for maritime rights, go 
 to the theatre where alone those rights can be 
 defended. Thither every indication of your future 
 points you. There the united wishes and exertions 
 of the nation will go with you. Even our party 
 divisions, acrimonious as they are, cease at the 
 water's edge. They are lost in attachment to the 
 national character, on the element where that 
 character is made respectable. In protecting naval 
 interests by naval means, you well arm yourselves 
 with the whole power of national sentiment, and 
 may command the whole abundance of the na- 
 tional resources. In time you may be able to 
 redress injuries in the place where they may be 
 oifered ; and, if need be, to accompany your own 
 flag, throughout the w^orld, with the protection of 
 your own cannon." 
 
 While Mr. Webster was in Washington, in the 
 winter of 1813-14, his house took fire, and was 
 
196 LIFE OF 
 
 entirely burned, with nearly all its contents. ' 
 Upon his first bringing his wife to Portsmouth, in 
 1808, he took lodgings in the house of a widow 
 lady, and at length purchased of her the dwelling 
 and furniture. He had just completed the pay-j 
 ment when this misfortune occurred, and the loss 
 was a total one, inasmuch as Mr. Webster was 
 uninsured. Thus were swept away the young 
 lawyer s savings from the nine or ten years of a 
 laborious, but not very lucrative, pursuit of his: 
 profession in New Hampshire. And there were 
 some losses which money could not replace — his 
 manuscript collections and library. This disaster 
 confirmed the purpose which he had commenced 
 to entertain, of removing his residence to a wider 
 field, where the increase of his profession would 
 bear a more satisfactory proportion to his labors. 
 But the execution of this intention was for some 
 time delayed. The intervals between the Con- 
 gressional sessions he devoted to assiduous atten- 
 tion to his legal duties. 
 
 In 1814, he was reelected to Congress, the term 
 commencing on the 4tli of March next following. 
 The bitterness of party feeling had now abated. 
 The war was over; the successes of the gallant 
 little United States navy, and the victory of 
 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 197 
 
 General Jackson at New Orleans, had comforted 
 the national pride, bitterly wounded by the dis- 
 astrous commencement of the contest. The war 
 party were thus spared the taunts of excited 
 opponents, which, in the early stages of hostilities, 
 were bitter enough ; and, on the other hand, the 
 national exultation was sufficiently checked by 
 the disastrous result of the Canadian invasion, 
 and the destruction of the public buildings at 
 Washington. There could not have been better 
 consequences than this war produced. There was 
 not that unmixed success in its prosecution which 
 would have fostered the war-spirit, so fatal to the 
 virtue and happiness of any country, and particu- 
 ularly unfitted to the genius and character of 
 republican institutions. And on the other hand, 
 the nation, still in its infancy, had demonstrated 
 by its manly struggles that it would not submit 
 to the fate which commercial usage had until 
 then imposed upon nations of secondary power. 
 The history of the world before this time had 
 shown that the smaller powers must rank them- 
 selves as allies of one or the other party, when 
 the greater nations choose to go to war ; or that, 
 in default of such active participation, they must 
 submit to be the prey of both beUigerents ; and 
 
198 LIFE OF 
 
 without the power of successful resistance, be 
 used, now by one and now by the other, as a por- 
 tion of their material of war. This was the 
 manner in which Britain and France undertook 
 to deal with America. According to all precedent 
 in the history of the world, they considered the 
 United States only as a means of mutual annoy- 
 ance, without the slightest regard to the interest, 
 honor, or desires of the the Americans in the 
 matter. It was only a few men of leading minds 
 in the United States, like Webster and some of 
 his compeers, who could discern the true question 
 at stake. The others, and the newspaper poli- 
 ticians and small caucus statesmen especially, 
 mutually accused, and in too many cases, bitterly 
 reviled each other as partisans of England or of 
 France. They discerned no other course which 
 the nation could take, than to become the adherent 
 of one side or the other. Mr. Webster, as early 
 as 1800, as the reader may perceive by referring 
 to his Hanover oration, repudiated the secondary 
 place in which such narrow views would have 
 fixed his native land, and scorned the idea that 
 this continent must be regarded as a satellite to 
 the other. The bitterness of party spirit, which, 
 during the war and the years preceding it, seemed 
 
D A N 1 ]^: L W !•: B S T E K . 199 
 
 to threaten the very existence of the confederacy, 
 was among the causes which preserved it. A 
 cordial unanimity in enmity to either of the great 
 European powers would have made this country 
 the vassal of the other. The divisions which 
 existed prevented this. England was warred 
 a2;ainst — France was not fraternised with. The 
 dominant party in the nation produced the one 
 course — the sturdy and talented opposition party 
 guarded against the other. 
 
 With the restoration of peace in Europe, 23arty 
 spirit subsided in America. In the Fourteenth 
 Congress, men met to discuss questions which 
 were not, at that time, subjects of such sectional 
 feeling as they have since become. The leading 
 measures which were brought forward, were a 
 national bank, internal improvement, and a pro- 
 tective tariff. The Bank was a Pennsylvania 
 measure ; the others were the favorite policy of 
 Southern members, who have since so zealously 
 arrayed themselves in opposition. In relation to 
 the subject of a National Bank, it is to be noted 
 that when it was proposed, previous to Mr. Web- 
 ster's election to Congress, to re-charter the first 
 United States Bank, all the Kepublicans voted 
 against it, and all the Federalists, with whom Mr. 
 
200 LIFE OF 
 
 Webster acted, voted in its favor. When the 
 subject came up again, upon the question of the 
 creation of a new bank, the Eepublicans were in 
 favor of the measure, and the Federahsts, in- 
 cluding Mr. Webster, voted against it. His 
 cardinal objection may be said to be based on 
 these facts — or on the cause which produced these 
 facts — the participation of the Government in the 
 management of the bank. Although he failed in 
 procuring an amendment divorcing Bank and 
 State, there were others, of great value, which he 
 introduced and carried. He also brought forward 
 a resolution, which was passed, and tended at once 
 to raise the reputation of the Bank, and the char- 
 acter of the currency, and to put the finances of 
 the United States on a proper specie basis. It 
 required all debts due to the United States to be 
 paid in gold or silver, in treasury-notes, in the 
 notes of the Bank of the United States, or in the 
 paper of some other specie-paying institution. 
 
 In regard to the tariff, Mr. Webster was found 
 among the oj)posers of the principle of protection. 
 This principle was established, as we have already 
 remarked, by Southern influence ; and prominent 
 among its supporters was the great Southern 
 statesman, Mr. Calhoun, whose enmity to the 
 
DANIEL AV E 13 S T E R . 201 
 
 child of his o^Yn nursing was afterward so intense, 
 as to lead to the attempt at nullification. 
 
 To deny the expediency and wisdom of a mea- 
 sure, is not to deny its constitutionality. To deny 
 the benefits of a contemplated course of policy, is 
 not to deny the power of the Government to take 
 that course. Mr. Webster was undecided as to 
 the power of Government to lay protective duties, 
 but quite decided against the expediency of im- 
 posing a protective tariff. The interests he 
 represented would be injuriously affected by it. 
 He stated the case hypothetically thus : If the 
 right of laying duties for protection were derived 
 from the revenue power, it was of necessity inci- 
 dental ; and, on that assumption, as the incident 
 cannot go beyond that to which it is incidental, 
 duties avowedly for protection, and not having 
 any reference to revenue, could not be constitu- 
 tionally laid. The practice of the Government 
 settled the constitutional question. The passage 
 of laws for the protection of manufactures diverted 
 a large amount of the capital of the country into 
 the channel of manufiictures ; and Mr. Webster 
 thereafter supported the plan of a moderate degree 
 of protection as the settled policy of the country. 
 It is a settled polk'u which any industrious people 
 
202 LIFE OF 
 
 need. Enterprise can shape itself to the fixed 
 measures of any wise government ; but no enter- 
 prise, and no industry, can thrive under frequent 
 vital changes. 
 
 In April, 1816, at the age of seventy-six, died 
 Daniel Webster's mother. She had prophesied in 
 his infancy his future distinction ; and she lived 
 to see her words verified. It is asserted by those 
 who knew her, that Mr. Webster's extraordinary 
 genius resembled his mother's, who was a woman 
 of far more than ordinary intellect. She was a 
 woman of the warmest affections, and lived for 
 her husband and children. Remarkable for her 
 piety, and all that renders the character of woman 
 estimable, she was respected by all who knew 
 her, and venerated by her children. Among the 
 choice specimens of art which adorned the library 
 of Daniel Webster at Marshfield, the object which 
 oftenest caught the statesman's eye in his retire- 
 ment, was a small j)rofile, cut in black, as was the 
 custom many years ago ; under it are the words, 
 in the son's handwriting, " My Excellent Mother. 
 D. W." 
 
DANIEL AVEBSTER. 203 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Webster's removal to Boston— His entrance upon Professional 
 life in that Metropolis — His manner at the Bar — Personal 
 Characteristics — Death of his child — The Dartmouth College 
 Case — Mr. Webster as a Constitutional Lawyer — The United 
 States Supreme Court — Dartmouth and the Indians — The Nan- 
 tucket Friend — Summary of his Professional career. 
 
 In 1816, Mr. Webster removed from Portsmouth 
 to Boston. He had frequently appeared as counsel 
 in the courts of Massachusetts, and he had 
 become, both by his Congressional and legal career, 
 well-known to the citizens of the New England 
 metropolis. Its leading merchants knew and were 
 ready to employ him. A pleasant joke of Mr. 
 Webster's, which, among all the anecdotes and 
 reminiscences his death has called up, we have 
 never seen in print, had reference to his leaving 
 New Hampshire. On some com2)limentary occa- 
 sion, when, as was much more the custom 
 formerly than at present, everything and every- 
 body was the subject of a "toast" or a "senti- 
 
204 LIFE OF 
 
 ment," Mr. Webster was called out as a native of 
 the Granite State. He gave in reply, " New 
 Hampshire : — A very good State to go from !" 
 
 Colonel Samuel L. Knapp, who, some eighteen 
 or twenty years ago, was celebrated in Boston for 
 his biographical notes of the living, and his obitu- 
 ary notices of the dead, speaks in the following 
 terms of Mr. Webster's professional commence- 
 ment in Boston. The fervor of Colonel Knapp's 
 style of praise was not always so well borne out 
 by the subject as in the present case ; and the 
 high color of his painting would sometimes have 
 led the reader to suspect his sincerity, if he had 
 not been personally known as one of the kindest 
 and most amiable of men. 
 
 " Boston was then the residence of some of the 
 first lawyers of the nation ; such men, for instance, 
 as Dexter, Prescott, Otis, Sullivan, Shaw, Gorham, 
 and Hubbard, and there seemed to be little room 
 for another in the upper class of the legal 
 fraternity ; but Mr. Webster seemed to walk into 
 this distinguished company like one who had a 
 right ; and though many opened wide their eyes, 
 none dared to question his right to be there. In 
 a very few months his name appeared as senior 
 counsel in many important causes; and he 
 
DANIEL W i: 15 S T E R . 205 
 
 deported himself like one who was simply enjoy- 
 ing his birthright. His practice was not con- 
 fined to the connty of Sulfolk, Ijnt extended to 
 the neighboring counties, and to the interior of 
 the State. His powers as an advocate and a 
 lawyer ^ycY(i at once conceded, though some 
 found fault with his maimers at the Bar as a little 
 too severe and sharp ; this, however, was soon 
 forgotten in the admiration which everj'where 
 followed him. The people were always with him, 
 and few had the hardihood to declare themselves 
 his rivals. 
 
 " As were his manners at the Bar at this time, 
 so w^ere they through his life, whenever he 
 appeared in a deliberative assembly. He began 
 to state his points in a low voice, and in a slow, 
 cool, cautious, and deliberative manner. If the 
 case was of importance, he went on, hammering 
 out, link by link, his chain of argument, wdth 
 ponderous blows, leisurely inflicted ; and while 
 thus at labor, vou rather saw the sinews of the 
 arm than the skill of the artist. It w^as in repl\^, 
 how^ever, that he came out in the majesty of 
 intellectual grandeur, and poured forth the opu- 
 ■ lence of his mind; it was when the arrows of the 
 enemy had hit him, that he was all might and 
 
 18 
 
206 LIFE OF 
 
 soul, and showered his words of weight and fire. 
 His style of oratory was founded on no model, but 
 was entirely his own. He dealt not with the 
 fantastic and poetical, but with the matter-of-fact 
 every-day world, and the multifarious affairs of 
 his fellow-men, extricating them from difficulties, 
 and teaching them how to become happy. He 
 never strove to dazzle, astonish, or confuse, but 
 went on to convince and conquer, by great but 
 legitimate means." 
 
 The above extracts may be said to embody the 
 popular estimation of Daniel Webster. The 
 writer of this work well remembers the man, as' 
 he often met him in the streets of Boston — not 
 one of those popular favorites whom you address 
 on the slightest pretext, sure of a courteous reply, 
 but a giant, the safe course with whom was to leli 
 him alone — a being not to be trifled with, bu^ 
 wondered at. One of his eulogists has well drawr 
 his peculiarities of personal character. " He waf 
 a man more known and admired than understood 
 His great qualities were conspicuous from afar— 
 but that part of his nature which he shared witl 
 other men, w^as apprehended by comparatively 
 few. His manners did not always do him justice 
 For many years of his life, great burdens reste( 
 
 i 
 
DANIEL WEBSTEK. 207 
 
 upon him ; and at times his cares and thoughts 
 settled down darkly upon his spirit, and he was 
 then a man of awful presence. He required to 
 be loved, before he could be known. He, indeed, 
 grappled his friends to him with hooks of steel ; 
 but he did not always conciliate those who were 
 not his friends. He had a lofty spirit, which 
 could not stoop or dissemble. He could neither 
 affect what he did not feel, nor desire to conceal 
 wdiat he did. His wishes clung with tenacious 
 hold to everything they grasped j and from those 
 who stood, or seemed to stand, in his way, his 
 countenance was averted. Some, who were not 
 unwilling to become his friends, were changed by 
 ' his manners into foes. He was social in his 
 ' nature, but not facile. He was seen to the best 
 advantage among a few old and tried friends, 
 especially in his old home. Then his spirits rose, 
 ' his countenance expanded, and he looked and 
 moved like a schoolboy on a holiday." 
 
 On the year of his removal to Boston, following 
 close upon the death of his mother, came the 
 death of his first-born child, at that time his only 
 daughter. His domestic affections were strong, 
 and he felt the afiliction keenly, remaining at 
 home and watching through her illness, until 
 
208 LIFE OF 
 
 death relieved the little sufferer. He was thus 
 detained from his place in Washington for two 
 months of the session of 1816-17. 
 
 In 1818, Mr. Webster's first great constitutional 
 case was argued. In 1816, the legislature of New 
 Hampshire remodelled the charter of Dartmouth 
 College. The institution was created previous to 
 the Revolution, by a royal grant. The legislature, 
 changed its name to Dartmouth University, en- 
 larged the number of trustees, and remodelled the 
 institution, against the protest of the old trustees. 
 The newly-created University took possession of 
 the corporate property, and assumed the direction 
 of the institution. The old board, though nomi- 
 nated as trustees of the University, declined to 
 act, and brought an action to recover the college 
 property. The case was decided in the Supreme 
 Court of New Hampshire in favor of the validity 
 of the acts of the Legislature, and against the 
 plaintiffs; Messrs. Mason, Smith, and Webster 
 appearing for the plaintiffs, and the Attorney- ; 
 General of the State, and Mr. J. Bartlett, for the 
 defendants. Thence the case was carried, by writ 
 of error, to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States; where, on the 10th of March, 1818, it 
 came up for argument before a full l^ench. Mr. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 209 
 
 Hopkinson (afterward Judge) and Mr. Webster 
 appeared for the plaintiffs ; and Mr. J. Holmes, 
 of Maine, and Attorney-General Wirt, for the 
 defendants. 
 
 Mr. Webster, as junior counsel, opened the case, 
 taking the broad ground that the acts in question 
 were not only against common law, common right, 
 .and the Constitution of New Hampshire, but 
 against the Constitution of the United States, 
 which forbids the passage of laws by individual 
 States, violating the obligation of contracts. We 
 have not space to follow the legal argument by 
 which these points were established, and refer 
 those who wish it to the report of Mr. Webster's 
 speech in his published works. The comprehen- 
 sive view given by Mr. Hilliard of Mr. Webster's 
 ser\dces as a constitutional lawyer, dating from 
 this case, is more to our purpose than an abstract 
 of Mr. Webster's argument Avould be. 
 
 "Previous to the Dartmouth College case, in 
 1818, not many important constitutional cases had 
 come before the Supreme Court of the United 
 States ; and since that time, the great lawyer, who 
 then broke upon them with so astonishing a blaze 
 of learning and logic, has excited a communica- 
 ting influence in shaping that system of constitu- 
 
 18^^= 
 
210 LIFE OF 
 
 tional lo.w — almost a supplementary constitution 
 — which has contributed so much to our happi- 
 ness and prosperity. Great as is our debt of 
 gratitude to such Judges as Marshall and Story, 
 it is hardly less great to such a lawyer as Mr. 
 Webster. None would have been more ready 
 than these eminent magistrates to acknowledge 
 the assistance they had derived from his masterly 
 acquirements. 
 
 " In the discussion of constitutional questions, 
 the mind of this great man found a most conge- 
 nial employment. Here books, cases, and prece 
 dents are comparatively of little value. We must 
 ascend to first principles, and be guarded by the 
 light of pure reason. Not only is a chain of 
 logical deduction to be fashioned, but its links 
 must first be forged. Geometry itself hardly leads 
 the mind into a region of more abstract and essen- 
 tial truth. In these calm heights of speculation 
 and analysis, the genius of Mr. Webster moved 
 with natural and majestic sweep. Breaking away 
 from precedents and details, and soaring above 
 the flight of eloquence, it saw the forms of truth 
 in the colorless light and tranquil air of reason. 
 When we dream of intelligences higher than man, 
 we imagine their faculties exercised in serene 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 211 
 
 inquisitions like these — not spuiTecl by ambition 
 — not kindled by passion — roused by no moti\'e but 
 the love of truth, and seeking no reward but the 
 possession of it. 
 
 " The respect which has been paid to the 
 decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, is one of the signs of hope for the future, 
 which are not to be overlooked in our desponding 
 moods. The visitor in Washington sees a few 
 grave men, in an unpretending room, surrounded 
 by none of the symbols of command. Some one 
 of them, in a quiet voice, reads an opinion, in 
 which the conflicting rights of sovereign States 
 are weighed and adjusted; and questions, such as 
 have generally led to exhausting wars, are settled 
 by the light of reason and justice. This judg- 
 ment goes forth, backed by no armed force, but 
 commanded by the moral and intellectual author- 
 ity of the tribunal which pronounces it. It falls 
 upon the waves of controversy with reconcihng 
 and subduing power ; and haughty sovereignties, 
 as at the voice of some superior intelligence, put 
 off the mood of conflict and defiance, and yield a 
 graceful obedience to the calm decrees of central 
 justice. There is more cause for national pride 
 in the deference paid to the decisions of this 
 
212 LIFE OF 
 
 august tribunal, than in all our material triumphs ; 
 and so long as our people are thus loyal to reason 
 and submissive to law, it is a weakness to despair. 
 " Mr. Webster's argument in the Dartmouth 
 College case forms an important era in his 
 life. His argument in that case stands out 
 among his other arguments, and his speech in 
 reply to Mr. Hayne among his other speeches. 
 No better argument has been spoken in the 
 English tongue, in the memory of any living 
 man, nor is the child that is born to-day likely to 
 live to hear a better. Its learning is ample, but 
 not ostentatious ; its logic irresistible ; its elo- 
 quence vigorous and lofty. I have often heard 
 my revered and beloved friend. Judge Story, speak 
 with great animation of the effect he then pro- 
 duced upon the Court. ' For the first hour,' said 
 he, ^we listened to him with perfect astonish- 
 ment ; for the second hour with perfect delight ; 
 for the third hour with perfect conviction.' It is 
 not too much to say that he entered the Court on 
 that day a comparatively unknown name, and 
 left it with no rival but Pinckney. All the words 
 he spoke on that occasion have not been recorded. 
 When he had exhausted the resources of learn- 
 ing and logic, his mind passed naturally and 
 
DANIEL AV E B S T E K . 213 
 
 simply into a strain of feeling not common to the 
 place. Old recollections and early associations 
 came over liim, and the vision of liis voutli rose 
 up. The genius of the institution Avhere he was 
 nurtured seemed standing by his side in weeds of 
 mourning, Avith a countenance of sorrow. With 
 suffused eyes and faltering voice, he broke into an 
 unpremeditated strain of emotion, so strong and 
 so deep, that all who heard him were borne along 
 with it. Heart answered to heart as he spoke; and 
 when he had ceased, the silence and tears of the 
 impassive bench, as well as the excited audience, 
 were a tribute to the truth and power of the feel- 
 ing by which he had been inspired." 
 
 Another writer describes a scene so unusual 
 from the testimony of witnesses. " The logic and 
 the law were rendered irresistible. But as he 
 advanced his heart warmed to the subject and to 
 the occasion. Thoughts and feelings that had 
 grown old with his best affections rose unbidden 
 to his lips. He remembered that the institution 
 he was defending was the one where his own 
 youth had been nurtured ; and the moral tender- 
 ness and beauty this gave to the grandeur of liis 
 thoughts, the sort of religious sensibility it im- 
 parted to Iiis urgent appeals and demands for the 
 
214 LIFE OF 
 
 stern fulfilment of what law and justice required, 
 wrought up the whole audience to an extraordi- 
 nary pitch of excitement. Many betrayed strong 
 agitation — manv were dissolved in tears. Promi- 
 nent among them was that eminent lawyer and 
 statesman, Robert Goodloe Harper, who came to 
 him when he resumed his seat, evincing emotions 
 of the highest gratification. When he ceased to 
 speak, there was a perceptible interval before any 
 one ventured to break the silence ; and when that 
 vast crowd separated, not one person of the whole 
 number doubted that the man who had that day 
 so moved, astonished, and controlled them, had 
 vindicated for himself a place at the side of the 
 first jurists of the country. The opinion of the - 
 Court was given at the term for 1819, reversing 
 the decision of the New Hampshire Courts ; that 
 State readily acquiesced, and Dartmouth College 
 resumed its original form and its prosperity." 
 
 There is an amusing anecdote which Mr. Web- 
 ster was accustomed to relate respecting the 
 Dartmouth College case. While he was engaged 
 in it, he told President Wheelock that, as the 
 original charter was granted, and the endovvnnent 
 made by Lord Dartmouth, expressly for the pur- 
 pose of civihzing and instructing the Indians, a 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 215 
 
 question might arise on this point : as no Indian 
 had been attached to the school for a long period, 
 it would be well for the President to go into Can- 
 ada, and fetch some of the a])origines within the 
 walls of the College, so that a jury could not fmd 
 that the charter had been abrogated by that 
 omission. Accordingly, the President went, and 
 found three choice specimens, brought them to 
 the brink of the river, and, after some delay, pro- 
 cured a boat to ferry them across. The young 
 Indians, not precisely understanding the object of 
 so much kindness on the part of the President, 
 espied the walls of the College on the bank, which 
 excited their suspicion and their wonder whether, 
 if once inside those walls, it might be possible to 
 make their exit. The young Indian at the bow 
 of the boat cast a significant glance on his asso- 
 ciates, gave the war-whoop, and quick as thought 
 they plunged into the middle of the river, and 
 swam for the shore. The President halloed, en- 
 
 I treated, and tried to explain all, but the Indians 
 kept straight on their course to the shore, and 
 
 j made with all speed for the woods. It was the last 
 President Wheelock ever saw or licard of them — 
 so Mr. Webster had to go on with the case, minus 
 the Indians. 
 
21G LIFE OF 
 
 The reader vvlio desires to follow Mr. Webster 
 tlirough his labors as a great Constitutional lawyer^ 
 " the Expounder of the Constitution," as he has 
 well been termed, must look to larger works than 
 so brief a volume as this. In nearly all the lead- 
 ing cases before the Supreme Court since 1818 he 
 was heard or consulted. In cases between indi- 
 viduals, and between States ; in questions wdiere 
 the rights of citizens were affected by the laws of 
 States, and in suits in which the laws of States 
 and of the United States appeared to come in 
 conflict, he has borne an important part in defin- 
 ing the precise limits of the conflicting powers, 
 and the weight of varying interests. His practice 
 before the State Courts has also been very exten- 
 sive. He was appealed to wdierever the interests 
 at stake would warrant the large expense which 
 his talents commanded. From the close of his 
 second term in Congress, in 1817, until he resumed 
 his seat in the National Legislature, in 1823, he 
 devoted himself assiduously to his profession. 
 Clients crowded upon him, and his income from 
 his professional practice was greater than any 
 lawyer wdio had preceded him. His reputation 
 increased wdth every year, and a most brilliant 
 prospect in every respect opened before him. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 217 
 
 During these six years lie was engaged very little 
 in the public service. lie performed the merely 
 nominal duty of an elector, being one of the col- 
 lege which elected Mr. Monroe to his second 
 Presidential term ; and he was also a member of 
 the Convention which revised the Constitution of 
 Massachusetts, in 1821. In that Convention he 
 performed an important part, and gave his adopted 
 State the advantage of his close study upon the 
 principles of government. 
 
 There is an anecdote connected with Mr. Web- 
 ster's practice in Boston, which should not be lost. 
 A member of the Society of Friends, from Nan- 
 tucket, applied to Mr. Webster to manage a suit 
 then pending in court on that island. He demurred 
 to Mr. Webster's charge — one thousand dollars — 
 but at length promised that sum, provided Mr. 
 Webster would consent to attend to any other 
 little matters he might present during the session 
 of tlie Court. With this understanding Mr. Web- 
 ster was present when the case was called up. It 
 was heard and decided in his client's favor. An- 
 other was taken up — another, and still another, 
 and all assigned to Mr. Webster. Finding he was 
 doing all the business, Mr. Webster became impa- 
 tient and demanded an explanation. His client, 
 
 19 
 
218 LIFE OF 
 
 having now got through, said : ^' I hired thee,, 
 Danielj to atten.d to all the business of the Court. 
 Thee has done it handsomely. Here's thy mo-j 
 ney ! " It is said that the client, through the 
 wages of his distinguished journeyman, recovered 
 his thousand dollars, and made a few hundreds 
 over. We cannot better conclude our account of 
 Mr. Webster's professional life, than by adopting 
 the eloquent language of Mr. Hilliard. 
 
 " He w^as, from the beginning, more or less occu-j 
 pied with public afiairs, and he continued to the 
 last to be a practising lawyer; but, as regards 
 these two spheres of action, his life may be divided 
 into two distinct portions. From his twenty-third 
 to his forty-first year, the practice of the law w^as 
 his primary occupation and interest, but from the 
 latter period to his death, it was secondary to his 
 labors as a legislator and statesman. Of his emi- 
 nence in the law — meaning the law as adminis- 
 tered in the ordinary tribunals of the country, 
 without reference, for the present, to Constitutional 
 questions — there is but one opinion among com- 
 petent judges. Some may have excelled him in 
 a single faculty or accomplishment; but in the 
 combination of qualities which the law requires, 
 no man of his time was, on the whole, equal to him. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 219 
 
 He was a safe couiiselior and a powerful advo- 
 cate; thorough in the preparation of causes and 
 judicious in the management of them ; quick, far- 
 seeing, cautious and bold. His addresses to the 
 jury were simple, manly, and direct ; presenting 
 the strong points of the case in his strong way, 
 appealing to the reason and the conscience, arid 
 not to j)assions and prejudices; and never weak- 
 ened by over-statement. He laid his own mind 
 fairly along-side that of the jury, and won their 
 confidence by his sincere way of dealing with 
 them. He had the grace to cease speaking when 
 he had come to an end. 
 
 " His most conspicuous power was his clearness 
 of statement. He threw upon every subject a 
 light like that of the sun at noonday. His mind, 
 by an unerring instinct, separated the important 
 from the unimportant facts in a complicated case, 
 'i and so presented the former that he was really 
 ; making a powerful and persuasive argument, when 
 li he seemed to be only telling a plain story in a 
 ■ plain way. The transparency of the stream veiled 
 lif its depth, and its depth concealed its rapid How. His 
 I'' legal learning was accurate and perfectly at com- 
 mand, and he had made himself master of some 
 difficult branches of law, such as speciarpleading 
 
220 LIFE OF 
 
 and the law of real property ; but the memory of 
 some of his contemporaries was more richly stored 
 with cases. From his remarkable powers of 
 generalization, his elementary reading had filled 
 his mind with principles, and he examined the 
 questions that arose by the light of these princi- 
 ples, and then sought in the books for cases to 
 confirm the views which he had reached by reflec- 
 tion. He never resorted to stratagems and 
 surprises, nor did he let his zeal for his client run 
 away with his self-respect. His judgment was so 
 clear, and his moral sense so strong, that he never 
 could help discriminating between a good cause 
 and a bad one ; nor betraying to a close observer 
 when he was arguing against his convictions. His 
 manner was admirable, especially for its repose, an 
 effective quality in an advocate, from the con- 
 sciousness of strength which it implies. The uni- 
 form respect with which he treated the bench 
 should not be omitted, in summing up his merits 
 as a lawyer. 
 
 " The exclusive practice of the law is not held 
 to be the best preparation for public life. Not 
 only does it invigorate without expanding — not 
 only does it narrow at the same time that it 
 sharpens — but the custom of addressing juries 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 221 
 
 begets a habit of over-statement, which is a great 
 defect in a pubHc speaker ; and the mind that is 
 constantly occupied in looking at one side of a 
 disputed question, is apt to forget that it has two. 
 Great minds triumph over these influences, but it 
 is because they never fail, sooner or later, to over- 
 leap the formal barriers of the law. Had Mr. 
 Webster been born in England and educated to 
 the Bar, his powers could never have been con- 
 fined to Westminster Hall. He would have been 
 taken up and borne into Parliament by an irresis- 
 tible tide of public opinion. Born where he was, 
 it would have been the greatest of misfortunes if 
 he had narrowed his mind, and given up to his 
 cUents the genius that was meant for the whole 
 country and all time. Admirably as he put a 
 case to the jury, or argued it to the court, it was 
 impossible not to feel that in many instances an 
 inferior person would have done it nearly or quite 
 as well ; and sometimes the disproportion between 
 the man and the work was so great, that it 
 reminded one of the task given to Michael 
 Angelo, to make a statue of snow. 
 
 " His advancing reputation, however, soon led 
 him into a class of cases, the peculiar growth of 
 the institutions of his country, and admirably 
 
 19 '^ 
 
1 
 
 222 LIFE OF 
 
 fitted to train a lawyer for public life, because, 
 though legal in their form, they involve great 
 questions of politics and government. The system 
 under which we live is, in many respects, without 
 a precedent. Singularly complicated in its arrange- 
 ments, embracing a general government of limited 
 and delegated powers, organised by an interfusion 
 of separate sovereignties, all with written consti- 
 tutions to be interpreted and reconciled, the im- 
 perfection of human language and the strength 
 of human passion leaving a wide margin for war- 
 ring opinions, it is obvious to any person of political 
 experience, that many grave questions, both of 
 construction and conflicting jurisdiction, must 
 arise, requiring wisdom and authority for their 
 adjustment. Especially must this be the case in 
 a country like ours, of such great extent, with 
 such inrmense national resources, and inhabited 
 by so enterprising and energetic a people. It was 
 a fortunate, may we not say a providential circum- 
 stance, that the growth of the country begun to 
 devolve upon the Supreme Court of the United 
 States the consideration of this class of questions, 
 just at the time when Mr. Webster, in his ripe 
 manhood, was able to give them the benefit of his 
 extraordinary powers of argument and analysis." 
 
DANIEL AY E B S T E R . 223 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Pilgrim Address at Plymouth — A Prophecy — Its fulfilment — 
 Foundation of Bunker-IIill Monument — Completion of the Monu- 
 ment — Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson — Other Eulogies — The 
 Washington Address, in 1832 — Address at the Capitol enlarge- 
 ment — The Trial of the Knapps for the Murder of Captain 
 Joseph White — Power of Conscience. 
 
 Among the public performances which have 
 given Mr. Webster his American reputation, must 
 be mentioned, as first in order, his addresses upon 
 occasions of great national interest. Here were 
 themes into which no party or sectional feeling 
 entered, and all men of all parties could sympa- 
 thize with the orator. The first in order of time 
 was the oration at Plymouth, on the bi-centennial 
 anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at 
 Plymouth, on the 20th of December, 1820. On 
 several subsequent occasions, Mr. Webster spoke 
 upon the same anniversary, but his later ad- 
 dresses were not so carefully prej^ared, and were 
 not delivered to a miscellaneous audience, but to 
 
224 LIFE OF 
 
 the members and guests of New England Societies, 
 in cities out of New England. The address de- 
 livered at Plymouth has a great historical value, 
 and in its analysis of the character and motives 
 of the Pilgrim Fathers shows a patriotic appre- 
 ciation of the subject worthy of one of the most 
 distinguished sons of New England. Mr. Webster's 
 early education, as we have seen, prepared him 
 for admiration of the men who founded the New 
 England States. His description of the condition 
 of the wanderers, their sujfferings on the deep, and 
 on the bleak and inhospitable shores of New 
 England, is graphic and jDathetic. The tracing 
 back of the New England character to the causes 
 which formed it, shows a rare talent at discrimi- 
 nation. Thought is the grand element of this 
 performance. It is not mere rhapsody, nor does 
 it deal in extravagant praise. Calm and philo- 
 sophical in its deductions, rich in facts, and 
 profound in wisdom, it has scarce a burst of 
 enthusiasm, except in the predictions of the 
 future. The following passage contains a re- 
 markable prophecy — remarkable when delivered, 
 thirty years ago. 
 
 " Two thousand miles westward from the rock 
 where their fathers landed, may now be found 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 225 
 
 the sons of the Pilgrims, cultivating smiling fields, 
 rearing towns and villages, and cherishing, we 
 trust, the j^atrimonial blessings of wise institutions 
 of liberty and religion. The world has seen 
 nothing like this. Regions large enough to be 
 empires, and which, half a century ago, were 
 known only as remote and unexplored Aviklernesses, 
 are now teeming with population, and prosperous 
 in all the great concerns of life ; in good govern- 
 ments, the means of subsistence, and social happi- 
 ness. It may be safely asserted, that there are 
 now more than a million of people, descendants 
 of New England ancestry, living, free and happy, 
 in regions which, scarce sixty years ago, were 
 tracts of unpenetrated forest. Nor do rivers, or 
 mountains, or seas, resist the progress of industry 
 and enterprise. Ere long, the sons of the Pilgrims 
 will be on the shores of the Pacific. The imacti- 
 nation hardly keeps pace with the progress of 
 population, improvement and civilization." 
 
 In 1850, at the festival of the New England 
 Society of New York, Mr. Webster, being a guest, 
 had the gratification to refer to the fulfilment of a 
 prophecy, which seemed at the time of its utter- 
 ance almost a rhapsody. He said : " We have 
 hardly begun, my brethren, to realize the vast im- 
 
I 
 
 226 LIFE OF 
 
 portance to human society, and to the history and 
 happiness of the world, of the voyage of that little 
 vessel, which brought hither the love of civil and 
 religious liberty, and the reverence of the Bible, 
 for the instruction of the future generations of 
 men. We have hardly begun to realize the 
 consequences of that voyage. Heretofore the 
 extension of our race, following our New England 
 ancestry, has crept along the shore. But now it 
 has extended itself It has crossed the continent. 
 It has not only transcended the x\lleghanies, but 
 it has capped the Bocky Mountains. It is now 
 upon the shores of the Pacific ; and on the day, 
 or, if not on the day, then this day twelvemonth, 
 descendants of New England will there celebrate 
 the landing. 
 " ( A VOICE. ' To-day ; they celebrate it to-day ! ') 
 
 "God bless them! Here's to the health and 
 success of the California Society of Pilgrims, as- 
 sembled on the shores of the Pacific. And it shall 
 yet go hard, if the three hundred millions of people 
 of China, provided they are intelligent enough to 
 understand any thing, shall not one day hear and 
 know something of the Bock of Plymouth, too ! " 
 
 In 1825, on the 17th of June, the anniversary 
 of the Battle of Bunker-Hill, the corner-stone of 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 227 
 
 the monument commemorating that great event 
 was laid. General Lafayette was at that time the 
 guest of the American people, and united v/ith 
 the Grand-Master of the Freemasons, and with 
 Mr. Webster, the President of the Monument 
 Association, in the ceremony. There were in the 
 procession two hundred veterans of the Eevolution, 
 forty of whom were survivors of the battle. Scarce 
 one of those men remains. Twenty-five years ago, 
 a place was assigned to such veterans in every 
 patriotic procession — now the places which knew 
 them know them no more forever. The pageant, 
 in the numbers who took part in it, and in the 
 enthusiasm which animated all, has never been 
 exceeded. It had all the elements of moral gran- 
 deur, and forms an epoch in the life of those who 
 witnessed it. Mr. Webster was the orator, and we 
 need not say that he was equal, so far as man 
 could be, to such an occasion. Our space permits 
 extracts from but few of Mr. Webster's speeches. 
 Those from which we have chiefly drawn, are 
 among the least known, and valuable to our pur- 
 pose, because they were the work of his youth. 
 But the Bunker-IIill orations are classics — the 
 study of the school-boy and of the ardent youth 
 ■ — the fountain from which the calmer patriotism 
 of later years draws a renewal of its inspiration. 
 
228 LIFE OF 
 
 On the ITtli of June, 1843, the completion of 
 the monument was celebrated, and the voice of 
 the same orator was heard by the assembled thou- 
 sands. The work had been completed during the 
 previous year, having been seventeen years in 
 building. The Massachusetts Charitable Mechan- 
 ics Association had finished the work begun by 
 the original association, by promoting a new sub- 
 scription, and the ladies of Boston and vicinity 
 came also to the enterprise, with patriotic zeal. 
 In the time which had elapsed since the laying 
 of the corner-stone, the population of Boston and 
 Charlestown had doubled, and that of the whole 
 country had largely increased. Improved travel- 
 ling facilities brought their thousands. It is esti- 
 mated that one hundred thousand persons were 
 collected, of whom nearly half were within the 
 sound of the speaker's voice. In all this multitude 
 there were but about one hundred of the survivors 
 of the revolutionary army. Sixty-eight years had 
 elapsed since the day of the battle in commemorar 
 tion of which the monument was built. An extract 
 from Mr. Webster's oration happily illustrates the 
 feeling of that multitude, and the inspiration of 
 the speaker. 
 
 " The Bunker-Hill Monument is finished. Here 
 
ORATION ON BUNKER HILL. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 229 
 
 it stands. Fortunate in the high natural eminence 
 on which it is pL^ced, higher, infinitely higher in 
 its objects and purpose, it rises over the land and 
 over the sea ; and visible, at their homes, to three 
 hundred thousand of the people of Massachusetts, 
 it stands a memorial of the last, and a monitor to 
 the present, and all succeeding generations. I 
 have spoken of the loftiness of its purpose. If it 
 had been without any other design than the crea- 
 tion of a work of art, the granite of which it is 
 composed would have slept in its native bed. It 
 has a purpose, and that purpose gives it its charac- 
 ter. That purpose enrobes it with dignity and 
 moral grandeur. That well-known purpose it is 
 which causes us to look up to it with feelings of 
 awe. It is itself the orator of this occasion. It is 
 not from my lips, it could not be from any human 
 lips, that that strain of eloquence is this day to 
 flow, most competent to move and to excite the 
 vast multitudes around me. That powerful 
 speaker stands motionless before us ! " 
 
 Here Mr. Webster paused, and pointed in silent 
 admiration to the lofty pile. The assembk^d thou- 
 sands burst into long and loud applause. When 
 the echoes of that mighty shout died away, the 
 orator proceeded : " It is a plain shaft. It bears 
 
 20 
 
230 LIFE OF 
 
 no inscription, fronting to the rising sun, from 
 which the future antiquary shall wipe the dust. 
 Nor does the rising sun cause tones of music to 
 issue from its summit. But at the risino; of the sun. 
 and the setting of the sun ; in the blaze of noonday, 
 and beneath the milder effulgence of lunar light; 
 it looks, it speaks, it acts to the full comprehension 
 of every American mind, and the awakening of 
 glowing enthusiasm in every American heart. Its 
 silent but awful utterance, its deep pathos, as iti 
 brings to our contemplation the 17th of June, 
 1775, and the consequences which have resulted 
 to us, to our country, and to the world, from the 
 events of that day, and which we know must 
 continue to rain influence upon the destinies of 
 manhood, till the end of time ; the elevation with 
 which it raises us high above the ordinary feelings; 
 of life, surpass all that the study of the closet, or 
 even the usurpation of genius, can produce. To-i 
 day it speaks to us. Its future auditories will be' 
 successive generations of men, as they rise up 
 before it and gather around it. Its speech will be 
 of patriotism and courage ; of civil and religious 
 liberty; of free government; of the moral im- 
 provement and elevation of mankind, and of 
 the immortal memory of those who, witli he- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 231 
 
 roic devotion, have sacrificed their lives for their 
 country." 
 
 If Mr. Webster was endowed with wonderful 
 talents, he was favored also with remarkable op- 
 portunities for their employment — occasions which 
 gave full scope for their exercise, and left, for him- 
 self and his friends, nothing to desire. The cen- 
 tenary celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims ; 
 the half-century anniversary of Bunker-Hill ; the 
 presence of Lafayette, and the founding of the 
 monument ; these and its completion were full of 
 worthy themes for his oratorical powers. Another, 
 and in some respects a greater occasion, occurred 
 in 1826, when John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, 
 both signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
 and both ex-Presidents of the United States, died 
 within a few hours of each other, upon the National 
 Anniversary. On the 2d of August following 
 their death, Mr. Webster delivered, in Faneuil 
 Hall, a discourse commemorative of their lives 
 I and services. No similar performance has com- 
 manded so wide a circle of readers as this ; and, 
 in some respects, it may be regarded as the most 
 celebrated of Mr. Webster's speeches. With the 
 names of the great dead whose character he eulo- 
 . gized — and not merely eulogized, but analysed, 
 
232 LIFE OF 
 
 and drew wisdom and instruction from their ex- 
 ample — the name of Webster would descend to 
 posterity had he written nothing else. In such 
 performances, he was not the mere orator appeal- 
 ing to popular enthusiasm, but the historian and 
 the philosopher. 
 
 There are other specimens of Mr. Webster's 
 addresses on obituary occasions, less studied per- 
 haps, but not less eloquent than the Adams and 
 Jefferson oration. He was the eulogist of his 
 early friends. Mason and Story ; of Calhoun and 
 Taylor, and others of his friends and associates in 
 a long public life. These addresses, in the Senate 
 and at meetings of the bar, have a simplicity and 
 dignity which mark them as models. While doing 
 justice to the deceased, they abounded in the 
 evidences of Mr. Webster's goodness of heart and 
 personal kindness, and they yet preserve the rare 
 merit of sincerity. They may be taken as impar- 
 tial judgments. Nothing is to be deducted from 
 them for the usual freedom of such occasions. 
 -In 1832, Mr. Webster presided in Washington 
 City at a commemoration of the birth-day of the 
 Father of his country. His speech is well worth 
 the study of those who would duly understand i 
 and appreciate the character of Washington, and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 233 
 
 the value of the Union — a subject upon which 
 Mr. Webster never failed to speak upon all proper 
 occasions. As he said of Washington, we may say 
 of Webster, '• The Union was the great object of 
 his thoughts. He regarded the union of these 
 States, less as one of our blessings, than as the 
 great treasure-house which contained them all. 
 Here, in his judgment, was the great magazine of 
 all our means of prosperity ; here, as he thought, 
 and as every true American still thinks, are de- 
 posited all our animating prospects — all our solid 
 hopes for future greatness." 
 
 The last of Mr. Webster's patriotic or national 
 addresses was delivered on the Fourth of July, 
 1851, at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
 addition to the Capitol of the United States. In 
 this, the paramount idea is the value of the Union, 
 and our duty, as citizens, in perpetuating it. He 
 appeals in eloquent terms to those who had spoken 
 of disunion, and defines his idea of the cause of 
 such a diseased state of public feeling. " For my 
 part," he says, " I confess that the real evil ex- 
 isting in the case, appears to me to be a certain 
 inquietude or uneasiness, growing out of a high 
 degree of prosperity and consciousness of wealth 
 and power, which sometimes lead men to ]je ready 
 
 ' 20* 
 
234 LIFE OF 
 
 for changes, and to push on, unreasonably, to still 
 higher elevation. If this be the truth of the 
 matter, her political doctors [secession-men] are 
 about right. If the complaint sprung from over- 
 wrought prosperity, for that disease, I have no 
 doubt that secession would prove a sovereign 
 remedy." The orator did not fail, however, before 
 he closed, to express in emphatic terms his faith 
 in the prosperity of the republic. The facts which 
 he advanced relative to its progress and increase 
 w^ere peculiarly appropriate to the occasion, and 
 the address was, like all Mr. Webster's speeches of 
 this nature, a performance of more than temporary 
 or passing interest. 
 
 Of his many political and popular addresses, 
 called forth from time to time by the urgency of 
 public affairs, we cannot find place to speak. 
 They belong to a more extended work than ours, 
 and can, indeed, be judged of only by perusal. 
 But there was one criminal trial in which he was 
 engaged, in aid of the public prosecution, which 
 will be remembered, and referred to, as long as the 
 records of our criminal jurisprudence are preserved. 
 Captain Joseph White, a highly respectable citizen 
 of Salem, Massachusetts, was found murdered in 
 his bed, on the morning of the 7th of April, 1830, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 235 
 
 A strong sensation was excited throughout the 
 community. Circumstances led to the arrest of 
 Robert Crowninshield, George Crowninshield, Jo- 
 seph J. Knapp, and John F. Knapp. Robert 
 Crowninshield, by whom the deed was done, com- 
 mitted suicide in prison. George Crowninshield 
 proved an alibi, and was discharged. The two 
 Knapps were convicted as accessories, and exe- 
 cuted. The motive to the murder was the de- 
 struction of a will, and the securing, by the death 
 of Captain White, that no other should be made. 
 In case of his death without a will, the estate 
 would, it was supposed by Joseph J. Knapp, be 
 divided between his mother-in-law, as the repre- 
 sentative of one of Mr. White's sisters, and the 
 children of a deceased brother, Mrs. Beckford 
 receiving one-half. But the last will was found, 
 the assassin having taken away the wrong docu- 
 ment; and thus the horrid murder, even if the 
 criminals had remained undetected, would have 
 failed of its covetous purpose. 
 
 Mr. Webster investigated every circumstance. 
 He shut himself up in his room, and revolved and 
 re-examined every feature of the case. He de- 
 scribed to the jury with fearful minuteness every 
 step of the assassin in his secret murder, as the 
 
236 LIFE OF 
 
 whole had been developed by circumstantial evi- 
 dence, and the confession of one of the parties. 
 He painted the horror of the murderer after the 
 deed was done — his conscience impelling him to 
 confess, his fears restraining him. " There is no 
 refuge," he said, " from suicide but confession, and 
 suicide is confession." The hired assassin's con- 
 nexion with his accomplices was established, and 
 his confession by suicide sealed their doom. With- 
 out Mr. Webster's aid, justice would have been 
 defeated of her due. The great advocate under- 
 took the case with much unwillingness, but hav- 
 ing undertaken the assistance of the prosecuting 
 attorney, he brought all his powers to bear upon 
 the case ; and, while he procured the conviction 
 of the desperate murderers, he gave to the world 
 the most sublime description of " the worm that 
 never dies " that modern literature can furnish. 
 
FANEUIL HALL. 
 
DANIEL -W E B S T E R . 237 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Mr. "Webster's reluctance to re-enter Congress — His Election 
 in 1822 and 1824 — Present of an Annuity — Speech upon the 
 Greek Question — The Panama Mission — Mr. Adams's Adminis- 
 tration — Mr. Webster's Labors in Committee — His Election as 
 Senator — Death of his Wife — Webster and Ilayne — Death of 
 Ezekiel Webster — Nullification — The Bank Question — Faneuil 
 Hall Dinner — Visit to England — Mr. Webster as Secretary of 
 State — Again in the Senate — Mexican War — Death of his Son 
 Edward — Again Secretary — Hulseman — Kossuth. 
 
 We have now reached that point in Mr. Web- 
 ster's life at which the plan of our w^ork requires 
 that we should be less minute in detail and less 
 diffuse in comment. Having traced him to the 
 head of his profession as a lawyer, and shown the 
 full reward which he received for his early appli- 
 cation and industry, we may brieliy notice his 
 career as a legislator and a statesman. While this 
 portion of his life is widely known as a part of the 
 history of his whole country, its proper discussion 
 would require volumes. To larger works, to the 
 pubhshed collectious of Mr. Webster's speeches 
 
238 LIFE OF 
 
 and writings, and to the history of the United 
 States since 1824, y/e must refer the reader who 
 would perfect his knowledge of Daniel Webster's 
 public services. From his election to Congress, in 
 1823, until the close of his life, he was almost un- 
 interruptedly engaged in the service of his country 
 — his WHOLE COUNTRY ; for he had, more than any 
 other public man since Washington, a comprehen- 
 sive attachment to the Union as a whole. He 
 believed that in the preservation of the Union 
 alone could the prosperity and glory of the several 
 parts be maintained. 
 
 On some points of public policy his opinions 
 unquestionably were changed and modified by cir- 
 cumstances. If they had not been, he would have 
 stood alone in the history of men and of parties ; 
 for there is no one of whom the same cannot be 
 said. His principles remained unchanged — his 
 love of country unabated. But in the modes of 
 applying those principles, and vindicating his at- 
 tachment to his native land and her true happi- 
 ness, the growing population, wealth, and power 
 of the United States, the uprising of new interests 
 and the decline of old, suggested and made neces- 
 sary some changes in matters of policy and legis- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 239 
 
 lation. These we shall not attempt to describe or 
 to particularize. 
 
 When Mr. Webster settled in Boston, it was 
 with the view of following his profession, and 
 reaping the harvest which his early application 
 and industry had prepared for him. Success 
 almost unexampled attended his efforts. He was 
 on the sure path to opulence, when the leading 
 men of Boston, of kindred political opinions, ap- 
 plied to him for his consent to stand as a candi- 
 date to Congress. He was offered first the nomi- 
 nation as Representative, and upon his declining 
 that, he was tendered an election as Senator ; but 
 to both offers he gave a courteous but decided re- 
 fusal. Meanwhile, his high reputation was daily 
 increasing, and the anxiety of his friends that he 
 should represent his adopted State in the Congress 
 of the United States also augmented. In 1822, 
 his reluctance gave way before repeated j^ersuasion. 
 A committee called upon him, and read to him the 
 vote of the convention by which he had been nomi- 
 nated, with the letter urging his acceptance ; and, 
 informing him that they had been instructed to 
 bring back no answer, retired; leaving him, in a 
 manner, a compulsory candidate. Mr. Webster's 
 reluctance was not assumed, but real. He was too 
 
240 LIFE OF 
 
 familiar with the examples of the great statesmen 
 v/ho have been impoverished by public service, to 
 desire an honour so expensive, and the result more 
 than proved his anticipations. He was elected by 
 a thousand majority, and at the next election, in 
 1824, w^as re-elected, receiving four thousand and 
 ninety out of five thousand votes ; a unanimity 
 unparalleled. Twentj^-four years afterwards, when 
 the course of events had shown the personal loss 
 at which Mr. Webster exchanged professional for 
 political life, the same gentlemen who had de- 
 manded of him the sacrifice, in some measure 
 repaired it, by placing the income of thiety-seven" 
 THOUSAND DOLLARS at his disposal. The manner 
 in which it was tendered and accepted was credit- 
 able to the sense of justice and the delicacy of one 
 party, and the frankness and gratitude of the 
 other. It was an honourable testimonj^ gracefully 
 received and acknowledged ; and although made 
 the subject of political reflections and pasquinades, 
 had in it nothing which donors or recipient should 
 hesitate to acknowledge. 
 
 The most celebrated speeches of Mr. Webster, 
 wdiile in the House of Eepresentatives, were upon 
 the Greek Kevolution and the Panama Mission. Mr. 
 Webster, in accordance with the warm sympathy 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 241 
 
 for the Greeks expressed by President Monroe, 
 moved the provision, b}^ haw, of the sum necessary 
 to defray the expense of the appointment of a 
 Commissioner to Greece. The Greeks were at that 
 time struggUng for their freedom and national ex- 
 istence against the tyranny of the Moslem. The 
 measure, notwithstanding the support of Webster, 
 Clay, and other distinguished statesmen, was not 
 at that time carried ; but the discussion awakened 
 new interest in the history and fate of Greece ; 
 and Mr. Webster's speech stands among his noblest 
 I efforts. On the su]3Ject of the Panama Mission, 
 1 Mr. Webster defended the administration of Mr. 
 Adams, who had appointed delegates to confer 
 I with the Southern Republics. The appointment 
 , was made in the spirit of Mr. Monroe's declaration, 
 I that our government would regard any European 
 combination to effect political objects on the Con- 
 tinent as affecting ourselves, and demanding pre- 
 , paration to meet it. Mr. Clay was in the Cabinet, 
 jand on Mr. Webster devolved the arduous duty 
 of defending an unpopular administration against 
 as zealous and strong an opposition as any Execu- 
 tive of the United States has ever been com- 
 pelled to act against. The position of leader of 
 the administration-party in the House unquestion- 
 
 21 
 
242 LIFE OF 
 
 ably developed his extraordinary powers ; but pro- 
 bably it imposed upon him a portion of the popu- 
 lar odium, however unjust in its intensity, which 
 the admmistration of Mr. Adams labored under. 
 Mr. Adams came into office under the mdignant 
 protest of a large party, and it is but latterly that 
 justice has been done to his patriotism and his 
 motives. He had no powers of conciliation, and! 
 seemed unable either to attack political friends, or 
 to conciliate opponents. ! 
 
 Mr. Webster's sphere as a debater was not the 
 only mode in which he rendered service to his 
 country during his Congressional career. He was 
 a most efficient member of various important com- 
 mittees, and the Acts which he digested and pre- 
 sented for the action of Congress, while the least 
 brilliant, are far from being the least important 
 of his legislative services. Among these may be 
 noticed the amended Act, '^ To punish certain 
 crimes against the United States." To this work 
 he brought his large and varied experience ; and 
 the law, which j)assed substantially as he reported! 
 it, forms a complete code of the criminal law of 
 the United States as distinct from the several 
 States. 
 
 In 1826, Mr. Webster was a third time elected 
 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 243 
 
 to the House of Representatives; but before he 
 took his seat, a vacancy occurring in the Senato- 
 rial delegation, he was elected by the Legislature 
 of Massachusetts to the Senate of the United 
 States. While on his w^ay to Washington, in 1827, 
 accompanied by his wife, that lady was taken ill 
 and died. This melancholy event delayed Mr. 
 Webster's arrival in Washington until January, 
 1828. During the session, Mr. Webster made 
 strong and praiseworthy exertions in behalf of the 
 survivors of the Revolutionary army. This sub- 
 ject, and also the rendition of justice to the suf- 
 ferers by the spoliations of France upon our com- 
 merce prior to 1800, he frequently labored to press 
 upon the attention of Congress. 
 
 In 1830, occurred Mr. Webster's great Senatorial 
 triumph. The opposition to President Adams had 
 taken somewhat the character of political enmity 
 to New England. The triumphant popularity of 
 General Jackson had failed to include New Eng- 
 land in its influence. That portion of the Union 
 remained true to its opposition, and the dominant 
 party were inclined to punish the New-Englanders, 
 and to suspect their motives. A very harm- 
 less resolution, introduced by Mr. Foote, Senator 
 ' from Connecticut, furnished tlie main subject-mat- 
 
244 LIFE OF 
 
 ter for speeches through a whole session. The 
 debate was discursive, and took a very wide range. 
 Most of the orators of the Senate spoke during 
 its continuance. The little matter which kindled 
 all this fire was a resolution, based upon the fact 
 that the annual demand for land then existing 
 was only equal to one-fiftieth part, or less, of the 
 land already surveyed and in the market, and pro- 
 posing, therefore, the inquiry whether sales could 
 not be restricted to the lands already offered, and 
 a portion of the land-ofiice machinery be abolished. 
 Western men, led by Mr. Benton, denounced this 
 as a blow aimed at the Western States, and in- 
 tended to check their increase; and the South, 
 appealed to by the West, joined against New Eng- 
 land, holding the whole of that portion of the Con- 
 federacy guilty of the evil purpose attributed to 
 Mr. Foote. Colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, 
 stood forth as the principal champion in the on- 
 slaught, and attacked New England with great 
 bitterness. Mr. Webster and his friends regarded 
 the attack as intended to reflect upon him, and 
 that gentleman felt himself, therefore, called upon 
 to reply. He did so, defending New England, and 
 contending that in every case in which measures 
 had been taken by the general government favor- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 245 
 
 able to the West, they had been carried by New 
 EngUmd votes. Mr. Webster was followed by 
 Colonel Benton in reply, and Colonel Hayne suc- 
 ceeded the latter. 
 
 Into this speech Colonel Hayne threw his whole 
 strength. It was a dashing, masterly effort, and 
 displayed powers which exhibited him as an an- 
 tagonist worthy of Daniel Webster. His speech, 
 commenced on Thursday, was concluded on the 
 following Monday. Mr. Webster rose to reply, 
 but gave way to a motion to adjourn, and on 
 Tuesday, January 29th, commenced and con- 
 cluded his reply. Neither of the parties in this 
 oratorial combat disappointed their friends : both, 
 mdeed, exceeded expectation. While Colonel 
 Hayne's speech was unanswered, the friends of 
 Webster had their fears that, great as were his 
 acknowledged talents, he was not equal to tliis 
 peculiar description of encounter. The friends 
 of Colonel Hayne were all elation — the New-Eng- 
 landers were, to say the least, sedate. But Daniel 
 Webster proved, as ever, equal to any exigence. 
 The Hall of the Senate was crowded as it never 
 had been before, and the city of Washington was 
 filled with strangers brought in by the rumors of 
 the great debate — the attack of Hayne, and the 
 
 21=^= 
 
246 LIFE OF 
 
 expected reply of Webster. Gallantly did he de- 
 fend New England ; ably did he manage the argu- 
 mentative, and adroitly the personal and salient, 
 portions of his speech. In variety of style — pa- 
 thos, satire, ponderous argument, light raillery, 
 animating apostrophe — Mr. Webster never, on 
 any other occasion, exceeded his reply to Colonel 
 Hayne. The speech is too well known to require 
 analysis here, even if analysis could do it justice; 
 and we make no extracts save the following — 
 the conclusion and climax in effect : — 
 
 " When my eyes shall be turned to behold for 
 the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see 
 him shining on the broken and dishonored frag-r 
 ments of a once-glorious Union ; on States disse- 
 vered, discordant, belKgerent ! on a land rent with 
 civil feud, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal 
 blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
 rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, 
 now known and honored throughout the earth, 
 still high advanced, its arms and trophies stream- 
 ing in their original lustre ; not a stripe erased or 
 polluted, not a single star obscured ; bearing for 
 its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 
 ' What is all this worth ?' Nor those other words 
 of delusion and folly, ^Liberty first and Union 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 247 
 
 afterwards;' but everywhere, spread all over in 
 characters of living light, blazing on its ample 
 folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, 
 and in every wind under the whole heavens, that 
 other sentiment, dearer to every American heart, 
 LiberUj and Union, noio and forever, one and inse- 
 jparahle!^' 
 
 Popular applause, and the discriminating praise 
 of the few, formal thanks by State Legislatures, 
 and spontaneous acknowledgments, follovred this 
 effort of Mr. Webster's. His supporters pro- 
 nounced him victor, and even the friends of Colonel 
 Hayne claimed only that the combatants were 
 equal. The fame of Daniel Webster stood higher 
 than ever with his countrymen. But from all this 
 applause the man of warm heart and intense domes- 
 tic affections turned to say, " Hoiv I ivisJi my hro- 
 tlver Ezehiel had lived till after this speech, that I 
 might know if lie ivould have heen gratified T' A 
 few months before, while pleading a cause in Con- 
 cord, New Hampshire, his health apparently good, 
 his voice clear, full, and strong, and his argument 
 evincing the possession of the highest faculties, 
 Ezekiel Webster fell backward, and expired with- 
 out a groan or a struggle. Mr. Webster always 
 alluded to this brother with deep affection and the 
 
248 LIFE OF 
 
 highest respect. In early life, as we have already 
 seen, their sympathies and pursuits were identical ; 
 and in after years, though in a sphere more cir- 
 cumscribed than his brother, Ezekiel commanded 
 high respect for his talents and personal worth and 
 virtue. 
 
 In the Webster and Hayne debate, the subject 
 of " nullification " was a principal theme ; Colonel 
 Hayne as the advocate of the nullification theory, 
 Mr. Webster as its opponent. The subject soon 
 came directly before the Senate. The people of 
 South Carolina, through a convention called for 
 the purpose, and by a vote of the Legislature after- 
 w^ards, pronounced the Tariff Act unconstitutional, 
 null and void, and the State was put in military 
 array. Colonel Hayne resigned his seat in the 
 Senate, and was elected Governor of the State; 
 Mr. Calhoun resigned the Yice-Presidency of the 
 United States, and was chosen Senator in place of 
 Mr. Hayne. President Jackson, in December, 
 1832, issued his famous proclamation against nul- 
 lification. Governor Hayne issued a counter-pro- 
 clamation. The friends of the President brought 
 forward a bill, " making farther provision for the 
 collection of the revenues," which gave the Presi- 
 dent ample powers to meet an exigency like that 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 249 
 
 presented by the conduct of South Carolina. Mr, 
 Calhoun made, against this bill, and in support of 
 a series of resolutions which he introduced, an 
 able speech, defending his view of the rights of a 
 State to annul unconstitutional acts of Congress. 
 Mr. Webster replied, defending the national ad- 
 ministration. His aid was personally solicited by 
 a member of General Jackson's Cabinet, and, on 
 the day of his answer to Mr. Calhoun, he rode 
 from his lodgings to the Capitol in the President's 
 carriage. Jackson's private secretary had called 
 upon him w^ith a message, and as the carriage 
 was at the door, it conveyed him to the Senate 
 Chamber. Mr. Webster was, in this case, the 
 recognised leader of the administration party; 
 the only man who could successfully cope with 
 Mr. Calhoun. He gave his aid heartily, and 
 during the discussion of the bill, caused it to be 
 amended in several important particulars. Mr. 
 Webster's argument against nullification was one 
 of his most important public acts, and will always 
 be appealed to as a standard connnentary on 
 the Constitution. 
 
 Supporting the President where right and duty 
 demanded, Mr. Webster did not, therefore, hesi- 
 tate to speak as decidedly, though courteously, 
 
250 LIFE OF 
 
 against him when they differed. In the discussion 
 of the Bank question, Mr. Webster argued in 
 favor of the re-charter. The President, in 1833, 
 removed the deposits of the United States from 
 the National Bank. Mr, Clay brought forward a 
 resolution, at the succeeding meeting of Congress, 
 calling upon the President for a copy of a paper 
 said to have been read by him at a Cabinet meet- 
 ing in relation to the subject. The President de- 
 clined compliance ; denying the authority of the 
 Senate to make any such call upon him. The 
 contents of the paper w^ere, however, public, and 
 the Senate acted upon the subject without any 
 official communication from the President. Reso- 
 lutions of substantial censure were passed, on mo- 
 tion of Mr. Clay, and against these the President 
 sent to the Senate his protest. Against this, Mr. 
 Webster made one of his most carefully-prepared 
 speeches, and defended the privileges of the Se- 
 nate, while he conceded to the President " honesty 
 of motive and integrity of purpose." 
 
 In the Currency debates, which continued during 
 Mr. Yan Buren's administration, Mr. Webster took 
 an important and leading part. But he clung with 
 less tenacity than some other politicians to the 
 idea of the absolute necessity of a United States 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 251 
 
 Bank. What would have been his course had he 
 remained in the Senate during President Tyler's 
 term, we can now only conjecture ; or how he 
 would have proceeded under the repeated defeats 
 of the Bank project brought forward in Congress 
 and vetoed by Mr. Tyler. It is certain that he 
 regarded the revival of the Bank controversy as a 
 measure of questionable necessity and expediency ; 
 and in a popular address, delivered in Boston, in 
 1842, he said, "A Bank of the United States 
 founded on a private subscription is out of the 
 question. That is an obsolete idea. The country 
 and the condition of things have changed." Mr. 
 Webster contended airainst disturbance of the cur- 
 rency, and the modes of negotiating exchanges 
 and managing the revenues ; but after the change 
 was made, he did not desire to contend for " obso- 
 lete ideas." The experience of the country now 
 shows that we are better without such an institu- 
 tion. In like manner, Mr. Webster, though an 
 advocate for the protection of domestic manuflic- 
 tures, has made that question not paramount to 
 all others, but co-important with them. He has 
 on all subjects recommended measures consonant 
 with the general weal. His mind was too capa- 
 cious, his views too catholic, to urge him to the 
 
252 LIFE OF - 
 
 carrying out of a theory at the expense of the 
 practical interests of the country; or to argue 
 that, because the government has certain constitu- 
 tional powers, it is therefore necessary to exercise 
 and test them, without regard to expediency, and 
 in defiance of the wishes of a minority. 
 
 The most important part of Mr. Webster's Con- 
 gressional life was prior to 1838 ; and in that year 
 certain citizens of Boston, the thew and sinew of 
 that ancient city, tendered their Senator the com- 
 pliment of a public dinner in Faneuil Hall. There 
 were many such compliments paid him ; and with 
 out desiring the eclat of such assemblages, which 
 was really nothing to Daniel Webster, he could be 
 grateful for the motives which prompted his friends 
 thus to honor him. No man had less fondness for 
 parade than he ; and none was more heartily re- 
 joiced to escape from the plaudits and acclama- 
 tions of the crowd to the calm enjoyment of the 
 society of his friends. Faneuil Hall has very 
 many times echoes with his full, manly voice ; and 
 when that was hushed forever, the weeping people 
 there listened to the eulogies of those who loved 
 and knew him best. 
 
 In the year 1839, Mr. Webster visited Europe. 
 The fame of his talents had preceded him ; and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 253 
 
 the appearance and ability of the man more than 
 seconded all that had been reported of him. No 
 official personage conld have received more atten- 
 tion ; and no American was ever more gratified at 
 his reception abroad. The attentions which he 
 received were not so much formal as cordial. 
 There was nothing of display, but everything 
 which hospitality could dictate. The landholders 
 of England welcomed a brother farmer ; statesmen 
 and lawyers found in him their peer, and the Eng- 
 lish people seemed to claim a pride and property 
 in their transatlantic cousin ; familiar as them- 
 selves with all that is rich in British literature, or 
 valuable in the history and experience of the mo- 
 ther country. 
 
 Having, previously to his voyage, declined to 
 be considered a candidate for the Presidency of the 
 United States, Mr. Webster returned to bear a 
 very important part in the canvassing which pre- 
 ceded the election of General Harrison. His mao:- 
 nanimous character has been more than once exhi- 
 bited in this manner. He who never could be 
 persuaded to make popular capital for himself, had 
 never hesitated to sacrifice himself for others. He 
 was too conscious of his own powers to oiler them 
 
 at retail on the hustings for the purchase of an 
 
 99 
 
254 LIFE OF 
 
 election. He was undoubtedly satisfied that his 
 services deserved the reward of an election to the 
 Presidenc}^; but he desired that others should 
 award him his meed, and would not stoop to beg 
 for it. 
 
 He did not heartily second the nomination of 
 Harrison, of Clay, in 1844, or of Taylor, in 1848 ; 
 but to all three he lent his aid when they were 
 made ; having in view the success of the party 
 which he believed could best promote the prospe- 
 rity of the country. What would have been his 
 course in the case of General Scott, had his health 
 and life been spared, it is now impossible to tell. 
 It would be a misrepresentation to say that Mr. 
 Webster was not disappointed in the failure of his 
 friends to secure his nomination, or that he ap- 
 proved the selection of General Scott as the can- 
 didate of his party. But we cannot go the length 
 to believe that this disappointment preyed upon 
 him with any fatal effect. He felt it, without a 
 doubt; for he would have been unjust to himself 
 had he not been sensible that his forty years of 
 public service had conferred substantial benefit 
 and world-wide renown upon his country, v/hich 
 the gift of the highest honors could not have re- 
 paid. He would have honored the Presidency — 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 255 
 
 it could have conferred no new honor upon him. 
 Had he hved, the zeal of his friends might have 
 diminished President Pierce's majority; or he 
 might, with his ever-elastic manliness, have with- 
 drawn his name peremptoril}^, as he had done 
 before. Now, it matters not; nor is it worth 
 while to speculate upon the subject. 
 
 Mr. Webster was called, by General Harrison, 
 to a seat in his Cabinet. He was tendered the 
 Secretaryship of the Treasury, but preferred the 
 Department of State. In one short month. Gene- 
 ral Harrison was no more. He died amid the 
 profound regrets of the people, and the office of 
 President was, for the first time in the history of 
 the country, filled by the alternate provided by 
 the Constitution. Mr. Tyler proved unacceptable 
 to the party who had elected him. The other 
 members of the Cabinet felt it their duty to retire ; 
 but Mr. Webster, contrary to the wishes of his 
 party, and in spite of censure, and, from some 
 quarters, unmerited obloquy, chose to remain. He 
 had a duty to the whole country to fulfil ; a sense 
 of honor to satisfy, with which a hasty retirement 
 would not have been compatible. With no per- 
 sonal ends to satisfy, but at a sacrifice to himself, 
 he remained attached to an unpopular administra- 
 
256 LIFE OF 
 
 tion till he conferred upon the Presidency of Mr. 
 Tyler the honor of adjusting the difficulties with 
 Great Britain, which had baffled all preceding 
 administrations. The treaty of Washington, ne- 
 gotiated by Ashburton and Webster, gave him as 
 high a rank in diplomacy as he had already 
 reached in other departments of professional and 
 public life. Other troublesome questions, mtti 
 different powers, were also satisfactorily disposed 
 of; and then Mr. Webster retired, without ardent 
 popular applause, but with the high respect of the 
 judicious of all parties; a respect which already 
 ripens into posthumous fame. 
 
 A mere party tactician would have fled the 
 White House when Mr. Tyler's star declined, and 
 contended — probably successfully — for the next 
 nomination. He might have led the Whig oppo- 
 sition to their ow^n impracticable nominee : but 
 Mr. Webster was no tactician. Had he been, a 
 second opportunity w^as open. Mr. Tyler's heart 
 w^as set upon the annexation of Texas ; and this 
 measure, though very unpalatable to a portion of 
 the Confederacy, has proved popular with the 
 larger party. Mr. Webster might have remained 
 in the Cabinet and promoted this object, if he 
 could have sacrificed his convictions to his ambi- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 257 
 
 tion ; and the advantage which did not accrue to 
 President Tyler might have fallen to his Secre- 
 tary. But he left office ; and, as he left, warned 
 the country of the impending event; but his 
 warnings were not heeded. 
 
 Mr. Clay was nominated ; and Mr. Webster, as 
 he had done before, lent his influence in favor of 
 the nommee of the Whig party. Mr. Polk was 
 elected, and through his administration Mr. Web- 
 ster was again in the Senate — his last term. The 
 party to which he belonged was in the minority ; 
 but, though contending for principles, they did 
 nothing in a factious spirit. Mr. Webster was 
 opposed to the Mexican war, and opposed to the 
 treaty by which it was closed ; opposed, as he de- 
 clared, on the ground that the new territory ac- 
 quired would be an embarrassment, disturb the 
 equilibrium of representation, and destroy the just 
 relation between the Senate and the House, by 
 bringing in new States with sparse populations, 
 each with its two Senators, without such a num- 
 ber of Representatives as would bear a due pro- 
 portion to the new members of the other Houses. 
 On the subject of slavery, while he adhered to the 
 principles of the Constitution, which forljid inter- 
 ference of the General Government with slavery 
 
 22* 
 
258 LIFE OF 
 
 in the original States, he protested against its ex- 
 tension : '' I have made up my mind, for one, that 
 under no circumstances will I consent to the fur- 
 ther extension of the area of slavery in the United 
 States, or to the further increase of slave repre- 
 sentation in the House of Representatives." These 
 sentiments Mr. Webster maintained, and frequently 
 repeated, and in accordance with these he shaped 
 his actions, while he defended the " Compromise 
 Measures." Different men, of different view^s, look 
 upon his course according to their own ideas of 
 his consistency or inconsistency. This is not the 
 place to argue the question ; but we must concede 
 that the man wdio lost no occasion to repeat his 
 objections to the annexation of Texas, to the Mex- 
 ican w^ar, and to any increase of the slave area, 
 could not be so weak as to expect that his advo- 
 cacy of the " Compromise " would be a successful 
 bid for the nomination as President. We must 
 acquit him of any such motive; and, however 
 opinions may differ as to the wisdom or right of 
 his course, his patriotism, sincerity, and devotion 
 to the whole country, cannot be impugned. 
 
 During this Senatorial term, Mr. Webster was 
 called upon to speak the obituary of his distin- 
 guished friend and opponent, Calhoun, and of 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 259 
 
 General Taylor, President of tlie United States. 
 His son Edward, a major in the Massachusetts 
 Volunteers, died in Mexico, in January, 1848, and 
 his daughter, Julia Webster Appleton, in April of 
 the same year. These bereavements greatly af- 
 flicted him, and, with his increasing age, gave a 
 deeper shade of pensive sternness to his flice, and 
 strengthened the religious tone of his character. 
 
 Upon the accession of Mr. Fillmore to the Pre- 
 sidency, by the death of General Taylor, Mr. 
 Webster was called again to the post of Secretary 
 of State. In this second term of his service in 
 that important office, Mr. Webster chiefly distin- 
 guished himself by his reply to the Austrian 
 Charge, Chevalier Hulseman. In that document, 
 Mr. Webster defined and defended the American 
 policy towards Hungary. Its manly tone makes 
 the American heart bound with natural pride, and 
 true men every where respond to its noble doc- 
 trines. In his intercourse with Kossuth, the Hun- 
 garian exile, Mr. Webster showed that he had not 
 forgotten the sentiments which he had uttered 
 years before upon the Greek question. Without 
 committing the government of which he was a 
 member, the aged statesman made his sympathies 
 evident wdth all the fire of youtli. 
 
260 LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Elms Farm — Marshfielcl — Close of Mr. Webster^s Life — Ills Illness 
 and Death — His Burial — His Will — Religious Opinions — Con- 
 clusion. 
 
 "Elms Farm" is the name of the pLace in 
 FrankHn, New Hampshire, where Mr. Webster 
 spent the greater part of his youth. It is about 
 three miles distant from his birthplace, and, alto- 
 gether, contains about nine hundred acres. It 
 descended to Ezekiel and Daniel from their father, 
 and was retained by the latter from filial affection. 
 It is almost exclusively a grazing farm, and here 
 Mr. Webster indulged his taste for the rearing of 
 herds of the finest cattle. Upon this farm he had 
 a tenant, or yeoman, whose name is John Taylor. 
 Hither he was wont annually to repair, to refresh 
 himself amid the scenes of his youth, and visit 
 the graves of " the dear kindred blood " whom he 
 loved so well. The scenery is romantic, and every 
 part of it is sacred to the early associations of the 
 
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 P3 
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 ''a 
 
 1 'll, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 2G1 
 
 subject of our memoir. The most elevated spot 
 upon it has a touch of the Puritan character of 
 the flimily, in the name which it bears — " Pisgah's 
 Top." At this point the view is magnificent, and 
 from this spot Mr. Webster was wont, at his annual 
 visits, to survey the scenes of his youth. The 
 hast visit which he paid to this pLace was in 1851. 
 While there, some twenty men were engaged in 
 making hay, and the aged statesman, then in his 
 70th year, declared that " he could pitch more hay 
 in an hour than any man in the crowd," and 
 throwing aside his coat, he showed that the dex- 
 terity of his youth had not forsaken him. 
 
 Agriculture was a passion wdth Daniel Webster. 
 But the chief of his science and experience he 
 exhibited on the estate in Marshiield. About the 
 year 1826, Mr. Webster's attention was first called 
 to the vicinity, on account of its opportunities for 
 open air, exercise, and amusement, of which he 
 was always fond. Successive visits attached him 
 to the spot ; and he made the first purchase of 
 land there in 1827, buying the house at which he 
 had visited, with about one liundred and fifty 
 acres of land. By the purchase of tract after 
 tract, Mr. Webster swelled his domain to about 
 two thousand acres; for the possession of nuich 
 
262 LIFE OF 
 
 land seemed to be a passion with him; and at 
 Marsbfield, land could, twenty-five years ago, be 
 bought at very low prices. Under his culture, the 
 quality of the soil was so much improved that its 
 products were increased an hundred-fold. While 
 he advanced the profitable character of his terri- 
 tory, he added, by art, to its natural features. By 
 his own hand, or under his immediate direction, 
 over a hundred thousand ornamental and forest 
 trees were planted ; and these were so disposed as 
 to beautify the landscape, and present, at every 
 turn, some harmonious or unexpected feature. Of 
 fruit-trees, he also planted thousands of the best 
 varieties which the soil and climate would support. 
 The whole farm is so intersected with roads and 
 avenues, walks and pathways, that, without 
 interfering with its utility, the place appears like 
 an extensive pleasure-ground. Eide or wa;lk in 
 what direction you choose, and everywhere is 
 visible the evidence of care and culture. The 
 natural features of Marshfield are improved by the 
 art of landscape gardening, on a grand scale. 
 Even the lakes, of wdiich there are three near the 
 house, Mr. Webster managed to make more beau- 
 tiful by art. The larger one he colonised with 
 wild geese, by constructing in it artificial islands, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 2G3 
 
 like the chosen haunts of the bird in its freedom. 
 Every possible variety of poultry is included 
 among the stock of the place. As to cattle, the 
 raising of which was his favorite agricultural 
 amusement, he had hundreds of the choicest stock ; 
 and even a few South American lamas added 
 variety to his assortment. 
 
 Mr. Webster was no "exclusive" improver. 
 Many who have a passion for such things, have a 
 pride, also, in keeping their choice varieties to 
 themselves. He had none of this small vanity ; 
 but scattered with a liberal hand among his 
 neighbors, the benefits of his experience, and the 
 advantages of his improvements. At Marshfield, 
 his tenant, or superintendent, was Mr. Porter 
 Wright; his fisherman, Mr. Seth Peterson. The 
 latter was no unimportant personage; holding the 
 same post of honor that the huntsman held in the 
 olden time. Mr. Webster was not only admired, 
 but beloved by his neighbors and toAvnsmen ; and 
 the feeling of the void that his loss created, was 
 well expressed by one of them, who said, when he 
 was laid in his grave, " How lonesome the world 
 seems !" 
 
 The main part of Mr. Webster's mansion at 
 Marshfield, was built in 1774. By his additions, 
 
264 LIFE OF 
 
 and the improvements which he made upon the 
 original building, it was doubled in size, and ren- 
 dered perfect in convenience. The whole house is 
 furnished in admirable taste ; but the large Gothic 
 library, filled with choice books, was the chief 
 feature. This collection did not include his law 
 library, which is in Boston ; nor his agricultural 
 works, which w^ere in a separate building. The 
 library was built and furnished after designs 
 drawn by his daughter Julia; and is in harmony 
 with her father's character, and the purpose for 
 which it was erected. The house is full of choice 
 objects of art, portraits and busts of himself and 
 of his distinguished friends, and his relatives ; and 
 many of the masterpieces of ancient and modern 
 art. 
 
 When Mr. Webster first came to reside at 
 Marshfield, it was as a widower. To the lady 
 who survives him, he was married in 1832. She 
 was the life of his Marshfield home ; and, with 
 his children, shared his warm affections. Except 
 Fletcher, who survives, all his children preceded 
 him to the grave. The six volumes of his works 
 are dedicated to the children of his brother Eze- 
 kiel, to his sons Edward and Fletcher, to his 
 daughter Julia, to his friends, Isaac P. Davis and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 265 
 
 J. W. Paige, and to Caroline Le Roy Webster, his 
 '- dearly-beloved wife," as " a tribute of his affec- 
 tion, and some acknowledgment of the deep inte- 
 rest which she had taken" in the productions of 
 his intellect. 
 
 To Marshfield, endeared to him by every consi- 
 deration which can make an earthly possession 
 valuable, Daniel Webster, in 1852, retired to die. 
 We cannot better describe the close of his life, 
 than in the eloquent words of Hon. Eufus Choate : 
 " In the last months of his life, the whole affec- 
 tion ateness of his nature, his consideration of 
 others, his gentleness, his desire to make them 
 happy, and to see them happy, seemed to come 
 out in more and more beautiful and habitual ex- 
 pression than ever before. The long days' public 
 tasks were felt to be done — the cares, the uncer- 
 tainties, the mental conflicts of high i^lace, were 
 ended, and he came home to recover himself for 
 the few years which he might still expect would 
 be his before he should go hence to be here no 
 more : and there, I am assured, and fnWy believe, 
 no unbecoming regrets pursued him; no discon- 
 tent, as for injustice suffered, or expectations 
 unfulfilled ; no self-reproach for anything done, or 
 anything omitted, by himself; no irritation, no 
 
 23 
 
266 LIFE OF 
 
 peevishness unworthy of his noble nature; but 
 instead, love and hope for his country, when she 
 became the subject of conversation, and for all 
 around him, the dearest and the most indifferent; 
 for all breathing things about him the overflow 
 constant growing in gentleness and benevolence 
 of the kindest heart, parental, patriarchal affec- 
 tions, seeming to become more natural, warm, and 
 communicative. Softer and yet brighter grew the 
 tints on the sky of parting day, and the last lin- 
 gering rays, more even than the glories of noon, 
 announced how divine was the source from vvdiich 
 they proceeded, how incapable to be quenched, 
 how certain to rise on a morninor which no nisrht 
 should follow." 
 
 On the morning of Sunday, October 24th, 1852, 
 Daniel Webster passed away. He had lived out the 
 appointed term; having, at the time of his decease, 
 nearly completed his seventy-first year. While 
 riding, in the spring preceding his death, he was 
 thrown from his carriage by the breaking of a 
 bolt, and from this injury it is supposed he never 
 fully recovered. The immediate cause of his 
 death was a disease of the liver, ending in a 
 hemorrhage consequent upon bis malady. For 
 some time before his death, the papers contained 
 
DANIEL ^v r. v> s T ]: n. ■ 267 
 
 contradictory reports; all indicating, however, to 
 those who remembered the age he had reached, 
 his approaching end. When it was announced by 
 authority of his fjimily, that his name, which had 
 been used in the pendmg political canvass, must 
 be disconnected from that subject, the public were 
 prepared for the melancholy intelligence which 
 soon followed. 
 
 When Mr. Webster could no longer ride or walk 
 about, he still continued to exhibit an affectionate 
 interest in his dependents, as well as in his family. 
 Even the noble cattle which he had reared he 
 caused to be driven up to the door of the mansion, 
 that he might look at their fair proportions, and 
 gratify the passion which he had always passessed 
 for agricultural pursuits. From his window he 
 surveyed the ocean, and caused a light to be liung 
 at the mast-head of his favorite yacht, that he 
 midit observe in the darkness that it was still 
 there. His conversation had turned often, through 
 his life, upon religious themes, and in his last days 
 they were frequently introduced by him. Yet lie 
 remembered and attended to the details of his 
 farm, and to his family disbursements, and spoke 
 understandingly upon the concerns of State. lie 
 caused memorials to be prepared and presented to 
 
268 LIFE OF 
 
 his friends, and in very many particulars exhibited 
 the possession of a full knowledge and interest in 
 the subjects which had been the occupation of his 
 leisure, or of his hours of labor. He caused the 
 pay-roll of his farm and household servants to be 
 made up and cancelled. Yet in all this there was 
 not so much a clinging to earth, as another and 
 better motive — a thoughtful, curious, anxious train 
 of reflection, which was exhibited in his last 
 words. 
 
 On the Thursday preceding his death, he gave 
 directions to his men upon the farm relative to 
 their daily progress, and received his mail, direct- 
 ing the answers to many of the letters. His last 
 autograph letter was directed to the President of 
 the United States. On this day, also, he executed 
 his will, and completed various other matters of 
 business which he thought it necessary should be 
 attended to. In this will, he devised the Marsh- 
 field property to his son, Fletcher, to be held by 
 trustees, and secured to his grandson, Daniel Web- 
 ster. He made affectionate provision for his 
 widow, even to the designation of her tomb by his 
 side at Marshfield ; the two being exactly of the 
 same size and form. Many of his friends are re- 
 membered kindly in his will, and all persons men- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 269 
 
 m 
 tionecl are spoken of with respect and affection, 
 even to the four colored servants, whom he had 
 purchased and manumitted ; all, he declares, 
 " well-deserving," and upon none of them is a 
 demand to be made for any portion of their pur- 
 chase-money. 
 
 On Tuesday, he remained nearly all day in a state 
 of unconsciousness, or of torpor, occasionally rally- 
 ing. Durhig this day, he presented his physician, 
 Dr. Jeffries, with his watch, as a token of his regard 
 for his unwearied attention to him during his ill- 
 ness. He said, " Doctor, you will feel the pulses 
 of many patients by that watch ; you will feel my 
 pulse many times, yet, by it." The Doctor looked 
 sad, and made no reply. Mr. Webster added, 
 " You look gloomy. Doctor, but you need not be 
 alarmed ; I shall be with you to-morrow." 
 
 On Saturday afternoon, it was distinctly an- 
 nounced to him that his end was near. He re- 
 ceived the intimation without emotion, and caused 
 his wife and the other female members of his family 
 to be called, to each of whom he spoke words of 
 farewell and relidous consolation. The male mem- 
 bers of his famil}', including his farmers and ser- 
 vants, and the friends who were in the house, 
 were next summoned. He addressed all by name, 
 
270 LIFE OF 
 
 and, referring to his past relations with them, took 
 an affectionate leave of all. He enjoined Mr. 
 Peter Harvey, and others, not to leave Marshfield 
 till he was " a dead man." Then, having gone 
 through w^ith his duty to all around him, his 
 thoughts reverted to himself, and he said, " On 
 the 24th of October, all that is mortal of Daniel 
 Webster will be no more ! " He then prayed in 
 his natural full, clear, and strong voice, ending 
 wath the petition, " Heavenly Father, forgive my 
 sins, and receive me to thyself through Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 The subject of death had long been in his 
 thoughts, not only as an event for which he must 
 prepare, but also as a thing for examination and 
 analysis. He appeared to be desirous to note 
 every change, not only in his bodily condition, but 
 in the alterations which would take place in his 
 sentiments and emotions. For this reason, he 
 tested, to the last, his capacity for business and 
 detail, in order to observe how long the power of 
 accustomed objects would continue to impress 
 him ; and undoubtedly he discovered, by the 
 changes within himself, the fatal termination, 
 before his physicians had lost their hope. It was 
 a mental phenomenon which we hope to see 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 271 
 
 treated by those who iiad the best opportunity to ob- 
 serve it : the great mind of Daniel Webster, stand- 
 ing, as it were, aside and superior, and noting 
 critically the struggle in himself between life and 
 death. The following incident illustrates this : 
 While lying in a half-dreamy state, apparently 
 unconscious, except when addressed, of what w^as 
 passing around him, the room still and solemn as 
 the tomb, he suddenly broke forth, not in the low, 
 weak voice of an invalid, but in accents as loud, 
 clear, and thrilling, as ever echoed through the 
 Senate Chamber, '^ Life ! Life ! Death ! Death ! 
 lioio curious it is T It pierced to the farthest 
 apartment of the house, startling those who heard 
 it, like the sound of a trumpet. Shrouded from 
 the outer world, that vast mind was weighing the 
 vaster themes, upon which its conclusions can 
 never in this world be known. 
 
 A short time before his death, his head became 
 cold. He feared that his consciousness or his 
 reason would leave him. He said, " Life till 
 death; I wish to retain my senses till I die." His 
 son, standing by, said, " Father, you have your 
 senses perfectly. Your conversation is rational." 
 He then said, " Poetry — Gray." His words were 
 few, from extreme exhaustion. His son repeated 
 
272 LIFE OF 
 
 two stanzas of Gray's Elegy. " That is poetiy ; 
 all right," said he. He evidently wished to test 
 his own mental condition. Finding that the w^ell- 
 knovfn lines of the poet revived the old emotions, 
 he w^as assured that reason ^vas still on her throne. 
 Hence his remark, " J./Z rigid still, my son." He 
 spoke of the difficulty of dying, and Dr. Jeffries 
 repeated to him, " Though I walk through the 
 valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, 
 for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they 
 comfort me." Mr. Webster instantly rejoined : 
 " The fact ! the fact ! That is what I w^ant ! Thy 
 rod ! thy rod ! Thy staff! thy staff 1" He wished 
 to know whether he was then actually passing the 
 dark valley ; that, with the full possession of his 
 reason, he might note the instant of his departure. 
 He sunk into unconsciousness for a time; and 
 when he revived, his surprise, when he found 
 himself still alive, was expressed in the exclama- 
 tion, " I STILL LIVE !" They were the last words 
 he uttered. An hour of perfect quiet succeeded ; 
 and at about two o'clock in the morning, he passed 
 so quietly away, that it was difficult to fix the 
 precise moment of his departure. 
 
 In every possible mode, the nation testified its 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 273 
 
 grief, and honored the memory of the departed. 
 He was buried in an unostentatious manner, at 
 Marshfield, without form or parade ; the clergy- 
 man of iiis parish, Rev. Ebenezer Alden, conducting 
 the services, at the request of the deceased. Eight 
 or ten thousand persons were present at the obse- 
 quies ; and of all these, it could truly be said that 
 they were his " friends and neighbors." By such 
 alone had he desired that his funeral should be 
 attended. 
 
 He still lives! Not only in his legal and 
 political knowledge and services — or in the 
 memory of his private loves and friendships — or 
 in the various benefits in secular matters which 
 he has conferred upon his country and his race : 
 but he lives in this declaration of his fliith, drawn 
 up and signed by him a few days before his death : 
 
 " ' Lord, I helieve, help tlioii mine unbelief.'' — 
 Philosophical argument, especially that drawn 
 from the vastness of the Universe, in comparison 
 with the insignificance of this globe, has sometimes 
 shaken my reason for the faith which is in me ; 
 but my heart has always assured and re-assured 
 me, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a 
 Divine Reality. The Sermon on the Mount 
 
274 LIFE OF 
 
 cannot be a merely human production. This 
 belief enters into the very depth of my conscience. 
 The whole history of man proves it. 
 
 '^Daniel Webster." 
 
 Daniel Webster was not a faultless man. We 
 do not present him as such. But we have no 
 need to draw from the past the infirmities of his 
 character. Humanly estimated, they were far 
 less than his virtues. The foundation of his elo- 
 quence was in his intimate acquaintance with the 
 sublime language of the Bible ; and his religious 
 character and impressions gave Daniel Webster a 
 moral dignity above all mere intellectual rank. 
 He could introduce, as in the case of the heirs of 
 the Girard Estate, a relisfious arscument into a 
 legal plea, and do no violence to his subject — 
 he had the manly courage, even amid scoffers, to 
 confess his faith. He could converse on religious 
 subjects without affectation or awkwardness, 
 showing that the source of his words was in his 
 heart. He returned, at the last, to the love of his 
 youth ; and as his day waned, renewed the early 
 vows with which he took upon himself the pro- 
 fession of his faith; but at no time was he a 
 scoffer, or indifferent to religious ordinances. He 
 
 1853, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 275 
 
 died in the communion of the Protestant Episco- 
 pal Church. We close our memoir of Daniel 
 Webster with a word of eulogy from his friend 
 J. Prescott Hall, of New York ; and we commend 
 it to our young readers, as indicating one mode in 
 which all may imitate Daniel Webster : 
 
 " I have partaken of his innocent and manly 
 amusements ; I have walked with him alone, at 
 twilight, upon the shore of the '• far-resounding 
 sea;' I have seen him in the Forum, and in the 
 Senate-chamber — his gigantic intellect towering 
 above all his compeers; and under ho circum- 
 stances, and on no occasion, did I ever knoio Jiini to 
 forrjet Ids own difjniff/, or cease to impress, if not 
 overwhelm, with tlie sense of his surpassing great- 
 ness. From his lips I never heard an irreverent, a 
 profane, or an unseeinltj expression; while his 
 playful wit, liis deep philosophy, his varied ac- 
 quirements, and unrivalled powers of conversation, 
 are among the richest treasures of my recollec- 
 tion." 
 
 THE END. 
 
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