A DISCOURSE,

COl\IJIIE}IO'R.A'1‘1.‘.'G 'l'I1E

LIFE AND SERVICES

0}?

DANIEL VVEBSTER:

Ii)]'3LIVL1~}11Ml1‘."I) IN 'l‘I‘IE

'§f174ctI},oh#.ist @L’;p;isc.o’;g-211 Qlilgxmrlu, ,‘§f.‘.1xn';>aU*4i.I.Ir,

.mNIr.mm:' mt, 1:353,

A11.‘ ’l‘.l.I.I*l} 1lEQ,'U.EST OF T1114} CITIZENS.

BY IIOILACE MAYNARD.

I{.N‘(JX'X’II;LE, Ll‘ENI~T:
1.""U13LISIIED BY A.I3LACK1:3URN & CO.
1853.

nrsoonnsn-

Goo _aLo:\*r, Is Gll.EAT—---'-l.VG1‘e the initial words of the
funeral discourse pronounced over the fourteenth Louis
of France. And if at any time more than at another,
Eternal Greatness appears in sublime and solemn con—-
trast with the g1‘6€Li31'10SS of earth, it is when we follow
to their final resting place the remains of the most gift-
ed and the most honored of her sons. This contrast
has, <l111*i11g; the year just departed, been most sadly
and impressively forced upon the people of America.
The hr*igl1t l:i,gl1t of the West has sunk to its settiifigg
the g1‘eat luminary of the North has gone out in the
night of death. For full forty years, these with a re-
splendent Southern orb, just eXt»i11guisl1ecl, formed a
refulgent constellation, Whose radiance added more than
We can tell to the honor and glory of their own coun-
try, and the brightness of Whose rising heralded the

day-clawii of free principles and good government to

civilizecl man all over the world. The deep lessons of

hunian frailty, of the evanescent and unsatisfying na-

ture of Worldly ambition, and a WO1‘1Cl~WiClG farne, taught
us by the almost siinultaneous departure of these mighty
rivals and co-equals, in the plenitude of their years
and their honors, I leave to be enforced on other occa-
sions, and to the more fitililllg‘ hands of our public in-

4: LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

strnctors in religioii. Be mine the hnmbler, yet not less
welcome oflice, as the chosen exponent and prolocntor

, of this connnunity, to pay the Willing tribute of our

grateful American lieerts, to the rneinory of the last to
survive of this noble tried, DANIEL Wnnsrnn, of Messe-
chusetts.

Born amid the darkness and trouble of our reroln-
tionery 11igl1t’*‘--——o'f fl fat~he1'*l* sprung from the old Pn1°its11
stock, Wl10, l1€:LVl11g done the country lionomble service
as a. ca,pta.in in the old l3‘rencl1 war, of 1755, had set»-
tled in it log cabin on the very frontier of the then
Wilderness of New I-Ieinpsliire, with not a, solitary
White men between l1i1n .1-md Ceiiscls. ; who lied foiiglit
at Buiiker Hill and st l3ennington as :1, n1ajo1* under
John Stark; his liighest ambition in life, the seine which
to this day cheers and determines the heart of so nntny
an American fst.l1e1*,, to raise his children to a, condition
better tlien his ow:n'_§j----of 3. mother endowed beyond the

"hilt Salisbury, New I"I€1I11pSl;'1i1‘(~I:, J enuary 18, 1782.

-fMr. Webster, in an autobiographical me1nor::n.ndn1n of his ehilclhoocl, thus
speaks of his ih.tl1e1--- I

“My father, Ebenezer Webster;-—born at Kingstoii, in the lower part of
the state, in 1789---the lmnclsomest 11’1£L1‘1 I ever saw, except my brother
Ezekiel, who appeared to me, and so does he now seem to me, the very finest
huinan form that ever I laid eyes on. I saw liirn in his coffin»-——zL white forc-
hee.cl——:L tinged cl1eel~:~—«--a, complexion as clear as lieavenly light.”

film :1. speech delivered by Mr. Webster, at a nurse ineeting at Samtoge, on
the 19th of August, 1840, he makes the following allusion to his early life:~——

“ 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, rztisecl mnid the snow-drifts of New
I-Iampshire, at 3, period so early that, when the smoke first rose from its
wide chimney, and curled over the frozen hills, there was no Sllllll.‘-.1lI‘ evidence
of 3. white n1a.n’s l1€LbltfLi»lO11 between it and the settlements on the rivers of
Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my

LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 5

ordinary measure of her sex with i11tellige11ce,r sound
pmctical sense, an elevated and eiihghteiletl piety, and,
above all, a, Woma.11’s pride and devotion to the Corneli-
an jewels of her heart, her two sons, Daniel and his
elder brother Ezekiel‘*‘«—cmdlecl in Megioii Where nature
Wears perpetual her sternest as well as her sublimest look,
amid storms, and tempcsts, and ice, and driven snows,
and grsuiite l1i.lls--—-l3o1'11 at such it time, of such parents,
and surrounded by such influences, the found::Ltions were
l'o,id, eitrly Etlltl deep, of that lofty anal 6€L1‘11BSl3 patriotism,
the trait so prominent in Mr. Webster’s cl1s.1*acte1*.

children to it, to tencli them the liardships endured by the genemtioiis which
have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the 1~:in-
dred ties, the early afieetions, and the touching nanwzxtives and incidents,
which niixigle with all I know of this primitive family ztthode. I Weep to
think that none of those who inh€1.bited it are mrioiig the livilig ; and if ever
I am zislmined of it, or if I ever fail in stffeetionate vencrzttion for him who
reared it, and defended it against savage violence and destruction, cherished
all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, through. the fire aml blood of at
seven years’ revo1utions.ry Will‘, shrenlc from no danger, no trial, no sacrifice,
to serve his country, and to raise his children to e condition better tl.m.n his
own, 1nn.y my nmne and the rmine of my posterity be blotted forever from
the memory of ma.nkind.”-—-— l'l"eZ>.9te/".5: Worlrs, vol. i: p. 30.

"“ “Soon after his settlement in Selisl3u1'y, the tirst wife of Ebenezer Web-
ster having deceased, he I1’1i11‘1‘l0(.l Abigail l!l§1.St1'I'lfl.»1’1, who hecsune the inother
of lilzelziel sud Dzmiel Webster, the only sons of the second 111nr1~iaige. Like
the mothers of so many men of Aniericzm, she 'W'£1S.'LL woinan of more than
ordine.ry intellect, and possessed :11, force of ehu.ra.cter which was felt throug;l1-
out the huinhle circle in which she moved. She was proud of her sons sml
ambitious that they should excel. I-Ier il.11l.'lCl]piLtlC)I1S went beyond the nar-
row sphere in which their lot seemed to be cast, 21-ml the distinction attained
by both, and espceinlly the younger, may well be traced, in part, to her
early p1‘on1pti1.1g;s mid judicious guidance.”-«~— v-z.~crezt’s Life of lli'ebsto2', p. 17.

In it letter Written by Mr. Webster, as late as the 17th of March, 1852, to
John fl‘a.ylor, the overseer of his estate at F1‘€1lI1lCll:1"l, he thus recurs to the
memory of his mother. After vztrious instmctions in detail, he says: “ Take
care to keep my niothei-’s garden in good order, even if it cost you the Wages
of 2L 1112111 to talce care of it.”

6 LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL wnnsrnn.

.As a child, I do not learn that Daniel Webster gave
any remarkable indications of superiority, certainly
none of precocity. The common schools of the neigh-
borhoocl,“‘ to receive Whose moderate instructions he was
sometimes obliged to Wade a distance of two or three
miles t.l11'ougl1 the snows of a northern winter; a few

i"Son1ethin,g; more than a year ago, the following; letter appeared in the
National Intelligencer, addressed by Mr. Webster to one of his early teach-
ers. From other sources than the letter itself, it is known to have covered a
check for fifty dollars. A kinder man than Mr. Webster never lived.

“W.is1-xlnocron, Feb. 20, 1851.

M.-.s'rten 'l.‘.~8.I"I3A'N:-———-I thank you for your letter, and am rejoiced to know
that you are among the living. I remember you perfectly well as a teacher
of my infant years. I suppose my mother must have t:imgl1t 1110 to read
very early, as I have never been able to recollect the time when I could not
read the Bible. I think l\l‘aste1' Chase was my earliest school-master, prob-
ably when I was three or four years old. Then came Master ll‘a.ppan. You
bo.~1r«:led at our house, and sometimes, I think, in the family of Mr. Benja-
min Sanborn, oi11~11eig;l.1bo1-, the lame man. Most of those whom. you knew
in New Salisbury have gone to their graves. Mr. John Sanborn, the son of
13enjamin, is yet liviiig, and is about your ago. Mr. John Colby, who mar-
ried my oldest sister, Susannali, is also living. On the “North Itoad” is
Mr. Iienjamin I-Iunton, and on the “South ltoad” is Mr. Pettengil. I think
of none else aniong the living whom you would probably remember.

You have indeed lived a checkere<;l life. I hope you have been able to
bear prosperity with ineekness, and adversity with patience. These tliings
are all ordered for us, far better than we could order them for ourselves.
We may pray for our daily bread; we may pray for forg;iveness of sins; we
may pray to be kept from teinptation and that the Kiiigdoin of God may
come, in us, and in all men, and his will everywhere be done. Beyond this,
we hardly know for what good to supplicate the Divine Mercy. Our l~Ieav-
only Fatlier knoweth wliat we l1€'L'V'0 need of better than we know ourselves,
and we are sure that his eye and his loving.; kindness are upon us and around
us every moment. I

I thank you again, my good old school-master, for your kind letter, which
has awukenecl many sleeping; recollections; and, with all good wishes, I re-
inain Year friend and pupil.‘ DANIEL W:ens:rnn.”

Mn. J .»LM1«:.s TAPPAN, I

Mr. ’l'appan died a few days since at Gloucester, Mass., upwards of eighty
years of age.

LIFE AND smmcss or DANIEL WEBSTER. 7

months tuition at the then recently estztblisliecl Phillips
Academy at Exeter,’‘’ and the private instructions of a.
worthy cleicgyniaii of an adjacent pe.rish,*l' furnished him
the seliolastic preparation necessary for admission to
Dartmouth College}---tlie school where he received his
degrees in the arts, and which, at a subsequent period,
proved the occasion of one of his most brilliant profes-
sional triumphs. At this time of his life the future
orator W18 so completely in ebeyzmce, tlxet it is told of
him, he lacked the essur::mce to go through the orcliue-
ry school-boy exercises in (lGC3l€LII18.tlOl1.§ To all oppeer—
auce he was no more then it rough country led, with EL
elem‘ black eye, a. dork honest visa,ge, at tolerable facili-
ty in accoiiiplishiiig his tasks, who was sent to school,

*Phil1ips Academy, founded at Exeter New I-Ia.mpshire, in 1781, has its
name from its liberal founder, John. Phillips, L. L. 1)., and has an income of
$70,000; with {L 1il:)rury of six hundred volumes. The number of its pupils
is limited to sixt»y.——Sczers’ Uzzzftecl Stalcs, p. 4:8.

1- Rev. Suuiuel Wood, of Doscztwen.

jjl\Ir. Webster thus describes his feeliuggs when his fzither first announced
his intention to give him :3. collep;iute educo.tion. “I remember the very hill
which We were ttficemilldllg, through deep shows, in s New .England sleigh,
when my f:itl1e1- mzule known this purpose to me. I could not speak. How
could he, I thought, with so lu1'g'e at family, and in such narrow circumsto.n—
ces, think of incurring so great an erzpeuse for me. A Warm glow run all
over me, and I laid my head upon my father's shoulder and wept. _

a He relates his experience in deelmxietion while at school at Exeter as fol-
lows:--—

“I believe I made tolemlole p1*og;1-css in most hra.ncl1es which I ottenclecl to
while in this school; but there was one thing I could not do. I could not
mo.1»'.e a. declzmmtion. I could not speak before the school. The kind and
excellent Buckmiuster sought especially to persusule me to perform the ex-
ercise of dechuuatioxi, like other boys, but I could not do it. Many a. piece
did I commit to memory, and recite end rehearse in my own room, over and

over again; yet, when the day came, when the school collected to hear de-- ‘A

clanmtioiis, when my neme was celled, and I saw all eyes turned to my seat,

8 LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

so it WELS saicl, that “he 111igl1t get to know as much as
tl1e other boys.” D11ri11g his 2Lcaden1ice.le11d professio11el
studies, the res azzgusm cZo7m'~—~—t.l1e 11€.L1‘1’0W ci1*c11111sto.11-
cos of his house, an obstacle over Which, We are told,
111e11 do not easily rise, compelled him to pmctice a strict
oco11o111y ,; 3.11 d that he n1igl1t eke out his limited 1‘esourc-
es, to devote the l11l2e1‘V£LlS of study to teecl1i11g, and

even to the drudgery of copying in the office of it Re» I

gister of Deeds.’‘’‘'

With :1. cotmtry e.ttor11eyi11 N ew Ha.mpshire,'i- he com-
11"l(311C(-3Cl the study of the law ; :111d co11ti11ued it in Bos-
ton with Cl11~istopl1e1* Gore, a. lawyer of we111i11e11oe, and
subsequently G‘rove1*no1' of l\Ia.ssa.cl1usetts. Ate proper
time it 111igl1t be profitable i’o1‘ the you11ge1* 111e111he1°s of
the profession to i11quire Wha.t studies, What institutes,
Wlmt discipline formed the basis of that great legel1*epu-
tation, sL1fIieie11t of itself to satisfy the most a111hitious
end espi1'i11g.jj While yet :1 student, he was ofi‘e1°ed

I could not raise myself from it. Sometimes the instructors frowned, some
times they smiled. M1‘. Buchn1i11ster always pressed zmd e11tren.ted, most
Wixiningly, that I would 'V61’1t111‘€'. But I never could C0111m:J.11C1 sufficient res-
olution.”

The Rev. Mr. I3uck111i11ster, to whom allusion is here mztde, was the Rev.
Joseph Stevens Buek:minste1~, the immediate predecessor of Edvmrd Everett,
as Pastor of the Church in Brettle street, Boston, who died in early life, I
believe in Switzerlencl, whither he had gone for his health.

‘Hit I-“ryeburg, l\Iei11e. His sa.l:1ry as :1 teacher was about one dollar per
day. By his servioesin the Itegiste1-’s Office, he earned enough to clefray
his boarding and other e:s:penses.—Ji}'e.~e-2-c2z‘z’.s~ Lift, 13. 27. ~

-1-f.\Ir. Tlxompson, of Se1ishury—subsequent1y member of the House of
Representatives and the Senate of the United States.

1“ He diligently attended the Sessions of the Courts, and reportecl their de-
cisions. He read with care the leading; elementary Works of the common, and
municipal law, with the best eutlzors on the slew of mtioxis, some of them
for a. second and third time; diversifying these professiozml studies with e

LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 9

a. clerkship in the Court of Co1nn1on Pleas in his na-
tive state, at court in which his fzitl1e1* then presided
as one of the judges. The annual inconie of the office,
fifteen l11l11(ll‘GCl clollars, as times then were, was an in-
depenclency, not to say 3. fO1‘l3U.l1«’-3-—-—i3l1(3 office itself not
 hout honor, especially to a. yoiing; inan inthe outset

   

‘f his cereei“. His fzitlier was €Ll"1X.l0l.lS tlmt he should
accept the luring post. He hiinseltf was not reluctant.

But the 1‘emonst1*e.nces 2IL11Cl ezzumcst entiesties of Mr.
Grore, his preceptor, inclucecl hiin to prefer at position at
the host, with its p1*ece.1'ious present enioliuneiits, sml
vezmtioiis, Ll.isl1ee1*te11i11g delay, leauliing to e. splendid €.Ll1(';l
slniost ce1°tsi11 success in the future; 1*e.tl.1er than the
p1‘ofiteble and 1'especta.hlc 1nedioc1*i.t.y of 2]. seat at the
cle1*l{’s tzthle. In 1805, at the ego of twen.ty—tl11*ee, he
was z‘Ldmittod to the her, in Boston; eiicl, returnixig to
New Hs.1npshi1*e, comiiieueecl the p1*oot:ice of the law,
in o. sn1z1,ll town in the interior of tluit Stn.te.“‘ Follow-
ing‘ the courts in their circuit he was l:n;o1;1gl1t into im-
mediate GOl1"t£l.Gt with 3. heir, then, as ever since, sgncl
now, Llistiiigiiisliecl no less for the gelieml ability of its

.
greet amount cncl variety of geiicrel 1'eadi11g. Ills chief study, liowever,
was the oonunon law, {L1’1t.l1l101'e especially thzit pant of it which relates to
the now 1iz'ifesl1ione.hle science of special plezuliztig. He rcg:11*c;led this, not
only as :1. most refiiiecl end ingenious, but :1. highly inst-Ituctive and useful
bmncli of the ilmv. Besides imiste1~i:og; all that could he clesireil from more
obvious sources, he ’W£LL'lGLl l1l1il_.‘O11gl1 i‘li1L'l.111Cle1‘S’ Reports, in the origixiol ecli-
tion, zmcl ahstmctecl atncl 'bx-e.11slstec.l into Exiglisli from the Latin and Norman
French ellthe pleadings contsiiied in the two folio volumes. Tl1isn1anu-
script still 1~emei11s.”

it Boscswen, wheife he 1*ema.inccl two yeiirs, and then went to Portsmoutlx. .

From ‘there, after at considerable l1esita.t-etion between Boston and Albany,
New York, he went to Boston. ‘ l
B

10 LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

members, than for their profound and acute learning in
the principles and practice of the common law. Of
those whom he thus met I may mention the names of
Jeremiah Mason, Samuel Dexter and Joseph Story.
At a single bound he placed himself at their side, if
not the first in the very first line. For eight successive
years he applied his Whole energies to the toilsome la-
bors of his profession. We can more than conjecture
With What assiduity, during all these years, he gave his
leisure to study, reading not only books of elementary
and technical law, and the reports of cases adjudged;
but those things also which serve to enlarge, to illus~
trate and adorn; history, physical, and metaphysical
science, and general literature, including, as well the
ancient classics as the choicest authors in the English
tongue. The line of practice. pursued by him at that
time, like that which obtains, at this day in this
part of our own state, brought him into close acquaint-
ance with the, people, to a knowledge of their feelings,
their wants and their pursuits. N o ltliocliari school of
rhetoric and philosophy could so tl1o1'oiug'l1ly accomplish
the advocate and the statesman, as that stern and vig-
orous attorney life, among the rough hills and the rough
people of New Hampshire.

In 1813, at the age of thirty-one, Mr. Webster en-
tered Congress for the first time,  a member of the
House of Representatives from -his native state. It
was a period of uncommon interest in the affairs of our
own country and of Europe. The French Revolution,
the Republic and the Empire which supervened, involved

the great trans-atlantic powers in a series of warfare, un-

LIFE AND snnvxons or DANIEL wvnnsmn. 11

exampled in modern history. W&Sll11]gtOfl, on 1'eti1i1ag
from the Presidency, in his farewell address to his
countrymen, had admonished them not to pa1'tieipate in
the politics of continental Europe, advising them to enl-
tivate friendly relations with all powers, and to form
e11ta11gli11g alliances with none; and such had been the
cautions, unobtrusive policy of our government. It so
happened, however, that our neutral 1*i_gl1t,s were Very
little respected by either or any of the belhgerents.
Our COII11'11(31"‘CG was spoiled upon tl1el1igl1 seas; our ves-
sels were seized, our seamen impressed. Our govern-
1nent opposed these inl‘raotio11s of our rights, by what
was termed the restrictive system of policy-——-—a policy
which protected our oornmeroe from spoliatioxi, by an
e111ba:rgo upon our sl1ipp.i11g‘; which b1'oug;l1t our little
navy to the halnrner, and adopted a system of shore
defence, origiiizxl, I believe, and certainly very peculiar.
The agg1*essio11s of Great l3ritain, at last, 1f>roceeded to
such length, that our gover-n1nont detennined to hold
heriresponsible by a declaration of war. Warhad been
declared in 1812, and was 1‘ua.gi11g with various success
on the frontiers, when Mr. Webster took his seat in
Congress, at an ext1'a session, in May, 1818.

I know not, if the Iilouse of Itopresentatives ever
contained a gi‘eate1* amount of talent, or a greater num-
ber of (llStl11g‘L1lSl1GL1 names. In the Speaker’s chair
sat Mr. Clay, then in the heyday of his early popular-
ity. On the floor were Calhoun, and “Lowndes, and
Pickering, and Gaston, and G-rnndy, and Forsyth, and
Nathaniel » Macon, and William R. King. Altl1ong'l1
Mr. Webster had hitherto been confined to the pur-

12 LIFE AND sriwiers or DANIEL xvnssrnn.

suits of a coL111t1"ylavvye1‘, and had not been honored
even with a seat in the Legislature of his own state,
an iinpression of his ability seems to have prececlecl
him at Wasliington. He was placed by Mr. Clay upon
the important committee of Fo1'eig11 Afl"airs; and rose
from the first to an undisputed equality with the
most (llstlllglllslleflg though among the youngest and
least experiencecl. His first speech in Congress was
clelirered on the 10th of June, 1813, upon a series of
resolutions of inquiry, relative to the Repeal of the
Berlin and Milan Decrees and the British Orders in
Council. We can conjecture what was the character
and effect of this early e'ffor't, from the opinion ieX-
pressed by Chief Justice Marshall, “‘ that Mr. Webster
was a ‘very able man, and would become one of the
“very first statesinen in A.1ner.ica, ancl, perhaps, the very
tirst,” and also, from the reniark of Mr. Lowmles “ that
the North l1i‘L(I.l not his equal, nor the South his supe-
rior; W

An impression has very widely obtained, that Mr.
Webster at this period of his public life, was arrayed
in opposition to the *ar ; that his speeches and votes,
it’ not in direct hostility to his own governnient, Were,

A at least, waiitiiig in that generous patriotism which

rallies to the succor of its country in the hour of her
peril, Without waiting to inquire and decicle whether
she be in the 1*igl1t or w1‘o11g. We all know how much
this ,Il1I1p1'GSSiO11‘(.l@t1‘£lClZ0(l from his great reputation;
how mucli it iinpairetl his" popularity. In mere justice
to his memory, it is 1‘ifg‘l1t that he should be heard on a
subject so seriously affecting his honorable faiths, and I

O‘

LIFE we SERVICES 015‘ DANIEL WEBSTER. 13

urn sure it will give us all pleasure to g‘re11t him a, l1eor—
iiig. In :3. speech in 1814, on eiicouruging eiilistxiierits,
he uses the following language expressive of his senti-
ments, in relation to the War, and the mode of its pros»
ecution. 1

“ The humble aid which it would be in my power to render
to meztsures of government shall be given cheerfully, if gov-«
ernment will pursue measures which I can conscientiously sup»
port. i If evennow, failing in an honest and sincere attempt
to procure an honorable peuce, it will return to meesu1'esof'
defence and protection, such as reason and eoiumon sense and
the public opinion all cell for, my vote shall not be withholden
from the ineuns. Give up your futile projects OflI1V27tE5.l()I1.
Extinguish the fires tliut blame on your inluucl f1'O11ti€i1‘S3u- Es~
tublish perfect safety uucl defence there by adequate force.
Let every xxizm that sleeps on your soil sleep in security. Stop
the blood that flows from the veins of iiimrrnecl yooiuumy and
women and (l1l.1.ll(l1i‘C‘11. Give to the living time to bury urnl lu-
ment their deu.d, in the quietness of private so1~1'ow. ].:'IZlV'l1’1g
pe1't'orn1ed this work of beueficence end ineroy on your inluucl
border, turn owl look with the eye of justice uml co1“r1puseion
on your vest populz=1.tion elc>1‘1g the coast. U":uclenel:1the iron
givtsp of your embargo. Tz1».l.s'.C> 1’I1C,!tLS31.11‘(-LES for that end bei"ore
u.uother sun sets upon you. With ally the "our of the enemy
on your CO1I11.T1(£.‘I'C‘0, if you would cease to Iuake Wo.r upon it
yourselves, you would still have some comiinerce, Tliet com-
merce would give you some 1'evenuo. Apply tlmt revenue to
the ziaigtxicntzttiori of your Imvy. That Iiuvy, in turn, will pro—
tect your comnierce. Let itno lo1<zge1* be seicl, that not one
ship of force, built by our lxunds eiuce the war, yet ‘floats upon
the ocean; Turn the current of your efforts into the elurunel

t which imtionel sentiment lies alreucly worn b1'oud and deep to

receive it. A novel force competent to defend your coasts.
fl..gal11S13 considerable o.r1nzunents, to convoy your trade, and,

14: LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

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 fortune 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 i lost in attachment to the iiational
character, on the element where that character is made respect-
able. In protecting naval interests by naval means, you will
arm yourselves with the Whole power of national sentiment,
and may command the whole abundance of the national re-
sources. ‘In time you may be able to redress injuries in the
place Where they may be ofiered, and, if need be, to acco1npa-
ny your own flag throughout the World with the protection of
your own cannon.””‘ E

The subject of Mr. Webster’s course in relation to 

the war, W’: started du'rin.g' a debate in theSenate, in
March, 1838, between him and Mr. Callie-Lm--—--al111ost
the only personal encounter that ever occurred between
these distiiiguislietl statesmen. In reply to What may
have been intended, by Mr. Calhoun, only as a passing;
allusion to a prevailing sentiment, he asks: “Why. did
the gentleman allude to my votes or 1ny opinions re-
speeting the War, at all, unless he had something to
say? Does he Wish to leave an undefined impression
that something was done, or so111etl1irig said, by me,
not now capable of defence or _justification‘.? He
means that or nothing. And now, sir, let him b1*i11g
the matter forth; let him take the responsibility of
the accusation. I am here to answer: I am here

‘it Everett’s Life of Washington, p. 39.

LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER. 15

this day, to answer. Now is the time, and now the
hour.” I I

“He speaks of the War; that which We call the late War,
though it is now twenty-five years since it terminated. He
would leave an impression that I opposed it. How? I was
not in Congress when War was declared, nor in public life any-
where. I was pursuing my profession, keeping company with
judges and jurors and plaintiffs and defendants. If I had
been in Congress, and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the
honorable gentleman’s speeches, for aught I can say, I might
have concurred with him. But I was not in public life. I
never had been for a singlg hour; and was in no situation,
therefore, to oppose or support the declaration of war. I am
speaking to the fact, sir, and, if the gentleman has any fact,
let us know it. I

Well, sir, I came into Congress during the War. I found it
waged and raging. And what did I do here to eppose it?
Look at the journals. Let the honorable gentleman tax his
memory. Bring up anything, if there be anything to bring
up, not showing error of opinion, but showing Want of loyalty,
fidelity to the country. I did not agree to all that Was pro-
posed, nor did the honorable member. I did not approve of
every measure, nor did he. The war had been preceded by
the restrictive system and the embargo. As a private individ-
ual, I certainly did not think Well of those measures. It ap-
peared to me that the embargo annoyed ourselves as much as
our enemies, While it destroyed the business and cramped the
spirits of the people. In this opinion I may have been right
or wrong, but the gentleman Was, himself, of the same opin-i
ion. He told us the other day, as a proof of his independence

of party on great questions, that ‘he differed with his friends

on the subject of the embargo. He was decidedly and unal-
terably opposed to it.’ It furnishes, in his judgment, there-
fore," no imputation, either on mypatriotism, or on the sound-

16 LIFE AND snnvions OF,-DANIEL WEBSTER.

ness of my poli.tien,l opinions, tliat I was opposed to it also. I
mean opposed in opinion; for I was not in Co11g1*ess, and had
nothing to do with the not crea;ting the enibergo. And as to
opposition to measures for ca.1'1'ying on the war, after I came
into Congress, I z1.ga,in say, let the gentleman specify; let him
lay his finger on anything calling for an answer, and heshall
lliLV"e an aznswer. t

Mr. President you Were, yourself, in the House during a
co11sicleruhlep2:L1*t of the time. The honorable gentlemztn mzty
ncnike a. witness of you. He ineiy iimke a. witness of any body
else. He may be his own witness. Give us some fact, some
cliar-ge, sometliing eapelale, in itself, either of being proved or
disproved. Prove itnything, state anytliing, not consistent
with honorable and patriotic conduct, anal I zun re:.1.dy to an-
swer it.

Sir, I am glad this subject l1-as been alluded to in at manner
which justifies me in tztlting public notice of it; beczmse I am
well ztware tlmt, for ten years past, infinite pains has been
telceii to find somethixig, in the range of these topics, which
inight create pre,judi.ce {tg£:Ll1”lSt me in the country. Tlie jour-
nnls lmtre all been pored over, and the reports r:insacl<.ed, and
scraps of pe1'aigrztpl1s and llfllf sentences lmve been collected,
fmuduleiitly put together, end then iintcle to flare out,  if
there had been some discovery. But all this f.aIi1€3(.1a ’l‘he
next resort was to supposed correspondence. My letters were
E3011gl1t for, to learn if, in the confidence of p1'ivete friendship,
I had ever said aiiytliiiig which an enemy could nieke use of‘.
With tliisview, the vicinity of my former residence has been
sezirclied, as with at lighted candle. New 1~I:.tmpshire has
been explored, from the moutli of the l\*Ierri1nac to the White
Hills. In one i,nst‘.:;x.1'iee, it gentleman ilmd left the state, gone
five hundred miles on", and died; his papers were examined ; a.
letter wztsit'our1(l, zmd I lI1€tV€¥ understood it was brought to
Wesliington;  conel:.we was held to consider it, and the re-

I sult was, if there was nothing else against Mr. Webster, the

LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL rwnnsrnn. 17

matter had better be let alone. Sir, I hope to inakc every
body of that opinion who brings against me a charge of Want
of pat1~_iotis1'n. Errors of opinion can be found, doubtless, on
1‘nany sribjecta; but as conduct flows from the feeli11gs that
anin1ate the heart, I know 1.11:1: no act of my life has had its
origin in the want of ardent love of country‘.’’’’‘

That he diltered from the adn1i11istrati.on in some of
the details of its War policy, is undoubtedly true; that

he ever bated one jot or tittle i.nl1i.glr1andl1eart-felt ‘I

devotion to his countr *; that by word or act he gave

comfort or e1'1co111-age111ent to the enemy, or checked or

cooled the ardor wl1ic.h kindled all over the land in the

  con1n1o11 clefemse, most certainly does not appear.

Then, as ever after, our great ooniniercial interests
were an1ong the most cherished objects of his care.
The experieiiee of centuries established the maxim,
that the nation controlling the co1nn1erce of the world,
controlled, also, its wealth and political power. Venice

and Portugal and lflolland had, by turns, n1aintained 1

this profitable supremacy. Later, an inconsiderable

island of the sea, of which, one of her Lyric poets had

sung,
“Her march is o’er the xnountain wave,
I-Icr home is on the deep,”

A by siibsidizing conimerce, by opening new channels of
1 trade, by extending and strengthening her iiaval poW-

or, until her tutelary Goddess was said to rule the

waves, had aggregated her nationali and individual

,Wea.lJC-l1l)e_V01'1Cl the power of numbers to compute, and

had extended her colonial dependencies and possessions,

*Web$tcr’s.r Works, vo1.'*4, p. 502.
C

18 LIFE AND ssnvrons or DANIEL wrmsrrzn.

until, in the gorgeous imagery of Mr. Webster, “ her
morning drum-heat, preceding the rising sun and keep-

A ing company with the hours, encircled the earth daily

with one unbrol~:en strain of .the martial airs of Eng-
land.” And it Was, from the first, the darling purpose
of his ambition to see this maritime ascendancy trans-
ferred to his own country-——his own country, the last,
noblest oflispring of Time, stretching from the Atlantic
to the Pacific shores; traversed by nature vvitli streams,
which he named not without reason, “'i11la:ud. seas g,”

and by art, with canals and roads capable of unlimited

self-extension; her soil, kind and fertile beyond exam-
ple, yielding‘ every manner of fruit, and two great sta-
ples peculiarly her 0Wn;‘ extending through every de-
greed of desirable climate, and blessed above all with a
government whose constitution it was his chief pride
to expound and defend—-———-esteeming it nearer to abso-
lute perfection than any other system vvhich had ever
united men into a body politic; and Whose sweet influ-
ences, he prayed and hoped and trusted, would hold in

iliarmonious rnovcment the sisterhood of states, (1OW11

to the “last syllable of recorded time.” What Wonder
then tha.t he burned to meet our haughty foe upon the
element where she sat as mistress and without a rival;
so to conduct the War that our_ national ensign might
float upon the uttermost verge of the world, safe under
the protection of our own cannon! What Wonder that

all American men, who go down to the sea in ships and

do business on the great deep, should regard him with
such especial favor, as their protection and their darl-
ing pride; that the merchant, in his counting-room,

LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

the under-writer, at his desk, the seaman, clinging to
his favorite bark, that white-Winged bird of the ocean,
yea, the “hardy fisherman in his nigh night-foundered
skiff” should feel something of gratitude to God, for
the slumberless care of this mighty intellect and gener-
ous heart!

Elected to Congress a second time from New Hamp-
shire he continued a member of that bodyuntil 1816,
when he changed his residence and removed to Boston.
The next six years were devoted to the pursuits of his
profession. His fame as a lawyer had preceded him;
but he found another and a very different field for the d.is-
play of his genius. Leaving the rugged and Verdureless
heights of the common law; he descended to the grace-
ful and flowery cl1aInpai.g11 of the civil law. Itlere, in-

stead of the cu1:111i11g intricacies of special pleading and

the ever recurring issue of damage to property, or to
_person, or to plighted word, he had to deal with the
larger and more liberal practice of equity, with ques-
tions of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and g:rave
points of constitutional law. He: was now thirty-vfour
years old, a period of life 'wl.1en the fire and vigor
of youth begin to be tempered and checkecl by the bet-
ter judgment of mature  .Here, and now, came

into profitableuse the treasured labors of the previous’

years. Whether the case in hand was a commercial or

amercantile transaction; Whether it arose out of the E

agricultural or the manufacturing interests, or whether

it concerned some of the endlessdetails of rnauticalaf-
fairs, he was equally at home. It not unfrequently
happened that in investigations, far aside from’“the sup»

20, LIFE AND snnvrcnsa or DANIEL wnnsrnn.

posed line of his study and observation, he displayed
a degree of information accurate, minute and even tech-
nical to the admiration of courts and juries, counsel
and clients; and to the surprise of witnesses who not
seldom found themselves overmeasured in a knowledge
of their own particular calling. The general public
can rarely know much of a lawyer’s highest profession»
al triumphs. His forensic labors are seldom witnessed
by many persons beyond the precincts of the court, or
if witnessed, not often appreciated. They are preserv-
ed, if at all, only in tliemeagre abstract of the report-
er, to be hurried over by the student of law, that he
may better apprehend the point of the decision which
follows. It would be vain, therefore, to inquire, by
what successive steps Mr. Webster rose, till he stood

by universal assent at the head of the American bar. a A
I trust I may be pardoned for something more than

a passing allusion to two cases of no small importance,
in which he was engaged at this period of his career.
The two cases were analogous in this, that each involv~
ed the question whether certain acts of state legisla-
tion, were or were not in conflict with the constitution

of the United States, and for that reason void. In the T

argument of these cases before the highest tribunal of
the country, he laid the basis of his subsequent fame
as “ the great constitutional lawyer.”

The first was the case of Dartmouth College, and was

briefly. this.*  In 1769 the King at of England had grant-

ed a charter to the Trustees , of Dartmouth College,

 

n*:.T,he Trustees of Dartmouth College 12:. Woodward. 4 rWheaton, 518. p

LIFE’ AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

with the privileges usually conferred upon similar foun- T

dations. Under this charter they acquired and held 1a
considerable estate, and exercised their functions until
1816, when the Legislature of N ew Hampshire thought
proper to reorganize the institution under another
name, to increase the number of the trustees, and to
create a board of overseers. The original trustees re-

fusing to accept the modification of their charter, A

brought suit against the secretary and treasurer of
the new board for a portion of the corporate property.
The Supreme Court of their own state had decided
a.gainst them, and they prosecuted a Writ of error to
the Supreme Court of the United States, to try the
question Whether, under the constitution of the United
States their rights could be modified or infringed with-
out their assent, by an act of the state Legislature.
It was Mr. Webster’s first appearance before that an»-
gust tribunal. The professional reader sees in the ab-

stract of his argument given by Mr. Wheaten, a‘mas- i it

terly exposition of the law of cleemosynary corpora-
tions. But tradition informs us that in the delivery, it
was a torrent of resistless, burning eloquence. As he
pressed on to the conclusion, the reminiscences of his
academic life thronged uponhim, and led him into a
strain of lofty pathos like the voice of one laden with

an inspiration of Woe. Even the court, accustomed as r

they had long been to the highest efforts of forensic

  skill, were not quite unmoved by the potency, of that

unwonted spell. “‘ For the first hour,”said Judge Story
to a friend, “we. listened to him with perfectasltonish-
ment; for the second hour with perfect delight; and

22 LIFE AND snnvrons or DANIEL wnssrnn.

for the third,-with perfect conviction.” We know that
he gained his cause. And for himself, it is not too
much to say that he left the court~roo1n on that day, at
the age of thirty»-six, Without a rival in his profession.

The other case to which I have referred, is that of
the United States Bank."-“ The State of Maryland had
passed a law taxiiig all foreign banking corporations,
doing business within her limits 5 and souglit to subject
the Bank of the United States to this burden. The
demand being resisted, she directed suit to be bl‘01'lgi'1'i3
against the cashier of the United States B21111: at Ba1-
tirnore. The courts of Maryland decided in favor of
the validity of their law. The cashier prosecuted a
Writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United
States. T One great question wa.s, whether the Bank of
the United States  constitutional; and a second,
Whether a state got-*e1*11111e11teooL11c1 1*i,g11t.fi111y tax its
operations. As a political question, the power of Con—-
gress under the constitution, to establish abank, had
been discussed  far back as the time of Washington.
But asa legalpr-oposition,it was now presented for the
first time. . N ever in a single case Wasra more formida-
ble array of counsel. By the side of Mr. Wirt, then
the Attorney. Greneral, stood Mr. Webster and William
Pinkiieyg A on the other side, were Mr. ]':Iop1«:inson,
Mr. Jones, and Luther Martin, all aniong the very first
names in American Law; For the purposes of the pre-
sent occasion, it is enough to say, that Mr. Webster

was equal to hirnself.

‘T i*.Rep‘orted under the nanie of 1\iIcCu11och,vs. The State of Maryland et a1.
4,'Whea,ton, 316.3 N T T T "T T T “X = “

otmz AND sermons or DANIEL WEBSTER. 23

, From the first, Mr; Webeter was received by the
people of Messeelrusetts with 111111esitati11g eordiality,
anal placed in the very front rank of her distinguished
1?n.en. 111 1820 he was chosen :1, Preside11tia,1 Elector;
in 1821, with the elder Adams, and Ieeae Parker, 3.
m.en:1be1' of the eo11Ve11tio11 to revise the eolletitution of
the State, a. 1110i-LS‘L11‘e 1'e11dered rlecessary by the recent
sepemt.iz:>11 of the District of Meixre into ma. independent
stretefi‘ In 1.822, e;fter repezlted 11o1,nin::Lti.one to both
lzroueee of Co11<rrees wlfieh he lmél <..loelined he was
3.13 9 2
ehoeen to represent Bosto11 111 the .hlou.~se of ltepreeem
tetives. 11:1 1824 he Wee re-elected, with en oppositi(>11
of only ten votes in a poll of five tl.1o1.1e:,m.(.l, and again
in ]..8iZ6. ’l.‘he following‘ year, 1'8iZ7, he <3ht,e1‘e<1 the
Senate, where he 1'ernei1:l1red u1:1t.li,l. he joined the (3:ZLbIl.11(3l3
ef Cali-e11e.re1 I:[:;1,1“1‘h530I1 in 1841.. Du‘r*i_r1g all theee years
he eL1et:;Li.11.ed the 1‘eput2‘Llti.on of e et.zLtee.1r1e.1:1 of the higI1-V
est order. he it ps1.r1i:m:reatery debeter he lmd no $11-
perior, li1.1”!.Ll’l)'1J.t two ximle. _
At the menti.oI1 of the.~3.e three greet memes, CALHOUN,
CI.AY_, VVeBe:1*1ae, no one who feele the g;11e1'ri11 of e pa.-
triotie 11eert, but must glow with priclle, i:l.m;t he, too, is
‘ ""1'u :1, speoe11 mzule by Mr. Wel1et.e1- at F5y:r:1.e11se, New York, in l‘vIzz.y, 1.851,
he melces the f'ul1<m*i11-g allusion to mxother distirxetien wl1ie11vms eo11ferre<l~on
11.i11j1 about this .time.. “It lute $0 lxzxppexrexel t-l1e.t:1.1l the public: .eserv3.ces which I
lxzwe renclex-e<.l in the world, in my day zmd generation, lmve been connected
with the general ;_.gm'er'r1:’x1er1t. I think I ought to 11121.1-;e an ezzeepticm. I ‘was
ten days 2:. member of the M.':‘Lt?£E<m.(3llLl1.‘:-‘.£‘.t13.‘% I.egislatu1'e, and I to-.rne,d my
tlmouglxte to the searelz ‘for some good object in which I could be useful in
that possltionl; end, after much reflectibn, I i11tro<.1ueed a. bill Whielx, with the
general consent of both lxousee of the Messu.el1'ueetts Legislature, passecl
into at 1:1.w,a.r1dis new 9, law of the state, which enacts tlzet no man in the

state shall catch trout in. any other manner than in the old way, with an
ordinary hook and line." \ ' ‘ l

24: LIFE AND snnvrons or DANIEL WEBSTER.

an American, and that he lived in the day wlien God
bestowed these rare gifts upon his country. Their
greatness marks their age; they have shed a never-
setting light upon their contemporaries. Well will it
be if the dazzling contrast do not throw into obscurity
the ages yet to come. In many points of their charac-
ter there was a strong resemblance. Each was of a
genial, happy temper which formed a wide circle of
admiring, ardent friends, especially young men---—-each
had the power in an eminent, though unequal degree,
of moving masses of men, by the highest style of pop-
ular oratory---each had unusual skill in the manage-
ment of deliberative bodies as cliairrnan, and each man-
ifested the highest diplomatic and administrative abili-
ties, as a high cabinet officer.

Mr. Calhoun was peculiarly a theorist, in the favora-
ble sense of that ter1n—---—an expositor of abstract truth.
In his own deep and retired thoughts, he wrought out
conclusions, which forced themselves upon him with the
power of intuitions, and which heurged with a clear, un-
conscious logic, the secret spring of his brilliant, captiva-
ting oratory. Had his mind been less happily endowed,
his opponents would much oftener have found a pretext
to argue the inconsistency of his political doctrines, and
he might have had more frequent occasion to “rlefine
his position.” ~

The statesmanship of Mr. Clay was eminently practi-
cal. Hepossessed the qualities of a great political leader,
cool, sagacious, daring—-appalled by no danger, subdued
by no defeat. With a, judgment that men revered almost

as an inspiration, and an energy of will which bore .down i

LIFE AND snuvxcns or DANIEL‘W.I<1BSTER. 25

and overrode all opposition, he seldom had recourse to
artifice, or sought to compass his aims by an indirection.
Quick to perceive the set of the popular current, as to
descry the coming storm, he moved on to his end in
the direction of the one, only turning aside to escape
the violence of the other. His silvery eloquence, which
Went straight to the heart, and found there an answer-
ing sympathy, was the trumpet-call with which he ral-
lied his countrymen, anxious of success only because
conscious that he was I'igl1t.

The prominent trait in the public character of Mr.
Webster, was conservatism. Cautious and deliberate,
he scrutinized What was new and untried, and adhered
to those things Whose utility had stood the test of time.
The ancient landmarks of the constitution, he guarded
with a sleepless vigilance, whether approached by ex-
ecutive power, by sectional jealousy, or the seductive
smile of professed philanthropy. At the same time he
looked upon that noble instrument as capable of expan-
sion, to meet the exigencies of the time, and the ever—
increasing greatness‘ of the country. Rejecting alike
what was merely novel and what had become obsolete,
he adopted onlythat which approved itself good, and
adhered to it no loriger after it ceased to be useful.
While he had an utter aversion for whatever was . un-
stable, he had little respect for that sort of consistency
which merely anchors itself fast in the stream of time
and permits the great commerce of life to flow past.
The conservatism of Mr. Webster’s character appears
manifest in his orator , in its subdued tone, its reserv-

ed power, and in the constant forbearance in the use of
I)

 LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

iorneineilt and illustration, no less than in the just pro-—

portion of every tliouglit, the exact weiglit of every
syllelale, which gzwe to his Inassive Words, as they fell
from his lips, the perfection of an Englisli classic.

It is to little profit tliet We take the precise, or the
rele.t»iVe altitude of these lofty spirits. Greet, they
confessedly were-—-the f_2§1‘(3€1,lZGb3lJ‘-——gl'G€Ll3 in their inoral
t.'L11(il intellectual emloviineiits, great in the incidents of

their lenezthened lives °"l‘G€Ll3 in the 'ust estiinuttion of
<.. 7 D

1n.zLnkind, great in their unfziltering devotion to their

scountry, eticli oizzmfzmz azsscvzszi, cizyvizzis 2'72l2i_;;7crz7i .s~z' Zmzzllzimz

2'722pe2mi.s*sct.

’l.‘i1’ne would fail to recount the nnuny occasions ren-
dered n1e1nore.ble in CO1'1g'1‘GSSlOl1€1il :.inne.ls, by the ole»-
qiieiice of Mr. ‘¥Vebster. Tlmt Which, for iiizmy years,
wzis 1‘E!g£l.1‘(l0(Ll as his Lf/7'86’!-Z5 speech, was delivered in the
Senzite on the ilfitli of J£LI1L12"L1‘_V, 1830, in reply to Mr.
Heyne, of South O€l1“(§)ll11€:L, upon Mr. Foot’s resolution.
Grezit it undoubtedly nus, 1*ega.rdecl simply as the
ecliievenient of it superior intellect; but grez-Lter by tin‘,
es en exposition of £1. greet coiistitiitionel question,
which lied begiiii to e:s;e1'cise a. (lt111g'(3l‘0L1S influence upon
the public mind. Those of us who were old enough
at the.t day to telce any interest in public afi'z7Li1's, lmve
as general recollection how the country was excitecl by
the doctrine of niillificetion. Assuinitng; the Viigiiiia.
Resolutions of 1798 as the basis of the doctrine, it
was uiguecl that in case of’ 3, p1ei.11, palpable‘ and (lith-
gerous sviolagtion of the constitution by the g'e11era.l gov-
ernment, be so”ve1'eig;nl state, as at nieinber of the Federal

 “compact, Illlgllt interpose by counter state legislation,

LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

to arrest the evil. Acting; in the spirit of this cloct3;'ine,
the A state of South Cmoline. lmd clete1"1ni11e(l to resist
the execution by the offieers of the Fecleral G~over11—-
ment of the tomitt‘ eat of 1828, Whiel1 she <:lee1ne<;l un-
eo11st.itutionel zgmcl ruinous to her ixxtereste. '
like it fl'eq_11e11ttly l1eppe11e, tllie queetio11 was lJ1*o11,gl1t
into the Ll€3l;)ZJ."l7G upon a. subject lexzzwing no po.seible con-
nection with it. In the month of DeCe1nbe1r p1'evi<fme,
l\~Ir. Foot,  senz;1.to1' jl'l‘<.)1.I1 (.l(f)-li'lI100tlC’llt, withent co11<:<e1*t
W;i'tl1 £_1.II'1.'_f¢" one, ol’l’e1*etl zit 1'€5.*$()lL1'l$l0}”1 l1'l(1Elll‘l1'1g into the
e.:x:peclie1;1ey of SL1:-T%1')(?l3.[ll1Ilg for at time, the sttlwreye of
the public lenclss, 2111 i1,‘1(1‘1.1iry", v.rhi.eh, are he stetecl, lxziul
been eL1gge£ste<;l by the 1'e}:>o1"t of the GL)11’1I]‘1l:Sb5l()I'l01‘ of
Public Lzitmlte, el1eVx*i11g the z.Lve1*:;1:ge z'.u,11'1ue..l eelee to be

seexmcely exeee<.1ling; zt 1ni.llion e-f’ :te1'ee,~w'l*1.ile t.l.‘x.ere 1*o— V

1nz1.i11eL1 in the ;n:1::n°l{et, n1.1.~fsol(l_, up W21-I‘ ale of two l"11l1flLll.‘l;‘.(l
:,m<;l t.e1e1,111i1,lione. A The 1'<;ss3<;>l'1:1t.i.o11 was oppoecztl by M1‘.
Benton mrld Some <;>t11e1n;~f ef the weetzerrx SG}l’1€tl-01.3%, encl it
debate of no epeeiel i.nt,e1*es-at l12;Lt'l,l")(L*0'11 the result. “‘l\{[r.
Hz1yne,” says one who knew 1.11111, “was one of the
yo111"1ger 111en1l:>e:rs of the Senate. He eenxe fo1'We1*d in
l1ie xmtive Sl32;Lt0 111 1814:, when lxerclly of eg,e,t with
g1'e:;Lt eclczt--——-filolecl in mpicl s11eceseion, 1*esponssil)1e offieee,
and came to the Semtte of the Unitecl States, in 1823,
with at reputation ztl1'e:;uly b1'illizmt, zmcl mpidlty i11erea:fs-

ing. Hewas eetive and cliligen-t in business, fluent and H

graceful and pe1'suae.i\'e as EL .debe.t~e1‘ ;, of a. sanguine and
self-relyi11g; temper, el11'l11ls:i11g from no antagoxxist, zxncl

disposed to take the part of EL e11empioln.”.

Opposing the resolution, he espoused the cause, of
the west whose interests, he insisted, had been sacri-

28 LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER.

ficed by the general government in the inanageiiient of
the public lands ; and by the eastern states in particu-
lar, in their general system of policy. Upon the lat-
ter point, he dwelt with severity, not to say acrimony.
A cause of great iiiatgnitude had occupied Mr. Webster
in the Supreme Court,“‘ and he had, up to this time, taken
no part in the debate. After the adjournment of court,
he had entered the Senate, in season to hear a large
portion of Mr. Haynes speech. At the meeting of the
Senate next day, he replied invindieation of the gen-
eral government, and in defense of the east, taking
occasion to make honorable mention of Nathan Da11e
as the author of the ordinance of 1787. His contin-
ued presence in court being important, he requested,
through a friend, that the debate might be postponed
until a future day. Mr. Hayne objected, and the dis-
cussion Went on. A For the greateii part of two days
Mr. I-Iayne occupied the floor. His tone and manner
towards Mr. Webster, might have been regarded as of-
fensive. He assailed New Englaml, and Massacliusetts,
and Mr. Webster in person; inaking War upon the consti-
tution, he made a broad avowal of the doctrine of nullifi-
cation. It is asserted with confidence, Iknow not how
justly, that both his speeches were the result of a concert-
ed plan to crush a formidable political opponentand hold
him up to public odium. The time selected was pecu-

liarly, inconvenient to Mr. Webster, the topics quite

beyond the range of ordinary debate, and wholly for-
eign to the subject in hand; the attack sudden, unex-

, *As counsel for the plaintifi‘, in the ease of James Carvery vs. ames Jack-
son, on the demise of John Jacob Astor and others, reported 4 Peters ‘1. ”

LIFE AND snnvrons or DANIEL wvnnsrnn. 29

pected,leaving Mr. Webster no opportunity to prepare a
reply. When Mr. Hayne sat down Mr. Webster instant-
lyrose to rejoin, but gave way on a motion to adjourn.

Early the next day the Senate chamber, and every
avenue leading to it, were crowded with a dense mass
of spectators drawn together to witness what was al-
ways interesting, a speech from Mr. Webster on the
floor of the Senate. It is impossible, even now, after
the lapse of twenty--three years, to re-peruse his mag-
nificent periods, and not kindle with enthusiasm at the
triumphs of the mighty orator. For two glorious days,
surrounded by that vast throng of friends who hoped,
and floeswlio feared, of his own countrymen and for-
eigners, he repelled the attacks upon himself, vindicated
the ancient fame of his beloved New ‘England, and
clove to the dust the imperious spirit which l13.Cld«‘:LI'6(1
to rear its fiery crest in open hostility to the constitu-
tion of his country. They who had known him longest
and best, and most admired his genius, were the most
astonished at the tixanscendent display of his power.
“I never heard. anything,” said Edward Everett, him»-
self an orator of no mean reputation, “wliich so com-
pletely realized my conception of what Demosthenes
was when he delivered the oration for the Crown.” In
the fulness of his patriotic generosity he paused to pay
a noble tribute to South Carolina and her distinguished

men. I “I shall not acknowledge that the honlorablel

member genres before e in regard for vrhateverplof dis-
tinguished talent, or distinguished character South Car-
olina has produced. Iclaim part of the honor, I par-
take in the pride of I hergreat: names. I claim them for

C)

of) LIFE AND snnvxcns or DANIEL wnnsrnn.

countryinen, one and all, the Laurenses, the Rutledges,
the Pinckneys, the Suinpters, the Marions. Ameri-
cans all, Whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by
state lines, than their talents and patriotism were capa-
ble of being circumscribed within the same narrow lim-
its. In their day and generation, they served and
honored the country, and the Whole country; and their
renown is of the treasures of the whole country.”

A fGVViSl3ZI1pl8, but sublime words were all he tliouglit
necessary to bestow upon his own state. “Mr. Presi-
dent, I shall enter on no enconiuni upon Massachusetts;
she needs none. There she is. Behold her and judge

’ T for yourselves. There is her history; ‘ the word knows

it by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is
Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, and Bunkerrflill,
and there they will reinain ‘forever. The bones of her

sons falling in the great st1*11gg1e for independence, new

lie niingled with the soil of every state from New
England to Georgia; and there they willlie forever.”
As he concluded, he roseinto that lofty strain of en»
logy of the Federal Union, which has been alesson of
lgzatriotisni to American youth, in every school-room all
over the land, from i that day to this. “While the
Union lasts, we have l,1igl1, exciting, gratifyi11gip1'os-

pects, Sp1‘Of:lCl out before us, for us and our cliilczlren,

Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God
grant, that in my day at least, that curtain may not
rise! God gfrant that on my vision nevermay be open-
ed What lies beehind!” Then turning, his eye upward,

toward the national \ flag, that ever streams like ame-

teor from the dome of i the capitol, he broke forth into

LIFE AND snnvrerzs or DANIEL xvnnsrnn. 31

that -well-know11 prz1.yer, which we have just seen so
completely fu1fi11ed~i in the imppy opportunity of his
death. r

rAn o.tte1npt on the part of Mr. IL ynei to collect and
reconstruct his sh:1.ttered :1rg11111ent, drew from Mr.
Webster a. final and condensed 1 reply, which fell Wit11
the c1‘ns11ing weiglit of absolute de1"nonstre.ti.o11. The
battle of 111111ifiea.tioni1:;1d been fo11g11t: there could be
but one s11c.h contest; :1.nd the great st1‘ugg1e was deci-
ded foreveifi‘

I11118-1]. Mr. Webster entered the ca.bi11et of Gen.
H21rrison,es Secretary of State. He found our foreign
eiihirs so 11111011 i1rvo1ved as to require 3. prompt and
delicate 111z1na.g;e111e11t. For 11ea.r1y sixty years, it ques-
tion of boundary had been pendi11grW;i.‘t11 E11.g1end, omis-
irng on the construction 1 of the oiriginel treaty, by
which she a.e1,<now1edged our independence. A very
o.1111oy;i11g rpmctice preV:1i1ed mnoing the Britisii cruisers
of ‘searehingr Ainericnn n1ereha.nt vessels on the coast

*'I a.n1 indebted to my ‘frieiid, Iion. John II. Crozicr, for the following
anecdote respecting the preservation of this iinportont speech. The morn-i
ing before it was delivered, Mr. Gnlies, the senior editor of the National In-
teiligenccr, met Mr. Webster and asked him it‘ he intended inching 0. speech.
He replied that he might perhaps pgspenit half rm hour. Mr. Grnles then pro~
posed to report him, and did so. In a few days there was :1. loud demzmd
for the speech, and Mr. Webster ztpplzied to Mr. Gales for at copy from his
notes, Mr. Gales was disinclined to 't1I'1(J.€3I’i3a.h”.C: the vest labor of writing it
out. In this rdileminc, Mrs. rSee.ton,phis sister, who was familiar with his
shorthand character, procured his notes, copied ofi‘ about half thetspeech,
and sent it to Mr. Webster for ‘his app1*ove1, and in t1. few days, completed.
the rest of it. The great speech was published to the world, from Mrs. Sew-

ton’s dmft, with scarcely a. revision by the author. The favor was ackno'W1-A
edged, by Mr. Webster, with a. present corresponding to his Well-known lib-

erality. I see the same anecdote confirmed by Mr. Everett, in his BiograpI1- '

ieal Memoir. '

32 LIFE AND sianvxons or DANIEL wnnsrnn.

of Africa, under the pretense that they were engaged
in the slave trade. The right to impress her native-
born seamen, to serve in her national ships in time of
war, was early asserted by Great Britain; its exercise
among the crews of our vessels, though a grave occa-
sion of tl1e last war, had been left unsettled by the
treaty of Ghent, and was still insisted upon. The
question of boundary ever peculiarly delicate, oven in
the conflict of private titles, was rendered doubly so in
this instance,  it involved a large portion of the ter-
ritory of Maine, in which Massacliusetts was also in-
terested. Popular feeling on both sides was highly
excited, to the imminent hazard. of war. So ex-
igent was the occasion felt to be by England, that she
despatched to this country a special minister to settle
the pending difiiculty; and for the first time in her di-

W plomatic intercourse with our government, she. selected

for the purpose a high peer of the realm. On a suita-
ble occasion, it would not be without interest to follow
the details of the negotiation which followed, and which
resulted in a treaty alike honorable and satisfactory to
the high contracting parties. Without disparagement
of others who participated in the transaction, the world
has accorded to Mr. Webster alone, the rare honor of
having, in a few Weeks, amidst the ordinary duties that
pressed upon his department, settled to the satisfaction
of every body concerned, a controversy which had
baffled the arts of diplomacy for more than a half a
century. As Lord Ashburton had no authority from

this government to treat on the subject of the impress-

o   ment of seamen, Mr. Webster closed his official corres- W

LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER. 33’

pondence with him by a letter, in which, after a mass i

terly review of the whole question, he formally and
officially announces the principle that will hereafter be
maintained by this government. “ IN EVERY REGULARLY
DOCUMENTED AMERICAN VEssEL, THE CREW WHO NAVIGATE IT,
WILL FIND THEIR PROTECTION IN THE FLAG WHIOH Is OVER
THEM.” Victory in a hundred naval actions could not
more conclusively have settled the question.

In 1843 Mr. Webster withdrew from the cabinet to
the retirement of private life; and in 1845 returned to

at his seat in the Senate. Events of startling magnitude
followed in rapid succession. One sister republic blend- A

ed the lone star of her national existence in the splen-
dors of our great American constellation. Another siS-
ter republic met us at our borders, in the “p01Ilp and
circumstance of glorious war.” By that war we ex-
tended wide our territorial limits, and gained that dis-
tinction abroad usually attendant on martial success.
The Venerated chieftain, under whose auspicious lead,
our countrymen first went forth into battle, as he came.
home from Victory, was hailed by a grateful people as
a conqueror, and elevated to the highest honor in their
power to bestow. But at the high noon of our tri-
umphs, the day was suddenly overcast with clouds,
and darkness, and an horrible tempest. “The cast, the
north, and the stormy south, combined‘ to throw the

. whole sea into commotion, to. toss its billows to the

skies, and disclose its profoundest depths.” The old
hero-pilot lay. powerless at the helm, and the ship was

driving fast upon an unknown shore.

“Ipse diem noctemque negat discernere coelo.”
I

*34 LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL wnnsrnn.

We all remember what consternation every where
prevailed---—how the hearts of good men failed them for
fear, believing that the hour of our final disaster was
at hand. The wreckers were abroad, eager for their

miserable booty, and birds of evil omenscreamed in p’

the sky. When the tumult was at its height, and the

danger most appalling, the mighty voice of Mr. Web- 
ster was heard, not like the VO.‘lC6 of Him on Galilee, i
who spake with the power Of'GrOCl, “Peace, be still;’’‘ in

but as it might be in prayer and strong‘ crying to the

E awful Presence, that holds the winds and restrains the 

waves. T E
The speech delivered by Mr. Webster on the 7th of

- March, 1850, in the Senate for “the Constitution and the

Union,” towers immeasurably above the general eleva-

E tion of his greatness. The entire absence of all local V

and personal topics; the spirit of concession, alike gen-

, erous and just; theall-pervading sentiment of national-
s ity, that regards the whole country and its largest des-

tinies, will, to all time, commend this unparalleled ora-
tory to the best judgment and the best feelings of
every true American. I know not where to look for a
sublimer example of self-devotion, of moral heroism.
Fully conscious of the peril,he made up his mind, he
said, to embark alone on what he was aware would
IJEOEVBQ. stormy sea, because in that case, should final
disaster ensue, there would be but one life lost. ,“ I

wishito speak to-day,”-"so he began, “not as a Massa-
rchusetts, man,nor as a northern man, but; as an Ameri-
, A can, and a member of:-tithe Senate of the United States.”
T  T y“ I have a part to act, not for myown security or safe-

If?‘

LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER. 35

ty, for I am looking out for not fragment upon which to

j . float away from the wreck, if wreck there must be, but

for the good of the whole, and the preservation of all;
and thereis that which will keep me to myduty during
this struggle, whether the sun and the stars shall ap-
pear, or shall not appear for many days. I speak to-
day for the preservation of the union.” Such was the
lofty style of patriotism, the rapt spirit of self-devo~
tion, with which he craved the audience of his distract-
ed country. So recent is the event, so deeply were
our own fears and hopes involved in the mighty
issue, that we can imagine we hear still the majestic
argument which followed, the pathetic appeals, I the
tones of distress, of anguish, with which the aged pa»
triot dwelt upon the dismemberment of his beloved
republic. “I would rather hear,” so he exclaimed, “r of
natural blasts and mildews, war, pestilence and famine,
than to hear gentlemen talk of secession. To break up
this great government, to dismember this glorious coun-
try !, to astonish Europe with an act of folly such as
Europefor two centuries, has never beheld in any gov-
ernment or in any people! N o, sir! N o, sir! There
will be no secession.” As he himself said a few days
afterwards of the departed Calhoun, we might ima-
gine that we behold a Senator of Rome while Rome
survivedf“ I I

*An intelligent and highly accomplished woman of South ‘Carolina, now
resident, in Washington, thus speaks of the appearance of  Webster,
while delivering this speech. “I was very near him in the Senate, when he
delivered his truly national speech, and not very far off sat our own physi-

cally emaciated, but still majestic Calhoun. My eyes were riveted in venera-
tion and hope, first on one, and then on the other of these two blazing lights

36 LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER.

We remember well what a peal of . joy went up all

over the land, like a jubilant hymn, ‘from every patri-i

otic heart. Men felt that a great crisis was past, that
the liberties of their country were still safe. V From
the remotest north to the remotest south, the dweller
in the city and the dweller on the prairie, blessed God
alike as they read these noble words, inscribed by the
Venerable Senator to his constituents, the people of
Massachusetts, in adedication profoundly respectful to
them, but equally respectful to himself“

We remember,ytoo, how he was assailed by the arch
conspirators who had compassed the dishonor and the
disruption of their country-—-how he was turned away
from the portals of Faneuil Hall, by the civil authori-

of genius; and I was delighted afterwards to hear that Mr. it Calhoun, , just be-
fore he died, remarked, that, although Webster had been his political oppo-
nent all his life, he had always been forced to approve in him, one striking
moral peculiarity, namely, thathe could not speak with power on any sub-
ject,if that subject did not command the entire consent of his intellectual
judgment that it was right and true, Webster’s manner on the momentous
occasion when he delivered this great speech, was that of a man who fully
comprehended ‘the solemnity of his attitude as a national peace-maker, and
had alsofully counted the cost of olfending perhaps his political constituents
at the North. In general society, at Washington, Webster’s manner is cold
and abstracted; but when he stands upto make a speech invthe Senate, he
ispcertainly the most august, commanding and god~1ike—loo'king specimen of
dignified manhood, that could be found in the world. No one, I assure you,
on this earth, looks like Daniel Webster.” Mrs. Schoolcraflfs Letters to her
Brother. P. 4. I I

*The dedication was couched in the following terms.

“ With the highest respect, and the deepest sense of obligation, I dedicate
this speech to the people of Massachusetts. 1

‘ Hiscgo gratiora dictu alia esse scio; sed me rem pa-o gratis loqui, eta
meum ingienium non mcneret, necessitas cogit. Vel1em,equidem, vobisp1a-

t it cere; siedgmulto male was calves ease, qualicumque erga me aznimo futuri es~
 A, V c . I I V y _ I i I I I DANIEL Warsaw.”

LIFE AND SERVICES or DANlEL WEBSTER. 37

, ties of that self-same city which had profited by the

best labors of his life, and which, more than any other

by man, he had contributedlto build up and adorn; how
,  he, in the heart of that city, and in the midst of a po-
i litical cabal, whose a corruption and profligacy were 
equalled only by the hatred with which they hunted ~

"tution of their country.

him down, threw back upon his pursuers those memo-
rable Words of defiance, “I tread no step backvvardg”
and how these zealots of evil pressed on in full cry,
railing at his triumphs, and exulting in his defeat, even

to the very day of his death. And we have seen the g 
same malignant spirits, emulous of those unclean beasts i 
; which violate the sepulchre and raven upon the remains
of thedead, seeking to go down into his grave that 
they might write Words of infamy upon his coffin-lid. 

It is vvell—--xvvell for us——-—vvell for him, the object of
such savage hate; There needed such an exhibition
of malice to unmask the purposes of those professed
philanthropists, who meditate treason under the sacred
names of conscience and a law higher than the consti-

I understand that Mr. Webster’s friends design to

, associate his memory with some work of art, in its
higher maiiifestations. What would be better Worthy ,4
l his greatfame, andsmore acceptable to his rcouiitrymen‘,
than a historic picture of the aged statesman,‘ in the

actorf delivering this, his greatest speech? , “Conslpicuous

among the admiring listeners shoulda be the venerabile ,
form of Mr. Clay; and Mr. Calhoun with the pallor of ‘f

death on his cheek, waiting to hear thepatriotic words of
his friend and compeer before; he shall depart. Cass, too,

38 LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER.

his ‘early companion and school-mate should be there; and
his own colleague, the honesty of whose character has as-
sociated itself, by an inseparable epithet, with his name.

. Had not Mr. Webster been the first of jurists and
the first of statesmen, his literary reputation, alone,
would have made him eminent. He was a ripe schol-

T ar----few more so, even of ‘those whose lives are passed

in immediate connection with the schools. That he

I should be an orator, was matter of course, in a country

where oratoryis universally practised, and where it is
essential to professional and to political success. That
he gained ‘such eminence with the great orators of his
country,Tgives him rank with the few gifted speakers,
who have appeared in the world from age to age. The
felicity of his style, “uniting,” as has been well said,
the “massive solidity of his native granite, with the pol-
ish of the Parian marble,”* has given to his speeches and
his writings a very high rank in our national literature.
Posterity will hang with rapture upon his glowing
words, and bend their pilgrim steps with new venera-

tion towards those hallowed spots----rendered doubly’

interesting by the unfading splendor of his eloquence-——-
Plymouth Rocl<;T,, Bunker Hill, the graves‘ of Adams
and Jefferson, and the magnified Capitol of the coun-
try. His own great reputatioxl, embalmecl in his im-
mortal pages, will go down to other times, undimmed,

but increatsing rather, while the memory of his illustri- ,_

ens‘ .~seontempotrari:es shall, perchance, fade away in the
uneertain 2 twilight of tIa.di»ti.0n. T T T T

 l

1  ‘WHOM. William B. Reese. E

LIFE AND snnvrcns or DANIEL wunsrnn. 39

To us who knew Mr. Webster only in his public re-
lations, as a lawyer, a statesman, and a man of letters,
it may not be uninteresti.ng or uninstructive to know

. something of the private, personal habitudes of the
, man ;--——to know how completely, he was identified with
W his ‘neighbors in all their local affairs; how he favored
‘{ their schools; with what cordial friendship he associa-
; ted with their learned men; how sedulously he cher-

ished all their great industrial interests; how well he
studied their history and their character, and so gained
their confidence, that for more than thirty years his
word was law to New England; how with more than a

A 3 father’s care he brought forward and encouraged their
: young men, thus gathering around him a circle of per-

sonal friends, ever ready to offer the highest proofs of
their singular devotion; how kind and gentle and even
playful he wasin the bosom of his own family, as a

a “son, a brother, a husband, a father. He had a decided A

taste for rural pursuits and amusements. And yield-

lt ing to the strong predilection for agriculture, so com-

mon with the legal profession’ of the United States, he,

many years ago, became the owner of a farm in Marsh-T

field,a little seaboard town, in the southern part of
Massachusetts. There, in thevery eye of the ocean,
may be said to have been his home. There he was
fond of retiring for relaxation from the toils of his pro»;

. fession, andthe duties of office. There he”:loved to w

 gather his friends around a him and indulge a large-

hearted,generous hospitality. There were his books,

i in whose instructive and delightful society were spent
i so many of T his leisure hours. i There dwelt the living

4:0 LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

loved ones of his home, and the faithful servants,
bought with his own money, who continued their will-
ing service, in a land Where they might have been at
least nominally free.* There on a little eminence, that
looks out upon the sea, lay the early vvife,and all, save
one, of the Glllldl en, side byside, in their final sleep.
There too, said he, in his Will, Written a few days be-
fore his death, “I Wish to be buried Without the least
show or ostentation, but in a manner respectful to my
neighbors, Whose kindness has contributed so much to
the happiness of me and mine, and for whose prosperi--

i ty I offer sincere prayers to God.”

Among those neighbors to whose kindness this touch-
ing allusion is made, he had a character very different
from the great reputation he sustained abroad. Of sim-
ple habits and retired lives, they deemed him almost,if
not altogether such an one as themselves Interested

alike in the alternations of seed—time and harvest, in tlie”

increase of the cattle and the products of the field, there
wanted not abundance of talk upon these absorbing
themes, While they were ready, notalways unasked, to
give him the result of their larger experience and nicer
observation upon the prognostics of the Weather or the
state of the crop. N o keener sportsmanthan he ever

*The following provisions of his will, shew the interest he felt in their
Welfare. ‘ i i i i

“Item. My servant William Johnson is a free man. I bought his free-~ ,
l dom, not long ago, for six hundred dollars. no demand is to be made upon
him for any portion of this sum, but so long as is agreeable, I hope he will

remain with «the family. ~ , , p y p y l l
i Item. Morricha M"Carty,,_ Sarah Smith, and Ann Bean, colored persons,
now also, and for along timleiifi my service, are all free. Theyi are very‘well-

,<1e,serving, and whoever comes, after me must be kind to themfi’ , w

LIFE, AND snzavrcns or DANIEL wnnsrnn. 41

followed the game. No fisherman more eagerly launch-
ed his boat upon the wave; or, returning with the finny

 spoil, engaged with a more skillful hand, in preparing

the fisherman’s peculiar and favorite repast. With
them, on the Sabbath, he repaired to the village church;
and when he died, six of their number bore him to his
burial———--the same sad office they had seen him perform
for others of their dead, and which -they, in their turn,
hoped from some friendly hand, in like Inanner, to receive.
Some things about him, a certain abstraction of look,
an occasional outburst of sentiment, they Inay not have
quite understood; and possibly they may have argued
an unwise neglect of his affairs, from his frequent and
prolonged absence, and from his attention to so many
strangers who came and went with so little appearance
of business. Such was Mr. Webster at Marslifield.
How completely he there laid aside his senatorial dig-I
nity, how rustic his habits, how plain and unostenta-
tious his garb, is attested by many a well-told anecdote
of pretensions city gentlemen, mistaking him for no
more than an ordinary, respectable citizen, and being
aslianipd of their conduct only when they discovered
their mistake. A I i

In; thus dwelling upon the finer traits of an illustri-
ous character, the outgoing sympathies of a large na-
ture, it is pleasure, it is Wisdom rather, not to inquire

A how far, or in what particular he may have shared in

the general infirlnity, which has formed a portion of
man’s natural inheritance ever since the Fall.
angel-spirit of charity! has dropped a tear upon the

darker record, and blotteditk out forever.‘
I a

The it

4?. LIFE AND smwross or DAMEL wnssrsn.

The writings of Mr. Webster afford abundant proof
of his profound admiration for the christian religion.

“He labored in its light, he journeyed in itshope.” ,

From a period of infancy, beyond the reach of
memory, he had been taught by his pious mother to

read the words of inspiration; and as a he read, we are ’

told, rude men drew nigh and stood still to listen, at-
tracted by the charm of his youthful accents. And, so
from youth to mellow age, he had lovingly and dili-

gently pondered the wondrous Book. Few men so 

familiar as he, with its very words. i The general serin
ousness and earnestness of his language corresponded
well with the frequent use of bible imagery, of which
he was very fond, especially the sublime metaphor of
its poetry and the prophecies. On all suitable public
occasions, whether on Plymouth Rock, in the chamber
of the American Senate, or the Supreme Court of the
United States, he never failed to recognise theawful

authority of Jehovah, and in the height of his “great

argument” to i

“Assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to man.”

But his own loftier and better words can alone do jus- _ 

tice tothis, the crowning glory of his cliaracteru

When, a. few years ago, in the Supreme Court of the  
United States, he res:is.ted thte attempt of Grirard, in it

i the endowment of the OrphaI1As;ylum, which bears his 3 :

name, to separate charity from the teachings of that 5;

Grspel, of which it is declared to be the loveliest grace;
and to ins.tr,uctlfath1~.less childrenin a code of morality,

. unblest bythe religion of A Jesus, he addressed. himself

LIFE, AND SEEVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER. 43

to a masterly vindication of l christianity, and the holy
men who minister at her altarsf“ I think it would be

c diflicult, in the Wide compass of human language, to

find anything more convincing. Arguing the para-
mount duty of imparting religious instruction to the
young, he said: E “There is an authority still more im-
posing and awful. When little children were brought
into the presence of the Son of God, his disciples pro-
posed to send them away, but he Said; ‘Siuffer little
children to come unto me,’ unto me~,+ he opened at once
to the youthful mind the everlasting fountain of living
Waters, the only Source of eternal truths; ‘Suffer little
children to come unto me.’ And that injunction is of perm
petual obligation. It addresses itself to-day, with the
Same earnestness and the same authority which attend-

  ed its first utterance to the christian world. It is of 

force every Where and at all times. It extends to the Y
ends of the earth; it will reach to the end of time, al- ;

‘Ways, and every where sounding in the ears of men, n

with an emphasis which no repetition can weaken, and l i

with an authority which nothing can supersede-—--‘Sufi

fer little children to come unto me.”’ E
Speaking of the wholesale opprobrium cast by the in-

fidel donor upon the Whole body of the christian clergy,

by excluding them from the precincts of this charitable V

institution, alwaysand for all purposes, even for visit-
ing‘ the sicker administering consolation to dying,

though perchance thesick or dying might be a nephew

 

i * The ease to which I allude is that of Francois Fenelon Vidal and others

vs. The Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens of Philadelphia and others, reported in p,

2 Howard, 127. r E» r 

44 LIFE AND SERVICES or DANIEL WEBSTER.

or a grand-child, “ Sir,” he proceeds, with more than

K.‘ his accustomed emphasis, “I take it upon myself to 

say, that in no country in the world, upon eitherconti-
nent, can there be found a body of ministers of the
Gospel who perform so much service to man, in such a
full spirit of self-denial, under so little encouragement
from government of any kind, and under circumstances
alniostalways much Straitened and often distressed, as
the ministers of the Gospel in the United States, of all
denominations. This body of clergyman has shown,
to the honor of their own country and to the astonish-
ment of the hierarchies of the Old World, that it is
practicable in free governmentsnto raise and sustain, by
voluntary contributions alone, a body of elergymen,
which, for devotedness to their sacred calling, for purity
of life and character, for learning, intelligence and pie-
ty, and that wisdom which cometh fromabove, is infe-
rior to none, and superior to most others,

This was the honorable testimony of the great civil-

lian to these excellent men, and the teacliings of their
divine Master, honorable, doubtless, to them, but, by a

reflex exhibition of sentiment and opinion, doubly,

honorable to himself’. E
In the private unconstrained intercourse with his

A friends, his gifted intellect was often displayed in the

discussion of kindred topics, in criticism upon the Holy
Word, in the recitation of admired and; favorite passa-
ges, in considering his individual responsibility to Grod,‘

and his hope of salvation through the Gospel of J esus,
A, E, Such was Mr;W‘ebsterin life. ,Death came in fitting
5 conclusion to the stately epic. On‘ the eighteenth of

LIFE AND SERVICES or IDANIEL WEBSTER. 45

January last, the days of his years were three score
years and ten. In early summer, while riding with a
friend, he is thrown from his carriage, and receives a
severe injury from the fall. In a few Weeks he is again
at his post, grappling with what strength he may, the
unexpected difficulties that spring upon him in the ad-
ministration of our foreign affairs. But as summer
wears away, the wasting powers give mournful token
of decay. At last the giant oak seems tottering to its
fall. When the serene days of Autumn come, he will
retire, for a little, to the quiet of his ocean home, there
to recruit his energies and revive his spirits with the
voices of friends, the lowing of herds, and the falling

of the leaf. It so falls out that a party of jocund 

youths visit the grounds around his mansion, blithe
with song and bridal joy. Under the shadow of that
old elm tree he will meet them andbless them with an
old man’s blessing. He has gone forthfor the last
time. He knows that the sand has almost run; and
makes haste to set his house in order. To an official

dispatch he has, with an effort affixed his name, and 3

the great statesman’s work is done. His last will and

testament has been ensealed; and he has given full di- s

rections for the conduct of his affairs, not forgetting the
details of his burial. Hour by hour, from that cham-
ber of death, go forth tidings of sorrow, borne by the
viewless messenger of the air, to anxious millions all
over the a land. One by one, his family and waiting
friends draw near to receive his parting words, in deep
affliction,but sustained by his great example. ‘ It is

night, the week and the day are almost passed. b He pr

um.

46 LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

prays: “Heavenly Father forgive my sins, and receive
1ne to thyself through Christ Jesus.” He has now
done with earth, and awaits the coming of death, with

unclouded vision. Thiclc-coming fancies crowd upon .

him. .His mighty spirit rises higher and farther from
things below, until it wings its way back to the bosom
of its God. “ It is a night much to be remembered.”
That Sabbath morning broke, as it might be, with a
holier light as the tolling of the village bell announced,

  after the fashion of New England, that another aged
a man had gene. And as the sad announcement flew on

the wings of the morning, there went up a universal
‘wail for the -dead, the great national heart ceased to
beat; en paused in the work of party strife, and all
who loved their country united in public demonstrations
of sorrow. .

There, upon that chosen eminence, which looks out
upon the sea, they have buried him, the greatest of his
race, without parade or ostentation. N 0 military or
civic honors, no costly pageantry, no ducal magnificence,
no stately hatchments or gorgeous funeral car, nothing,

i save his own great name, the unwonted throng, the
more impressive sorrow distinguish him in death,

from the humblest of men. The walls of no ancient
abbey encompass his grave; no organ, with solemn
stop, swells the notes7of__his requiem. He. sleeps pa-

,‘ vilioned by the sable robes of autumn, the music of the

meaning wave his only dirge. i r

Fellow-citizles,..:.,EL have thus, according to my meas— l
* ure,given expreisisioll to our common sorrow. Words of

LIFE AND SERVICES OF DANIEL WEBSTER. I 4:  I

eulogy are alone for the living; they profit not the
dead, in the unhearing silence of the tomb. These

have burst, like live coals, from the lips of eloquent

men, allover the land, and on either continent. I have

. not ventured beyond the simple story of his life. Qua- A

Z229 erect. I have attempted no analysis of his acknowl-
edged powers; still less have I sought to select and
assign his particular niche in the Temple of Fame,

either beside or above the historic names of modern or I

ancient days. The time is not yet. We are too near,
too much in the shadow of the mountain. We must
wait until distant years shall blend and harmonize the
vast proportions, a11d throw into finer light the outline
of the giant form. Through long years, to 1nost of us,
our lifetime, the name of Daniel Webster had beena

household word. He was a great man, and loved , our I

country. And when the tidings ca1ne thathe was no
more,you remember what sadness brooded upon our
hearts. All life stood still. The merchant closed his
ledger, the artizan dropped the implements of his calling,
the steed remained in the stall. The faces of men,fno
less than the tolling of bells, betokened our sympathy
in the general bereavement. We felt that a great ‘pillar
of the republic had crumbled. We read an awful and
affecting lesson. And when we beheld this departing
spirit no longer in mortal form, but shadowy and grand,
withdrawn forever from our straining gaze, his living
fame and his immortal memory blended in solemn in-
vocation upon our patriotism to rally with new ardor
around our united: coimtry and her constitution.

Kzzoxvxnmz, January 31, 1853.
Ilonhoe l\I.u'NAIu_.>, Esq. p d
Dear Sir:—-I)eprived of an earlier opportunity, by your pro-4
fessionel absence, we have the pleasure of asking, for publication, in behalf
of the citizens of Knoxville, a. copy of the address delivered by yourself in
honor of Daniel Webster. . p p
p Selected, unanimously, by Town. Meieting, for the performance of that
grateful but difileult task, you have the thanks of our citizens for cheerful

was executed; in the request which we have the honor to make.
' t d It i Very respectfully,

S. R. RODGERS I .
I). L.  ’ ;C'0mmI.tfe6.

compliance, and an evidence of their estimate of the ability with which it i

 

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