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diff --git a/old/13047-8.txt b/old/13047-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4aa54b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13047-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9289 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Daniel Webster, by Henry Cabot Lodge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Daniel Webster + +Author: Henry Cabot Lodge + +Release Date: July 29, 2004 [EBook #13047] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANIEL WEBSTER *** + + + + +Produced by Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Linda Cantoni <linda.cantoni@verizon.net>] + + + + +American Statesmen + + +EDITED BY + +JOHN T. MORSE, JR. + + + + +American Statesmen + + +DANIEL WEBSTER + + +BY + +HENRY CABOT LODGE + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +The Riverside Press Cambridge + + +1883 AND 1911, BY HENRY CABOT LODGE + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH + + +CHAPTER II. + +LAW AND POLITICS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE.--MR. WEBSTER AS A LAWYER + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MASSACHUSETTS CONVENTION AND THE PLYMOUTH ORATION + + +CHAPTER V. + +RETURN TO CONGRESS + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TARIFF OF 1828 AND THE REPLY TO HAYNE + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE STRUGGLE WITH JACKSON AND THE RISE OF THE WHIG PARTY + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SECRETARY OF STATE.--THE ASHBURTON TREATY + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RETURN TO THE SENATE.--THE SEVENTH OF MARCH SPEECH + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LAST YEARS + + + + +DANIEL WEBSTER. + + +[NOTE.--In preparing this volume I have carefully examined all the +literature contemporary and posthumous relating to Mr. Webster. I have not +gone beyond the printed material, of which there is a vast mass, much of it +of no value, but which contains all and more than is needed to obtain a +correct understanding of the man and of his public and private life. No one +can pretend to write a life of Webster without following in large measure +the narrative of events as given in the elaborate, careful, and scholarly +biography which we owe to Mr. George T. Curtis. In many of my conclusions I +have differed widely from those of Mr. Curtis, but I desire at the outset +to acknowledge fully my obligations to him. I have sought information in +all directions, and have obtained some fresh material, and, as I believe, +have thrown a new light upon certain points, but this does not in the least +diminish the debt which I owe to the ample biography of Mr. Curtis in +regard to the details as well as the general outline of Mr. Webster's +public and private life.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. + + +No sooner was the stout Puritan Commonwealth of Massachusetts firmly +planted than it began rapidly to throw out branches in all directions. With +every succeeding year the long, thin, sinuous line of settlements stretched +farther and farther away to the northeast, fringing the wild shores of the +Atlantic with houses and farms gathered together at the mouths or on the +banks of the rivers, and with the homes of hardy fishermen which clustered +in little groups beneath the shelter of the rocky headlands. The extension +of these plantations was chiefly along the coast, but there was also a +movement up the river courses toward the west and into the interior. The +line of northeastern settlements began first to broaden in this way very +slowly but still steadily from the plantations at Portsmouth and Dover, +which were nearly coeval with the flourishing towns of the Bay. These +settlements beyond the Massachusetts line all had one common and marked +characteristic. They were all exposed to Indian attack from the earliest +days down to the period of the Revolution. Long after the dangers of Indian +raids had become little more than a tradition to the populous and +flourishing communities of Massachusetts Bay, the towns and villages of +Maine and New Hampshire continued to be the outposts of a dark and bloody +border land. French and Indian warfare with all its attendant horrors was +the normal condition during the latter part of the seventeenth and the +first quarter of the eighteenth century. Even after the destruction of the +Jesuit missions, every war in Europe was the signal for the appearance of +Frenchmen and savages in northeastern New England, where their course was +marked by rapine and slaughter, and lighted by the flames of burning +villages. The people thus assailed were not slow in taking frequent and +thorough vengeance, and so the conflict, with rare intermissions, went on +until the power of France was destroyed, and the awful danger from the +north, which had hung over the land for nearly a century, was finally +extinguished. + +The people who waged this fierce war and managed to make headway in despite +of it were engaged at the same time in a conflict with nature which was +hardly less desperate. The soil, even in the most favored places, was none +of the best, and the predominant characteristic of New Hampshire was the +great rock formation which has given it the name of the Granite State. +Slowly and painfully the settlers made their way back into the country, +seizing on every fertile spot, and wringing subsistence and even a certain +prosperity from a niggardly soil and a harsh climate. Their little hamlets +crept onward toward the base of those beautiful hills which have now become +one of the favorite play-grounds of America, but which then frowned grimly +even in summer, dark with trackless forests, and for the larger part of the +year were sheeted with the glittering, untrampled snow from which they +derive their name. Stern and strong with the force of an unbroken +wilderness, they formed at all times a forbidding background to the sparse +settlements in the valleys and on the seashore. + +This life of constant battle with nature and with the savages, this work of +wresting a subsistence from the unwilling earth while the hand was always +armed against a subtle and cruel foe, had, of course, a marked effect upon +the people who endured it. That, under such circumstances, men should have +succeeded not only in gaining a livelihood, but should have attained also a +certain measure of prosperity, established a free government, founded +schools and churches, and built up a small but vigorous and thriving +commonwealth, is little short of marvellous. A race which could do this had +an enduring strength of character which was sure to make itself felt +through many generations, not only on their ancestral soil, but in every +region where they wandered in search of a fortune denied to them at home. +The people of New Hampshire were of the English Puritan stock. They were +the borderers of New England, and were among the hardiest and boldest of +their race. Their fierce battle for existence during nearly a century and a +half left a deep impress upon them. Although it did not add new traits to +their character, it strengthened and developed many of the qualities which +chiefly distinguished the Puritan Englishman. These borderers, from lack of +opportunity, were ruder than their more favored brethren to the south, but +they were also more persistent, more tenacious, and more adventurous. They +Were a vigorous, bold, unforgiving, fighting race, hard and stern even +beyond the ordinary standard of Puritanism. + +Among the Puritans who settled in New Hampshire about the year 1636, during +the great emigration which preceded the Long Parliament, was one bearing +the name of Thomas Webster. He was said to be of Scotch extraction, but +was, if this be true, undoubtedly of the Lowland or Saxon Scotch as +distinguished from the Gaels of the Highlands. He was, at all events, a +Puritan of English race, and his name indicates that his progenitors were +sturdy mechanics or handicraftsmen. This Thomas Webster had numerous +descendants, who scattered through New Hampshire to earn a precarious +living, found settlements, and fight Indians. In Kingston, in the year +1739, was born one of this family named Ebenezer Webster. The struggle for +existence was so hard for this particular scion of the Webster stock, that +he was obliged in boyhood to battle for a living and pick up learning as he +best might by the sole aid of a naturally vigorous mind. He came of age +during the great French war, and about 1760 enlisted in the then famous +corps known as "Rogers's Rangers." In the dangers and the successes of +desperate frontier fighting, the "Rangers" had no equal; and of their hard +and perilous experience in the wilderness, in conflict with Indians and +Frenchmen, Ebenezer Webster, strong in body and daring in temperament, had +his full share. + +When the war closed, the young soldier and Indian fighter had time to look +about him for a home. As might have been expected, he clung to the frontier +to which he was accustomed, and in the year 1763 settled in the +northernmost part of the town of Salisbury. Here he built a log-house, to +which, in the following year, he brought his first wife, and here he began +his career as a farmer. At that time there was nothing civilized between +him and the French settlements of Canada. The wilderness stretched away +from his door an ocean of forest unbroken by any white man's habitation; +and in these primeval woods, although the war was ended and the French +power overthrown, there still lurked roving bands of savages, suggesting +the constant possibilities of a midnight foray or a noonday ambush, with +their accompaniments of murder and pillage. It was a fit home, however, for +such a man as Ebenezer Webster. He was a borderer in the fullest sense in a +commonwealth of borderers. He was, too, a splendid specimen of the New +England race; a true descendant of ancestors who had been for generations +yeomen and pioneers. Tall, large, dark of hair and eyes, in the rough world +in which he found himself he had been thrown at once upon his own resources +without a day's schooling, and compelled to depend on his own innate force +of sense and character for success. He had had a full experience of +desperate fighting with Frenchmen and Indians, and, the war over, he had +returned to his native town with his hard-won rank of captain. Then he had +married, and had established his home upon the frontier, where he remained +battling against the grim desolation of the wilderness and of the winter, +and against all the obstacles of soil and climate, with the same hardy +bravery with which he had faced the Indians. After ten years of this life, +in 1774, his wife died and within a twelvemonth he married again. + +Soon after this second marriage the alarm of war with England sounded, and +among the first to respond was the old ranger and Indian fighter, Ebenezer +Webster. In the town which had grown up near his once solitary dwelling he +raised a company of two hundred men, and marched at their head, a splendid +looking leader, dark, massive, and tall, to join the forces at Boston. We +get occasional glimpses of this vigorous figure during the war. At +Dorchester, Washington consulted him about the state of feeling in New +Hampshire. At Bennington, we catch sight of him among the first who scaled +the breastworks, and again coming out of the battle, his swarthy skin so +blackened with dust and gunpowder that he could scarcely be recognized. We +hear of him once more at West Point, just after Arnold's treason, on guard +before the general's tent, and Washington says to him, "Captain Webster, I +believe I can trust you." That was what everybody seems to have felt about +this strong, silent, uneducated man. His neighbors trusted him. They gave +him every office in their gift, and finally he was made judge of the local +court. In the intervals of his toilsome and adventurous life he had picked +up a little book-learning, but the lack of more barred the way to the +higher honors which would otherwise have been easily his. There were +splendid sources of strength in this man, the outcome of such a race, from +which his children could draw. He was, to begin with, a magnificent animal, +and had an imposing bodily presence and appearance. He had courage, energy, +and tenacity, all in high degree. He was business-like, a man of few words, +determined, and efficient. He had a great capacity for affection and +self-sacrifice, noble aspirations, a vigorous mind, and, above all, a +strong, pure character which invited trust. Force of will, force of mind, +force of character; these were the three predominant qualities in Ebenezer +Webster. His life forms the necessary introduction to that of his +celebrated son, and it is well worth study, because we can learn from it +how much that son got from a father so finely endowed, and how far he +profited by such a rich inheritance. + +By his first wife, Ebenezer Webster had five children. By his second wife, +Abigail Eastman, a woman of good sturdy New Hampshire stock, he had +likewise five. Of these, the second son and fourth child was born on the +eighteenth of January, 1782, and was christened Daniel. The infant was a +delicate and rather sickly little being. Some cheerful neighbors predicted +after inspection that it would not live long, and the poor mother, +overhearing them, caught the child to her bosom and wept over it. She +little dreamed of the iron constitution hidden somewhere in the small frail +body, and still less of all the glory and sorrow to which her baby was +destined. + +For many years, although the boy disappointed the village Cassandras by +living, he continued weak and delicate. Manual labor, which began very +early with the children of New Hampshire farmers, was out of the question +in his case, and so Daniel was allowed to devote much of his time to play, +for which he showed a decided aptitude. It was play of the best sort, in +the woods and fields, where he learned to love nature and natural objects, +to wonder at floods, to watch the habits of fish and birds, and to acquire +a keen taste for field sports. His companion was an old British sailor, who +carried the child on his back, rowed with him on the river, taught him the +angler's art, and, best of all, poured into his delighted ear endless +stories of an adventurous life, of Admiral Byng and Lord George Germaine, +of Minden and Gibraltar, of Prince Ferdinand and General Gage, of Bunker +Hill, and finally of the American armies, to which the soldier-sailor had +deserted. The boy repaid this devoted friend by reading the newspapers to +him; and he tells us in his autobiography that he could not remember when +he did not read, so early was he taught by his mother and sisters, in true +New England fashion. At a very early age he began to go to school; +sometimes in his native town, sometimes in another, as the district school +moved from place to place. The masters who taught in these schools knew +nothing but the barest rudiments, and even some of those imperfectly. One +of them who lived to a great age, enlightened perhaps by subsequent events, +said that Webster had great rapidity of acquisition and was the quickest +boy in school. He certainly proved himself the possessor of a very +retentive memory, for when this pedagogue offered a jack-knife as a reward +to the boy who should be able to recite the greatest number of verses from +the Bible, Webster, on the following day, when his turn came, arose and +reeled off verses until the master cried "enough," and handed him the +coveted prize. Another of his instructors kept a small store, and from him +the boy bought a handkerchief on which was printed the Constitution just +adopted, and, as he read everything and remembered much, he read that +famous instrument to which he was destined to give so much of his time and +thought. When Mr. Webster said that he read better than any of his masters, +he was probably right. The power of expression and of speech and readiness +in reply were his greatest natural gifts, and, however much improved by +cultivation, were born in him. His talents were known in the neighborhood, +and the passing teamsters, while they watered their horses, delighted to +get "Webster's boy," with his delicate look and great dark eyes, to come +out beneath the shade of the trees and read the Bible to them with all the +force of his childish eloquence. He describes his own existence at that +time with perfect accuracy. "I read what I could get to read, went to +school when I could, and when not at school, was a farmer's youngest boy, +not good for much for want of health and strength, but expected to do +something." That something consisted generally in tending the saw-mill, but +the reading went on even there. He would set a log, and while it was going +through would devour a book. There was a small circulating library in the +village, and Webster read everything it contained, committing most of the +contents of the precious volumes to memory, for books were so scarce that +he believed this to be their chief purpose. + +In the year 1791 the brave old soldier, Ebenezer Webster, was made a judge +of the local court, and thus got a salary of three or four hundred dollars +a year. This accession of wealth turned his thoughts at once toward that +education which he had missed, and he determined that he would give to his +children what he had irretrievably lost himself. Two years later he +disclosed his purpose to his son, one hot day in the hay-field, with a +manly regret for his own deficiencies and a touching pathos which the boy +never forgot. The next spring his father took Daniel to Exeter Academy. +This was the boy's first contact with the world, and there was the usual +sting which invariably accompanies that meeting. His school-mates laughed +at his rustic dress and manners, and the poor little farm lad felt it +bitterly. The natural and unconscious power by which he had delighted the +teamsters was stifled, and the greatest orator of modern times never could +summon sufficient courage to stand up and recite verses before these Exeter +school-boys. Intelligent masters, however, perceived something of what was +in the lad, and gave him a kindly encouragement. He rose rapidly in the +classes, and at the end of nine months his father took him away in order to +place him as a pupil with a neighboring clergyman. As they drove over, +about a month later, to Boscawen, where Dr. Wood, the future preceptor, +lived, Ebenezer Webster imparted to his son the full extent of his plan, +which was to end in a college education. The joy at the accomplishment of +his dearest and most fervent wish, mingled with a full sense of the +magnitude of the sacrifice and of the generosity of his father, overwhelmed +the boy. Always affectionate and susceptible of strong emotion, these +tidings overcame him. He laid his head upon his father's shoulder and wept. + +With Dr. Wood Webster remained only six months. He went home on one +occasion, but haying was not to his tastes. He found it "dull and +lonesome," and preferred rambling in the woods with his sister in search of +berries, so that his indulgent father sent him back to his studies. With +the help of Dr. Wood in Latin, and another tutor in Greek, he contrived to +enter Dartmouth College in August, 1797. He was, of course, hastily and +poorly prepared. He knew something of Latin, very little of Greek, and next +to nothing of mathematics, geography, or history. He had devoured +everything in the little libraries of Salisbury and Boscawen, and thus had +acquired a desultory knowledge of a limited amount of English literature, +including Addison, Pope, Watts, and "Don Quixote." But however little he +knew, the gates of learning were open, and he had entered the precincts of +her temple, feeling dimly but surely the first pulsations of the mighty +intellect with which he was endowed. + +"In those boyish days," he wrote many years afterwards, "there were two +things which I did dearly love, reading and playing,--passions which did +not cease to struggle when boyhood was over, (have they yet altogether?) +and in regard to which neither _cita mors_ nor the _victoria laeta_ could +be said of either." In truth they did not cease, these two strong passions. +One was of the head, the other of the heart; one typified the intellectual, +the other the animal strength of the boy's nature; and the two contending +forces went with him to the end. The childhood of Webster has a deep +interest which is by no means usual. Great men in their earliest years are +generally much like other boys, despite the efforts of their biographers to +the contrary. If they are not, they are very apt to be little prigs like +the second Pitt, full of "wise saws and modern instances." Webster was +neither the one nor the other. He was simple, natural, affectionate, and +free from pertness or precocity. At the same time there was an innate power +which impressed all those who approached him without their knowing exactly +why, and there was abundant evidence of uncommon talents. Webster's boyish +days are pleasant to look upon, but they gain a peculiar lustre from the +noble character of his father, the deep solicitude of his mother, and the +generous devotion and self-sacrifice of both parents. There was in this +something prophetic. Every one about the boy was laboring and sacrificing +for him from the beginning, and this was not without its effect upon his +character. A little anecdote which was current in Boston many years ago +condenses the whole situation. The story may be true or false,--it is very +probably unfounded,--but it contains an essential truth and illustrates the +character of the boy and the atmosphere in which he grew up. Ezekiel, the +oldest son, and Daniel were allowed on one occasion to go to a fair in a +neighboring town, and each was furnished with a little money from the +slender store at home. When they returned in the evening, Daniel was +radiant with enjoyment; Ezekiel rather silent. Their mother inquired as to +their adventures, and finally asked Daniel what he did with his money. +"Spent it," was the reply. "And what did you do with yours, Ezekiel?" "Lent +it to Daniel." That answer well sums up the story of Webster's home life in +childhood. All were giving or lending to Daniel of their money, their time, +their activity, their love and affection. This petting was partly due to +Webster's delicate health, but it was also in great measure owing to his +nature. He was one of those rare and fortunate beings who without exertion +draw to themselves the devotion of other people, and are always surrounded +by men and women eager to do and to suffer for them. The boy accepted all +that was showered upon him, not without an obvious sense that it was his +due. He took it in the royal spirit which is characteristic of such +natures; but in those childish days when laughter and tears came readily, +he repaid the generous and sacrificing love with the warm and affectionate +gratitude of an earnest nature and a naturally loving heart. He was never +cold, or selfish, or designing. Others loved him, and sacrificed to him, +but he loved them in return and appreciated their sacrifices. These +conditions of his early days must, however, have had an effect upon his +disposition and increased his belief in the fitness of having the devotion +of other people as one of his regal rights and privileges, while, at the +same time, it must have helped to expand his affections and give warmth to +every generous feeling. + +The passions for reading and play went with him to Dartmouth, the little +New Hampshire college of which he was always so proud and so fond. The +instruction there was of good quality enough, but it was meagre in quantity +and of limited range, compared to what is offered by most good high schools +of the present day. In the reminiscences of his fellow-students there is +abundant material for a picture of Webster at that time. He was recognized +by all as the foremost man in the college, as easily first, with no second. +Yet at the same time Mr. Webster was neither a student nor a scholar in the +truest sense of the words. He read voraciously all the English literature +he could lay his hands on, and remembered everything he read. He achieved +familiarity with Latin and with Latin authors, and absorbed a great deal of +history. He was the best general scholar in the college. He was not only +not deficient but he showed excellence at recitation in every branch of +study. He could learn anything if he tried. But with all this he never +gained more than a smattering of Greek and still less of mathematics, +because those studies require, for anything more than a fair proficiency, a +love of knowledge for its own sake, a zeal for learning incompatible with +indolence, and a close, steady, and disinterested attention. These were not +the characteristics of Mr. Webster's mind. He had a marvellous power of +rapid acquisition, but he learned nothing unless he liked the subject and +took pleasure in it or else was compelled to the task. This is not the +stuff from which the real student, with an original or inquiring mind, is +made. It is only fair to say that this estimate, drawn from the opinions of +his fellow-students, coincided with his own, for he was too large-minded +and too clear-headed to have any small vanity or conceit in judging +himself. He said soon after he left college, and with perfect truth, that +his scholarship was not remarkable, nor equal to what he was credited with. +He explained his reputation after making this confession by saying that he +read carefully, meditated on what he had read, and retained it so that on +any subject he was able to tell all he knew to the best advantage, and was +careful never to go beyond his depth. There is no better analysis of Mr. +Webster's strongest qualities of mind than this made by himself in +reference to his college standing. Rapid acquisition, quick assimilation of +ideas, an iron memory, and a wonderful power of stating and displaying all +he knew characterized him then as in later life. The extent of his +knowledge and the range of his mind, not the depth or soundness of his +scholarship, were the traits which his companions remembered. One of them +says that they often felt that he had a more extended understanding than +the tutors to whom he recited, and this was probably true. The Faculty of +the college recognized in Webster the most remarkable man who had ever come +among them, but they could not find good grounds to award him the prizes, +which, by his standing among his fellows, ought by every rule to have been +at his feet. He had all the promise of a great man, but he was not a fine +scholar. + +He was studious, punctual, and regular in all his habits. He was so +dignified that his friends would as soon have thought of seeing President +Wheelock indulge in boyish disorders as of seeing him. But with all his +dignity and seriousness of talk and manner, he was a thoroughly genial +companion, full of humor and fun and agreeable conversation. He had few +intimates, but many friends. He was generally liked as well as universally +admired, was a leader in the college societies, active and successful in +sports, simple, hearty, unaffected, without a touch of priggishness and +with a wealth of wholesome animal spirits. + +But in these college days, besides the vague feeling of students and +professors that they had among them a very remarkable man, there is a clear +indication that the qualities which afterwards raised him to fame and power +were already apparent, and affected the little world about him. All his +contemporaries of that time speak of his eloquence. The gift of speech, the +unequalled power of statement, which were born in him, just like the +musical tones of his voice, could not be repressed. There was no recurrence +of the diffidence of Exeter. His native genius led him irresistibly along +the inevitable path. He loved to speak, to hold the attention of a +listening audience. He practised off-hand speaking, but he more commonly +prepared himself by meditating on his subject and making notes, which, +however, he never used. He would enter the class-room or debating society +and begin in a low voice and almost sleepy manner, and would then gradually +rouse himself like a lion, and pour forth his words until he had his +hearers completely under his control, and glowing with enthusiasm. + +We see too, at this time, the first evidence of that other great gift of +bountiful nature in his commanding presence. He was then tall and thin, +with high cheek bones and dark skin, but he was still impressive. The boys +about him never forgot the look of his deep-set eyes, or the sound of the +solemn tones of his voice, his dignity of mien, and his absorption in his +subject. Above all they were conscious of something indefinable which +conveyed a sense of greatness. It is not usual to dwell so much upon mere +physical attributes and appearance, but we must recur to them again and +again, for Mr. Webster's personal presence was one of the great elements of +his success; it was the fit companion and even a part of his genius, and +was the cause of his influence, and of the wonder and admiration which +followed him, as much almost as anything he ever said or did. + +To Mr. Webster's college career belong the first fruits of his intellect. +He edited, during one year, a small weekly journal, and thus eked out his +slender means. Besides his strictly editorial labors, he printed some short +pieces of his own, which have vanished, and he also indulged in poetical +effusions, which he was fond of sending to absent friends. His rhymes are +without any especial character, neither much better nor much worse than +most college verses, and they have no intrinsic value beyond showing that +their author, whatever else he might be, was no poet. But in his own field +something of this time, having a real importance, has come down to us. The +fame of his youthful eloquence, so far beyond anything ever known in the +college, was noised abroad, and in the year 1800 the citizens of Hanover, +the college town, asked him to deliver the Fourth of July oration. In this +production, which was thought of sufficient merit to deserve printing, Mr. +Webster sketched rapidly and exultingly the course of the Revolution, threw +in a little Federal politics, and eulogized the happy system of the new +Constitution. Of this and his other early orations he always spoke with a +good deal of contempt, as examples of bad taste, which he wished to have +buried and forgotten. Accordingly his wholesale admirers and supporters who +have done most of the writing about him, and who always sneezed when Mr. +Webster took snuff, have echoed his opinions about these youthful +productions, and beyond allowing to them the value which everything +Websterian has for the ardent worshipper, have been disposed to hurry them +over as of no moment. Compared to the reply to Hayne or the Plymouth +oration, the Hanover speech is, of course, a poor and trivial thing. +Considered, as it ought to be, by itself and in itself, it is not only of +great interest as Mr. Webster's first utterance on public questions, but it +is something of which he had no cause to feel ashamed. The sentiments are +honest, elevated, and manly, and the political doctrine is sound. Mr. +Webster was then a boy of eighteen, and he therefore took his politics from +his father and his father's friends. For the same reason he was imitative +in style and mode of thought. All boys of that age, whether geniuses or +not, are imitative, and Mr. Webster, who was never profoundly original in +thought, was no exception to the rule. He used the style of the eighteenth +century, then in its decadence, and very florid, inflated, and heavy it +was. Yet his work was far better and his style simpler and more direct than +that which was in fashion. He indulged in a good deal of patriotic +glorification. We smile at his boyish Federalism describing Napoleon as +"the gasconading pilgrim of Egypt," and Columbia as "seated in the forum of +nations, and the empires of the world amazed at the bright effulgence of +her glory." These sentences are the acme of fine writing, very boyish and +very poor; but they are not fair examples of the whole, which is much +simpler and more direct than might have been expected. Moreover, the +thought is the really important thing. We see plainly that the speaker +belongs to the new era and the new generation of national measures and +nationally-minded men. There is no colonialism about him. He is in full +sympathy with the Washingtonian policy of independence in our foreign +relations and of complete separation from the affairs of Europe. But the +main theme and the moving spirit of this oration are most important of all. +The boy Webster preached love of country, the grandeur of American +nationality, fidelity to the Constitution as the bulwark of nationality, +and the necessity and the nobility of the union of the States; and that was +the message which the man Webster delivered to his fellow-men. The enduring +work which Mr. Webster did in the world, and his meaning and influence in +American history, are all summed up in the principles enunciated in that +boyish speech at Hanover. The statement of the great principles was +improved and developed until it towered above this first expression as Mont +Blanc does above the village nestled at its foot, but the essential +substance never altered in the least. + +Two other college orations have been preserved. One is a eulogy on a +classmate who died before finishing his course, the other is a discourse on +"Opinion," delivered before the society of the "United Fraternity." There +is nothing of especial moment in the thought of either, and the improvement +in style over the Hanover speech, though noticeable, is not very marked. In +the letters of that period, however, amid the jokes and fun, we see that +Mr. Webster was already following his natural bent, and turning his +attention to politics. He manifests the same spirit as in his oration, and +shows occasionally an unusual maturity of judgment. His criticism of +Hamilton's famous letter to Adams, to take the most striking instance, is +both keen and sound. + +After taking his degree in due course in 1801, Mr. Webster returned to his +native village, and entered the office of a lawyer next door to his +father's house, where he began the study of the law in compliance with his +father's wish, but without any very strong inclination of his own. Here he +read some law and more English literature, and passed a good deal of time +in fishing and shooting. Before the year was out, however, he was obliged +to drop his legal studies and accept the post of schoolmaster in the little +town of Fryeburg, Maine. + +This change was due to an important event in the Webster family which had +occurred some time before. The affection existing between Daniel and his +elder brother Ezekiel was peculiarly strong and deep. The younger and more +fortunate son, once started in his education, and knowing the desire of his +elder brother for the same advantages, longed to obtain them for him. One +night in vacation, after Daniel had been two years at Dartmouth, the two +brothers discussed at length the all-important question. The next day, +Daniel broached the matter to his father. The judge was taken by surprise. +He was laboring already under heavy pecuniary burdens caused by the +expenses of Daniel's education. The farm was heavily mortgaged, and +Ebenezer Webster knew that he was old before his time and not destined to +many more years of life. With the perfect and self-sacrificing courage +which he always showed, he did not shrink from this new demand, although +Ezekiel was the prop and mainstay of the house. He did not think for a +moment of himself, yet, while he gave his consent, he made it conditional +on that of the mother and daughters whom he felt he was soon to leave. But +Mrs. Webster had the same spirit as her husband. She was ready to sell the +farm, to give up everything for the boys, provided they would promise to +care in the future for her and their sisters. More utter self-abnegation +and more cheerful and devoted self-sacrifice have rarely been exhibited, +and it was all done with a simplicity which commands our reverence. It was +more than should have been asked, and a boy less accustomed than Daniel +Webster to the devotion of others, even with the incentive of brotherly +love, might have shrunk from making the request. The promise of future +support was easily made, but the hard pinch of immediate sacrifice had to +be borne at once. The devoted family gave themselves up to the struggle to +secure an education for the two boys, and for years they did battle with +debt and the pressure of poverty. Ezekiel began his studies and entered +college the year Daniel graduated; but the resources were running low, so +low that the law had to be abandoned and money earned without delay; and +hence the schoolmastership. + +At no time in his life does Mr. Webster's character appear in a fairer or +more lovable light than during this winter at Fryeburg. He took his own +share in the sacrifices he had done so much to entail, and he carried it +cheerfully. Out of school hours he copied endless deeds, an occupation +which he loathed above all others, in order that he might give all his +salary to his brother. The burden and heat of the day in this struggle for +education fell chiefly on the elder brother in the years which followed; +but here Daniel did his full part, and deserves the credit for it. + +He was a successful teacher. His perfect dignity, his even temper, and +imperturbable equanimity made his pupils like and respect him. The +survivors, in their old age, recalled the impression he made upon them, and +especially remembered the solemn tones of his voice at morning and evening +prayer, extemporaneous exercises which he scrupulously maintained. His +letters at this time are like those of his college days, full of fun and +good humor and kind feeling. He had his early love affairs, but was saved +from matrimony by the liberality of his affections, which were not confined +to a single object. He laughs pleasantly and good-naturedly over his +fortunes with the fair sex, and talks a good deal about them, but his first +loves do not seem to have been very deep or lasting. Wherever he went, he +produced an impression on all who saw him. In Fryeburg it was his eyes +which people seem to have remembered best. He was still very thin in face +and figure, and he tells us himself that he was known in the village as +"All-eyes;" and one of the boys, a friend of later years, refers to Mr. +Webster's "full, steady, large, and searching eyes." There never was a time +in his life when those who saw him did not afterwards speak of his looks, +generally either of the wonderful eyes or the imposing presence. + +There was a circulating library in Fryeburg, and this he read through in +his usual rapacious and retentive fashion. Here, too, he was called on for +a Fourth of July oration. This speech, which has been recently printed, +dwells much on the Constitution and the need of adhering to it in its +entirety. There is a distinct improvement in his style in the direction of +simplicity, but there is no marked advance in thought or power of +expression over the Hanover oration. Two months after delivering this +address he returned to Salisbury and resumed the study of the law in Mr. +Thompson's office. He now plunged more deeply into law books, and began to +work at the law with zeal, while at the same time he read much and +thoroughly in the best Latin authors. In the months which ensued his mind +expanded, and ambition began to rise within him. His horizon was a limited +one; the practice of his profession, as he saw it carried on about him, was +small and petty; but his mind could not be shackled. He saw the lions in +the path plainly, but he also perceived the great opportunities which the +law was to offer in the United States, and he prophesied that we, too, +should soon have our Mansfields and Kenyons. The hand of poverty was heavy +upon him, and he was chafing and beating his wings against the iron bars +with which circumstances had imprisoned him. He longed for a wider field, +and eagerly desired to finish his studies in Boston, but saw no way to get +there, except by a "miracle." + +This miracle came through Ezekiel, who had been doing more for himself and +his family than any one else, but who, after three years in college, was at +the end of his resources, and had taken, in his turn, to keeping school. +Daniel went to Boston, and there obtained a good private school for his +brother. The salary thus earned by Ezekiel was not only sufficient for +himself, but enabled Daniel to gratify the cherished wish of his heart, and +come to the New England capital to conclude his professional studies. + +The first thing to be done was to gain admittance to some good office. Mr. +Webster was lucky enough to obtain an introduction to Mr. Gore, with whom, +as with the rest of the world, that wonderful look and manner, apparent +even then, through boyishness and rusticity, stood him in good stead. Mr. +Gore questioned him, trusted him, and told him to hang up his hat, begin +work as clerk at once, and write to New Hampshire for his credentials. The +position thus obtained was one of fortune's best gifts to Mr. Webster. It +not only gave him an opportunity for a wide study of the law under wise +supervision, but it brought him into daily contact with a trained barrister +and an experienced public man. Christopher Gore, one of the most eminent +members of the Boston bar and a distinguished statesman, had just returned +from England, whither he had been sent as one of the commissioners +appointed under the Jay treaty. He was a fine type of the aristocratic +Federalist leader, one of the most prominent of that little group which +from the "headquarters of good principles" in Boston so long controlled the +politics of Massachusetts. He was a scholar, gentleman, and man of the +world, and his portrait shows us a refined, high-bred face, suggesting a +French marquis of the eighteenth century rather than the son of a New +England sea-captain. A few years later, Mr. Gore was chosen governor of +Massachusetts, and defeated when a candidate for reëlection, largely, it is +supposed, because he rode in a coach and four (to which rumor added +outriders) whenever he went to his estate at Waltham. This mode of travel +offended the sensibilities of his democratic constituents, but did not +prevent his being subsequently chosen to the Senate of the United States, +where he served a term with much distinction. The society of such a man was +invaluable to Mr. Webster at this time. It taught him many things which he +could have learned in no other way, and appealed to that strong taste for +everything dignified and refined which was so marked a trait of his +disposition and habits. He saw now the real possibilities which he had +dreamed of in his native village; and while he studied law deeply and +helped his brother with his school, he also studied men still more +thoroughly and curiously. The professional associates and friends of Mr. +Gore were the leaders of the Boston bar when it had many distinguished men +whose names hold high places in the history of American law. Among them +were Theophilus Parsons, Chief Justice of Massachusetts; Samuel Dexter, the +ablest of them all, fresh from service in Congress and the Senate and as +Secretary of the Treasury; Harrison Gray Otis, fluent and graceful as an +orator; James Sullivan, and Daniel Davis, the Solicitor-General. All these +and many more Mr. Webster saw and watched, and he has left in his diary +discriminating sketches of Parsons and Dexter, whom he greatly admired, and +of Sullivan, of whom he had a poor opinion professionally. + +Towards the end of the year 1804, while Mr. Webster was thus pleasantly +engaged in studying his profession, getting a glimpse of the world, and now +and then earning a little money, an opening came to him which seemed to +promise immediate and assured prosperity. The judges of his father's court +of common pleas offered him the vacant clerkship, worth about fifteen +hundred dollars annually. This was wealth to Mr. Webster. With this income +he could relieve the family from debt, make his father's last years +comfortable, and smooth Ezekiel's path to the bar. When, however, he +announced his good luck to Mr. Gore, and his intention of immediately going +home to accept the position, that gentleman, to Mr. Webster's great +surprise, strongly urged a contrary course. He pointed out the possible +reduction of the salary, the fact that the office depended on the favor of +the judges, and, above all, that it led to nothing, and destroyed the +chances of any really great career. This wise mentor said: "Go on and +finish your studies. You are poor enough, but there are greater evils than +poverty; live on no man's favor; what bread you do eat, let it be the bread +of independence; pursue your profession, make yourself useful to your +friends and a little formidable to your enemies, and you have nothing to +fear." Mr. Webster, always susceptible to outside influences, saw the +wisdom of this advice, and accepted it. It would have been well if he had +never swerved even by a hair's breadth from the high and sound principles +which it inculcated. He acted then without delay. Going at once to +Salisbury, he broke the news of his unlooked-for determination to his +father, who was utterly amazed. Pride in his son's high spirit mingled +somewhat with disappointment at the prospect of continued hardships; but +the brave old man accepted the decision with the Puritan stoicism which was +so marked a trait in his character, and the matter ended there. + +Returning to Boston, Mr. Webster was admitted to the bar in March, 1805. +Mr. Gore moved his admission, and, in the customary speech, prophesied his +student's future eminence with a sure knowledge of the latent powers which +had dictated his own advice in the matter of the clerkship. Soon after +this, Mr. Webster returned to New Hampshire and opened his office in the +little town of Boscawen, in order that he might be near his father. Here he +devoted himself assiduously to business and study for more than two years, +working at his profession, and occasionally writing articles for the +"Boston Anthology." During this time he made his first appearance in court, +his father being on the bench. He gathered together a practice worth five +or six hundred a year, a very creditable sum for a young country +practitioner, and won a reputation which made him known in the State. + +In April, 1806, after a noble, toiling, unselfish life of sixty-seven +years, Ebenezer Webster died. Daniel assumed his father's debts, waited +until Ezekiel was admitted to the bar, and then, transferring his business +to his brother, moved, in the autumn of 1807, to Portsmouth. This was the +principal town of the State, and offered, therefore, the larger field which +he felt he needed to give his talents sufficient scope. Thus the first +period in his life closed, and he started out on the extended and +distinguished career which lay before him. These early years had been years +of hardship, but they were among the best of his life. Through great +difficulties and by the self-sacrifice of his family, he had made his way +to the threshold of the career for which he was so richly endowed. He had +passed an unblemished youth; he had led a clean, honest, hard-working life; +he was simple, manly, affectionate. Poverty had been a misfortune, not +because it had warped or soured him, for he smiled at it with cheerful +philosophy, nor because it had made him avaricious, for he never either +then or at any time cared for money for its own sake, and nothing could +chill the natural lavishness of his disposition. But poverty accustomed him +to borrowing and to debt, and this was a misfortune to a man of Mr. +Webster's temperament. In those early days he was anxious to pay his debts; +but they did not lie heavy upon him or carry a proper sense of +responsibility, as they did to Ezekiel and to his father. He was deeply in +debt; his books, even, were bought with borrowed money, all which was +natural and inevitable; but the trouble was that it never seems to have +weighed upon him or been felt by him as of much importance. He was thus +early brought into the habit of debt, and was led unconsciously to regard +debts and borrowing as he did the sacrifices of others, as the normal modes +of existence. Such a condition was to be deplored, because it fostered an +unfortunate tendency in his moral nature. With this exception, Mr. +Webster's early years present a bright picture, and one which any man had a +right to regard with pride and affection. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LAW AND POLITICS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. + + +The occasion of Mr. Webster's first appearance in court has been the +subject of varying tradition. It is certain, however, that in the counties +where he practised during his residence at Boscawen, he made an unusual and +very profound impression. The effect then produced is described in homely +phrase by one who knew him well. The reference is to a murder trial, in +which Mr. Webster gained his first celebrity. + + "There was a man tried for his life, and the judges chose Webster + to plead for him; and, from what I can learn, he never has spoken + better than he did there where he first began. He was a black, + raven-haired fellow, with an eye as black as death's, and as heavy + as a lion's,--that same heavy look, not sleepy, but as if he didn't + care about anything that was going on about him or anything + anywhere else. He didn't look as if he was thinking about anything, + but as if he _would_ think like a hurricane if he once got waked up + to it. They say the lion looks so when he is quiet.... Webster + would sometimes be engaged to argue a case just as it was coming to + trial. That would set him to thinking. It wouldn't wrinkle his + forehead, but made him restless. He would shift his feet about, and + run his hand up over his forehead, through his Indian-black hair, + and lift his upper lip and show his teeth, which were as white as a + hound's." + +Of course the speech so admired then was infinitely below what was done +afterwards. The very next was probably better, for Mr. Webster grew +steadily. This observer, however, tells us not what Mr. Webster said, but +how he looked. It was the personal presence which dwelt with every one at +this time. + +Thus with his wonderful leonine look and large, dark eyes, and with the +growing fame which he had won, Mr. Webster betook himself to Portsmouth. He +had met some of the leading lawyers already, but now he was to be brought +into direct and almost daily competition with them. At that period in New +England there was a great rush of men of talent to the bar, then casting +off its colonial fetters and emerging to an independent life. The pulpit +had ceased to attract, as of old; medicine was in its infancy; there were +none of the other manifold pursuits of to-day, and politics did not offer a +career apart. Outside of mercantile affairs, therefore, the intellectual +forces of the old Puritan commonwealths, overflowing with life, and feeling +the thrill of youthful independence and the confidence of rapid growth in +business, wealth, and population, were concentrated in the law. Even in a +small State like New Hampshire, presenting very limited opportunities, +there was, relatively speaking, an extraordinary amount of ability among +the members of the bar, notwithstanding the fact that they had but just +escaped from the condition of colonists. Common sense was the divinity of +both the courts and the profession. The learning was not extensive or +profound, but practical knowledge, sound principles, and shrewd management +were conspicuous. Jeremiah Smith, the Chief Justice, a man of humor and +cultivation, was a well read and able judge; George Sullivan was ready of +speech and fertile in expedients; and Parsons and Dexter of Massachusetts, +both men of national reputation, appeared from time to time in the New +Hampshire courts. Among the most eminent was William Plumer, then Senator, +and afterwards Governor of the State, a well-trained, clear-headed, +judicious man. He was one of Mr. Webster's early antagonists, and defeated +him in their first encounter. Yet at the same time, although a leader of +the bar and a United States Senator, he seems to have been oppressed with a +sense of responsibility and even of inequality by this thin, black-eyed +young lawyer from the back country. Mr. Plumer was a man of cool and +excellent judgment, and he thought that Mr. Webster on this occasion was +too excursive and declamatory. He also deemed him better fitted by mind and +temperament for politics than for the law, an opinion fully justified in +the future, despite Mr. Webster's eminence at the bar. In another case, +where they were opposed, Mr. Plumer quoted a passage from Peake's "Law of +Evidence." Mr. Webster criticised the citation as bad law, pronounced the +book a miserable two-penny compilation, and then, throwing it down with a +fine disdain, said, "So much for Mr. Thomas Peake's compendium of the 'Law +of Evidence.'" Such was his manner that every one present appeared to think +the point settled, and felt rather ashamed of ever having heard of Mr. +Peake or his unfortunate book. Thereupon Mr. Plumer produced a volume of +reports by which it appeared that the despised passage was taken word for +word from one of Lord Mansfield's decisions. The wretched Peake's character +was rehabilitated, and Mr. Webster silenced. This was an illustration of a +failing of Mr. Webster at that time. He was rough and unceremonious, and +even overbearing, both to court and bar, the natural result of a new sense +of power in an inexperienced man. This harshness of manner, however, soon +disappeared. He learned rapidly to practise the stately and solemn courtesy +which distinguished him through life. + +There was one lawyer, however, at the head of his profession in New +Hampshire, who had more effect upon Mr. Webster than any other whom he ever +met there or elsewhere. This was the man to whom the Shaker said: "By thy +size and thy language[1] I judge that thou art Jeremiah Mason." Mr. Mason +was one of the greatest common-lawyers this country has ever produced. Keen +and penetrating in intellect, he was master of a relentless logic and of a +style which, though simple and homely, was clear and correct to the last +point. Slow and deliberate in his movements, and sententious in his +utterances, he dealt so powerfully with evidence and so lucidly with +principles of law that he rarely failed to carry conviction to his hearers. +He was particularly renowned for his success in getting verdicts. Many +years afterwards Mr. Webster gave it as his deliberate opinion that he had +never met with a stronger intellect, a mind of more native resources or +quicker and deeper vision than were possessed by Mr. Mason, whom in mental +reach and grasp and in closeness of reasoning he would not allow to be +second even to Chief Justice Marshall. Mr. Mason on his side, with his +usual sagacity, at once detected the great talents of Mr. Webster. In the +first case where they were opposed, a murder trial, Mr. Webster took the +place of the Attorney-General for the prosecution. Mr. Mason, speaking of +the impression made by his youthful and then unknown opponent, said:-- + + "He broke upon me like a thunder shower in July, sudden, + portentous, sweeping all before it. It was the first case in which + he appeared at our bar; a criminal prosecution in which I had + arranged a very pretty defence, as against the Attorney-General, + Atkinson, who was able enough in his way, but whom I knew very well + how to take. Atkinson being absent, Webster conducted the case for + him, and turned, in the most masterly manner, the line of my + defences, carrying with him all but one of the jurors, so that I + barely saved my client by my best exertions. I was nevermore + surprised than by this remarkable exhibition of unexpected power. + It surpassed, in some respects, anything which I have ever since + seen even in him." + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Mason, as is well known, was six feet seven inches in +height, and his language, always very forcible and direct, was, when he was +irritated, if we may trust tradition, at times somewhat profane.] + +With all his admiration for his young antagonist, however, one cannot help +noticing that the generous and modest but astute counsel for the defence +ended by winning his case. + +Fortune showered many favors upon Mr. Webster, but none more valuable than +that of having Jeremiah Mason as his chief opponent at the New Hampshire +bar. Mr. Mason had no spark of envy in his composition. He not only +regarded with pleasure the great abilities of Mr. Webster, but he watched +with kindly interest the rapid rise which soon made this stranger from the +country his principal competitor and the champion commonly chosen to meet +him in the courts. He gave Mr. Webster his friendship, staunch and +unvarying, until his death; he gave freely also of his wisdom and +experience in advice and counsel. Best of all was the opportunity of +instruction and discipline which Mr. Webster gained by repeated contests +with such a man. The strong qualities of Mr. Webster's mind rapidly +developed by constant practice and under such influences. He showed more +and more in every case his wonderful instinct for seizing on the very heart +of a question, and for extricating the essential points from the midst of +confused details and clashing arguments. He displayed, too, more strongly +every day his capacity for close, logical reasoning and for telling retort, +backed by a passion and energy none the less effective from being but +slowly called into activity. In a word, the unequalled power of stating +facts or principles, which was the predominant quality of Mr. Webster's +genius, grew steadily with a vigorous vitality while his eloquence +developed in a similar striking fashion. Much of this growth and +improvement was due to the sharp competition and bright example of Mr. +Mason. But the best lesson that Mr. Webster learned from his wary yet +daring antagonist was in regard to style. When he saw Mr. Mason go close to +the jury box, and in a plain style and conversational manner, force +conviction upon his hearers, and carry off verdict after verdict, Mr. +Webster felt as he had never done before the defects of his own modes of +expression. His florid phrases looked rather mean, insincere, and +tasteless, besides being weak and ineffective. From that time he began to +study simplicity and directness, which ended in the perfection of a style +unsurpassed in modern oratory. The years of Mr. Webster's professional life +in Portsmouth under the tuition of Mr. Mason were of inestimable service to +him. + +Early in this period, also, Mr. Webster gave up his bachelor existence, and +made for himself a home. When he first appeared at church in Portsmouth the +minister's daughter noted and remembered his striking features and look, +and regarded him as one with great capacities for good or evil. But the +interesting stranger was not destined to fall a victim to any of the young +ladies of Portsmouth. In the spring of 1808 he slipped away from his new +friends and returned to Salisbury, where, in May, he was married. The bride +he brought back to Portsmouth was Grace Fletcher, daughter of the minister +of Hopkinton. Mr. Webster is said to have seen her first at church in +Salisbury, whither she came on horseback in a tight-fitting black velvet +dress, and looking, as he said, "like an angel." She was certainly a very +lovely and charming woman, of delicate and refined sensibilities and bright +and sympathetic mind. She was a devoted wife, the object of her husband's +first and strongest love, and the mother of his children. It is very +pleasant to look at Mr. Webster in his home during these early years of his +married life. It was a happy, innocent, untroubled time. He was advancing +in his profession, winning fame and respect, earning a sufficient income, +blessed in his domestic relations, and with his children growing up about +him. He was social by nature, and very popular everywhere. Genial and +affectionate in disposition, he attached everybody to him, and his hearty +humor, love of mimicry, and fund of anecdote made him a delightful +companion, and led Mr. Mason to say that the stage had lost a great actor +in Webster. + +But while he was thus enjoying professional success and the contented +happiness of his fireside, he was slowly but surely drifting into the +current of politics, whither his genius led him, and which had for him an +irresistible attraction. Mr. Webster took both his politics and his +religion from his father, and does not appear to have questioned either. He +had a peculiarly conservative cast of mind. In an age of revolution and +scepticism he showed no trace of the questioning spirit which then +prevailed. Even in his earliest years he was a firm believer in existing +institutions, in what was fixed and established. He had a little of the +disposition of Lord Thurlow, who, when asked by a dissenter why, being a +notorious free-thinker, he so ardently supported the Established Church, +replied: "I support the Church of England because it is established. +Establish your religion, and I'll support that." But if Mr. Webster took +his religion and politics from his father in an unquestioning spirit, he +accepted them in a mild form. He was a liberal Federalist because he had a +wide mental vision, and by nature took broad views of everything. His +father, on the other hand, was a rigid, intolerant Federalist of a +thorough-going Puritan type. Being taken ill once in a town of Democratic +proclivities, he begged to be carried home. "I was born a Federalist," he +said, "I have lived a Federalist, and I won't die in a Democratic town." In +the same way Ezekiel Webster's uncompromising Federalism shut him out from +political preferment, and he would never modify his principles one jot in +order to gain the seat in Congress which he might easily have obtained by +slight concessions. The broad and liberal spirit of Daniel Webster rose +superior to the rigid and even narrow opinions of his father and brother, +but perhaps it would have been better for him if he had had in addition to +his splendid mind the stern, unbending force of character which made his +father and brother stand by their principles with immovable Puritan +determination. Liberal as he was, however, in his political opinions, the +same conservative spirit which led him to adopt his creed made him sustain +it faithfully and constantly when he had once accepted it. He was a steady +and trusted party man, although neither then nor at any time a blind, +unreasoning partisan. + +Mr. Webster came forward gradually as a political leader by occasional +addresses and speeches, at first with long intervals between them, and then +becoming more frequent, until at last he found himself fairly engaged in a +public career. In 1804, at the request of some of his father's friends, he +published a pamphlet, entitled, "An Appeal to Old Whigs," in the interest +of Gilman, the Federal candidate for governor. He seems to have had a very +poor opinion of this performance, and his interest in the success of the +party at that juncture was very slight. In 1805 he delivered a Fourth of +July oration at Salisbury, which has not been preserved; and in the +following year he gave another before the "Federal gentlemen" of Concord, +which was published. The tone of this speech is not very partisan, nor does +it exhibit the bitter spirit of the Federalists, although he attacked the +administration, was violent in urging the protection of commerce, and was +extremely savage in his remarks about France. At times the style is +forcible, and even rich, but, as a rule, it is still strained and +artificial. The oration begins eagerly with an appeal for the Constitution +and the Republic, the ideas always uppermost in Mr. Webster's mind. As a +whole, it shows a distinct improvement in form, but there are no marks of +genius to raise it above the ordinary level of Fourth of July speeches. His +next production was a little pamphlet, published in 1808, on the embargo, +which was then paralyzing New England, and crushing out her prosperity. +This essay is important because it is the first clear instance of that +wonderful faculty which Mr. Webster had of seizing on the vital point of a +subject, and bringing it out in such a way that everybody could see and +understand it. In this case the point was the distinction between a +temporary embargo and one of unlimited duration. Mr. Webster contended that +the latter was unconstitutional. The great mischief of the embargo was in +Jefferson's concealed intention that it should be unlimited in point of +time, a piece of recklessness and deceit never fully appreciated until it +had all passed into history. This Mr. Webster detected and brought out as +the most illegal and dangerous feature of the measure, while he also +discussed the general policy in its fullest extent. In 1809 he spoke before +the Phi Beta Kappa Society, upon "The State of our Literature," an address +without especial interest except as showing a very marked improvement in +style, due, no doubt, to the influence of Mr. Mason. + +During the next three years Mr. Webster was completely absorbed in the +practice of his profession, and not until the declaration of war with +England had stirred and agitated the whole country did he again come before +the public. The occasion of his reappearance was the Fourth of July +celebration in 1812, when he addressed the Washington Benevolent Society at +Portsmouth. The speech was a strong, calm statement of the grounds of +opposition to the war. He showed that "maritime defence, commercial +regulations, and national revenue" were the very corner-stones of the +Constitution, and that these great interests had been crippled and abused +by the departure from Washington's policy. He developed, with great force, +the principal and the most unanswerable argument of his party, that the +navy had been neglected and decried because it was a Federalist scheme, +when a navy was what we wanted above all things, and especially when we +were drifting into a maritime conflict. He argued strongly in favor of a +naval war, and measures of naval defence, instead of wasting our resources +by an invasion of Canada. So far he went strictly with his party, merely +invigorating and enforcing their well-known principles. But when he came to +defining the proper limits of opposition to the war he modified very +essentially the course prescribed by advanced Federalist opinions. The +majority of that party in New England were prepared to go to the very edge +of the narrow legal line which divides constitutional opposition from +treasonable resistance. They were violent, bitter, and uncompromising in +their language and purposes. From this Mr. Webster was saved by his breadth +of view, his clear perceptions, and his intense national feeling. He says +on this point:-- + + "With respect to the war in which we are now involved, the course + which our principles require us to pursue cannot be doubtful. It is + now the law of the land, and as such we are bound to regard it. + Resistance and insurrection form no part of our creed. The + disciples of Washington are neither tyrants in power nor rebels + out. If we are taxed to carry on this war we shall disregard + certain distinguished examples and shall pay. If our personal + services are required we shall yield them to the precise extent of + our constitutional liability. At the same time the world may be + assured that we know our rights and shall exercise them. We shall + express our opinions on this, as on every measure of the + government,--I trust without passion, I am certain without fear. By + the exercise of our constitutional right of suffrage, by the + peaceable remedy of election, we shall seek to restore wisdom to + our councils, and peace to our country." + +This was a sensible and patriotic opposition. It represented the views of +the moderate Federalists, and traced the lines which Mr. Webster +consistently followed during the first years of his public life. The +address concluded by pointing out the French trickery which had provoked +the war, and by denouncing an alliance with French despotism and ambition. + +This oration was printed, and ran at once through two editions. It led to +the selection of Mr. Webster as a delegate to an assembly of the people of +the county of Rockingham, a sort of mass convention, held in August, 1812. +There he was placed on the committee to prepare the address, and was chosen +to write their report, which was adopted and published. This important +document, widely known at the time as the "Rockingham Memorial," was a +careful argument against the war, and a vigorous and able presentation of +the Federalist views. It was addressed to the President, whom it treated +with respectful severity. With much skill it turned Mr. Madison's own +arguments against himself, and appealed to public opinion by its clear and +convincing reasoning. In one point the memorial differed curiously from the +oration of a month before. The latter pointed to the suffrage as the mode +of redress; the former distinctly hinted at and almost threatened secession +even while it deplored a dissolution of the Union as a possible result of +the administration's policy. In the one case Mr. Webster was expressing his +own views, in the other he was giving utterance to the opinions of the +members of his party among whom he stood. This little incident shows the +susceptibility to outside influences which formed such an odd trait in the +character of a man so imperious by nature. When acting alone, he spoke his +own opinions. When in a situation where public opinion was concentrated +against him, he submitted to modifications of his views with a curious and +indolent indifference. + +The immediate result to Mr. Webster of the ability and tact which he +displayed at the Rockingham Convention was his election to the thirteenth +Congress, where he took his seat in May, 1813. There were then many able +men in the House. Mr. Clay was Speaker, and on the floor were John C. +Calhoun, Langdon Cheves and William Lowndes of South Carolina, Forsyth and +Troup of Georgia, Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, Grundy of Tennessee, and +McLean of Ohio, all conspicuous in the young nationalist war party. Macon +and Eppes were representatives of the old Jeffersonian Republicans, while +the Federalists were strong in the possession of such leaders as Pickering +of Massachusetts, Pitkin of Connecticut, Grosvenor and Benson of New York, +Hanson of Maryland, and William Gaston of North Carolina. It was a House in +which any one might have been glad to win distinction. That Mr. Webster was +considered, at the outset, to be a man of great promise is shown by the +fact that he was placed on the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which Mr. +Calhoun was the head, and which, in the war time, was the most important +committee of the House. + +Mr. Webster's first act was a characteristic one. Early in June he +introduced a set of resolutions calling upon the President for information +as to the time and mode in which the repeal of the French decrees had been +communicated to our government. His unerring sagacity in singling out the +weak point in his enemy's armor and in choosing his own keenest weapon, was +never better illustrated than on this occasion. We know now that in the +negotiations for the repeal of the decrees, the French government tricked +us into war with England by most profligate lying. It was apparent then +that there was something wrong, and that either our government had been +deceived, or had withheld the publication of the repealing decree until war +was declared, so that England might not have a pretext for rescinding the +obnoxious orders. Either horn of the dilemma, therefore, was disagreeable +to the administration, and a disclosure could hardly fail to benefit the +Federalists. Mr. Webster supported his resolutions with a terse and simple +speech of explanation, so far as we can judge from the meagre abstract +which has come down to us. The resolutions, however, were a firebrand, and +lighted up an angry and protracted debate, but the ruling party, as Mr. +Webster probably foresaw, did not dare to vote them down, and they passed +by large majorities. Mr. Webster spoke but once, and then very briefly, +during the progress of the debate, and soon after returned to New +Hampshire. With the exception of these resolutions, he took no active part +whatever in the business of the House beyond voting steadily with his +party, a fact of which we may be sure because he was always on the same +side as that staunch old partisan, Timothy Pickering. + +After a summer passed in the performance of his professional duties, Mr. +Webster returned to Washington. He was late in his coming, Congress having +been in session nearly three weeks when he arrived to find that he had been +dropped from the Committee on Foreign Relations. The dominant party +probably discovered that he was a young man of rather too much promise and +too formidable an opponent for such an important post. His resolutions had +been answered at the previous session, after his departure, and the report, +which consisted of a lame explanation of the main point, and an elaborate +defence of the war, had been quietly laid aside. Mr. Webster desired debate +on this subject, and succeeded in carrying a reference of the report to a +committee of the whole, but his opponents prevented its ever coming to +discussion. In the long session which ensued, Mr. Webster again took +comparatively little part in general business, but he spoke oftener than +before. He seems to have been reserving his strength and making sure of his +ground. He defended the Federalists as the true friends of the navy, and he +resisted with great power the extravagant attempt to extend martial law to +all citizens suspected of treason. On January 14, 1814, he made a long and +well reported speech against a bill to encourage enlistments. This is the +first example of the eloquence which Mr. Webster afterwards carried to such +high perfection. Some of his subsequent speeches far surpass this one, but +they differ from it in degree, not in kind. He was now master of the style +at which he aimed. The vehicle was perfected and his natural talent gave +that vehicle abundance of thought to be conveyed. The whole speech is +simple in form, direct and forcible. It has the elasticity and vigor of +great strength, and glows with eloquence in some passages. Here, too, we +see for the first time that power of deliberate and measured sarcasm which +was destined to become in his hands such a formidable weapon. The florid +rhetoric of the early days is utterly gone, and the thought comes to us in +those short and pregnant sentences and in the choice and effective words +which were afterwards so typical of the speaker. The speech itself was a +party speech and a presentation of party arguments. It offered nothing new, +but the familiar principles had hardly ever been stated in such a striking +and impressive fashion. Mr. Webster attacked the war policy and the conduct +of the war, and advocated defensive warfare, a navy, and the abandonment of +the restrictive laws that were ruining our commerce, which had been the +main cause of the adoption of the Constitution. The conclusion of this +speech is not far from the level of Mr. Webster's best work. It is too long +for quotation, but a few sentences will show its quality:-- + + "Give up your futile projects of invasion. Extinguish the fires + that blaze on your inland frontier. 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 + border, turn, and look with the eye of justice and compassion on + your vast population along the coast. Unclench the iron grasp of + your embargo. Take measures for that end before another sun + sets.... Let it no longer be said that not one ship of force, built + by your hands, yet floats upon the ocean.... If then the war must + be continued, 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." + +Events soon forced the policy urged by Mr. Webster upon the administration, +whose friends carried first a modification of the embargo, and before the +close of the session introduced a bill for its total repeal. The difficult +task of advocating this measure devolved upon Mr. Calhoun, who sustained +his cause more ingeniously than ingenuously. He frankly admitted that +restriction was a failure as a war measure, but he defended the repeal on +the ground that the condition of affairs in Europe had changed since the +restrictive policy was adopted. It had indeed changed since the embargo of +1807, but not since the imposition of that of 1813, which was the one under +discussion. + +Mr. Calhoun laid himself open to most unmerciful retorts, which was his +misfortune, not his fault, for the embargo had been utterly and hopelessly +wrong from the beginning. Mr. Webster, however, took full advantage of the +opportunity thus presented. His opening congratulations are in his best +vein of stately sarcasm, and are admirably put. He followed this up by a +new argument of great force, showing the colonial spirit of the restrictive +policy. He also dwelt with fresh vigor on the identification with France +necessitated by the restrictive laws, a reproach which stung Mr. Calhoun +and his followers more than anything else. He then took up the embargo +policy and tore it to pieces,--no very difficult undertaking, but well +performed. The shifty and shifting policy of the government was especially +distasteful to Mr. Webster, with his lofty conception of consistent and +steady statesmanship, a point which is well brought out in the following +passage:-- + + "In a commercial country, nothing can be more objectionable than + frequent and violent changes. The concerns of private business do + not endure such rude shocks but with extreme inconvenience and + great loss. It would seem, however, that there is a class of + politicians to whose taste all change is suited, to whom whatever + is unnatural seems wise, and all that is violent appears great.... + The Embargo Act, the Non-Importation Act, and all the crowd of + additions and supplements, together with all their garniture of + messages, reports, and resolutions, are tumbling undistinguished + into one common grave. But yesterday this policy had a thousand + friends and supporters; to-day it is fallen and prostrate, and few + 'so poor as to do it reverence.' Sir, a government which cannot + administer the affairs of a nation without so frequent and such + violent alterations in the ordinary occupations and pursuits of + private life, has, in my opinion, little claim to the regard of the + community." + +All this is very characteristic of Mr. Webster's temperament in dealing +with public affairs, and is a very good example of his power of dignified +reproach and condemnation. + +Mr. Calhoun had said at the close of his speech, that the repeal of the +restrictive measures should not be allowed to affect the double duties +which protected manufactures. Mr. Webster discussed this point at length, +defining his own position, which was that of the New England Federalists, +who believed in free trade as an abstract principle, and considered +protection only as an expedient of which they wanted as little as possible. +Mr. Webster set forth these views in his usual effective and lucid manner, +but they can be considered more fitly at the period when he dealt with the +tariff as a leading issue of the day and of his own public life. + +Mr. Webster took no further action of importance at this session, not even +participating in the great debate on the loan bill; but, by the manner in +which these two speeches were referred to and quoted in Congress for many +days after they were delivered, we can perceive the depth of their first +impression. I have dwelt upon them at length because they are not in the +collected edition of his speeches, where they well deserve a place, and, +still more, because they are the first examples of his parliamentary +eloquence which show his characteristic qualities and the action of his +mind. Mr. Webster was a man of slow growth, not reaching his highest point +until he was nearly fifty years of age, but these two speeches mark an +advanced stage in his progress. The only fresh point that he made was when +he declared that the embargo was colonial in spirit; and this thought +proceeded from the vital principle of Mr. Webster's public life, his +intense love for nationality and union, which grew with his growth and +strengthened with his strength. In other respects, these speeches presented +simply the arguments and opinions of his party. They fell upon the ear of +Congress and the country with a new and ringing sound because they were +stated so finely and with such simplicity. Certainly one of them, and +probably both, were delivered without any immediate preparation, but they +really had the preparation of years, and were the utterance of thoughts +which had been garnered up by long meditation. He wisely confined himself +at this time to a subject which had been long before his mind, and upon +which he had gathered all the essential points by observation and by a +study of the multitude of speeches and essays with which the country had +been deluged. These early speeches, like some of the best of his prime, +although nominally unprepared, were poured forth from the overflowing +resources which had been the fruit of months of reflection, and which had +been stored up by an unyielding memory. They had really been in preparation +ever since the embargo pamphlet of 1808, and that was one reason for their +ripeness and terseness, for their easy flow and condensed force. I have +examined with care the debates in that Congress. There were many able and +experienced speakers on the floor. Mr. Clay, it is true, took no part, and +early in the session went to Europe. But Mr. Calhoun led in debate, and +there were many others second only to him. Among all the speeches, however, +Mr. Webster's stand out in sharp relief. His utterances were as clear and +direct as those of Mr. Calhoun, but they had none of the South Carolinian's +dryness. We can best judge of their merit and their effect by comparing +them with those of his associates. They were not only forcible, but they +were vivid also and full of life, and his words when he was roused fell +like the blows of a hammer on an anvil. They lacked the polish and richness +of his later efforts, but the force and power of statement and the purity +of diction were all there, and men began to realize that one destined to +great achievements had entered the field of American politics. + +This was very apparent when Mr. Webster came back to Washington for the +extra session called in September, 1814. Although he had made previously +but two set speeches, and had taken comparatively little part in every-day +debate, he was now acknowledged, after his few months of service, to be one +of the foremost men in the House, and the strongest leader in his party. He +differed somewhat at this time from the prevailing sentiment of the +Federalists in New England, for the guiding principle of his life, his love +of nationality, overrode all other influences. He discountenanced the +measures which led to the Hartford Convention, and he helped to keep New +Hampshire out of that movement; but it is an entire mistake to represent +him as an independent Federalist at this period. The days of Mr. Webster's +independent politics came later, when the Federalists had ceased to exist +as a party and when no new ties had been formed. In the winter of 1814 and +1815, although, like many of the moderate Federalists, he disapproved of +the separatist movement in New England, on all other party questions he +acted consistently with the straitest of the sect. Sensibly enough, he did +not consider the convention at Hartford, although he had nothing to do with +it, either treasonable or seditious; and yet, much as he disliked its +supposed purposes, he did not hesitate, in a speech on the Enlistment Bill, +to use them as a threat to deter the administration from war measures. This +was a favorite Federalist practice, gloomily to point out at this time the +gathering clouds of domestic strife, in order to turn the administration +back from war, that poor frightened administration of Mr. Madison, which +had for months been clutching frantically at every straw which seemed to +promise a chance of peace. + +But although Mr. Webster went as steadily and even more strongly with his +party in this session, he did more and better service than ever before, +partly, perhaps, because on the questions which arose, his party was, in +the main, entirely right. The strength of his party feeling is shown by his +attitude in regard to the war taxes, upon which he made a quiet but +effective speech. He took the ground that, as a member of the minority, he +could not prevent the taxes nor stop hostilities, but he could protest +against the war, its conduct, and its authors, by voting against the taxes. +There is a nice question of political ethics here as to how far an +opposition ought to go in time of national war and distress, but it is +certainly impossible to give a more extreme expression to parliamentary +opposition than to refuse the supplies at a most critical moment in a +severe conflict. To this last extreme of party opposition to the +administration, Mr. Webster went. It was as far as he could go and remain +loyal to the Union. But there he stopped absolutely. With the next step, +which went outside the Union, and which his friends at home were +considering, he would have nothing to do, and he would not countenance any +separatist schemes. In the national Congress, however, he was prepared to +advance as far as the boldest and bitterest in opposition, and he either +voted against the war taxes or abstained from voting on them, in company +with the strictest partisans of the Pickering type. + +There is no need to suppose from this that Mr. Webster had lost in the +least the liberality or breadth of view which always characterized him. He +was no narrower then than when he entered Congress, or than when he left +it. He went with his party because he believed it to be right,--as at that +moment it undoubtedly was. The party, however, was still extreme and +bitter, as it had been for ten years, but Mr. Webster was neither. He went +all lengths with his friends in Congress, but he did not share their +intensity of feeling or their fierce hostility to individuals. The +Federalists, for instance, as a rule had ceased to call upon Mr. Madison, +but in such intolerance Mr. Webster declined to indulge. He was always on +good terms with the President and with all the hostile leaders. His +opposition was extreme in principle, but not in manner; it was vigorous and +uncompromising, but also stately and dignified. It was part of his large +and indolent nature to accept much and question little; to take the ideas +most easy and natural to him, those of his friends and associates, and of +his native New England, without needless inquiry and investigation. It was +part of the same nature, also, to hold liberal views after he had fairly +taken sides, and never, by confounding individuals with principles and +purposes, to import into politics the fiery, biting element of personal +hatred and malice. + +His position in the House once assured, we find Mr. Webster taking a much +more active part in the daily debates than before. On these occasions we +hear of his "deliberate, conversational" manner, another of the lessons +learned from Mr. Mason when that gentleman, standing so close to the +jury-box that he could have "laid his finger on the foreman's nose," as Mr. +Webster said, chatted easily with each juryman, and won a succession of +verdicts. But besides the daily debate, Mr. Webster spoke at length on +several important occasions. This was the case with the Enlistment Bill, +which involved a forced draft, including minors, and was deemed +unconstitutional by the Federalists. Mr. Webster had "a hand," as he puts +it,--a strong one, we may be sure,--in killing "Mr. Monroe's conscription." + +The most important measure, however, with which Mr. Webster was called to +deal, and to which he gave his best efforts, was the attempt to establish a +national bank. There were three parties in the House on this question. The +first represented the "old Republican" doctrines, and was opposed to any +bank. The second represented the theories of Hamilton and the Federalists, +and favored a bank with a reasonable capital, specie-paying, and free to +decide about making loans to the government. The third body was composed of +members of the national war-party, who were eager for a bank merely to help +the government out of its appalling difficulties. They, therefore, favored +an institution of large capital, non-specie-paying, and obliged to make +heavy loans to the government, which involved, of course, an irredeemable +paper currency. In a word, there was the party of no bank, the party of a +specie bank, and the party of a huge paper-money bank. The second of these +parties, with which of course Mr. Webster acted, held the key of the +situation. No bank could be established unless it was based on their +principles. The first bill, proposing a paper-money bank, originated in the +House, and was killed there by a strong majority, Mr. Webster making a long +speech against it which has not been preserved. The next bill came from the +Senate, and was also for a paper-money bank. Against this scheme Mr. +Webster made a second elaborate speech, which is reprinted in his works. +His genius for arranging and stating facts held its full strength in +questions of finance, and he now established his reputation as a master in +that difficult department of statesmanship. His recent studies of +economical questions in late English works and in English history gave +freshness to what he said, and in clearness of argument, in range of view, +and wisdom of judgment, he showed himself a worthy disciple of the school +of Hamilton. His argument proceeded on the truest economical and commercial +principles, and was, indeed, unanswerable. He then took his stand as the +foe of irredeemable paper, whether in war or peace, and of wild, +unrestrained banking, a position from which he never wavered, and in +support of which he rendered to the country some of his best service as a +public man. The bill was defeated by the casting vote of the Speaker. When +the result was announced, Mr. Calhoun was utterly overwhelmed. He cared +little for the bank but deeply for the government, which, as it was not +known that peace had been made, seemed to be on the verge of ruin. He came +over to Mr. Webster, and, bursting into tears, begged the latter to aid in +establishing a proper bank, a request which was freely granted. + +The vote was then reconsidered, the bill recommitted and brought back, with +a reduced capital, and freed from the government power to force loans and +suspend specie payments. This measure was passed by a large majority, +composed of the Federalists and the friends of the government, but it was +the plan of the former which had prevailed. The President vetoed the bill +for a variety of reasons, duly stated, but really, as Mr. Webster said, +because a sound bank of this sort was not in favor with the administration. +Another paper-money scheme was introduced, and the conflict began again, +but was abruptly terminated by the news of peace, and on March 4 the +thirteenth Congress came to an end. + +The fourteenth Congress, to which he had been reëlected, Mr. Webster said +many years afterward, was the most remarkable for talents of any he had +ever seen. To the leaders of marked ability in the previous Congress, most +of whom had been reëlected, several others were added. Mr. Clay returned +from Europe to take again an active part. Mr. Pinkney, the most eminent +practising lawyer in the country, recently Attorney-General and Minister to +England, whom John Randolph, with characteristic insolence, "believed to be +from Maryland," was there until his appointment to the Russian mission. +Last, but not least, there was John Randolph himself, wildly eccentric and +venomously eloquent,--sometimes witty, always odd and amusing, talking +incessantly on everything, so that the reporters gave him up in despair, +and with whom Mr. Webster came to a definite understanding before the close +of the session. + +Mr. Webster did not take his seat until February, being detained at the +North by the illness of his daughter Grace. When he arrived he found +Congress at work upon a bank bill possessing the same objectionable +features of paper money and large capital as the former schemes which he +had helped to overthrow. He began his attack upon this dangerous plan by +considering the evil condition of the currency. He showed that the currency +of the United States was sound because it was gold and silver, in his +opinion the only constitutional medium, but that the country was flooded by +the irredeemable paper of the state banks. Congress could not regulate the +state banks, but they could force them to specie payments by refusing to +receive any notes which were not paid in specie by the bank which issued +them. Passing to the proposed national bank, he reiterated the able +arguments which he had made in the previous Congress against the large +capital, the power to suspend specie payments, and the stock feature of the +bank, which he thought would lead to speculation and control by the state +banks. This last point is the first instance of that financial foresight +for which Mr. Webster was so remarkable, and which shows so plainly the +soundness of his knowledge in regard to economical matters. A violent +speculation in bank stock did ensue, and the first years of the new +institution were troubled, disorderly, and anything but creditable. The +opposition of Mr. Webster and those who thought with him, resulted in the +reduction of the capital and the removal of the power to suspend specie +payments. But although shorn of its most obnoxious features, Mr. Webster +voted against the bill on its final passage on account of the participation +permitted to the government in its management. He was quite right, but, +after the bank was well established, he supported it as Lord Thurlow +promised to do in regard to the dissenter's religion. Indeed, Mr. Webster +ultimately so far lost his original dislike to this bank that he became one +of its warmest adherents. The plan was defective, but the scheme, on the +whole, worked better than had been expected. + +Immediately after the passage of the bank bill, Mr. Calhoun introduced a +bill requiring the revenue to be collected in lawful money of the United +States. A sharp debate ensued, and the bill was lost. Mr. Webster at once +offered resolutions requiring all government dues to be paid in coin, in +Treasury notes, or in notes of the Bank of the United States. He supported +these resolutions, thus daringly put forward just after the principle they +involved had been voted down, in a speech of singular power, clear, +convincing, and full of information and illustration. He elaborated the +ideas contained in his previous remarks on the currency, displaying with +great force the evils of irredeemable paper, and the absolute necessity of +a sound currency based on specie payments. He won a signal victory by the +passage of his resolutions, which brought about resumption, and, after the +bank was firmly established, gave us a sound currency and a safe medium of +exchange. This was one of the most conspicuous services ever rendered by +Mr. Webster to the business interests and good government of the country, +and he deserves the full credit, for he triumphed where Mr. Calhoun had +just been defeated. + +Mr. Webster took more or less part in all the questions which afterwards +arose in the House, especially on the tariff, but his great efforts were +those devoted to the bank and the currency. The only other incident of the +session was an invitation to fight a duel sent him by John Randolph. This +was the only challenge ever received by Mr. Webster. He never could have +seemed a very happy subject for such missives, and, moreover, he never +indulged in language calculated to provoke them. Randolph, however, would +have challenged anybody or anything, from Henry Clay to a field-mouse, if +the fancy happened to strike him. Mr. Webster's reply is a model of dignity +and veiled contempt. He refused to admit Randolph's right to an +explanation, alluded to that gentleman's lack of courtesy in the House, +denied his right to call him out, and wound up by saying that he did not +feel bound to risk his life at any one's bidding, but should "always be +prepared to repel, in a suitable manner, the aggression of any man who may +presume on this refusal." One cannot help smiling over this last clause, +with its suggestion of personal violence, as the two men rise before the +fancy,--the big, swarthy black-haired son of the northern hills, with his +robust common sense, and the sallow, lean, sickly Virginia planter, not +many degrees removed mentally from the patients in Bedlam. + +In the affairs of the next session of the fourteenth Congress Mr. Webster +took scarcely any part. He voted for Mr. Calhoun's internal improvement +bill, although without entering the debate, and he also voted to pass the +bill over Mr. Madison's veto. This was sound Hamiltonian Federalism, and in +entire consonance with the national sentiments of Mr. Webster. On the +constitutional point, which he is said to have examined with some care, he +decided in accordance with the opinions of his party, and with the doctrine +of liberal construction, to which he always adhered. + +On March 4, 1817, the fourteenth Congress expired, and with it the term of +Mr. Webster's service. Five years were to intervene before he again +appeared in the arena of national politics. This retirement from active +public life was due to professional reasons. In nine years Mr. Webster had +attained to the very summit of his profession in New Hampshire. He was +earning two thousand dollars a year, and in that hardy and poor community +he could not hope to earn more. To a man with such great and productive +talents, and with a growing family, a larger field had become an absolute +necessity. In June, 1816, therefore, Mr. Webster removed from Portsmouth to +Boston. That he gained by the change is apparent from the fact that the +first year after his removal his professional income did not fall short of +twenty thousand dollars. The first suggestion of the possibilities of +wealth offered to his abilities in a suitable field came from his going to +Washington. There, in the winter of 1813 and 1814, he was admitted to the +bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, before which he tried two or +three cases, and this opened the vista of a professional career, which he +felt would give him verge and room enough, as well as fit remuneration. +From this beginning the Supreme Court practice, which soon led to the +removal to Boston, rapidly increased, until, in the last session of his +term, it occupied most of his time. This withdrawal from the duties of +Congress, however, was not due to a sacrifice of his time to his +professional engagements, but to the depression caused by his first great +grief, which must have rendered the noise and dust of debate most +distasteful to him. Mr. and Mrs. Webster had arrived in Washington for this +last session, in December, 1816, and were recalled to Boston by the illness +of their little daughter Grace, who was their oldest child, singularly +bright and precocious, with much of her father's look and talent, and of +her mother's sensibility. She was a favorite with her father, and tenderly +beloved by him. After her parents' return she sank rapidly, the victim of +consumption. When the last hour was at hand, the child, rousing from sleep, +asked for her father. He came, raised her upon his arm, and, as he did so, +she smiled upon him and died. It is a little incident in the life of a +great man, but a child's instinct does not err at such a moment, and her +dying smile sheds a flood of soft light upon the deep and warm affections +of Mr. Webster's solemn and reserved nature. It was the first great grief. +Mr. Webster wept convulsively as he stood beside the dead, and those who +saw that stately creature so wrung by anguish of the heart never forgot the +sight. + +Thus the period which began at Portsmouth in 1807 closed in Boston, in +1817, with the death of the eldest born. In that decade Mr. Webster had +advanced with great strides from the position of a raw and youthful lawyer +in a back country town of New Hampshire. He had reached the highest +professional eminence in his own State, and had removed to a wider sphere, +where he at once took rank with the best lawyers. He was a leading +practitioner in the highest national court. During his two terms in +Congress he had become a leader of his party, and had won a solid national +reputation. In those years he had rendered conspicuous service to the +business interests of the nation, and had established himself as one of the +ablest statesmen of the country in matters of finance. He had defined his +position on the tariff as a free-trader in theory and a very moderate +protectionist when protection was unavoidable, a true representative of the +doctrine of the New England Federalists. He had taken up his ground as the +champion of specie payments and of the liberal interpretation of the +Constitution, which authorized internal improvements. While he had not +shrunk from extreme opposition to the administration during the war, he had +kept himself entirely clear from the separatist sentiment of New England in +the year 1814. He left Congress with a realizing sense of his own growing +powers, and, rejoicing in his strength, he turned to his profession and to +his new duties in his new home. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE.--MR. WEBSTER AS A LAWYER. + + +There is a vague tradition that when Mr. Webster took up his residence in +Boston, some of the worthies of that ancient Puritan town were disposed at +first to treat him rather cavalierly and make him understand that because +he was great in New Hampshire it did not follow that he was also great in +Massachusetts. They found very quickly, however, that it was worse than +useless to attempt anything of this sort with a man who, by his mere look +and presence whenever he entered a room, drew all eyes to himself and +hushed the murmur of conversation. It is certain that Mr. Webster soon +found himself the friend and associate of all the agreeable and +distinguished men of the town, and that he rapidly acquired that general +popularity which, in those days, went with him everywhere. It is also +certain that he at once and without effort assumed the highest position at +the bar as the recognized equal of its most eminent leaders. With an income +increased tenfold and promising still further enlargement, a practice in +which one fee probably surpassed the earnings of three months in New +Hampshire, with an agreeable society about him, popular abroad, happy and +beloved at home, nothing could have been more auspicious than these opening +years of his life in Boston. + +The period upon which he then entered, and during which he withdrew from +active public service to devote himself to his profession, was a very +important one in his career. It was a period marked by a rapid intellectual +growth and by the first exhibition of his talents on a large scale. It +embraces, moreover, two events, landmarks in the life of Mr. Webster, which +placed him before the country as one of the first and the most eloquent of +her constitutional lawyers, and as the great master in the art of +occasional oratory. The first of these events was the argument in the +Dartmouth College case; the second was the delivery of the Plymouth +oration. + +I do not propose to enter into or discuss the merits or demerits of the +constitutional and legal theories and principles involved in the famous +"college causes," or in any other of the great cases subsequently argued by +Mr. Webster. In a biography of this kind it is sufficient to examine Mr. +Webster's connection with the Dartmouth College case, and endeavor, by a +study of his arguments in that and in certain other hardly less important +causes, to estimate properly the character and quality of his abilities as +a lawyer, both in the ordinary acceptation of the term and in dealing with +constitutional questions. + +The complete history of the Dartmouth College case is very curious and +deserves more than a passing notice. Until within three years it is not too +much to say that it was quite unknown, and its condition is but little +better now. In 1879 Mr. John M. Shirley published a volume entitled the +"Dartmouth College Causes," which is a monument of careful study and +thorough research. Most persons would conclude that it was a work of merely +legal interest, appealing to a limited class of professional readers. Even +those into whose hands it chanced to come have probably been deterred from +examining it as it deserves by the first chapter, which is very obscure, +and by the confusion of the narrative which follows. Yet this monograph, +which has so unfortunately suffered from a defective arrangement of +material, is of very great value, not only to our legal and constitutional +history, but to the political history of the time and to a knowledge of the +distinguished actors in a series of events which resulted in the +establishment of one of the most far-reaching of constitutional doctrines, +one that has been a living question ever since the year 1819, and is at +this moment of vast practical importance. Mr. Shirley has drawn forth from +the oblivion of manuscript a collection of documents which, taken in +conjunction with those already in print, throws a flood of light upon a +dark place of the past and gives to a dry constitutional question the vital +and human interest of political and personal history. + +In his early days, Eleazer Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College, had +had much religious controversy with Dr. Bellamy of Connecticut, who was +like himself a graduate of Yale. Wheelock was a Presbyterian and a liberal, +Bellamy a Congregationalist and strictly orthodox. The charter of Dartmouth +was free from any kind of religious discrimination. By his will the elder +Wheelock provided in such a way that his son succeeded him in the +presidency of the college. In 1793 Judge Niles, a pupil of Bellamy, became +a trustee of the college, and he and John Wheelock represented the opposite +views which they respectively inherited from tutor and father. They were +formed for mutual hostility, and the contest began some twelve years before +it reached the public. The trustees and the president were then all +Federalists, and there would seem to have been no differences of either a +political or a religious nature. The trouble arose from the resistance of a +minority of the trustees to what they termed the "family dynasty." +Wheelock, however, maintained his ascendency until 1809, when his enemies +obtained a majority in the board of trustees, and thereafter admitted no +friend of the president to the government, and used every effort to subdue +the dominant dynasty. + +In New Hampshire, at that period, the Federalists were the ruling party, +and the Congregationalists formed the state church. The people were, in +practice, taxed to support Congregational churches, and the clergy of that +denomination were exempted from taxation. All the Congregational ministers +were stanch Federalists and most of their parishioners were of the same +party. The college, the only seat of learning in the State, was one of the +Federalist and Congregational strongholds. + +After several years of fruitless and bitter conflict, the Wheelock party, +in 1815, brought their grievances before the public in an elaborate +pamphlet. This led to a rejoinder and a war of pamphlets ensued, which was +soon transferred to the newspapers, and created a great sensation and a +profound interest. Wheelock now contemplated legal proceedings. Mr. Plumer +was in ill health, Judge Smith and Mr. Mason were allied with the trustees, +and the president therefore went to Mr. Webster, consulted him +professionally, paid him, and obtained a promise of his future services. +About the time of this consultation, Wheelock sent a memorial to the +Legislature, charging the trustees with misapplication of the funds, and +various breaches of trust, religious intolerance, and a violation of the +charter in their attacks upon the presidential office, and prayed for a +committee of investigation. The trustees met him boldly and offered a +sturdy resistance, denying all the charges, especially that of religious +intolerance; but the committee was voted by a large majority. On August +5th, Wheelock, as soon as he learned that the committee was to have a +hearing, wrote to Mr. Webster, reminding him of their consultation, +inclosing a fee of twenty dollars, and asking him to appear before the +committee. Mr. Webster did not come, and Wheelock had to go on as best he +could without him. One of Wheelock's friends, Mr. Dunham, wrote a very +indignant letter to Mr. Webster on his failure to appear; to which Mr. +Webster replied that he had seen Wheelock and they had contemplated a suit +in court, but that at the time of the hearing he was otherwise engaged, and +moreover that he did not regard a summons to appear before a legislative +committee as a professional call, adding that he was by no means sure that +the president was wholly in the right. The truth was, that many of Mr. +Webster's strongest personal and political friends, and most of the leaders +with whom he was associated in the control of the Federalist party, were +either trustees themselves or closely allied with the trustees. In the +interval between the consultation with Wheelock and the committee hearing, +these friends and leaders saw Mr. Webster, and pointed out to him that he +must not desert them, and that this college controversy was fast developing +into a party question. Mr. Webster was convinced, and abandoned Wheelock, +making, as has been seen, a very unsatisfactory explanation of his conduct. +In this way he finally parted company with Wheelock, and was thereafter +irrevocably engaged on the side of the trustees. + +Events now moved rapidly. The trustees, without heeding the advice of Mr. +Mason to delay, removed Wheelock from the presidency, and appointed in his +place the Rev. Francis Brown. This fanned the flame of popular excitement, +and such a defiance of the legislative committee threw the whole question +into politics. As Mr. Mason had foreseen when he warned the trustees +against hasty action, all the Democrats, all members of sects other than +the Congregational, and all freethinkers generally, were united against the +trustees, and consequently against the Federalists. The election came on. +Wheelock, who was a Federalist, went over to the enemy, carrying his +friends with him, and Mr. Plumer, the Democratic candidate, was elected +Governor, together with a Democratic Legislature. Mr. Webster perceived at +once that the trustees were in a bad position. He advised that every effort +should be made to soothe the Democrats, and that the purpose of founding a +new college should be noised abroad, in order to create alarm. Strategy, +however, was vain. Governor Plumer declared against the trustees in his +message, and the Legislature in June, 1816, despite every sort of protest +and remonstrance, passed an act to reorganize the college, and virtually to +place it within the control of the State. The Governor and council at once +proceeded to choose trustees and overseers under the new law, and among +those thus selected was Joseph Story of Massachusetts. + +Both boards of trustees assembled. The old board turned out Judge Woodward, +their secretary, who was a friend to Wheelock and secretary also of the new +board, and, receiving a thousand dollars from a friend of one of the +professors, resolved to fight. President Brown refused to obey the summons +of the new trustees, who expelled the old board by resolution. Thereupon +the old board brought suit against Woodward for the college seal and other +property, and the case came on for trial in May, 1817. Mr. Mason and Judge +Smith appeared for the college, George Sullivan and Ichabod Bartlett for +Woodward and the state board. The case was argued and then went over to the +September term of the same year, at Exeter, when Mason and Smith were +joined by Mr. Webster. + +The cause was then argued again on both sides and with signal ability. In +point of talent the counsel for the college were vastly superior to their +opponents, but Sullivan and Bartlett were nevertheless strong men and +thoroughly prepared. Sullivan was a good lawyer and a fluent and ready +speaker, with great power of illustration. Bartlett was a shrewd, +hard-headed man, very keen and incisive, and one whom it was impossible to +outwit or deceive. He indulged, in his argument, in some severe reflections +upon Mr. Webster's conduct toward Wheelock, which so much incensed Mr. +Webster that he referred to Mr. Bartlett's argument in a most contemptuous +way, and strenuously opposed the publication of the remarks "personal or +injurious to counsel." + +The weight of the argument for the college fell upon Mason and Smith, who +spoke for two and four hours respectively. Sullivan and Bartlett occupied +three hours, and the next day Mr. Webster closed for the plaintiffs in a +speech of two hours. Mr. Webster spoke with great force, going evidently +beyond the limits of legal argument, and winding up with a splendid +sentimental appeal which drew tears from the crowd in the Exeter +court-room, and which he afterwards used in an elaborated form and with +similar effect before the Supreme Court at Washington. + +It now becomes necessary to state briefly the points at issue in this case, +which were all fully argued by the counsel on both sides. Mr. Mason's +brief, which really covered the whole case, was that the acts of the +Legislature were not obligatory, 1, because they were not within the +general scope of legislative power; 2, because they violated certain +provisions of the Constitution of New Hampshire restraining legislative +power; 3, because they violated the Constitution of the United States. In +Farrar's report of Mason's speech, twenty-three pages are devoted to the +first point, eight to the second, and six to the third. In other words, the +third point, involving the great constitutional doctrine on which the case +was finally decided at Washington, the doctrine that the Legislature, by +its acts, had impaired the obligation of a contract, was passed over +lightly. In so doing Mr. Mason was not alone. Neither he nor Judge Smith +nor Mr. Webster nor the court nor the counsel on the other side, attached +much importance to this point. Curiously enough, the theory had been +originated many years before, by Wheelock himself, at a time when he +expected that the minority of the trustees would invoke the aid of the +Legislature against him, and his idea had been remembered. It was revived +at the time of the newspaper controversy, and was pressed upon the +attention of the trustees and upon that of their counsel. But the lawyers +attached little weight to the suggestion, although they introduced it and +argued it briefly. Mason, Smith, and Webster all relied for success on the +ground covered by the first point in Mason's brief. This is called by Mr. +Shirley the "Parsons view," from the fact that it was largely drawn from an +argument made by Chief Justice Parsons in regard to visitatorial powers at +Harvard College. Briefly stated, the argument was that the college was an +institution founded by private persons for particular uses; that the +charter was given to perpetuate such uses; that misconduct of the trustees +was a question for the courts, and that the Legislature, by its +interference, transcended its powers. To these general principles, +strengthened by particular clauses in the Constitution of New Hampshire, +the counsel for the college trusted for victory. The theory of impairing +the obligation of contracts they introduced, but they did not insist on it, +or hope for much from it. On this point, however, and, of course, on this +alone, the case went up to the Supreme Court. In December, 1817, Mr. +Webster wrote to Mr. Mason, regretting that the case went up on "one point +only." He occupied himself at this time in devising cases which should +raise what he considered the really vital points, and which, coming within +the jurisdiction of the United States, could be taken to the Circuit Court, +and thence to the Supreme Court at Washington. These cases, in accordance +with his suggestion, were begun, but before they came on in the Circuit +Court, Mr. Webster made his great effort in Washington. Three quarters of +his legal argument were there devoted to the points in the Circuit Court +cases, which were not in any way before the Supreme Court in the College +vs. Woodward. So little, indeed, did Mr. Webster think of the great +constitutional question which has made the case famous, that he forced the +other points in where he admitted that they had no proper standing, and +argued them at length. They were touched upon by Marshall, who, however, +decided wholly upon the constitutional question, and they were all thrown +aside by Judge Washington, who declared them irrelevant, and rested his +decision solely and properly on the constitutional point. Two months after +his Washington argument, Mr. Webster, still urging forward the Circuit +Court cases, wrote to Mr. Mason that all the questions must be brought +properly before the Supreme Court, and that, on the "general principle" +that the State Legislature could not divest vested rights, strengthened by +the constitutional provisions of New Hampshire, he was sure they could +defeat their adversaries. Thus this doctrine of "impairing the obligation +of contracts," which produced a decision in its effects more far-reaching +and of more general interest than perhaps any other ever made in this +country, was imported into the case at the suggestion of laymen, was little +esteemed by counsel, and was comparatively neglected in every argument. + +It is necessary to go back now, for a moment, in the history of the case. +The New Hampshire court decided against the plaintiffs on every point, and +gave a very strong and elaborate judgment, which Mr. Webster acknowledged +was "able, plausible, and ingenious." After much wrangling, the counsel +agreed on a special verdict, and took the case up on a writ of error to the +Supreme Court. Mason and Smith were unable or unwilling to go to +Washington, and the case was intrusted to Mr. Webster, who secured the +assistance of Mr. Joseph Hopkinson of Philadelphia. The case for the State, +hitherto ably managed, was now confided to Mr. John Holmes of Maine, and +Mr. Wirt, the Attorney-General, who handled it very badly. Holmes, an +active, fluent Democratic politician, made a noisy, rhetorical, political +speech, which pleased his opponents and disgusted his clients and their +friends. Mr. Wirt, loaded with business cares of every sort, came into +court quite unprepared, and endeavored to make up for his deficiencies by +declamation. On the other side the case was managed with consummate skill. +Hopkinson was a sound lawyer, and, being thoroughly prepared, made a good +legal argument. The burden of the conflict was, however, borne by Mr. +Webster, who was more interested personally than professionally, and who, +having raised money in Boston to defray the expenses of the suit, came into +the arena at Washington armed to the teeth, and in the full lustre of his +great powers. + +The case was heard on March 10, 1818, and was opened by Mr. Webster. He had +studied the arguments of his adversaries below, and the vigorous hostile +opinion of the New Hampshire judges. He was in possession of the thorough +argument emanating from the penetrating mind of Mr. Mason and fortified and +extended by the ample learning and judicial wisdom of Judge Smith. To the +work of his eminent associates he could add nothing more than one not very +important point, and a few cases which his far-ranging and retentive memory +supplied. All the notes, minutes, and arguments of Smith and Mason were in +his hands. It is only just to say that Mr. Webster tells all this himself, +and that he gives all credit to his colleagues, whose arguments he says "he +clumsily put together," and of which he adds that he could only be the +reciter. The faculty of obtaining and using the valuable work of other men, +one of the characteristic qualities of a high and commanding order of mind, +was even then strong in Mr. Webster. But in that bright period of early +manhood it was accompanied by a frank and generous acknowledgment of all +and more than all the intellectual aid he received from others. He truly +and properly awarded to Mason and Smith all the credit for the law and for +the legal points and theories set forth on their side, and modestly says +that he was merely the arranger and reciter of other men's thoughts. But +how much that arrangement and recitation meant! There were, perhaps, no +lawyers better fitted than Mason and Smith to examine a case and prepare an +argument enriched with everything that learning and sagacity could suggest. +But when Mr. Webster burst upon the court and the nation with this great +appeal, it was certain that there was no man in the land who could so +arrange arguments and facts, who could state them so powerfully and with +such a grand and fitting eloquence. + +The legal part of the argument was printed in Farrar's report and also in +Wheaton's, after it had been carefully revised by Mr. Webster with the +arguments of his colleagues before him. This legal and constitutional +discussion shows plainly enough Mr. Webster's easy and firm grasp of facts +and principles, and his power of strong, effective, and lucid statement; +but it is in its very nature dry, cold, and lawyer-like. It gives no +conception of the glowing vehemence of the delivery, or of those omitted +portions of the speech which dealt with matters outside the domain of law, +and which were introduced by Mr. Webster with such telling and important +results. He spoke for five hours, but in the printed report his speech +occupies only three pages more than that of Mr. Mason in the court below. +Both were slow speakers, and thus there is a great difference in time to be +accounted for, even after making every allowance for the peroration which +we have from another source, and for the wealth of legal and historical +illustration with which Mr. Webster amplified his presentation of the +question. "Something was left out," Mr. Webster says, and that something +which must have occupied in its delivery nearly an hour was the most +conspicuous example of the generalship by which Mr. Webster achieved +victory, and which was wholly apart from his law. This art of management +had already been displayed in the treatment of the cases made up for the +Circuit Courts, and in the elaborate and irrelevant legal discussion which +Mr. Webster introduced before the Supreme Court. But this management now +entered on a much higher stage, where it was destined to win victory, and +exhibited in a high degree tact and knowledge of men. Mr. Webster was fully +aware that he could rely, in any aspect of the case, upon the sympathy of +Marshall and Washington. He was equally certain of the unyielding +opposition of Duvall and Todd; the other three judges, Johnson, Livingston, +and Story, were known to be adverse to the college, but were possible +converts. The first point was to increase the sympathy of the Chief Justice +to an eager and even passionate support. Mr. Webster knew the chord to +strike, and he touched it with a master hand. This was the "something left +out," of which we know the general drift, and we can easily imagine the +effect. In the midst of all the legal and constitutional arguments, +relevant and irrelevant, even in the pathetic appeal which he used so well +in behalf of his Alma Mater, Mr. Webster boldly and yet skilfully +introduced the political view of the case. So delicately did he do it that +an attentive listener did not realize that he was straying from the field +of "mere reason" into that of political passion. Here no man could equal +him or help him, for here his eloquence had full scope, and on this he +relied to arouse Marshall, whom he thoroughly understood. In occasional +sentences he pictured his beloved college under the wise rule of +Federalists and of the Church. He depicted the party assault that was made +upon her. He showed the citadel of learning threatened with unholy invasion +and falling helplessly into the hands of Jacobins and freethinkers. As the +tide of his resistless and solemn eloquence, mingled with his masterly +argument, flowed on, we can imagine how the great Chief Justice roused like +an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet. The words of the speaker +carried him back to the early years of the century, when, in the full flush +of manhood, at the head of his court, the last stronghold of Federalism, +the last bulwark of sound government, he had faced the power of the +triumphant Democrats. Once more it was Marshall against Jefferson,--the +judge against the President. Then he had preserved the ark of the +Constitution. Then he had seen the angry waves of popular feeling breaking +vainly at his feet. Now, in his old age, the conflict was revived. +Jacobinism was raising its sacrilegious hand against the temples of +learning, against the friends of order and good government. The joy of +battle must have glowed once more in the old man's breast as he grasped +anew his weapons and prepared with all the force of his indomitable will to +raise yet another constitutional barrier across the path of his ancient +enemies. + +We cannot but feel that Mr. Webster's lost passages, embodying this +political appeal, did the work, and that the result was settled when the +political passions of the Chief Justice were fairly aroused. Marshall would +probably have brought about the decision by the sole force of his imperious +will. But Mr. Webster did a good deal of effective work after the arguments +were all finished, and no account of the case would be complete without a +glance at the famous peroration with which he concluded his speech and in +which he boldly flung aside all vestige of legal reasoning, and spoke +directly to the passions and emotions of his hearers. + +When he had finished his argument he stood silent for some moments, until +every eye was fixed upon him, then, addressing the Chief Justice, he +said:-- + + This, sir, is my case. It is the case not merely of that humble + institution, it is the case of every college in our land.... + + "Sir, you may destroy this little institution; it is weak; it is in + your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary + horizon of our country. You may put it out. But if you do so you + must carry through your work! You must extinguish, one after + another, all those greater lights of science which for more than a + century have thrown their radiance over our land. It is, sir, as I + have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it." + +Here his feelings mastered him; his eyes filled with tears, his lips +quivered, his voice was choked. In broken words of tenderness he spoke of +his attachment to the college, and his tones seemed filled with the +memories of home and boyhood; of early affections and youthful privations +and struggles. + + "The court room," says Mr. Goodrich, to whom we owe this + description, "during these two or three minutes presented an + extraordinary spectacle. Chief Justice Marshall, with his tall and + gaunt figure bent over as if to catch the slightest whisper, the + deep furrows of his cheek expanded with emotion and his eyes + suffused with tears; Mr. Justice Washington, at his side, with his + small and emaciated frame, and countenance more like marble than I + ever saw on any other human being,--leaning forward with an eager, + troubled look; and the remainder of the court at the two + extremities, pressing, as it were, to a single point, while the + audience below were wrapping themselves round in closer folds + beneath the bench, to catch each look and every movement of the + speaker's face.... + + "Mr. Webster had now recovered his composure, and, fixing his keen + eye on the Chief Justice, said in that deep tone with which he + sometimes thrilled the heart of an audience:-- + + "'Sir, I know not how others may feel' (glancing at the opponents + of the college before him), 'but for myself, when I see my Alma + Mater surrounded, like Caesar in the senate-house, by those who are + reiterating stab after stab, I would not, for this right hand, have + her turn to me, and say, _Et tu quoque, mi fili! And thou too, my + son!_'" + +This outbreak of feeling was perfectly genuine. Apart from his personal +relations to the college, he had the true oratorical temperament, and no +man can be an orator in the highest sense unless he feels intensely, for +the moment at least, the truth and force of every word he utters. To move +others deeply he must be deeply moved himself. Yet at the same time Mr. +Webster's peroration, and, indeed, his whole speech, was a model of +consummate art. Great lawyer as he undoubtedly was, he felt on this +occasion that he could not rely on legal argument and pure reason alone. +Without appearing to go beyond the line of propriety, without indulging in +a declamation unsuited to the place, he had to step outside of legal points +and in a freer air, where he could use his keenest and strongest weapons, +appeal to the court not as lawyers but as men subject to passion, emotion, +and prejudice. This he did boldly, delicately, successfully, and thus he +won his case. + +The replies of the opposing counsel were poor enough after such a speech. +Holmes's declamation sounded rather cheap, and Mr. Wirt, thrown off his +balance by Mr. Webster's exposure of his ignorance, did but slight justice +to himself or his cause. March 12th the arguments were closed, and the next +day, after a conference, the Chief Justice announced that the court could +agree on nothing and that the cause must be continued for a year, until the +next term. The fact probably was that Marshall found the judges five to two +against the college, and that the task of bringing them into line was not a +light one. + +In this undertaking, however, he was powerfully aided by the counsel and +all the friends of the college. The old board of trustees had already paid +much attention to public opinion. The press was largely Federalist, and, +under the pressure of what was made a party question, they had espoused +warmly the cause of the college. Letters and essays had appeared, and +pamphlets had been circulated, together with the arguments of the counsel +at Exeter. This work was pushed with increased eagerness after the argument +at Washington, and the object now was to create about the three doubtful +judges an atmosphere of public opinion which should imperceptibly bring +them over to the college. Johnson, Livingston, and Story were all men who +would have started at the barest suspicion of outside influence even in the +most legitimate form of argument, which was all that was ever thought of or +attempted. This made the task of the trustees very delicate and difficult +in developing a public sentiment which should sway the judges without their +being aware of it. The printed arguments of Mason, Smith, and Webster were +carefully sent to certain of the judges, but not to all. All documents of a +similar character found their way to the same quarters. The leading +Federalists were aroused everywhere, so that the judges might be made to +feel their opinion. With Story, as a New England man, a Democrat by +circumstances, a Federalist by nature, there was but little difficulty. A +thorough review of the case, joined with Mr. Webster's argument, caused him +soon to change his first impression. To reach Livingston and Johnson was +not so easy, for they were out of New England, and it was necessary to go a +long way round to get at them. The great legal upholder of Federalism in +New York was Chancellor Kent. His first impression, like that of Story, was +decidedly against the college, but after much effort on the part of the +trustees and their able allies, Kent was converted, partly through his +reason, partly through his Federalism, and then his powers of persuasion +and his great influence on opinion came to bear very directly on +Livingston, more remotely on Johnson. The whole business was managed like a +quiet, decorous political campaign. The press and the party were everywhere +actively interested. At first, and in the early summer of 1818, before Kent +was converted, matters looked badly for the trustees. Mr. Webster knew the +complexion of the court, and hoped little from the point raised in Trustees +vs. Woodward. Still, no one despaired, and the work was kept up until, in +September, President Brown wrote to Mr. Webster in reference to the +argument:-- + + "It has already been, or shortly will be, read by all the + _commanding_ men of New England and New York; and so far as it has + gone it has united them all, without a single exception within my + knowledge, in one broad and impenetrable phalanx for our defence + and support. New England and New York _are gained_. Will not this + be sufficient for our present purposes? If not, I should recommend + reprinting. And on this point you are the best judge. I + prevailingly think, however, that the current of opinion from this + part of the country is setting so strongly towards the South that + we may safely trust to its force alone to accomplish whatever is + necessary." + +The worthy clergyman writes of public opinion as if the object was to elect +a President. All this effort, however, was well applied, as was found when +the court came together at the next term. In the interval the State had +become sensible of the defects of their counsel, and had retained Mr. +Pinkney, who stood at that time at the head of the bar of the United +States. He had all the qualifications of a great lawyer, except perhaps +that of robustness. He was keen, strong, and learned; diligent in +preparation, he was ready and fluent in action, a good debater, and master +of a high order of eloquence. He was a most formidable adversary, and one +whom Mr. Webster, then just at the outset of his career, had probably no +desire to meet in such a doubtful case as this.[1] Even here, however, +misfortune seemed to pursue the State, for Mr. Pinkney was on bad terms +with Mr. Wirt, and acted alone. He did all that was possible; prepared +himself elaborately in the law and history of the case, and then went into +court ready to make the wisest possible move by asking for a re-argument. +Marshall, however, was also quite prepared. Turning his "blind ear," as +some one said, to Pinkney, he announced, as soon as he took his seat, that +the judges had come to a conclusion during the vacation. He then read one +of his great opinions, in which he held that the college charter was a +contract within the meaning of the Constitution, and that the acts of the +New Hampshire Legislature impaired this contract, and were therefore void. +To this decision four judges assented in silence, although Story and +Washington subsequently wrote out opinions. Judge Todd was absent, through +illness, and Judge Duvall dissented. The immediate effect of the decision +was to leave the college in the hands of the victorious Federalists. In the +precedent which it established, however, it had much deeper and more +far-reaching results. It brought within the scope of the Constitution of +the United States every charter granted by a State, limited the action of +the States in a most important attribute of sovereignty, and extended the +jurisdiction of the highest federal court more than any other judgment ever +rendered by them. From the day when it was announced to the present time, +the doctrine of Marshall in the Dartmouth College case has continued to +exert an enormous influence, and has been constantly sustained and attacked +in litigation of the greatest importance. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Peter Harvey, in his _Reminiscences_ (p. 122), has an +anecdote in regard to Webster and Pinkney, which places the former in the +light of a common and odious bully, an attitude as alien to Mr. Webster's +character as can well be conceived. The story is undoubtedly either wholly +fictitious or so grossly exaggerated as to be practically false. On the +page preceding the account of this incident, Mr. Harvey makes Webster say +that he never received a challenge from Randolph, whereas in Webster's own +letter, published by Mr. Curtis, there is express reference to a note of +challenge received from Randolph. This is a fair example of these +_Reminiscences_. A more untrustworthy book it would be impossible to +imagine. There is not a statement in it which can be safely accepted, +unless supported by other evidence. It puts its subject throughout in the +most unpleasant light, and nothing has ever been written about Webster so +well calculated to injure and belittle him as these feeble and distorted +recollections of his loving and devoted Boswell. It is the reflection of a +great man upon the mirror of a very small mind and weak memory.] + +The defendant Woodward having died, Mr. Webster moved that the judgment be +entered _nunc pro tunc_. Pinkney and Wirt objected on the ground that the +other causes on the docket contained additional facts, and that no final +judgment should be entered until these causes had been heard. The court, +however, granted Mr. Webster's motion. Mr. Pinkney then tried to avail +himself of the stipulation in regard to the special verdict, that any new +and material facts might be added or any facts expunged. Mr. Webster +peremptorily declined to permit any change, obtained judgment against +Woodward, and obliged Mr. Pinkney to consent that the other causes should +be remanded, without instructions, to the Circuit Court, where they were +heard by Judge Story, who rendered a decree _nisi_ for the college. This +closed the case, and such were the last displays of Mr. Webster's dexterous +and vigorous management of the famous "college causes." + +The popular opinion of this case seems to be that Mr. Webster, with the aid +of Mr. Mason and Judge Smith, developed a great constitutional argument, +which he forced upon the acceptance of the court by the power of his close +and logical reasoning, and thus established an interpretation of the +Constitution of vast moment. The truth is, that the suggestion of the +constitutional point, not a very remarkable idea in itself, originated, as +has been said, with a layman, was regarded by Mr. Webster as a forlorn +hope, and was very briefly discussed by him before the Supreme Court. He +knew, of course, that if the case were to be decided against Woodward, it +could only be on the constitutional point, but he evidently thought that +the court would not take the view of it which was favorable to the college. +The Dartmouth College case was unquestionably one of Mr. Webster's great +achievements at the bar, but it has been rightly praised on mistaken +grounds. Mr. Webster made a very fine presentation of the arguments mainly +prepared by Mason and Smith. He transcended the usual legal limits with a +burst of eloquent appeal which stands high among the famous passages of his +oratory. In what may be called the strategy of the case he showed the best +generalship and the most skilful management. He also proved himself to be +possessed of great tact and to be versed in the knowledge of men, qualities +not usually attributed to him because their exercise involved an amount of +care and painstaking foreign to his indolent and royal temperament, which +almost always relied on weight and force for victory. + +Mr. Webster no doubt improved in details, and made better arguments at the +bar than he did upon this occasion, but the Dartmouth College case, on the +whole, shows his legal talents so nearly at their best, and in such unusual +variety, that it is a fit point at which to pause in order to consider some +of his other great legal arguments and his position and abilities as a +lawyer. For this purpose it is quite sufficient to confine ourselves to the +cases mentioned by Mr. Curtis, and to the legal arguments preserved in the +collection of Mr. Webster's speeches. + +Five years after the Dartmouth College decision, Mr. Webster made his +famous argument in the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden. The case was called +suddenly, and Mr. Webster prepared his argument in a single night of +intense labor. The facts were all before him, but he showed a readiness in +arrangement only equalled by its force. The question was whether the State +of New York had a right under the Constitution to grant a monopoly of steam +navigation in its waters to Fulton and Livingston. Mr. Webster contended +that the acts making such a grant were unconstitutional, because the power +of Congress to regulate commerce was, within certain limitations, +exclusive. He won his cause, and the decision, from its importance, +probably enhanced the contemporary estimate of his effort. The argument was +badly reported, but it shows all its author's strongest qualities of close +reasoning and effective statement. The point in issue was neither difficult +nor obscure, and afforded no opportunity for a display of learning. It was +purely a matter of constitutional interpretation, and could be discussed +chiefly in a historical manner and from the standpoint of public interests. +This was particularly fitted to Mr. Webster's cast of mind, and he did his +subject full justice. It was pure argument on general principles. Mr. +Webster does not reach that point of intense clearness and condensation +which characterized Marshall and Hamilton, in whose writings we are +fascinated by the beauty of the intellectual display, and are held fast by +each succeeding line, which always comes charged with fresh meaning. +Nevertheless, Mr. Webster touches a very high point in this most difficult +form of argument, and the impressiveness of his manner and voice carried +all that he said to its mark with a direct force in which he stood +unrivalled. + +In Ogden v. Saunders, heard in 1827, Mr. Webster argued that the clause +prohibiting state laws impairing the obligation of contracts covered future +as well as past contracts. He defended his position with astonishing +ability, but the court very correctly decided against him. The same +qualities which appear in these cases are shown in the others of a like +nature, which were conspicuous among the multitude with which he was +intrusted. We find them also in cases involving purely legal questions, +such as the Bank of the United States v. Primrose, and The Providence +Railroad Co. v. The City of Boston, accompanied always with that ready +command of learning which an extraordinary memory made easy. There seemed +to be no diminution of Mr. Webster's great powers in this field as he +advanced in years. In the Rhode Island case and in the Passenger Tax cases, +argued when he was sixty-six years old, he rose to the same high plane of +clear, impressive, effective reasoning as when he defended his Alma Mater. + +Two causes, however, demand more than a passing mention,--the Girard will +case and the Rhode Island case. The former involved no constitutional +points. The suit was brought to break the will of Stephen Girard, and the +question was whether the bequest to found a college could be construed to +be a charitable devise. On this question Mr. Webster had a weak case in +point of law, but he readily detected a method by which he could go boldly +outside the law, as he had done to a certain degree in the Dartmouth +College case, and substitute for argument an eloquent and impassioned +appeal to emotion and prejudice. Girard was a free-thinker, and he provided +in his will that no priest or minister of any denomination should be +admitted to his college. Assuming that this excluded all religious +teaching, Mr. Webster then laid down the proposition that no bequest or +gift could be charitable which excluded Christian teaching. In other words, +he contended that there was no charity except Christian charity, which, the +poet assures us, is so rare. At this day such a theory would hardly be +gravely propounded by any one. But Mr. Webster, on the ground that Girard's +bequest was derogatory to Christianity, pronounced a very fine discourse +defending and eulogizing, with much eloquence, the Christian religion. The +speech produced a great effect. One is inclined to think that it was the +cause of the court's evading the question raised by Mr. Webster, and +sustaining the will, a result they were bound to reach in any event, on +other grounds. The speech certainly produced a great sensation, and was +much admired, especially by the clergy, who caused it to be printed and +widely distributed. It did not impress lawyers quite so favorably, and we +find Judge Story writing to Chancellor Kent that "Webster did his best for +the other side, but it seems to me altogether an address to the prejudices +of the clergy." The subject, in certain ways, had a deep attraction for Mr. +Webster. His imagination was excited by the splendid history of the Church, +and his conservatism was deeply stirred by a system which, whether in the +guise of the Romish hierarchy, as the Church of England, or in the form of +powerful dissenting sects, was, as a whole, imposing by its age, its +influence, and its moral grandeur. Moreover, it was one of the great +established bulwarks of well-ordered and civilized society. All this +appealed strongly to Mr. Webster, and he made the most of his opportunity +and of his shrewdly-chosen ground. Yet the speech on the Girard will is not +one of his best efforts. It has not the subdued but intense fire which +glowed so splendidly in his great speeches in the Senate. It lacked the +stately pathos which came always when Mr. Webster was deeply moved. It was +delivered in 1844, and was slightly tinged with the pompousness which +manifested itself in his late years, and especially on religious topics. No +man has a right to question the religious sincerity of another, unless upon +evidence so full and clear that, in such cases, it is rarely to be found. +There is certainly no cause for doubt in Mr. Webster's case. He was both +sincere and honest in religion, and had a real and submissive faith. But he +accepted his religion as one of the great facts and proprieties of life. He +did not reach his religious convictions after much burning questioning and +many bitter experiences. In this he did not differ from most men of this +age, and it only amounts to saying that Mr. Webster did not have a deeply +religious temperament. He did not have the ardent proselyting spirit which +is the surest indication of a profoundly religious nature; the spirit of +the Saracen Emir crying, "Forward! Paradise is under the shadow of our +swords." When, therefore, he turned his noble powers to a defence of +religion, he did not speak with that impassioned fervor which, coming from +the depths of a man's heart, savors of inspiration and seems essential to +the highest religious eloquence. He believed thoroughly every word he +uttered, but he did not feel it, and in things spiritual the heart must be +enlisted as well as the head. It was wittily said of a well-known +anti-slavery leader, that had he lived in the Middle Ages he would have +gone to the stake for a principle, under a misapprehension as to the facts. +Mr. Webster not only could never have misapprehended facts, but, if he had +flourished in the Middle Ages he would have been a stanch and honest +supporter of the strongest government and of the dominant church. Perhaps +this defines his religious character as well as anything, and explains why +the argument in the Girard will case, fine as it was, did not reach the +elevation and force which he so often displayed on other themes. + +The Rhode Island case grew out of the troubles known at that period as +Dorr's rebellion. It involved a discussion not only of the constitutional +provisions for suppressing insurrections and securing to every State a +republican form of government, but also of the general history and theory +of the American governments, both state and national. There was thus +offered to Mr. Webster that full scope and large field in which he +delighted, and which were always peculiarly favorable to his talents. His +argument was purely constitutional, and although not so closely reasoned, +perhaps, as some of his earlier efforts, is, on the whole, as fine a +specimen as we have of his intellectual power as a constitutional lawyer at +the bar of the highest national tribunal. Mr. Webster did not often +transcend the proper limits of purely legal discussion in the courts, and +yet even when the question was wholly legal, the court-room would be +crowded by ladies as well as gentlemen, to hear him speak. It was so at the +hearing of the Girard suit; and during the strictly legal arguments in the +Charles River Bridge case, the court-room, Judge Story says, was filled +with a brilliant audience, including many ladies, and he adds that +"Webster's closing reply was in his best manner, but with a little too much +_fierté_ here and there." The ability to attract such audiences gives an +idea of the impressiveness of his manner and of the beauty of his voice and +delivery better than anything else, for these qualities alone could have +drawn the general public and held their attention to the cold and dry +discussion of laws and constitutions. + +There is a little anecdote told by Mr. Curtis in connection with this Rhode +Island case, which illustrates very well two striking qualities in Mr. +Webster as a lawyer. The counsel in the court below had been assisted by a +clever young lawyer named Bosworth, who had elaborated a point which he +thought very important, but which his seniors rejected. Mr. Bosworth was +sent to Washington to instruct Mr. Webster as to the cause, and, after he +had gone through the case, Mr. Webster asked if that was all. Mr. Bosworth +modestly replied that there was another view of his own which his seniors +had rejected, and then stated it briefly. When he concluded, Mr. Webster +started up and exclaimed, "Mr. Bosworth, by the blood of all the Bosworths +who fell on Bosworth field, that is _the_ point of the case. Let it be +included in the brief by all means." This is highly characteristic of one +of Mr. Webster's strongest attributes. He always saw with an unerring +glance "_the_ point" of a case or a debate. A great surgeon will detect the +precise spot where the knife should enter when disease hides it from other +eyes, and often with apparent carelessness will make the necessary incision +at the exact place when a deflection of a hair's breadth or a tremor of the +hand would bring death to the patient. Mr. Webster had the same +intellectual dexterity, the mingled result of nature and art. As the tiger +is said to have a sure instinct for the throat of his victim, so Mr. +Webster always seized on the vital point of a question. Other men would +debate and argue for days, perhaps, and then Mr. Webster would take up the +matter, and grasp at once the central and essential element which had been +there all along, pushed hither and thither, but which had escaped all eyes +but his own. He had preëminently + + "The calm eye that seeks + 'Midst all the huddling silver little worth + The one thin piece that comes, pure gold." + +The anecdote further illustrates the use which Mr. Webster made of the +ideas of other people. He did not say to Mr. Bosworth, here is the true +point of the case, but he saw that something was wanting, and asked the +young lawyer what it was. The moment the proposition was stated he +recognized its value and importance at a glance. He might and probably +would have discovered it for himself, but his instinct was to get it from +some one else. + +It is one of the familiar attributes of great intellectual power to be able +to select subordinates wisely; to use other people and other people's labor +and thought to the best advantage, and to have as much as possible done for +one by others. This power of assimilation Mr. Webster had to a marked +degree. There is no depreciation in saying that he took much from others, +for it is a capacity characteristic of the strongest minds, and so long as +the debt is acknowledged, such a faculty is a subject for praise, not +criticism. But when the recipient becomes unwilling to admit the obligation +which is no detraction to himself, and without which the giver is poor +indeed, the case is altered. In his earliest days Mr. Webster used to draw +on one Parker Noyes, a mousing, learned New Hampshire lawyer, and freely +acknowledged the debt. In the Dartmouth College case, as has been seen, he +over and over again gave simply and generously all the credit for the +learning and the points of the brief to Mason and Smith, and yet the glory +of the case has rested with Mr. Webster and always will. He gained by his +frank honesty and did not lose a whit. But in his latter days, when his +sense of justice had grown somewhat blunted and his nature was perverted by +the unmeasured adulation of the little immediate circle which then hung +about him, he ceased to admit his obligations as in his earlier and better +years. From no one did Mr. Webster receive so much hearty and generous +advice and assistance as from Judge Story, whose calm judgment and wealth +of learning were always at his disposal. They were given not only in +questions of law, but in regard to the Crimes Act, the Judiciary Act, and +the Ashburton treaty. After Judge Story's death, Mr. Webster not only +declined to allow the publication by the judge's son and biographer of +Story's letters to himself, but he refused to permit even the publication +of extracts from his own letters, intended merely to show the nature of the +services rendered to him by Story. A cordial assent would have enhanced the +reputation of both. The refusal is a blot on the intellectual greatness of +the one and a source of bitterness to the descendants and admirers of the +other. It is to be regretted that the extraordinary ability which Mr. +Webster always showed in grasping and assimilating masses of theories and +facts, and in drawing from them what was best, should ever have been +sullied by a want of gratitude which, properly and freely rendered, would +have made the lustre of his own fame shine still more brightly. + +A close study of Mr. Webster's legal career, in the light of contemporary +reputation and of the best examples of his work, leads to certain quite +obvious conclusions. He had not a strongly original or creative legal mind. +This was chiefly due to nature, but in some measure to a dislike to the +slow processes of investigation and inquiry which were always distasteful +to him, although he was entirely capable of intense and protracted +exertion. He cannot, therefore, be ranked with the illustrious few, among +whom we count Mansfield and Marshall as the most brilliant examples, who +not only declared what the law was, but who made it. Mr. Webster's powers +were not of this class, but, except in these highest and rarest qualities, +he stands in the front rank of the lawyers of his country and his age. +Without extraordinary profundity of thought or depth of learning, he had a +wide, sure, and ready knowledge both of principles and cases. Add to this +quick apprehension, unerring sagacity for vital and essential points, a +perfect sense of proportion, an almost unequalled power of statement, +backed by reasoning at once close and lucid, and we may fairly say that Mr. +Webster, who possessed all these qualities, need fear comparison with but +very few among the great lawyers of that period either at home or abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MASSACHUSETTS CONVENTION AND THE PLYMOUTH ORATION. + + +The conduct of the Dartmouth College case, and its result, at once raised +Mr. Webster to a position at the bar second only to that held by Mr. +Pinkney. He was now constantly occupied by most important and lucrative +engagements, but in 1820 he was called upon to take a leading part in a +great public work which demanded the exertion of all his talents as +statesman, lawyer, and debater. The lapse of time and the setting off of +the Maine district as a State had made a convention necessary, in order to +revise the Constitution of Massachusetts. This involved the direct resort +to the people, the source of all power, which is only required to effect a +change in the fundamental law of the State. On these rare occasions it has +been the honored custom in Massachusetts to lay aside all the +qualifications attaching to ordinary legislatures and to choose the best +men, without regard to party, public office, or domicile, for the +performance of this important work. No better or abler body could have been +assembled for this purpose than that which met in convention at Boston in +November, 1820. Among these distinguished men were John Adams, then in his +eighty-fifth year, and one of the framers of the original Constitution of +1780, Chief Justice Parker, of the Supreme Bench, the Federal judges, and +many of the leaders at the bar and in business. The two most conspicuous +men in the convention, however, were Joseph Story and Daniel Webster, who +bore the burden in every discussion; and there were three subjects, upon +which Mr. Webster spoke at length, that deserve more than a passing +allusion. + +Questions of party have, as a rule, found but little place in the +constitutional assemblies of Massachusetts. This was peculiarly the case in +1820, when the old political divisions were dying out, and new ones had not +yet been formed. At the same time widely opposite views found expression in +the convention. The movement toward thorough and complete democracy was +gathering headway, and directing its force against many of the old colonial +traditions and habits of government embodied in the existing Constitution. +That portion of the delegates which favored certain radical changes was +confronted and stoutly opposed by those who, on the whole, inclined to make +as few alterations as possible, and desired to keep things about as they +were. Mr. Webster, as was natural, was the leader of the conservative +party, and his course in this convention is an excellent illustration of +this marked trait in his disposition and character. + +One of the important questions concerned the abolition of the profession of +Christian faith as a qualification for holding office. On this point the +line of argument pursued by Mr. Webster is extremely characteristic. +Although an unvarying conservative throughout his life, he was incapable of +bigotry, or of narrow and illiberal views. At the same time the process by +which he reached his opinion in favor of removing the religious test shows +more clearly than even ultra-conservatism could, how free he was from any +touch of the reforming or innovating spirit. He did not urge that, on +general principles, religious tests were wrong, that they were relics of +the past and in hopeless conflict with the fundamental doctrines of +American liberty and democracy. On the contrary, he implied that a +religious test was far from being of necessity an evil. He laid down the +sound doctrine that qualifications for office were purely matters of +expediency, and then argued that it was wise to remove the religious test +because, while its principle would be practically enforced by a Christian +community, it was offensive to some persons to have it engrafted on the +Constitution. The speech in which he set forth these views was an able and +convincing one, entirely worthy of its author, and the removal of the test +was carried by a large majority. It is an interesting example of the +combination of steady conservatism and breadth of view which Mr. Webster +always displayed. But it also brings into strong relief his aversion to +radical general principles as grounds of action, and his inborn hostility +to far-reaching change. + +His two other important speeches in this convention have been preserved in +his works, and are purely and wholly conservative in tone and spirit. The +first related to the basis of representation in the Senate, whose members +were then apportioned according to the amount of taxable property in the +districts. This system, Mr. Webster thought, should be retained, and his +speech was a most masterly discussion of the whole system of government by +two Houses. He urged the necessity of a basis of representation for the +upper House different from that of the lower, in order to make the former +fully serve its purpose of a check and balance to the popular branch. This +important point he handled in the most skilful manner, and there is no +escape from his conclusion that a difference of origin in the two +legislative branches of the government is essential to the full and perfect +operation of the system. This difference of origin, he argued, could be +obtained only by the introduction of property as a factor in the basis of +representation. The weight of his speech was directed to defending the +principle of a suitable representation of property, which was a subject +requiring very adroit treatment. The doctrine is one which probably would +not be tolerated now in any part of this country, and even in 1820, in +Massachusetts, it was a delicate matter to advocate it, for it was hostile +to the general sentiment of the people. Having established his position +that it was all important to make the upper branch a strong and effective +check, he said that the point in issue was not whether property offered the +best method of distinguishing between the two Houses, but whether it was +not better than no distinction at all. This being answered affirmatively, +the next question to be considered was whether property, not in the sense +of personal possessions and personal power, but in a general sense, ought +not to have its due influence in matters of government. He maintained the +justice of this proposition by showing that our constitutions rest largely +on the general equality of property, which, in turn, is due to our laws of +distribution. This led him into a discussion of the principles of the +distribution of property. He pointed out the dangers arising in England +from the growth of a few large estates, while on the other hand he +predicted that the rapid and minute subdivision of property in France would +change the character of the government, and, far from strengthening the +crown, as was then generally prophesied, would have a directly opposite +effect, by creating a large and united body of small proprietors, who would +sooner or later control the country. He illustrated, in this way, the value +and importance of a general equality of property, and of steadiness in +legislation affecting it. These were the reasons, he contended, for making +property the basis of the check and balance furnished to our system of +government by an upper House. Moreover, all property being subject to +taxation for the purpose of educating the children of both rich and poor, +it deserved some representation for this valuable aid to government. It is +impossible, in a few lines,[1] to do justice to Mr. Webster's argument. It +exhibited a great deal of tact and ingenuity, especially in the distinction +so finely drawn between property as an element of personal power and +property in a general sense, and so distributed as to be a bulwark of +liberty. The speech is, on this account, an interesting one, for Mr. +Webster was rarely ingenious, and hardly ever got over difficulties by +fine-spun distinctions. In this instance adroitness was very necessary, and +he did not hesitate to employ it. By his skilful treatment, by his +illustrations drawn from England and France, which show the accuracy and +range of his mental vision in matters of politics and public economy, both +at home and abroad, and with the powerful support of Judge Story, Mr. +Webster carried his point. The element of property representation in the +Senate was retained, but so wholly by the ability of its advocate, that it +was not long afterwards removed. + +[Footnote 1: My brief statement is merely a further condensation of the +excellent abstract of this speech made by Mr Curtis.] + +Mr. Webster's other important speech related to the judiciary. The +Constitution provided that the judges, who held office during good +behavior, should be removable by the Governor on an address from the +Legislature. This was considered to meet cases of incompetency or of +personal misconduct, which could not be reached by impeachment. Mr. Webster +desired to amend the clause so as to require a two thirds vote for the +passage of the address, and that reasons should be assigned, and a hearing +assured to the judge who was the subject of the proceedings. These changes +were all directed to the further protection of the bench, and it was in +this connection that Mr. Webster made a most admirable and effective speech +on the well-worn but noble theme of judicial independence. He failed to +carry conviction, however, and his amendments were all lost. The perils +which he anticipated have never arisen, and the good sense of the people of +Massachusetts has prevented the slightest abuse of what Mr. Webster rightly +esteemed a dangerous power. + +Mr. Webster's continual and active exertion throughout the session of this +convention brought him great applause and admiration, and showed his powers +in a new light. Judge Story, with generous enthusiasm, wrote to Mr. Mason, +after the convention adjourned:-- + + "Our friend Webster has gained a noble reputation. He was before + known as a lawyer; but he has now secured the title of an eminent + and enlightened statesman. It was a glorious field for him, and he + has had an ample harvest. The whole force of his great mind was + brought out, and, in several speeches, he commanded universal + admiration. He always led the van, and was most skilful and + instantaneous in attack and retreat. He fought, as I have told him, + in the 'imminent deadly breach;' and all I could do was to + skirmish, in aid of him, upon some of the enemy's outposts. On the + whole, I never was more proud of any display than his in my life, + and I am much deceived if the well-earned popularity, so justly and + so boldly acquired by him on this occasion, does not carry him, if + he lives, to the presidency." + +While this convention, so memorable in the career of Mr. Webster and so +filled with the most absorbing labors, was in session, he achieved a still +wider renown in a very different field. On the 22d of December, 1820, he +delivered at Plymouth the oration which commemorated the two hundredth +anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. The theme was a splendid one, +both in the intrinsic interest of the event itself, in the character of the +Pilgrims, in the vast results which had grown from their humble beginnings, +and in the principles of free government, which had spread from the cabins +of the exiles over the face of a continent, and had become the common +heritage of a great people. We are fortunate in having a description of the +orator, written at the time by a careful observer and devoted friend, Mr. +Ticknor, who says:-- + + "_Friday Evening._--I have run away from a great levee there is + down-stairs, thronging in admiration round Mr. Webster, to tell you + a little word about his oration. Yet I do not dare to trust myself + about it, and I warn you beforehand that I have not the least + confidence in my own opinion. His manner carried me away + completely; not, I think, that I could have been so carried away if + it had been a poor oration, for of that, I apprehend, there can be + no fear. It _must_ have been a great, a very great performance, but + whether it was so absolutely unrivalled as I imagined when I was + under the immediate influence of his presence, of his tones, of his + looks, I cannot be sure till I have read it, for it seems to me + incredible. + + "I was never so excited by public speaking before in my life. Three + or four times I thought my temples would burst with the gush of + blood; for, after all, you must know that I am aware it is no + connected and compacted whole, but a collection of wonderful + fragments of burning eloquence, to which his whole manner gave + tenfold force. When I came out I was almost afraid to come near to + him. It seemed to me as if he was like the mount that might not be + touched and that burned with fire. I was beside myself, and am so + still." + + "_Saturday._--Mr. Webster was in admirable spirits. On Thursday + evening he was considerably agitated and oppressed, and yesterday + morning he had not his natural look at all; but since his entire + success he has been as gay and playful as a kitten. The party came + in one after another, and the spirits of all were kindled brighter + and brighter, and we fairly sat up till after two o'clock. I think, + therefore, we may now safely boast the Plymouth expedition has gone + off admirably." + +Mr. Ticknor was a man of learning and scholarship, just returned from a +prolonged sojourn in Europe, where he had met and conversed with all the +most distinguished men of the day, both in England and on the Continent. He +was not, therefore, disposed by training or recent habits to indulge a +facile enthusiasm, and such deep emotion as he experienced must have been +due to no ordinary cause. He was, in fact, profoundly moved because he had +been listening to one of the great masters of eloquence exhibiting, for the +first time, his full powers in a branch of the art much more cultivated in +America by distinguished men of all professions than is the custom +elsewhere. The Plymouth oration belongs to what, for lack of a better name, +we must call occasional oratory. This form of address, taking an +anniversary, a great historical event or character, a celebration, or +occasion of any sort as a starting point, permits either a close adherence +to the original text or the widest latitude of treatment. The field is a +broad and inviting one. That it promises an easy success is shown by the +innumerable productions of this kind which, for many years, have been +showered upon the country. That the promise is fallacious is proved by the +very small number among the countless host of such addresses which survive +the moment of their utterance. The facility of saying something is +counterbalanced by the difficulty of saying anything worth hearing. The +temptation to stray and to mistake platitude for originality is almost +always fatal. + +Mr. Webster was better fitted than any man who has ever lived in this +country for the perilous task of occasional oratory. The freedom of +movement which renders most speeches of this class diluted and commonplace +was exactly what he needed. He required abundant intellectual room for a +proper display of his powers, and he had the rare quality of being able to +range over vast spaces of time and thought without becoming attenuated in +what he said. Soaring easily, with a powerful sweep he returned again to +earth without jar or shock. He had dignity and grandeur of thought, +expression, and manner, and a great subject never became small by his +treatment of it. He had, too, a fine historical imagination, and could +breathe life and passion into the dead events of the past. + +Mr. Ticknor speaks of the Plymouth oration as impressing him as a series of +eloquent fragments. The impression was perfectly correct. Mr. Webster +touched on the historical event, on the character of the Pilgrims, on the +growth and future of the country, on liberty and constitutional principles, +on education, and on human slavery. This was entirely proper to such an +address. The difficulty lay in doing it well, and Mr. Webster did it as +perfectly as it ever has been done. The thoughts were fine, and were +expressed in simple and beautiful words. The delivery was grand and +impressive, and the presentation of each successive theme glowed with +subdued fire. There was no straining after mere rhetorical effect, but an +artistic treatment of a succession of great subjects in a general and yet +vivid and picturesque fashion. The emotion produced by the Plymouth oration +was akin to that of listening to the strains of music issuing from a +full-toned organ. Those who heard it did not seek to gratify their reason +or look for conviction to be brought to their understanding. It did not +appeal to the logical faculties or to the passions, which are roused by the +keen contests of parliamentary debate. It was the divine gift of speech, +the greatest instrument given to man, used with surpassing talent, and the +joy and pleasure which it brought were those which come from listening to +the song of a great singer, or looking upon the picture of a great artist. + +The Plymouth oration, which was at once printed and published, was received +with a universal burst of applause. It had more literary success than +anything which had at that time appeared, except from the pen of Washington +Irving. The public, without stopping to analyze their own feelings, or the +oration itself, recognized at once that a new genius had come before them, +a man endowed with the noble gift of eloquence, and capable by the exercise +of his talents of moving and inspiring great masses of his fellow-men. Mr. +Webster was then of an age to feel fully the glow of a great success, both +at the moment and when the cooler and more critical approbation came. He +was fresh and young, a strong man rejoicing to run the race. Mr. Ticknor +says, in speaking of the oration:-- + + "The passage at the end, where, spreading his arms as if to embrace + them, he welcomed future generations to the great inheritance which + we have enjoyed, was spoken with the most attractive sweetness and + that peculiar smile which in him was always so charming. The effect + of the whole was very great. As soon as he got home to our + lodgings, all the principal people then in Plymouth crowded about + him. He was full of animation, and radiant with happiness. But + there was something about him very grand and imposing at the same + time. I never saw him at any time when he seemed to me to be more + conscious of his own powers, or to have a more true and natural + enjoyment from their possession." + +Amid all the applause and glory, there was one letter of congratulation and +acknowledgment which must have given Mr. Webster more pleasure than +anything else, It came from John Adams, who never did anything by halves. +Whether he praised or condemned, he did it heartily and ardently, and such +an oration on New England went straight to the heart of the eager, +warm-blooded old patriot. His commendation, too, was worth having, for he +spoke as one having authority. John Adams had been one of the eloquent men +and the most forcible debater of the first Congress. He had listened to the +great orators of other lands. He had heard Pitt and Fox, Burke and +Sheridan, and had been present at the trial of Warren Hastings. His +unstinted praise meant and still means a great deal, and it concludes with +one of the finest and most graceful of compliments. The oration, he says, + + "is the effort of a great mind, richly stored with every species of + information. If there be an American who can read it without tears, + I am not that American. It enters more perfectly into the genuine + spirit of New England than any production I ever read. The + observations on the Greeks and Romans; on colonization in general; + on the West India islands; on the past, present, and future of + America, and on the slave-trade, are sagacious, profound, and + affecting in a high degree." + + "Mr. Burke is no longer entitled to the praise--the most consummate + orator of modern times." + + "What can I say of what regards myself? To my humble name, + _Exegisti monumentum aere perennius_." + +Many persons consider the Plymouth oration to be the finest of all Mr. +Webster's efforts in this field. It is certainly one of the very best of +his productions, but he showed on the next great occasion a distinct +improvement, which he long maintained. Five years after the oration at +Plymouth, he delivered the address on the laying of the corner-stone of +Bunker Hill monument. The superiority to the first oration was not in +essentials, but in details, the fruit of a ripening and expanding mind. At +Bunker Hill, as at Plymouth, he displayed the massiveness of thought, the +dignity and grandeur of expression, and the range of vision which are all +so characteristic of his intellect and which were so much enhanced by his +wonderful physical attributes. But in the later oration there is a greater +finish and smoothness. We appreciate the fact that the Plymouth oration is +a succession of eloquent fragments; the same is true of the Bunker Hill +address, but we no longer realize it. The continuity is, in appearance, +unbroken, and the whole work is rounded and polished. The style, too, is +now perfected. It is at once plain, direct, massive, and vivid. The +sentences are generally short and always clear, but never monotonous. The +preference for Anglo-Saxon words and the exclusion of Latin derivatives are +extremely marked, and we find here in rare perfection that highest +attribute of style, the union of simplicity, picturesqueness, and force. + +In the first Bunker Hill oration Mr. Webster touched his highest point in +the difficult task of commemorative oratory. In that field he not only +stands unrivalled, but no one has approached him. The innumerable +productions of this class by other men, many of a high degree of +excellence, are forgotten, while those of Webster form part of the +education of every American school-boy, are widely read, and have entered +into the literature and thought of the country. The orations of Plymouth +and Bunker Hill are grouped in Webster's works with a number of other +speeches professedly of the same kind. But only a very few of these are +strictly occasional; the great majority are chiefly, if not wholly, +political speeches, containing merely passages here and there in the same +vein as his great commemorative addresses. Before finally leaving the +subject, however, it will be well to glance for a moment at the few +orations which properly belong to the same class as the first two which we +have been considering. + +The Bunker Hill oration, after the lapse of only a year, was followed by +the celebrated eulogy upon Adams and Jefferson. This usually and with +justice is ranked in merit with its two immediate predecessors. As a whole +it is not, perhaps, quite so much admired, but it contains the famous +imaginary speech of John Adams, which is the best known and most hackneyed +passage in any of these orations. The opening lines, "Sink or swim, live or +die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote," since +Mr. Webster first pronounced them in Faneuil Hall, have risen even to the +dignity of a familiar quotation. The passage, indeed, is perhaps the best +example we have of the power of Mr. Webster's historical imagination. He +had some fragmentary sentences, the character of the man, the nature of the +debate, and the circumstances of the time to build upon, and from these +materials he constructed a speech which was absolutely startling in its +lifelike force. The revolutionary Congress, on the verge of the tremendous +step which was to separate them from England, rises before us as we read +the burning words which the imagination of the speaker put into the mouth +of John Adams. They are not only instinct with life, but with the life of +impending revolution, and they glow with the warmth and strength of feeling +so characteristic of their supposed author. It is well known that the +general belief at the time was that the passage was an extract from a +speech actually delivered by John Adams. Mr. Webster, as well as Mr. +Adams's son and grandson, received numerous letters of inquiry on this +point, and it is possible that many people still persist in this belief as +to the origin of the passage. Such an effect was not produced by mere +clever imitation, for there was nothing to imitate, but by the force of a +powerful historic imagination and a strong artistic sense in its +management. + +In 1828 Mr. Webster delivered an address before the Mechanics' Institute in +Boston, on "Science in connection with the Mechanic Arts," a subject which +was outside of his usual lines of thought, and offered no especial +attractions to him. This oration is graceful and strong, and possesses +sufficient and appropriate eloquence. It is chiefly interesting, however, +from the reserve and self-control, dictated by a nice sense of fitness, +which it exhibited. Omniscience was not Mr. Webster's foible. He never was +guilty of Lord Brougham's weakness of seeking to prove himself master of +universal knowledge. In delivering an address on science and invention, +there was a strong temptation to an orator like Mr. Webster to substitute +glittering rhetoric for real knowledge; but the address at the Mechanics' +Institute is simply the speech of a very eloquent and a liberally educated +man upon a subject with which he had only the most general acquaintance. +The other orations of this class were those on "The Character of +Washington," the second Bunker Hill address, "The Landing at Plymouth," +delivered in New York at the dinner of the Pilgrim Society, the remarks on +the death of Judge Story and of Mr. Mason, and finally the speech on laying +the corner-stone for the addition to the Capitol, in 1851. These were all +comparatively brief speeches, with the exception of that at Bunker Hill, +which, although very fine, was perceptibly inferior to his first effort +when the corner-stone of the monument was laid. The address on the +character of Washington, to an American the most dangerous of great and +well-worn topics, is of a high order of eloquence. The theme appealed to +Mr. Webster strongly and brought out his best powers, which were peculiarly +fitted to do justice to the noble, massive, and dignified character of the +subject. The last of these addresses, that on the addition to the Capitol, +was in a prophetic vein, and, while it shows but little diminution of +strength, has a sadness even in its splendid anticipations of the future, +which makes it one of the most impressive of its class. All those which +have been mentioned, however, show the hand of the master and are worthy to +be preserved in the volumes which contain the noble series that began in +the early flush of genius with the brilliant oration in the Plymouth +church, and closed with the words uttered at Washington, under the shadow +of the Capitol, when the light of life was fading and the end of all things +was at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +RETURN TO CONGRESS. + + +The thorough knowledge of the principles of government and legislation, the +practical statesmanship, and the capacity for debate shown in the State +convention, combined with the splendid oration at Plymouth to make Mr. +Webster the most conspicuous man in New England, with the single exception +of John Quincy Adams. There was, therefore, a strong and general desire +that he should return to public life. He accepted with some reluctance the +nomination to Congress from the Boston district in 1822, and in December, +1823, took his seat. + +The six years which had elapsed since Mr. Webster left Washington had been +a period of political quiet. The old parties had ceased to represent any +distinctive principles, and the Federalists scarcely existed as an +organization. Mr. Webster, during this interval, had remained almost wholly +quiescent in regard to public affairs. He had urged the visit of Mr. Monroe +to the North, which had done so much to hasten the inevitable dissolution +of parties. He had received Mr. Calhoun when that gentleman visited +Boston, and their friendship and apparent intimacy were such that the South +Carolinian was thought to be his host's candidate for the presidency. +Except for this and the part which he took in the Boston opposition to the +Missouri compromise and to the tariff, matters to be noticed in connection +with later events, Mr. Webster had held aloof from political conflict. + +When he returned to Washington in 1823, the situation was much altered from +that which he had left in 1817. In reality there were no parties, or only +one; but the all-powerful Republicans who had adopted, under the pressure +of foreign war, most of the Federalist principles so obnoxious to Jefferson +and his school, were split up into as many factions as there were +candidates for the presidency. It was a period of transition in which +personal politics had taken the place of those founded on opposing +principles, and this "era of good feeling" was marked by the intense +bitterness of the conflicts produced by these personal rivalries. In +addition to the factions which were battling for the control of the +Republican party and for the great prize of the presidency, there was still +another faction, composed of the old Federalists, who, although without +organization, still held to their name and their prejudices, and clung +together more as a matter of habit than with any practical object. Mr. +Webster had been one of the Federalist leaders in the old days, and when +he returned to public life with all the distinction which he had won in +other fields, he was at once recognized as the chief and head of all that +now remained of the great party of Washington and Hamilton. No Federalist +could hope to be President, and for this very reason Federalist support was +eagerly sought by all Republican candidates for the presidency. The favor +of Mr. Webster as the head of an independent and necessarily disinterested +faction was, of course, strongly desired in many quarters. His political +position and his high reputation as a lawyer, orator, and statesman made +him, therefore, a character of the first importance in Washington, a fact +to which Mr. Clay at once gave public recognition by placing his future +rival at the head of the Judiciary Committee of the House. + +The six years of congressional life which now ensued were among the most +useful if not the most brilliant in Mr. Webster's whole public career. He +was free from the annoyance of opposition at home, and was twice returned +by a practically unanimous popular vote. He held a commanding and +influential and at the same time a thoroughly independent position in +Washington, where he was regarded as the first man on the floor of the +House in point of ability and reputation. He was not only able to show his +great capacity for practical legislation, but he was at liberty to advance +his own views on public questions in his own way, unburdened by the outside +influences of party and of association which had affected him so much in +his previous term of service and were soon to reassert their sway in all +his subsequent career. + +His return to Congress was at once signalized by a great speech, which, +although of no practical or immediate moment, deserves careful attention +from the light which it throws on the workings of his mind and the +development of his opinions in regard to his country. The House had been in +session but a few days when Mr. Webster offered a resolution in favor of +providing by law for the expenses incident to the appointment of a +commissioner to Greece, should the President deem such an appointment +expedient. The Greeks were then in the throes of revolution, and the +sympathy for the heirs of so much glory in their struggle for freedom was +strong among the American people. When Mr. Webster rose on January 19, +1824, to move the adoption of the resolution which he had laid upon the +table of the House, the chamber was crowded and the galleries were filled +by a large and fashionable audience attracted by the reputation of the +orator and the interest felt in his subject. His hearers were disappointed +if they expected a great rhetorical display, for which the nature of the +subject and the classic memories clustering about it offered such strong +temptations. Mr. Webster did not rise for that purpose, nor to make +capital by an appeal to a temporary popular interest. His speech was for a +wholly different purpose. It was the first expression of that grand +conception of the American Union which had vaguely excited his youthful +enthusiasm. This conception had now come to be part of his intellectual +being, and then and always stirred his imagination and his affections to +their inmost depths. It embodied the principle from which he never swerved, +and led to all that he represents and to all that his influence means in +our history. + +As the first expression of his conception of the destiny of the United +States as a great and united nation, Mr. Webster was, naturally, "more fond +of this child" than of any other of his intellectual family. The speech +itself was a noble one, but it was an eloquent essay rather than a great +example of the oratory of debate. This description can in no other case be +applied to Mr. Webster's parliamentary efforts, but in this instance it is +correct, because the occasion justified such a form. Mr. Webster's purpose +was to show that, though the true policy of the United States absolutely +debarred them from taking any part in the affairs of Europe, yet they had +an important duty to perform in exercising their proper influence on the +public opinion of the world. Europe was then struggling with the monstrous +principles of the "Holy Alliance." Those principles Mr. Webster reviewed +historically. He showed their pernicious tendency, their hostility to all +modern theories of government, and their especial opposition to the +principles of American liberty. If the doctrines of the Congress of Laybach +were right and could be made to prevail, then those of America were wrong +and the systems of popular government adopted in the United States were +doomed. Against such infamous principles it behooved the people of the +United States to raise their voice. Mr. Webster sketched the history of +Greece, and made a fine appeal to Americans to give an expression of their +sympathy to a people struggling for freedom. He proclaimed, so that all men +might hear, the true duty of the United States toward the oppressed of any +land, and the responsibility which they held to exert their influence upon +the opinions of mankind. The national destiny of his country in regard to +other nations was his theme; to give to the glittering declaration of +Canning, that he would "call in the new world to redress the balance of the +old," a deep and real significance was his object. + +The speech touched Mr. Clay to the quick. He supported Mr. Webster's +resolution with all the ardor of his generous nature, and supplemented it +by another against the interference of Spain in South America. A stormy +debate followed, vivified by the flings and taunts of John Randolph, but +the unwillingness to take action was so great that Mr. Webster did not +press his resolution to a vote. He had at the outset looked for a practical +result from his resolution, and had desired the appointment of Mr. Everett +as commissioner, a plan in which he had been encouraged by Mr. Calhoun, who +had given him to understand that the Executive regarded the Greek mission +with favor. Before he delivered his speech he became aware that Calhoun had +misled him, that Mr. Adams, the Secretary of State, considered Everett too +much of a partisan, and that the administration was wholly averse to any +action in the premises. This destroyed all hope of a practical result, and +made an adverse vote certain. The only course was to avoid a decision and +trust to what he said for an effect on public opinion. The real purpose of +the speech, however, was achieved. Mr. Webster had exposed and denounced +the Holy Alliance as hostile to the liberties of mankind, and had declared +the unalterable enmity of the United States to its reactionary doctrines. +The speech was widely read, not only wherever English was spoken, but it +was translated into all the languages of Europe, and was circulated +throughout South America. It increased Mr. Webster's fame at home and laid +the foundation of his reputation abroad. Above all, it stamped him as a +statesman of a broad and national cast of mind. + +He now settled down to hard and continuous labor at the routine business +of the House, and it was not until the end of March that he had occasion to +make another elaborate and important speech. At that time Mr. Clay took up +the bill for laying certain protective duties and advocated it strenuously +as part of a general and steady policy which he then christened with the +name of "the American system." Against this bill, known as the tariff of +1824, Mr. Webster made, as Mr. Adams wrote in his diary at the time, "an +able and powerful speech," which can be more properly considered when we +come to his change of position on this question a few years later. + +As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the affairs of the national courts +were his particular care. Western expansion demanded an increased number of +judges for the circuits, but, unfortunately, decisions in certain recent +cases had offended the sensibilities of Virginia and Kentucky, and there +was a renewal of the old Jeffersonian efforts to limit the authority of the +Supreme Court. Instead of being able to improve, he was obliged to defend +the court, and this he did successfully, defeating all attempts to curtail +its power by alterations of the act of 1789. These duties and that of +investigating the charges brought by Ninian Edwards against Mr. Crawford, +the Secretary of the Treasury, made the session an unusually laborious one, +and detained Mr. Webster in Washington until midsummer. + +The short session of the next winter was of course marked by the +excitement attendant upon the settlement of the presidential election which +resulted in the choice of Mr. John Quincy Adams by the House of +Representatives. The intense agitation in political circles did not, +however, prevent Mr. Webster from delivering one very important speech, nor +from carrying through successfully one of the most important and +practically useful measures of his legislative career. The speech was +delivered in the debate on the bill for continuing the national Cumberland +road. Mr. Webster had already, many years before, defined his position on +the constitutional question involved in internal improvements. He now, in +response to Mr. McDuffie of South Carolina, who denounced the measure as +partial and sectional, not merely defended the principle of internal +improvements, but declared that it was a policy to be pursued only with the +purest national feeling. It was not the business of Congress, he said, to +legislate for this State or that, or to balance local interests, and +because they helped one region to help another, but to act for the benefit +of all the States united, and in making improvements to be guided only by +their necessity. He showed that these roads would open up the West to +settlement, and incidentally defended the policy of selling the public +lands at a low price as an encouragement to emigration, telling his +Southern friends very plainly that they could not expect to coerce the +course of population in favor of their own section. The whole speech was +conceived in the broadest and wisest spirit, and marks another step in the +development of Mr. Webster as a national statesman. It increased his +reputation, and brought to him a great accession of popularity in the West. + +The measure which he carried through was the famous "Crimes Act," perhaps +the best monument that there is of his legislative and constructive +ability. The criminal law of the United States had scarcely been touched +since the days of the first Congress, and was very defective and +unsatisfactory. Mr. Webster's first task, in which he received most +essential and valuable though unacknowledged assistance from Judge Story, +was to codify and digest the whole body of criminal law. This done, the +hardly less difficult undertaking followed of carrying the measure through +Congress. In the latter, Mr. Webster, by his skill in debate and +familiarity with his subject, and by his influence in the House, was +perfectly successful. That he and Judge Story did their work well in +perfecting the bill is shown by the admirable manner in which the Act stood +the test of time and experience. + +When the new Congress came together in 1825, Mr. Webster at once turned his +attention to the improvement of the Judiciary, which he had been obliged to +postpone in order to ward off the attacks upon the court. After much +deliberation and thought, aided by Judge Story, and having made some +concessions to his committee, he brought in a bill increasing the Supreme +Court judges to ten, making ten instead of seven circuits, and providing +that six judges should constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. +Although not a party question, the measure excited much opposition, and was +more than a month in passing through the House. Mr. Webster supported it at +every stage with great ability, and his two most important speeches, which +are in their way models for the treatment of such a subject, are preserved +in his works. The bill was carried by his great strength in debate and by +height of forcible argument. But in the Senate, where it was deprived of +the guardianship of its author, it hung along in uncertainty, and was +finally lost through the apathy or opposition of those very Western members +for whose benefit it had been devised. Mr. Webster took its ultimate defeat +very coolly. The Eastern States did not require it, and were perfectly +contented with the existing arrangements, and he was entirely satisfied +with the assurance that the best lawyers and wisest men approved the +principles of the bill. The time and thought which he had expended were not +wasted so far as he was personally concerned, for they served to enhance +his influence and reputation both as a lawyer and statesman. + +This session brought with it also occasions for debate other than those +which were offered by measures of purely legislative and practical +interest. The administration of Mr. Adams marks the close of the "era of +good feeling," as it was called, and sowed the germs of those divisions +which were soon to result in new and definite party combinations. Mr. Adams +and Mr. Clay represented the conservative and General Jackson and his +friends the radical or democratic elements in the now all-embracing +Republican party. It was inevitable that Mr. Webster should sympathize with +the former, and it was equally inevitable that in doing so he should become +the leader of the administration forces in the House, where "his great and +commanding influence," to quote the words of an opponent, made him a host +himself. The desire of Mr. Adams to send representatives to the Panama +Congress, a scheme which lay very near his heart and to which Mr. Clay was +equally attached, encountered a bitter and factious resistance in the +Senate, sufficient to deprive the measure of any real utility by delaying +its passage. In the House a resolution was introduced declaring simply that +it was expedient to appropriate money to defray the expenses of the +proposed mission. The opposition at once undertook by amendments to +instruct the ministers, and generally to go beyond the powers of the House. +The real ground of the attack was slavery, threatened, as was supposed, by +the attitude of the South American republics--a fact which no one +understood or cared to recognize. Mr. Webster stood forth as the champion +of the Executive. In an elaborate speech of great ability he denounced the +unconstitutional attempt to interfere with the prerogative of the +President, and discussed with much effect the treaty-making power assailed +on another famous occasion, many years before, by the South, and defended +at that time also by the eloquence of a representative of Massachusetts. +Mr. Webster showed the nature of the Panama Congress, defended its objects +and the policy of the administration, and made a full and fine exposition +of the intent of the "Monroe doctrine." The speech was an important and +effective one. It exhibited in an exceptional way Mr. Webster's capacity +for discussing large questions of public and constitutional law and foreign +policy, and was of essential service to the cause which he espoused. It was +imbued, too, with that sentiment of national unity which occupied a larger +space in his thoughts with each succeeding year, until it finally pervaded +his whole career as a public man. + +At the second session of the same Congress, after a vain effort to confer +upon the country the benefit of a national bankrupt law, Mr. Webster was +again called upon to defend the Executive in a much more heated conflict +than that aroused by the Panama resolution. Georgia was engaged in +oppressing and robbing the Creek Indians, in open contempt of the treaties +and obligations of the United States. Mr. Adams sent in a message reciting +the facts and hinting pretty plainly that he intended to carry out the laws +by force unless Georgia desisted. The message was received with great wrath +by the Southern members. They objected to any reference to a committee, and +Mr. Forsyth of Georgia declared the whole business to be "base and +infamous," while a gentleman from Mississippi announced that Georgia would +act as she pleased. Mr. Webster, having said that she would do so at her +peril, was savagely attacked as the organ of the administration, daring to +menace and insult a sovereign State. This stirred Mr. Webster, although +slow to anger, to a determination to carry through the reference at all +hazards. He said:-- + + "He would tell the gentleman from Georgia that if there were rights + of the Indians which the United States were bound to protect, that + there were those in the House and in the country who would take + their part. If we have bound ourselves by any treaty to do certain + things, we must fulfil such obligation. High words will not terrify + us, loud declamation will not deter us from the discharge of that + duty. In my own course in this matter I shall not be dictated to by + any State or the representative of any State on this floor. I shall + not be frightened from my purpose nor will I suffer harsh language + to produce any reaction on my mind. I will examine with great and + equal care all the rights of both parties.... I have made these few + remarks to give the gentleman from Georgia to understand that it + was not by bold denunciation nor by bold assumption that the + members of this House are to be influenced in the decision of high + public concerns." + +When Mr. Webster was thoroughly roused and indignant there was a darkness +in his face and a gleam of dusky light in his deep-set eyes which were not +altogether pleasant to contemplate. How well Mr. Forsyth and his friends +bore the words and look of Mr. Webster we have no means of knowing, but the +message was referred to a select committee without a division. The interest +to us in all this is the spirit in which Mr. Webster spoke. He loved the +Union as intensely then as at any period of his life, but he was still far +distant from the frame of mind which induced him to think that his devotion +to the Union would be best expressed and the cause of the Union best served +by mildness toward the South and rebuke to the North. He believed in 1826 +that dignified courage and firm language were the surest means of keeping +the peace. He was quite right then, and he would have been always right if +he had adhered to the plain words and determined manner to which he treated +Mr. Forsyth and his friends. + +This session was crowded with work of varying importance, but the close of +Mr. Webster's career in the lower House was near at hand. The failing +health of Mr. E.H. Mills made it certain that Massachusetts would soon have +a vacant seat in the Senate, and every one turned to Mr. Webster as the +person above all others entitled to this high office. He himself was by no +means so quick in determining to accept the position. He would not even +think of it until the impossibility of Mr. Mills's return was assured, and +then he had to meet the opposition of the administration and all its +friends, who regarded with alarm the prospect of losing such a tower of +strength in the House. Mr. Webster, indeed, felt that he could render the +best service in the lower branch, and urged the senatorship upon Governor +Lincoln, who was elected, but declined. After this there seemed to be no +escape from a manifest destiny. Despite the opposition of his friends in +Washington, and his own reluctance, he finally accepted the office of +United States senator, which was conferred upon him by the Legislature of +Massachusetts in June, 1827. + +In tracing the labors of Mr. Webster during three years spent in the lower +House, no allusion has been made to the purely political side of his career +at this time, nor to his relations with the public men of the day. The +period was important, generally speaking, because it showed the first signs +of the development of new parties, and to Mr. Webster in particular, +because it brought him gradually toward the political and party position +which he was to occupy during the rest of his life. When he took his seat +in Congress, in the autumn of 1823, the intrigues for the presidential +succession were at their height. Mr. Webster was then strongly inclined to +Mr. Calhoun, as was suspected at the time of that gentleman's visit to +Boston. He soon became convinced, however, that Mr. Calhoun's chances of +success were slight, and his good opinion of the distinguished South +Carolinian seems also to have declined. It was out of the question for a +man of Mr. Webster's temperament and habits of thought, to think for a +moment of supporting Jackson, a candidate on the ground of military glory +and unreflecting popular enthusiasm. Mr. Adams, as the representative of +New England, and as a conservative and trained statesman, was the natural +and proper candidate to receive the aid of Mr. Webster. But here party +feelings and traditions stepped in. The Federalists of New England had +hated Mr. Adams with the peculiar bitterness which always grows out of +domestic quarrels, whether in public or private life; and although the old +strife had sunk a little out of sight, it had never been healed. The +Federalist leaders in Massachusetts still disliked and distrusted Mr. Adams +with an intensity none the less real because it was concealed. In the +nature of things Mr. Webster now occupied a position of political +independence; but he had been a steady party man when his party was in +existence, and he was still a party man so far as the old Federalist +feelings retained vitality and force. He had, moreover, but a slight +personal acquaintance with Mr. Adams and no very cordial feeling toward +him. This disposed of three presidential candidates. The fourth was Mr. +Clay, and it is not very clear why Mr. Webster refused an alliance in this +quarter. Mr. Clay had treated him with consideration, they were personal +friends, their opinions were not dissimilar and were becoming constantly +more alike. Possibly there was an instinctive feeling of rivalry on this +very account. At all events, Mr. Webster would not support Clay. Only one +candidate remained: Mr. Crawford, the representative of all that was +extreme among the Republicans, and, in a party sense, most odious to the +Federalists. But it was a time when personal factions flourished rankly in +the absence of broad differences of principle. Mr. Crawford was bidding +furiously for support in every and any quarter, and to Mr. Crawford, +accordingly, Mr. Webster began to look as a possible leader for himself and +his friends. Just how far Mr. Webster went in this direction cannot be +readily or surely determined, although we get some light on the subject +from an attack made on Mr. Crawford just at this time. Ninian Edwards, +recently senator from Illinois, had a quarrel with Mr. Crawford, and sent +in a memorial to Congress containing charges against the Secretary of the +Treasury which were designed to break him down as a candidate for the +presidency. Of the merits of this quarrel it is not very easy to judge, +even if it were important. The character of Edwards was none of the best, +and Mr. Crawford had unquestionably made a highly unscrupulous use, +politically, of his position. The members of the administration, although +with no great love for Edwards, who had been appointed Minister to Mexico, +were distinctly hostile to Mr. Crawford, and refused to attend a dinner +from which Edwards had been expressly excluded. Mr. Webster's part in the +affair came from his being on the committee charged with the investigation +of the Edwards memorial. Mr. Adams, who was of course excited by the +presidential contest, disposed to regard his rivals with extreme disfavor, +and especially and justly suspicious of Mr. Crawford, speaks of Mr. +Webster's conduct in the matter with the utmost bitterness. He refers to it +again and again as an attempt to screen Crawford and break down Edwards, +and denounces Mr. Webster as false, insidious, and treacherous. Much of +this may be credited to the heated animosities of the moment, but there can +be no doubt that Mr. Webster took the matter into his own hands in the +committee, and made every effort to protect Mr. Crawford, in whose favor he +also spoke in the House. It is likewise certain that there was an attempt +to bring about an alliance between Crawford and the Federalists of the +North and East. The effort was abortive, and even before the conclusion of +the Edwards business Mr. Webster avowed that he should take but little part +in the election, and that his only purpose was to secure the best terms +possible for the Federalists, and obtain recognition for them from the next +administration. At that time he wished Mr. Mason to be attorney-general, +and had already turned his thoughts toward the English mission for himself. + +To this waiting policy he adhered, but when the popular election was over, +and the final decision had been thrown into the House of Representatives, +more definite action became necessary. From the questions which he put to +his brother and others as to the course which he ought to pursue in the +election by the House, it is obvious that he was far from anxious to secure +the choice of Mr. Adams, and was weighing carefully other contingencies. +The feeling of New England could not, however, be mistaken. Public opinion +there demanded that the members of the House should stand by the New +England candidate to the last. To this sentiment Mr. Webster submitted, and +soon afterwards took occasion to have an interview with Mr. Adams in order +to make the best terms possible for the Federalists, and obtain for them +suitable recognition. Mr. Adams assured Mr. Webster that he did not intend +to proscribe any section or any party, and added that although he could not +give the Federalists representation in the cabinet, he should give them one +of the important appointments. Mr. Webster was entirely satisfied with this +promise and with all that was said by Mr. Adams, who, as everybody knows, +was soon after elected by the House on the first ballot. + +Mr. Adams on his side saw plainly the necessity of conciliating Mr. +Webster, whose great ability and influence he thoroughly understood. He +told Mr. Clay that he had a high opinion of Mr. Webster, and wished to win +his support; and the savage tone displayed in regard to the Edwards affair +now disappears from the Diary. Mr. Adams, however, although he knew, as he +says, that "Webster was panting for the English mission," and hinted that +the wish might be gratified hereafter, was not ready to go so far at the +moment, and at the same time he sought to dissuade Mr. Webster from being a +candidate for the speakership, for which in truth the latter had no +inclination. Their relations, indeed, soon grew very pleasant. Mr. Webster +naturally became the leader of the administration forces in the House, +while the President on his side sought Mr. Webster's advice, admired his +oration on Adams and Jefferson, dined at his house, and lived on terms of +friendship and confidence with him. It is to be feared, however, that all +this was merely on the surface. Mr. Adams at the bottom of his heart never, +in reality, relaxed in his belief that Mr. Webster was morally unsound. Mr. +Webster, on the other hand, whose Federalist opposition to Mr. Adams had +only been temporarily allayed, was not long in coming to the conclusion +that his services, if appreciated, were not properly recognized by the +administration. There was a good deal of justice in this view. The English +mission never came, no help was to be obtained for Mr. Mason's election as +senator from New Hampshire, the speakership was to be refused in order to +promote harmony and strength in the House. To all this Mr. Webster +submitted, and fought the battles of the administration in debate as no one +else could have done. Nevertheless, all men like recognition, and Mr. +Webster would have preferred something more solid than words and confidence +or the triumph of a common cause. When the Massachusetts senatorship was in +question Mr. Adams urged the election of Governor Lincoln, and objected on +the most flattering grounds to Mr. Webster's withdrawal from the House. It +is not a too violent conjecture to suppose that Mr. Webster's final +acceptance of a seat in the Senate was due in large measure to a feeling +that he had sacrificed enough for the administration. There can be no doubt +that coolness grew between the President and the Senator, and that the +appointment to England, if still desired, never was made, so that when the +next election came on Mr. Webster was inactive, and, despite his hostility +to Jackson, viewed the overthrow of Mr. Adams with a good deal of +indifference and some satisfaction. It is none the less true, however, that +during these years when the first foundations of the future Whig party were +laid, Mr. Webster formed the political affiliations which were to last +through life. He inevitably found himself associated with Clay and Adams, +and opposed to Jackson, Benton, and Van Buren, while at the same time he +and Calhoun were fast drifting apart. He had no specially cordial feeling +to his new associates; but they were at the head of the conservative +elements of the country, they were nationalists in policy, and they favored +the views which were most affected in New England. As a conservative and +nationalist by nature and education, and as the great New England leader, +Mr. Webster could not avoid becoming the parliamentary chief of Mr. Adams's +administration, and thus paved the way for leadership in the Whig party of +the future. + +In narrating the history of these years, I have confined myself to Mr. +Webster's public services and political course. But it was a period in his +career which was crowded with work and achievement, bringing fresh fame and +increased reputation, and also with domestic events both of joy and sorrow. +Mr. Webster steadily pursued the practice of the law, and was constantly +engaged in the Supreme Court. To these years belong many of his great +arguments, and also the prosecution of the Spanish claims, a task at once +laborious and profitable. In the summer of 1824 Mr. Webster first saw +Marshfield, his future home, and in the autumn of the same year he visited +Monticello, where he had a long interview with Mr. Jefferson, of whom he +has left a most interesting description. During the winter he formed the +acquaintance and lived much in the society of some well-known Englishmen +then travelling in this country. This party consisted of the Earl of Derby, +then Mr. Stanley, Lord Wharncliffe, then Mr. Stuart Wortley; Lord Taunton, +then Mr. Labouchere, and Mr. Denison, afterwards Speaker of the House of +Commons. With Mr. Denison this acquaintance was the foundation of a lasting +and intimate friendship maintained by correspondence. In June, 1825, came +the splendid oration at Bunker Hill, and then a visit to Niagara, which, of +course, appealed strongly to Mr. Webster. His account of it, however, +although indicative of a deep mental impression, shows that his power of +describing nature fell far short of his wonderful talent for picturing +human passions and action. The next vacation brought the eulogy on Adams +and Jefferson, when perhaps Mr. Webster may be considered to have been in +his highest physical and intellectual perfection. Such at least was the +opinion of Mr. Ticknor, who says:-- + + "He was in the perfection of manly beauty and strength; his form + filled out to its finest proportions, and his bearing, as he stood + before the vast multitude, that of absolute dignity and power. His + manner of speaking was deliberate and commanding. I never heard him + when his manner was so grand and appropriate; ... when he ended the + minds of men were wrought up to an uncontrollable excitement, and + then followed three tremendous cheers, inappropriate indeed, but as + inevitable as any other great movement of nature." + +He had held the vast audience mute for over two hours, as John Quincy Adams +said in his diary, and finally their excited feelings found vent in cheers. +He spoke greatly because he felt greatly. His emotions, his imagination, +his entire oratorical temperament were then full of quick sensibility. When +he finished writing the imaginary speech of John Adams in the quiet of his +library and the silence of the morning hour, his eyes were wet with tears. + +A year passed by after this splendid display of eloquence, and then the +second congressional period, which had been so full of work and +intellectual activity and well-earned distinction, closed, and he entered +upon that broader field which opened to him in the Senate of the United +States, where his greatest triumphs were still to be achieved. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TARIFF OF 1828 AND THE REPLY TO HAYNE. + + +The new dignity conferred on Mr. Webster by the people of Massachusetts had +hardly been assumed when he was called upon to encounter a trial which must +have made all his honors seem poor indeed. He had scarcely taken his seat +when he was obliged to return to New York, where failing health had +arrested Mrs. Webster's journey to the capital, and where, after much +suffering, she died, January 21, 1828. The blow fell with terrible severity +upon her husband. He had many sorrows to bear during his life, but this +surpassed all others. His wife was the love of his youth, the mother of his +children, a lovely woman whose strong but gentle influence for good was now +lost to him irreparably. In his last days his thoughts reverted to her, and +as he followed her body to the grave, on foot in the wet and cold, and +leading his children by the hand, it must indeed have seemed as if the wine +of life had been drunk and only the lees remained. He was excessively pale, +and to those who looked upon him seemed crushed and heart-broken. + +The only relief was to return to his work and to the excitement of public +affairs; but the cloud hung over him long after he was once more in his +place in the Senate. Death had made a wound in his life which time healed +but of which the scar remained. Whatever were Mr. Webster's faults, his +affection for those nearest to him, and especially for the wife of his +youth, was deep and strong. + + "The very first day of Mr. Webster's arrival and taking his seat in + the Senate," Judge Story writes to Mr. Ticknor, "there was a + process bill on its third reading, filled, as he thought, with + inconvenient and mischievous provisions. He made, in a modest + undertone, some inquiries, and, upon an answer being given, he + expressed in a few words his doubts and fears. Immediately Mr. + Tazewell from Virginia broke out upon him in a speech of two hours. + Mr. Webster then moved an adjournment, and on the next day + delivered a most masterly speech in reply, expounding the whole + operation of the intended act in the clearest manner, so that a + recommitment was carried almost without an effort. It was a triumph + of the most gratifying nature, and taught his opponents the danger + of provoking a trial of his strength, even when he was overwhelmed + by calamity. In the labors of the court he has found it difficult + to work himself up to high efforts; but occasionally he comes out + with all his powers, and when he does, it is sure to attract a + brilliant audience." + +It would be impossible to give a better picture than that presented by +Judge Story of Mr. Webster's appearance and conduct in the month +immediately following the death of his wife. We can see how his talents, +excited by the conflicts of the Senate and the court, struggled, sometimes +successfully, sometimes in vain, with the sense of loss and sorrow which +oppressed him. + +He did not again come prominently forward in the Senate until the end of +April, when he roused himself to prevent injustice. The bill for the relief +of the surviving officers of the Revolution seemed on the point of being +lost. The object of the measure appealed to Mr. Webster's love for the +past, to his imagination, and his patriotism. He entered into the debate, +delivered the fine and dignified speech which is preserved in his works, +and saved the bill. + +A fortnight after this he made his famous speech on the tariff of 1828, a +bill making extensive changes in the rates of duties imposed in 1816 and +1824. This speech marks an important change in Mr. Webster's views and in +his course as a statesman. He now gave up his position as the ablest +opponent in the country of the protective policy, and went over to the +support of the tariff and the "American system" of Mr. Clay. This change, +in every way of great importance, subjected Mr. Webster to severe criticism +both then and subsequently. It is, therefore, necessary to examine briefly +his previous utterances on this question in order to reach a correct +understanding of his motives in taking this important step and to +appreciate his reasons for the adoption of a policy with which, after the +year 1828, he was so closely identified. + +When Mr. Webster first entered Congress he was a thorough-going Federalist. +But the Federalists of New England differed from their great chief, +Alexander Hamilton, on the question of a protective policy. Hamilton, in +his report on manufactures, advocated with consummate ability the adoption +of the principle of protection for nascent industries as an integral and +essential part of a true national policy, and urged it on its own merits, +without any reference to its being incident to revenue. The New England +Federalists, on the other hand, coming from exclusively commercial +communities, were in principle free-traders. They regarded with disfavor +the doctrine that protection was a good thing in itself, and desired it, if +at all, only in the most limited form and purely as an incident to raising +revenue. With these opinions Mr. Webster was in full sympathy, and he took +occasion when Mr. Calhoun, in 1814, spoke in favor of the existing double +duties as a protective measure, and also in favor of manufactures, during +the debate on the repeal of the embargo, to define his position on this +important question. A few brief extracts will show his views, which were +expressed very clearly and with his wonted ability and force. + + "I consider," he said, "the imposition of double duties as a mere + financial measure. Its great object was to raise revenue, not to + foster manufactures.... I do not say the double duties ought to be + continued. I think they ought not. But what I particularly object + to is the holding out of delusive expectations to those concerned + in manufactures.... In respect to manufactures it is necessary to + speak with some precision. I am not, generally speaking, their + enemy. I am their friend; but I am not for rearing them or any + other interest in hot-beds. I would not legislate precipitately, + even in favor of them; above all, I would not profess intentions in + relation to them which I did not purpose to execute. I feel no + desire to push capital into extensive manufactures faster than the + general progress of our wealth and population propels it. + + "I am not in haste to see Sheffields and Birminghams in America. + Until the population of the country shall be greater in proportion + to its extent, such establishments would be impracticable if + attempted, and if practicable they would be unwise." + +He then pointed out the inferiority and the perils of manufactures as an +occupation in comparison with agriculture, and concluded as follows:-- + + "I am not anxious to accelerate the approach of the period when the + great mass of American labor shall not find its employment in the + field; when the young men of the country shall be obliged to shut + their eyes upon external nature, upon the heavens and the earth, + and immerse themselves in close and unwholesome workshops; when + they shall be obliged to shut their ears to the bleatings of their + own flocks upon their own hills, and to the voice of the lark that + cheers them at the plough, that they may open them in dust and + smoke and steam to the perpetual whirl of spools and spindles, and + the grating of rasps and saws. I have made these remarks, sir, not + because I perceive any immediate danger of carrying our + manufactures to an extensive height, but for the purpose of + guarding and limiting my opinions, and of checking, perhaps, a + little the high-wrought hopes of some who seem to look to our + present infant establishments for 'more than their nature or their + state can bear.' + + "_It is the true policy of government to suffer the different + pursuits of society to take their own course, and not to give + excessive bounties or encouragements to one over another. This, + also, is the true spirit of the Constitution. It has not, in my + opinion, conferred on the government the power of changing the + occupations of the people of different States and sections, and of + forcing them into other employments._ It cannot prohibit commerce + any more than agriculture, nor manufactures any more than commerce. + It owes protection to all." + +The sentences in italics constitute a pretty strong and explicit statement +of the _laissez faire_ doctrine, and it will be observed that the tone of +all the extracts is favorable to free trade and hostile to protection and +even to manufactures in a marked degree. We see, also, that Mr. Webster, +with his usual penetration and justice of perception, saw very clearly that +uniformity and steadiness of policy were more essential than even the +policy itself, and in his opinion were most likely to be attained by +refraining from protection as much as possible. + +When the tariff of 1816 was under discussion Mr. Webster made no elaborate +speech against it, probably feeling that it was hopeless to attempt to +defeat the measure as a whole, but he devoted himself with almost complete +success to the task of reducing the proposed duties and to securing +modifications of various portions of the bill. + +In 1820, when the tariff recommended at the previous session was about to +come before Congress, Mr. Webster was not in public life. He attended, +however, a meeting of merchants and agriculturists, held in Faneuil Hall in +the summer of that year, to protest against the proposed tariff, and he +spoke strongly in favor of the free trade resolutions which were then +adopted. He began by saying that he was a friend to manufactures, but not +to the tariff, which he considered as most injurious to the country. + + "He certainly thought it might be doubted whether Congress would + not be acting somewhat against the spirit and intention of the + Constitution in exercising a power to control essentially the + pursuits and occupations of individuals in their private + concerns--a power to force great and sudden changes both of + occupation and property upon individuals, _not as incidental to the + exercise of any other power, but as a substantial and direct + power_." + +It will be observed that he objects to the constitutionality of protection +as a "direct power," and in the speech of 1814, in the portion quoted in +italics, he declared against any general power still more forcibly and +broadly. It is an impossible piece of subtlety and refining, therefore, to +argue that Mr. Webster always held consistently to his views as to the +limitations of the revenue power as a source of protection, and that he put +protection in 1828, and subsequently sustained it after his change of +position, on new and general constitutional grounds. In the speeches of +1814 and 1820 he declared expressly against the doctrine of a general power +of protection, saying, in the latter instance:-- + + "It would hardly be contended that Congress possessed that sort of + general power by which it might declare that particular occupations + should be pursued in society and that others should not. _If such + power belonged to any government in this country, it certainly did + not belong to the general government._" + +Mr. Webster took the New England position that there was no general power, +and having so declared in this speech of 1820, he then went on to show that +protection could only come as incidental to revenue, and that, even in this +way, it became unconstitutional when the incident was turned into the +principle and when protection and not revenue was the object of the duties. +After arguing this point, he proceeded to discuss the general expediency +of protection, holding it up as a thoroughly mistaken policy, a failure in +England which that country would gladly be rid of, and defending commerce +as the truest and best support of the government and of general prosperity. +He took up next the immediate effects of the proposed tariff, and, +premising that it would confessedly cause a diminution of the revenue, +said:-- + + "In truth, every man in the community not immediately benefited by + the new duties would suffer a double loss. In the first place, by + shutting out the former commodity, the price of the domestic + manufacture would be raised. The consumer, therefore, must pay more + for it, and insomuch as government will have lost the duty on the + imported article, a tax equal to that duty must be paid to the + government. The real amount, then, of this bounty on a given + article will be precisely the amount of the present duty added to + the amount of the proposed duty." + +He then went on to show the injustice which would be done to all +manufacturers of unprotected articles, and ridiculed the idea of the +connection between home industries artificially developed and national +independence. He concluded by assailing manufacturing as an occupation, +attacking it as a means of making the rich richer and the poor poorer; of +injuring business by concentrating capital in the hands of a few who +obtained control of the corporations; of distributing capital less widely +than commerce; of breeding up a dangerous and undesirable population; and +of leading to the hurtful employment of women and children. The meeting, +the resolutions, and the speech were all in the interests of commerce and +free trade, and Mr. Webster's doctrines were on the most approved pattern +of New England Federalism, which, professing a mild friendship for +manufactures and unwillingly conceding the minimum of protection solely as +an incident to revenue, was, at bottom, thoroughly hostile to both. In 1820 +Mr. Webster stood forth, both politically and constitutionally, as a +free-trader, moderate but at the same time decided in his opinions. + +When the tariff of 1824 was brought before Congress and advocated with +great zeal by Mr. Clay, who upheld it as the "American system," Mr. Webster +opposed the policy in the fullest and most elaborate speech he had yet made +on the subject. A distinguished American economist, Mr. Edward Atkinson, +has described this speech of 1824 briefly and exactly in the following +words:-- + + "It contains a refutation of the exploded theory of the balance of + trade, of the fallacy with regard to the exportation of specie, and + of the claim that the policy of protection is distinctively the + American policy which can never be improved upon, and it indicates + how thoroughly his judgment approved and his better nature + sympathized with the movement towards enlightened and liberal + commercial legislation, then already commenced in Great Britain." + +This speech was in truth one of great ability, showing a remarkable +capacity for questions of political economy, and opening with an admirable +discussion of the currency and of finance, in regard to which Mr. Webster +always held and advanced the soundest, most scientific, and most +enlightened views. Now, as in 1820, he stood forth as the especial champion +of commerce, which, as he said, had thriven without protection, had brought +revenue to the government and wealth to the country, and would be +grievously injured by the proposed tariff. He made his principal objection +to the protection policy on the ground of favoritism to some interests at +the expense of others when all were entitled to equal consideration. Of +England he said, "Because a thing has been wrongly done, it does not follow +that it can be undone; and this is the reason, as I understand it, for +which exclusion, prohibition, and monopoly are suffered to remain in any +degree in the English system." After examining at length the different +varieties of protection, and displaying very thoroughly the state of +current English opinion, he defined the position which he, in common with +the Federalists of New England, then as always adhered to in the following +words:-- + + "Protection, when carried to the point which is now recommended, + that is, to entire prohibition, seems to me destructive of all + commercial intercourse between nations. We are urged to adopt the + system on general principles; ... I do not admit the general + principle; on the contrary, I think freedom of trade the general + principle, and restriction the exception." + +He pointed out that the proposed protective policy involved a decline of +commerce, and that steadiness and uniformity, the most essential requisites +in any policy, were endangered. He then with great power dealt with the +various points summarized by Mr. Atkinson, and concluded with a detailed +and learned examination of the various clauses of the bill, which finally +passed by a small majority and became law. + +In 1828 came another tariff bill, so bad and so extreme in many respects +that it was called the "bill of abominations." It originated in the +agitation of the woollen manufacturers which had started the year before, +and for this bill Mr. Webster spoke and voted. He changed his ground on +this important question absolutely and entirely, and made no pretence of +doing anything else. The speech which he made on this occasion is a +celebrated one, but it is so solely on account of the startling change of +position which it announced. Mr. Webster has been attacked and defended for +his action at this time with great zeal, and all the constitutional and +economic arguments for and against protection are continually brought +forward in this connection. From the tone of the discussion, it is to be +feared that many of those who are interested in the question have not +taken the trouble to read what he said. The speech of 1828 is by no means +equal in any way to its predecessors in the same field. It is brief and +simple to the last degree. It has not a shred of constitutional argument, +nor does it enter at all into a discussion of general principles. It makes +but one point, and treats that point with great force as the only one to be +made under the circumstances, and thereby presents the single and +sufficient reason for its author's vote. A few lines from the speech give +the marrow of the whole matter. Mr. Webster said:-- + + "New England, sir, has not been a leader in this policy. On the + contrary, she held back herself and tried to hold others back from + it, from the adoption of the Constitution to 1824. Up to 1824 she + was accused of sinister and selfish designs, _because she + discountenanced the progress of this policy_.... Under this angry + denunciation against her the act of 1824 passed. Now the imputation + is of a precisely opposite character.... Both charges, sir, are + equally without the slightest foundation. The opinion of New + England up to 1824 was founded in the conviction that, on the + whole, it was wisest and best, both for herself and others, that + manufactures should make haste slowly.... When, at the commencement + of the late war, duties were doubled, we were told that we should + find a mitigation of the weight of taxation in the new aid and + succor which would be thus afforded to our own manufacturing labor. + Like arguments were urged, and prevailed, but not by the aid of New + England votes, when the tariff was afterwards arranged at the + close of the war in 1816. Finally, after a winter's deliberation, + the act of 1824 received the sanction of both Houses of Congress + and settled the policy of the country. What, then, was New England + to do?... Was she to hold out forever against the course of the + government, and see herself losing on one side and yet make no + effort to sustain herself on the other? No, sir. Nothing was left + to New England but to conform herself to the will of others. + Nothing was left to her but to consider that the government had + fixed and determined its own policy; and that policy was + _protection_.... I believe, sir, almost every man from New England + who voted against the law of 1824 declared that if, notwithstanding + his opposition to that law, it should still pass, there would be no + alternative but to consider the course and policy of the government + as then settled and fixed, and to act accordingly. The law did + pass; and a vast increase of investment in manufacturing + establishments was the consequence." + +Opinion in New England changed for good and sufficient business reasons, +and Mr. Webster changed with it. Free trade had commended itself to him as +an abstract principle, and he had sustained and defended it as in the +interest of commercial New England. But when the weight of interest in New +England shifted from free trade to protection Mr. Webster followed it. His +constituents were by no means unanimous in support of the tariff in 1828, +but the majority favored it, and Mr. Webster went with the majority. At a +public dinner given to him in Boston at the close of the session, he +explained to the dissentient minority the reasons for his vote, which were +very simple. He thought that good predominated over evil in the bill, and +that the majority throughout the whole State of which he was the +representative favored the tariff, and therefore he had voted in the +affirmative. + +Much fault has been found, as has been said, both at the time and since, +with Mr. Webster's change of position on this question. It has been held up +as a monument of inconsistency, and as indicating a total absence of deep +conviction. That Mr. Webster was, in a certain sense, inconsistent is +beyond doubt, but consistency is the bugbear of small minds, as well as a +mark of strong characters, while its reverse is often the proof of wisdom. +On the other hand, it may be fairly argued that, holding as he did that the +whole thing was purely a business question to be decided according to +circumstances, his course, in view of the policy adopted by the government, +was at bottom perfectly consistent. As to the want of deep conviction, Mr. +Webster's vote on this question proves nothing. He believed in free trade +as an abstract general principle, and there is no reason to suppose that he +ever abandoned his belief on this point. But he had too clear a mind ever +to be run away with by the extreme vagaries of the Manchester school. He +knew that there was no morality, no immutable right and wrong, in an +impost or a free list. It has been the fashion to refer to Mr. Disraeli's +declaration that free trade was "a mere question of expediency" as a proof +of that gentleman's cynical indifference to moral principles. That the late +Earl of Beaconsfield had no deep convictions on any subject may be readily +admitted, but in this instance he uttered a very plain and simple truth, +which all the talk in the world about free trade as the harbinger and +foundation of universal peace on earth, cannot disguise. + +Mr. Webster never at any time treated the question of free trade or +protection as anything but one of expediency. Under the lead of Mr. +Calhoun, in 1816, the South and West initiated a protective policy, and +after twelve years it had become firmly established and New England had +adapted herself to it. Mr. Webster, as a New England representative, +resisted the protective policy at the outset as against her interests, but +when she had conformed to the new conditions, he came over to its support +simply on the ground of expediency. He rested the defence of his new +position upon the doctrine which he had always consistently preached, that +uniformity and permanency were the essential and sound conditions of any +policy, whether of free trade or protection. In 1828, neither at the dinner +in Boston nor in the Senate, did he enter into any discussion of general +principles or constitutional theories. He merely said, in substance, You +have chosen to make protection necessary to New England, and therefore I am +now forced to vote for it. This was the position which he continued to hold +to the end of his life. As he was called upon, year after year, to defend +protection, and as New England became more and more wedded to the tariff, +he elaborated his arguments on many points, but the essence of all he said +afterwards is to be found in the speech of 1828. On the constitutional +point he was obliged to make a more violent change. He held, of course, to +his opinion that, under the revenue power, protection could be incidental +only, because from that doctrine there was no escape. But he dropped the +condemnation expressed in 1814 and the doubts uttered in 1820 as to the +theory that it was within the direct power of Congress to enact a +protective tariff, and assumed that they had this right as one of the +general powers in the Constitution, or that at all events they had +exercised it, and that therefore the question was henceforward to be +considered as _res adjudicata_. The speech of 1828 marks the separation of +Mr. Webster from the opinions of the old school of New England Federalism. +Thereafter he stood forth as the champion of the tariff and of the +"American system" of Henry Clay. Regarding protection in its true light, as +a mere question of expediency, he followed the interests of New England +and of the great industrial communities of the North. That he shifted his +ground at the proper moment, bad as the "bill of abominations" was, and +that, as a Northern statesman, he was perfectly justified in doing so, +cannot be fairly questioned or criticised. It is true that his course was a +sectional one, but everybody else's on this question was the same, and it +could not be, it never has been, and never will be otherwise. + +The tariff of 1828 was destined indirectly to have far more important +results to Mr. Webster than the brief speech in which he signalized his +change of position on the question of protection. Soon after the passage of +the act, in May, 1828, the South Carolina delegation held a meeting to take +steps to resist the operation of the tariff, but nothing definite was then +accomplished. Popular meetings in South Carolina, characterized by much +violent talk, followed, however, during the summer, and in the autumn the +Legislature of the State put forth the famous "exposition and protest" +which emanated from Mr. Calhoun, and embodied in the fullest and strongest +terms the principles of "nullification." These movements were viewed with +regret and with some alarm throughout the country, but they were rather +lost sight of in the intense excitement of the presidential election. The +accession of Jackson then came to absorb the public attention, and brought +with it the sweeping removals from office which Mr. Webster strongly +denounced. At the same time he was not led into the partisan absurdity of +denying the President's power of removal, and held to the impregnable +position of steady resistance to the evils of patronage, which could be +cured only by the operation of an enlightened public sentiment. It is +obvious now that, in the midst of all this agitation about other matters, +Mr. Calhoun and the South Carolinians never lost sight of the conflict for +which they were preparing, and that they were on the alert to bring +nullification to the front in a more menacing and pronounced fashion than +had yet been attempted. + +The grand assault was finally made in the Senate, under the eye of the +great nullifier, who then occupied the chair of the Vice-President, and +came in an unexpected way. In December, 1829, Mr. Foote of Connecticut +introduced a harmless resolution of inquiry respecting the sales and +surveys of the Western lands. In the long-drawn debate which ensued, +General Hayne of South Carolina, on January 19, 1830, made an elaborate +attack on the New England States. He accused them of a desire to check the +growth of the West in the interests of the protective policy, and tried to +show the sympathy which should exist between the West and South, and lead +them to make common cause against the tariff. Mr. Webster felt that this +attack could not be left unanswered, and the next day he replied to it. +This first speech on Foote's resolution has been so obscured by the +greatness of the second that it is seldom referred to and but little read. +Yet it is one of the most effective retorts, one of the strongest pieces of +destructive criticism, ever uttered in the Senate, although its purpose was +simply to repel the charge of hostility to the West on the part of New +England. The accusation was in fact absurd, and but few years had elapsed +since Mr. Webster and New England had been assailed by Mr. McDuffie for +desiring to build up the West at the expense of the South by the policy of +internal improvements. It was not difficult, therefore, to show the +groundlessness of this new attack, but Mr. Webster did it with consummate +art and great force, shattering Hayne's elaborate argument to pieces and +treading it under foot. Mr. Webster only alluded incidentally to the tariff +agitation in South Carolina, but the crushing nature of the reply inflamed +and mortified Mr. Hayne, who, on the following day, insisted on Mr. +Webster's presence, and spoke for the second time at great length. He made +a bitter attack upon New England, upon Mr. Webster personally, and upon the +character and patriotism of Massachusetts. He then made a full exposition +of the doctrine of nullification, giving free expression of the views and +principles entertained by his master and leader, who presided over the +discussion. The debate had now drifted far from the original resolution, +but its real object had been reached at last. The war upon the tariff had +been begun, and the standard of nullification and of resistance to the +Union and to the laws of Congress had been planted boldly in the Senate of +the United States. The debate was adjourned and Mr. Hayne did not conclude +till January 25. The next day Mr. Webster replied in the second speech on +Foote's resolution, which is popularly known as the "Reply to Hayne." + +This great speech marks the highest point attained by Mr. Webster as a +public man. He never surpassed it, he never equalled it afterwards. It was +his zenith intellectually, politically, and as an orator. His fame grew and +extended in the years which followed, he won ample distinction in other +fields, he made many other splendid speeches, but he never went beyond the +reply which he made to the Senator from South Carolina on January 26, 1830. + +The doctrine of nullification, which was the main point both with Hayne and +Webster, was no new thing. The word was borrowed from the Kentucky +resolutions of 1799, and the principle was contained in the more cautious +phrases of the contemporary Virginia resolutions and of the Hartford +Convention in 1814. The South Carolinian reproduction in 1830 was fuller +and more elaborate than its predecessors and supported by more acute +reasoning, but the principle was unchanged. Mr. Webster's argument was +simple but overwhelming. He admitted fully the right of revolution. He +accepted the proposition that no one was bound to obey an unconstitutional +law; but the essential question was who was to say whether a law was +unconstitutional or not. Each State has that authority, was the reply of +the nullifiers, and if the decision is against the validity of the law it +cannot be executed within the limits of the dissenting State. The vigorous +sarcasm with which Mr. Webster depicted practical nullification, and showed +that it was nothing more or less than revolution when actually carried out, +was really the conclusive answer to the nullifying doctrine. But Mr. +Calhoun and his school eagerly denied that nullification rested on the +right to revolt against oppression. They argued that it was a +constitutional right; that they could live within the Constitution and +beyond it,--inside the house and outside it at one and the same time. They +contended that, the Constitution being a compact between the States, the +Federal government was the creation of the States; yet, in the same breath, +they declared that the general government was a party to the contract from +which it had itself emanated, in order to get rid of the difficulty of +proving that, while the single dissenting State could decide against the +validity of a law, the twenty or more other States, also parties to the +contract, had no right to deliver an opposite judgment which should be +binding as the opinion of the majority of the court. There was nothing very +ingenious or very profound in the argument by which Mr. Webster +demonstrated the absurdity of the doctrine which attempted to make +nullification a peaceable constitutional privilege, when it could be in +practice nothing else than revolution. But the manner in which he put the +argument was magnificent and final. As he himself said, in this very speech +of Samuel Dexter, "his statement was argument, his inference +demonstration." + +The weak places in his armor were historical in their nature. It was +probably necessary, at all events Mr. Webster felt it to be so, to argue +that the Constitution at the outset was not a compact between the States, +but a national instrument, and to distinguish the cases of Virginia and +Kentucky in 1799 and of New England in 1814, from that of South Carolina in +1830. The former point he touched upon lightly, the latter he discussed +ably, eloquently, ingeniously, and at length. Unfortunately the facts were +against him in both instances. When the Constitution was adopted by the +votes of States at Philadelphia, and accepted by the votes of States in +popular conventions, it is safe to say that there was not a man in the +country from Washington and Hamilton on the one side, to George Clinton and +George Mason on the other, who regarded the new system as anything but an +experiment entered upon by the States and from which each and every State +had the right peaceably to withdraw, a right which was very likely to be +exercised. When the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions appeared they were +not opposed on constitutional grounds, but on those of expediency and of +hostility to the revolution which they were considered to embody. Hamilton, +and no one knew the Constitution better than he, treated them as the +beginnings of an attempt to change the government, as the germs of a +conspiracy to destroy the Union. As Dr. Von Holst tersely and accurately +states it, "there was no time as yet to attempt to strangle the healthy +human mind in a net of logical deductions." That was the work reserved for +John C. Calhoun. + +What is true of 1799 is true of the New England leaders at Washington when +they discussed the feasibility of secession in 1804; of the declaration in +favor of secession made by Josiah Quincy in Congress a few years later; of +the resistance of New England during the war of 1812, and of the right of +"interposition" set forth by the Hartford Convention. In all these +instances no one troubled himself about the constitutional aspect; it was a +question of expediency, of moral and political right or wrong. In every +case the right was simply stated, and the uniform answer was, such a step +means the overthrow of the present system. + +When South Carolina began her resistance to the tariff in 1830, times had +changed, and with them the popular conception of the government established +by the Constitution. It was now a much more serious thing to threaten the +existence of the Federal government than it had been in 1799, or even in +1814. The great fabric which had been gradually built up made an overthrow +of the government look very terrible; it made peaceable secession a +mockery, and a withdrawal from the Union equivalent to civil war. The +boldest hesitated to espouse any principle which was avowedly +revolutionary, and on both sides men wished to have a constitutional +defence for every doctrine which they promulgated. This was the feeling +which led Mr. Calhoun to elaborate and perfect with all the ingenuity of +his acute and logical mind the arguments in favor of nullification as a +constitutional principle. At the same time the theory of nullification, +however much elaborated, had not altered in its essence from the bald and +brief statement of the Kentucky resolutions. The vast change had come on +the other side of the question, in the popular idea of the Constitution. It +was no longer regarded as an experiment from which the contracting parties +had a right to withdraw, but as the charter of a national government. "It +is a critical moment," said Mr. Bell of New Hampshire to Mr. Webster, on +the morning of January 26, "and it is time, it is high time that the +people of this country should know what this Constitution _is_." "Then," +answered Mr. Webster, "by the blessing of heaven they shall learn, this +day, before the sun goes down, what I understand it to be." With these +words on his lips he entered the senate chamber, and when he replied to +Hayne he stated what the Union and the government had come to be at that +moment. He defined the character of the Union as it existed in 1830, and +that definition so magnificently stated, and with such grand eloquence, +went home to the hearts of the people, and put into noble words the +sentiment which they felt but had not expressed. This was the significance +of the reply to Hayne. It mattered not what men thought of the Constitution +in 1789. The government which was then established might have degenerated +into a confederation little stronger than its predecessor. But the +Constitution did its work better, and converted a confederacy into a +nation. Mr. Webster set forth the national conception of the Union. He +expressed what many men were vaguely thinking and believing, and the +principles which he made clear and definite went on broadening and +deepening until, thirty years afterwards, they had a force sufficient to +sustain the North and enable her to triumph in the terrible struggle which +resulted in the preservation of national life. When Mr. Webster showed that +practical nullification was revolution, he had answered completely the +South Carolinian doctrine, for revolution is not susceptible of +constitutional argument. But in the state of public opinion at that time it +was necessary to discuss nullification on constitutional grounds also, and +Mr. Webster did this as eloquently and ably as the nature of the case +admitted. Whatever the historical defects of his position, he put weapons +into the hands of every friend of the Union, and gave reasons and arguments +to the doubting and timid. Yet after all is said, the meaning of Mr. +Webster's speech in our history and its significance to us are, that it set +forth with every attribute of eloquence the nature of the Union as it had +developed under the Constitution. He took the vague popular conception and +gave it life and form and character. He said, as he alone could say, the +people of the United States are a nation, they are the masters of an +empire, their union is indivisible, and the words which then rang out in +the senate chamber have come down through long years of political conflict +and of civil war, until at last they are part of the political creed of +every one of his fellow-countrymen. + +The reply to Hayne cannot, however, be dismissed with a consideration of +its historical and political meaning or of its constitutional significance. +It has a personal and literary importance of hardly less moment. There +comes an occasion, a period perhaps, in the life of every man when he +touches his highest point, when he does his best, or even, under a sudden +inspiration and excitement, something better than his best, and to which he +can never again attain. At the moment it is often impossible to detect this +point, but when the man and his career have passed into history, and we can +survey it all spread out before us like a map, the pinnacle of success can +easily be discovered. The reply to Hayne was the zenith of Mr. Webster's +life, and it is the place of all others where it is fit to pause and study +him as a parliamentary orator and as a master of eloquence. + +Before attempting, however, to analyze what he said, let us strive to +recall for a moment the scene of his great triumph. On the morning of the +memorable day, the senate chamber was packed by an eager and excited crowd. +Every seat on the floor and in the galleries was occupied, and all the +available standing-room was filled. The protracted debate, conducted with +so much ability on both sides, had excited the attention of the whole +country, and had given time for the arrival of hundreds of interested +spectators from all parts of the Union, and especially from New England. +The fierce attacks of the Southern leaders had angered and alarmed the +people of the North. They longed with an intense longing to have these +assaults met and repelled, and yet they could not believe that this +apparently desperate feat could be successfully accomplished. Men of the +North and of New England could be known in Washington, in those days, by +their indignant but dejected looks and downcast eyes. They gathered in the +senate chamber on the appointed day, quivering with anticipation, and with +hope and fear struggling for the mastery in their breasts. With them were +mingled those who were there from mere curiosity, and those who had come +rejoicing in the confident expectation that the Northern champion would +suffer failure and defeat. + +In the midst of the hush of expectation, in that dead silence which is so +peculiarly oppressive because it is possible only when many human beings +are gathered together, Mr. Webster rose. He had sat impassive and immovable +during all the preceding days, while the storm of argument and invective +had beaten about his head. At last his time had come; and as he rose and +stood forth, drawing himself up to his full height, his personal grandeur +and his majestic calm thrilled all who looked upon him. With perfect +quietness, unaffected apparently by the atmosphere of intense feeling about +him, he said, in a low, even tone: "Mr. President: When the mariner has +been tossed for many days in thick weather and on an unknown sea, he +naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest +glance of the sun, to take his latitude and ascertain how far the elements +have driven him from his true course. Let us imitate this prudence; and, +before we float farther on the waves of this debate, refer to the point +from which we departed, that we may, at least, be able to conjecture where +we now are. I ask for the reading of the resolution before the Senate." +This opening sentence was a piece of consummate art. The simple and +appropriate image, the low voice, the calm manner, relieved the strained +excitement of the audience, which might have ended by disconcerting the +speaker if it had been maintained. Every one was now at his ease; and when +the monotonous reading of the resolution ceased Mr. Webster was master of +the situation, and had his listeners in complete control. With breathless +attention they followed him as he proceeded. The strong masculine +sentences, the sarcasm, the pathos, the reasoning, the burning appeals to +love of State and country, flowed on unbroken. As his feelings warmed the +fire came into his eyes; there was a glow on his swarthy cheek; his strong +right arm seemed to sweep away resistlessly the whole phalanx of his +opponents, and the deep and melodious cadences of his voice sounded like +harmonious organ-tones as they filled the chamber with their music. As the +last words died away into silence, those who had listened looked +wonderingly at each other, dimly conscious that they had heard one of the +grand speeches which are land-marks in the history of eloquence; and the +men of the North and of New England went forth full of the pride of +victory, for their champion had triumphed, and no assurance was needed to +prove to the world that this time no answer could be made. + +As every one knows, this speech contains much more than the argument +against nullification, which has just been discussed, and exhibits all its +author's intellectual gifts in the highest perfection. Mr. Hayne had +touched on every conceivable subject of political importance, including +slavery, which, however covered up, was really at the bottom of every +Southern movement, and was certain sooner or later to come to the surface. +All these various topics Mr. Webster took up, one after another, displaying +a most remarkable strength of grasp and ease of treatment. He dealt with +them all effectively and yet in just proportion. Throughout there are +bursts of eloquence skilfully mingled with statement and argument, so that +the listeners were never wearied by a strained and continuous rhetorical +display; and yet, while the attention was closely held by the even flow of +lucid reasoning, the emotions and passions were from time to time deeply +aroused and strongly excited. In many passages of direct retort Mr. Webster +used an irony which he employed always in a perfectly characteristic way. +He had a strong natural sense of humor, but he never made fun or descended +to trivial efforts to excite laughter against his opponent. He was not a +witty man or a maker of epigrams. But he was a master in the use of a cold, +dignified sarcasm, which at times, and in this instance particularly, he +used freely and mercilessly. Beneath the measured sentences there is a +lurking smile which saves them from being merely savage and cutting +attacks, and yet brings home a keen sense of the absurdity of the +opponent's position. The weapon resembled more the sword of Richard than +the scimetar of Saladin, but it was none the less a keen and trenchant +blade. There is probably no better instance of Mr. Webster's power of +sarcasm than the famous passage in which he replied to Hayne's taunt about +the "murdered coalition," which was said to have existed between Adams and +Calhoun. In a totally different vein is the passage about Massachusetts, +perhaps in its way as good an example as we have of Webster's power of +appealing to the higher and more tender feelings of human nature. The +thought is simple and even obvious, and the expression unadorned, and yet +what he said had that subtle quality which stirred and still stirs the +heart of every man born on the soil of the old Puritan Commonwealth. + +The speech as a whole has all the qualities which made Mr. Webster a great +orator, and the same traits run through his other speeches. An analysis of +the reply to Hayne, therefore, gives us all the conditions necessary to +forming a correct idea of Mr. Webster's eloquence, of its characteristics +and its value. The Attic school of oratory subordinated form to thought to +avoid the misuse of ornament, and triumphed over the more florid practice +of the so-called "Asiatics." Rome gave the palm to Atticism, and modern +oratory has gone still farther in the same direction, until its predominant +quality has become that of making sustained appeals to the understanding. +Logical vigilance and long chains of reasoning, avoided by the ancients, +are the essentials of our modern oratory. Many able men have achieved +success under these conditions as forcible and convincing speakers. But the +grand eloquence of modern times is distinguished by the bursts of feeling, +of imagery or of invective, joined with convincing argument. This +combination is rare, and whenever we find a man who possesses it we may be +sure that, in greater or less degree, he is one of the great masters of +eloquence as we understand it. The names of those who in debate or to a +jury have been in every-day practice strong and effective speakers, and +also have thrilled and shaken large masses of men, readily occur to us. To +this class belong Chatham and Burke, Fox, Sheridan and Erskine, Mirabeau +and Vergniaud, Patrick Henry and Daniel Webster. + +Mr. Webster was of course essentially modern in his oratory. He relied +chiefly on the sustained appeal to the understanding, and he was a +conspicuous example of the prophetic character which Christianity, and +Protestantism especially, has given to modern eloquence. At the same time +Mr. Webster was in some respects more classical, and resembled more closely +the models of antiquity, than any of those who have been mentioned as +belonging to the same high class. He was wont to pour forth the copious +stream of plain, intelligible observations, and indulge in the varied +appeals to feeling, memory, and interest, which Lord Brougham sets down as +characteristic of ancient oratory. It has been said that while Demosthenes +was a sculptor, Burke was a painter. Mr. Webster was distinctly more of the +former than the latter. He rarely amplified or developed an image or a +description, and in this he followed the Greek rather than the Englishman. +Dr. Francis Lieber wrote: "To test Webster's oratory, which has ever been +very attractive to me, I read a portion of my favorite speeches of +Demosthenes, and then read, always aloud, parts of Webster; then returned +to the Athenian; and Webster stood the test." Apart from the great +compliment which this conveys, such a comparison is very interesting as +showing the similarity between Mr. Webster and the Greek orator. Not only +does the test indicate the merit of Mr. Webster's speeches, but it also +proves that he resembled the Athenian, and that the likeness was more +striking than the inevitable difference born of race and time. Yet there +is no indication that Webster ever made a study of the ancient models or +tried to form himself upon them. + +The cause of the classic self-restraint in Webster was partly due to the +artistic sense which made him so devoted to simplicity of diction, and +partly to the cast of his mind. He had a powerful historic imagination, but +not in the least the imagination of the poet, which + + "Bodies forth the forms of things unknown." + +He could describe with great vividness, brevity, and force what had +happened in the past, what actually existed, or what the future promised. +But his fancy never ran away with him or carried him captive into the +regions of poetry. Imagination of this sort is readily curbed and +controlled, and, if less brilliant, is safer than that defined by +Shakespeare. For this reason, Mr. Webster rarely indulged in long, +descriptive passages, and, while he showed the highest power in treating +anything with a touch of humanity about it, he was sparing of images drawn +wholly from nature, and was not peculiarly successful in depicting in words +natural scenery or phenomena. The result is, that in his highest flights, +while he is often grand and affecting, full of life and power, he never +shows the creative imagination. But if he falls short on the poetic side, +there is the counterbalancing advantage that there is never a false note +nor an overwrought description which offends our taste and jars upon our +sensibilities. + +Mr. Webster showed his love of direct simplicity in his style even more +than in his thought or the general arrangement and composition of his +speeches. His sentences are, as a rule, short, and therefore pointed and +intelligible, but they never become monotonous and harsh, the fault to +which brevity is always liable. On the contrary, they are smooth and +flowing, and there is always a sufficient variety of form. The choice of +language is likewise simple. Mr. Webster was a remorseless critic of his +own style, and he had an almost extreme preference for Anglo-Saxon words +and a corresponding dislike of Latin derivatives. The only exception he +made was in his habit of using "commence" instead of its far superior +synonym "begin." His style was vigorous, clear, and direct in the highest +degree, and at the same time warm and full of vitality. He displayed that +rare union of strength with perfect simplicity, the qualities which made +Swift the great master of pure and forcible English. + +Charles Fox is credited with saying that a good speech never reads well. +This opinion, taken in the sense in which it was intended, that a +carefully-prepared speech, which reads like an essay, lacks the freshness +and glow that should characterize the oratory of debate, is undoubtedly +correct. But it is equally true that when a speech which we know to have +been good in delivery is equally good in print, a higher intellectual plane +is reached and a higher level of excellence is attained than is possible to +either the mere essay or to the effective retort or argument, which loses +its flavor with the occasion which draws it forth. Mr. Webster's speeches +on the tariff, on the bank, and on like subjects, able as they are, are +necessarily dry, but his speeches on nobler themes are admirable reading. +This is, of course, due to the variety and ease of treatment, to their +power, and to the purity of the style. At the same time, the immediate +effect of what he said was immense, greater, even, than the intrinsic merit +of the speech itself. There has been much discussion as to the amount of +preparation which Mr. Webster made. His occasional orations were, of +course, carefully written out beforehand, a practice which was entirely +proper; but in his great parliamentary speeches, and often in legal +arguments as well, he made but slight preparation in the ordinary sense of +the term. The notes for the two speeches on Foote's resolution were jotted +down on a few sheets of note-paper. The delivery of the second one, his +masterpiece, was practically extemporaneous, and yet it fills seventy +octavo pages and occupied four hours. He is reported to have said that his +whole life had been a preparation for the reply to Hayne. Whether he said +it or not, the statement is perfectly true. The thoughts on the Union and +on the grandeur of American nationality had been garnered up for years, and +this in a greater or less degree was true of all his finest efforts. The +preparation on paper was trifling, but the mental preparation extending +over weeks or days, sometimes, perhaps, over years, was elaborate to the +last point. When the moment came, a night's work would put all the +stored-up thoughts in order, and on the next day they would pour forth with +all the power of a strong mind thoroughly saturated with its subject, and +yet with the vitality of unpremeditated expression, having the fresh glow +of morning upon it, and with no trace of the lamp. + +More than all this, however, in the immediate effect of Mr. Webster's +speeches was the physical influence of the man himself. We can but half +understand his eloquence and its influence if we do not carefully study his +physical attributes, his temperament and disposition. In face, form, and +voice, nature did her utmost for Daniel Webster. No envious fairy was +present at his birth to mar these gifts by her malign influence. He seemed +to every one to be a giant; that, at least, is the word we most commonly +find applied to him, and there is no better proof of his enormous physical +impressiveness than this well-known fact, for Mr. Webster was not a man of +extraordinary stature. He was five feet ten inches in height, and, in +health, weighed a little less than two hundred pounds. These are the +proportions of a large man, but there is nothing remarkable about them. We +must look elsewhere than to mere size to discover why men spoke of Webster +as a giant. He had a swarthy complexion and straight black hair. His head +was very large, the brain weighing, as is well known, more than any on +record, except those of Cuvier and of the celebrated bricklayer. At the +same time his head was of noble shape, with a broad and lofty brow, and his +features were finely cut and full of massive strength. His eyes were +extraordinary. They were very dark and deep-set, and, when he began to +rouse himself to action, shone with the deep light of a forge-fire, getting +ever more glowing as excitement rose. His voice was in harmony with his +appearance. It was low and musical in conversation; in debate it was high +but full, ringing out in moments of excitement like a clarion, and then +sinking to deep notes with the solemn richness of organ-tones, while the +words were accompanied by a manner in which grace and dignity mingled in +complete accord. The impression which he produced upon the eye and ear it +is difficult to express. There is no man in all history who came into the +world so equipped physically for speech. In this direction nature could do +no more. The mere look of the man and the sound of his voice made all who +saw and heard him feel that he must be the embodiment of wisdom, dignity, +and strength, divinely eloquent, even if he sat in dreamy silence or +uttered nothing but heavy commonplaces. + +It is commonly said that no one of the many pictures of Mr. Webster gives a +true idea of what he was. We can readily believe this when we read the +descriptions which have come down to us. That indefinable quality which we +call personal magnetism, the power of impressing by one's personality every +human being who comes near, was at its height in Mr. Webster. He never, for +instance, punished his children, but when they did wrong he would send for +them and look at them silently. The look, whether of anger or sorrow, was +punishment and rebuke enough. It was the same with other children. The +little daughter of Mr. Wirt once came into a room where Mr. Webster was +sitting with his back toward her, and touched him on the arm. He turned +suddenly, and the child started back with an affrighted cry at the sight of +that dark, stern, melancholy face. But the cloud passed as swiftly as the +shadows on a summer sea, and the next moment the look of affection and +humor brought the frightened child into Mr. Webster's arms, and they were +friends and playmates in an instant. + +The power of a look and of changing expression, so magical with a child, +was hardly less so with men. There have been very few instances in history +where there is such constant reference to merely physical attributes as in +the case of Mr. Webster. His general appearance and his eyes are the first +and last things alluded to in every contemporary description. Every one is +familiar with the story of the English navvy who pointed at Mr. Webster in +the streets of Liverpool and said, "There goes a king." Sidney Smith +exclaimed when he saw him, "Good heavens, he is a small cathedral by +himself." Carlyle, no lover of America, wrote to Emerson:-- + + "Not many days ago I saw at breakfast the notablest of all your + notabilities, Daniel Webster. He is a magnificent specimen. You + might say to all the world, 'This is our Yankee Englishman; such + limbs we make in Yankee land!' As a logic fencer, or parliamentary + Hercules, one would incline to back him at first sight against all + the extant world. The tanned complexion; that amorphous crag-like + face; the dull black eyes under the precipice of brows, like dull + anthracite furnaces needing only to be _blown_; the mastiff mouth + accurately closed; I have not traced so much of _silent Berserkir + rage_ that I remember of in any man. 'I guess I should not like to + be your nigger!' Webster is not loquacious, but he is pertinent, + conclusive; a dignified, perfectly bred man, though not English in + breeding; a man worthy of the best reception among us, and meeting + such I understand." + +Such was the effect produced by Mr. Webster when in England, and it was a +universal impression. Wherever he went men felt in the depths of their +being the amazing force of his personal presence. He could control an +audience by a look, and could extort applause from hostile listeners by a +mere glance. On one occasion, after the 7th of March speech, there is a +story that a noted abolitionist leader was present in the crowd gathered to +hear Mr. Webster, and this bitter opponent is reported to have said +afterwards, "When Webster, speaking of secession, asked 'what is to become +of me,' I was thrilled with a sense of some awful impending calamity." The +story may be apocryphal, but there can be no doubt of its essential truth +so far as the effect of Mr. Webster's personal presence goes. People looked +at him, and that was enough. Mr. Parton in his essay speaks of seeing +Webster at a public dinner, sitting at the head of the table with a bottle +of Madeira under his yellow waistcoat, and looking like Jove. When he +presided at the Cooper memorial meeting in New York he uttered only a few +stately platitudes, and yet every one went away with the firm conviction +that they had heard him speak words of the profoundest wisdom and grandest +eloquence. + +The temptation to rely on his marvellous physical gifts grew on him as he +became older, which was to be expected with a man of his temperament. Even +in his early days, when he was not in action, he had an impassible and +slumberous look; and when he sat listening to the invective of Hayne, no +emotion could be traced on his cold, dark, melancholy face, or in the +cavernous eyes shining with a dull light. This all vanished when he began +to speak, and, as he poured forth his strong, weighty sentences, there was +no lack of expression or of movement. But Mr. Webster, despite his capacity +for work, and his protracted and often intense labor, was constitutionally +indolent, and this sluggishness of temperament increased very much as he +grew older. It extended from the periods of repose to those of action +until, in his later years, a direct stimulus was needed to make him exert +himself. Even to the last the mighty power was still there in undiminished +strength, but it was not willingly put forth. Sometimes the outside impulse +would not come; sometimes the most trivial incident would suffice, and like +a spark on the train of gunpowder would bring a sudden burst of eloquence, +electrifying all who listened. On one occasion he was arguing a case to the +jury. He was talking in his heaviest and most ponderous fashion, and with +half-closed eyes. The court and the jurymen were nearly asleep as Mr. +Webster argued on, stating the law quite wrongly to his nodding listeners. +The counsel on the other side interrupted him and called the attention of +the court to Mr. Webster's presentation of the law. The judge, thus +awakened, explained to the jury that the law was not as Mr. Webster stated +it. While this colloquy was in progress Mr. Webster roused up, pushed back +his thick hair, shook himself, and glanced about him with the look of a +caged lion. When the judge paused, he turned again to the jury, his eyes no +longer half shut but wide open and glowing with excitement. Raising his +voice, he said, in tones which made every one start: "If my client could +recover under the law as I stated it, how much more is he entitled to +recover under the law as laid down by the court;" and then, the jury now +being thoroughly awake, he poured forth a flood of eloquent argument and +won his case. In his latter days Mr. Webster made many careless and dull +speeches and carried them through by the power of his look and manner, but +the time never came when, if fairly aroused, he failed to sway the hearts +and understandings of men by a grand and splendid eloquence. The lion slept +very often, but it never became safe to rouse him from his slumber. + +It was soon after the reply to Hayne that Mr. Webster made his great +argument for the government in the White murder case. One other address to +a jury in the Goodridge case, and the defence of Judge Prescott before the +Massachusetts Senate, which is of similar character, have been preserved to +us. The speech for Prescott is a strong, dignified appeal to the sober, and +yet sympathetic, judgment of his hearers, but wholly free from any attempt +to confuse or mislead, or to sway the decision by unwholesome pathos. Under +the circumstances, which were very adverse to his client, the argument was +a model of its kind, and contains some very fine passages full of the +solemn force so characteristic of its author. The Goodridge speech is +chiefly remarkable for the ease with which Mr. Webster unravelled a +complicated set of facts, demonstrated that the accuser was in reality the +guilty party, and carried irresistible conviction to the minds of the +jurors. It was connected with a remarkable exhibition of his power of +cross-examination, which was not only acute and penetrating, but extremely +terrifying to a recalcitrant witness. The argument in the White case, as a +specimen of eloquence, stands on far higher ground than either of the other +two, and, apart from the nature of the subject, ranks with the very best of +Mr. Webster's oratorical triumphs. The opening of the speech, comprising +the account of the murder and the analysis of the workings of a mind seared +with the remembrance of a horrid crime, must be placed among the very +finest masterpieces of modern oratory. The description of the feelings of +the murderer has a touch of the creative power, but, taken in conjunction +with the wonderful picture of the deed itself, the whole exhibits the +highest imaginative excellence, and displays the possession of an +extraordinary dramatic force such as Mr. Webster rarely exerted. It has the +same power of exciting a kind of horror and of making us shudder with a +creeping, nameless terror as the scene after the murder of Duncan, when +Macbeth rushes out from the chamber of death, crying, "I have done the +deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?" I have studied this famous exordium +with extreme care, and I have sought diligently in the works of all the +great modern orators, and of some of the ancient as well, for similar +passages of higher merit. My quest has been in vain. Mr. Webster's +description of the White murder, and of the ghastly haunting sense of guilt +which pursued the assassin, has never been surpassed in dramatic force by +any speaker, whether in debate or before a jury. Perhaps the most +celebrated descriptive passage in the literature of modern eloquence is the +picture drawn by Burke of the descent of Hyder Ali upon the plains of the +Carnatic, but even that certainly falls short of the opening of Webster's +speech in simple force as well as in dramatic power. Burke depicted with +all the ardor of his nature and with a wealth of color a great invasion +which swept thousands to destruction. Webster's theme was a cold-blooded +murder in a quiet New England town. Comparison between such topics, when +one is so infinitely larger than the other, seems at first sight almost +impossible. But Mr. Webster also dealt with the workings of the human heart +under the influence of the most terrible passions, and those have furnished +sufficient material for the genius of Shakespeare. The test of excellence +is in the treatment, and in this instance Mr. Webster has never been +excelled. The effect of that exordium, delivered as he alone could have +delivered it, must have been appalling. He was accused of having been +brought into the case to hurry the jury beyond the law and evidence, and +his whole speech was certainly calculated to drive any body of men, +terror-stricken by his eloquence, wherever he wished them to go. Mr. +Webster did not have that versatility and variety of eloquence which we +associate with the speakers who have produced the most startling effect +upon that complex thing called a jury. He never showed that rapid +alternation of wit, humor, pathos, invective, sublimity, and ingenuity +which have been characteristic of the greatest advocates. Before a jury as +everywhere else he was direct and simple. He awed and terrified jurymen; he +convinced their reason; but he commanded rather than persuaded, and carried +them with him by sheer force of eloquence and argument, and by his +overpowering personality. + +The extravagant admiration which Mr. Webster excited among his followers +has undoubtedly exaggerated his greatness in many respects; but, high as +the praise bestowed upon him as an orator has been, in that direction at +least he has certainly not been overestimated. The reverse rather is true. +Mr. Webster was, of course, the greatest orator this country has ever +produced. Patrick Henry's fame rests wholly on tradition. The same is true +of Hamilton, who, moreover, never had an opportunity adequate to his +talents, which were unquestionably of the first order. Fisher Ames's +reputation was due to a single speech which is distinctly inferior to many +of Webster's. Clay's oratory has not stood the test of time; his speeches, +which were so wonderfully effective when he uttered them, seem dead and +cold and rather thin as we read them to-day. Calhoun was a great debater, +but was too dry and hard for the highest eloquence. John Quincy Adams, +despite his physical limitations, carried the eloquence of combat and +bitter retort to the highest point in the splendid battles of his +congressional career, but his learning, readiness, power of expression, +argument, and scathing sarcasm were not rounded into a perfect whole by the +more graceful attributes which also form an essential part of oratory. + +Mr. Webster need not fear comparison with any of his countrymen, and he has +no reason to shun it with the greatest masters of speech in England. He had +much of the grandeur of Chatham, with whom it is impossible to compare him +or indeed any one else, for the Great Commoner lives only in fragments of +doubtful accuracy. Sheridan was universally considered to have made the +most splendid speech of his day. Yet the speech on the Begums as given by +Moore does not cast Webster's best work at all into the shade. Webster did +not have Sheridan's brilliant wit, but on the other hand he was never +forced, never involved, never guilty of ornament, which fastidious judges +would now pronounce tawdry. Webster's best speeches read much better than +anything of Sheridan, and, so far as we can tell from careful descriptions, +his manner, look, and delivery were far more imposing. The "manly +eloquence" of Fox seems to have resembled Webster's more closely than that +of any other of his English rivals. Fox was more fertile, more brilliant, +more surprising than Webster, and had more quickness and dash, and a +greater ease and charm of manner. But he was often careless, and sometimes +fell into repetitions, from which, of course, no great speaker can be +wholly free any more than he can keep entirely clear of commonplaces. +Webster gained upon him by superior finish and by greater weight of +argument. Before a jury Webster fell behind Erskine as he did behind +Choate, although neither of them ever produced anything at all comparable +to the speech on the White murder; but in the Senate, and in the general +field of oratory, he rises high above them both. The man with whom Webster +is oftenest compared, and the last to be mentioned, is of course Burke. It +may be conceded at once that in creative imagination, and in richness of +imagery and language, Burke ranks above Webster. But no one would ever have +said of Webster as Goldsmith did of Burke:-- + + "Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining, + And thought of convincing while they thought of dining." + +Webster never sinned by over refinement or over ingenuity, for both were +utterly foreign to his nature. Still less did he impair his power in the +Senate as Burke did in the Commons by talking too often and too much. If he +did not have the extreme beauty and grace of which Burke was capable, he +was more forcible and struck harder and more weighty blows. He was greatly +aided in this by his brief and measured periods, and his strength was never +wasted in long and elaborate sentences. Webster, moreover, would never have +degenerated into the ranting excitement which led Burke to draw a knife +from his bosom and cast it on the floor of the House. This illustrates what +was, perhaps, Mr. Webster's very strongest point,--his absolute good taste. +He may have been ponderous at times in his later years. We know that he was +occasionally heavy, pompous, and even dull, but he never violated the rules +of the nicest taste. Other men have been more versatile, possessed of a +richer imagination, and more gorgeous style, with a more brilliant wit and +a keener sarcasm, but there is not one who is so absolutely free from +faults of taste as Webster, or who is so uniformly simple and pure in +thought and style, even to the point of severity.[1] + +[Footnote 1: A volume might be written comparing Mr. Webster with other +great orators. Only the briefest and most rudimentary treatment of the +subject is possible here. A most excellent study of the comparative +excellence of Webster's eloquence has been made by Judge Chamberlain, +Librarian of the Boston Public Library, in a speech at the dinner of the +Dartmouth Alumni, which has since been printed as a pamphlet.] + +It is easy to compare Mr. Webster with this and the other great orator, +and to select points of resemblance and of difference, and show where Mr. +Webster was superior and where he fell behind. But the final verdict must +be upon all his qualities taken together. He had the most extraordinary +physical gifts of face, form, and voice, and employed them to the best +advantage. Thus equipped, he delivered a long series of great speeches +which can be read to-day with the deepest interest, instruction, and +pleasure. He had dignity, grandeur, and force, a strong historic +imagination, and great dramatic power when he chose to exert it. He +possessed an unerring taste, a capacity for vigorous and telling sarcasm, a +glow and fire none the less intense because they were subdued, perfect +clearness of statement joined to the highest skill in argument, and he was +master of a style which was as forcible as it was simple and pure. Take him +for all in all, he was not only the greatest orator this country has ever +known, but in the history of eloquence his name will stand with those of +Demosthenes and Cicero, of Chatham and Burke. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE STRUGGLE WITH JACKSON AND THE RISE OF THE WHIG PARTY. + + +In the year preceding the delivery of his great speech Mr. Webster had lost +his brother Ezekiel by sudden death, and he had married for his second wife +Miss Leroy of New York. The former event was a terrible grief to him, and +taken in conjunction with the latter seemed to make a complete break with +the past, and with its struggles and privations, its joys and successes. +The slender girl whom he had married in Salisbury church and the beloved +brother were both gone, and with them went those years of youth in which,-- + + "He had sighed deep, laughed free, + Starved, feasted, despaired, been happy." + +One cannot come to this dividing line in Mr. Webster's life without regret. +There was enough of brilliant achievement and substantial success in what +had gone before to satisfy any man, and it had been honest, simple, and +unaffected. A wider fame and a greater name lay before him, but with them +came also ugly scandals, bitter personal attacks, an ambition which warped +his nature, and finally a terrible mistake. One feels inclined to say of +these later years, with the Roman lover:-- + + "Shut them in + With their triumphs and their glories and the rest, + Love is best." + +The home changed first, and then the public career. The reply which, as +John Quincy Adams said, "utterly demolished the fabric of Hayne's speech +and left scarcely a wreck to be seen," went straight home to the people of +the North. It gave eloquent expression to the strong but undefined feeling +in the popular mind. It found its way into every house and was read +everywhere; it took its place in the school books, to be repeated by shrill +boy voices, and became part of the literature and of the intellectual life +of the country. In those solemn sentences men read the description of what +the United States had come to be under the Constitution, and what American +nationality meant in 1830. The leaders of the young war party in 1812 were +the first to arouse the national sentiment, but no one struck the chord +with such a master hand as Mr. Webster, or drew forth such long and deep +vibrations. There is no single utterance in our history which has done so +much by mere force of words to strengthen the love of nationality and +implant it deeply in the popular heart, as the reply to Hayne. + +Before the delivery of that speech Mr. Webster was a distinguished +statesman, but the day after he awoke to a national fame which made all his +other triumphs pale. Such fame brought with it, of course, as it always +does in this country, talk of the presidency. The reply to Hayne made Mr. +Webster a presidential candidate, and from that moment he was never free +from the gnawing, haunting ambition to win the grand prize of American +public life. There was a new force in his career, and in all the years to +come the influence of that force must be reckoned and remembered. + +Mr. Webster was anxious that the party of opposition to General Jackson, +which then passed by the name of National Republicans, should be in some +way strengthened, solidified, and placed on a broad platform of distinct +principles. He saw with great regret the ruin which was threatened by the +anti-masonic schism, and it would seem that he was not indisposed to take +advantage of this to stop the nomination of Mr. Clay, who was peculiarly +objectionable to the opponents of masonry. He earnestly desired the +nomination himself, but even his own friends in the party told him that +this was out of the question, and he acquiesced in their decision. Mr. +Clay's personal popularity, moreover, among the National Republicans was, +in truth, invincible, and he was unanimously nominated by the convention at +Baltimore. The action of the anti-masonic element in the country doomed +Clay to defeat, which he was likely enough to encounter in any event; but +the consolidation of the party so ardently desired by Mr. Webster was +brought about by acts of the administration, which completely overcame any +intestine divisions among its opponents. + +The session of 1831-1832, when the country was preparing for the coming +presidential election, marks the beginning of the fierce struggle with +Andrew Jackson which was to give birth to a new and powerful organization +known in our history as the Whig party, and destined, after years of +conflict, to bring overwhelming defeat to the "Jacksonian democracy." There +is no occasion here to enter into a history of the famous bank controversy. +Established in 1816, the bank of the United States, after a period of +difficulties, had become a powerful and valuable financial organization. In +1832 it applied for a continuance of its charter, which then had three +years still to run. Mr. Webster did not enter into the personal contest +which had already begun, but in a speech of great ability advocated a +renewal of the charter, showing, as he always did on such themes, a +knowledge and a grasp of the principles and intricacies of public finance +unequalled in our history except by Hamilton. In a second speech he made a +most effective and powerful argument against a proposition to give the +States authority to tax the bank, defending the doctrines laid down by +Chief Justice Marshall in McCullough vs. Maryland, and denying the power of +Congress to give the States the right of such taxation, because by so doing +they violated the Constitution. The amendment was defeated, and the bill +for the continuance of the charter passed both Houses by large majorities. + +Jackson returned the bill with a veto. He had the audacity to rest his veto +upon the ground that the bill was unconstitutional, and that it was the +duty of the President to decide upon the constitutionality of every measure +without feeling in the least bound by the opinion of Congress or of the +Supreme Court. His ignorance was so crass that he failed to perceive the +distinction between a new bill and one to continue an existing law, while +his vanity and his self-assumption were so colossal that he did not +hesitate to assert that he had the right and the power to declare an +existing law, passed by Congress, approved by Madison, and held to be +constitutional by an express decision of the Supreme Court, to be invalid, +because he thought fit to say so. To overthrow such doctrines was not +difficult, but Mr. Webster refuted them with a completeness and force which +were irresistible. At the same time he avoided personal attack in the +dignified way which was characteristic of him, despite the extraordinary +temptation to indulge in invective and telling sarcasm to which Jackson by +his ignorance and presumption had so exposed himself. The bill was lost, +the great conflict with the bank was begun, and the Whig party was founded. + +Another event of a different character, which had occurred not long before, +helped to widen the breach and to embitter the contest between the parties +of the administration and of the opposition. When in 1829 Mr. McLane had +received his instructions as Minister to England, he had been directed by +Mr. Van Buren to reopen negotiations on the subject of the West Indian +trade, and in so doing the Secretary of State had reflected on the previous +administration, and had said that the party in power would not support the +pretensions of its predecessors. Such language was, of course, at variance +with all traditions, was wholly improper, and was mean and contemptible in +dealing with a foreign nation. In 1831 Mr. Van Buren was nominated as +Minister to England, and came up for confirmation in the Senate some time +after he had actually departed on his mission. Mr. Webster opposed the +confirmation in an eloquent speech full of just pride in his country and of +vigorous indignation against the slight which Mr. Van Buren had put upon +her by his instructions to Mr. McLane. He pronounced a splendid "rebuke +upon the first instance in which an American minister had been sent abroad +as the representative of his party and not as the representative of his +country." The opposition was successful, and Mr. Van Buren's nomination +was rejected. It is no doubt true that the rejection was a political +mistake, and that, as was commonly said at the time, it created sympathy +for Mr. Van Buren and insured his succession to the presidency. Yet no one +would now think as well of Mr. Webster if, to avoid awakening popular +sympathy and party enthusiasm in behalf of Mr. Van Buren, he had silently +voted for that gentleman's confirmation. To do so was to approve the +despicable tone adopted in the instructions to McLane. As a patriotic +American, above all as a man of intense national feelings, Mr. Webster +could not have done otherwise than resist with all the force of his +eloquence the confirmation of a man who had made such an undignified and +unworthy exhibition of partisanship. Politically he may have been wrong, +but morally he was wholly right, and his rebuke stands in our history as a +reproach which Mr. Van Buren's subsequent success can neither mitigate nor +impair. + +There was another measure, however, which had a far different effect from +those which tended to build up the opposition to Jackson and his followers. +A movement was begun by Mr. Clay looking to a revision and reduction of the +tariff, which finally resulted in a bill reducing duties on many articles +to a revenue standard, and leaving those on cotton and woollen goods and +iron unchanged. In the debates which occurred during the passage of this +bill Mr. Webster took but little part, but they caused a furious outbreak +on the part of the South Carolinians led by Hayne, and ended in the +confirmation of the protective policy. When Mr. Webster spoke at the New +York dinner in 1831, he gave his hearers to understand very clearly that +the nullification agitation was not at an end, and after the passage of the +new tariff bill he saw close at hand the danger which he had predicted. + +In November, 1832, South Carolina in convention passed her famous ordinance +nullifying the revenue laws of the United States, and her Legislature, +which assembled soon after, enacted laws to carry out the ordinance, and +gave an open defiance to the Federal government. The country was filled +with excitement. It was known that Mr. Calhoun, having published a letter +in defence of nullification, had resigned the vice-presidency, accepted the +senatorship of South Carolina, and was coming to the capital to advocate +his favorite doctrine. But the South Carolinians had made one trifling +blunder. They had overlooked the President. Jackson was a Southerner and a +Democrat, but he was also the head of the nation, and determined to +maintain its integrity. On December 10, before Congress assembled, he +issued his famous proclamation in which he took up rigorously the position +adopted by Mr. Webster in his reply to Hayne, and gave the South +Carolinians to understand that he would not endure treason, but would +enforce constitutional laws even though he should be compelled to use +bayonets to do it. The Legislature of the recalcitrant State replied in an +offensive manner which only served to make Jackson angry. He, too, began to +say some pretty violent things, and, as he generally meant what he said, +the gallant leaders of nullification and other worthy people grew very +uneasy. There can be no doubt that the outlook was very threatening, and +the nullifiers were extremely likely to be the first to suffer from the +effects of the impending storm. + +Mr. Webster was in New Jersey, on his way to Washington, when he first +received the proclamation, and at Philadelphia he met Mr. Clay, and from a +friend of that gentleman received a copy of a bill which was to do away +with the tariff by gradual reductions, prevent the imposition of any +further duties, and which at the same time declared against protection and +in favor of a tariff for revenue only. This headlong plunge into concession +and compromise was not at all to Mr. Webster's taste. He was opposed to the +scheme for economical reasons, but still more on the far higher ground that +there was open resistance to laws of undoubted constitutionality, and until +that resistance was crushed under foot any talk of compromise was a blow at +the national dignity and the national existence which ought not to be +tolerated for an instant. His own course was plain. He proposed to sustain +the administration, and when the national honor should be vindicated and +all unconstitutional resistance ended, then would come the time for +concessions. Jackson was not slow in giving Mr. Webster something to +support. At the opening of the session a message was sent to Congress +asking that provision might be made to enable the President to enforce the +laws by means of the land and naval forces if necessary. The message was +referred to a committee, who at once reported the celebrated "Force Bill," +which embodied the principles of the message and had the entire approval of +the President. But Jackson's party broke, despite the attitude of their +chief, for many of them were from the South and could not bring themselves +to the point of accepting the "Force Bill." The moment was critical, and +the administration turned to Mr. Webster and took him into their councils. +On February 8 Mr. Webster rose, and, after explaining in a fashion which no +one was likely to forget, that this was wholly an administration measure, +he announced his intention, as an independent senator, of giving it his +hearty and inflexible support. The combination thus effected was +overwhelming. Mr. Calhoun was now thoroughly alarmed, and we can well +imagine that the threats of hanging, in which it was rumored that the +President had indulged, began to have a good deal of practical significance +to a gentleman who, as Secretary of War, had been familiar with the +circumstances attending the deaths of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. At all +events, Mr. Calhoun lost no time in having an interview with Mr. Clay, and +the result was, that the latter, on February 11, announced that he should, +on the following day, introduce a tariff bill, a measure of the same sort +having already been started in the House. The bill as introduced did not +involve such a complete surrender as that which Mr. Webster had seen in +Philadelphia, but it necessitated most extensive modifications and gave all +that South Carolina could reasonably demand. Mr. Clay advocated it in a +brilliant speech, resting his defence on the ground that this was the only +way to preserve the tariff, and that it was founded on the great +constitutional doctrine of compromise. Mr. Webster opposed the bill +briefly, and then introduced a series of resolutions combating the proposed +measure on economical principles and on those of justice, and especially +assailing the readiness to abandon the rightful powers of Congress and +yield them up to any form of resistance. Before, however, he could speak in +support of his resolutions, the "Force Bill" came up, and Mr. Calhoun made +his celebrated argument in support of nullification. This Mr. Webster was +obliged to answer, and he replied with the great speech known in his works +as "The Constitution not a compact between sovereign States." In a general +way the same criticism is applicable to this debate as to that with Hayne, +but there were some important differences. Mr. Calhoun's argument was +superior to that of his follower. It was dry and hard, but it was a +splendid specimen of close and ingenious reasoning, and, as was to be +expected, the originator and master surpassed the imitator and pupil. Mr. +Webster's speech, on the other hand, in respect to eloquence, was decidedly +inferior to the masterpiece of 1830. Mr. Curtis says, "Perhaps there is no +speech ever made by Mr. Webster that is so close in its reasoning, so +compact, and so powerful." To the first two qualities we can readily +assent, but that it was equally powerful may be doubted. So long as Mr. +Webster confined himself to defending the Constitution as it actually was +and as what it had come to mean in point of fact, he was invincible. Just +in proportion as he left this ground and attempted to argue on historical +premises that it was a fundamental law, he weakened his position, for the +historical facts were against him. In the reply to Hayne he touched but +slightly on the historical, legal, and theoretical aspects of the case, and +he was overwhelming. In the reply to Calhoun he devoted his strength +chiefly to these topics, and, meeting his keen antagonist on the latter's +own chosen ground, he put himself at a disadvantage. In the actual present +and in the steady course of development, the facts were wholly with Mr. +Webster. Whatever the people of the United States understood the +Constitution to mean in 1789, there can be no question that a majority in +1833 regarded it as a fundamental law, and not as a compact--an opinion +which has now become universal. But it was quite another thing to argue +that what the Constitution had come to mean was what it meant when it was +adopted. The identity of meaning at these two periods was the proposition +which Mr. Webster undertook to maintain, and he upheld it as well and as +plausibly as the nature of the case admitted. His reasoning was close and +vigorous; but he could not destroy the theory of the Constitution as held +by leaders and people in 1789, or reconcile the Virginia and Kentucky +resolutions or the Hartford Convention with the fundamental-law doctrines. +Nevertheless, it would be an error to suppose that because the facts of +history were against Mr. Webster in these particulars, this able, +ingenious, and elaborate argument was thrown away. It was a fitting +supplement and complement to the reply to Hayne. It reiterated the national +principles, and furnished those whom the statement and demonstration of an +existing fact could not satisfy, with an immense magazine of lucid +reasoning and plausible and effective arguments. The reply to Hayne gave +magnificent expression to the popular feeling, while that to Calhoun +supplied the arguments which, after years of discussion, converted that +feeling into a fixed opinion, and made it strong enough to carry the North +through four years of civil war. But in his final speech in this debate Mr. +Webster came back to his original ground, and said, in conclusion, "Shall +we have a general government? Shall we continue the union of States under a +_government_ instead of a league? This vital and all-important question the +people will decide." The vital question went to the great popular jury, and +they cast aside all historical premises and deductions, all legal +subtleties and refinements, and gave their verdict on the existing facts. +The world knows what that verdict was, and will never forget that it was +largely due to the splendid eloquence of Daniel Webster when he defended +the cause of nationality against the slave-holding separatists of South +Carolina. + +While this great debate was in progress, and Mr. Webster and the faithful +adherents of Jackson were pushing the "Force Bill" to a vote, Mr. Clay was +making every effort to carry the compromise tariff. In spite of his +exertions, the Force Bill passed on February 20, but close behind came the +tariff, which Mr. Webster opposed, on its final passage, in a vigorous +speech. There is no need to enter into his economical objections, but he +made his strongest stand against the policy of sacrificing great interests +to soothe South Carolina. Mr. Clay replied, but did not then press a vote, +for, with that dexterous management which he had exhibited in 1820 and was +again to display in 1850, he had succeeded in getting his tariff bill +carried rapidly through the House, in order to obviate the objection that +all money bills must originate in the lower branch. The House bill passed +the Senate, Mr. Webster voting against it, and became law. There was no +further need of the Force Bill. Clay, Calhoun, even the daring Jackson +ultimately, were very glad to accept the easy escape offered by a +compromise. South Carolina had in reality prevailed, although Mr. Clay had +saved protection in a modified form. Her threats of nullification had +brought the United States government to terms, and the doctrines of Calhoun +went home to the people of the South with the glory of substantial victory +about them, to breed and foster separatism and secession, and prepare the +way for armed conflict with the nobler spirit of nationality which Mr. +Webster had roused in the North. + +Speaking of Mr. Webster at this period, Mr. Benton says:-- + + "He was the colossal figure on the political stage during that + eventful time, and his labors, splendid in their day, survive for + the benefit of distant posterity."... "It was a splendid era in his + life, both for his intellect and his patriotism. No longer the + advocate of classes or interests, he appeared as the great + defender of the Union, of the Constitution, of the country, and of + the administration to which he was opposed. Released from the bonds + of party and the narrow confines of class and corporation advocacy, + his colossal intellect expanded to its full proportions in the + field of patriotism, luminous with the fires of genius, and + commanding the homage not of party but of country. His magnificent + harangues touched Jackson in his deepest-seated and ruling feeling, + love of country, and brought forth the response which always came + from him when the country was in peril and a defender presented + himself. He threw out the right hand of fellowship, treated Mr. + Webster with marked distinction, commended him with public praise, + and placed him on the roll of patriots. And the public mind took + the belief that they were to act together in future, and that a + cabinet appointment or a high mission would be the reward of his + patriotic service. It was a crisis in the life of Mr. Webster. He + stood in public opposition to Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. With Mr. + Clay he had a public outbreak in the Senate. He was cordial with + Jackson. The mass of his party stood by him on the proclamation. He + was at a point from which a new departure might be taken: one at + which he could not stand still; from which there must be either + advance or recoil. It was a case in which _will_ more than + _intellect_ was to rule. He was above Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun in + intellect, below them in will: and he was soon seen cooperating + with them (Mr. Clay in the lead) in the great measure condemning + President Jackson." + +This is of course the view of a Jacksonian leader, but it is none the less +full of keen analysis and comprehension of Mr. Webster, and in some +respects embodies very well the conditions of the situation. Mr. Benton +naturally did not see that an alliance with Jackson was utterly impossible +for Mr. Webster, whose proper course was therefore much less simple than it +appeared to the Senator from Missouri. There was in reality no common +ground possible between Webster and Jackson except defence of the national +integrity. Mr. Webster was a great orator, a splendid advocate, a trained +statesman and economist, a remarkable constitutional lawyer, and a man of +immense dignity, not headstrong in temper and without peculiar force of +will. Jackson, on the other hand, was a rude soldier, unlettered, +intractable, arbitrary, with a violent temper and a most despotic will. Two +men more utterly incompatible it would have been difficult to find, and +nothing could have been more wildly fantastic than to suppose an alliance +between them, or to imagine that Mr. Webster could ever have done anything +but oppose utterly those mad gyrations of personal government which the +President called his "policy." + +Yet at the same time it is perfectly true that just after the passage of +the tariff bill Mr. Webster was at a great crisis in his life. He could not +act with Jackson. That way was shut to him by nature, if by nothing else. +But he could have maintained his position as the independent and unbending +defender of nationality and as the foe of compromise. He might then have +brought Mr. Clay to his side, and remained himself the undisputed head of +the Whig party. The coalition between Clay and Calhoun was a hollow, +ill-omened thing, certain to go violently to pieces, as, in fact, it did, +within a few years, and then Mr. Clay, if he had held out so long, would +have been helpless without Mr. Webster. But such a course required a very +strong will and great tenacity of purpose, and it was on this side that Mr. +Webster was weak, as Mr. Benton points out. Instead of waiting for Mr. Clay +to come to him, Mr. Webster went over to Clay and Calhoun, and formed for a +time the third in that ill-assorted partnership. There was no reason for +his doing so. In fact every good reason was against it. Mr. Clay had come +to Mr. Webster with his compromise, and had been met with the reply "that +it would be yielding great principles to faction; and that the time had +come to test the strength of the Constitution and the government." This was +a brave, manly answer, but Mr. Clay, nationalist as he was, had straightway +deserted his friend and ally, and gone over to the separatists for support. +Then a sharp contest had occurred between Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay in the +debate on the tariff; and when it was all over, the latter wrote with frank +vanity and a slight tinge of contempt: "Mr. Webster and I came in +conflict, and I have the satisfaction to tell you that he gained nothing. +My friends flatter me with my having completely triumphed. There is no +permanent breach between us. I think he begins already to repent his +course." Mr. Clay was intensely national, but his theory of preserving the +Union was by continual compromise, or, in other words, by constant yielding +to the aggressive South. Mr. Webster's plan was to maintain a firm +attitude, enforce absolute submission to all constitutional laws, and prove +that agitation against the Union could lead only to defeat. This policy +would not have resulted in rebellion, but, if it had, the hanging of +Calhoun and a few like him, and the military government of South Carolina, +by the hero of New Orleans, would have taught slave-holders such a lesson +that we should probably have been spared four years of civil war. Peaceful +submission, however, would have been the sure outcome of Mr. Webster's +policy. But a compromise appealed as it always does to the timid, +balance-of-power party. Mr. Clay prevailed, and the manufacturers of New +England, as well as elsewhere, finding that he had secured for them the +benefit of time and of the chapter of accidents, rapidly came over to his +support. The pressure was too much for Mr. Webster. Mr. Clay thought that +if Mr. Webster "had to go over the work of the last few weeks he would have +been for the compromise, which commands the approbation of a great +majority." Whether Mr. Webster repented his opposition to the compromise no +one can say, but the change of opinion in New England, the general assent +of the Whig party, and the dazzling temptations of presidential candidacy +prevailed with him. He fell in behind Mr. Clay, and remained there in a +party sense and as a party man for the rest of his life. + +The terrible prize of the presidency was indeed again before his eyes. Mr. +Clay's overthrow at the previous election had removed him, for the time +being at least, from the list of candidates, and thus freed Mr. Webster +from his most dangerous rival. In the summer of 1833 Mr. Webster made a +tour through the Western States, and was received everywhere with +enthusiasm, and hailed as the great expounder and defender of the +Constitution. The following winter he stood forward as the preëminent +champion of the Bank against the President. Everything seemed to point to +him as the natural candidate of the opposition. The Legislature of +Massachusetts nominated him for the presidency, and he himself deeply +desired the office, for the fever now burned strongly within him. But the +movement came to nothing. The anti-masonic schism still distracted the +opposition. The Kentucky leaders were jealous of Mr. Webster, and thought +him "no such man" as their idol Henry Clay. They admitted his greatness and +his high traits of character, but they thought his ambition mixed with too +much self-love. Governor Letcher wrote to Mr. Crittenden in 1836 that Clay +was more elevated, disinterested and patriotic than Webster, and that the +verdict of the country had had a good effect on the latter. Despite the +interest and enthusiasm which Mr. Webster aroused in the West, he had no +real hold upon that section or upon the masses of the people and the +Western Whigs turned to Harrison. There was no hope in 1836 for Mr. +Webster, or, for that matter, for his party either. He received the +electoral vote of faithful Massachusetts, and that was all. As it was then, +so it had been at the previous election, and so it was to continue to be at +the end of every presidential term. There never was a moment when Mr. +Webster had any real prospect of attaining to the presidency. Unfortunately +he never could realize this. He would have been more than human, perhaps, +if he had done so. The tempting bait hung always before his eyes. The prize +seemed to be always just coming within his reach, and was really never near +it. But the longing had entered his soul. He could not rid himself of the +idea of this final culmination to his success; and it warped his feelings +and actions, injured his career, and embittered his last years. + +This notice of the presidential election of 1836 has somewhat anticipated +the course of events. Soon after the tariff compromise had been effected, +Mr. Webster renewed his relations with Mr. Clay, and, consequently, with +Mr. Calhoun, and their redoutable antagonist in the President's chair soon +gave them enough to do. The most immediate obstacle to Mr. Webster's +alliance with General Jackson was the latter's attitude in regard to the +bank. Mr. Webster had become satisfied that the bank was, on the whole, a +useful and even necessary institution. No one was better fitted than he to +decide on such a question, and few persons would now be found to differ +from his judgment on this point. In a general way he may be said to have +adopted the Hamiltonian doctrine in regard to the expediency and +constitutionality of a national bank. There were intimations in the spring +of 1833 that the President, not content with preventing the re-charter of +the bank, was planning to strike it down, and practically deprive it of +even the three years of life which still remained to it by law. The scheme +was perfected during the summer, and, after changing his Secretary of the +Treasury until he got one who would obey, President Jackson dealt his great +blow. On September 26 Mr. Taney signed the order removing the deposits of +the government from the Bank of the United States. The result was an +immediate contraction of loans, commercial distress, and great confusion. + +The President had thrown down the gage, and the leaders of the opposition +were not slow to take it up. Mr. Clay opened the battle by introducing two +resolutions,--one condemning the action of the President as +unconstitutional, the other attacking the policy of removal, and a long and +bitter debate ensued. A month later, Mr. Webster came forward with +resolutions from Boston against the course of the President. He presented +the resolutions in a powerful and effective speech, depicting the +deplorable condition of business, and the injury caused to the country by +the removal of the deposits. He rejected the idea of leaving the currency +to the control of the President, or of doing away entirely with paper, and +advocated the re-charter of the present bank, or the creation of a new one; +and, until the time for that should arrive, the return of the deposits, +with its consequent relief to business and a restoration of stability and +of confidence for the time being at least. He soon found that the +administration had determined that no law should be passed, and that the +doctrine that Congress had no power to establish a bank should be upheld. +He also discovered that the constitutional pundit in the White House, who +was so opposed to a single national bank, had created, by his own fiat, a +large number of small national banks in the guise of state banks, to which +the public deposits were committed, and the collection of the public +revenues intrusted. Such an arbitrary policy, at once so ignorant, +illogical, and dangerous, aroused Mr. Webster thoroughly, and he entered +immediately upon an active campaign against the President. Between the +presentation of the Boston resolutions and the close of the session he +spoke on the bank, and the subjects necessarily connected with it, no less +than sixty-four times. He dealt entirely with financial topics,--chiefly +those relating to the currency, and with the constitutional questions +raised by the extension of the executive authority. This long series of +speeches is one of the most remarkable exhibitions of intellectual power +ever made by Mr. Webster, or indeed by any public man in our history. In +discussing one subject in all its bearings, involving of necessity a +certain amount of repetition, he not only displayed an extraordinary grasp +of complicated financial problems and a wide knowledge of their scientific +meaning and history, but he showed an astonishing fertility in argument, +coupled with great variety and clearness of statement and cogency of +reasoning. With the exception of Hamilton, Mr. Webster is the only +statesman in our history who was capable of such a performance on such a +subject, when a thorough knowledge had to be united with all the resources +of debate and all the arts of the highest eloquence. + +The most important speech of all was that delivered in answer to Jackson's +"Protest," sent in as a reply to Mr. Clay's resolutions which had been +sustained by Mr. Webster as chairman of the Committee on Finance. The +"Protest" asserted, in brief, that the Legislature could not order a +subordinate officer to perform certain duties free from the control of the +President; that the President had the right to put his own conception of +the law into execution; and, if the subordinate officer refused to obey, +then to remove such officer; and that the Senate had therefore no right to +censure his removal of the Secretary of the Treasury, in order to reach the +government deposits. To this doctrine Mr. Webster replied with great +elaboration and ability. The question was a very nice one. There could be +no doubt of the President's power of removal, and it was necessary to show +that this power did not extend to the point of depriving Congress of the +right to confer by law specified and independent powers upon an inferior +officer, or of regulating the tenure of office. To establish this +proposition, in such a way as to take it out of the thick and heated +atmosphere of personal controversy, and put it in a shape to carry +conviction to the popular understanding, was a delicate and difficult task, +requiring, in the highest degree, lucidity and ingenuity of argument. It is +not too high praise to say that Mr. Webster succeeded entirely. The real +contest was for the possession of that debatable ground which lies between +the defined limits of the executive and legislative departments. The +struggle consolidated and gave coherence to the Whig party as representing +the opposition to executive encroachments. At the time Jackson, by his +imperious will and marvellous personal popularity, prevailed and obtained +the acceptance of his doctrines. But the conflict has gone on, and the +balance of advantage now rests with the Legislature. This tendency is quite +as dangerous as that of which Jackson was the exponent, if not more so. The +executive department has been crippled; and the influence and power of +Congress, and especially of the Senate, have become far greater than they +should be, under the system of proportion and balance embodied in the +Constitution. Despite Jackson's victory there is, to-day, far more danger +of undue encroachments on the part of the Senate than on that of the +President. + +At the next session the principal subject of discussion was the trouble +with France. Irritated at the neglect of the French government to provide +funds for the payment of their debt to us, Jackson sent in a message +severely criticising them, and recommending the passage of a law +authorizing reprisals on French property. The President and his immediate +followers were eager for war, Calhoun and his faction regarded the whole +question as only matter for "an action of assumpsit," while Mr. Webster and +Mr. Clay desired to avoid hostilities, but wished the country to maintain a +firm and dignified attitude. Under the lead of Mr. Clay, the recommendation +of reprisals was rejected, and under that of Mr. Webster a clause smuggled +into the Fortification Bill to give the President three millions to spend +as he liked was struck out and the bill was subsequently lost. This affair, +which brought us to the verge of war with France, soon blew over, however, +and caused only a temporary ripple, although Mr. Webster's attack on the +Fortification Bill left a sting behind. + +In this same session Mr. Webster made an exhaustive speech on the question +of executive patronage and the President's power of appointment and +removal. He now went much farther than in his answer to the "Protest," +asserting not only the right of Congress to fix the tenure of office, but +also that the power of removal, like the power of appointment, was in the +President and Senate jointly. The speech contained much that was valuable, +but in its main doctrine was radically unsound. The construction of 1789, +which decided that the power of removal belonged to the President alone, +was clearly right, and Mr. Webster failed to overthrow it. His theory, +embodied in a bill which provided that the President should state to the +Senate, when he appointed to a vacancy caused by removal, his reasons for +such removal, was thoroughly mischievous. It was more dangerous than +Jackson's doctrine, for it tended to take the power of patronage still more +from a single and responsible person and vest it in a large and therefore +wholly irresponsible body which has always been too much inclined to +degenerate into an office-broking oligarchy, and thus degrade its high and +important functions. Mr. Webster argued his proposition with his usual +force and perspicuity, but the speech is strongly partisan and exhibits the +disposition of an advocate to fit the Constitution to his particular case, +instead of dealing with it on general and fundamental principles. + +The session closed with a resolution offered by Mr. Benton to expunge the +resolutions of censure upon the President, which was overwhelmingly +defeated, and was then laid upon the table, on the motion of Mr. Webster. +He also took the first step to prevent the impending financial disaster +growing out of the President's course toward the bank, by carrying a bill +to stop the payment of treasury warrants by the deposit banks in current +banknotes, and to compel their payment in gold and silver. The rejection of +Benton's resolutions served to embitter the already intense conflict +between the President and his antagonists, and Mr. Webster's bill, while it +showed the wisdom of the opposition, was powerless to remedy the mischief +which was afoot. + +In this same year (1835) the independence of Texas was achieved, and in the +session of 1835-36 the slavery agitation began its march, which was only to +terminate on the field of battle and in the midst of contending armies. +Mr. Webster's action at this time in regard to this great question, which +was destined to have such an effect upon his career, can be more fitly +narrated when we come to consider his whole course in regard to slavery in +connection with the "7th of March" speech. The other matters of this +session demand but a brief notice. The President animadverted in his +message upon the loss of the Fortification Bill, due to the defeat of the +three million clause. Mr. Webster defended himself most conclusively and +effectively, and before the session closed the difficulties with France +were practically settled. He also gave great attention to the ever-pressing +financial question, trying to mitigate the evils which the rapid +accumulation of the public funds was threatening to produce. He felt that +he was powerless, that nothing indeed could be done to avert the +approaching disaster; but he struggled to modify its effects and delay its +progress. + +Complications increased rapidly during the summer. The famous "Specie +Circular," issued by the Secretary of the Treasury without authority of +law, weakened all banks which did not hold the government deposits, forced +them to contract their loans, and completed the derangement of domestic +exchange. This grave condition of affairs confronted Congress when it +assembled in December, 1836. A resolution was introduced to rescind the +Specie Circular, and Mr. Webster spoke at length in the debate, defining +the constitutional duties of the government toward the regulation of the +currency, and discussing in a masterly manner the intricate questions of +domestic exchanges and the excessive circulation of bank notes. On another +occasion he reiterated his belief that a national bank was the true remedy +for existing ills, but that only hard experience could convince the country +of its necessity. + +At this session the resolution to expunge the vote of censure of 1833 was +again brought forward by Mr. Benton. The Senate had at last come under the +sway of the President, and it was clear that the resolution would pass. +This precious scheme belongs to the same category of absurdities as the +placing Oliver Cromwell's skull on Temple Bar, and throwing Robert Blake's +body on a dung-hill by Charles Stuart and his friends. It was not such a +mean and cowardly performance as that of the heroes of the Restoration, but +it was far more "childish-foolish." The miserable and ludicrous nature of +such a proceeding disgusted Mr. Webster beyond measure. Before the vote was +taken he made a brief speech that is a perfect model of dignified and +severe protest against a silly outrage upon the Constitution and upon the +rights of senators, which he was totally unable to prevent. The original +censure is part of history. No "black lines" can take it out. The expunging +resolution, which Mr. Curtis justly calls "fantastic and theatrical," is +also part of history, and carries with it the ineffaceable stigma affixed +by Mr. Webster's indignant protest. + +Before the close of the session Mr. Webster made up his mind to resign his +seat in the Senate. He had private interests which demanded his attention, +and he wished to travel both in the United States and in Europe. He may +well have thought, also, that he could add nothing to his fame by remaining +longer in the Senate. But besides the natural craving for rest, it is quite +possible that he believed that a withdrawal from active and official +participation in politics was the best preparation for a successful +candidacy for the presidency in 1840. This certainly was in his mind in the +following year (1838), when the rumor was abroad that he was again +contemplating retirement from the Senate; and it is highly probable that +the same motive was at bottom the controlling one in 1837. But whatever the +cause of his wish to resign, the opposition of his friends everywhere, and +of the Legislature of Massachusetts, formally and strongly expressed, led +him to forego his purpose. He consented to hold his seat for the present, +at least, and in the summer of 1837 made an extended tour through the West, +where he was received as before with the greatest admiration and +enthusiasm. + +The distracted condition of the still inchoate Whig party in 1836, and the +extraordinary popularity of Jackson, resulted in the complete victory of +Mr. Van Buren. But the General's chosen successor and political heir found +the great office to which he had been called, and which he so eagerly +desired, anything but a bed of roses. The ruin which Jackson's wild policy +had prepared was close at hand, and three months after the inauguration the +storm burst with full fury. The banks suspended specie payments and +universal bankruptcy reigned throughout the country. Our business interests +were in the violent throes of the worst financial panic which had ever been +known in the United States. The history of Mr. Van Buren's administration, +in its main features, is that of a vain struggle with a hopeless network of +difficulties, and with the misfortune and prostration which grew out of +this wide-spread disaster. It is not necessary here to enter into the +details of these events. Mr. Webster devoted himself in the Senate to +making every effort to mitigate the evils which he had prophesied, and to +prevent their aggravation by further injudicious legislation. His most +important speech was delivered at the special session against the first +sub-treasury bill and Mr. Calhoun's amendment. Mr. Calhoun, who had wept +over the defeat of the bank bill in 1815, was now convinced that all banks +were mistakes, and wished to prevent the acceptance of the notes of specie +paying banks for government dues. Mr. Webster's speech was the fullest and +most elaborate he ever made on the subject of the currency, and the +relations of the government to it. His theme was the duty and right of the +general government under the Constitution to regulate and control the +currency, and his masterly argument was the best that has ever been made, +leaving in fact nothing to be desired. + +In the spring of 1839 there was talk of sending Mr. Webster to London as +commissioner to settle the boundary disputes, but it came to nothing, and +in the following summer he went to England in his private capacity +accompanied by his family. The visit was in every way successful. It +brought rest and change as well as pleasure, and was full of interest. Mr. +Webster was very well received, much attention was paid him, and much +admiration shown for him. He commanded all this, not only by his +appearance, his reputation, and his intellectual force, but still more by +the fact that he was thoroughly and genuinely American in thought, feeling, +and manner. + +He reached New York on his return at the end of December, and was there met +by the news of General Harrison's nomination by the Whigs. In the previous +year it had seemed as if, with Clay out of the way by the defeat of 1832, +and Harrison by that of 1836, the great prize must fall to Mr. Webster. His +name was brought forward by the Whigs of Massachusetts, but it met with no +response even in New England. It was the old story; Mr. Clay and his +friends were cool, and the masses of the party did not desire Mr. Webster. +The convention turned from the Massachusetts statesman and again nominated +the old Western soldier. + +Mr. Webster did not hesitate as to the course he should pursue upon his +return. He had been reëlected to the Senate in January, 1839, and after the +session closed in July, 1840, he threw himself into the campaign in support +of Harrison. The people did not desire Mr. Webster to be their President, +but there was no one whom they so much wished to hear. He was besieged from +all parts of the country with invitations to speak, and he answered +generously to the call thus made upon him. + +On his way home from Washington, in March, 1837, more than three years +before, he had made a speech at Niblo's Garden in New York,--the greatest +purely political speech which he ever delivered. He then reviewed and +arraigned with the greatest severity the history of Jackson's +administration, abstaining in his characteristic way from all personal +attack, but showing, as no one else could show, what had been done, and the +results of the policy, which were developing as he had predicted. He also +said that the worst was yet to come. The speech produced a profound +impression. People were still reading it when the worst really came, and +the great panic broke over the country. Mr. Webster had, in fact, struck +the key-note of the coming campaign in the Niblo-Garden speech of 1837. In +the summer of 1840 he spoke in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and +Virginia, and was almost continually upon the platform. The great feat of +1833-34, when he made sixty-four speeches in the Senate on the bank +question, was now repeated under much more difficult conditions. In the +first instance he was addressing a small and select body of trained +listeners, all more or less familiar with the subject. In 1840 he was +obliged to present these same topics, with all their infinite detail and +inherent dryness, to vast popular audiences, but nevertheless he achieved a +marvellous success. The chief points which he brought out were the +condition of the currency, the need of government regulation, the +responsibility of the Democrats, the miserable condition of the country, +and the exact fulfillment of the prophecies he had made. The argument and +the conclusion were alike irresistible, but Mr. Webster showed, in handling +his subject, not only the variety, richness, and force which he had +displayed in the Senate, but the capacity of presenting it in a way +thoroughly adapted to the popular mind, and yet, at the same time, of +preserving the impressive tone of a dignified statesman, without any +degeneration into mere stump oratory. This wonderful series of speeches +produced the greatest possible effect. They were heard by thousands and +read by tens of thousands. They fell, of course, upon willing ears. The +people, smarting under bankruptcy, poverty, and business depression, were +wild for a change; but nothing did so much to swell the volume of public +resentment against the policy of the ruling party as these speeches of Mr. +Webster, which gave character and form to the whole movement. Jackson had +sown the wind, and his unlucky successor was engaged in the agreeable task +of reaping the proverbial crop. There was a political revolution. The Whigs +swept the country by an immense majority, the great Democratic party was +crushed to the earth, and the ignorant misgovernment of Andrew Jackson +found at last its fit reward. General Harrison, as soon as he was elected, +turned to the two great chiefs of his party to invite them to become the +pillars of his administration. Mr. Clay declined any cabinet office, but +Mr. Webster, after some hesitation, accepted the secretaryship of state. He +resigned his seat in the Senate February 22, 1841, and on March 4 following +took his place in the cabinet, and entered upon a new field of public +service. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SECRETARY OF STATE.--THE ASHBURTON TREATY. + + +There is one feature in the history, or rather in the historic scenery of +this period, which we are apt to overlook. The political questions, the +debates, the eloquence of that day, give us no idea of the city in which +the history was made, or of the life led by the men who figured in that +history. Their speeches might have been delivered in any great centre of +civilization, and in the midst of a brilliant and luxurious society. But +the Washington of 1841, when Mr. Webster took the post which is officially +the first in the society of the capital and of the country, was a very odd +sort of place, and widely different from what it is to-day. It was not a +village, neither was it a city. It had not grown, but had been created for +a special purpose. A site had been arbitrarily selected, and a city laid +out on the most magnificent scale. But there was no independent life, for +the city was wholly official in its purposes and its existence. There were +a few great public buildings, a few large private houses, a few hotels and +boarding houses, and a large number of negro shanties. The general effect +was of attempted splendor, which had resulted in slovenliness and +straggling confusion. The streets were unpaved, dusty in summer, and deep +with mud in winter, so that the mere difficulty of getting from place to +place was a serious obstacle to general society. Cattle fed in the streets, +and were milked by their owners on the sidewalk. There was a grotesque +contrast between the stately capitol where momentous questions were +eloquently discussed and such queerly primitive and rude surroundings. Few +persons were able to entertain because few persons had suitable houses. +Members of Congress usually clubbed together and took possession of a +house, and these "messes," as they were called,--although without doubt +very agreeable to their members,--did not offer a mode of life which was +easily compatible with the demands of general society. Social enjoyments, +therefore, were pursued under difficulties; and the city, although +improving, was dreary enough. + +Society, too, was in a bad condition. The old forms and ceremonies of the +men of 1789 and the manners and breeding of our earliest generation of +statesmen had passed away, and the new democracy had not as yet a system of +its own. It was a period of transition. The old customs had gone, the new +ones had not crystallized. The civilization was crude and raw, and in +Washington had no background whatever,--such as was to be found in the old +cities and towns of the original thirteen States. The tone of the men in +public life had deteriorated and was growing worse, approaching rapidly its +lowest point, which it reached during the Polk administration. This was due +partly to the Jacksonian democracy, which had rejected training and +education as necessary to statesmanship, and had loudly proclaimed the +great truths of rotation in office, and the spoils to the victors, and +partly to the slavery agitation which was then beginning to make itself +felt. The rise of the irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery +made the South overbearing and truculent; it produced that class of +politicians known as "Northern men with Southern principles," or, in the +slang of the day, as "doughfaces;" and it had not yet built up a strong, +vigorous, and aggressive party in the North. The lack of proper social +opportunities, and this deterioration among men in public life, led to an +increasing violence and roughness in debate, and to a good deal of coarse +dissipation in private. There was undoubtedly a brighter side, but it was +limited, and the surroundings of the distinguished men who led our +political parties in 1841 at the national capital, do not present a very +cheerful or attractive picture. + +When the new President appeared upon the scene he was followed by a general +rush of hungry office-seekers, who had been starving for places for many +years. General Harrison was a brave, honest soldier and pioneer, simple in +heart and manners, unspoiled and untaught by politics of which he had had a +good share. He was not a great man, but he was honorable and well +intentioned. He wished to have about him the best and ablest men of his +party, and to trust to their guidance for a successful administration. But +although he had no desire to invent a policy, or to draft state papers, he +was determined to be the author of his own inaugural speech, and he came to +Washington with a carefully-prepared manuscript in his pocket. When Mr. +Webster read this document he found it full of gratitude to the people, and +abounding in allusions to Roman history. With his strong sense of humor, +and of the unities and proprieties as well, he was a good deal alarmed at +the proposed speech; and after much labor, and the expenditure of a good +deal of tact, he succeeded in effecting some important changes and +additions. When he came home in the evening, Mrs. Seaton, at whose house he +was staying, remarked that he looked worried and fatigued, and asked if +anything had happened. Mr. Webster replied, "You would think that something +had happened if you knew what I have done. I have killed seventeen Roman +proconsuls." It was a terrible slaughter for poor Harrison, for the +proconsuls were probably very dear to his heart. His youth had been passed +in the time when the pseudo classicism of the French Republic and Empire +was rampant, and now that, in his old age, he had been raised to the +presidency, his head was probably full of the republics of antiquity, and +of Cincinnatus called from the plough, to take the helm of state. + +M. de Bacourt, the French minister at this period, a rather shallow and +illiberal man who disliked Mr. Webster, gives, in his recently published +correspondence, the following amusing account of the presentation of the +diplomatic corps to President Harrison,--a little bit of contemporary +gossip which carries us back to those days better than anything else could +possibly do. The diplomatic corps assembled at the house of Mr. Fox, the +British minister, who was to read a speech in behalf of the whole body, and +thence proceeded to the White House where + + "the new Secretary of State, Mr. Webster, who is much embarrassed + by his new functions, came to make his arrangements with Mr. Fox. + This done, we were ranged along the wall in order of seniority, and + after too long a delay for a country where the chief magistrate has + no right to keep people waiting, the old General came in, followed + by all the members of his Cabinet, who walked in single file, and + so kept behind him. He then advanced toward Mr. Fox, whom Mr. + Webster presented to him. Mr. Fox read to him his address. Then the + President took out his spectacles and read his reply. Then, after + having shaken hands with the English minister, he walked from one + end of our line to the other, Mr. Webster presenting each of us by + name, and he shaking hands with each one without saying a word. + This ceremony finished he returned to the room whence he had come, + and reappeared with Mrs. Harrison--the widow of his eldest + son--upon his arm, whom he presented to the diplomatic corps _en + masse_. Mr. Webster, who followed, then presented to us Mrs. + Finley, the mother of this Mrs. Harrison, in the following terms: + 'Gentlemen, I introduce to you Mrs. Finley, the lady who attends + Mrs. Harrison;' and observe that this good lady who attends the + others--takes care of them--is blind. Then all at once, a crowd of + people rushed into the room. They were the wives, sisters, + daughters, cousins, and lady friends of the President and of all + his ministers, who were presented to us, and _vice versa_, in the + midst of an inconceivable confusion." + +Fond, however, as Mr. Webster was of society, and punctilious as he was in +matters of etiquette and propriety, M. de Bacourt to the contrary +notwithstanding, he had far more important duties to perform than those of +playing host and receiving foreign ministers. Our relations with England +when he entered the cabinet were such as to make war seem almost +inevitable. The northeastern boundary, undetermined by the treaty of 1783, +had been the subject of continual and fruitless negotiation ever since that +time, and was still unsettled and more complicated than ever. It was agreed +that there should be a new survey and a new arbitration, but no agreement +could be reached as to who should arbitrate or what questions should be +submitted to the arbitrators, and the temporary arrangements for the +possession of the territory in dispute were unsatisfactory and precarious. +Much more exciting and perilous than this old difficulty was a new one and +its consequences growing out of the Canadian rebellion in 1837. Certain of +the rebels fled to the United States, and there, in conjunction with +American citizens, prepared to make incursions into Canada. For this +purpose they fitted out an American steamboat, the Caroline. An expedition +from Canada crossed the Niagara River to the American shore, set fire to +the Caroline, and let her drift over the Falls. In the fray which occurred, +an American named Durfree was killed. The British government avowed this +invasion to be a public act and a necessary measure of self-defence; but it +was a question when Mr. Van Buren went out of office whether this avowal +had been made in an authentic manner. There was another incident, however, +also growing out of this affair, even more irritating and threatening than +the invasion itself. In November, 1840, one Alexander McLeod came from +Canada to New York, where he boasted that he was the slayer of Durfree, and +thereupon was at once arrested on a charge of murder and thrown into +prison. This aroused great anger in England, and the conviction of McLeod +was all that was needed to cause immediate war. In addition to these +complications was the question of the right of search for the impressment +of British seamen and for the suppression of the slave-trade. Our +government was, of course, greatly hampered in action by the rights of +Maine and Massachusetts on the northeastern boundary, and by the fact that +McLeod was within the jurisdiction and in the power of the New York courts, +and wholly out of reach of those of the United States. The character of the +national representatives on both sides in London tended, moreover, to +aggravate the growing irritation between the two countries. Lord Palmerston +was sharp and domineering, and Mr. Stevenson, our minister, was by no means +mild or conciliatory. Between them they did what they could to render +accommodation impossible. + +To evolve a satisfactory and permanent peace from these conditions was the +task which confronted Mr. Webster, and he was hardly in office before he +received a demand from Mr. Fox for the release of McLeod, in which full +avowal was made that the burning of the Caroline was a public act. Mr. +Webster determined that the proper method of settling the boundary +question, when that subject should be reached, was to agree upon a +conventional and arbitrary line, and that in the mean time the only way to +dispose of McLeod was to get him out of prison, separate him, +diplomatically speaking, from the affair of the Caroline, and then take +that up as a distinct matter for negotiation with the British government. +The difficulty in regard to McLeod was the most pressing, and so to that he +gave his immediate attention. His first step was to instruct the +Attorney-General to proceed to Lockport, where McLeod was imprisoned, and +communicate with the counsel for the defence, furnishing them with +authentic information that the destruction of the Caroline was a public +act, and that therefore McLeod could not be held responsible. He then +replied to the British minister that McLeod could, of course, be released +only by judicial process, but he also informed Mr. Fox of the steps which +had been taken by the administration to assure the prisoner a complete +defence based on the avowal of the British government that the attack on +the Caroline was a public act. This threw the responsibility for McLeod, +and for consequent peace or war, where it belonged, on the New York +authorities, who seemed, however, but little inclined to assist the general +government. McLeod came before the Supreme Court of New York in July, on a +writ of _habeas corpus_, but they refused to release him on the grounds set +forth in Mr. Webster's instructions to the Attorney-General, and he was +remanded for trial in October, which was highly embarrassing to our +government, as it kept this dangerous affair open. + +But this and all other embarrassments to the Secretary of State sank into +insignificance beside those caused him by the troubles in his own political +party. Between the time of the instructions to the Attorney-General and +that of the letter to Mr. Fox, President Harrison died, after only a month +of office. Mr. Tyler, of whose views but little was known, at once +succeeded, and made no change in the cabinet of his predecessor. On the +last day of May, Congress, called in extra session by President Harrison, +convened. A bill establishing a bank was passed, and Mr. Tyler vetoed it on +account of constitutional objections to some of its features. The +triumphant Whigs were filled with wrath at this unlooked-for check. Mr. +Clay reflected on the President with great severity in the Senate, the +members of the party in the House were very violent in their expressions of +disapproval, and another measure, known as the "Fiscal Corporation Act," +was at once prepared. Mr. Webster regarded this state of affairs with great +anxiety and alarm. He said that such a contest, if persisted in, would ruin +the party and deprive them of the fruits of their victory, besides +imperilling the important foreign policy then just initiated. He strove to +allay the excitement, and resisted the passage of any new bank measure, +much as he wished the establishment of such an institution, advising +postponement and delay for the sake of procuring harmony if possible. But +the party in Congress would not be quieted. They were determined to force +Mr. Tyler's hand at all hazards, and while the new bill was pending, Mr. +Clay, stung by the taunts of Mr. Buchanan, made a savage attack upon the +President. As a natural consequence, the "Fiscal Corporation" scheme shared +the fate of its predecessor. The breach between the President and his party +was opened irreparably, and four members of the cabinet at once resigned. +Mr. Webster was averse to becoming a party to an obvious combination +between the Senate and the cabinet to harass the President, and he was +determined not to sacrifice the success of his foreign negotiations to a +political quarrel. He therefore resolved to remain in the cabinet for the +present, at least, and, after consulting the Massachusetts delegation in +Congress, who fully approved his course, he announced his decision to the +public in a letter to the "National Intelligencer." His action soon became +the subject of much adverse criticism from the Whigs, but at this day no +one would question that he was entirely right. It was not such an easy +thing to do, however, as it now appears, for the excitement was running +high among the Whigs, and there was great bitterness of feeling toward the +President. Mr. Webster behaved in an independent and patriotic manner, +showing a liberality of spirit, a breadth of view, and a courage of opinion +which entitle him to the greatest credit. + +Events, which had seemed thus far to go steadily against him in his +negotiations, and which had been supplemented by the attacks of the +opposition in Congress for his alleged interference with the course of +justice in New York, now began to turn in his favor. The news of the +refusal of the New York court to release McLeod on a _habeas corpus_ had +hardly reached England when the Melbourne ministry was beaten in the House +of Commons, and Sir Robert Peel came in, bringing with him Lord Aberdeen as +the successor of Lord Palmerston in the department of foreign affairs. The +new ministry was disposed to be much more peaceful than their predecessors +had been, and the negotiations at once began to move more smoothly. Great +care was still necessary to prevent outbreaks on the border, but in October +McLeod proved an _alibi_ and was acquitted, and thus the most dangerous +element in our relations with England was removed. Matters were still +further improved by the retirement of Mr. Stevenson, whose successor in +London was Mr. Everett, eminently conciliatory in disposition and in full +sympathy with the Secretary of State. + +Mr. Webster was now able to turn his undivided attention to the +long-standing boundary question. His proposition to agree upon a +conventional line had been made known by Mr. Fox to his government, and +soon afterwards Mr. Everett was informed that Lord Ashburton would be sent +to Washington on a special mission. The selection of an envoy well known +for his friendly feeling toward the United States, which was also +traditional with the great banking-house of his family, was in itself a +pledge of conciliation and good will. Lord Ashburton reached Washington in +April, 1842, and the negotiation at once began. + +It is impossible and needless to give here a detailed account of that +negotiation. We can only glance briefly at the steps taken by Mr. Webster +and at the results achieved by him. There were many difficulties to be +overcome, and in the winter of 1841-42 the case of the Creole added a fresh +and dangerous complication. The Creole was a slave-ship, on which the +negroes had risen, and, taking possession, had carried her into an English +port in the West Indies, where assistance was refused to the crew, and +where the slaves were allowed to go free. This was an act of very doubtful +legality, it touched both England and the Southern States in a very +sensitive point, and it required all Mr. Webster's tact and judgment to +keep it out of the negotiation until the main issue had been settled. + +The principal obstacle in the arrangement of the boundary dispute arose +from the interests and the attitude of Massachusetts and Maine. Mr. Webster +obtained with sufficient ease the appointment of commissioners from the +former State, and, through the agency of Mr. Sparks, who was sent to +Augusta for the purpose, commissioners were also appointed in Maine; but +these last were instructed to adhere to the line of 1783 as claimed by the +United States. Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster readily agreed that a treaty +must come from mutual conciliation and compromise; but, after a good deal +of correspondence, it became apparent that the Maine commissioners and the +English envoy could not be brought to an agreement. A dead-lock and +consequent loss of the treaty were imminent. Mr. Webster then had a long +interview with Lord Ashburton. By a process of give and take they agreed on +a conventional line and on the concession of certain rights, which made a +fair bargain, but unluckily the loss was suffered by Maine and +Massachusetts, while the benefits received by the United States accrued to +New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. This brought the negotiators to the +point at which they had already been forced to halt so many times before. +Mr. Webster now cut the knot by proposing that the United States should +indemnify Maine and Massachusetts in money for the loss they were to suffer +in territory, and by his dexterous management the commissioners of the two +States were persuaded to assent to this arrangement, while Lord Ashburton +was induced to admit the agreement into a clause of the treaty. This +disposed of the chief question in dispute, but two other subjects were +included in the treaty besides the boundary. The first related to the +right of search claimed by England for the suppression of the slave-trade. +This was met by what was called the "Cruising Convention," a clause which +stipulated that each nation should keep its own squadron on the coast of +Africa, to enforce separately its own laws against the slave-trade, but in +mutual coöperation. The other subject of agreement grew out of the Creole +case. England supposed that we sought the return of the negroes because +they were slaves, but Mr. Webster argued that they were demanded as +mutineers and murderers. The result was an article which, while it +carefully avoided even the appearance of an attempt to bind England to +return fugitive slaves, provided amply for the extradition of criminals. +The case of the Caroline was disposed of by a formal admission of the +inviolability of national territory and by an apology for the burning of +the steamboat. As to the action in regard to the slaves on the Creole, Mr. +Webster could only obtain the assurance that there should be "no officious +interference with American vessels driven by accident or violence into +British ports," and with this he was content to let the matter drop. On the +subject of impressment, the old _casus belli_ of 1812, Mr. Webster wrote a +forcible letter to Lord Ashburton. In it he said that, in future, "in every +regularly-documented American merchant vessel, the crew who navigate it +will find their protection in the flag which is over them." In other words, +if you take sailors out of our vessels, we shall fight; and this simple +statement of fact ended the whole matter and was quite as binding on +England as any treaty could have been. + +Thus the negotiation closed. The only serious objection to its results was +that the interests of Maine were sacrificed perhaps unduly,--as a recent +discussion of that point seems to show. But such a sacrifice was fully +justified by what was achieved. A war was averted, a long standing and +menacing dispute was settled, and a treaty was concluded which was +creditable and honorable to all concerned. By his successful introduction +of the extradition clause, Mr. Webster rendered a great service to +civilization and to the suppression and punishment of crime. Mr. Webster +was greatly aided throughout--both in his arguments, and in the +construction of the treaty itself--by the learned and valuable assistance +freely given by Judge Story. But he conducted the whole negotiation with +great ability and in the spirit of a liberal and enlightened statesman. He +displayed the highest tact and dexterity in reconciling so many clashing +interests, and avoiding so many perilous side issues, until he had brought +the main problem to a solution. In all that he did and said he showed a +dignity and an entire sufficiency, which make this negotiation one of the +most creditable--so far as its conduct was concerned--in which the United +States was ever engaged. + +While the negotiation was in progress there was a constant murmur among the +Whigs about Mr. Webster's remaining in the cabinet, and as soon as the +treaty was actually signed a loud clamor began--both among the politicians +and in the newspapers--for his resignation. In the midst of this outcry the +Senate met and ratified the treaty by a vote of thirty-nine to nine,--a +great triumph for its author. But the debate disclosed a vigorous +opposition, Benton and Buchanan both assailing Mr. Webster for neglecting +and sacrificing American, and particularly Southern, interests. At the same +time the controversy which Mr. Webster called "the battle of the maps," and +which was made a great deal of in England, began to show itself. A map of +1783, which Mr. Webster obtained, had been discovered in Paris, sustaining +the English view, while another was afterwards found in London, supporting +the American claim. Neither was of the least consequence, as the new line +was conventional and arbitrary; but the discoveries caused a great deal of +unreasonable excitement. Mr. Webster saw very plainly that the treaty was +not yet secure. It was exposed to attacks both at home and abroad, and had +still to pass Parliament. Until it was entirely safe, Mr. Webster +determined to remain at his post. The clamor continued about his +resignation, and rose round him at his home in Marshfield, whither he had +gone for rest. At the same time the Whig convention of Massachusetts +declared formally a complete separation from the President. In the language +of to-day, they "read Mr. Tyler out of the party." There was a variety of +motives for this action. One was to force Mr. Webster out of the cabinet, +another to advance the fortunes of Mr. Clay, in favor of whose presidential +candidacy movements had begun in Massachusetts, even among Mr. Webster's +personal friends, as well as elsewhere. Mr. Webster had just declined a +public dinner, but he now decided to meet his friends in Faneuil Hall. An +immense audience gathered to hear him, many of them strongly disapproving +his course, but after he had spoken a few moments, he had them completely +under control. He reviewed the negotiation; he discussed fully the +differences in the party; he deplored, and he did not hesitate strongly to +condemn these quarrels, because by them the fruits of victory were lost, +and Whig policy abandoned. With boldness and dignity he denied the right of +the convention to declare a separation from the President, and the implied +attempt to coerce himself and others. "I am, gentlemen, a little hard to +coax," he said, "but as to being driven, that is out of the question. If I +choose to remain in the President's councils, do these gentlemen mean to +say that I cease to be a Massachusetts Whig? I am quite ready to put that +question to the people of Massachusetts." He was well aware that he was +losing party strength by his action; he knew that behind all these +resolutions was the intention to raise his great rival to the presidency; +but he did not shrink from avowing his independence and his intention of +doing what he believed to be right, and what posterity admits to have been +so. Mr. Webster never appeared to better advantage, and he never made a +more manly speech than on this occasion, when, without any bravado, he +quietly set the influence and the threats of his party at defiance. + +He was not mistaken in thinking that the treaty was not yet in smooth +water. It was again attacked in the Senate, and it had a still more severe +ordeal to go through in Parliament. The opposition, headed by Lord +Palmerston, assailed the treaty and Lord Ashburton himself, with the +greatest virulence, denouncing the one as a capitulation, and the other as +a grossly unfit appointment. Moreover, the language of the President's +message led England to believe that we claimed that the right of search had +been abandoned. After much correspondence, this misunderstanding drew forth +an able letter from Mr. Webster, stating that the right of search had not +been included in the treaty, but that the "cruising convention" had +rendered the question unimportant. Finally, all complications were +dispersed, and the treaty ratified; and then came an attack from an +unexpected quarter. General Cass--our minister at Paris--undertook to +protest against the treaty, denounce it, and leave his post on account of +it. This wholly gratuitous assault led to a public correspondence, in which +General Cass, on his own confession, was completely overthrown and broken +down by the Secretary of State. This was the last difficulty, and the work +was finally accepted and complete. + +During this important and absorbing negotiation, other matters of less +moment, but still of considerable consequence, had been met by Mr. Webster, +and successfully disposed of. He made a treaty with Portugal, respecting +duties on wines; he carried on a long correspondence with our minister to +Mexico in relation to certain American prisoners; he vindicated the course +of the United States in regard to the independence of Texas, teaching M. de +Bocanegra, the Mexican Secretary of State, a lesson as to the duties of +neutrality, and administering a severe reproof to that gentleman for +imputing bad faith to the United States; he conducted the correspondence, +and directed the policy of the government in regard to the troubles in +Rhode Island; he made an effort to settle the Oregon boundary; and, +finally, he set on foot the Chinese mission, which, after being offered to +Mr. Everett, was accepted by Mr. Cushing with the best results. But his +real work came to an end with the correspondence with General Cass at the +close of 1842, and in May of the following year he resigned the +secretaryship. In the two years during which he had been at the head of the +cabinet, he had done much. His work added to his fame by the ability which +it exhibited in a new field, and has stood the test of time. In a period of +difficulty, and even danger, he proved himself singularly well adapted for +the conduct of foreign affairs,--a department which is most peculiarly and +traditionally the employment and test of a highly-trained statesman. It may +be fairly said that no one, with the exception of John Quincy Adams, has +ever shown higher qualities, or attained greater success in the +administration of the State Department, than Mr. Webster did while in Mr. +Tyler's cabinet. + +On his resignation, he returned at once to private life, and passed the +next summer on his farm at Marshfield,--now grown into a large +estate,--which was a source of constant interest and delight, and where he +was able to have beneath his eyes his beloved sea. His private affairs were +in disorder, and required his immediate attention. He threw himself into +his profession, and his practice at once became active, lucrative, and +absorbing. To this period of retirement belong the second Bunker Hill +oration and the Girard argument, which made so much noise in its day. He +kept himself aloof from politics, but could not wholly withdraw from them. +The feeling against him, on account of his continuance in the cabinet, had +subsided, and there was a feeble and somewhat fitful movement to drop Clay, +and present Mr. Webster as a candidate for the presidency. Mr. Webster, +however, made a speech at Andover, defending his course and advocating Whig +principles, and declared that he was not a candidate for office. He also +refused to allow New Hampshire to mar party harmony by bringing his name +forward. When Mr. Clay was nominated, in May, 1844, Mr. Webster, who had +beheld with anxiety the rise of the Liberty party and prophesied the +annexation of Texas, decided, although he was dissatisfied with the silence +of the Whigs on this subject, to sustain their candidate. This was +undoubtedly the wisest course; and, having once enlisted, he gave Mr. Clay +a hearty and vigorous support, making a series of powerful speeches, +chiefly on the tariff, and second in variety and ability only to those +which he had delivered in the Harrison campaign. Mr. Clay was defeated +largely by the action of the Liberty party, and the silence of the Whigs +about Texas and slavery cost them the election. At the beginning of the +year Mr. Webster had declined a reëlection to the Senate, but it was +impossible for him to remain out of politics, and the pressure to return +soon became too strong to be resisted. When Mr. Choate resigned in the +winter of 1844-45, Mr. Webster was reëlected senator, from Massachusetts. +On the first of March the intrigue, to perfect which Mr. Calhoun had +accepted the State Department, culminated, and the resolutions for the +annexation of Texas passed both branches of Congress. Four days later Mr. +Polk's administration, pledged to the support and continuance of the +annexation policy, was in power, and Mr. Webster had taken his seat in the +Senate for his last term. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RETURN TO THE SENATE.--THE SEVENTH OF MARCH SPEECH. + + +The principal events of Mr. Polk's administration belong to or grow out of +the slavery agitation, then beginning to assume most terrible proportions. +So far as Mr. Webster is concerned, they form part of the history of his +course on the slavery question, which culminated in the famous speech of +March 7, 1850. Before approaching that subject, however, it will be +necessary to touch very briefly on one or two points of importance in Mr. +Webster's career, which have no immediate bearing on the question of +slavery, and no relation to the final and decisive stand which Mr. Webster +took in regard to it. + +The Ashburton treaty was open to one just criticism. It did not go far +enough. It did not settle the northwestern as it did the northeastern +boundary. Mr. Webster, as has been said, made an effort to deal with the +former as well as the latter, but he met with no encouragement, and as he +was then preparing to retire from office, the matter dropped. In regard to +the northwestern boundary Mr. Webster agreed with the opinion of Mr. +Monroe's cabinet, that the forty-ninth parallel was a fair and proper line; +but the British undertook to claim the line of the Columbia River, and this +excited corresponding claims on our side. The Democracy for political +purposes became especially warlike and patriotic. They declared in their +platform that we must have the whole of Oregon and reoccupy it at once. Mr. +Polk embodied this view in his message, together with the assertion that +our rights extended to the line of 54° 40' north, and a shout of +"fifty-four-forty or fight" went through the land from the enthusiastic +Democracy. If this attitude meant anything it meant war, inasmuch as our +proposal for the forty-ninth parallel, and the free navigation of the +Columbia River, made in the autumn of 1845, had been rejected by England, +and then withdrawn by us. Under these circumstances Mr. Webster felt it his +duty to come forward and exert all his influence to maintain peace, and to +promote a clear comprehension, both in the United States and in Europe, of +the points at issue. His speech on this subject and with this aim was +delivered in Faneuil Hall. He spoke of the necessity of peace, of the fair +adjustment offered by an acceptance of the forty-ninth parallel, and +derided the idea of casting two great nations into war for such a question +as this. He closed with a forcible and solemn denunciation of the president +or minister who should dare to take the responsibility for kindling the +flames of war on such a pretext. The speech was widely read. It was +translated into nearly all the languages of Europe, and on the continent +had a great effect. About a month later he wrote to Mr. MacGregor of +Glasgow, suggesting that the British government should offer to accept the +forty-ninth parallel, and his letter was shown to Lord Aberdeen, who at +once acted upon the advice it contained. While this letter, however, was on +its way, certain resolutions were introduced in the Senate relating to the +national defences, and to give notice of the termination of the convention +for the joint occupation of Oregon, which would of course have been nearly +equivalent to a declaration of war. Mr. Webster opposed the resolutions, +and insisted that, while the Executive, as he believed, had no real wish +for war, this talk was kept up about "all or none," which left nothing to +negotiate about. The notice finally passed, but before it could be +delivered by our minister in London, Lord Aberdeen's proposition of the +forty-ninth parallel, as suggested by Mr. Webster, had been received at +Washington, where it was accepted by the truculent administration, agreed +to by the Senate, and finally embodied in a treaty. Mr. Webster's +opposition had served its purpose in delaying action and saving bluster +from being converted into actual war,--a practical conclusion by no means +desired by the dominant party, who had talked so loud that they came very +near blundering into hostilities merely as a matter of self-justification. +The declarations of the Democratic convention and of the Democratic +President in regard to England were really only sound and fury, although +they went so far that the final retreat was noticeable and not very +graceful. The Democratic leaders had had no intention of fighting with +England when all they could hope to gain would be glory and hard knocks, +but they had a very definite idea of attacking without bluster and in good +earnest another nation where there was territory to be obtained for +slavery. + +The Oregon question led, however, to an attack upon Mr. Webster which +cannot be wholly passed over. He had, of course, his personal enemies in +both parties, and his effective opposition to war with England greatly +angered some of the most warlike of the Democrats, and especially Mr. C.J. +Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, a bitter Anglophobist. Mr. Ingersoll, in +February, made a savage attack upon the Ashburton negotiation, the treaty +of Washington, and upon Mr. Webster personally, alleging that as Secretary +of State he had been guilty of a variety of grave misdemeanors, including a +corrupt use of the public money. Some of these charges, those relating to +the payment of McLeod's counsel by our government, to instructions to the +Attorney-General to take charge of McLeod's defence, and to a threat by +Mr. Webster that if McLeod were not released New York would be laid in +ashes, were repeated in the Senate by Mr. Dickinson of New York. Mr. +Webster peremptorily called for all the papers relating to the negotiation +of 1842, and on the sixth and seventh of April (1846), he made the +elaborate speech in defence of the Ashburton treaty, which is included in +his collected works. It is one of the strongest and most virile speeches he +ever delivered. He was profoundly indignant, and he had the completest +mastery of his subject. In fact, he was so deeply angered by the charges +made against him, that he departed from his almost invariable practice, and +indulged in a severe personal denunciation of Ingersoll and Dickinson. +Although he did not employ personal invective in his oratory, it was a +weapon which he was capable of using with most terrible effect, and his +blows fell with crushing force upon Ingersoll, who writhed under the +strokes. Through some inferior officers of the State Department Ingersoll +got what he considered proofs, and then introduced resolutions calling for +an account of all payments from the secret service fund; for communications +made by Mr. Webster to Messrs. Adams and Gushing of the Committee on +Foreign Affairs; for all papers relating to McLeod, and for the minutes of +the committee on Foreign Affairs, to show that Mr. Webster had expressed an +opinion adverse to our claim in the Oregon dispute. Mr. Ingersoll closed +his speech by a threat of impeachment as the result and reward of all this +evil-doing, and an angry debate followed, in which Mr. Webster was attacked +and defended with equal violence. President Polk replied to the call of the +House by saying that he could not feel justified, either morally or +legally, in revealing the uses of the secret service fund. Meantime a +similar resolution was defeated in the Senate by a vote of forty-four to +one, Mr. Webster remarking that he was glad that the President had refused +the request of the House; that he should have been sorry to have seen an +important principle violated, and that he was not in the least concerned at +being thus left without an explanation; he needed no defence, he said, +against such attacks. + +Mr. Ingersoll, rebuffed by the President, then made a personal explanation, +alleging specifically that Mr. Webster had made an unlawful use of the +secret service money, that he had employed it to corrupt the press, and +that he was a defaulter. Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts replied with great +bitterness, and the charges were referred to a committee. It appeared, on +investigation, that Mr. Webster had been extremely careless in his +accounts, and had delayed in making them up and in rendering vouchers, +faults to which he was naturally prone; but it also appeared that the money +had been properly spent, that the accounts had ultimately been made up, and +that there was no evidence of improper use. The committee's report was +laid upon the table, the charges came to nothing, and Mr. Ingersoll was +left in a very unpleasant position with regard to the manner in which he +had obtained his information from the State Department. The affair is of +interest now merely as showing how deeply rooted was Mr. Webster's habitual +carelessness in money matters, even when it was liable to expose him to +very grave imputations, and what a very dangerous man he was to arouse and +put on the defensive. + +Mr. Webster was absent when the intrigue and scheming of Mr. Polk +culminated in war with Mexico, and so his vote was not given either for or +against it. He opposed the volunteer system as a mongrel contrivance, and +resisted it as he had the conscription bill in the war of 1812, as +unconstitutional. He also opposed the continued prosecution of the war, +and, when it drew toward a close, was most earnest against the acquisition +of new territory. In the summer of 1847 he made an extended tour through +the Southern States, and was received there, as he had been in the West, +with every expression of interest and admiration. + +The Mexican war, however, cost Mr. Webster far more than the anxiety and +disappointment which it brought to him as a public man. His second son, +Major Edward Webster, died near the City of Mexico, from disease contracted +by exposure on the march. This melancholy news reached Mr. Webster when +important matters which demanded his attention were pending in Congress. +Measures to continue the war were before the Senate even after they had +ratified the peace. These measures Mr. Webster strongly resisted, and he +also opposed, in a speech of great power, the acquisition of new +territories by conquest, as threatening the very existence of the nation, +the principles of the Constitution, and the Constitution itself. The +increase of senators, which was, of course, the object of the South in +annexing Texas and in the proposed additions from Mexico, he regarded as +destroying the balance of the government, and therefore he denounced the +plan of acquisition by conquest in the strongest terms. The course about to +be adopted, he said, will turn the Constitution into a deformity, into a +curse rather than a blessing; it will make a frame of government founded on +the grossest inequality, and will imperil the existence of the Union. With +this solemn warning he closed his speech, and immediately left Washington +for Boston, where his daughter, Mrs. Appleton, was sinking in consumption. +She died on April 28th and was buried on May 1st. Three days later, Mr. +Webster followed to the grave the body of his son Edward, which had been +brought from Mexico. Two such terrible blows, coming so near together, need +no comment. They tell their own sad story. One child only remained to him +of all who had gathered about his knees in the happy days at Portsmouth +and Boston, and his mind turned to thoughts of death as he prepared at +Marshfield a final resting-place for himself and those he had loved. +Whatever successes or defeats were still in store for him, the heavy cloud +of domestic sorrow could never be dispersed in the years that remained, nor +could the gaps which had been made be filled or forgotten. + +But the sting of personal disappointment and of frustrated ambition, +trivial enough in comparison with such griefs as these, was now added to +this heavy burden of domestic affliction. The success of General Taylor in +Mexico rendered him a most tempting candidate for the Whigs to nominate. +His military services and his personal popularity promised victory, and the +fact that no one knew Taylor's political principles, or even whether he was +a Whig or a Democrat, seemed rather to increase than diminish his +attractions in the eyes of the politicians. A movement was set on foot to +bring about this nomination, and its managers planned to make Mr. Webster +Vice-President on the ticket with the victorious soldier. Such an offer was +a melancholy commentary on his ambitious hopes. He spurned the proposition +as a personal indignity, and, disapproving always of the selection of +military men for the presidency, openly refused to give his assent to +Taylor's nomination. Other trials, however, were still in store for him. +Mr. Clay was a candidate for the nomination, and many Whigs, feeling that +his success meant another party defeat, turned to Taylor as the only +instrument to prevent this danger. In February, 1848, a call was issued in +New York for a public meeting to advance General Taylor's candidacy, which +was signed by many of Mr. Webster's personal and political friends. Mr. +Webster was surprised and grieved, and bitterly resented this action. His +biographer, Mr. Curtis, speaks of it as a blunder which rendered Mr. +Webster's nomination hopeless. The truth is, that it was a most significant +illustration of the utter futility of Mr. Webster's presidential +aspirations. These friends in New York, who no doubt honestly desired his +nomination, were so well satisfied that it was perfectly impracticable, +that they turned to General Taylor to avoid the disaster threatened, as +they believed, by Mr. Clay's success. Mr. Webster predicted truly that Clay +and Taylor would be the leading candidates before the convention, but he +was wholly mistaken in supposing that the movement in New York would bring +about the nomination of the former. His friends had judged rightly. Taylor +was the only man who could defeat Clay, and he was nominated on the fourth +ballot. Massachusetts voted steadily for Webster, but he never approached a +nomination. Even Scott had twice as many votes. The result of the +convention led Mr. Webster to take a very gloomy view of the prospects of +the Whigs, and he was strongly inclined to retire to his tent and let them +go to deserved ruin. In private conversation he spoke most disparagingly of +the nomination, the Whig party, and the Whig candidate. His strictures were +well deserved, but, as the election drew on, he found or believed it to be +impossible to live up to them. He was not ready to go over to the Free-Soil +party, he could not remain silent, yet he could not give Taylor a full +support. In September, 1848, he made his famous speech at Marshfield, in +which, after declaring that the "sagacious, wise, far-seeing doctrine of +_availability_ lay at the root of the whole matter," and that "the +nomination was one not fit to be made," he said that General Taylor was +personally a brave and honorable man, and that, as the choice lay between +him and the Democratic candidate, General Cass, he should vote for the +former and advised his friends to do the same. He afterwards made another +speech, in a similar but milder strain, in Faneuil Hall. Mr. Webster's +attitude was not unlike that of Hamilton when he published his celebrated +attack on Adams, which ended by advising all men to vote for that +objectionable man. The conclusion was a little impotent in both instances, +but in Mr. Webster's case the results were better. The politicians and +lovers of availability had judged wisely, and Taylor was triumphantly +elected. + +Before the new President was inaugurated, in the winter of 1848-49, the +struggle began in Congress, which led to the delivery of the 7th of March +speech by Mr. Webster in the following year. At this point, therefore, it +becomes necessary to turn back and review briefly and rapidly Mr. Webster's +course in regard to the question of slavery. + +His first important utterance on this momentous question was in 1819, when +the land was distracted with the conflict which had suddenly arisen over +the admission of Missouri. Massachusetts was strongly in favor of the +exclusion of slavery from the new States, and utterly averse to any +compromise. A meeting was held in the state-house at Boston, and a +committee was appointed to draft a memorial to Congress, on the subject of +the prohibition of slavery in the territories. This memorial,--which was +afterwards adopted,--was drawn by Mr. Webster, as chairman of the +committee. It set forth, first, the belief of its signers that Congress had +the constitutional power "to make such a prohibition a condition on the +admission of a new State into the Union, and that it is just and proper +that they should exercise that power." Then came an argument on the +constitutional question, and then the reasons for the exercise of the power +as a general policy. The first point was that it would prevent further +inequality of representation, such as existed under the Constitution in +the old States, but which could not be increased without danger. The next +argument went straight to the merits of the question, as involved in +slavery as a system. After pointing out the value of the ordinance of 1787 +to the Northwest, the memorial continued:-- + + "We appeal to the justice and the wisdom of the national councils + to prevent the further progress of a great and serious evil. We + appeal to those who look forward to the remote consequences of + their measures, and who cannot balance a temporary or trifling + convenience, if there were such, against a permanent growing and + desolating evil. + + "... The Missouri territory is a new country. If its extensive and + fertile fields shall be opened as a market for slaves, the + government will seem to become a party to a traffic, which in so + many acts, through so many years, it has denounced as impolitic, + unchristian, and inhuman.... The laws of the United States have + denounced heavy penalties against the traffic in slaves, because + such traffic is deemed unjust and inhuman. We appeal to the spirit + of these laws; we appeal to this justice and humanity; we ask + whether they ought not to operate, on the present occasion, with + all their force? We have a strong feeling of the injustice of any + toleration of slavery. Circumstances have entailed it on a portion + of our community, which cannot be immediately relieved from it + without consequences more injurious than the suffering of the evil. + But to permit it in a new country, where yet no habits are formed + which render it indispensable, what is it but to encourage that + rapacity and fraud and violence against which we have so long + pointed the denunciation of our penal code? What is it but to + tarnish the proud fame of the country? What is it but to render + questionable all its professions of regard for the rights of + humanity and the liberties of mankind." + +A year later Mr. Webster again spoke on one portion of this subject, and in +the same tone of deep hostility and reproach. This second instance was that +famous and much quoted passage of his Plymouth oration in which he +denounced the African slave-trade. Every one remembers the ringing words:-- + + "I hear the sound of the hammer, I see the smoke of the furnaces + where manacles and fetters are still forged for human limbs. I see + the visages of those who, by stealth and at midnight, labor in this + work of hell,--foul and dark as may become the artificers of such + instruments of misery and torture. Let that spot be purified, or + let it cease to be of New England. Let it be purified, or let it be + set aside from the Christian world; let it be put out of the circle + of human sympathies and human regards, and let civilized man + henceforth have no communion with it." + +This is directed against the African slave-trade, the most hideous feature, +perhaps, in the system. But there was no real distinction between slavers +plying from one American port to another and those which crossed the ocean +for the same purpose. There was no essential difference between slaves +raised for the market in Virginia--whence they were exported and sold--and +those kidnapped for the same object on the Guinea coast. The physical +suffering of a land journey might be less than that of a long sea-voyage, +but the anguish of separation between mother and child was the same in all +cases. The chains which clanked on the limbs of the wretched creatures, +driven from the auction block along the road which passed beneath the +national capitol, and the fetters of the captured fugitive were no softer +or lighter than those forged for the cargo of the slave-ships. Yet the man +who so magnificently denounced the one in 1820, found no cause to repeat +the denunciation in 1850, when only domestic traffic was in question. The +memorial of 1819 and the oration of 1820 place the African slave-trade and +the domestic branch of the business on precisely the same ground of infamy +and cruelty. In 1850 Mr. Webster seems to have discovered that there was a +wide gulf fixed between them, for the latter wholly failed to excite the +stern condemnation poured forth by the memorialist of 1819 and the orator +of 1820. The Fugitive Slave Law, more inhuman than either of the forms of +traffic, was defended in 1850 on good constitutional grounds; but the +eloquent invective of the early days against an evil which constitutions +might necessitate but could not alter or justify, does not go hand in hand +with the legal argument. + +The next occasion after the Missouri Compromise, on which slavery made its +influence strongly felt at Washington, was when Mr. Adams's scheme of the +Panama mission aroused such bitter and unexpected resistance in Congress. +Mr. Webster defended the policy of the President with great ability, but he +confined himself to the international and constitutional questions which it +involved, and did not discuss the underlying motive and true source of the +opposition. The debate on Foote's resolution in 1830, in the wide range +which it took, of course included slavery, and Mr. Hayne had a good deal to +say on that subject, which lay at the bottom of the tariff agitation, as it +did at that of every Southern movement of any real importance. In his +reply, Mr. Webster said that he had made no attack upon this sensitive +institution, that he had simply stated that the Northwest had been greatly +benefited by the exclusion of slavery, and that it would have been better +for Kentucky if she had come within the scope of the ordinance of 1787. The +weight of his remarks was directed to showing that the complaint of +Northern attacks on slavery as existing in the Southern States, or of +Northern schemes to compel the abolition of slavery, was utterly groundless +and fallacious. At the same time he pointed out the way in which slavery +was continually used to unite the South against the North. + + "This feeling," he said, "always carefully kept alive, and + maintained at too intense a heat to admit discrimination or + reflection, is a lever of great power in our political machine. + There is not and never has been a disposition in the North to + interfere with these interests of the South. Such interference has + never been supposed to be within the power of government; nor has + it been in any way attempted. The slavery of the South has always + been regarded as a matter of domestic policy left with the States + themselves, and with which the Federal government had nothing to + do. Certainly, sir, I am and ever have been of that opinion. The + gentleman, indeed, argues that slavery, in the abstract, is no + evil. Most assuredly, I need not say I differ with him altogether + and most widely on that point. I regard domestic slavery as one of + the greatest evils, both moral and political." + +His position is here clearly defined. He admits fully that slavery within +the States cannot be interfered with by the general government, under the +Constitution. But he also insists that it is a great evil, and the obvious +conclusion is, that its extension, over which the government does have +control, must and should be checked. This is the attitude of the memorial +and the oration. Nothing has yet changed. There is less fervor in the +denunciation of slavery, but that may be fairly attributed to circumstances +which made the maintenance of the general government and the enforcement of +the revenue laws the main points in issue. + +In 1836 the anti-slavery movement, destined to grow to such vast +proportions, began to show itself in the Senate. The first contest came on +the reception of petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia. Mr. Calhoun moved that these petitions should not be received, +but his motion was rejected by a large majority. The question then came on +the petitions themselves, and, by a vote of thirty-four to six, their +prayer was rejected, Mr. Webster voting with the minority because he +disapproved this method of disposing of the matter. Soon after, Mr. Webster +presented three similar petitions, two from Massachusetts and one from +Michigan, and moved their reference to a committee of inquiry. He stated +that, while the government had no power whatever over slavery in the +States, it had complete control over slavery in the District, which was a +totally distinct affair. He urged a respectful treatment of the petitions, +and defended the right of petition and the motives and characters of the +petitioners. He spoke briefly, and, except when he was charged with placing +himself at the head of the petitioners, coldly, and did not touch on the +merits of the question, either as to the abolition of slavery in the +District or as to slavery itself. + +The Southerners, especially the extremists and the nullifiers, were always +more ready than any one else to strain the powers of the central government +to the last point, and use them most tyrannically and illegally in their +own interest and in that of their pet institution. The session of 1836 +furnished a striking example of this characteristic quality. Mr. Calhoun +at that time introduced his monstrous bill to control the United States +mails in the interests of slavery, by authorizing postmasters to seize and +suppress all anti-slavery documents. Against this measure Mr. Webster spoke +and voted, resting his opposition on general grounds, and sustaining it by +a strong and effective argument. In the following year, on his way to the +North, after the inauguration of Mr. Van Buren, a great public reception +was given to him in New York, and on that occasion he made the speech in +Niblo's Garden, where he defined the Whig principles, arraigned so +powerfully the policy of Jackson, and laid the foundation for the triumphs +of the Harrison campaign. In the course of that speech he referred to +Texas, and strongly expressed his belief that it should remain independent +and should not be annexed. This led him to touch upon slavery. He said:-- + + "I frankly avow my entire unwillingness to do anything that shall + extend the slavery of the African race on this continent, or add + other slave-holding States to the Union. When I say that I regard + slavery in itself as a great moral, social, and political evil, I + only use the language which has been adopted by distinguished men, + themselves citizens of slave-holding States. I shall do nothing, + therefore, to favor or encourage its further extension. We have + slavery already amongst us. The Constitution found it in the Union, + it recognized it, and gave it solemn guaranties. To the full + extent of the guaranties we are all bound in honor, in justice, and + by the Constitution.... But when we come to speak of admitting new + States, the subject assumes an entirely different aspect.... In my + opinion, the people of the United States will not consent to bring + into the Union a new, vastly extensive, and slave-holding country, + large enough for half a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, + they ought not to consent to it.... On the general question of + slavery a great portion of the community is already strongly + excited. The subject has not only attracted attention as a question + of politics, but it has struck a far deeper-toned chord. It has + arrested the religious feeling of the country; it has taken strong + hold on the consciences of men. He is a rash man, indeed, and + little conversant with human nature, and especially has he a very + erroneous estimate of the character of the people of this country, + who supposes that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or + despised. It will assuredly cause itself to be respected. It may be + reasoned with, it may be made willing--I believe it is entirely + willing--to fulfil all existing engagements and all existing + duties, to uphold and defend the Constitution as it is established, + with whatever regrets about some provisions which it does actually + contain. But to coerce it into silence, to endeavor to restrain its + free expression, to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is + and more heated as such endeavors would inevitably render + it,--should this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the + Constitution or in the Union itself, which would not be endangered + by the explosion which might follow." + +Thus Mr. Webster spoke on slavery and upon the agitation against it, in +1837. The tone was the same as in 1820, and there was the same ring of +dignified courage and unyielding opposition to the extension and +perpetuation of a crying evil. + +In the session of Congress preceding the speech at Niblo's Garden, numerous +petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District had been offered. +Mr. Webster reiterated his views as to the proper disposition to be made of +them; but announced that he had no intention of expressing an opinion as to +the merits of the question. Objections were made to the reception of the +petitions, the question was stated on the reception, and the whole matter +was laid on the table. The Senate, under the lead of Calhoun, was trying to +shut the door against the petitioners, and stifle the right of petition; +and there was no John Quincy Adams among them to do desperate battle +against this infamous scheme. + +In the following year came more petitions, and Mr. Calhoun now attempted to +stop the agitation in another fashion. He introduced a resolution to the +effect that these petitions were a direct and dangerous attack on the +"institution" of the slave-holding States. This Mr. Clay improved in a +substitute, which stated that any act or measure of Congress looking to the +abolition of slavery in the District would be a violation of the faith +implied in the cession by Virginia and Maryland,--a just cause of alarm to +the South, and having a direct tendency to disturb and endanger the Union. +Mr. Webster wrote to a friend that this was an attempt to make a new +Constitution, and that the proceedings of the Senate, when they passed the +resolutions, drew a line which could never be obliterated. Mr. Webster also +spoke briefly against the resolutions, confining himself strictly to +demonstrating the absurdity of Mr. Clay's doctrine of "plighted faith." He +disclaimed carefully, and even anxiously, any intention of expressing an +opinion on the merits of the question; although he mentioned one or two +reasonable arguments against abolition. The resolutions were adopted by a +large majority, Mr. Webster voting against them on the grounds set forth in +his speech. Whether the approaching presidential election had any +connection with his careful avoidance of everything except the +constitutional point, which contrasted so strongly with his recent +utterances at Niblo's Garden, it is, of course, impossible to determine. +John Quincy Adams, who had no love for Mr. Webster, and who was then in the +midst of his desperate struggle for the right of petition, says, in his +diary, in March, 1838, speaking of the delegation from Massachusetts:-- + + "Their policy is dalliance with the South; and they care no more + for the right of petition than is absolutely necessary to satisfy + the feeling of their constituents. They are jealous of Cushing, + who, they think, is playing a double game. They are envious of my + position as the supporter of the right of petition; and they + truckle to the South to court their favor for Webster. He is now + himself tampering with the South on the slavery and the Texas + question." + +This harsh judgment may or may not be correct, but it shows very plainly +that Mr. Webster's caution in dealing with these topics was noticed and +criticised at this period. The annexation of Texas, moreover, which he had +so warmly opposed, seemed to him, at this juncture, and not without reason, +to be less threatening, owing to the course of events in the young +republic. Mr. Adams did not, however, stand alone in thinking that Mr. +Webster, at this time, was lukewarm on the subject. In 1839 Mr. Giddings +says "that it was impossible for any man, who submitted so quietly to the +dictation of slavery as Mr. Webster, to command that influence which was +necessary to constitute a successful politician." How much Mr. Webster's +attitude had weakened, just at this period, is shown better by his own +action than by anything Mr. Giddings could say. The ship Enterprise, +engaged in the domestic slave-trade from Virginia to New Orleans, had been +driven into Port Hamilton, and the slaves had escaped. Great Britain +refused compensation. Thereupon, early in 1840, Mr. Calhoun introduced +resolutions declaratory of international law on this point, and setting +forth that England had no right to interfere with, or to permit, the +escape of slaves from vessels driven into her ports. The resolutions were +idle, because they could effect nothing, and mischievous because they +represented that the sentiment of the Senate was in favor of protecting the +slave-trade. Upon these resolutions, absurd in character and barbarous in +principle, Mr. Webster did not even vote. There is a strange contrast here +between the splendid denunciation of the Plymouth oration and this utter +lack of opinion, upon resolutions designed to create a sentiment favorable +to the protection of slave-ships engaged in the domestic traffic. Soon +afterwards, when Mr. Webster was Secretary of State, he advanced much the +same doctrine in the discussion of the Creole case, and his letter was +approved by Calhoun. There may be merit in the legal argument, but the +character of the cargo, which it was sought to protect, put it beyond the +reach of law. We have no need to go farther than the Plymouth oration to +find the true character of the trade in human beings as carried on upon the +high seas. + +After leaving the cabinet, and resuming his law practice, Mr. Webster, of +course, continued to watch with attention the progress of events. The +formation of the Liberty party, in the summer of 1843, appeared to him a +very grave circumstance. He had always understood the force of the +anti-slavery movement at the North, and it was with much anxiety that he +now saw it take definite shape, and assume extreme grounds of opposition. +This feeling of anxiety was heightened when he discovered, in the following +winter, while in attendance upon the Supreme Court at Washington, the +intention of the administration to bring about the annexation of Texas, and +spring the scheme suddenly upon the country. This policy, with its +consequence of an enormous extension of slave territory, Mr. Webster had +always vigorously and consistently opposed, and he was now thoroughly +alarmed. He saw what an effect the annexation would produce upon the +anti-slavery movement, and he dreaded the results. He therefore procured +the introduction of a resolution in Congress against annexation; wrote some +articles in the newspapers against it himself; stirred up his friends in +Washington and New York to do the same, and endeavored to start public +meetings in Massachusetts. His friends in Boston and elsewhere, and the +Whigs generally, were disposed to think his alarm ill-founded. They were +absorbed in the coming presidential election, and were too ready to do Mr. +Webster the injustice of supposing that his views upon the probability of +annexation sprang from jealousy of Mr. Clay. The suspicion was unfounded +and unfair. Mr. Webster was wholly right and perfectly sincere. He did a +good deal in an attempt to rouse the North. The only criticism to be made +is that he did not do more. One public meeting would have been enough, if +he had spoken frankly, declared that he knew, no matter how, that +annexation was contemplated, and had then denounced it as he did at Niblo's +Garden. "One blast upon his bugle-horn were worth a thousand men." Such a +speech would have been listened to throughout the length and breadth of the +land; but perhaps it was too much to expect this of him in view of his +delicate relations with Mr. Clay. At a later period, in the course of the +campaign, he denounced annexation and the increase of slave territory, but +unfortunately it was then too late. The Whigs had preserved silence on the +subject at their convention, and it was difficult to deal with it without +reflecting on their candidate. Mr. Webster vindicated his own position and +his own wisdom, but the mischief could not then be averted. The annexation +of Texas after the rejection of the treaty in 1844 was carried through, +nearly a year later, by a mixture of trickery and audacity in the last +hours of the Tyler administration. + +Four days after the consummation of this project Mr. Webster took his seat +in the Senate, and on March 11 wrote to his son that, "while we feel as we +ought about the annexation of Texas, we ought to keep in view the true +grounds of objection to that measure. Those grounds are,--want of +constitutional power,--danger of too great an extent of territory, and +opposition to the increase of slavery and slave representation. It was +properly considered, also, as a measure tending to produce war." He then +goes on to argue that Mexico had no good cause for war; but it is evident +that he already dreaded just that result. When Congress assembled again, in +the following December, the first matter to engage their attention was the +admission of Texas as a State of the Union. It was impossible to prevent +the passage of the resolution, but Mr. Webster stated his objections to the +measure. His speech was brief and very mild in tone, if compared with the +language which he had frequently used in regard to the annexation. He +expressed his opposition to this method of obtaining new territory by +resolution instead of treaty, and to acquisition of territory as foreign to +the true spirit of the Republic, and as endangering the Constitution and +the Union by increasing the already existing inequality of representation, +and extending the area of slavery. He dwelt on the inviolability of slavery +in the States, and did not touch upon the evils of the system itself. + +By the following spring the policy of Mr. Polk had culminated, intrigue had +done its perfect work, hostilities had been brought on with Mexico, and in +May Congress was invited to declare a war which the administration had +taken care should already exist. Mr. Webster was absent at this time, and +did not vote on the declaration of war; and when he returned he confined +himself to discussing the war measures, and to urging the cessation of +hostilities, and the renewal of efforts to obtain peace. + +The next session--that of the winter of 1846-47--was occupied, of course, +almost entirely with the affairs of the war. In these measures Mr. Webster +took scarcely any part; but toward the close of the session, when the terms +on which the war should be concluded were brought up, he again came +forward. February 1, 1847, Mr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced the famous +proviso, which bears his name, as an amendment to the bill appropriating +three millions of dollars for extraordinary expenses. By this proviso +slavery was to be excluded from all territory thereafter acquired or +annexed by the United States. A fortnight later Mr. Webster, who was +opposed to the acquisition of more territory on any terms, introduced two +resolutions in the Senate, declaring that the war ought not to be +prosecuted for the acquisition of territory, and that Mexico should be +informed that we did not aim at seizing her domain. A similar resolution +was offered by Mr. Berrien of Georgia, and defeated by a party vote. On +this occasion Mr. Webster spoke with great force and in a tone of solemn +warning against the whole policy of territorial aggrandizement. He +denounced all that had been done in this direction, and attacked with +telling force the Northern democracy, which, while it opposed slavery and +favored the Wilmot Proviso, was yet ready to admit new territory, even +without the proviso. His attitude at this time, in opposition to any +further acquisition of territory on any terms, was strong and determined, +but his policy was a terrible confession of weakness. It amounted to saying +that we must not acquire territory because we had not sufficient courage to +keep slavery out of it. The Whigs were in a minority, however, and Mr. +Webster could effect nothing. When the Wilmot Proviso came before the +Senate Mr. Webster voted for it, but it was defeated, and the way was clear +for Mr. Polk and the South to bring in as much territory as they could get, +free of all conditions which could interfere with the extension of slavery. +In September, 1847, after speaking and voting as has just been described in +the previous session of Congress, Mr. Webster addressed the Whig convention +at Springfield on the subject of the Wilmot Proviso. What he then said is +of great importance in any comparison which may be made between his earlier +views and those which he afterwards put forward, in March, 1850, on the +same subject. The passage is as follows:-- + + "We hear much just now of a panacea for the dangers and evils of + slavery and slave annexation, which they call the 'Wilmot Proviso.' + That certainly is a just sentiment, but it is not a sentiment to + found any new party upon. It is not a sentiment on which + Massachusetts Whigs differ. There is not a man in this hall who + holds to it more firmly than I do, nor one who adheres to it more + than another. + + "I feel some little interest in this matter, sir. Did I not commit + myself in 1837 to the whole doctrine, fully, entirely? And I must + be permitted to say that I cannot quite consent that more recent + discoverers should claim the merit, and take out a patent. + + "I deny the priority of their invention. Allow me to say, sir, it + is not their thunder. + + "There is no one who can complain of the North for resisting the + increase of slave representation, because it gives power to the + minority in a manner inconsistent with the principles of our + government. What is past must stand; what is established must + stand; and with the same firmness with which I shall resist every + plan to augment the slave representation, or to bring the + Constitution into hazard by attempting to extend our dominions, + shall I contend to allow existing rights to remain. + + "Sir, I can only say that, in my judgment, we are to use the first, + the last, and every occasion which occurs, in maintaining our + sentiments against the extension of the slave-power." + +In the following winter Mr. Webster continued his policy of opposition to +all acquisitions of territory. Although the cloud of domestic sorrow was +already upon him, he spoke against the legislative powers involved in the +"Ten Regiment" Bill, and on the 23d of March, after the ratification of the +treaty of peace, which carried with it large cessions of territory, he +delivered a long and elaborate speech on the "Objects of the Mexican War." +The weight of his speech was directed against the acquisition of +territory, on account of its effect on the Constitution, and the increased +inequality of representation which it involved. He referred to the plan of +cutting up Texas so as to obtain ten senators, as "borough mongering" on a +grand scale, a course which he proposed to resist to the last; and he +concluded by denouncing the whole project as one calculated to turn the +Constitution into a curse rather than a blessing. "I resist it to-day and +always," he said. "Whoever falters or whoever flies, I continue the +contest." + +In June General Taylor was nominated, and soon after Mr. Webster left +Washington, although Congress was still in session. He returned in August, +in time to take part in the settlement of the Oregon question. The South, +with customary shrewdness, was endeavoring to use the territorial +organization of Oregon as a lever to help them in their struggle to gain +control of the new conquests. A bill came up from the House with no +provision in regard to slavery, and Mr. Douglas carried an amendment to it, +declaring the Missouri Compromise to be in full force in Oregon. The House +disagreed, and, on the question of receding, Mr. Webster took occasion to +speak on the subject of slavery in the territories. He was disgusted with +the nomination of Taylor and with the cowardly silence of the Whigs on the +question of the extension of slavery. In this frame of mind he made one of +the strongest and best speeches he ever delivered on this topic. He denied +that slavery was an "institution;" he denied that the local right to hold +slaves implied the right of the owner to carry them with him and keep them +in slavery on free soil; he stated in the strongest possible manner the +right of Congress to control slavery or to prohibit it in the territories; +and he concluded with a sweeping declaration of his opposition to any +extension of slavery or any increase of slave representation. The Oregon +bill finally passed under the pressure of the "Free-Soil" nominations, with +a clause inserted in the House, embodying substantially the principles of +the Wilmot Proviso. + +When Congress adjourned, Mr. Webster returned to Marshfield, where he made +the speech on the nomination of General Taylor. It was a crisis in his +life. At that moment he could have parted with the Whigs and put himself at +the head of the constitutional anti-slavery party. The Free-Soilers had +taken the very ground against the extension of slavery which he had so long +occupied. He could have gone consistently, he could have separated from the +Whigs on a great question of principle, and such a course would have been +no stronger evidence of personal disappointment than was afforded by the +declaration that the nomination of Taylor was one not fit to be made. Mr. +Webster said that he fully concurred in the main object of the Buffalo +Convention, that he was as good a Free-Soiler as any of them, but that the +Free-Soil party presented nothing new or valuable, and he did not believe +in Mr. Van Buren. He then said it was not true that General Taylor was +nominated by the South, as charged by the Free-Soilers; but he did not +confess, what was equally true, that Taylor was nominated through fear of +the South, as was shown by his election by Southern votes. Mr. Webster's +conclusion was, that it was safer to trust a slave-holder, a man without +known political opinions, and a party which had not the courage of its +convictions, than to run the risk of the election of another Democrat. Mr. +Webster's place at that moment was at the head of a new party based on the +principles which he had himself formulated against the extension of +slavery. Such a change might have destroyed his chances for the presidency, +if he had any, but it would have given him one of the greatest places in +American history and made him the leader in the new period. He lost his +opportunity. He did not change his party, but he soon after accepted the +other alternative and changed his opinions. + +His course once taken, he made the best of it, and delivered a speech in +Faneuil Hall, in which it is painful to see the effort to push aside +slavery and bring forward the tariff and the sub-treasury. He scoffed at +this absorption in "one idea," and strove to thrust it away. It was the +cry of "peace, peace," when there was no peace, and when Daniel Webster +knew there could be none until the momentous question had been met and +settled. Like the great composer who heard in the first notes of his +symphony "the hand of Fate knocking at the door," the great New England +statesman heard the same warning in the hoarse murmur against slavery, but +he shut his ears to the dread sound and passed on. + +When Mr. Webster returned to Washington, after the election of General +Taylor, the strife had already begun over our Mexican conquests. The South +had got the territory, and the next point was to fasten slavery upon it. +The North was resolved to prevent the further spread of slavery, but was by +no means so determined or so clear in its views as its opponent. President +Polk urged in his message that Congress should not legislate on the +question of slavery in the territories, but that if they did, the right of +slave-holders to carry their slaves with them to the new lands should be +recognized, and that the best arrangement was to extend the line of the +Missouri Compromise to the Pacific. For the originator and promoter of the +Mexican war this was a very natural solution, and was a fit conclusion to +one of the worst presidential careers this country has ever seen. The plan +had only one defect. It would not work. One scheme after another was +brought before the Senate, only to fail. Finally, Mr. Webster introduced +his own, which was merely to authorize military government and the +maintenance of existing laws in the Mexican cessions, and a consequent +postponement of the question. The proposition was reasonable and sensible, +but it fared little better than the others. The Southerners found, as they +always did sooner or later, that facts were against them. The people of New +Mexico petitioned for a territorial government and for the exclusion of +slavery. Mr. Calhoun pronounced this action "insolent." Slavery was not +only to be permitted, but the United States government was to be made to +force it upon the people of the territories. Finally, a resolution was +offered "to extend the Constitution" to the territories,--one of those +utterly vague propositions in which the South delighted to hide +well-defined schemes for extending, not the Constitution, but +slave-holding, to fresh fields and virgin soil. This gave rise to a sharp +debate between Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun as to whether the Constitution +extended to the territories or not. Mr. Webster upheld the latter view, and +the discussion is chiefly interesting from the fact that Mr. Webster got +the better of Mr. Calhoun in the argument, and as an example of the +latter's excessive ingenuity in sustaining and defending a more than +doubtful proposition. The result of the whole business was, that nothing +was done, except to extend the revenue laws of the United States to New +Mexico and California. + +Before Congress again assembled, one of the subjects of their debates had +taken its fortunes into its own hands. California, rapidly peopled by the +discoveries of gold, had held a convention and adopted a frame of +government with a clause prohibiting slavery. When Congress met, the +Senators and Representatives of California were in Washington with their +free Constitution in their hands, demanding the admission of their State +into the Union. + +New Mexico was involved in a dispute with Texas as to boundaries, and if +the claim of Texas was sanctioned, two thirds of the disputed territory +would come within the scope of the annexation resolutions, and be +slave-holding States. Then there was the further question whether the +Wilmot Proviso should be applied to New Mexico on her organization as a +territory. + +The President, acting under the influence of Mr. Seward, advised that +California should be admitted, and the question of slavery in the other +territories be decided when they should apply for admission. Feeling was +running very high in Washington, and there was a bitter and protracted +struggle of three weeks, before the House succeeded in choosing a Speaker. +The State Legislatures on both sides took up the burning question, and +debated and resolved one way or the other with great excitement. The +Southern members held meetings, and talked about secession and about +withdrawing from Congress. The air was full of murmurs of dissolution and +intestine strife. The situation was grave and even threatening. + +In this state of affairs Mr. Clay, now an old man, and with but a short +term of life before him, resolved to try once more to solve the problem and +tide over the dangers by a grand compromise. The main features of his plan +were: the admission of California with her free Constitution; the +organization of territorial governments in the Mexican conquests without +any reference to slavery; the adjustment of the Texan boundary; a guaranty +of the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia until Maryland +should consent to its abolition; the prohibition of the slave-trade in the +District; provision for the more effectual enforcement of the Fugitive +Slave Law, and a declaration that Congress had no power over the +slave-trade between the slave-holding States. As the admission of +California was certain, the proposition to bring about the prohibition of +the slave-trade in the District was the only concession to the North. +Everything else was in the interest of the South; but then that was always +the manner in which compromises with slavery were made. They could be +effected in no other way. + +This outline Mr. Clay submitted to Mr. Webster January 21, 1850, and Mr. +Webster gave it his full approval, subject, of course, to further and more +careful consideration. February 5 Mr. Clay introduced his plan in the +Senate, and supported it in an eloquent speech. On the 13th the President +submitted the Constitution of California, and Mr. Foote moved to refer it, +together with all matters relating to slavery, to a select committee. It +now became noised about that Mr. Webster intended to address the Senate on +the pending measures, and on the 7th of March he delivered the memorable +speech which has always been known by its date. + +It may be premised that in a literary and rhetorical point of view the +speech of the 7th of March was a fine one. The greater part of it is taken +up with argument and statement, and is very quiet in tone. But the famous +passage beginning "peaceable secession," which came straight from the +heart, and the peroration also, have the glowing eloquence which shone with +so much splendor all through the reply to Hayne. The speech can be readily +analyzed. With extreme calmness of language Mr. Webster discussed the whole +history of slavery in ancient and modern times, and under the Constitution +of the United States. His attitude is so judicial and historical, that if +it is clear he disapproved of the system, it is not equally evident that he +condemned it. He reviewed the history of the annexation of Texas, defended +his own consistency, belittled the Wilmot Proviso, admitted substantially +the boundary claims of Texas, and declared that the character of every +part of the country, so far as slavery or freedom was concerned, was now +settled, either by law or nature, and that he should resist the insertion +of the Wilmot Proviso in regard to New Mexico, because it would be merely a +wanton taunt and reproach to the South. He then spoke of the change of +feeling and opinion both at the North and the South in regard to slavery, +and passed next to the question of mutual grievances. He depicted at length +the grievances of the South, including the tone of the Northern press, the +anti-slavery resolutions of the Legislature, the utterances of the +abolitionists, and the resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law. The last, +which he thought the only substantial and legally remediable complaint, he +dwelt on at great length, and severely condemned the refusal of certain +States to comply with this provision of the Constitution. Then came the +grievances of the North against the South, which were dealt with very +briefly. In fact, the Northern grievances, according to Mr. Webster, +consisted of the tone of the Southern press and of Southern speeches which, +it must be confessed, were at times a little violent and somewhat +offensive. The short paragraph reciting the unconstitutional and +high-handed action of the South in regard to free negroes employed as +seamen on Northern vessels, and the outrageous treatment of Mr. Hoar at +Charleston in connection with this matter, was not delivered, Mr. Giddings +says, but was inserted afterwards and before publication, at the suggestion +of a friend. After this came the fine burst about secession, and a +declaration of faith that the Southern convention called at Nashville would +prove patriotic and conciliatory. The speech concluded with a strong appeal +in behalf of nationality and union. + +Mr. Curtis correctly says that a great majority of Mr. Webster's +constituents, if not of the whole North, disapproved this speech. He might +have added that that majority has steadily increased. The popular verdict +has been given against the 7th of March speech, and that verdict has passed +into history. Nothing can now be said or written which will alter the fact +that the people of this country who maintained and saved the Union have +passed judgment upon Mr. Webster and condemned what he said on the 7th of +March, 1850, as wrong in principle and mistaken in policy. This opinion is +not universal,--no opinion is,--but it is held by the great body of mankind +who know or care anything about the subject, and it cannot be changed or +substantially modified, because subsequent events have fixed its place and +worth irrevocably. It is only necessary, therefore, to examine very briefly +the grounds of this adverse judgment, and the pleas put in against it by +Mr. Webster and by his most devoted partisans. + +From the sketch which has been given of Mr. Webster's course on the slavery +question, we see that in 1819 and 1820 he denounced in the strongest terms +slavery and every form of slave-trade; that while he fully admitted that +Congress had no power to touch slavery in the States, he asserted that it +was their right and their paramount duty absolutely to stop any further +extension of slave territory. In 1820 he was opposed to any compromise on +this question. Ten years later he stood out to the last, unaffected by +defeat, against the principle of compromise which sacrificed the rights and +the dignity of the general government to the resistance and threatened +secession of a State. + +After the reply to Hayne in 1830, Mr. Webster became a standing candidate +for the presidency, or for the Whig nomination to that office. From that +time forth, the sharp denunciation of slavery and traffic in slaves +disappears, although there is no indication that he ever altered his +original opinion on these points; but he never ceased, sometimes mildly, +sometimes in the most vigorous and sweeping manner, to attack and oppose +the extension of slavery to new regions, and the increase of slave +territory. If, then, in the 7th of March speech, he was inconsistent with +his past, such inconsistency must appear, if at all, in his general tone in +regard to slavery, in his views as to the policy of compromise, and in his +attitude toward the extension of slavery, the really crucial question of +the time. + +As to the first point, there can be no doubt that there is a vast +difference between the tone of the Plymouth oration and the Boston memorial +toward slavery and the slave-trade, and that of the 7th of March speech in +regard to the same subjects. For many years Mr. Webster had had but little +to say against slavery as a system, but in the 7th of March speech, in +reviewing the history of slavery, he treats the matter in such a very calm +manner, that he not only makes the best case possible for the South, but +his tone is almost apologetic when speaking in their behalf. To the +grievances of the South he devotes more than five pages of his speech, to +those of the North less than two. As to the infamy of making the national +capital a great slave-mart, he has nothing to say--although it was a matter +which figured as one of the elements in Mr. Clay's scheme. + +But what most shocked the North in this connection were his utterances in +regard to the Fugitive Slave Law. There can be no doubt that under the +Constitution the South had a perfect right to claim the extradition of +fugitive slaves. The legal argument in support of that right was excellent, +but the Northern people could not feel that it was necessary for Daniel +Webster to make it. The Fugitive Slave Law was in absolute conflict with +the awakened conscience and moral sentiment of the North. To strengthen +that law, and urge its enforcement, was a sure way to make the resistance +to it still more violent and intolerant. Constitutions and laws will +prevail over much, and allegiance to them is a high duty, but when they +come into conflict with a deep-rooted moral sentiment, and with the +principles of liberty and humanity, they must be modified, or else they +will be broken to pieces. That this should have been the case in 1850 was +no doubt to be regretted, but it was none the less a fact. To insist upon +the constitutional duty of returning fugitive slaves, to upbraid the North +with their opposition, and to urge upon them and upon the country the +strict enforcement of the extradition law, was certain to embitter and +intensify the opposition to it. The statesmanlike course was to recognize +the ground of Northern resistance, to show the South that a too violent +insistence upon their constitutional rights would be fatal, and to endeavor +to obtain such concessions as would allay excited feelings. Mr. Webster's +strong argument in favor of the Fugitive Slave Law pleased the South, of +course; but it irritated and angered the North. It promoted the very +struggle which it proposed to allay, for it admitted the existence of only +one side to the question. The consciences of men cannot be coerced; and +when Mr. Webster undertook to do it he dashed himself against the rocks. +People did not stop to distinguish between a legal argument and a defence +of the merits of catching runaway slaves. To refer to the original law of +1793 was idle. Public opinion had changed in half a century; and what had +seemed reasonable at the close of the eighteenth century was monstrous in +the middle of the nineteenth. + +All this Mr. Webster declined to recognize. He upheld without diminution or +modification the constitutional duty of sending escaping slaves back to +bondage; and from the legal soundness of this position there is no escape. +The trouble was that he had no word to say against the cruelty and +barbarity of the system. To insist upon the necessity of submitting to the +hard and repulsive duty imposed by the Constitution was one thing. To urge +submission without a word of sorrow or regret was another. The North felt, +and felt rightly, that while Mr. Webster could not avoid admitting the +force of the constitutional provisions about fugitive slaves, and was +obliged to bow to their behest, yet to defend them without reservation, to +attack those who opposed them, and to urge the rigid enforcement of a +Fugitive Slave Law, was not in consonance with his past, his conscience, +and his duty to his constituents. The constitutionality of a Fugitive Slave +Law may be urged and admitted over and over again, but this could not make +the North believe that advocacy of slave-catching was a task suited to +Daniel Webster. The simple fact was that he did not treat the general +question of slavery as he always had treated it. Instead of denouncing and +deploring it, and striking at it whenever the Constitution permitted, he +apologized for its existence, and urged the enforcement of its most +obnoxious laws. This was not his attitude in 1820; this was not what the +people of the North expected of him in 1850. + +In regard to the policy of compromise there is a much stronger contrast +between Mr. Webster's attitude in 1850 and his earlier course than in the +case of his views on the general subject of slavery. In 1819, although not +in public life, Mr. Webster, as is clear from the tone of the Boston +memorial, was opposed to any compromise involving an extension of slavery. +In 1832-33 he was the most conspicuous and unyielding enemy of the +principle of compromise in the country. He then took the ground that the +time had come to test the strength of the Constitution and the Union, and +that any concession would have a fatally weakening effect. In 1850 he +supported a compromise which was so one-sided that it hardly deserves the +name. The defence offered by his friends on this subject--and it is the +strongest point they have been able to make--is that these sacrifices, or +compromises, were necessary to save the Union, and that--although they did +not prevent ultimate secession--they caused a delay of ten years, which +enabled the North to gather sufficient strength to carry the civil war to a +successful conclusion. It is not difficult to show historically that the +policy of compromise between the national principle and unlawful opposition +to that principle was an entire mistake from the very outset, and that if +illegal and partisan State resistance had always been put down with a firm +hand, civil war might have been avoided. Nothing strengthened the general +government more than the well-judged and well-timed display of force by +which Washington and Hamilton crushed the Whiskey Rebellion, or than the +happy accident of peace in 1814, which brought the separatist movement in +New England to a sudden end. After that period Mr. Clay's policy of +compromise prevailed, and the result was that the separatist movement was +identified with the maintenance of slavery, and steadily gathered strength. +In 1819 the South threatened and blustered in order to prevent the complete +prohibition of slavery in the Louisiana purchase. In 1832 South Carolina +passed the nullification ordinance because she suffered by the operation of +a protective tariff. In 1850 a great advance had been made in their +pretensions. Secession was threatened because the South feared that the +Mexican conquests would not be devoted to the service of slavery. Nothing +had been done, nothing was proposed even, prejudicial to Southern +interests; but the inherent weakness of slavery, and the mild conciliatory +attitude of Northern statesmen, incited the South to make imperious demands +for favors, and seek for positive gains. They succeeded in 1850, and in +1860 they had reached the point at which they were ready to plunge the +country into the horrors of civil war solely because they lost an +election. They believed, first, that the North would yield everything for +the sake of union, and secondly, that if there was a limit to their +capacity for surrender in this direction, yet a people capable of so much +submission in the past would never fight to maintain the Union. The South +made a terrible mistake, and was severely punished for it; but the +compromises of 1820, 1833, and 1850 furnished some excuse for the wild idea +that the North would not and could not fight. Whether a strict adherence to +the strong, fearless policy of Hamilton, which was adopted by Jackson and +advocated by Webster in 1832-33, would have prevented civil war, must, of +course, remain matter of conjecture. It is at least certain that in that +way alone could war have been avoided, and that the Clay policy of +compromise made war inevitable by encouraging slave-holders to believe that +they could always obtain anything they wanted by a sufficient show of +violence. + +It is urged, however, that the policy of compromise having been adopted, a +change in 1850 would have simply precipitated the sectional conflict. In +judging Mr. Webster, the practical question, of course, is as to the best +method of dealing with matters as they actually were and not as they might +have been had a different course been pursued in 1820 and 1832. The +partisans of Mr. Webster have always taken the ground that in 1850 the +choice was between compromise and secession; that the events of 1861 showed +that the South, in 1850, was not talking for mere effect; that the +maintenance of the Union was the paramount consideration of a patriotic +statesman; and that the only practicable and proper course was to +compromise. Admitting fully that Mr. Webster's first and highest duty was +to preserve the Union, it is perfectly clear now, when all these events +have passed into history, that he took the surest way to make civil war +inevitable, and that the position of 1832 should not have been abandoned. +In the first place, the choice was not confined to compromise or secession. +The President, the official head of the Whig party, had recommended the +admission of California, as the only matter actually requiring immediate +settlement, and that the other questions growing out of the new territories +should be dealt with as they arose. Mr. Curtis, Mr. Webster's biographer, +says this was an impracticable plan, because peace could not be kept +between New Mexico and Texas, and because there was great excitement about +the slavery question throughout the country. These seem very insufficient +reasons, and only the first has any practical bearing on the matter. +General Taylor said: Admit California, for that is an immediate and +pressing duty, and I will see to it that peace is preserved on the Texan +boundary. Zachary Taylor may not have been a great statesman, but he was a +brave and skilful soldier, and an honest man, resolved to maintain the +Union, even if he had to shoot a few Texans to do it. His policy was bold +and manly, and the fact that it was said to have been inspired by Mr. +Seward, a leader in the only Northern party which had any real principle to +fight for, does not seem such a monstrous idea as it did in 1850 or does +still to those who sustain Mr. Webster's action. That General Taylor's +policy was not so wild and impracticable as Mr. Webster's friends would +have us think, is shown by the fact that Mr. Benton, Democrat and +Southerner as he was, but imbued with the vigor of the Jackson school, +believed that each question should be taken up by itself and settled on its +own merits. A policy which seemed wise to three such different men as +Taylor, Seward, and Benton, could hardly have been so utterly impracticable +and visionary as Mr. Webster's partisans would like the world to believe. +It was in fact one of the cases which that extremely practical statesman +Nicolo Machiavelli had in mind when he wrote that, "Dangers that are seen +afar off are easily prevented; but protracting till they are near at hand, +the remedies grow unseasonable and the malady incurable." + +It may be readily admitted that there was a great and perilous political +crisis in 1850, as Mr. Webster said. In certain quarters, in the excitement +of party strife, there was a tendency to deride Mr. Webster as a +"Union-saver," and to take the ground that there had been no real danger of +secession. This, as we can see now very plainly, was an unfounded idea. +When Congress met, the danger of secession was very real, although perhaps +not very near. The South, although they intended to secede as a last +resort, had no idea that they should be brought to that point. Menaces of +disunion, ominous meetings and conventions, they probably calculated, would +effect their purpose and obtain for them what they wanted, and subsequent +events proved that they were perfectly right in this opinion. On February +14 Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Harvey:-- + + "I do not partake in any degree in those apprehensions which you + say some of our friends entertain of the dissolution of the Union + or the breaking up of the government. I am mortified, it is true, + at the violent tone assumed here by many persons, because such + violence in debate only leads to irritation, and is, moreover, + discreditable to the government and the country. But there is no + serious danger, be assured, and so assure our friends." + +The next day he wrote to Mr. Furness, a leader of the anti-slavery party, +expressing his abhorrence of slavery as an institution, his unwillingness +to break up the existing political system to secure its abolition, and his +belief that the whole matter must be left with Divine Providence. It is +clear from this letter that he had dismissed any thought of assuming an +aggressive attitude toward slavery, but there is nothing to indicate that +he thought the Union could be saved from wreck only by substantial +concessions to the South. Between the date of the letter to Harvey and +March 7, Mr. Curtis says that the aspect of affairs had materially changed, +and that the Union was in serious peril. There is nothing to show that Mr. +Webster thought so, or that he had altered the opinion which he had +expressed on February 14. In fact, Mr. Curtis's view is the exact reverse +of the true state of affairs. If there was any real and immediate danger to +the Union, it existed on February 14, and ceased immediately afterwards, on +February 16, as Dr. Von Holst correctly says, when the House of +Representatives laid on the table the resolution of Mr. Root of Ohio, +prohibiting the extension of slavery to the territories. By that vote, the +victory was won by the slave-power, and the peril of speedy disunion +vanished. Nothing remained but to determine how much the South would get +from their victory, and how hard a bargain they could drive. The admission +of California was no more of a concession than a resolution not to +introduce slavery in Massachusetts would have been. All the rest of the +compromise plan, with the single exception of the prohibition of the +slave-trade in the District of Columbia, was made up of concessions to the +Southern and slave-holding interest. That Henry Clay should have +originated and advocated this scheme was perfectly natural. However wrong +or mistaken, this had been his steady and unbroken policy from the outset, +as the best method of preserving the Union and advancing the cause of +nationality. Mr. Clay was consistent and sincere, and, however much he may +have erred in his general theory, he never swerved from it. But with Mr. +Webster the case was totally different. He had opposed the principle of +compromise from the beginning, and in 1833, when concession was more +reasonable than in 1850, he had offered the most strenuous and unbending +resistance. Now he advocated a compromise which was in reality little less +than a complete surrender on the part of the North. On the general question +of compromise he was, of course, grossly inconsistent, and the history of +the time, as it appears in the cold light of the present day, shows plainly +that, while he was brave and true and wise in 1833, in 1850 he was not only +inconsistent, but that he erred deeply in policy and statesmanship. It has +also been urged in behalf of Mr. Webster that he went no farther than the +Republicans in 1860 in the way of concession, and that as in 1860 so in +1850, anything was permissible which served to gain time. In the first +place, the _tu quoque_ argument proves nothing and has no weight. In the +second place, the situations in 1850 and in 1860 were very different. + +There were at the former period, in reference to slavery, four parties in +the country--the Democrats, the Free-Soilers, the Abolitionists, and the +Whigs. The three first had fixed and widely-varying opinions; the last was +trying to live without opinions, and soon died. The pro-slavery Democrats +were logical and practical; the Abolitionists were equally logical but +thoroughly impracticable and unconstitutional, avowed nullifiers and +secessionists; the Free-Soilers were illogical, constitutional, and +perfectly practical. As Republicans, the Free-Soilers proved the +correctness and good sense of their position by bringing the great majority +of the Northern people to their support. But at the same time their +position was a difficult one, for while they were an anti-slavery party and +had set on foot constitutional opposition to the extension of slavery, +their fidelity to the Constitution compelled them to admit the legality of +the Fugitive Slave Law and of slavery in the States. They aimed, of course, +first to check the extension of slavery and then to efface it by gradual +restriction and full compensation to slave-holders. When they had carried +the country in 1860, they found themselves face to face with a breaking +Union and an impending war. That many of them were seriously frightened, +and, to avoid war and dissolution, would have made great concessions, +cannot be questioned; but their controlling motive was to hold things +together by any means, no matter how desperate, until they could get +possession of the government. This was the only possible and the only wise +policy, but that it involved them in some contradictions in that winter of +excitement and confusion is beyond doubt. History will judge the men and +events of 1860 according to the circumstances of the time, but nothing that +happened then has any bearing on Mr. Webster's conduct. He must be judged +according to the circumstances of 1850, and the first and most obvious fact +is, that he was not fighting merely to gain time and obtain control of the +general government. The crisis was grave and serious in the extreme, but +neither war nor secession were imminent or immediate, nor did Mr. Webster +ever assert that they were. He thought war and secession might come, and it +was against this possibility and probability that he sought to provide. He +wished to solve the great problem, to remove the source of danger, to set +the menacing agitation at rest. He aimed at an enduring and definite +settlement, and that was the purpose of the 7th of March speech. His +reasons--and of course they were clear and weighty in his own +mind--proceeded from the belief that this wretched compromise measure +offered a wise, judicious, and permanent settlement of questions which, in +their constant recurrence, threatened more and more the stability of the +Union. History has shown how wofully mistaken he was in this opinion. + +The last point to be considered in connection with the 7th of March speech +is the ground then taken by Mr. Webster with reference to the extension of +slavery. To this question the speech was chiefly directed, and it is the +portion which has aroused the most heated discussion. What Mr. Webster's +views had always been on the subject of slavery extension every one knew +then and knows now. He had been the steady and uncompromising opponent of +the Southern policy, and in season and out of season, sometimes vehemently +sometimes gently, but always with firmness and clearness, he had declared +against it. The only question is, whether he departed from these +often-expressed opinions on the 7th of March. In the speech itself he +declared that he had not abated one jot in his views in this respect, and +he argued at great length to prove his consistency, which, if it were to be +easily seen of men, certainly needed neither defence nor explanation. The +crucial point was, whether, in organizing the new territories, the +principle of the Wilmot Proviso should be adopted as part of the measure. +This famous proviso Mr. Webster had declared in 1847 to represent exactly +his own views. He had then denied that the idea was the invention of any +one man, and scouted the notion that on this doctrine there could be any +difference of opinion among Whigs. On March 7 he announced that he would +not have the proviso attached to the territorial bills, and should oppose +any effort in that direction. The reasons he gave for this apparent change +were, that nature had forbidden slavery in the newly-conquered regions, and +that the proviso, under such circumstances, would be a useless taunt and +wanton insult to the South. The famous sentence in which he said that he +"would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to +reënact the will of God," was nothing but specious and brilliant rhetoric. +It was perfectly easy to employ slaves in California, if the people had not +prohibited it, and in New Mexico as well, even if there were no cotton nor +sugar nor rice plantations in either, and but little arable land in the +latter. There was a classic form of slave-labor possible in those +countries. Any school-boy could have reminded Mr. Webster of + + "Seius whose eight hundred slaves + Sicken in Ilva's mines." + +Mining was one of the oldest uses to which slave-labor had been applied, +and it still flourished in Siberia as the occupation of serfs and +criminals. Mr. Webster, of course, was not ignorant of this very obvious +fact; and that nature, therefore, instead of forbidding slave-labor in the +Mexican conquests, opened to it a new and almost unlimited field in a +region which is to-day one of the greatest mining countries in the world. +Still less could he have failed to know that this form of employment for +slaves was eagerly desired by the South; that the slave-holders fully +recognized their opportunity, announced their intention of taking +advantage of it, and were particularly indignant at the action of +California because it had closed to them this inviting field. Mr. Clingman +of North Carolina, on January 22, when engaged in threatening war in order +to bring the North to terms, had said, in the House of Representatives: +"But for the anti-slavery agitation our Southern slave-holders would have +carried their negroes into the mines of California in such numbers that I +have no doubt but that the majority there would have made it a +slave-holding State."[1] At a later period Mr. Mason of Virginia declared, +in the Senate, that he knew of no law of nature which excluded slavery from +California. "On the contrary," he said, "if California had been organized +with a territorial form of government only, the people of the Southern +States would have gone there freely, and have taken their slaves there in +great numbers. They would have done so because the value of the labor of +that class would have been augmented to them many hundred fold."[2] These +were the views of practical men and experienced slave-owners who +represented the opinions of their constituents, and who believed that +domestic slavery could be employed to advantage anywhere. Moreover, the +Southern leaders openly avowed their opposition to securing any region to +free labor exclusively, no matter what the ordinances of nature might be. +In 1848, it must be remembered in this connection, Mr. Webster not only +urged the limitation of slave area, and sustained the power of Congress to +regulate this matter in the territories, but he did not resist the final +embodiment of the principle of the Wilmot Proviso in the bill for the +organization of Oregon, where the introduction of slavery was infinitely +more unlikely than in New Mexico. Cotton, sugar, and rice were excluded, +perhaps, by nature from the Mexican conquests, but slavery was not. It was +worse than idle to allege that a law of nature forbade slaves in a country +where mines gaped to receive them. The facts are all as plain as possible, +and there is no escape from the conclusion that in opposing the Wilmot +Proviso, in 1850, Mr. Webster abandoned his principles as to the extension +of slavery. He practically stood forth as the champion of the Southern +policy of letting the new territories alone, which could only result in +placing them in the grasp of slavery. The consistency which he labored so +hard to prove in his speech was hopelessly shattered, and no ingenuity, +either then or since, can restore it. + +[Footnote 1: _Congressional Globe_, 31st Congress, 1st Session, p. 203.] + +[Footnote 2: Ibid., Appendix, p. 510.] + +A dispassionate examination of Mr. Webster's previous course on slavery, +and a careful comparison of it with the ground taken in the 7th of March +speech, shows that he softened his utterances in regard to slavery as a +system, and that he changed radically on the policy of compromise and on +the question of extending the area of slavery. There is a confused story +that in the winter of 1847-48 he had given the anti-slavery leaders to +understand that he proposed to come out on their ground in regard to +Mexico, and to sustain Corwin in his attack on the Democratic policy, but +that he failed to do so. The evidence on this point is entirely +insufficient to make it of importance, but there can be no doubt that in +the winter of 1850 Mr. Webster talked with Mr. Giddings, and led him, and +the other Free-Soil leaders, to believe that he was meditating a strong +anti-slavery speech. This fact was clearly shown in the recent newspaper +controversy which grew out of the celebration of the centennial anniversary +of Webster's birth. It is a little difficult to understand why this +incident should have roused such bitter resentment among Mr. Webster's +surviving partisans. To suppose that Mr. Webster made the 7th of March +speech after long deliberation, without having a moment's hesitation in the +matter, is to credit him with a shameless disregard of principle and +consistency, of which it is impossible to believe him guilty. He +undoubtedly hesitated, and considered deeply whether he should assume the +attitude of 1833, and stand out unrelentingly against the encroachments of +slavery. He talked with Mr. Clay on one side. He talked with Mr. Giddings, +and other Free-Soilers, on the other. With the latter the wish was no +doubt father to the thought, and they may well have imagined that Mr. +Webster had determined to go with them, when he was still in doubt and +merely trying the various positions. There is no need, however, to linger +over matters of this sort. The change made by Mr. Webster can be learned +best by careful study of his own utterances, and of his whole career. Yet, +at the same time, the greatest trouble lies not in the shifting and +inconsistency revealed by an examination of the specific points which have +just been discussed, but in the speech as a whole. In that speech Mr. +Webster failed quite as much by omissions as by the opinions which he +actually announced. He was silent when he should have spoken, and he spoke +when he should have held his peace. The speech, if exactly defined, is, in +reality, a powerful effort, not for compromise or for the Fugitive Slave +Law, or any other one thing, but to arrest the whole anti-slavery movement, +and in that way put an end to the dangers which threatened the Union and +restore lasting harmony between the jarring sections. It was a mad project. +Mr. Webster might as well have attempted to stay the incoming tide at +Marshfield with a rampart of sand as to seek to check the anti-slavery +movement by a speech. Nevertheless, he produced a great effect. His mind +once made up, he spared nothing to win the cast. He gathered all his +forces; his great intellect, his splendid eloquence, his fame which had +become one of the treasured possessions of his country,--all were given to +the work. The blow fell with terrible force, and here, at last, we come to +the real mischief which was wrought. The 7th of March speech demoralized +New England and the whole North. The abolitionists showed by bitter anger +the pain, disappointment, and dismay which this speech brought. The +Free-Soil party quivered and sank for the moment beneath the shock. The +whole anti-slavery movement recoiled. The conservative reaction which Mr. +Webster endeavored to produce came and triumphed. Chiefly by his exertions +the compromise policy was accepted and sustained by the country. The +conservative elements everywhere rallied to his support, and by his ability +and eloquence it seemed as if he had prevailed and brought the people over +to his opinions. It was a wonderful tribute to his power and influence, but +the triumph was hollow and short-lived. He had attempted to compass an +impossibility. Nothing could kill the principles of human liberty, not even +a speech by Daniel Webster, backed by all his intellect and knowledge, his +eloquence and his renown. The anti-slavery movement was checked for the +time, and pro-slavery democracy, the only other positive political force, +reigned supreme. But amid the falling ruins of the Whig party, and the +evanescent success of the Native Americans, the party of human rights +revived; and when it rose again, taught by the trials and misfortunes of +1850, it rose with a strength which Mr. Webster had never dreamed of, and, +in 1856, polled nearly a million and a half of votes for Fremont. The rise +and final triumph of the Republican party was the condemnation of the 7th +of March speech and of the policy which put the government of the country +in the hands of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. When the war came, +inspiration was not found in the 7th of March speech. In that dark hour, +men remembered the Daniel Webster who replied to Hayne, and turned away +from the man who had sought for peace by advocating the great compromise of +Henry Clay. + +The disapprobation and disappointment which were manifested in the North +after the 7th of March speech could not be overlooked. Men thought and said +that Mr. Webster had spoken in behalf of the South and of slavery. Whatever +his intentions may have been, this was what the speech seemed to mean and +this was its effect, and the North saw it more and more clearly as time +went on. Mr. Webster never indulged in personal attacks, but at the same +time he was too haughty a man ever to engage in an exchange of compliments +in debate. He never was in the habit of saying pleasant things to his +opponents in the Senate merely as a matter of agreeable courtesy. In this +direction, as in its opposite, he usually maintained a cold silence. But +on the 7th of March he elaborately complimented Calhoun, and went out of +his way to flatter Virginia and Mr. Mason personally. This struck close +observers with surprise, but it was the real purpose of the speech which +went home to the people of the North. He had advocated measures which with +slight exceptions were altogether what the South wanted, and the South so +understood it. On the 30th of March Mr. Morehead wrote to Mr. Crittenden +that Mr. Webster's appointment as Secretary of State would now be very +acceptable to the South. No more bitter commentary could have been made. +The people were blinded and dazzled at first, but they gradually awoke and +perceived the error that had been committed. + +Mr. Webster, however, needed nothing from outside to inform him as to his +conduct and its results. At the bottom of his heart and in the depths of +his conscience he knew that he had made a dreadful mistake. He did not +flinch. He went on in his new path without apparent faltering. His speech +on the compromise measures went farther than that of the 7th of March. But +if we study his speeches and letters between 1850 and the day of his death, +we can detect changes in them, which show plainly enough that the writer +was not at ease, that he was not master of that real conscience of which he +boasted. + +His friends, after the first shock of surprise, rallied to his support, +and he spoke frequently at union meetings, and undertook, by making immense +efforts, to convince the country that the compromise measures were right +and necessary, and that the doctrines of the 7th of March speech ought to +be sustained. In pursuance of this object, during the winter of 1850 and +the summer of the following year, he wrote several public letters on the +compromise measures, and he addressed great meetings on various occasions, +in New England, New York, and as far south as Virginia. We are at once +struck by a marked change in the character and tone of these speeches, +which produced a great effect in establishing the compromise policy. It had +never been Mr. Webster's habit to misrepresent or abuse his opponents. Now +he confounded the extreme separatism of the abolitionists and the +constitutional opposition of the Free-Soil party, and involved all +opponents of slavery in a common condemnation. It was wilful +misrepresentation to talk of the Free-Soilers as if they were identical +with the abolitionists, and no one knew better than Mr. Webster the +distinction between the two, one being ready to secede to get rid of +slavery, the other offering only a constitutional resistance to its +extension. His tone toward his opponents was correspondingly bitter. When +he first arrived in Boston, after his speech, and spoke to the great crowd +in front of the Revere House, he said, "I shall support no agitations +having their foundations in unreal, ghostly abstractions." Slavery had now +become "an unreal, ghostly abstraction," although it must still have +appeared to the negroes something very like a hard fact. There were men in +that crowd, too, who had not forgotten the noble words with which Mr. +Webster in 1837 had defended the character of the opponents of slavery, and +the sound of this new gospel from his lips fell strangely on their ears. So +he goes on from one union meeting to another, and in speech after speech +there is the same bitter tone which had been so foreign to him in all his +previous utterances. The supporters of the anti-slavery movement he +denounces as insane. He reiterates his opposition to slave extension, and +in the same breath argues that the Union must be preserved by giving way to +the South. The feeling is upon him that the old parties are breaking down +under the pressure of this "ghostly abstraction," this agitation which he +tries to prove to the young men of the country and to his fellow-citizens +everywhere is "wholly factitious." The Fugitive Slave Law is not in the +form which he wants, but still he defends it and supports it. The first +fruits of his policy of peace are seen in riots in Boston, and he +personally advises with a Boston lawyer who has undertaken the cases +against the fugitive slaves. It was undoubtedly his duty, as Mr. Curtis +says, to enforce and support the law as the President's adviser, but his +personal attention and interest were not required in slave cases, nor would +they have been given a year before. The Wilmot Proviso, that doctrine which +he claimed as his own in 1847, when it was a sentiment on which Whigs could +not differ, he now calls "a mere abstraction." He struggles to put slavery +aside for the tariff, but it will not down at his bidding, and he himself +cannot leave it alone. Finally he concludes this compromise campaign with a +great speech on laying the foundation of the capitol extension, and makes a +pathetic appeal to the South to maintain the Union. They are not pleasant +to read, these speeches in the Senate and before the people in behalf of +the compromise policy. They are harsh and bitter; they do not ring true. +Daniel Webster knew when he was delivering them that that was not the way +to save the Union, or that, at all events, it was not the right way for him +to do it. + +The same peculiarity can be discerned in his letters. The fun and humor +which had hitherto run through his correspondence seems now to fade away as +if blighted. On September 10, 1850, he writes to Mr. Harvey that since +March 7 there has not been an hour in which he has not felt a "crushing +sense of anxiety and responsibility." He couples this with the declaration +that his own part is acted and he is satisfied; but if his anxiety was +solely of a public nature, why did it date from March 7, when, prior to +that time, there was much greater cause for alarm than afterwards. In +everything he said or wrote he continually recurs to the slavery question +and always in a defensive tone, usually with a sneer or a fling at the +abolitionists and anti-slavery party. The spirit of unrest had seized him. +He was disturbed and ill at ease. He never admitted it, even to himself, +but his mind was not at peace, and he could not conceal the fact. Posterity +can see the evidences of it plainly enough, and a man of his intellect and +fame knew that with posterity the final reckoning must be made. No man can +say that Mr. Webster anticipated the unfavorable judgment which his +countrymen have passed upon his conduct, but that in his heart he feared +such a judgment cannot be doubted. + +It is impossible to determine with perfect accuracy any man's motives in +what he says or does. They are so complex, they are so often undefined, +even in the mind of the man himself, that no one can pretend to make an +absolutely correct analysis. There have been many theories as to the +motives which led Mr. Webster to make the 7th of March speech. In the heat +of contemporary strife his enemies set it down as a mere bid to secure +Southern support for the presidency, but this is a harsh and narrow view. +The longing for the presidency weakened Mr. Webster as a public man from +the time when it first took possession of him after the reply to Hayne. It +undoubtedly had a weakening effect upon him in the winter of 1850, and had +some influence upon the speech of the 7th of March. But it is unjust to say +that it did more. It certainly was far removed from being a controlling +motive. His friends, on the other hand, declare that he was governed solely +by the highest and most disinterested patriotism, by the truest wisdom. +This explanation, like that of his foes, fails by going too far and being +too simple. His motives were mixed. His chief desire was to preserve and +maintain the Union. He wished to stand forth as the great saviour and +pacificator. On the one side was the South, compact, aggressive, bound +together by slavery, the greatest political force in the country. On the +other was a weak Free-Soil party, and a widely diffused and earnest moral +sentiment without organization or tangible political power. Mr. Webster +concluded that the way to save the Union and the Constitution, and to +achieve the success which he desired, was to go with the heaviest +battalions. He therefore espoused the Southern side, for the compromise was +in the Southern interest, and smote the anti-slavery movement with all his +strength. He reasoned correctly that peace could come only by administering +a severe check to one of the two contending parties. He erred in attempting +to arrest the one which all modern history showed was irresistible. It is +no doubt true, as appears by his cabinet opinion recently printed, that he +stood ready to meet the first overt act on the part of the South with +force. Mr. Webster would not have hesitated to have struck hard at any body +of men or any State which ventured to assail the Union. But he also +believed that the true way to prevent any overt act on the part of the +South was by concession, and that was precisely the object which the +Southern leaders sought to obtain. We may grant all the patriotism and all +the sincere devotion to the cause of the Constitution which is claimed for +him, but nothing can acquit Mr. Webster of error in the methods which he +chose to adopt for the maintenance of peace and the preservation of the +Union. If the 7th of March speech was right, then all that had gone before +was false and wrong. In that speech he broke from his past, from his own +principles and from the principles of New England, and closed his splendid +public career with a terrible mistake. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LAST YEARS. + + +The story of the remainder of Mr. Webster's public life, outside of and +apart from the slavery question, can be quickly told. General Taylor died +suddenly on July 9, 1850, and this event led to an immediate and complete +reorganization of the cabinet. Mr. Fillmore at once offered the post of +Secretary of State to Mr. Webster, who accepted it, resigned his seat in +the Senate, and, on July 23, assumed his new position. No great negotiation +like that with Lord Ashburton marked this second term of office in the +Department of State, but there were a number of important and some very +complicated affairs, which Mr. Webster managed with the wisdom, tact, and +dignity which made him so admirably fit for this high position. + +The best-known incident of this period was that which gave rise to the +famous "Hülsemann letter." President Taylor had sent an agent to Hungary to +report upon the condition of the revolutionary government, with the +intention of recognizing it if there were sufficient grounds for doing so. +When the agent arrived, the revolution was crushed, and he reported to the +President against recognition. These papers were transmitted to the Senate +in March, 1850. Mr. Hülsemann, the Austrian _chargé_, thereupon complained +of the action of our administration, and Mr. Clayton, then Secretary of +State, replied that the mission of the agent had been simply to gather +information. On receiving further instructions from his government, Mr. +Hülsemann rejoined to Mr. Clayton, and it fell to Mr. Webster to reply, +which he did on December 21, 1850. The note of the Austrian _chargé_ was in +a hectoring and highly offensive tone, and Mr. Webster felt the necessity +of administering a sharp rebuke. "The Hülsemann letter," as it was called, +was accordingly dispatched. It set forth strongly the right of the United +States and their intention to recognize any _de facto_ revolutionary +government, and to seek information in all proper ways in order to guide +their action. The argument on this point was admirably and forcibly stated, +and it was accompanied by a bold vindication of the American policy, and by +some severe and wholesome reproof. Mr. Webster had two objects. One was to +awaken the people of Europe to a sense of the greatness of this country, +the other to touch the national pride at home. He did both. The foreign +representatives learned a lesson which they never forgot, and which opened +their eyes to the fact that we were no longer colonies, and the national +pride was also aroused. Mr. Webster admitted that the letter was, in some +respects, boastful and rough. This was a fair criticism, and it may be +justly said that such a tone was hardly worthy of the author. But, on the +other hand, Hülsemann's impertinence fully justified such a reply, and a +little rough domineering was, perhaps, the very thing needed. It is certain +that the letter fully answered Mr. Webster's purpose, and excited a great +deal of popular enthusiasm. The affair did not, however, end here. Mr. +Hülsemann became very mild, but he soon lost his temper again. Kossuth and +the refugees in Turkey were brought to this country in a United States +frigate. The Hungarian hero was received with a burst of enthusiasm that +induced him to hope for substantial aid, which was, of course, wholly +visionary. The popular excitement made it difficult for Mr. Webster to +steer a proper course, but he succeeded, by great tact, in showing his own +sympathy, and, so far as possible, that of the government, for the cause of +Hungarian independence and for its leader, without going too far or +committing any indiscretion which could justify a breach of international +relations with Austria. Mr. Webster's course, including a speech at a +dinner in Boston, in which he made an eloquent allusion to Hungary and +Kossuth, although carefully guarded, aroused the ire of Mr. Hülsemann, who +left the country, after writing a letter of indignant farewell to the +Secretary of State. Mr. Webster replied, through Mr. Hunter, with extreme +coolness, confining himself to an approval of the gentleman selected by Mr. +Hülsemann to represent Austria after the latter's departure. + +The other affairs which occupied Mr. Webster's official attention at this +time made less noise than that with Austria, but they were more complicated +and some of them far more perilous to the peace of the country. The most +important was that growing out of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty in regard to +the neutrality of the contemplated canal in Nicaragua. This led to a +prolonged correspondence about the protectorate of Great Britain in +Nicaragua, and to a withdrawal of her claim to exact port-charges. It is +interesting to observe the influence which Mr. Webster at once obtained +with Sir Henry Bulwer and the respect in which he was held by that +experienced diplomatist. Besides this discussion with England, there was a +sharp dispute with Mexico about the right of way over the Isthmus of +Tehuantepec, and the troubles on the Texan boundary before Congress had +acted upon the subject. Then came the Lopez invasion of Cuba, supported by +bodies of volunteers enlisted in the United States, which, by its failure +and its results, involved our government in a number of difficult +questions. The most serious was the riot at New Orleans, where the Spanish +consulate was sacked by a mob. To render due reparation for this outrage +without wounding the national pride by apparent humiliation was no easy +task. Mr. Webster settled everything, however, with a judgment, tact, and +dignity which prevented war with Spain and yet excited no resentment at +home. At a later period, when the Kossuth affair was drawing to an end, the +perennial difficulty about the fisheries revived and was added to our +Central American troubles with Great Britain, and this, together with the +affair of the Lobos Islands, occupied Mr. Webster's attention, and drew +forth some able and important dispatches during the summer of 1852, in the +last months of his life. + +While the struggle was in progress to convince the country of the value and +justice of the compromise measures and to compel their acceptance, another +presidential election drew on. It was the signal for the last desperate +attempt to obtain the Whig nomination for Mr. Webster, and it seemed at +first sight as if the party must finally take up the New England leader. +Mr. Clay was wholly out of the race, and his last hour was near. There was +absolutely no one who, in fame, ability, public services, and experience +could be compared for one moment with Mr. Webster. The opportunity was +obvious enough; it awakened all Mr. Webster's hopes, and excited the ardor +of his friends. A formal and organized movement, such as had never before +been made, was set on foot to promote his candidacy, and a vigorous and +earnest address to the people was issued by his friends in Massachusetts. +The result demonstrated, if demonstration were needed, that Mr. Webster had +not, even under the most favorable circumstances, the remotest chance for +the presidency. His friends saw this plainly enough before the convention +met, but he himself regarded the great prize as at last surely within his +grasp. Mr. Choate, who was to lead the Webster delegates, went to +Washington the day before the convention assembled. He called on Mr. +Webster and found him so filled with the belief that he should be nominated +that it seemed cruel to undeceive him. Mr. Choate, at all events, had not +the heart for the task, and went back to Baltimore to lead the forlorn hope +with gallant fidelity and with an eloquence as brilliant if not so grand as +that of Mr. Webster himself. A majority[1] of the convention divided their +votes very unequally between Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Webster, the former +receiving 133, the latter 29, on the first ballot, while General Scott had +131. Forty-five ballots were taken, without any substantial change, and +then General Scott began to increase his strength, and was nominated on the +fifty-third ballot, receiving 159 votes. Most of General Scott's supporters +were opposed to resolutions sustaining the compromise measures, while +those who voted for Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Webster favored that policy. +General Scott owed his nomination to a compromise, which consisted in +inserting in the platform a clause strongly approving Mr. Clay's measures. +Mr. Webster expected the Fillmore delegates to come to him, an unlikely +event when they were so much more numerous than his friends, and, moreover, +they never showed the slightest inclination to do so. They were chiefly +from the South, and as they chose to consider Mr. Fillmore and not his +secretary the representative of compromise, they reasonably enough expected +the latter to give way. The desperate stubbornness of Mr. Webster's +adherents resulted in the nomination of Scott. It seemed hard that the +Southern Whigs should have done so little for Mr. Webster after he had done +and sacrificed so much to advance and defend their interests. But the South +was practical. In the 7th of March speech they had got from Mr. Webster all +they could expect or desire. It was quite possible, in fact it was highly +probable, that, once in the presidency, he could not be controlled or +guided by the slave-power or by any other sectional influence. Mr. +Fillmore, inferior in every way to Mr. Webster in intellect, in force, in +reputation, would give them a mild, safe administration and be easily +influenced by the South. Mr. Webster had served his turn, and the men +whose cause he had advocated and whose interests he had protected cast him +aside. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Curtis says a "great majority continued to divide their +votes between Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Webster." The highest number reached by +the combined Webster and Fillmore votes, on any one ballot, was 162, three +more than was received on the last ballot by General Scott, who, Mr. Curtis +correctly says, obtained only a "few votes more than the necessary +majority."] + +The loss of the nomination was a bitter disappointment to Mr. Webster. It +was the fashion in certain quarters to declare that it killed him, but this +was manifestly absurd. The most that can be said in this respect was, that +the excitement and depression caused by his defeat preyed upon his mind and +thereby facilitated the inroads of disease, while it added to the clouds +which darkened round him in those last days. But his course of action after +the convention cannot be passed over without comment. He refused to give +his adhesion to General Scott's nomination, and he advised his friends to +vote for Mr. Pierce, because the Whigs were divided, while the Democrats +were unanimously determined to resist all attempts to renew the slavery +agitation. This course was absolutely indefensible. If the Whig party was +so divided on the slavery question that Mr. Webster could not support their +nominee, then he had no business to seek a nomination at their hands, for +they were as much divided before the convention as afterwards. He chose to +come before that convention, knowing perfectly well the divisions of the +party, and that the nomination might fall to General Scott. He saw fit to +play the game, and was in honor bound to abide by the rules. He had no +right to say "it is heads I win, and tails you lose." If he had been +nominated he would have indignantly and justly denounced a refusal on the +part of General Scott and his friends to support him. It is the merest +sophistry to say that Mr. Webster was too great a man to be bound by party +usages, and that he owed it to himself to rise above them, and refuse his +support to a poor nomination and to a wrangling party. If Mr. Webster could +no longer act with the Whigs, then his name had no business in that +convention at Baltimore, for the conditions were the same before its +meeting as afterward. Great man as he was, he was not too great to behave +honorably; and his refusal to support Scott, after having been his rival +for a nomination at the hands of their common party, was neither honorable +nor just. If Mr. Webster had decided to leave the Whigs and act +independently, he was in honor bound to do so before the Baltimore +convention assembled, or to have warned the delegates that such was his +intention in the event of General Scott's nomination. He had no right to +stand the hazard of the die, and then refuse to abide by the result. The +Whig party, in its best estate, was not calculated to excite a very warm +enthusiasm in the breast of a dispassionate posterity, and it is perfectly +true that it was on the eve of ruin in 1852. But it appeared better then, +in the point of self-respect, than four years before. In 1848 the Whigs +nominated a successful soldier conspicuous only for his availability and +without knowing to what party he belonged. They maintained absolute +silence on the great question of the extension of slavery, and carried on +their campaign on the personal popularity of their candidate. Mr. Webster +was righteously disgusted at their candidate and their negative attitude. +He could justly and properly have left them on a question of principle; but +he swallowed the nomination, "not fit to be made," and gave to his party a +decided and public support. In 1852 the Whigs nominated another successful +soldier, who was known to be a Whig, and who had been a candidate for their +nomination before. In their platform they formally adopted the essential +principle demanded by Mr. Webster, and declared their adhesion to the +compromise measures. If there was disaffection in regard to this +declaration of 1852, there was disaffection also about the silence of 1848. +In the former case, Mr. Webster adhered to the nomination; in the latter, +he rejected it. In 1848 he might still hope to be President through a Whig +nomination. In 1852 he knew that, even if he lived, there would never be +another chance. He gave vent to his disappointment, put no constraint upon +himself, prophesied the downfall of his party, and advised his friends to +vote for Franklin Pierce. It was perfectly logical, after advocating the +compromise measures, to advise giving the government into the hands of a +party controlled by the South. Mr. Webster would have been entirely +reasonable in taking such a course before the Baltimore convention. He had +no right to do so after he had sought a nomination from the Whigs, and it +was a breach of faith to act as he did, to advise his friends to desert a +falling party and vote for the Democratic candidate. + +After the acceptance of the Department of State, Mr. Webster's health +became seriously impaired. His exertions in advocating the compromise +measures, his official labors, and the increased severity of his annual +hay-fever,--all contributed to debilitate him. His iron constitution +weakened in various ways, and especially by frequent periods of intense +mental exertion, to which were superadded the excitement and nervous strain +inseparable from his career, was beginning to give way. Slowly but surely +he lost ground. His spirits began to lose their elasticity, and he rarely +spoke without a tinge of deep sadness being apparent in all he said. In +May, 1852, while driving near Marshfield, he was thrown from his carriage +with much violence, injuring his wrists, and receiving other severe +contusions. The shock was very great, and undoubtedly accelerated the +progress of the fatal organic disease which was sapping his life. This +physical injury was followed by the keen disappointment of his defeat at +Baltimore, which preyed upon his heart and mind. During the summer of 1852 +his health gave way more rapidly. He longed to resign, but Mr. Fillmore +insisted on his retaining his office. In July he came to Boston, where he +was welcomed by a great public meeting, and hailed with enthusiastic +acclamations, which did much to soothe his wounded feelings. He still +continued to transact the business of his department, and in August went to +Washington, where he remained until the 8th of September, when he returned +to Marshfield. On the 20th he went to Boston, for the last time, to consult +his physician. He appeared at a friend's house, one evening, for a few +moments, and all who then saw him were shocked at the look of illness and +suffering in his face. It was his last visit. He went back to Marshfield +the next day, never to return. He now failed rapidly. His nights were +sleepless, and there were scarcely any intervals of ease or improvement. +The decline was steady and sure, and as October wore away the end drew +near. Mr. Webster faced it with courage, cheerfulness, and dignity, in a +religious and trusting spirit, with a touch of the personal pride which was +part of his nature. He remained perfectly conscious and clear in his mind +almost to the very last moment, bearing his sufferings with perfect +fortitude, and exhibiting the tenderest affection toward the wife and son +and friends who watched over him. On the evening of October 23 it became +apparent that he was sinking, but his one wish seemed to be that he might +be conscious when he was actually dying. After midnight he roused from an +uneasy sleep, struggled for consciousness, and ejaculated, "I still live." +These were his last words. Shortly after three o'clock the labored +breathing ceased, and all was over. + +A hush fell upon the country as the news of his death sped over the land. A +great gap seemed to have been made in the existence of every one. Men +remembered the grandeur of his form and the splendor of his intellect, and +felt as if one of the pillars of the state had fallen. The profound grief +and deep sense of loss produced by his death were the highest tributes and +the most convincing proofs of his greatness. + +In accordance with his wishes, all public forms and ceremonies were +dispensed with. The funeral took place at his home on Friday, October 29. +Thousands flocked to Marshfield to do honor to his memory, and to look for +the last time at that noble form. It was one of those beautiful days of the +New England autumn, when the sun is slightly veiled, and a delicate haze +hangs over the sea, shining with a tender silvery light. There is a sense +of infinite rest and peace on such a day which seems to shut out the noise +of the busy world and breathe the spirit of unbroken calm. As the crowds +poured in through the gates of the farm, they saw before them on the lawn, +resting upon a low mound of flowers, the majestic form, as impressive in +the repose of death as it had been in the fullness of life and strength. +There was a wonderful fitness in it all. The vault of heaven and the +spacious earth seemed in their large simplicity the true place for such a +man to lie in state. There was a brief and simple service at the house, and +then the body was borne on the shoulders of Marshfield farmers, and laid in +the little graveyard which already held the wife and children who had gone +before, and where could be heard the eternal murmur of the sea. + + * * * * * + +In May, 1852, Mr. Webster said to Professor Silliman: "I have given my life +to law and politics. Law is uncertain and politics are utterly vain." It is +a sad commentary for such a man to have made on such a career, but it fitly +represents Mr. Webster's feelings as the end of life approached. His last +years were not his most fortunate, and still less his best years. Domestic +sorrows had been the prelude to a change of policy, which had aroused a +bitter opposition, and to the pangs of disappointed ambition. A sense of +mistake and failure hung heavily upon his spirits, and the cry of "vanity, +vanity, all is vanity," came readily to his lips. There is an infinite +pathos in those melancholy words which have just been quoted. The sun of +life, which had shone so splendidly at its meridian, was setting amid +clouds. The darkness which overspread him came from the action of the 7th +of March, and the conflict which it had caused. If there were failure and +mistake they were there. The presidency could add nothing, its loss could +take away nothing from the fame of Daniel Webster. He longed for it +eagerly; he had sacrificed much to his desire for it; his disappointment +was keen and bitter at not receiving what seemed to him the fit crown of +his great public career. But this grief was purely personal, and will not +be shared by posterity, who feel only the errors of those last years coming +after so much glory, and who care very little for the defeat of the +ambition which went with them. + +Those last two years awakened such fierce disputes, and had such an +absorbing interest, that they have tended to overshadow the half century of +distinction and achievement which preceded them. Failure and disappointment +on the part of such a man as Webster seem so great, that they too easily +dwarf everything else, and hide from us a just and well proportioned view +of the whole career. Mr. Webster's success had, in truth, been brilliant, +hardly equalled in measure or duration by that of any other eminent man in +our history. For thirty years he had stood at the head of the bar and of +the Senate, the first lawyer and the first statesman of the United States. +This is a long tenure of power for one man in two distinct departments. It +would be remarkable anywhere. It is especially so in a democracy. This +great success Mr. Webster owed solely to his intellectual power +supplemented by great physical gifts. No man ever was born into the world +better formed by nature for the career of an orator and statesman. He had +everything to compel the admiration and submission of his fellow-men:-- + + "The front of Jove himself; + An eye like Mars to threaten and command; + A station like the herald Mercury + New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill; + A combination and a form indeed, + Where every god did seem to set his seal, + To give the world assurance of a man." + +Hamlet's words are a perfect picture of Mr. Webster's outer man, and we +have but to add to the description a voice of singular beauty and power +with the tone and compass of an organ. The look of his face and the sound +of his voice were in themselves as eloquent as anything Mr. Webster ever +uttered. + +But the imposing presence was only the outward sign of the man. Within was +a massive and powerful intellect, not creative or ingenious, but with a +wonderful vigor of grasp, capacious, penetrating, far-reaching. Mr. +Webster's strongest and most characteristic mental qualities were weight +and force. He was peculiarly fitted to deal with large subjects in a large +way. He was by temperament extremely conservative. There was nothing of the +reformer or the zealot about him. He could maintain or construct where +other men had built; he could not lay new foundations or invent. We see +this curiously exemplified in his feeling toward Hamilton and Madison. He +admired them both, and to the former he paid a compliment which has become +a familiar quotation. But Hamilton's bold, aggressive genius, his audacity, +fertility, and resource, did not appeal to Mr. Webster as did the prudence, +the constructive wisdom, and the safe conservatism of the gentle Madison, +whom he never wearied of praising. The same description may be given of his +imagination, which was warm, vigorous, and keen, but not poetic. He used it +well, it never led him astray, and was the secret of his most conspicuous +oratorical triumphs. + +He had great natural pride and a strong sense of personal dignity, which +made him always impressive, but apparently cold, and sometimes solemn in +public. In his later years this solemnity degenerated occasionally into +pomposity, to which it is always perilously near. At no time in his life +was he quick or excitable. He was indolent and dreamy, working always under +pressure, and then at a high rate of speed. This indolence increased as he +grew older; he would then postpone longer and labor more intensely to make +up the lost time than in his earlier days. When he was quiescent, he seemed +stern, cold, and latterly rather heavy, and some outer incentive was needed +to rouse his intellect or touch his heart. Once stirred, he blazed forth, +and, when fairly engaged, with his intellect in full play, he was as grand +and effective in his eloquence as it is given to human nature to be. In the +less exciting occupations of public life, as, for instance, in foreign +negotiations, he showed the same grip upon his subject, the same capacity +and judgment as in his speeches, and a mingling of tact and dignity which +proved the greatest fitness for the conduct of the gravest public affairs. +As a statesman Mr. Webster was not an "opportunist," as it is the fashion +to call those who live politically from day to day, dealing with each +question as it arises, and exhibiting often the greatest skill and talent. +Still less was he a statesman of the type of Charles Fox, who preached to +the deaf ears of one generation great principles which became accepted +truisms in the next. Mr. Webster stands between the two classes. He viewed +the present with a strong perception of the future, and shaped his policy +not merely for the daily exigency, but with a keen eye to subsequent +effects. At the same time he never put forward and defended single-handed a +great principle or idea which, neglected then, was gradually to win its way +and reign supreme among a succeeding generation. + +His speeches have a heat and glow which we can still feel, and a depth and +reality of thought which have secured them a place in literature. He had +not a fiery nature, although there is often so much warmth in what he said. +He was neither high tempered nor quick to anger, but he could be fierce, +and, when adulation had warped him in those later years, he was capable of +striking ugly blows which sometimes wounded friends as well as enemies. + +There remains one marked quality to be noticed in Mr. Webster, which was of +immense negative service to him. This was his sense of humor. Mr. Nichol, +in his recent history of American literature, speaks of Mr. Webster as +deficient in this respect. Either the critic himself is deficient in humor +or he has studied only Webster's collected works, which give no indication +of the real humor in the man. That Mr. Webster was not a humorist is +unquestionably true, and although he used a sarcasm which made his +opponents seem absurd and even ridiculous at times, and in his more +unstudied efforts would provoke mirth by some happy and playful allusion, +some felicitous quotation or ingenious antithesis, he was too stately in +every essential respect ever to seek to make mere fun or to excite the +laughter of his hearers by deliberate exertions and with malice +aforethought. He had, nevertheless, a real and genuine sense of humor. We +can see it in his letters, and it comes out in a thousand ways in the +details and incidents of his private life. When he had thrown aside the +cares of professional or public business, he revelled in hearty, boisterous +fun, and he had that sanest of qualities, an honest, boyish love of pure +nonsense. He delighted in a good story and dearly loved a joke, although +no jester himself. This sense of humor and appreciation of the ridiculous, +although they give no color to his published works, where, indeed, they +would have been out of place, improved his judgment, smoothed his path +through the world, and saved him from those blunders in taste and those +follies in action which are ever the pitfalls for men with the fervid, +oratorical temperament. + +This sense of humor gave, also, a great charm to his conversation and to +all social intercourse with him. He was a good, but never, so far as can be +judged from tradition, an overbearing talker. He never appears to have +crushed opposition in conversation, nor to have indulged in monologue, +which is so apt to be the foible of famous and successful men who have a +solemn sense of their own dignity and importance. What Lord Melbourne said +of the great Whig historian, "that he wished he was as sure of anything as +Tom Macaulay was of everything," could not be applied to Mr. Webster. He +owed his freedom from such a weakness partly, no doubt, to his natural +indolence, but still more to the fact that he was not only no pedant, but +not even a very learned man. He knew no Greek, but was familiar with Latin. +His quotations and allusions were chiefly drawn from Shakespeare, Milton, +Homer, and the Bible, where he found what most appealed to him--simplicity +and grandeur of thought and diction. At the same time, he was a great +reader, and possessed wide information on a vast variety of subjects, which +a clear and retentive memory put always at his command. The result of all +this was that he was a most charming and entertaining companion. + +These attractions were heightened by his large nature and strong animal +spirits. He loved outdoor life. He was a keen sportsman and skilful +fisherman. In all these ways he was healthy and manly, without any tinge of +the mere student or public official. He loved everything that was large. +His soul expanded in the free air and beneath the blue sky. All natural +scenery appealed to him,--Niagara, the mountains, the rolling prairie, the +great rivers,--but he found most contentment beside the limitless sea, amid +brown marshes and sand-dunes, where the sense of infinite space is +strongest. It was the same in regard to animals. He cared but little for +horses or dogs, but he rejoiced in great herds of cattle, and especially in +fine oxen, the embodiment of slow and massive strength. In England the +things which chiefly appealed to him were the Tower of London, Westminster +Abbey, Smithfield cattle market, and English agriculture. So it was always +and everywhere. He loved mountains and great trees, wide horizons, the +ocean, the western plains, and the giant monuments of literature and art. +He rejoiced in his strength and the overflowing animal vigor that was in +him. He was so big and so strong, so large in every way, that people sank +into repose in his presence, and felt rest and confidence in the mere fact +of his existence. He came to be regarded as an institution, and when he +died men paused with a sense of helplessness, and wondered how the country +would get on without him. To have filled so large a space in a country so +vast, and in a great, hurrying, and pushing democracy, implies a +personality of a most uncommon kind. + +He was, too, something more than a charming companion in private life. He +was generous, liberal, hospitable, and deeply affectionate. He was adored +in his home, and deeply loved his children, who were torn from him, one +after another. His sorrow, like his joy, was intense and full of force. He +had many devoted friends, and a still greater body of unhesitating +followers. To the former he showed, through nearly all his life, the warm +affection which was natural to him. It was not until adulation and flattery +had deeply injured him, and the frustrated ambition for the presidency had +poisoned both heart and mind, that he became dictatorial and overbearing. +Not till then did he quarrel with those who had served and followed him, as +when he slighted Mr. Lawrence for expressing independent opinions, and +refused to do justice to the memory of Story because it might impair his +own glories. They do not present a pleasant picture, these quarrels with +friends, but they were part of the deterioration of the last years, and +they furnish in a certain way the key to his failure to attain the +presidency. The country was proud of Mr. Webster; proud of his intellect, +his eloquence, his fame. He was the idol of the capitalists, the merchants, +the lawyers, the clergy, the educated men of all classes in the East. The +politicians dreaded and feared him because he was so great, and so little +in sympathy with them, but his real weakness was with the masses of the +people. He was not popular in the true sense of the word. For years the +Whig party and Henry Clay were almost synonymous terms, but this could +never be said of Mr. Webster. His following was strong in quality, but weak +numerically. Clay touched the popular heart. Webster never did. The people +were proud of him, wondered at him, were awed by him, but they did not love +him, and that was the reason he was never President, for he was too great +to succeed to the high office, as many men have, by happy or unhappy +accident. There was also another feeling which is suggested by the +differences with some of his closest friends. There was a lurking distrust +of Mr. Webster's sincerity. We can see it plainly in the correspondence of +the Western Whigs, who were not, perhaps, wholly impartial. But it existed, +nevertheless. There was a vague, ill-defined feeling of doubt in the +public mind; a suspicion that the spirit of the advocate was the ruling +spirit in Mr. Webster, and that he did not believe with absolute and +fervent faith in one side of any question. There was just enough +correctness, just a sufficient grain of truth in this idea, when united +with the coldness and dignity of his manner and with his greatness itself, +to render impossible that popularity which, to be real and lasting in a +democracy, must come from the heart and not from the head of the people, +which must be instinctive and emotional, and not the offspring of reason. + +There is no occasion to discuss, or hold up to reprobation, Mr. Webster's +failings. He was a splendid animal as well as a great man, and he had +strong passions and appetites, which he indulged at times to the detriment +of his health and reputation. These errors may be mostly fitly consigned to +silence. But there was one failing which cannot be passed over in this way. +This was in regard to money. His indifference to debt was perceptible in +his youth, and for many years showed no sign of growth. But in his later +years it increased with terrible rapidity. He earned twenty thousand a year +when he first came to Boston,--a very great income for those days. His +public career interfered, of course, with his law practice, but there never +was a period when he could not, with reasonable economy, have laid up +something at the end of every year, and gradually amassed a fortune. But +he not only never saved, he lived habitually beyond his means. He did not +become poor by his devotion to the public service, but by his own +extravagance. He loved to spend money and to live well. He had a fine +library and handsome plate; he bought fancy cattle; he kept open house, and +indulged in that most expensive of all luxuries, "gentleman-farming." He +never stinted himself in any way, and he gave away money with reckless +generosity and heedless profusion, often not stopping to inquire who the +recipient of his bounty might be. The result was debt; then subscriptions +among his friends to pay his debts; then a fresh start and more debts, and +more subscriptions and funds for his benefit, and gifts of money for his +table, and checks or notes for several thousand dollars in token of +admiration of the 7th of March speech.[1] This was, of course, utterly +wrong and demoralizing, but Mr. Webster came, after a time, to look upon +such transactions as natural and proper. In the Ingersoll debate, Mr. +Yancey accused him of being in the pay of the New England manufacturers, +and his biographer has replied to the charge at length. That Mr. Webster +was in the pay of the manufacturers in the sense that they hired him, and +bade him do certain things, is absurd. That he was maintained and supported +in a large degree by New England manufacturers and capitalists cannot be +questioned; but his attitude toward them was not that of servant and +dependent. He seems to have regarded the merchants and bankers of State +Street very much as a feudal baron regarded his peasantry. It was their +privilege and duty to support him, and he repaid them with an occasional +magnificent compliment. The result was that he lived in debt and died +insolvent, and this was not the position which such a man as Daniel Webster +should have occupied. + +[Footnote 1: The story of the gift of ten thousand dollars in token of +admiration of the 7th of March speech, referred to by Dr. Von Holst +(_Const. Hist. of the United States_) may be found in a volume entitled, +_In Memoriam, B. Ogle Tayloe_, p. 109, and is as follows: "My opulent and +munificent friend and neighbor Mr. William W. Corcoran," says Mr. Tayloe, +"after the perusal of Webster's celebrated March speech in defence of the +Constitution and of Southern rights, inclosed to Mrs. Webster her husband's +note for ten thousand dollars given him for a loan to that amount. Mr. +Webster met Mr. Corcoran the same evening, at the President's, and thanked +him for the 'princely favor.' Next day he addressed to Mr. Corcoran a +letter of thanks which I read at Mr. Corcoran's request." This version is +substantially correct. The morning of March 8 Mr. Corcoran inclosed with a +letter of congratulation some notes of Mr. Webster's amounting to some six +thousand dollars. Reflecting that this was not a very solid tribute, he +opened his letter and put in a check for a thousand dollars, and sent the +notes and the check to Mr. Webster, who wrote him a letter expressing his +gratitude, which Mr. Tayloe doubtless saw, and which is still in existence. +I give the facts in this way because Mr. George T. Curtis, in a newspaper +interview, referring to an article of mine in the _Atlantic Monthly_, said, +"With regard to the story of the ten thousand dollar check, which story Mr. +Lodge gives us to understand he found in the pages of that very credulous +writer Dr. Von Holst, although I have not looked into his volumes to see +whether he makes the charge, I have only to say that I never heard of such +an occurrence before, and that it would require the oath of a very credible +witness to the fact to make me believe it." I may add that I have taken the +trouble not only to look into Dr. Von Holst's volumes but to examine the +whole matter thoroughly. The proof is absolute and indeed it is not +necessary to go beyond Mr. Webster's own letter of acknowledgment in search +of evidence, were there the slightest reason to doubt the substantial +correctness of Mr. Tayloe's statement. The point is a small one, but a +statement of fact, if questioned, ought always to be sustained or +withdrawn.] + +He showed the same indifference to the source of supplies of money in other +ways. He took a fee from Wheelock, and then deserted him. He came down to +Salem to prosecute a murderer, and the opposing counsel objected that he +was brought there to hurry the jury beyond the law and the evidence, and it +was even murmured audibly in the court-room that he had a fee from the +relatives of the murdered man in his pocket. A fee of that sort he +certainly received either then or afterwards. Every ugly public attack that +was made upon him related to money, and it is painful that the biographer +of such a man as Webster should be compelled to give many pages to show +that his hero was not in the pay of manufacturers, and did not receive a +bribe in carrying out the provisions of the treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo. +The refutation may be perfectly successful, but there ought to have been no +need of it. The reputation of a man like Mr. Webster in money matters +should have been so far above suspicion that no one would have dreamed of +attacking it. Debts and subscriptions bred the idea that there might be +worse behind, and although there is no reason to believe that such was the +case, these things are of themselves deplorable enough. + +When Mr. Webster failed it was a moral failure. His moral character was not +equal to his intellectual force. All the errors he ever committed, whether +in public or in private life, in political action or in regard to money +obligations, came from moral weakness. He was deficient in that intensity +of conviction which carries men beyond and above all triumphs of +statesmanship, and makes them the embodiment of the great moral forces +which move the world. If Mr. Webster's moral power had equalled his +intellectual greatness, he would have had no rival in our history. But this +combination and balance are so rare that they are hardly to be found in +perfection among the sons of men. The very fact of his greatness made his +failings all the more dangerous and unfortunate. To be blinded by the +splendor of his fame and the lustre of his achievements and prate about the +sin of belittling a great man is the falsest philosophy and the meanest +cant. The only thing worth having, in history as in life, is truth; and we +do wrong to our past, to ourselves, and to our posterity if we do not +strive to render simple justice always. We can forgive the errors and +sorrow for the faults of our great ones gone; we cannot afford to hide or +forget their shortcomings. + +But after all has been said, the question of most interest is, what Mr. +Webster represented, what he effected, and what he means in our history. +The answer is simple. He stands to-day as the preëminent champion and +exponent of nationality. He said once, "there are no Alleghanies in my +politics," and he spoke the exact truth. Mr. Webster was thoroughly +national. There is no taint of sectionalism or narrow local prejudice about +him. He towers up as an American, a citizen of the United States in the +fullest sense of the word. He did not invent the Union, or discover the +doctrine of nationality. But he found the great fact and the great +principle ready to his hand, and he lifted them up, and preached the gospel +of nationality throughout the length and breadth of the land. In his +fidelity to this cause he never wavered nor faltered. From the first burst +of boyish oratory to the sleepless nights at Marshfield, when, waiting for +death, he looked through the window at the light which showed him the +national flag fluttering from its staff, his first thought was of a united +country. To his large nature the Union appealed powerfully by the mere +sense of magnitude which it conveyed. The vision of future empire, the +dream of the destiny of an unbroken union touched and kindled his +imagination. He could hardly speak in public without an allusion to the +grandeur of American nationality, and a fervent appeal to keep it sacred +and intact. For fifty years, with reiteration ever more frequent, +sometimes with rich elaboration, sometimes with brief and simple allusion, +he poured this message into the ears of a listening people. His words +passed into text-books, and became the first declamations of school-boys. +They were in every one's mouth. They sank into the hearts of the people, +and became unconsciously a part of their life and daily thoughts. When the +hour came, it was love for the Union and the sentiment of nationality which +nerved the arm of the North, and sustained her courage. That love had been +fostered, and that sentiment had been strengthened and vivified by the life +and words of Webster. No one had done so much, or had so large a share in +this momentous task. Here lies the debt which the American people owe to +Webster, and here is his meaning and importance in his own time and to us +to-day. His career, his intellect, and his achievements are inseparably +connected with the maintenance of a great empire, and the fortunes of a +great people. So long as English oratory is read or studied, so long will +his speeches stand high in literature. So long as the Union of these States +endures, or holds a place in history, will the name of Daniel Webster be +honored and remembered, and his stately eloquence find an echo in the +hearts of his countrymen. + + + + +INDEX. + + +Aberdeen, Lord, succeeds Lord Palmerston as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, + 252; + offers forty-ninth parallel, in accordance with Mr. Webster's suggestion, + 266. + +Adams, John, in Massachusetts Convention, 111; + letter to Webster on Plymouth oration, 123; + eulogy on, 125; + supposed speech of, 126. + +Adams, John Quincy, most conspicuous man in New England, 129; + opposed to Greek mission, 135; + opinion of Webster's speech against tariff of 1824, 136; + elected President, 137, 149; + anxious for success of Panama mission, 140; + message on Georgia and Creek Indians, 142; + Webster's opposition to, 145; + bitter tone toward Webster in Edwards's affair, 147; + interview with Webster, 148, 149; + conciliates Webster, 149; + real hostility to Webster, 150; + defeated for presidency, 151; + comment on eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 153; + compared with Webster as an orator, 201; + opinion of reply to Hayne, 206; + opinion of Mr. Webster's attitude toward the South in 1838, 285. + +Ames, Fisher, compared with Webster as an orator, 201. + +Appleton, Julia Webster, daughter of Mr. Webster, death of, 271. + +Ashburton, Lord, appointed special commissioner, 251; + arrives in Washington, 253; + negotiation with Mr. Webster, 255 ff.; + attacked by Lord Palmerston, 259. + +Ashmun, George, defends Mr. Webster, 269. + +Atkinson, Edward, summary of Mr. Webster's tariff speech of 1824, + 163-165. + + +Bacourt, M. de, French Minister, description of Harrison's reception of + diplomatic corps, 245. + +Baltimore, Whig Convention at, 338. + +Bank of the United States, debate on establishment, and defeat of, in + 1814-15, 62; + established, 66; + beginning of attack on, 208. + +Bartlett, Ichabod, counsel for State against College, 79; + attack on Mr. Webster, 80. + +Bell, Samuel, remarks to Webster before reply to Hayne, 178. + +Bellamy, Dr., early opponent of Eleazer Wheelock, 75. + +Benton, Thomas H., account of Mr. Webster in 1833, 219, 220; + error in view of Webster, 221; + fails in first attempt to carry expunging resolution, 232; + carries second expunging resolution, 234; + attacks Ashburton treaty, 257; + supports Taylor's policy in 1850, 312. + +Bocanegra, M. de, Webster's correspondence with, 260. + +"Boston Memorial," 275. + +Bosworth, Mr., junior counsel in Rhode Island case, 105. + +Brown, Rev. Francis, elected president of Dartmouth College, 78; + refuses to obey new board of trustees, 79; + writes to Webster as to state of public opinion, 94. + +Buchanan, James, taunts Mr. Clay, 251; + attacks Ashburton treaty, 257. + +Bulwer, Sir Henry, respect for Mr. Webster, 336. + +Burke, Edmund, Webster compared with as an orator, 199, 202, 203. + + +Calhoun, John C., speech in favor of repealing embargo, 53; + sustains double duties, 55, 157; + asks Webster's assistance to establish a bank, 63; + introduces bill to compel revenue to be collected in specie, 66; + internal improvement bill of, 68; + visit to Webster, who regards him as his choice for President, 130-145; + misleads Webster as to Greek mission, 135; + author of exposition and protest, 171; + presides over debate on Foote's resolution, 172; + compared with Webster as an orator, 201; + resigns vice-presidency and returns as Senator to support + nullification, 212; + alarmed at Jackson's attitude and at Force Bill, 214; + consults Clay, 215; + nullification speech on Force Bill, 215; + merits of speech, 216; + supports compromise, 219; + alliance with Clay, 222; + and Webster, 226; + attitude in regard to France, 230; + change on bank question, 236; + accepts secretaryship of state to bring about annexation of Texas, 263; + moves that anti-slavery petitions be not received, 1836, 281; + bill to control United States mails, 282; + tries to stifle petitions, 284; + resolutions on Enterprise affair, 286; + approves Webster's treatment of Creole case, 287; + pronounces anti-slavery petition of New Mexico "insolent," 298; + argument as to Constitution in territories, 298; + Webster's compliments to on 7th of March, 326. + +California, desires admission as a state, 299; + slavery possible in, 319. + +Carlyle, Thomas, description of Webster, 194. + +Caroline, affair of steamboat, 247. + +Cass, Lewis, attack upon Ashburton treaty, 259; + Democratic candidate for presidency and defeated, 274. + +Chamberlain, Mellen, comparison of Webster with other orators, 203, note. + +Chatham, Earl of, compared with Webster as an orator, 201. + +Choate, Rufus, compared with Webster as an orator, 202; + resigns senatorship, 262; + leads Webster delegates at Baltimore, 338. + +Clay, Henry, makes Mr. Webster chairman of Judiciary Committee, 131; + active support of Greek resolutions, 134; + author of American system and tariff of 1824, 136, 163; + desires Panama mission, 140; + Webster's opposition to, 145; + candidate for presidency in 1832, 207; + bill for reduction of tariff, 1831-32, 211; + consults with Calhoun, 215; + introduces Compromise bill, 215; + carries Compromise bill, 218, 219; + alliance with Calhoun, 222; + opinion of Webster's course in 1833, 222, 223; + alliance with Webster, 226; + introduces resolutions of censure on Jackson, 228; + attitude in regard to France, 230; + declines to enter Harrison's cabinet, 240; + attacks President Tyler, 250, 251; + movement in favor of, in Massachusetts, 258; + nominated for presidency and defeated, 262; + movement to nominate in 1848, 273; + resolutions as to slavery in the District, 284; + plan for compromise in 1850, 300; + introduces Compromise bill in Senate, 301; + policy of compromise, 309, 310; + consistent supporter of compromise policy, 315; + not a candidate for presidency in 1852, 337; + popularity of, 355. + +Clingman, Thomas L., advocates slavery in California, 320. + +Congregational Church, power and politics of, in New Hampshire, 76. + +Congress, leaders in thirteenth, 49; + leaders in fourteenth, 64. + +Cooper, James Fenimore, Webster's speech, at memorial meeting, 195. + +Corcoran, Wm. W., gift to Mr. Webster, 357, note. + +Crawford, William H., attack on by Ninian Edwards, 136, 146, 147; + bids for support of Webster and Federalists, 146; + defended by Webster, 147; + fails to get support of Federalists, 148. + +Creole, case of the, 253, 255, 287. + +Crimes Act, 138. + +Crittenden, John J., Morehead's letter to, about 7th of March speech, 326. + +Cruising Convention, the, 255, 259. + +Cumberland Road, bill for, 137. + +Curtis, George T., biography of Webster, 1, note; + opinion of reply to Calhoun, 216; + of expunging resolution, 234; + describes New York movement for Taylor as a blunder, 273; + says majority disapproved 7th of March speech, 303; + considers Taylor's policy in 1850 impracticable, 311; + views as to danger of secession in 1850, 314. + +Cushing, Caleb, Minister to China, 260; + course in 1838, 285. + + +Dartmouth College case, account of, 74-97. + +Davis, Daniel, 30. + +Denison, John Evelyn, friendship and correspondence with Mr. Webster, 152. + +Dexter, Samuel, a leader at Boston bar, 30; + practises in New Hampshire, 36. + +Dickinson, Daniel S., attack upon Mr. Webster, 268. + +Disraeli, Benjamin, free trade a question of expediency, 169. + +Douglas, Stephen A., offers amendment to Oregon bill, 294. + +Dunham, Josiah, attacks Webster for deserting Wheelock, 77. + +Durfree, American citizen killed on Caroline, 247. + +Duvall, Judge, opposed to Dartmouth College, 87; + writes dissenting opinion, 96. + + +Edwards, Ninian, charges against Mr. Crawford, 136, 146, 147; + character of, 146, 147. + +Enterprise, case of the, 286. + +Erskine, Lord, compared with Webster as an orator, 202. + +Everett, Edward, Webster desires appointment of as Commissioner to Greece, + 135; + Minister to England, 252; + refuses Chinese mission, 260. + + +Farrar, Timothy, report of Dartmouth College case, 81, 86. + +Federalists, ruling party in New Hampshire, 76; + defeated on college issue, 78; + movement of to get decision for college, 92-94; + position of in 1823, 130, 131; + hostility to John Quincy Adams, 145, 146; + attempted alliance with Crawford, 146-148; + to be recognized by Adams, 149; + free-traders in New England, 155 ff. + +Fillmore, Millard, offers Mr. Webster secretaryship of state, 333; + candidate for Whig nomination, 338; + urges Mr. Webster to stay in the cabinet, 344. + +Foote, Henry S., moves to refer admission of California to a select + committee, 301. + +Foote, Samuel A., resolution regarding public lands, 172. + +Force Bill, introduced, 214; + debated, 215, 216. + +Forsyth, John, attacks Mr. Adams's message on Creek Indians, 142; + answered by Webster, 142, 143. + +Fox, Charles James, "no good speech reads well," 189; + compared with Webster as an orator, 202; + as a statesman, 350. + +Fox, Henry S., British minister at Harrison's reception of diplomatic + corps, 245; + demands release of McLeod, 248. + +Free-Soil party, nominations in 1848 do not obtain Webster's support, + 274, 296; + attitude in regard to slavery in 1860, 316; + injured by 7th of March speech, 324; + revival and victory, 325. + +Fryeburg, Maine, Webster's school at, 26; + oration before citizens of, 27. + + +Gibbons vs. Ogden, case of, 99. + +Giddings, Joshua R., opinion of Mr. Webster's attitude toward the South in + 1838, 286; + says Mr. Webster inserted passage about free negroes and Mr. Hoar after + delivery of 7th of March speech, 303; + interview with Mr. Webster, 322. + +Girard will case, 101, 261. + +Goodrich, Dr. Chauncey A., description of close of Mr. Webster's argument + in Dartmouth case, 89, 90. + +Goodridge, Major, case of, 198. + +Gore, Christopher, admits Mr. Webster as a student in his office, 28; + character of, 29; + advises Webster to refuse clerkship, moves his admission to the bar, 31. + +Greece, revolution in, 132. + + +Hamilton, Alexander, compared with Webster as an orator, 201; + as a financier, 208, 226, 228; + in regard to attack on Adams, 274; + Webster's opinion of, and feeling to, 349. + +Hanover, oration before citizens of, 20, 22. + +Harrison, William Henry, nominee of Whigs in 1836, 225; + nominated by Whigs again in 1839; elected President, 240; + character of inaugural speech, anecdote, 244; + reception of diplomatic corps, 245; + death of, 250. + +Hartford Convention, Mr. Webster's view of, 58. + +Harvey, Peter, character of his reminiscences, 95, note. + +Hayne, Robert Y., first attack on New England, 172; + second speech, 173; + Webster's reply to, 174 ff., 279; + effect of reply to, 206. + +Henry, Patrick, compared with Webster as an orator, 200. + +Hoar, Samuel, treatment of at Charleston, 302. + +Holmes, John, counsel for State at Washington, poor argument, 84, 91. + +Hopkinson, Joseph, with Mr. Webster in Dartmouth case at Washington, good + argument of, 84. + +Hülsemann, Mr., Austrian Chargé, Mr. Webster's correspondence with, 334; + leaves the country in anger, 335. + + +Ingersoll, C.J., attack on Mr. Webster, 267-270. + + +Jackson, Andrew, Webster's opposition to as candidate for presidency, 145; + accession to the presidency, 171; + sweeping removals, 172; + begins attack on bank, 208; + vetoes bill for renewal of bank charter, 209; + determined to maintain integrity of Union, 212; + issues his proclamation, 213; + message asking for Force Bill, cannot hold his party, supported by + Webster, 214; + threatens to hang Calhoun, 215; + not sorry for compromise, 219; + alliance with Webster impossible, 221; + removes the deposits, 226; + sends "Protest" to Senate, 228, 229; + struggle with Senate and policy toward France, 230. + +Jefferson, Thomas, intends an unlimited embargo, 45; + eulogy on, 125. + +Johnson, Judge, adverse at first to Dartmouth college, 87; + converted to support of college, 93. + + +Kent, James, Chancellor, brought over to support of college, 93. + +Kentucky, leaders in, opposed to Webster, 224, 225. + +Kossuth, arrival and reception of in United States, 335. + + +Labouchere, Mr., 152. + +Lawrence, Abbot, treatment of by Mr. Webster, 354. + +Leroy, Caroline, Miss, second wife of Mr. Webster, 205. + +Letcher, Robert P., opinion of Webster, 225. + +Liberty party, 262, 287. + +Lieber, Dr. Francis, opinion of Webster's oratory, 187. + +Lincoln, Levi, elected senator from Massachusetts and declines, 144. + +Livingston, Judge, adverse at first to Dartmouth college, 87; + converted to support of college, 93. + +Lobes Islands, affair of the, 336. + +Lopez, invasion of Cuba, 336. + + +Madison, James, Federalists refuse to call on, 60; + vetoes Bank Bill, 64; + Mr. Webster's admiration for, 349. + +Macgregor, Mr., of Glasgow, Webster's letter to, 266. + +Maine, conduct in regard to northeastern boundary, 248, 254, 256. + +Marshall, John, sympathy for Dartmouth College, 87; + his political prejudices aroused by Webster, 88; + announces that decision is reserved, 92; + declines to hear Pinkney, 95; + his decision, 96. + +Marshfield, Mr. Webster's first visit to, 152; + his affection for, 261; + accident to Mr. Webster at, 343; + Mr. Webster returns to, to die, 344; + Mr. Webster buried at, 345, 346. + +Mason, Jeremiah, character and ability, 38; + effect upon, and friendship for Webster, 39; + plain style and effect with juries, 40; + thinks Webster would have made a good actor, 42; + allied with trustees of college, 76; + advises delay in removal of Wheelock, 78; + appears for college, 79; + brief in college case, 80; + attaches but little importance to doctrine of impairing contracts, 81; + unable to go to Washington, 84; + Webster's remarks on death of, 127; + supported by Webster for attorney-generalship, 148; + and for senatorship, 150. + +Mason, John Y., advocates slavery in California, 320; + Webster's compliment to on 7th of March, 326. + +Massachusetts, settlement of, 1, 2; + constitutional convention of in 1820, 110; + Webster's defence of, 185; + conduct in regard to northeastern boundary, 248, 254; + Whig convention of, declares against Tyler, 258. + +McDuffie, George, Webster's reply to, on Cumberland Road Bill, 137, 173. + +McLane, Louis, instructions of Van Buren to, as minister to England, 210. + +McLeod, Alexander, boasts of killing Durfree, 247; + arrested in New York, 247; + habeas corpus refused, 249; + proves an alibi and is acquitted, 252. + +Melbourne, Lord, ministry of, beaten, 252. + +Mexico, war with, declared, 270, 290. + +Mills, E.H., failing health, leaves Senate, 144. + +Monroe, James, visit to the North urged by Webster, 129. + + +New Hampshire, settlement of, 2; + soil, etc., 3; + people of, 4; + bar of, 35, 36; + Webster refuses to have his name brought forward by, in 1844, 262. + +New Mexico, petitions against slavery, 298; + quarrel with Texas, 299; + slavery possible in, 319. + +New Orleans, destruction of Spanish consulate at, 336. + +New York, attitude of, in McLeod affair, 248, 249. + +Niagara, Webster's visit to, and account of, 152. + +Niblo's Garden, Mr. Webster's speech at, 238. + +Nicaragua, British protectorate of 336. + +Niles, Nathaniel, Judge, pupil of Bellamy and opponent of John Wheelock, + 75. + +Noyes, Parker, early assistance to Webster, 107. + +Nullification, Webster's discussion, and history of, 174 ff. + + +Ogden vs. Saunders, case of, 100. + +Oregon, boundary of, Webster's effort to settle, 260-264; + Webster's opinion in regard to boundary of, 265; + claims of British and of Democracy, 285; + territorial organization of, 294. + +Otis, Harrison Gray, a leader at Boston bar, 30. + + +Palmerston, Lord, hostile to the United States, 248; + assails Ashburton treaty and Lord Ashburton, 259. + +Panama Congress, debate on mission to, 140, 279. + +Parker, Isaac, Chief Justice, in Massachusetts convention, 111. + +Parsons, Theophilus, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, 30; + practice in New Hampshire, 36; + argument as to visitatorial powers at Harvard College, 81. + +Parton, James, description of Webster at public dinner, 195. + +Peake, Thomas, "Law of Evidence," Webster's attack on, 37. + +Peel, Sir Robert, effect of his obtaining office in 1841, 252. + +Pickering, Timothy, unwavering Federalist, 50. + +Pinkney, William, member of fourteenth Congress, 64; + counsel of State in Dartmouth, case, 94, 95; + anecdote of, with Webster, 95, note. + +Plumer, William, leading lawyer in New Hampshire and early opponent of + Webster; + opinion of Webster, 36; + refutes Mr. Webster's attack on "Peake," 37; + in ill health and unable to act for Wheelock, 76; + elected Governor and attacks trustees, 78. + +Plymouth, oration at, 117-124, 277. + +Polk, James K., elected President; + committed to annexation policy, 263; + principal events of his administration connected with slavery, 264; + declarations as to Oregon, 265; + accepts Lord Aberdeen's offer of forty-ninth parallel, 266; + real intentions as to Mexico and England, 267; + refuses information as to secret service fund, 269; + brings on Mexican war, 270, 290; + policy as to slavery in territories, 207. + +Portugal, treaty with, 260. + +Prescott, James, Judge, Webster's defence of, 197. + + +Randolph, John, member of fourteenth Congress, 64; + challenges Webster, 67; + takes part in debate on Greek resolution, 134. + +Rhode Island, case of, 104, 105; + troubles in, 260. + +"Rockingham Memorial," 48. + +"Rogers' Rangers," 5. + +Root, Mr., of Ohio, resolution against extension of slavery in 1850, 314. + + +Scott, Winfield, nominated, for presidency, 338-343. + +Seaton, Mrs., Webster at house of, 244. + +Seward, William H., advises Taylor as to policy in 1850, 312. + +Sheridan, R.B., compared with Webster as an orator, 201, 202. + +Shirley, John M., history of Dartmouth College causes, 74. + +Silliman, Prof. Benj., Mr. Webster's remark to on his own career, 346. + +Smith, Jeremiah, Chief Justice of New Hampshire, 36; + allied with trustees of the college, 76; + appears for college, 79, 80; + unable to go to Washington, 84. + +Smith, Sidney, remark on Webster's appearance, 194. + +Spanish claims, 152. + +Sparks, Jared, obtains appointment of boundary commissioners by Maine, 254. + +"Specie Circular," debate on, 233, 284. + +South Carolina, agitation in against the tariff in 1828, 171; + ordinance of nullification, 212; + substantial victory of, in 1838, 219. + +Stanley, Mr., Earl of Darby, 152. + +Stevenson, Andrew, minister to England, unconciliatory, 248; + retires, and is succeeded by Mr. Everett, 252. + +Story, Joseph, chosen trustee of Dartmouth College by the State, 79; + adverse to Dartmouth College, 87; + converted to support of college, 93; + writes opinion in Dartmouth case, 96; + opinion of Girard will case argument, 102; + Webster's obligations to, 108; + a member of Massachusetts convention, 111; + supports property qualification for the Senate, 115; + opinion of Webster's work in the convention, 116, 117; + Webster's remarks on death of, 127; + assists Webster in preparing Crimes Act, 138; + and Judiciary Bill, 189; + description of Mr. Webster after his wife's death, 155; + assists Webster in Ashburton negotiation, 256; + treatment of, by Webster, 364. + +Sullivan, George, leading lawyer in New Hampshire, 36; + counsel for Woodward and State trustees, able argument, 79. + +Sullivan, James, 30. + + +Taney, Roger, removes the deposits, 226. + +Tayloe, B. Ogle, anecdote of Mr. Corcoran's gift to Webster, 357. + +Taylor, Zachary, tempting candidate for Whigs, 272; + movement for, in New York, 273; + nominated for presidency, 273; + elected President, 274; + elected by Southern votes, 296; + advises admission of California, 301; + attitude and policy in 1850, 311, 312; + death, 333; + agent sent to Hungary by, 333. + +Tazewell, L.W., Mr. Webster's reply to on Process Bill, 155. + +Tehuantepec, Isthmus of, right of way over, 336. + +Texas, independence of, achieved, 232; + annexation of, 263, 289; + Mr. Webster's warning against annexation, 288; + admission as a State, 280; + plan to divide, 294; + troubles with New Mexico, 299. + +Thompson, Thomas W., Webster a student in his office, 27. + +Ticknor, George, account of Plymouth oration, 118, 119; + impression of Plymouth oration, 120; + description of Webster at Plymouth, 122; + account of Webster's appearance in eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 152, + 153. + +Todd, Judge, opposed to Dartmouth College, 87; + absent at decision, 96. + +Tyler, John, succeeds to presidency on death of Harrison; + vetoes Bank Bill, 250; + quarrels with Whigs, 251; + read out of party by Massachusetts Whigs, 258. + + +Van Buren, Martin, instructions to McLane, 210; + confirmation as minister to England, opposed, 210; + confirmation of, defeated, 211; + elected President, character of his administration, 236; + defeated for a second term, 240; + candidate of Free-Soil party in 1848, 274, 296. + + +Washington, Bushrod, Judge, friendly to college, 87; + opinion in favor of college, 96. + +Washington, city of, appearance of, and society in, in 1841, 241-243. + +Washington, George, opinion of Ebenezer Webster, 7; + oration upon, 127. + +Webster, Abigail Eastman, second wife of Ebenezer and mother of Daniel, 8; + assents to Ezekiel's going to college, 24. + +Webster, Daniel. + Birth, delicacy, friendship with old sailor, 9; + at the district schools, 10; + reads to the teamsters, reads books in circulating library, 11; + at Exeter Academy, with Dr. Wood, learns that he is to go to college, 12; + enters Dartmouth College, 13; + sacrifices made to him in childhood, 14; + Ezekiel lends him money, manner of accepting devotion of those about him, + 15; + studies and scholarship, 16, 17; + opinions of fellow students; his general conduct, 18; + eloquence and appearance in college, 19; + edits newspaper, writes verses, 20; + oration at Hanover, 20-22; + other orations in college, begins study of law, 23; + obtains his father's consent to Ezekiel's going to college, 24; + teaches school at Fryeburg, 25; + conduct and appearance at Fryeburg, 26; + delivers oration at Fryeburg; returns to Salisbury and studies law, 27; + goes to Boston and is admitted to Mr. Gore's office, 28; + sees leaders of Boston bar, 29; + appointed clerk of his father's court, 30; + declines the office, 31; + opens an office at Boscawen; moves to Portsmouth, 32; + early habit of debt, 33; + first appearance in court, 34; + early manner, 37; + described by Mason, opinion of Mason's ability, 38; + value of Mason's example, 40; + married to Miss Grace Fletcher, at Salisbury, 41; + home in Portsmouth, popularity, mimicry, conservatism in religion and + politics, 42; + moderate and liberal federalist, 43; + gradual entrance into politics, "appeal to old Whigs," speeches at + Salisbury and Concord, pamphlet on embargo, 44; + line of argument against embargo, "The State of our Literature," speech + at Portsmouth, 1812, 45; + character of opposition to war in this speech, 46, 47; + writes the "Rockingham Memorial," 48; + elected to Congress, placed on Committee on Foreign Relations, 49; + introduces resolutions on French decrees, votes steadily with his party, + 50; + dropped from Committee on Foreign Relations, tries to obtain debate on + his resolutions, 51; + strong speech against Enlistment Bill, 52; + speech on repeal of embargo, replies to Calhoun, 54; + remarks on double duties, 55; + character of these speeches, 56; + superiority to other speakers in Congress, 57; + views as to Hartford Convention, 58; + votes against war taxes, 59; + partisanship, calls on Mr. Madison, 60; + conversational manner in debate, 61; + takes a leading part in debate on establishment of bank, 1814-15, 62; + power of his argument against irredeemable paper, 63; + opinion of fourteenth Congress, 64; + speech against Bank Bill in session of 1815-16, 66; + votes against Bank Bill, introduces specie resolutions, carries them, 66; + challenged by Randolph, 67; + votes for internal improvements, retires from public life, 68; + removal to Boston, success in Supreme Court of United States, 69; + grief at the death of his daughter Grace, 70; + position on leaving Congress, 71; + reception in Boston, 72; + importance of period upon which he then entered, 73; + consulted by John Wheelock on troubles with trustees, 76; + refuses to appear before legislative committee for Wheelock, and goes + over to side of trustees, his excuse, 77; + advises efforts to soothe Democrats and circulation of rumors of + founding a new college, 78; + joins Mason and Smith in re-argument at Exeter, 79; + anger at Bartlett's attack, fine argument at Exeter, 80; + relies for success on general principles, and has but little faith in + doctrine of impairing obligation of contracts, 81, 82; + gives but little space to this doctrine in his argument at Washington, + 83; + raises money in Boston to defray expenses of college case, 84; + adds but little to argument of Mason and Smith, 85; + "something left out" in report of his argument, 86; + dexterous argument, appeal to political sympathies of Marshall, 87; + depicts Democratic attack on the college, 88; + description of concluding passage of his argument, 89-91; + moves for judgment _nunc pro tunc_, 96; + true character of success in this case, 97, 98; + argument in Gibbons vs. Ogden, 99; + in Ogden vs. Saunders and other cases, 100; + in Girard will case, 101, 102; + nature of his religious feeling, 103; + argument in Rhode Island case, 104; + attracts audiences even to legal arguments, anecdote of Mr. Bosworth, + 105; + skill in seizing vital points, 106; + capacity for using others, early acknowledgment, later ingratitude, 107; + refusal to acknowledge Judge Story's assistance, 108; + comparative standing as a lawyer, 109; + leader of conservative party in Massachusetts Convention, 111; + speech on abolition of religious test, 112; + on property qualification, for the Senate, 113, 115; + on the independence of the Judiciary, 116; + Plymouth oration, 117; + manner and appearance, 118; + fitness for occasional oratory, 120; + great success at Plymouth, 121, 122; + improvement in first Bunker Hill oration, quality of style, 124; + oration on Adams and Jefferson, 125; + supposed speech of John Adams, 126; + oration, before Mechanics Institute, other orations, 127; + oration on laying corner-stone of addition to capitol, 128; + reëlected to Congress, 129; + political position in 1823, 130; + placed at head of Judiciary Committee, 131; + speech on revolution in Greece, 132; + its objects and purposes, 133, 134; + withdraws his resolutions, success of his speech, 135; + speech against tariff of 1824, defends Supreme Court, 136; + speech on the Cumberland Road Bill, 137; + carries through the Crimes Act, 138; + carries Judiciary Bill through House, lost in Senate, 139; + supports mission to Panama Congress, 140, 141; + supports reference of message on Georgia and Creek Indians, 142; + tone of his speech, 143; + elected senator from Massachusetts, 144; + early inclination to support Calhoun, opposition to Jackson and Adams, + 145; + to Clay, relations with Crawford, 146; + on committee to examine charges of Edwards, defends Crawford, 147; + wishes Mr. Mason to be Attorney-General, and English mission for himself, + takes but little part in election, 148; + interview with Mr. Adams, 148, 149; + friendly relations with Mr. Adams, supports administration, 149; + real hostility to, feels that he is not properly recognized, and accepts + senatorship, 150; + inactive in election, allied with Clay and Adams, and founders of Whig + party, 161; + Spanish claims, first sees Marshfield, English friends, Niagara, oration + at Bunker Hill, and eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 152, 153; + grief on death of his wife, 154; + appearance in Washington after death of his wife, 155; + speech on bill for revolutionary officers, on tariff of 1828, 156, 165; + free-trade Federalist when he entered Congress, 157; + remarks in 1814 on protective duties, 158, 159; + advocates modifications in tariff of 1816, 160; + speech at Faneuil Hall against tariff in 1820, 160-163; + speech against tariff of 1824, 163-165; + reasons for his change of position, as to tariff in 1828, 166, 167; + speech at Boston dinner, 167; + character of this change of policy, and question of consistency, 168; + treats free trade or protection as a question of expediency, 169; + change on the constitutional question, 170; + opposes Jackson's removals from office, 172; + first speech on Foote's resolution, 173; + second speech, reply to Hayne, 174; + argument on nullification, 175; + weak places in his argument, 176; + intention in this speech, definition of the Union as it is, 179, 180; + scene of the speech and feeling at the North, 181; + opening sentence of the speech, 182; + manner and appearance on that day, 183; + variety in the speech, 184; + sarcasm, defence of Massachusetts, 185; + character of his oratory, 186, 187; + of his imagination, 188; + of his style, 189; + preparation of speeches, 190; + physical appearance and attributes, 191, 192; + manner with and effect on children, 193; + effect of his appearance in England, 194; + anecdotes of effect produced by his look and appearance, 195; + constitutional indolence, needs something to excite him in later life, + anecdote, 196; + defence of Prescott, 197; + Goodridge case, White case, greatness of argument in latter, 198; + opening passage compared with Burke's description of Hyder Ali's + invasion, 199; + as a jury lawyer, 200; + compared in eloquence with other great orators, 201, 202; + perfect taste of as an orator, 203; + rank as an orator, 204; + change made by death of Ezekiel and by second marriage, 205; + general effect on the country of reply to Hayne, 206; + ambition for presidency begins, desires consolidation of party, no + chance for nomination, 207; + advocates renewal of bank charter, 208; + overthrows doctrines of bank veto, 209; + opposes confirmation of Van Buren as minister to England, 210; + defeats confirmation, 211; + predicts trouble from tariff, 212; + sees proclamation, wholly opposed to Clay's first Compromise Bill, 213; + sustains the administration and supports the Force Bill, 214; + reply to Calhoun, "the Constitution not a compact," 216, 217; + opposes the Compromise Bill, 218; + Benton's view of, 219, 220; + impossible to ally himself with Jackson, 221; + joins Clay and Calhoun, 222; + soundness of his opposition to compromise, 223; + falls in behind Clay, tour in the West, nominated by Massachusetts for + presidency, 224; + no chance of success, effect of desire for presidency, 225; + alliance with Clay and Calhoun, opinion as to the bank, 226; + presents Boston resolutions against President's course, 227; + speaks sixty-four times on bank during session, 228; + speech on the "protest," 229; + attitude in regard to troubles with France, 230; + defeats Fortification Bill, speech on executive patronage, 231; + defeat of Benton's first expunging resolution, 232; + defence of his course on Fortification Bill, 233; + speech on "Specie Circular" and against expunging resolution, 234; + desires to retire from the Senate but is persuaded to remain, 235; + efforts to mitigate panic, 236; + visits England, hears of Harrison's nomination for presidency, 237; + enters campaign, speech of 1837 at Niblo's Garden, 238; + speeches during campaign, 239; + accepts secretaryship of state, 240; + modifies Harrison's inaugural, "kills proconsuls," 244; + De Bacourt's account of, at reception of diplomatic corps, 245, 246; + opinion as to general conduct of difficulties with England, 248; + conduct of McLeod affair, 249; + deprecates quarrel with Tyler, 250; + decides to remain in the cabinet, 252; + conduct of the Creole case, 253; + management of Maine and Massachusetts, settles boundary, 254; + obtains "Cruising Convention," and extradition clause, letter on + impressment, 255; + character of negotiation and its success, 256; + treaty signed, "the battle of the maps," continues in cabinet, 257; + refuses to be forced from cabinet, 258; + speech in Faneuil Hall defending his course, 258; + character of this speech, explains "Cruising Convention," 259; + refutes Cass, other labors in State Department, 260; + resigns secretaryship of state and resumes his profession, 261; + anxiety about Texas and Liberty party, supports Clay, 262; + reëlected to the Senate, 263; + efforts to maintain peace with England, speech in Faneuil Hall, 265; + letter to Macgregor suggesting forty-ninth parallel, opposition to war in + the Senate, 266; + attacked by Ingersoll and Dickinson, 267; + speech in defence of Ashburton treaty, 268; + remarks on President Polk's refusal of information as to secret service + fund, careless in his accounts, 269; + absent when Mexican war declared, course on war measures, tour in the + South, 270; + denounces acquisition of territory, death of his son and daughter, visit + to Boston for funerals, 271; + refuses nomination for vice-presidency and opposes the nomination of + Taylor, 272; + has only a few votes in convention of 1848, 273; + disgusted with the nomination of Taylor, decides to support it, speech at + Marshfield, 274; + course on slavery, draws Boston memorial, 275; + character of this memorial, 276; + attack on slave-trade in Plymouth oration, 277; + compared with tone on same subject in 1850, 278; + silence as to slavery in Panama speech, 279; + treatment of slavery in reply to Hayne, 279, 280; + treatment of anti-slavery petitions in 1836, 281; + treatment of slavery in speech at Niblo's Garden, 282, 283; + treatment of anti-slavery petitions in 1837, 284; + views as to abolition in the District, 285; + attitude toward the South in 1838, 280; + adopts principle of Calhoun's Enterprise resolutions in Creole case, 287; + attempts to arouse the North as to annexation of Texas, 288; + objections to admission of Texas, 280; + absent when Mexican war declared, 290; + views on Wilmot Proviso, 291; + speech at Springfield, 292; + speech on objects of Mexican war, 293; + Oregon, speech on slavery in the territories, 294; + speech on Oregon Bill, and at Marshfield on Taylor's nomination, 295; + adheres to Whigs, declares his belief in Free Soil principles, 296; + effort to put slavery aside, 297; + plan for dealing with slavery in Mexican conquests, refutes Calhoun's + argument as to Constitution in territories, 298; + Clay's plan of compromise submitted to, 300; + delivers 7th of March speech, 301; + analysis of 7th of March speech, 301, 302; + speech disapproved at the North, 303; + previous course as to slavery summed up, change after reply to Hayne, + 304; + grievances of South, 305; + treatment of Fugitive Slave Law, 305-308; + course in regard to general policy of compromise; merits of that policy, + 308-312; + views as to danger of secession, 313, 314; + necessity of compromise in 1850, 315; + attitude of various parties in regard to slavery, 316; + wishes to finally settle slavery question, 317; + treatment of extension of slavery, 318; + disregards use of slaves in mines, 319; + inconsistent on this point, 321; + interviews with Giddings and Free-Soilers, 322; + real object of speech, 323; + immediate effect of speech in producing conservative reaction, 324; + compliments Southern leaders in 7th of March speech, 325, 326; + effort to sustain the compromise measures, bitter tone, 327; + attacks anti-slavery movement, 328, 329; + uneasiness evident, 330; + motives of speech, 330-332; + accepts secretaryship of state, 333; + writes the Hülsemann letter, 334; + treatment of Kossuth and Hungarian question, 335; + of other affairs of the department, 336: + hopes for nomination for presidency, 337; + belief that he will be nominated, 338; + loss of the nomination, 339; + refuses to support Scott, 340; + character of such a course, 341-343; + declining health, accident at Marshfield, 344; + death and burial, 345; + disappointments in his later years, 346; + his great success in life, 347; + his presence, 348; + character of his intellect, 348, 349; + dignity, 349; + character as a statesman, 350; + sense of humor, 351; + charm in conversation, 352; + large nature, love of large things, 353; + affection, generosity, treatment of friends, 355; + admired but not generally popular, 356; + distrust of his sincerity, 355, 356; + failings, indifference to debt, 356; + extravagance, 357; + attacked on money matters, 358; + attitude toward New England capitalists and in regard to sources of + money, 359; + moral force not equal to intellectual, 360; + devotion to Union, place in history, 361-362. + +Webster, Ebenezer, born in Kingston, enlists in "Rangers," 5; + settles at Salisbury, 6; + marries again, serves in Revolution, 7; + physical and mental qualities, 8; + made a judge, 11; + resolves to educate Daniel, 12; + consents to let Ezekiel go to college, 24; + disappointment at Daniel's refusal of clerkship, 31; + death, 32; + strong federalist, anecdote, 48. + +Webster, Edward, Major, death of, 270. + +Webster, Ezekiel, anecdote of his lending Daniel money, 15; + obtains consent of his father to go to college, 24; + teaches school in Boston, 28; + admitted to bar, 32; + strong Federalist, 43; + death of, 205. + +Webster, Grace, daughter of Daniel Webster, illness, 65; + death, 70. + +Webster, Grace Fletcher, first wife of Mr. Webster; + marriage and character, 41, 42; + death, 164. + +Webster, Thomas, first of name, 5. + +Wheelock, Eleazer, founder of Dartmouth College, 75. + +Wheelock, John, succeeds his father as President of Dartmouth College, 75; + begins war on trustees; consults Mr. Webster, 76; + writes to Webster to appear before legislative committee, 77; + removed from presidency and goes over to the Democrats, 78; + originator of the doctrine of impairing obligation of contracts, 81; + fees Mr. Webster, 359. + +Whig Party, origin of, 151; + condition in 1836, 235; + nominate Harrison, 237, 238; + carries the country in 1840, 240; + anger against Tyler, 250; + murmurs against Mr. Webster's remaining in Tyler's cabinet, 267; + attacks of, in Massachusetts, upon Tyler, 258; + silence about slavery and Texas, are defeated in 1844, 262, 289; + nominate Taylor, 273; + indifference to Mr. Webster's warning as to Texas, 288; + attitude in regard to slavery in 1850, 316; + nomination of Scott by, in 1852, 338-343. + +White, Stephen, case of murder of, Webster's speech for prosecution, 198 + ff.; + Webster's fee in, 359. + +Wilmot Proviso, Mr. Webster's views on, 291-293; + embodied in Oregon Bill, 295; + shall it be applied to New Mexico, 299; + attacked in 7th of March speech, 301, 302. + +Wirt, William, counsel for State in Dartmouth case at Washington, + unprepared, makes poor argument, 84, 91; + anecdote of daughter of and Mr. Webster, 193. + +Wood, Dr., of Boscawen, Webster's tutor, 12, 13. + +Woodward, William H., secretary of new board of trustees; action against, + 79. + +Wortley, Mr. Stuart, 152. + + +Yancey, William L., attack on Webster, 358. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Daniel Webster, by Henry Cabot Lodge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANIEL WEBSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 13047-8.txt or 13047-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/4/13047/ + +Produced by Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13047-8.zip b/old/13047-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..17645ff --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13047-8.zip diff --git a/old/13047.txt b/old/13047.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..738e158 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13047.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9289 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Daniel Webster, by Henry Cabot Lodge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Daniel Webster + +Author: Henry Cabot Lodge + +Release Date: July 29, 2004 [EBook #13047] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANIEL WEBSTER *** + + + + +Produced by Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Linda Cantoni <linda.cantoni@verizon.net>] + + + + +American Statesmen + + +EDITED BY + +JOHN T. MORSE, JR. + + + + +American Statesmen + + +DANIEL WEBSTER + + +BY + +HENRY CABOT LODGE + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +The Riverside Press Cambridge + + +1883 AND 1911, BY HENRY CABOT LODGE + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH + + +CHAPTER II. + +LAW AND POLITICS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE.--MR. WEBSTER AS A LAWYER + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MASSACHUSETTS CONVENTION AND THE PLYMOUTH ORATION + + +CHAPTER V. + +RETURN TO CONGRESS + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TARIFF OF 1828 AND THE REPLY TO HAYNE + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE STRUGGLE WITH JACKSON AND THE RISE OF THE WHIG PARTY + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SECRETARY OF STATE.--THE ASHBURTON TREATY + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RETURN TO THE SENATE.--THE SEVENTH OF MARCH SPEECH + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LAST YEARS + + + + +DANIEL WEBSTER. + + +[NOTE.--In preparing this volume I have carefully examined all the +literature contemporary and posthumous relating to Mr. Webster. I have not +gone beyond the printed material, of which there is a vast mass, much of it +of no value, but which contains all and more than is needed to obtain a +correct understanding of the man and of his public and private life. No one +can pretend to write a life of Webster without following in large measure +the narrative of events as given in the elaborate, careful, and scholarly +biography which we owe to Mr. George T. Curtis. In many of my conclusions I +have differed widely from those of Mr. Curtis, but I desire at the outset +to acknowledge fully my obligations to him. I have sought information in +all directions, and have obtained some fresh material, and, as I believe, +have thrown a new light upon certain points, but this does not in the least +diminish the debt which I owe to the ample biography of Mr. Curtis in +regard to the details as well as the general outline of Mr. Webster's +public and private life.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. + + +No sooner was the stout Puritan Commonwealth of Massachusetts firmly +planted than it began rapidly to throw out branches in all directions. With +every succeeding year the long, thin, sinuous line of settlements stretched +farther and farther away to the northeast, fringing the wild shores of the +Atlantic with houses and farms gathered together at the mouths or on the +banks of the rivers, and with the homes of hardy fishermen which clustered +in little groups beneath the shelter of the rocky headlands. The extension +of these plantations was chiefly along the coast, but there was also a +movement up the river courses toward the west and into the interior. The +line of northeastern settlements began first to broaden in this way very +slowly but still steadily from the plantations at Portsmouth and Dover, +which were nearly coeval with the flourishing towns of the Bay. These +settlements beyond the Massachusetts line all had one common and marked +characteristic. They were all exposed to Indian attack from the earliest +days down to the period of the Revolution. Long after the dangers of Indian +raids had become little more than a tradition to the populous and +flourishing communities of Massachusetts Bay, the towns and villages of +Maine and New Hampshire continued to be the outposts of a dark and bloody +border land. French and Indian warfare with all its attendant horrors was +the normal condition during the latter part of the seventeenth and the +first quarter of the eighteenth century. Even after the destruction of the +Jesuit missions, every war in Europe was the signal for the appearance of +Frenchmen and savages in northeastern New England, where their course was +marked by rapine and slaughter, and lighted by the flames of burning +villages. The people thus assailed were not slow in taking frequent and +thorough vengeance, and so the conflict, with rare intermissions, went on +until the power of France was destroyed, and the awful danger from the +north, which had hung over the land for nearly a century, was finally +extinguished. + +The people who waged this fierce war and managed to make headway in despite +of it were engaged at the same time in a conflict with nature which was +hardly less desperate. The soil, even in the most favored places, was none +of the best, and the predominant characteristic of New Hampshire was the +great rock formation which has given it the name of the Granite State. +Slowly and painfully the settlers made their way back into the country, +seizing on every fertile spot, and wringing subsistence and even a certain +prosperity from a niggardly soil and a harsh climate. Their little hamlets +crept onward toward the base of those beautiful hills which have now become +one of the favorite play-grounds of America, but which then frowned grimly +even in summer, dark with trackless forests, and for the larger part of the +year were sheeted with the glittering, untrampled snow from which they +derive their name. Stern and strong with the force of an unbroken +wilderness, they formed at all times a forbidding background to the sparse +settlements in the valleys and on the seashore. + +This life of constant battle with nature and with the savages, this work of +wresting a subsistence from the unwilling earth while the hand was always +armed against a subtle and cruel foe, had, of course, a marked effect upon +the people who endured it. That, under such circumstances, men should have +succeeded not only in gaining a livelihood, but should have attained also a +certain measure of prosperity, established a free government, founded +schools and churches, and built up a small but vigorous and thriving +commonwealth, is little short of marvellous. A race which could do this had +an enduring strength of character which was sure to make itself felt +through many generations, not only on their ancestral soil, but in every +region where they wandered in search of a fortune denied to them at home. +The people of New Hampshire were of the English Puritan stock. They were +the borderers of New England, and were among the hardiest and boldest of +their race. Their fierce battle for existence during nearly a century and a +half left a deep impress upon them. Although it did not add new traits to +their character, it strengthened and developed many of the qualities which +chiefly distinguished the Puritan Englishman. These borderers, from lack of +opportunity, were ruder than their more favored brethren to the south, but +they were also more persistent, more tenacious, and more adventurous. They +Were a vigorous, bold, unforgiving, fighting race, hard and stern even +beyond the ordinary standard of Puritanism. + +Among the Puritans who settled in New Hampshire about the year 1636, during +the great emigration which preceded the Long Parliament, was one bearing +the name of Thomas Webster. He was said to be of Scotch extraction, but +was, if this be true, undoubtedly of the Lowland or Saxon Scotch as +distinguished from the Gaels of the Highlands. He was, at all events, a +Puritan of English race, and his name indicates that his progenitors were +sturdy mechanics or handicraftsmen. This Thomas Webster had numerous +descendants, who scattered through New Hampshire to earn a precarious +living, found settlements, and fight Indians. In Kingston, in the year +1739, was born one of this family named Ebenezer Webster. The struggle for +existence was so hard for this particular scion of the Webster stock, that +he was obliged in boyhood to battle for a living and pick up learning as he +best might by the sole aid of a naturally vigorous mind. He came of age +during the great French war, and about 1760 enlisted in the then famous +corps known as "Rogers's Rangers." In the dangers and the successes of +desperate frontier fighting, the "Rangers" had no equal; and of their hard +and perilous experience in the wilderness, in conflict with Indians and +Frenchmen, Ebenezer Webster, strong in body and daring in temperament, had +his full share. + +When the war closed, the young soldier and Indian fighter had time to look +about him for a home. As might have been expected, he clung to the frontier +to which he was accustomed, and in the year 1763 settled in the +northernmost part of the town of Salisbury. Here he built a log-house, to +which, in the following year, he brought his first wife, and here he began +his career as a farmer. At that time there was nothing civilized between +him and the French settlements of Canada. The wilderness stretched away +from his door an ocean of forest unbroken by any white man's habitation; +and in these primeval woods, although the war was ended and the French +power overthrown, there still lurked roving bands of savages, suggesting +the constant possibilities of a midnight foray or a noonday ambush, with +their accompaniments of murder and pillage. It was a fit home, however, for +such a man as Ebenezer Webster. He was a borderer in the fullest sense in a +commonwealth of borderers. He was, too, a splendid specimen of the New +England race; a true descendant of ancestors who had been for generations +yeomen and pioneers. Tall, large, dark of hair and eyes, in the rough world +in which he found himself he had been thrown at once upon his own resources +without a day's schooling, and compelled to depend on his own innate force +of sense and character for success. He had had a full experience of +desperate fighting with Frenchmen and Indians, and, the war over, he had +returned to his native town with his hard-won rank of captain. Then he had +married, and had established his home upon the frontier, where he remained +battling against the grim desolation of the wilderness and of the winter, +and against all the obstacles of soil and climate, with the same hardy +bravery with which he had faced the Indians. After ten years of this life, +in 1774, his wife died and within a twelvemonth he married again. + +Soon after this second marriage the alarm of war with England sounded, and +among the first to respond was the old ranger and Indian fighter, Ebenezer +Webster. In the town which had grown up near his once solitary dwelling he +raised a company of two hundred men, and marched at their head, a splendid +looking leader, dark, massive, and tall, to join the forces at Boston. We +get occasional glimpses of this vigorous figure during the war. At +Dorchester, Washington consulted him about the state of feeling in New +Hampshire. At Bennington, we catch sight of him among the first who scaled +the breastworks, and again coming out of the battle, his swarthy skin so +blackened with dust and gunpowder that he could scarcely be recognized. We +hear of him once more at West Point, just after Arnold's treason, on guard +before the general's tent, and Washington says to him, "Captain Webster, I +believe I can trust you." That was what everybody seems to have felt about +this strong, silent, uneducated man. His neighbors trusted him. They gave +him every office in their gift, and finally he was made judge of the local +court. In the intervals of his toilsome and adventurous life he had picked +up a little book-learning, but the lack of more barred the way to the +higher honors which would otherwise have been easily his. There were +splendid sources of strength in this man, the outcome of such a race, from +which his children could draw. He was, to begin with, a magnificent animal, +and had an imposing bodily presence and appearance. He had courage, energy, +and tenacity, all in high degree. He was business-like, a man of few words, +determined, and efficient. He had a great capacity for affection and +self-sacrifice, noble aspirations, a vigorous mind, and, above all, a +strong, pure character which invited trust. Force of will, force of mind, +force of character; these were the three predominant qualities in Ebenezer +Webster. His life forms the necessary introduction to that of his +celebrated son, and it is well worth study, because we can learn from it +how much that son got from a father so finely endowed, and how far he +profited by such a rich inheritance. + +By his first wife, Ebenezer Webster had five children. By his second wife, +Abigail Eastman, a woman of good sturdy New Hampshire stock, he had +likewise five. Of these, the second son and fourth child was born on the +eighteenth of January, 1782, and was christened Daniel. The infant was a +delicate and rather sickly little being. Some cheerful neighbors predicted +after inspection that it would not live long, and the poor mother, +overhearing them, caught the child to her bosom and wept over it. She +little dreamed of the iron constitution hidden somewhere in the small frail +body, and still less of all the glory and sorrow to which her baby was +destined. + +For many years, although the boy disappointed the village Cassandras by +living, he continued weak and delicate. Manual labor, which began very +early with the children of New Hampshire farmers, was out of the question +in his case, and so Daniel was allowed to devote much of his time to play, +for which he showed a decided aptitude. It was play of the best sort, in +the woods and fields, where he learned to love nature and natural objects, +to wonder at floods, to watch the habits of fish and birds, and to acquire +a keen taste for field sports. His companion was an old British sailor, who +carried the child on his back, rowed with him on the river, taught him the +angler's art, and, best of all, poured into his delighted ear endless +stories of an adventurous life, of Admiral Byng and Lord George Germaine, +of Minden and Gibraltar, of Prince Ferdinand and General Gage, of Bunker +Hill, and finally of the American armies, to which the soldier-sailor had +deserted. The boy repaid this devoted friend by reading the newspapers to +him; and he tells us in his autobiography that he could not remember when +he did not read, so early was he taught by his mother and sisters, in true +New England fashion. At a very early age he began to go to school; +sometimes in his native town, sometimes in another, as the district school +moved from place to place. The masters who taught in these schools knew +nothing but the barest rudiments, and even some of those imperfectly. One +of them who lived to a great age, enlightened perhaps by subsequent events, +said that Webster had great rapidity of acquisition and was the quickest +boy in school. He certainly proved himself the possessor of a very +retentive memory, for when this pedagogue offered a jack-knife as a reward +to the boy who should be able to recite the greatest number of verses from +the Bible, Webster, on the following day, when his turn came, arose and +reeled off verses until the master cried "enough," and handed him the +coveted prize. Another of his instructors kept a small store, and from him +the boy bought a handkerchief on which was printed the Constitution just +adopted, and, as he read everything and remembered much, he read that +famous instrument to which he was destined to give so much of his time and +thought. When Mr. Webster said that he read better than any of his masters, +he was probably right. The power of expression and of speech and readiness +in reply were his greatest natural gifts, and, however much improved by +cultivation, were born in him. His talents were known in the neighborhood, +and the passing teamsters, while they watered their horses, delighted to +get "Webster's boy," with his delicate look and great dark eyes, to come +out beneath the shade of the trees and read the Bible to them with all the +force of his childish eloquence. He describes his own existence at that +time with perfect accuracy. "I read what I could get to read, went to +school when I could, and when not at school, was a farmer's youngest boy, +not good for much for want of health and strength, but expected to do +something." That something consisted generally in tending the saw-mill, but +the reading went on even there. He would set a log, and while it was going +through would devour a book. There was a small circulating library in the +village, and Webster read everything it contained, committing most of the +contents of the precious volumes to memory, for books were so scarce that +he believed this to be their chief purpose. + +In the year 1791 the brave old soldier, Ebenezer Webster, was made a judge +of the local court, and thus got a salary of three or four hundred dollars +a year. This accession of wealth turned his thoughts at once toward that +education which he had missed, and he determined that he would give to his +children what he had irretrievably lost himself. Two years later he +disclosed his purpose to his son, one hot day in the hay-field, with a +manly regret for his own deficiencies and a touching pathos which the boy +never forgot. The next spring his father took Daniel to Exeter Academy. +This was the boy's first contact with the world, and there was the usual +sting which invariably accompanies that meeting. His school-mates laughed +at his rustic dress and manners, and the poor little farm lad felt it +bitterly. The natural and unconscious power by which he had delighted the +teamsters was stifled, and the greatest orator of modern times never could +summon sufficient courage to stand up and recite verses before these Exeter +school-boys. Intelligent masters, however, perceived something of what was +in the lad, and gave him a kindly encouragement. He rose rapidly in the +classes, and at the end of nine months his father took him away in order to +place him as a pupil with a neighboring clergyman. As they drove over, +about a month later, to Boscawen, where Dr. Wood, the future preceptor, +lived, Ebenezer Webster imparted to his son the full extent of his plan, +which was to end in a college education. The joy at the accomplishment of +his dearest and most fervent wish, mingled with a full sense of the +magnitude of the sacrifice and of the generosity of his father, overwhelmed +the boy. Always affectionate and susceptible of strong emotion, these +tidings overcame him. He laid his head upon his father's shoulder and wept. + +With Dr. Wood Webster remained only six months. He went home on one +occasion, but haying was not to his tastes. He found it "dull and +lonesome," and preferred rambling in the woods with his sister in search of +berries, so that his indulgent father sent him back to his studies. With +the help of Dr. Wood in Latin, and another tutor in Greek, he contrived to +enter Dartmouth College in August, 1797. He was, of course, hastily and +poorly prepared. He knew something of Latin, very little of Greek, and next +to nothing of mathematics, geography, or history. He had devoured +everything in the little libraries of Salisbury and Boscawen, and thus had +acquired a desultory knowledge of a limited amount of English literature, +including Addison, Pope, Watts, and "Don Quixote." But however little he +knew, the gates of learning were open, and he had entered the precincts of +her temple, feeling dimly but surely the first pulsations of the mighty +intellect with which he was endowed. + +"In those boyish days," he wrote many years afterwards, "there were two +things which I did dearly love, reading and playing,--passions which did +not cease to struggle when boyhood was over, (have they yet altogether?) +and in regard to which neither _cita mors_ nor the _victoria laeta_ could +be said of either." In truth they did not cease, these two strong passions. +One was of the head, the other of the heart; one typified the intellectual, +the other the animal strength of the boy's nature; and the two contending +forces went with him to the end. The childhood of Webster has a deep +interest which is by no means usual. Great men in their earliest years are +generally much like other boys, despite the efforts of their biographers to +the contrary. If they are not, they are very apt to be little prigs like +the second Pitt, full of "wise saws and modern instances." Webster was +neither the one nor the other. He was simple, natural, affectionate, and +free from pertness or precocity. At the same time there was an innate power +which impressed all those who approached him without their knowing exactly +why, and there was abundant evidence of uncommon talents. Webster's boyish +days are pleasant to look upon, but they gain a peculiar lustre from the +noble character of his father, the deep solicitude of his mother, and the +generous devotion and self-sacrifice of both parents. There was in this +something prophetic. Every one about the boy was laboring and sacrificing +for him from the beginning, and this was not without its effect upon his +character. A little anecdote which was current in Boston many years ago +condenses the whole situation. The story may be true or false,--it is very +probably unfounded,--but it contains an essential truth and illustrates the +character of the boy and the atmosphere in which he grew up. Ezekiel, the +oldest son, and Daniel were allowed on one occasion to go to a fair in a +neighboring town, and each was furnished with a little money from the +slender store at home. When they returned in the evening, Daniel was +radiant with enjoyment; Ezekiel rather silent. Their mother inquired as to +their adventures, and finally asked Daniel what he did with his money. +"Spent it," was the reply. "And what did you do with yours, Ezekiel?" "Lent +it to Daniel." That answer well sums up the story of Webster's home life in +childhood. All were giving or lending to Daniel of their money, their time, +their activity, their love and affection. This petting was partly due to +Webster's delicate health, but it was also in great measure owing to his +nature. He was one of those rare and fortunate beings who without exertion +draw to themselves the devotion of other people, and are always surrounded +by men and women eager to do and to suffer for them. The boy accepted all +that was showered upon him, not without an obvious sense that it was his +due. He took it in the royal spirit which is characteristic of such +natures; but in those childish days when laughter and tears came readily, +he repaid the generous and sacrificing love with the warm and affectionate +gratitude of an earnest nature and a naturally loving heart. He was never +cold, or selfish, or designing. Others loved him, and sacrificed to him, +but he loved them in return and appreciated their sacrifices. These +conditions of his early days must, however, have had an effect upon his +disposition and increased his belief in the fitness of having the devotion +of other people as one of his regal rights and privileges, while, at the +same time, it must have helped to expand his affections and give warmth to +every generous feeling. + +The passions for reading and play went with him to Dartmouth, the little +New Hampshire college of which he was always so proud and so fond. The +instruction there was of good quality enough, but it was meagre in quantity +and of limited range, compared to what is offered by most good high schools +of the present day. In the reminiscences of his fellow-students there is +abundant material for a picture of Webster at that time. He was recognized +by all as the foremost man in the college, as easily first, with no second. +Yet at the same time Mr. Webster was neither a student nor a scholar in the +truest sense of the words. He read voraciously all the English literature +he could lay his hands on, and remembered everything he read. He achieved +familiarity with Latin and with Latin authors, and absorbed a great deal of +history. He was the best general scholar in the college. He was not only +not deficient but he showed excellence at recitation in every branch of +study. He could learn anything if he tried. But with all this he never +gained more than a smattering of Greek and still less of mathematics, +because those studies require, for anything more than a fair proficiency, a +love of knowledge for its own sake, a zeal for learning incompatible with +indolence, and a close, steady, and disinterested attention. These were not +the characteristics of Mr. Webster's mind. He had a marvellous power of +rapid acquisition, but he learned nothing unless he liked the subject and +took pleasure in it or else was compelled to the task. This is not the +stuff from which the real student, with an original or inquiring mind, is +made. It is only fair to say that this estimate, drawn from the opinions of +his fellow-students, coincided with his own, for he was too large-minded +and too clear-headed to have any small vanity or conceit in judging +himself. He said soon after he left college, and with perfect truth, that +his scholarship was not remarkable, nor equal to what he was credited with. +He explained his reputation after making this confession by saying that he +read carefully, meditated on what he had read, and retained it so that on +any subject he was able to tell all he knew to the best advantage, and was +careful never to go beyond his depth. There is no better analysis of Mr. +Webster's strongest qualities of mind than this made by himself in +reference to his college standing. Rapid acquisition, quick assimilation of +ideas, an iron memory, and a wonderful power of stating and displaying all +he knew characterized him then as in later life. The extent of his +knowledge and the range of his mind, not the depth or soundness of his +scholarship, were the traits which his companions remembered. One of them +says that they often felt that he had a more extended understanding than +the tutors to whom he recited, and this was probably true. The Faculty of +the college recognized in Webster the most remarkable man who had ever come +among them, but they could not find good grounds to award him the prizes, +which, by his standing among his fellows, ought by every rule to have been +at his feet. He had all the promise of a great man, but he was not a fine +scholar. + +He was studious, punctual, and regular in all his habits. He was so +dignified that his friends would as soon have thought of seeing President +Wheelock indulge in boyish disorders as of seeing him. But with all his +dignity and seriousness of talk and manner, he was a thoroughly genial +companion, full of humor and fun and agreeable conversation. He had few +intimates, but many friends. He was generally liked as well as universally +admired, was a leader in the college societies, active and successful in +sports, simple, hearty, unaffected, without a touch of priggishness and +with a wealth of wholesome animal spirits. + +But in these college days, besides the vague feeling of students and +professors that they had among them a very remarkable man, there is a clear +indication that the qualities which afterwards raised him to fame and power +were already apparent, and affected the little world about him. All his +contemporaries of that time speak of his eloquence. The gift of speech, the +unequalled power of statement, which were born in him, just like the +musical tones of his voice, could not be repressed. There was no recurrence +of the diffidence of Exeter. His native genius led him irresistibly along +the inevitable path. He loved to speak, to hold the attention of a +listening audience. He practised off-hand speaking, but he more commonly +prepared himself by meditating on his subject and making notes, which, +however, he never used. He would enter the class-room or debating society +and begin in a low voice and almost sleepy manner, and would then gradually +rouse himself like a lion, and pour forth his words until he had his +hearers completely under his control, and glowing with enthusiasm. + +We see too, at this time, the first evidence of that other great gift of +bountiful nature in his commanding presence. He was then tall and thin, +with high cheek bones and dark skin, but he was still impressive. The boys +about him never forgot the look of his deep-set eyes, or the sound of the +solemn tones of his voice, his dignity of mien, and his absorption in his +subject. Above all they were conscious of something indefinable which +conveyed a sense of greatness. It is not usual to dwell so much upon mere +physical attributes and appearance, but we must recur to them again and +again, for Mr. Webster's personal presence was one of the great elements of +his success; it was the fit companion and even a part of his genius, and +was the cause of his influence, and of the wonder and admiration which +followed him, as much almost as anything he ever said or did. + +To Mr. Webster's college career belong the first fruits of his intellect. +He edited, during one year, a small weekly journal, and thus eked out his +slender means. Besides his strictly editorial labors, he printed some short +pieces of his own, which have vanished, and he also indulged in poetical +effusions, which he was fond of sending to absent friends. His rhymes are +without any especial character, neither much better nor much worse than +most college verses, and they have no intrinsic value beyond showing that +their author, whatever else he might be, was no poet. But in his own field +something of this time, having a real importance, has come down to us. The +fame of his youthful eloquence, so far beyond anything ever known in the +college, was noised abroad, and in the year 1800 the citizens of Hanover, +the college town, asked him to deliver the Fourth of July oration. In this +production, which was thought of sufficient merit to deserve printing, Mr. +Webster sketched rapidly and exultingly the course of the Revolution, threw +in a little Federal politics, and eulogized the happy system of the new +Constitution. Of this and his other early orations he always spoke with a +good deal of contempt, as examples of bad taste, which he wished to have +buried and forgotten. Accordingly his wholesale admirers and supporters who +have done most of the writing about him, and who always sneezed when Mr. +Webster took snuff, have echoed his opinions about these youthful +productions, and beyond allowing to them the value which everything +Websterian has for the ardent worshipper, have been disposed to hurry them +over as of no moment. Compared to the reply to Hayne or the Plymouth +oration, the Hanover speech is, of course, a poor and trivial thing. +Considered, as it ought to be, by itself and in itself, it is not only of +great interest as Mr. Webster's first utterance on public questions, but it +is something of which he had no cause to feel ashamed. The sentiments are +honest, elevated, and manly, and the political doctrine is sound. Mr. +Webster was then a boy of eighteen, and he therefore took his politics from +his father and his father's friends. For the same reason he was imitative +in style and mode of thought. All boys of that age, whether geniuses or +not, are imitative, and Mr. Webster, who was never profoundly original in +thought, was no exception to the rule. He used the style of the eighteenth +century, then in its decadence, and very florid, inflated, and heavy it +was. Yet his work was far better and his style simpler and more direct than +that which was in fashion. He indulged in a good deal of patriotic +glorification. We smile at his boyish Federalism describing Napoleon as +"the gasconading pilgrim of Egypt," and Columbia as "seated in the forum of +nations, and the empires of the world amazed at the bright effulgence of +her glory." These sentences are the acme of fine writing, very boyish and +very poor; but they are not fair examples of the whole, which is much +simpler and more direct than might have been expected. Moreover, the +thought is the really important thing. We see plainly that the speaker +belongs to the new era and the new generation of national measures and +nationally-minded men. There is no colonialism about him. He is in full +sympathy with the Washingtonian policy of independence in our foreign +relations and of complete separation from the affairs of Europe. But the +main theme and the moving spirit of this oration are most important of all. +The boy Webster preached love of country, the grandeur of American +nationality, fidelity to the Constitution as the bulwark of nationality, +and the necessity and the nobility of the union of the States; and that was +the message which the man Webster delivered to his fellow-men. The enduring +work which Mr. Webster did in the world, and his meaning and influence in +American history, are all summed up in the principles enunciated in that +boyish speech at Hanover. The statement of the great principles was +improved and developed until it towered above this first expression as Mont +Blanc does above the village nestled at its foot, but the essential +substance never altered in the least. + +Two other college orations have been preserved. One is a eulogy on a +classmate who died before finishing his course, the other is a discourse on +"Opinion," delivered before the society of the "United Fraternity." There +is nothing of especial moment in the thought of either, and the improvement +in style over the Hanover speech, though noticeable, is not very marked. In +the letters of that period, however, amid the jokes and fun, we see that +Mr. Webster was already following his natural bent, and turning his +attention to politics. He manifests the same spirit as in his oration, and +shows occasionally an unusual maturity of judgment. His criticism of +Hamilton's famous letter to Adams, to take the most striking instance, is +both keen and sound. + +After taking his degree in due course in 1801, Mr. Webster returned to his +native village, and entered the office of a lawyer next door to his +father's house, where he began the study of the law in compliance with his +father's wish, but without any very strong inclination of his own. Here he +read some law and more English literature, and passed a good deal of time +in fishing and shooting. Before the year was out, however, he was obliged +to drop his legal studies and accept the post of schoolmaster in the little +town of Fryeburg, Maine. + +This change was due to an important event in the Webster family which had +occurred some time before. The affection existing between Daniel and his +elder brother Ezekiel was peculiarly strong and deep. The younger and more +fortunate son, once started in his education, and knowing the desire of his +elder brother for the same advantages, longed to obtain them for him. One +night in vacation, after Daniel had been two years at Dartmouth, the two +brothers discussed at length the all-important question. The next day, +Daniel broached the matter to his father. The judge was taken by surprise. +He was laboring already under heavy pecuniary burdens caused by the +expenses of Daniel's education. The farm was heavily mortgaged, and +Ebenezer Webster knew that he was old before his time and not destined to +many more years of life. With the perfect and self-sacrificing courage +which he always showed, he did not shrink from this new demand, although +Ezekiel was the prop and mainstay of the house. He did not think for a +moment of himself, yet, while he gave his consent, he made it conditional +on that of the mother and daughters whom he felt he was soon to leave. But +Mrs. Webster had the same spirit as her husband. She was ready to sell the +farm, to give up everything for the boys, provided they would promise to +care in the future for her and their sisters. More utter self-abnegation +and more cheerful and devoted self-sacrifice have rarely been exhibited, +and it was all done with a simplicity which commands our reverence. It was +more than should have been asked, and a boy less accustomed than Daniel +Webster to the devotion of others, even with the incentive of brotherly +love, might have shrunk from making the request. The promise of future +support was easily made, but the hard pinch of immediate sacrifice had to +be borne at once. The devoted family gave themselves up to the struggle to +secure an education for the two boys, and for years they did battle with +debt and the pressure of poverty. Ezekiel began his studies and entered +college the year Daniel graduated; but the resources were running low, so +low that the law had to be abandoned and money earned without delay; and +hence the schoolmastership. + +At no time in his life does Mr. Webster's character appear in a fairer or +more lovable light than during this winter at Fryeburg. He took his own +share in the sacrifices he had done so much to entail, and he carried it +cheerfully. Out of school hours he copied endless deeds, an occupation +which he loathed above all others, in order that he might give all his +salary to his brother. The burden and heat of the day in this struggle for +education fell chiefly on the elder brother in the years which followed; +but here Daniel did his full part, and deserves the credit for it. + +He was a successful teacher. His perfect dignity, his even temper, and +imperturbable equanimity made his pupils like and respect him. The +survivors, in their old age, recalled the impression he made upon them, and +especially remembered the solemn tones of his voice at morning and evening +prayer, extemporaneous exercises which he scrupulously maintained. His +letters at this time are like those of his college days, full of fun and +good humor and kind feeling. He had his early love affairs, but was saved +from matrimony by the liberality of his affections, which were not confined +to a single object. He laughs pleasantly and good-naturedly over his +fortunes with the fair sex, and talks a good deal about them, but his first +loves do not seem to have been very deep or lasting. Wherever he went, he +produced an impression on all who saw him. In Fryeburg it was his eyes +which people seem to have remembered best. He was still very thin in face +and figure, and he tells us himself that he was known in the village as +"All-eyes;" and one of the boys, a friend of later years, refers to Mr. +Webster's "full, steady, large, and searching eyes." There never was a time +in his life when those who saw him did not afterwards speak of his looks, +generally either of the wonderful eyes or the imposing presence. + +There was a circulating library in Fryeburg, and this he read through in +his usual rapacious and retentive fashion. Here, too, he was called on for +a Fourth of July oration. This speech, which has been recently printed, +dwells much on the Constitution and the need of adhering to it in its +entirety. There is a distinct improvement in his style in the direction of +simplicity, but there is no marked advance in thought or power of +expression over the Hanover oration. Two months after delivering this +address he returned to Salisbury and resumed the study of the law in Mr. +Thompson's office. He now plunged more deeply into law books, and began to +work at the law with zeal, while at the same time he read much and +thoroughly in the best Latin authors. In the months which ensued his mind +expanded, and ambition began to rise within him. His horizon was a limited +one; the practice of his profession, as he saw it carried on about him, was +small and petty; but his mind could not be shackled. He saw the lions in +the path plainly, but he also perceived the great opportunities which the +law was to offer in the United States, and he prophesied that we, too, +should soon have our Mansfields and Kenyons. The hand of poverty was heavy +upon him, and he was chafing and beating his wings against the iron bars +with which circumstances had imprisoned him. He longed for a wider field, +and eagerly desired to finish his studies in Boston, but saw no way to get +there, except by a "miracle." + +This miracle came through Ezekiel, who had been doing more for himself and +his family than any one else, but who, after three years in college, was at +the end of his resources, and had taken, in his turn, to keeping school. +Daniel went to Boston, and there obtained a good private school for his +brother. The salary thus earned by Ezekiel was not only sufficient for +himself, but enabled Daniel to gratify the cherished wish of his heart, and +come to the New England capital to conclude his professional studies. + +The first thing to be done was to gain admittance to some good office. Mr. +Webster was lucky enough to obtain an introduction to Mr. Gore, with whom, +as with the rest of the world, that wonderful look and manner, apparent +even then, through boyishness and rusticity, stood him in good stead. Mr. +Gore questioned him, trusted him, and told him to hang up his hat, begin +work as clerk at once, and write to New Hampshire for his credentials. The +position thus obtained was one of fortune's best gifts to Mr. Webster. It +not only gave him an opportunity for a wide study of the law under wise +supervision, but it brought him into daily contact with a trained barrister +and an experienced public man. Christopher Gore, one of the most eminent +members of the Boston bar and a distinguished statesman, had just returned +from England, whither he had been sent as one of the commissioners +appointed under the Jay treaty. He was a fine type of the aristocratic +Federalist leader, one of the most prominent of that little group which +from the "headquarters of good principles" in Boston so long controlled the +politics of Massachusetts. He was a scholar, gentleman, and man of the +world, and his portrait shows us a refined, high-bred face, suggesting a +French marquis of the eighteenth century rather than the son of a New +England sea-captain. A few years later, Mr. Gore was chosen governor of +Massachusetts, and defeated when a candidate for reelection, largely, it is +supposed, because he rode in a coach and four (to which rumor added +outriders) whenever he went to his estate at Waltham. This mode of travel +offended the sensibilities of his democratic constituents, but did not +prevent his being subsequently chosen to the Senate of the United States, +where he served a term with much distinction. The society of such a man was +invaluable to Mr. Webster at this time. It taught him many things which he +could have learned in no other way, and appealed to that strong taste for +everything dignified and refined which was so marked a trait of his +disposition and habits. He saw now the real possibilities which he had +dreamed of in his native village; and while he studied law deeply and +helped his brother with his school, he also studied men still more +thoroughly and curiously. The professional associates and friends of Mr. +Gore were the leaders of the Boston bar when it had many distinguished men +whose names hold high places in the history of American law. Among them +were Theophilus Parsons, Chief Justice of Massachusetts; Samuel Dexter, the +ablest of them all, fresh from service in Congress and the Senate and as +Secretary of the Treasury; Harrison Gray Otis, fluent and graceful as an +orator; James Sullivan, and Daniel Davis, the Solicitor-General. All these +and many more Mr. Webster saw and watched, and he has left in his diary +discriminating sketches of Parsons and Dexter, whom he greatly admired, and +of Sullivan, of whom he had a poor opinion professionally. + +Towards the end of the year 1804, while Mr. Webster was thus pleasantly +engaged in studying his profession, getting a glimpse of the world, and now +and then earning a little money, an opening came to him which seemed to +promise immediate and assured prosperity. The judges of his father's court +of common pleas offered him the vacant clerkship, worth about fifteen +hundred dollars annually. This was wealth to Mr. Webster. With this income +he could relieve the family from debt, make his father's last years +comfortable, and smooth Ezekiel's path to the bar. When, however, he +announced his good luck to Mr. Gore, and his intention of immediately going +home to accept the position, that gentleman, to Mr. Webster's great +surprise, strongly urged a contrary course. He pointed out the possible +reduction of the salary, the fact that the office depended on the favor of +the judges, and, above all, that it led to nothing, and destroyed the +chances of any really great career. This wise mentor said: "Go on and +finish your studies. You are poor enough, but there are greater evils than +poverty; live on no man's favor; what bread you do eat, let it be the bread +of independence; pursue your profession, make yourself useful to your +friends and a little formidable to your enemies, and you have nothing to +fear." Mr. Webster, always susceptible to outside influences, saw the +wisdom of this advice, and accepted it. It would have been well if he had +never swerved even by a hair's breadth from the high and sound principles +which it inculcated. He acted then without delay. Going at once to +Salisbury, he broke the news of his unlooked-for determination to his +father, who was utterly amazed. Pride in his son's high spirit mingled +somewhat with disappointment at the prospect of continued hardships; but +the brave old man accepted the decision with the Puritan stoicism which was +so marked a trait in his character, and the matter ended there. + +Returning to Boston, Mr. Webster was admitted to the bar in March, 1805. +Mr. Gore moved his admission, and, in the customary speech, prophesied his +student's future eminence with a sure knowledge of the latent powers which +had dictated his own advice in the matter of the clerkship. Soon after +this, Mr. Webster returned to New Hampshire and opened his office in the +little town of Boscawen, in order that he might be near his father. Here he +devoted himself assiduously to business and study for more than two years, +working at his profession, and occasionally writing articles for the +"Boston Anthology." During this time he made his first appearance in court, +his father being on the bench. He gathered together a practice worth five +or six hundred a year, a very creditable sum for a young country +practitioner, and won a reputation which made him known in the State. + +In April, 1806, after a noble, toiling, unselfish life of sixty-seven +years, Ebenezer Webster died. Daniel assumed his father's debts, waited +until Ezekiel was admitted to the bar, and then, transferring his business +to his brother, moved, in the autumn of 1807, to Portsmouth. This was the +principal town of the State, and offered, therefore, the larger field which +he felt he needed to give his talents sufficient scope. Thus the first +period in his life closed, and he started out on the extended and +distinguished career which lay before him. These early years had been years +of hardship, but they were among the best of his life. Through great +difficulties and by the self-sacrifice of his family, he had made his way +to the threshold of the career for which he was so richly endowed. He had +passed an unblemished youth; he had led a clean, honest, hard-working life; +he was simple, manly, affectionate. Poverty had been a misfortune, not +because it had warped or soured him, for he smiled at it with cheerful +philosophy, nor because it had made him avaricious, for he never either +then or at any time cared for money for its own sake, and nothing could +chill the natural lavishness of his disposition. But poverty accustomed him +to borrowing and to debt, and this was a misfortune to a man of Mr. +Webster's temperament. In those early days he was anxious to pay his debts; +but they did not lie heavy upon him or carry a proper sense of +responsibility, as they did to Ezekiel and to his father. He was deeply in +debt; his books, even, were bought with borrowed money, all which was +natural and inevitable; but the trouble was that it never seems to have +weighed upon him or been felt by him as of much importance. He was thus +early brought into the habit of debt, and was led unconsciously to regard +debts and borrowing as he did the sacrifices of others, as the normal modes +of existence. Such a condition was to be deplored, because it fostered an +unfortunate tendency in his moral nature. With this exception, Mr. +Webster's early years present a bright picture, and one which any man had a +right to regard with pride and affection. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LAW AND POLITICS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. + + +The occasion of Mr. Webster's first appearance in court has been the +subject of varying tradition. It is certain, however, that in the counties +where he practised during his residence at Boscawen, he made an unusual and +very profound impression. The effect then produced is described in homely +phrase by one who knew him well. The reference is to a murder trial, in +which Mr. Webster gained his first celebrity. + + "There was a man tried for his life, and the judges chose Webster + to plead for him; and, from what I can learn, he never has spoken + better than he did there where he first began. He was a black, + raven-haired fellow, with an eye as black as death's, and as heavy + as a lion's,--that same heavy look, not sleepy, but as if he didn't + care about anything that was going on about him or anything + anywhere else. He didn't look as if he was thinking about anything, + but as if he _would_ think like a hurricane if he once got waked up + to it. They say the lion looks so when he is quiet.... Webster + would sometimes be engaged to argue a case just as it was coming to + trial. That would set him to thinking. It wouldn't wrinkle his + forehead, but made him restless. He would shift his feet about, and + run his hand up over his forehead, through his Indian-black hair, + and lift his upper lip and show his teeth, which were as white as a + hound's." + +Of course the speech so admired then was infinitely below what was done +afterwards. The very next was probably better, for Mr. Webster grew +steadily. This observer, however, tells us not what Mr. Webster said, but +how he looked. It was the personal presence which dwelt with every one at +this time. + +Thus with his wonderful leonine look and large, dark eyes, and with the +growing fame which he had won, Mr. Webster betook himself to Portsmouth. He +had met some of the leading lawyers already, but now he was to be brought +into direct and almost daily competition with them. At that period in New +England there was a great rush of men of talent to the bar, then casting +off its colonial fetters and emerging to an independent life. The pulpit +had ceased to attract, as of old; medicine was in its infancy; there were +none of the other manifold pursuits of to-day, and politics did not offer a +career apart. Outside of mercantile affairs, therefore, the intellectual +forces of the old Puritan commonwealths, overflowing with life, and feeling +the thrill of youthful independence and the confidence of rapid growth in +business, wealth, and population, were concentrated in the law. Even in a +small State like New Hampshire, presenting very limited opportunities, +there was, relatively speaking, an extraordinary amount of ability among +the members of the bar, notwithstanding the fact that they had but just +escaped from the condition of colonists. Common sense was the divinity of +both the courts and the profession. The learning was not extensive or +profound, but practical knowledge, sound principles, and shrewd management +were conspicuous. Jeremiah Smith, the Chief Justice, a man of humor and +cultivation, was a well read and able judge; George Sullivan was ready of +speech and fertile in expedients; and Parsons and Dexter of Massachusetts, +both men of national reputation, appeared from time to time in the New +Hampshire courts. Among the most eminent was William Plumer, then Senator, +and afterwards Governor of the State, a well-trained, clear-headed, +judicious man. He was one of Mr. Webster's early antagonists, and defeated +him in their first encounter. Yet at the same time, although a leader of +the bar and a United States Senator, he seems to have been oppressed with a +sense of responsibility and even of inequality by this thin, black-eyed +young lawyer from the back country. Mr. Plumer was a man of cool and +excellent judgment, and he thought that Mr. Webster on this occasion was +too excursive and declamatory. He also deemed him better fitted by mind and +temperament for politics than for the law, an opinion fully justified in +the future, despite Mr. Webster's eminence at the bar. In another case, +where they were opposed, Mr. Plumer quoted a passage from Peake's "Law of +Evidence." Mr. Webster criticised the citation as bad law, pronounced the +book a miserable two-penny compilation, and then, throwing it down with a +fine disdain, said, "So much for Mr. Thomas Peake's compendium of the 'Law +of Evidence.'" Such was his manner that every one present appeared to think +the point settled, and felt rather ashamed of ever having heard of Mr. +Peake or his unfortunate book. Thereupon Mr. Plumer produced a volume of +reports by which it appeared that the despised passage was taken word for +word from one of Lord Mansfield's decisions. The wretched Peake's character +was rehabilitated, and Mr. Webster silenced. This was an illustration of a +failing of Mr. Webster at that time. He was rough and unceremonious, and +even overbearing, both to court and bar, the natural result of a new sense +of power in an inexperienced man. This harshness of manner, however, soon +disappeared. He learned rapidly to practise the stately and solemn courtesy +which distinguished him through life. + +There was one lawyer, however, at the head of his profession in New +Hampshire, who had more effect upon Mr. Webster than any other whom he ever +met there or elsewhere. This was the man to whom the Shaker said: "By thy +size and thy language[1] I judge that thou art Jeremiah Mason." Mr. Mason +was one of the greatest common-lawyers this country has ever produced. Keen +and penetrating in intellect, he was master of a relentless logic and of a +style which, though simple and homely, was clear and correct to the last +point. Slow and deliberate in his movements, and sententious in his +utterances, he dealt so powerfully with evidence and so lucidly with +principles of law that he rarely failed to carry conviction to his hearers. +He was particularly renowned for his success in getting verdicts. Many +years afterwards Mr. Webster gave it as his deliberate opinion that he had +never met with a stronger intellect, a mind of more native resources or +quicker and deeper vision than were possessed by Mr. Mason, whom in mental +reach and grasp and in closeness of reasoning he would not allow to be +second even to Chief Justice Marshall. Mr. Mason on his side, with his +usual sagacity, at once detected the great talents of Mr. Webster. In the +first case where they were opposed, a murder trial, Mr. Webster took the +place of the Attorney-General for the prosecution. Mr. Mason, speaking of +the impression made by his youthful and then unknown opponent, said:-- + + "He broke upon me like a thunder shower in July, sudden, + portentous, sweeping all before it. It was the first case in which + he appeared at our bar; a criminal prosecution in which I had + arranged a very pretty defence, as against the Attorney-General, + Atkinson, who was able enough in his way, but whom I knew very well + how to take. Atkinson being absent, Webster conducted the case for + him, and turned, in the most masterly manner, the line of my + defences, carrying with him all but one of the jurors, so that I + barely saved my client by my best exertions. I was nevermore + surprised than by this remarkable exhibition of unexpected power. + It surpassed, in some respects, anything which I have ever since + seen even in him." + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Mason, as is well known, was six feet seven inches in +height, and his language, always very forcible and direct, was, when he was +irritated, if we may trust tradition, at times somewhat profane.] + +With all his admiration for his young antagonist, however, one cannot help +noticing that the generous and modest but astute counsel for the defence +ended by winning his case. + +Fortune showered many favors upon Mr. Webster, but none more valuable than +that of having Jeremiah Mason as his chief opponent at the New Hampshire +bar. Mr. Mason had no spark of envy in his composition. He not only +regarded with pleasure the great abilities of Mr. Webster, but he watched +with kindly interest the rapid rise which soon made this stranger from the +country his principal competitor and the champion commonly chosen to meet +him in the courts. He gave Mr. Webster his friendship, staunch and +unvarying, until his death; he gave freely also of his wisdom and +experience in advice and counsel. Best of all was the opportunity of +instruction and discipline which Mr. Webster gained by repeated contests +with such a man. The strong qualities of Mr. Webster's mind rapidly +developed by constant practice and under such influences. He showed more +and more in every case his wonderful instinct for seizing on the very heart +of a question, and for extricating the essential points from the midst of +confused details and clashing arguments. He displayed, too, more strongly +every day his capacity for close, logical reasoning and for telling retort, +backed by a passion and energy none the less effective from being but +slowly called into activity. In a word, the unequalled power of stating +facts or principles, which was the predominant quality of Mr. Webster's +genius, grew steadily with a vigorous vitality while his eloquence +developed in a similar striking fashion. Much of this growth and +improvement was due to the sharp competition and bright example of Mr. +Mason. But the best lesson that Mr. Webster learned from his wary yet +daring antagonist was in regard to style. When he saw Mr. Mason go close to +the jury box, and in a plain style and conversational manner, force +conviction upon his hearers, and carry off verdict after verdict, Mr. +Webster felt as he had never done before the defects of his own modes of +expression. His florid phrases looked rather mean, insincere, and +tasteless, besides being weak and ineffective. From that time he began to +study simplicity and directness, which ended in the perfection of a style +unsurpassed in modern oratory. The years of Mr. Webster's professional life +in Portsmouth under the tuition of Mr. Mason were of inestimable service to +him. + +Early in this period, also, Mr. Webster gave up his bachelor existence, and +made for himself a home. When he first appeared at church in Portsmouth the +minister's daughter noted and remembered his striking features and look, +and regarded him as one with great capacities for good or evil. But the +interesting stranger was not destined to fall a victim to any of the young +ladies of Portsmouth. In the spring of 1808 he slipped away from his new +friends and returned to Salisbury, where, in May, he was married. The bride +he brought back to Portsmouth was Grace Fletcher, daughter of the minister +of Hopkinton. Mr. Webster is said to have seen her first at church in +Salisbury, whither she came on horseback in a tight-fitting black velvet +dress, and looking, as he said, "like an angel." She was certainly a very +lovely and charming woman, of delicate and refined sensibilities and bright +and sympathetic mind. She was a devoted wife, the object of her husband's +first and strongest love, and the mother of his children. It is very +pleasant to look at Mr. Webster in his home during these early years of his +married life. It was a happy, innocent, untroubled time. He was advancing +in his profession, winning fame and respect, earning a sufficient income, +blessed in his domestic relations, and with his children growing up about +him. He was social by nature, and very popular everywhere. Genial and +affectionate in disposition, he attached everybody to him, and his hearty +humor, love of mimicry, and fund of anecdote made him a delightful +companion, and led Mr. Mason to say that the stage had lost a great actor +in Webster. + +But while he was thus enjoying professional success and the contented +happiness of his fireside, he was slowly but surely drifting into the +current of politics, whither his genius led him, and which had for him an +irresistible attraction. Mr. Webster took both his politics and his +religion from his father, and does not appear to have questioned either. He +had a peculiarly conservative cast of mind. In an age of revolution and +scepticism he showed no trace of the questioning spirit which then +prevailed. Even in his earliest years he was a firm believer in existing +institutions, in what was fixed and established. He had a little of the +disposition of Lord Thurlow, who, when asked by a dissenter why, being a +notorious free-thinker, he so ardently supported the Established Church, +replied: "I support the Church of England because it is established. +Establish your religion, and I'll support that." But if Mr. Webster took +his religion and politics from his father in an unquestioning spirit, he +accepted them in a mild form. He was a liberal Federalist because he had a +wide mental vision, and by nature took broad views of everything. His +father, on the other hand, was a rigid, intolerant Federalist of a +thorough-going Puritan type. Being taken ill once in a town of Democratic +proclivities, he begged to be carried home. "I was born a Federalist," he +said, "I have lived a Federalist, and I won't die in a Democratic town." In +the same way Ezekiel Webster's uncompromising Federalism shut him out from +political preferment, and he would never modify his principles one jot in +order to gain the seat in Congress which he might easily have obtained by +slight concessions. The broad and liberal spirit of Daniel Webster rose +superior to the rigid and even narrow opinions of his father and brother, +but perhaps it would have been better for him if he had had in addition to +his splendid mind the stern, unbending force of character which made his +father and brother stand by their principles with immovable Puritan +determination. Liberal as he was, however, in his political opinions, the +same conservative spirit which led him to adopt his creed made him sustain +it faithfully and constantly when he had once accepted it. He was a steady +and trusted party man, although neither then nor at any time a blind, +unreasoning partisan. + +Mr. Webster came forward gradually as a political leader by occasional +addresses and speeches, at first with long intervals between them, and then +becoming more frequent, until at last he found himself fairly engaged in a +public career. In 1804, at the request of some of his father's friends, he +published a pamphlet, entitled, "An Appeal to Old Whigs," in the interest +of Gilman, the Federal candidate for governor. He seems to have had a very +poor opinion of this performance, and his interest in the success of the +party at that juncture was very slight. In 1805 he delivered a Fourth of +July oration at Salisbury, which has not been preserved; and in the +following year he gave another before the "Federal gentlemen" of Concord, +which was published. The tone of this speech is not very partisan, nor does +it exhibit the bitter spirit of the Federalists, although he attacked the +administration, was violent in urging the protection of commerce, and was +extremely savage in his remarks about France. At times the style is +forcible, and even rich, but, as a rule, it is still strained and +artificial. The oration begins eagerly with an appeal for the Constitution +and the Republic, the ideas always uppermost in Mr. Webster's mind. As a +whole, it shows a distinct improvement in form, but there are no marks of +genius to raise it above the ordinary level of Fourth of July speeches. His +next production was a little pamphlet, published in 1808, on the embargo, +which was then paralyzing New England, and crushing out her prosperity. +This essay is important because it is the first clear instance of that +wonderful faculty which Mr. Webster had of seizing on the vital point of a +subject, and bringing it out in such a way that everybody could see and +understand it. In this case the point was the distinction between a +temporary embargo and one of unlimited duration. Mr. Webster contended that +the latter was unconstitutional. The great mischief of the embargo was in +Jefferson's concealed intention that it should be unlimited in point of +time, a piece of recklessness and deceit never fully appreciated until it +had all passed into history. This Mr. Webster detected and brought out as +the most illegal and dangerous feature of the measure, while he also +discussed the general policy in its fullest extent. In 1809 he spoke before +the Phi Beta Kappa Society, upon "The State of our Literature," an address +without especial interest except as showing a very marked improvement in +style, due, no doubt, to the influence of Mr. Mason. + +During the next three years Mr. Webster was completely absorbed in the +practice of his profession, and not until the declaration of war with +England had stirred and agitated the whole country did he again come before +the public. The occasion of his reappearance was the Fourth of July +celebration in 1812, when he addressed the Washington Benevolent Society at +Portsmouth. The speech was a strong, calm statement of the grounds of +opposition to the war. He showed that "maritime defence, commercial +regulations, and national revenue" were the very corner-stones of the +Constitution, and that these great interests had been crippled and abused +by the departure from Washington's policy. He developed, with great force, +the principal and the most unanswerable argument of his party, that the +navy had been neglected and decried because it was a Federalist scheme, +when a navy was what we wanted above all things, and especially when we +were drifting into a maritime conflict. He argued strongly in favor of a +naval war, and measures of naval defence, instead of wasting our resources +by an invasion of Canada. So far he went strictly with his party, merely +invigorating and enforcing their well-known principles. But when he came to +defining the proper limits of opposition to the war he modified very +essentially the course prescribed by advanced Federalist opinions. The +majority of that party in New England were prepared to go to the very edge +of the narrow legal line which divides constitutional opposition from +treasonable resistance. They were violent, bitter, and uncompromising in +their language and purposes. From this Mr. Webster was saved by his breadth +of view, his clear perceptions, and his intense national feeling. He says +on this point:-- + + "With respect to the war in which we are now involved, the course + which our principles require us to pursue cannot be doubtful. It is + now the law of the land, and as such we are bound to regard it. + Resistance and insurrection form no part of our creed. The + disciples of Washington are neither tyrants in power nor rebels + out. If we are taxed to carry on this war we shall disregard + certain distinguished examples and shall pay. If our personal + services are required we shall yield them to the precise extent of + our constitutional liability. At the same time the world may be + assured that we know our rights and shall exercise them. We shall + express our opinions on this, as on every measure of the + government,--I trust without passion, I am certain without fear. By + the exercise of our constitutional right of suffrage, by the + peaceable remedy of election, we shall seek to restore wisdom to + our councils, and peace to our country." + +This was a sensible and patriotic opposition. It represented the views of +the moderate Federalists, and traced the lines which Mr. Webster +consistently followed during the first years of his public life. The +address concluded by pointing out the French trickery which had provoked +the war, and by denouncing an alliance with French despotism and ambition. + +This oration was printed, and ran at once through two editions. It led to +the selection of Mr. Webster as a delegate to an assembly of the people of +the county of Rockingham, a sort of mass convention, held in August, 1812. +There he was placed on the committee to prepare the address, and was chosen +to write their report, which was adopted and published. This important +document, widely known at the time as the "Rockingham Memorial," was a +careful argument against the war, and a vigorous and able presentation of +the Federalist views. It was addressed to the President, whom it treated +with respectful severity. With much skill it turned Mr. Madison's own +arguments against himself, and appealed to public opinion by its clear and +convincing reasoning. In one point the memorial differed curiously from the +oration of a month before. The latter pointed to the suffrage as the mode +of redress; the former distinctly hinted at and almost threatened secession +even while it deplored a dissolution of the Union as a possible result of +the administration's policy. In the one case Mr. Webster was expressing his +own views, in the other he was giving utterance to the opinions of the +members of his party among whom he stood. This little incident shows the +susceptibility to outside influences which formed such an odd trait in the +character of a man so imperious by nature. When acting alone, he spoke his +own opinions. When in a situation where public opinion was concentrated +against him, he submitted to modifications of his views with a curious and +indolent indifference. + +The immediate result to Mr. Webster of the ability and tact which he +displayed at the Rockingham Convention was his election to the thirteenth +Congress, where he took his seat in May, 1813. There were then many able +men in the House. Mr. Clay was Speaker, and on the floor were John C. +Calhoun, Langdon Cheves and William Lowndes of South Carolina, Forsyth and +Troup of Georgia, Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, Grundy of Tennessee, and +McLean of Ohio, all conspicuous in the young nationalist war party. Macon +and Eppes were representatives of the old Jeffersonian Republicans, while +the Federalists were strong in the possession of such leaders as Pickering +of Massachusetts, Pitkin of Connecticut, Grosvenor and Benson of New York, +Hanson of Maryland, and William Gaston of North Carolina. It was a House in +which any one might have been glad to win distinction. That Mr. Webster was +considered, at the outset, to be a man of great promise is shown by the +fact that he was placed on the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which Mr. +Calhoun was the head, and which, in the war time, was the most important +committee of the House. + +Mr. Webster's first act was a characteristic one. Early in June he +introduced a set of resolutions calling upon the President for information +as to the time and mode in which the repeal of the French decrees had been +communicated to our government. His unerring sagacity in singling out the +weak point in his enemy's armor and in choosing his own keenest weapon, was +never better illustrated than on this occasion. We know now that in the +negotiations for the repeal of the decrees, the French government tricked +us into war with England by most profligate lying. It was apparent then +that there was something wrong, and that either our government had been +deceived, or had withheld the publication of the repealing decree until war +was declared, so that England might not have a pretext for rescinding the +obnoxious orders. Either horn of the dilemma, therefore, was disagreeable +to the administration, and a disclosure could hardly fail to benefit the +Federalists. Mr. Webster supported his resolutions with a terse and simple +speech of explanation, so far as we can judge from the meagre abstract +which has come down to us. The resolutions, however, were a firebrand, and +lighted up an angry and protracted debate, but the ruling party, as Mr. +Webster probably foresaw, did not dare to vote them down, and they passed +by large majorities. Mr. Webster spoke but once, and then very briefly, +during the progress of the debate, and soon after returned to New +Hampshire. With the exception of these resolutions, he took no active part +whatever in the business of the House beyond voting steadily with his +party, a fact of which we may be sure because he was always on the same +side as that staunch old partisan, Timothy Pickering. + +After a summer passed in the performance of his professional duties, Mr. +Webster returned to Washington. He was late in his coming, Congress having +been in session nearly three weeks when he arrived to find that he had been +dropped from the Committee on Foreign Relations. The dominant party +probably discovered that he was a young man of rather too much promise and +too formidable an opponent for such an important post. His resolutions had +been answered at the previous session, after his departure, and the report, +which consisted of a lame explanation of the main point, and an elaborate +defence of the war, had been quietly laid aside. Mr. Webster desired debate +on this subject, and succeeded in carrying a reference of the report to a +committee of the whole, but his opponents prevented its ever coming to +discussion. In the long session which ensued, Mr. Webster again took +comparatively little part in general business, but he spoke oftener than +before. He seems to have been reserving his strength and making sure of his +ground. He defended the Federalists as the true friends of the navy, and he +resisted with great power the extravagant attempt to extend martial law to +all citizens suspected of treason. On January 14, 1814, he made a long and +well reported speech against a bill to encourage enlistments. This is the +first example of the eloquence which Mr. Webster afterwards carried to such +high perfection. Some of his subsequent speeches far surpass this one, but +they differ from it in degree, not in kind. He was now master of the style +at which he aimed. The vehicle was perfected and his natural talent gave +that vehicle abundance of thought to be conveyed. The whole speech is +simple in form, direct and forcible. It has the elasticity and vigor of +great strength, and glows with eloquence in some passages. Here, too, we +see for the first time that power of deliberate and measured sarcasm which +was destined to become in his hands such a formidable weapon. The florid +rhetoric of the early days is utterly gone, and the thought comes to us in +those short and pregnant sentences and in the choice and effective words +which were afterwards so typical of the speaker. The speech itself was a +party speech and a presentation of party arguments. It offered nothing new, +but the familiar principles had hardly ever been stated in such a striking +and impressive fashion. Mr. Webster attacked the war policy and the conduct +of the war, and advocated defensive warfare, a navy, and the abandonment of +the restrictive laws that were ruining our commerce, which had been the +main cause of the adoption of the Constitution. The conclusion of this +speech is not far from the level of Mr. Webster's best work. It is too long +for quotation, but a few sentences will show its quality:-- + + "Give up your futile projects of invasion. Extinguish the fires + that blaze on your inland frontier. 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 + border, turn, and look with the eye of justice and compassion on + your vast population along the coast. Unclench the iron grasp of + your embargo. Take measures for that end before another sun + sets.... Let it no longer be said that not one ship of force, built + by your hands, yet floats upon the ocean.... If then the war must + be continued, 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." + +Events soon forced the policy urged by Mr. Webster upon the administration, +whose friends carried first a modification of the embargo, and before the +close of the session introduced a bill for its total repeal. The difficult +task of advocating this measure devolved upon Mr. Calhoun, who sustained +his cause more ingeniously than ingenuously. He frankly admitted that +restriction was a failure as a war measure, but he defended the repeal on +the ground that the condition of affairs in Europe had changed since the +restrictive policy was adopted. It had indeed changed since the embargo of +1807, but not since the imposition of that of 1813, which was the one under +discussion. + +Mr. Calhoun laid himself open to most unmerciful retorts, which was his +misfortune, not his fault, for the embargo had been utterly and hopelessly +wrong from the beginning. Mr. Webster, however, took full advantage of the +opportunity thus presented. His opening congratulations are in his best +vein of stately sarcasm, and are admirably put. He followed this up by a +new argument of great force, showing the colonial spirit of the restrictive +policy. He also dwelt with fresh vigor on the identification with France +necessitated by the restrictive laws, a reproach which stung Mr. Calhoun +and his followers more than anything else. He then took up the embargo +policy and tore it to pieces,--no very difficult undertaking, but well +performed. The shifty and shifting policy of the government was especially +distasteful to Mr. Webster, with his lofty conception of consistent and +steady statesmanship, a point which is well brought out in the following +passage:-- + + "In a commercial country, nothing can be more objectionable than + frequent and violent changes. The concerns of private business do + not endure such rude shocks but with extreme inconvenience and + great loss. It would seem, however, that there is a class of + politicians to whose taste all change is suited, to whom whatever + is unnatural seems wise, and all that is violent appears great.... + The Embargo Act, the Non-Importation Act, and all the crowd of + additions and supplements, together with all their garniture of + messages, reports, and resolutions, are tumbling undistinguished + into one common grave. But yesterday this policy had a thousand + friends and supporters; to-day it is fallen and prostrate, and few + 'so poor as to do it reverence.' Sir, a government which cannot + administer the affairs of a nation without so frequent and such + violent alterations in the ordinary occupations and pursuits of + private life, has, in my opinion, little claim to the regard of the + community." + +All this is very characteristic of Mr. Webster's temperament in dealing +with public affairs, and is a very good example of his power of dignified +reproach and condemnation. + +Mr. Calhoun had said at the close of his speech, that the repeal of the +restrictive measures should not be allowed to affect the double duties +which protected manufactures. Mr. Webster discussed this point at length, +defining his own position, which was that of the New England Federalists, +who believed in free trade as an abstract principle, and considered +protection only as an expedient of which they wanted as little as possible. +Mr. Webster set forth these views in his usual effective and lucid manner, +but they can be considered more fitly at the period when he dealt with the +tariff as a leading issue of the day and of his own public life. + +Mr. Webster took no further action of importance at this session, not even +participating in the great debate on the loan bill; but, by the manner in +which these two speeches were referred to and quoted in Congress for many +days after they were delivered, we can perceive the depth of their first +impression. I have dwelt upon them at length because they are not in the +collected edition of his speeches, where they well deserve a place, and, +still more, because they are the first examples of his parliamentary +eloquence which show his characteristic qualities and the action of his +mind. Mr. Webster was a man of slow growth, not reaching his highest point +until he was nearly fifty years of age, but these two speeches mark an +advanced stage in his progress. The only fresh point that he made was when +he declared that the embargo was colonial in spirit; and this thought +proceeded from the vital principle of Mr. Webster's public life, his +intense love for nationality and union, which grew with his growth and +strengthened with his strength. In other respects, these speeches presented +simply the arguments and opinions of his party. They fell upon the ear of +Congress and the country with a new and ringing sound because they were +stated so finely and with such simplicity. Certainly one of them, and +probably both, were delivered without any immediate preparation, but they +really had the preparation of years, and were the utterance of thoughts +which had been garnered up by long meditation. He wisely confined himself +at this time to a subject which had been long before his mind, and upon +which he had gathered all the essential points by observation and by a +study of the multitude of speeches and essays with which the country had +been deluged. These early speeches, like some of the best of his prime, +although nominally unprepared, were poured forth from the overflowing +resources which had been the fruit of months of reflection, and which had +been stored up by an unyielding memory. They had really been in preparation +ever since the embargo pamphlet of 1808, and that was one reason for their +ripeness and terseness, for their easy flow and condensed force. I have +examined with care the debates in that Congress. There were many able and +experienced speakers on the floor. Mr. Clay, it is true, took no part, and +early in the session went to Europe. But Mr. Calhoun led in debate, and +there were many others second only to him. Among all the speeches, however, +Mr. Webster's stand out in sharp relief. His utterances were as clear and +direct as those of Mr. Calhoun, but they had none of the South Carolinian's +dryness. We can best judge of their merit and their effect by comparing +them with those of his associates. They were not only forcible, but they +were vivid also and full of life, and his words when he was roused fell +like the blows of a hammer on an anvil. They lacked the polish and richness +of his later efforts, but the force and power of statement and the purity +of diction were all there, and men began to realize that one destined to +great achievements had entered the field of American politics. + +This was very apparent when Mr. Webster came back to Washington for the +extra session called in September, 1814. Although he had made previously +but two set speeches, and had taken comparatively little part in every-day +debate, he was now acknowledged, after his few months of service, to be one +of the foremost men in the House, and the strongest leader in his party. He +differed somewhat at this time from the prevailing sentiment of the +Federalists in New England, for the guiding principle of his life, his love +of nationality, overrode all other influences. He discountenanced the +measures which led to the Hartford Convention, and he helped to keep New +Hampshire out of that movement; but it is an entire mistake to represent +him as an independent Federalist at this period. The days of Mr. Webster's +independent politics came later, when the Federalists had ceased to exist +as a party and when no new ties had been formed. In the winter of 1814 and +1815, although, like many of the moderate Federalists, he disapproved of +the separatist movement in New England, on all other party questions he +acted consistently with the straitest of the sect. Sensibly enough, he did +not consider the convention at Hartford, although he had nothing to do with +it, either treasonable or seditious; and yet, much as he disliked its +supposed purposes, he did not hesitate, in a speech on the Enlistment Bill, +to use them as a threat to deter the administration from war measures. This +was a favorite Federalist practice, gloomily to point out at this time the +gathering clouds of domestic strife, in order to turn the administration +back from war, that poor frightened administration of Mr. Madison, which +had for months been clutching frantically at every straw which seemed to +promise a chance of peace. + +But although Mr. Webster went as steadily and even more strongly with his +party in this session, he did more and better service than ever before, +partly, perhaps, because on the questions which arose, his party was, in +the main, entirely right. The strength of his party feeling is shown by his +attitude in regard to the war taxes, upon which he made a quiet but +effective speech. He took the ground that, as a member of the minority, he +could not prevent the taxes nor stop hostilities, but he could protest +against the war, its conduct, and its authors, by voting against the taxes. +There is a nice question of political ethics here as to how far an +opposition ought to go in time of national war and distress, but it is +certainly impossible to give a more extreme expression to parliamentary +opposition than to refuse the supplies at a most critical moment in a +severe conflict. To this last extreme of party opposition to the +administration, Mr. Webster went. It was as far as he could go and remain +loyal to the Union. But there he stopped absolutely. With the next step, +which went outside the Union, and which his friends at home were +considering, he would have nothing to do, and he would not countenance any +separatist schemes. In the national Congress, however, he was prepared to +advance as far as the boldest and bitterest in opposition, and he either +voted against the war taxes or abstained from voting on them, in company +with the strictest partisans of the Pickering type. + +There is no need to suppose from this that Mr. Webster had lost in the +least the liberality or breadth of view which always characterized him. He +was no narrower then than when he entered Congress, or than when he left +it. He went with his party because he believed it to be right,--as at that +moment it undoubtedly was. The party, however, was still extreme and +bitter, as it had been for ten years, but Mr. Webster was neither. He went +all lengths with his friends in Congress, but he did not share their +intensity of feeling or their fierce hostility to individuals. The +Federalists, for instance, as a rule had ceased to call upon Mr. Madison, +but in such intolerance Mr. Webster declined to indulge. He was always on +good terms with the President and with all the hostile leaders. His +opposition was extreme in principle, but not in manner; it was vigorous and +uncompromising, but also stately and dignified. It was part of his large +and indolent nature to accept much and question little; to take the ideas +most easy and natural to him, those of his friends and associates, and of +his native New England, without needless inquiry and investigation. It was +part of the same nature, also, to hold liberal views after he had fairly +taken sides, and never, by confounding individuals with principles and +purposes, to import into politics the fiery, biting element of personal +hatred and malice. + +His position in the House once assured, we find Mr. Webster taking a much +more active part in the daily debates than before. On these occasions we +hear of his "deliberate, conversational" manner, another of the lessons +learned from Mr. Mason when that gentleman, standing so close to the +jury-box that he could have "laid his finger on the foreman's nose," as Mr. +Webster said, chatted easily with each juryman, and won a succession of +verdicts. But besides the daily debate, Mr. Webster spoke at length on +several important occasions. This was the case with the Enlistment Bill, +which involved a forced draft, including minors, and was deemed +unconstitutional by the Federalists. Mr. Webster had "a hand," as he puts +it,--a strong one, we may be sure,--in killing "Mr. Monroe's conscription." + +The most important measure, however, with which Mr. Webster was called to +deal, and to which he gave his best efforts, was the attempt to establish a +national bank. There were three parties in the House on this question. The +first represented the "old Republican" doctrines, and was opposed to any +bank. The second represented the theories of Hamilton and the Federalists, +and favored a bank with a reasonable capital, specie-paying, and free to +decide about making loans to the government. The third body was composed of +members of the national war-party, who were eager for a bank merely to help +the government out of its appalling difficulties. They, therefore, favored +an institution of large capital, non-specie-paying, and obliged to make +heavy loans to the government, which involved, of course, an irredeemable +paper currency. In a word, there was the party of no bank, the party of a +specie bank, and the party of a huge paper-money bank. The second of these +parties, with which of course Mr. Webster acted, held the key of the +situation. No bank could be established unless it was based on their +principles. The first bill, proposing a paper-money bank, originated in the +House, and was killed there by a strong majority, Mr. Webster making a long +speech against it which has not been preserved. The next bill came from the +Senate, and was also for a paper-money bank. Against this scheme Mr. +Webster made a second elaborate speech, which is reprinted in his works. +His genius for arranging and stating facts held its full strength in +questions of finance, and he now established his reputation as a master in +that difficult department of statesmanship. His recent studies of +economical questions in late English works and in English history gave +freshness to what he said, and in clearness of argument, in range of view, +and wisdom of judgment, he showed himself a worthy disciple of the school +of Hamilton. His argument proceeded on the truest economical and commercial +principles, and was, indeed, unanswerable. He then took his stand as the +foe of irredeemable paper, whether in war or peace, and of wild, +unrestrained banking, a position from which he never wavered, and in +support of which he rendered to the country some of his best service as a +public man. The bill was defeated by the casting vote of the Speaker. When +the result was announced, Mr. Calhoun was utterly overwhelmed. He cared +little for the bank but deeply for the government, which, as it was not +known that peace had been made, seemed to be on the verge of ruin. He came +over to Mr. Webster, and, bursting into tears, begged the latter to aid in +establishing a proper bank, a request which was freely granted. + +The vote was then reconsidered, the bill recommitted and brought back, with +a reduced capital, and freed from the government power to force loans and +suspend specie payments. This measure was passed by a large majority, +composed of the Federalists and the friends of the government, but it was +the plan of the former which had prevailed. The President vetoed the bill +for a variety of reasons, duly stated, but really, as Mr. Webster said, +because a sound bank of this sort was not in favor with the administration. +Another paper-money scheme was introduced, and the conflict began again, +but was abruptly terminated by the news of peace, and on March 4 the +thirteenth Congress came to an end. + +The fourteenth Congress, to which he had been reelected, Mr. Webster said +many years afterward, was the most remarkable for talents of any he had +ever seen. To the leaders of marked ability in the previous Congress, most +of whom had been reelected, several others were added. Mr. Clay returned +from Europe to take again an active part. Mr. Pinkney, the most eminent +practising lawyer in the country, recently Attorney-General and Minister to +England, whom John Randolph, with characteristic insolence, "believed to be +from Maryland," was there until his appointment to the Russian mission. +Last, but not least, there was John Randolph himself, wildly eccentric and +venomously eloquent,--sometimes witty, always odd and amusing, talking +incessantly on everything, so that the reporters gave him up in despair, +and with whom Mr. Webster came to a definite understanding before the close +of the session. + +Mr. Webster did not take his seat until February, being detained at the +North by the illness of his daughter Grace. When he arrived he found +Congress at work upon a bank bill possessing the same objectionable +features of paper money and large capital as the former schemes which he +had helped to overthrow. He began his attack upon this dangerous plan by +considering the evil condition of the currency. He showed that the currency +of the United States was sound because it was gold and silver, in his +opinion the only constitutional medium, but that the country was flooded by +the irredeemable paper of the state banks. Congress could not regulate the +state banks, but they could force them to specie payments by refusing to +receive any notes which were not paid in specie by the bank which issued +them. Passing to the proposed national bank, he reiterated the able +arguments which he had made in the previous Congress against the large +capital, the power to suspend specie payments, and the stock feature of the +bank, which he thought would lead to speculation and control by the state +banks. This last point is the first instance of that financial foresight +for which Mr. Webster was so remarkable, and which shows so plainly the +soundness of his knowledge in regard to economical matters. A violent +speculation in bank stock did ensue, and the first years of the new +institution were troubled, disorderly, and anything but creditable. The +opposition of Mr. Webster and those who thought with him, resulted in the +reduction of the capital and the removal of the power to suspend specie +payments. But although shorn of its most obnoxious features, Mr. Webster +voted against the bill on its final passage on account of the participation +permitted to the government in its management. He was quite right, but, +after the bank was well established, he supported it as Lord Thurlow +promised to do in regard to the dissenter's religion. Indeed, Mr. Webster +ultimately so far lost his original dislike to this bank that he became one +of its warmest adherents. The plan was defective, but the scheme, on the +whole, worked better than had been expected. + +Immediately after the passage of the bank bill, Mr. Calhoun introduced a +bill requiring the revenue to be collected in lawful money of the United +States. A sharp debate ensued, and the bill was lost. Mr. Webster at once +offered resolutions requiring all government dues to be paid in coin, in +Treasury notes, or in notes of the Bank of the United States. He supported +these resolutions, thus daringly put forward just after the principle they +involved had been voted down, in a speech of singular power, clear, +convincing, and full of information and illustration. He elaborated the +ideas contained in his previous remarks on the currency, displaying with +great force the evils of irredeemable paper, and the absolute necessity of +a sound currency based on specie payments. He won a signal victory by the +passage of his resolutions, which brought about resumption, and, after the +bank was firmly established, gave us a sound currency and a safe medium of +exchange. This was one of the most conspicuous services ever rendered by +Mr. Webster to the business interests and good government of the country, +and he deserves the full credit, for he triumphed where Mr. Calhoun had +just been defeated. + +Mr. Webster took more or less part in all the questions which afterwards +arose in the House, especially on the tariff, but his great efforts were +those devoted to the bank and the currency. The only other incident of the +session was an invitation to fight a duel sent him by John Randolph. This +was the only challenge ever received by Mr. Webster. He never could have +seemed a very happy subject for such missives, and, moreover, he never +indulged in language calculated to provoke them. Randolph, however, would +have challenged anybody or anything, from Henry Clay to a field-mouse, if +the fancy happened to strike him. Mr. Webster's reply is a model of dignity +and veiled contempt. He refused to admit Randolph's right to an +explanation, alluded to that gentleman's lack of courtesy in the House, +denied his right to call him out, and wound up by saying that he did not +feel bound to risk his life at any one's bidding, but should "always be +prepared to repel, in a suitable manner, the aggression of any man who may +presume on this refusal." One cannot help smiling over this last clause, +with its suggestion of personal violence, as the two men rise before the +fancy,--the big, swarthy black-haired son of the northern hills, with his +robust common sense, and the sallow, lean, sickly Virginia planter, not +many degrees removed mentally from the patients in Bedlam. + +In the affairs of the next session of the fourteenth Congress Mr. Webster +took scarcely any part. He voted for Mr. Calhoun's internal improvement +bill, although without entering the debate, and he also voted to pass the +bill over Mr. Madison's veto. This was sound Hamiltonian Federalism, and in +entire consonance with the national sentiments of Mr. Webster. On the +constitutional point, which he is said to have examined with some care, he +decided in accordance with the opinions of his party, and with the doctrine +of liberal construction, to which he always adhered. + +On March 4, 1817, the fourteenth Congress expired, and with it the term of +Mr. Webster's service. Five years were to intervene before he again +appeared in the arena of national politics. This retirement from active +public life was due to professional reasons. In nine years Mr. Webster had +attained to the very summit of his profession in New Hampshire. He was +earning two thousand dollars a year, and in that hardy and poor community +he could not hope to earn more. To a man with such great and productive +talents, and with a growing family, a larger field had become an absolute +necessity. In June, 1816, therefore, Mr. Webster removed from Portsmouth to +Boston. That he gained by the change is apparent from the fact that the +first year after his removal his professional income did not fall short of +twenty thousand dollars. The first suggestion of the possibilities of +wealth offered to his abilities in a suitable field came from his going to +Washington. There, in the winter of 1813 and 1814, he was admitted to the +bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, before which he tried two or +three cases, and this opened the vista of a professional career, which he +felt would give him verge and room enough, as well as fit remuneration. +From this beginning the Supreme Court practice, which soon led to the +removal to Boston, rapidly increased, until, in the last session of his +term, it occupied most of his time. This withdrawal from the duties of +Congress, however, was not due to a sacrifice of his time to his +professional engagements, but to the depression caused by his first great +grief, which must have rendered the noise and dust of debate most +distasteful to him. Mr. and Mrs. Webster had arrived in Washington for this +last session, in December, 1816, and were recalled to Boston by the illness +of their little daughter Grace, who was their oldest child, singularly +bright and precocious, with much of her father's look and talent, and of +her mother's sensibility. She was a favorite with her father, and tenderly +beloved by him. After her parents' return she sank rapidly, the victim of +consumption. When the last hour was at hand, the child, rousing from sleep, +asked for her father. He came, raised her upon his arm, and, as he did so, +she smiled upon him and died. It is a little incident in the life of a +great man, but a child's instinct does not err at such a moment, and her +dying smile sheds a flood of soft light upon the deep and warm affections +of Mr. Webster's solemn and reserved nature. It was the first great grief. +Mr. Webster wept convulsively as he stood beside the dead, and those who +saw that stately creature so wrung by anguish of the heart never forgot the +sight. + +Thus the period which began at Portsmouth in 1807 closed in Boston, in +1817, with the death of the eldest born. In that decade Mr. Webster had +advanced with great strides from the position of a raw and youthful lawyer +in a back country town of New Hampshire. He had reached the highest +professional eminence in his own State, and had removed to a wider sphere, +where he at once took rank with the best lawyers. He was a leading +practitioner in the highest national court. During his two terms in +Congress he had become a leader of his party, and had won a solid national +reputation. In those years he had rendered conspicuous service to the +business interests of the nation, and had established himself as one of the +ablest statesmen of the country in matters of finance. He had defined his +position on the tariff as a free-trader in theory and a very moderate +protectionist when protection was unavoidable, a true representative of the +doctrine of the New England Federalists. He had taken up his ground as the +champion of specie payments and of the liberal interpretation of the +Constitution, which authorized internal improvements. While he had not +shrunk from extreme opposition to the administration during the war, he had +kept himself entirely clear from the separatist sentiment of New England in +the year 1814. He left Congress with a realizing sense of his own growing +powers, and, rejoicing in his strength, he turned to his profession and to +his new duties in his new home. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE.--MR. WEBSTER AS A LAWYER. + + +There is a vague tradition that when Mr. Webster took up his residence in +Boston, some of the worthies of that ancient Puritan town were disposed at +first to treat him rather cavalierly and make him understand that because +he was great in New Hampshire it did not follow that he was also great in +Massachusetts. They found very quickly, however, that it was worse than +useless to attempt anything of this sort with a man who, by his mere look +and presence whenever he entered a room, drew all eyes to himself and +hushed the murmur of conversation. It is certain that Mr. Webster soon +found himself the friend and associate of all the agreeable and +distinguished men of the town, and that he rapidly acquired that general +popularity which, in those days, went with him everywhere. It is also +certain that he at once and without effort assumed the highest position at +the bar as the recognized equal of its most eminent leaders. With an income +increased tenfold and promising still further enlargement, a practice in +which one fee probably surpassed the earnings of three months in New +Hampshire, with an agreeable society about him, popular abroad, happy and +beloved at home, nothing could have been more auspicious than these opening +years of his life in Boston. + +The period upon which he then entered, and during which he withdrew from +active public service to devote himself to his profession, was a very +important one in his career. It was a period marked by a rapid intellectual +growth and by the first exhibition of his talents on a large scale. It +embraces, moreover, two events, landmarks in the life of Mr. Webster, which +placed him before the country as one of the first and the most eloquent of +her constitutional lawyers, and as the great master in the art of +occasional oratory. The first of these events was the argument in the +Dartmouth College case; the second was the delivery of the Plymouth +oration. + +I do not propose to enter into or discuss the merits or demerits of the +constitutional and legal theories and principles involved in the famous +"college causes," or in any other of the great cases subsequently argued by +Mr. Webster. In a biography of this kind it is sufficient to examine Mr. +Webster's connection with the Dartmouth College case, and endeavor, by a +study of his arguments in that and in certain other hardly less important +causes, to estimate properly the character and quality of his abilities as +a lawyer, both in the ordinary acceptation of the term and in dealing with +constitutional questions. + +The complete history of the Dartmouth College case is very curious and +deserves more than a passing notice. Until within three years it is not too +much to say that it was quite unknown, and its condition is but little +better now. In 1879 Mr. John M. Shirley published a volume entitled the +"Dartmouth College Causes," which is a monument of careful study and +thorough research. Most persons would conclude that it was a work of merely +legal interest, appealing to a limited class of professional readers. Even +those into whose hands it chanced to come have probably been deterred from +examining it as it deserves by the first chapter, which is very obscure, +and by the confusion of the narrative which follows. Yet this monograph, +which has so unfortunately suffered from a defective arrangement of +material, is of very great value, not only to our legal and constitutional +history, but to the political history of the time and to a knowledge of the +distinguished actors in a series of events which resulted in the +establishment of one of the most far-reaching of constitutional doctrines, +one that has been a living question ever since the year 1819, and is at +this moment of vast practical importance. Mr. Shirley has drawn forth from +the oblivion of manuscript a collection of documents which, taken in +conjunction with those already in print, throws a flood of light upon a +dark place of the past and gives to a dry constitutional question the vital +and human interest of political and personal history. + +In his early days, Eleazer Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College, had +had much religious controversy with Dr. Bellamy of Connecticut, who was +like himself a graduate of Yale. Wheelock was a Presbyterian and a liberal, +Bellamy a Congregationalist and strictly orthodox. The charter of Dartmouth +was free from any kind of religious discrimination. By his will the elder +Wheelock provided in such a way that his son succeeded him in the +presidency of the college. In 1793 Judge Niles, a pupil of Bellamy, became +a trustee of the college, and he and John Wheelock represented the opposite +views which they respectively inherited from tutor and father. They were +formed for mutual hostility, and the contest began some twelve years before +it reached the public. The trustees and the president were then all +Federalists, and there would seem to have been no differences of either a +political or a religious nature. The trouble arose from the resistance of a +minority of the trustees to what they termed the "family dynasty." +Wheelock, however, maintained his ascendency until 1809, when his enemies +obtained a majority in the board of trustees, and thereafter admitted no +friend of the president to the government, and used every effort to subdue +the dominant dynasty. + +In New Hampshire, at that period, the Federalists were the ruling party, +and the Congregationalists formed the state church. The people were, in +practice, taxed to support Congregational churches, and the clergy of that +denomination were exempted from taxation. All the Congregational ministers +were stanch Federalists and most of their parishioners were of the same +party. The college, the only seat of learning in the State, was one of the +Federalist and Congregational strongholds. + +After several years of fruitless and bitter conflict, the Wheelock party, +in 1815, brought their grievances before the public in an elaborate +pamphlet. This led to a rejoinder and a war of pamphlets ensued, which was +soon transferred to the newspapers, and created a great sensation and a +profound interest. Wheelock now contemplated legal proceedings. Mr. Plumer +was in ill health, Judge Smith and Mr. Mason were allied with the trustees, +and the president therefore went to Mr. Webster, consulted him +professionally, paid him, and obtained a promise of his future services. +About the time of this consultation, Wheelock sent a memorial to the +Legislature, charging the trustees with misapplication of the funds, and +various breaches of trust, religious intolerance, and a violation of the +charter in their attacks upon the presidential office, and prayed for a +committee of investigation. The trustees met him boldly and offered a +sturdy resistance, denying all the charges, especially that of religious +intolerance; but the committee was voted by a large majority. On August +5th, Wheelock, as soon as he learned that the committee was to have a +hearing, wrote to Mr. Webster, reminding him of their consultation, +inclosing a fee of twenty dollars, and asking him to appear before the +committee. Mr. Webster did not come, and Wheelock had to go on as best he +could without him. One of Wheelock's friends, Mr. Dunham, wrote a very +indignant letter to Mr. Webster on his failure to appear; to which Mr. +Webster replied that he had seen Wheelock and they had contemplated a suit +in court, but that at the time of the hearing he was otherwise engaged, and +moreover that he did not regard a summons to appear before a legislative +committee as a professional call, adding that he was by no means sure that +the president was wholly in the right. The truth was, that many of Mr. +Webster's strongest personal and political friends, and most of the leaders +with whom he was associated in the control of the Federalist party, were +either trustees themselves or closely allied with the trustees. In the +interval between the consultation with Wheelock and the committee hearing, +these friends and leaders saw Mr. Webster, and pointed out to him that he +must not desert them, and that this college controversy was fast developing +into a party question. Mr. Webster was convinced, and abandoned Wheelock, +making, as has been seen, a very unsatisfactory explanation of his conduct. +In this way he finally parted company with Wheelock, and was thereafter +irrevocably engaged on the side of the trustees. + +Events now moved rapidly. The trustees, without heeding the advice of Mr. +Mason to delay, removed Wheelock from the presidency, and appointed in his +place the Rev. Francis Brown. This fanned the flame of popular excitement, +and such a defiance of the legislative committee threw the whole question +into politics. As Mr. Mason had foreseen when he warned the trustees +against hasty action, all the Democrats, all members of sects other than +the Congregational, and all freethinkers generally, were united against the +trustees, and consequently against the Federalists. The election came on. +Wheelock, who was a Federalist, went over to the enemy, carrying his +friends with him, and Mr. Plumer, the Democratic candidate, was elected +Governor, together with a Democratic Legislature. Mr. Webster perceived at +once that the trustees were in a bad position. He advised that every effort +should be made to soothe the Democrats, and that the purpose of founding a +new college should be noised abroad, in order to create alarm. Strategy, +however, was vain. Governor Plumer declared against the trustees in his +message, and the Legislature in June, 1816, despite every sort of protest +and remonstrance, passed an act to reorganize the college, and virtually to +place it within the control of the State. The Governor and council at once +proceeded to choose trustees and overseers under the new law, and among +those thus selected was Joseph Story of Massachusetts. + +Both boards of trustees assembled. The old board turned out Judge Woodward, +their secretary, who was a friend to Wheelock and secretary also of the new +board, and, receiving a thousand dollars from a friend of one of the +professors, resolved to fight. President Brown refused to obey the summons +of the new trustees, who expelled the old board by resolution. Thereupon +the old board brought suit against Woodward for the college seal and other +property, and the case came on for trial in May, 1817. Mr. Mason and Judge +Smith appeared for the college, George Sullivan and Ichabod Bartlett for +Woodward and the state board. The case was argued and then went over to the +September term of the same year, at Exeter, when Mason and Smith were +joined by Mr. Webster. + +The cause was then argued again on both sides and with signal ability. In +point of talent the counsel for the college were vastly superior to their +opponents, but Sullivan and Bartlett were nevertheless strong men and +thoroughly prepared. Sullivan was a good lawyer and a fluent and ready +speaker, with great power of illustration. Bartlett was a shrewd, +hard-headed man, very keen and incisive, and one whom it was impossible to +outwit or deceive. He indulged, in his argument, in some severe reflections +upon Mr. Webster's conduct toward Wheelock, which so much incensed Mr. +Webster that he referred to Mr. Bartlett's argument in a most contemptuous +way, and strenuously opposed the publication of the remarks "personal or +injurious to counsel." + +The weight of the argument for the college fell upon Mason and Smith, who +spoke for two and four hours respectively. Sullivan and Bartlett occupied +three hours, and the next day Mr. Webster closed for the plaintiffs in a +speech of two hours. Mr. Webster spoke with great force, going evidently +beyond the limits of legal argument, and winding up with a splendid +sentimental appeal which drew tears from the crowd in the Exeter +court-room, and which he afterwards used in an elaborated form and with +similar effect before the Supreme Court at Washington. + +It now becomes necessary to state briefly the points at issue in this case, +which were all fully argued by the counsel on both sides. Mr. Mason's +brief, which really covered the whole case, was that the acts of the +Legislature were not obligatory, 1, because they were not within the +general scope of legislative power; 2, because they violated certain +provisions of the Constitution of New Hampshire restraining legislative +power; 3, because they violated the Constitution of the United States. In +Farrar's report of Mason's speech, twenty-three pages are devoted to the +first point, eight to the second, and six to the third. In other words, the +third point, involving the great constitutional doctrine on which the case +was finally decided at Washington, the doctrine that the Legislature, by +its acts, had impaired the obligation of a contract, was passed over +lightly. In so doing Mr. Mason was not alone. Neither he nor Judge Smith +nor Mr. Webster nor the court nor the counsel on the other side, attached +much importance to this point. Curiously enough, the theory had been +originated many years before, by Wheelock himself, at a time when he +expected that the minority of the trustees would invoke the aid of the +Legislature against him, and his idea had been remembered. It was revived +at the time of the newspaper controversy, and was pressed upon the +attention of the trustees and upon that of their counsel. But the lawyers +attached little weight to the suggestion, although they introduced it and +argued it briefly. Mason, Smith, and Webster all relied for success on the +ground covered by the first point in Mason's brief. This is called by Mr. +Shirley the "Parsons view," from the fact that it was largely drawn from an +argument made by Chief Justice Parsons in regard to visitatorial powers at +Harvard College. Briefly stated, the argument was that the college was an +institution founded by private persons for particular uses; that the +charter was given to perpetuate such uses; that misconduct of the trustees +was a question for the courts, and that the Legislature, by its +interference, transcended its powers. To these general principles, +strengthened by particular clauses in the Constitution of New Hampshire, +the counsel for the college trusted for victory. The theory of impairing +the obligation of contracts they introduced, but they did not insist on it, +or hope for much from it. On this point, however, and, of course, on this +alone, the case went up to the Supreme Court. In December, 1817, Mr. +Webster wrote to Mr. Mason, regretting that the case went up on "one point +only." He occupied himself at this time in devising cases which should +raise what he considered the really vital points, and which, coming within +the jurisdiction of the United States, could be taken to the Circuit Court, +and thence to the Supreme Court at Washington. These cases, in accordance +with his suggestion, were begun, but before they came on in the Circuit +Court, Mr. Webster made his great effort in Washington. Three quarters of +his legal argument were there devoted to the points in the Circuit Court +cases, which were not in any way before the Supreme Court in the College +vs. Woodward. So little, indeed, did Mr. Webster think of the great +constitutional question which has made the case famous, that he forced the +other points in where he admitted that they had no proper standing, and +argued them at length. They were touched upon by Marshall, who, however, +decided wholly upon the constitutional question, and they were all thrown +aside by Judge Washington, who declared them irrelevant, and rested his +decision solely and properly on the constitutional point. Two months after +his Washington argument, Mr. Webster, still urging forward the Circuit +Court cases, wrote to Mr. Mason that all the questions must be brought +properly before the Supreme Court, and that, on the "general principle" +that the State Legislature could not divest vested rights, strengthened by +the constitutional provisions of New Hampshire, he was sure they could +defeat their adversaries. Thus this doctrine of "impairing the obligation +of contracts," which produced a decision in its effects more far-reaching +and of more general interest than perhaps any other ever made in this +country, was imported into the case at the suggestion of laymen, was little +esteemed by counsel, and was comparatively neglected in every argument. + +It is necessary to go back now, for a moment, in the history of the case. +The New Hampshire court decided against the plaintiffs on every point, and +gave a very strong and elaborate judgment, which Mr. Webster acknowledged +was "able, plausible, and ingenious." After much wrangling, the counsel +agreed on a special verdict, and took the case up on a writ of error to the +Supreme Court. Mason and Smith were unable or unwilling to go to +Washington, and the case was intrusted to Mr. Webster, who secured the +assistance of Mr. Joseph Hopkinson of Philadelphia. The case for the State, +hitherto ably managed, was now confided to Mr. John Holmes of Maine, and +Mr. Wirt, the Attorney-General, who handled it very badly. Holmes, an +active, fluent Democratic politician, made a noisy, rhetorical, political +speech, which pleased his opponents and disgusted his clients and their +friends. Mr. Wirt, loaded with business cares of every sort, came into +court quite unprepared, and endeavored to make up for his deficiencies by +declamation. On the other side the case was managed with consummate skill. +Hopkinson was a sound lawyer, and, being thoroughly prepared, made a good +legal argument. The burden of the conflict was, however, borne by Mr. +Webster, who was more interested personally than professionally, and who, +having raised money in Boston to defray the expenses of the suit, came into +the arena at Washington armed to the teeth, and in the full lustre of his +great powers. + +The case was heard on March 10, 1818, and was opened by Mr. Webster. He had +studied the arguments of his adversaries below, and the vigorous hostile +opinion of the New Hampshire judges. He was in possession of the thorough +argument emanating from the penetrating mind of Mr. Mason and fortified and +extended by the ample learning and judicial wisdom of Judge Smith. To the +work of his eminent associates he could add nothing more than one not very +important point, and a few cases which his far-ranging and retentive memory +supplied. All the notes, minutes, and arguments of Smith and Mason were in +his hands. It is only just to say that Mr. Webster tells all this himself, +and that he gives all credit to his colleagues, whose arguments he says "he +clumsily put together," and of which he adds that he could only be the +reciter. The faculty of obtaining and using the valuable work of other men, +one of the characteristic qualities of a high and commanding order of mind, +was even then strong in Mr. Webster. But in that bright period of early +manhood it was accompanied by a frank and generous acknowledgment of all +and more than all the intellectual aid he received from others. He truly +and properly awarded to Mason and Smith all the credit for the law and for +the legal points and theories set forth on their side, and modestly says +that he was merely the arranger and reciter of other men's thoughts. But +how much that arrangement and recitation meant! There were, perhaps, no +lawyers better fitted than Mason and Smith to examine a case and prepare an +argument enriched with everything that learning and sagacity could suggest. +But when Mr. Webster burst upon the court and the nation with this great +appeal, it was certain that there was no man in the land who could so +arrange arguments and facts, who could state them so powerfully and with +such a grand and fitting eloquence. + +The legal part of the argument was printed in Farrar's report and also in +Wheaton's, after it had been carefully revised by Mr. Webster with the +arguments of his colleagues before him. This legal and constitutional +discussion shows plainly enough Mr. Webster's easy and firm grasp of facts +and principles, and his power of strong, effective, and lucid statement; +but it is in its very nature dry, cold, and lawyer-like. It gives no +conception of the glowing vehemence of the delivery, or of those omitted +portions of the speech which dealt with matters outside the domain of law, +and which were introduced by Mr. Webster with such telling and important +results. He spoke for five hours, but in the printed report his speech +occupies only three pages more than that of Mr. Mason in the court below. +Both were slow speakers, and thus there is a great difference in time to be +accounted for, even after making every allowance for the peroration which +we have from another source, and for the wealth of legal and historical +illustration with which Mr. Webster amplified his presentation of the +question. "Something was left out," Mr. Webster says, and that something +which must have occupied in its delivery nearly an hour was the most +conspicuous example of the generalship by which Mr. Webster achieved +victory, and which was wholly apart from his law. This art of management +had already been displayed in the treatment of the cases made up for the +Circuit Courts, and in the elaborate and irrelevant legal discussion which +Mr. Webster introduced before the Supreme Court. But this management now +entered on a much higher stage, where it was destined to win victory, and +exhibited in a high degree tact and knowledge of men. Mr. Webster was fully +aware that he could rely, in any aspect of the case, upon the sympathy of +Marshall and Washington. He was equally certain of the unyielding +opposition of Duvall and Todd; the other three judges, Johnson, Livingston, +and Story, were known to be adverse to the college, but were possible +converts. The first point was to increase the sympathy of the Chief Justice +to an eager and even passionate support. Mr. Webster knew the chord to +strike, and he touched it with a master hand. This was the "something left +out," of which we know the general drift, and we can easily imagine the +effect. In the midst of all the legal and constitutional arguments, +relevant and irrelevant, even in the pathetic appeal which he used so well +in behalf of his Alma Mater, Mr. Webster boldly and yet skilfully +introduced the political view of the case. So delicately did he do it that +an attentive listener did not realize that he was straying from the field +of "mere reason" into that of political passion. Here no man could equal +him or help him, for here his eloquence had full scope, and on this he +relied to arouse Marshall, whom he thoroughly understood. In occasional +sentences he pictured his beloved college under the wise rule of +Federalists and of the Church. He depicted the party assault that was made +upon her. He showed the citadel of learning threatened with unholy invasion +and falling helplessly into the hands of Jacobins and freethinkers. As the +tide of his resistless and solemn eloquence, mingled with his masterly +argument, flowed on, we can imagine how the great Chief Justice roused like +an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet. The words of the speaker +carried him back to the early years of the century, when, in the full flush +of manhood, at the head of his court, the last stronghold of Federalism, +the last bulwark of sound government, he had faced the power of the +triumphant Democrats. Once more it was Marshall against Jefferson,--the +judge against the President. Then he had preserved the ark of the +Constitution. Then he had seen the angry waves of popular feeling breaking +vainly at his feet. Now, in his old age, the conflict was revived. +Jacobinism was raising its sacrilegious hand against the temples of +learning, against the friends of order and good government. The joy of +battle must have glowed once more in the old man's breast as he grasped +anew his weapons and prepared with all the force of his indomitable will to +raise yet another constitutional barrier across the path of his ancient +enemies. + +We cannot but feel that Mr. Webster's lost passages, embodying this +political appeal, did the work, and that the result was settled when the +political passions of the Chief Justice were fairly aroused. Marshall would +probably have brought about the decision by the sole force of his imperious +will. But Mr. Webster did a good deal of effective work after the arguments +were all finished, and no account of the case would be complete without a +glance at the famous peroration with which he concluded his speech and in +which he boldly flung aside all vestige of legal reasoning, and spoke +directly to the passions and emotions of his hearers. + +When he had finished his argument he stood silent for some moments, until +every eye was fixed upon him, then, addressing the Chief Justice, he +said:-- + + This, sir, is my case. It is the case not merely of that humble + institution, it is the case of every college in our land.... + + "Sir, you may destroy this little institution; it is weak; it is in + your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary + horizon of our country. You may put it out. But if you do so you + must carry through your work! You must extinguish, one after + another, all those greater lights of science which for more than a + century have thrown their radiance over our land. It is, sir, as I + have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it." + +Here his feelings mastered him; his eyes filled with tears, his lips +quivered, his voice was choked. In broken words of tenderness he spoke of +his attachment to the college, and his tones seemed filled with the +memories of home and boyhood; of early affections and youthful privations +and struggles. + + "The court room," says Mr. Goodrich, to whom we owe this + description, "during these two or three minutes presented an + extraordinary spectacle. Chief Justice Marshall, with his tall and + gaunt figure bent over as if to catch the slightest whisper, the + deep furrows of his cheek expanded with emotion and his eyes + suffused with tears; Mr. Justice Washington, at his side, with his + small and emaciated frame, and countenance more like marble than I + ever saw on any other human being,--leaning forward with an eager, + troubled look; and the remainder of the court at the two + extremities, pressing, as it were, to a single point, while the + audience below were wrapping themselves round in closer folds + beneath the bench, to catch each look and every movement of the + speaker's face.... + + "Mr. Webster had now recovered his composure, and, fixing his keen + eye on the Chief Justice, said in that deep tone with which he + sometimes thrilled the heart of an audience:-- + + "'Sir, I know not how others may feel' (glancing at the opponents + of the college before him), 'but for myself, when I see my Alma + Mater surrounded, like Caesar in the senate-house, by those who are + reiterating stab after stab, I would not, for this right hand, have + her turn to me, and say, _Et tu quoque, mi fili! And thou too, my + son!_'" + +This outbreak of feeling was perfectly genuine. Apart from his personal +relations to the college, he had the true oratorical temperament, and no +man can be an orator in the highest sense unless he feels intensely, for +the moment at least, the truth and force of every word he utters. To move +others deeply he must be deeply moved himself. Yet at the same time Mr. +Webster's peroration, and, indeed, his whole speech, was a model of +consummate art. Great lawyer as he undoubtedly was, he felt on this +occasion that he could not rely on legal argument and pure reason alone. +Without appearing to go beyond the line of propriety, without indulging in +a declamation unsuited to the place, he had to step outside of legal points +and in a freer air, where he could use his keenest and strongest weapons, +appeal to the court not as lawyers but as men subject to passion, emotion, +and prejudice. This he did boldly, delicately, successfully, and thus he +won his case. + +The replies of the opposing counsel were poor enough after such a speech. +Holmes's declamation sounded rather cheap, and Mr. Wirt, thrown off his +balance by Mr. Webster's exposure of his ignorance, did but slight justice +to himself or his cause. March 12th the arguments were closed, and the next +day, after a conference, the Chief Justice announced that the court could +agree on nothing and that the cause must be continued for a year, until the +next term. The fact probably was that Marshall found the judges five to two +against the college, and that the task of bringing them into line was not a +light one. + +In this undertaking, however, he was powerfully aided by the counsel and +all the friends of the college. The old board of trustees had already paid +much attention to public opinion. The press was largely Federalist, and, +under the pressure of what was made a party question, they had espoused +warmly the cause of the college. Letters and essays had appeared, and +pamphlets had been circulated, together with the arguments of the counsel +at Exeter. This work was pushed with increased eagerness after the argument +at Washington, and the object now was to create about the three doubtful +judges an atmosphere of public opinion which should imperceptibly bring +them over to the college. Johnson, Livingston, and Story were all men who +would have started at the barest suspicion of outside influence even in the +most legitimate form of argument, which was all that was ever thought of or +attempted. This made the task of the trustees very delicate and difficult +in developing a public sentiment which should sway the judges without their +being aware of it. The printed arguments of Mason, Smith, and Webster were +carefully sent to certain of the judges, but not to all. All documents of a +similar character found their way to the same quarters. The leading +Federalists were aroused everywhere, so that the judges might be made to +feel their opinion. With Story, as a New England man, a Democrat by +circumstances, a Federalist by nature, there was but little difficulty. A +thorough review of the case, joined with Mr. Webster's argument, caused him +soon to change his first impression. To reach Livingston and Johnson was +not so easy, for they were out of New England, and it was necessary to go a +long way round to get at them. The great legal upholder of Federalism in +New York was Chancellor Kent. His first impression, like that of Story, was +decidedly against the college, but after much effort on the part of the +trustees and their able allies, Kent was converted, partly through his +reason, partly through his Federalism, and then his powers of persuasion +and his great influence on opinion came to bear very directly on +Livingston, more remotely on Johnson. The whole business was managed like a +quiet, decorous political campaign. The press and the party were everywhere +actively interested. At first, and in the early summer of 1818, before Kent +was converted, matters looked badly for the trustees. Mr. Webster knew the +complexion of the court, and hoped little from the point raised in Trustees +vs. Woodward. Still, no one despaired, and the work was kept up until, in +September, President Brown wrote to Mr. Webster in reference to the +argument:-- + + "It has already been, or shortly will be, read by all the + _commanding_ men of New England and New York; and so far as it has + gone it has united them all, without a single exception within my + knowledge, in one broad and impenetrable phalanx for our defence + and support. New England and New York _are gained_. Will not this + be sufficient for our present purposes? If not, I should recommend + reprinting. And on this point you are the best judge. I + prevailingly think, however, that the current of opinion from this + part of the country is setting so strongly towards the South that + we may safely trust to its force alone to accomplish whatever is + necessary." + +The worthy clergyman writes of public opinion as if the object was to elect +a President. All this effort, however, was well applied, as was found when +the court came together at the next term. In the interval the State had +become sensible of the defects of their counsel, and had retained Mr. +Pinkney, who stood at that time at the head of the bar of the United +States. He had all the qualifications of a great lawyer, except perhaps +that of robustness. He was keen, strong, and learned; diligent in +preparation, he was ready and fluent in action, a good debater, and master +of a high order of eloquence. He was a most formidable adversary, and one +whom Mr. Webster, then just at the outset of his career, had probably no +desire to meet in such a doubtful case as this.[1] Even here, however, +misfortune seemed to pursue the State, for Mr. Pinkney was on bad terms +with Mr. Wirt, and acted alone. He did all that was possible; prepared +himself elaborately in the law and history of the case, and then went into +court ready to make the wisest possible move by asking for a re-argument. +Marshall, however, was also quite prepared. Turning his "blind ear," as +some one said, to Pinkney, he announced, as soon as he took his seat, that +the judges had come to a conclusion during the vacation. He then read one +of his great opinions, in which he held that the college charter was a +contract within the meaning of the Constitution, and that the acts of the +New Hampshire Legislature impaired this contract, and were therefore void. +To this decision four judges assented in silence, although Story and +Washington subsequently wrote out opinions. Judge Todd was absent, through +illness, and Judge Duvall dissented. The immediate effect of the decision +was to leave the college in the hands of the victorious Federalists. In the +precedent which it established, however, it had much deeper and more +far-reaching results. It brought within the scope of the Constitution of +the United States every charter granted by a State, limited the action of +the States in a most important attribute of sovereignty, and extended the +jurisdiction of the highest federal court more than any other judgment ever +rendered by them. From the day when it was announced to the present time, +the doctrine of Marshall in the Dartmouth College case has continued to +exert an enormous influence, and has been constantly sustained and attacked +in litigation of the greatest importance. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Peter Harvey, in his _Reminiscences_ (p. 122), has an +anecdote in regard to Webster and Pinkney, which places the former in the +light of a common and odious bully, an attitude as alien to Mr. Webster's +character as can well be conceived. The story is undoubtedly either wholly +fictitious or so grossly exaggerated as to be practically false. On the +page preceding the account of this incident, Mr. Harvey makes Webster say +that he never received a challenge from Randolph, whereas in Webster's own +letter, published by Mr. Curtis, there is express reference to a note of +challenge received from Randolph. This is a fair example of these +_Reminiscences_. A more untrustworthy book it would be impossible to +imagine. There is not a statement in it which can be safely accepted, +unless supported by other evidence. It puts its subject throughout in the +most unpleasant light, and nothing has ever been written about Webster so +well calculated to injure and belittle him as these feeble and distorted +recollections of his loving and devoted Boswell. It is the reflection of a +great man upon the mirror of a very small mind and weak memory.] + +The defendant Woodward having died, Mr. Webster moved that the judgment be +entered _nunc pro tunc_. Pinkney and Wirt objected on the ground that the +other causes on the docket contained additional facts, and that no final +judgment should be entered until these causes had been heard. The court, +however, granted Mr. Webster's motion. Mr. Pinkney then tried to avail +himself of the stipulation in regard to the special verdict, that any new +and material facts might be added or any facts expunged. Mr. Webster +peremptorily declined to permit any change, obtained judgment against +Woodward, and obliged Mr. Pinkney to consent that the other causes should +be remanded, without instructions, to the Circuit Court, where they were +heard by Judge Story, who rendered a decree _nisi_ for the college. This +closed the case, and such were the last displays of Mr. Webster's dexterous +and vigorous management of the famous "college causes." + +The popular opinion of this case seems to be that Mr. Webster, with the aid +of Mr. Mason and Judge Smith, developed a great constitutional argument, +which he forced upon the acceptance of the court by the power of his close +and logical reasoning, and thus established an interpretation of the +Constitution of vast moment. The truth is, that the suggestion of the +constitutional point, not a very remarkable idea in itself, originated, as +has been said, with a layman, was regarded by Mr. Webster as a forlorn +hope, and was very briefly discussed by him before the Supreme Court. He +knew, of course, that if the case were to be decided against Woodward, it +could only be on the constitutional point, but he evidently thought that +the court would not take the view of it which was favorable to the college. +The Dartmouth College case was unquestionably one of Mr. Webster's great +achievements at the bar, but it has been rightly praised on mistaken +grounds. Mr. Webster made a very fine presentation of the arguments mainly +prepared by Mason and Smith. He transcended the usual legal limits with a +burst of eloquent appeal which stands high among the famous passages of his +oratory. In what may be called the strategy of the case he showed the best +generalship and the most skilful management. He also proved himself to be +possessed of great tact and to be versed in the knowledge of men, qualities +not usually attributed to him because their exercise involved an amount of +care and painstaking foreign to his indolent and royal temperament, which +almost always relied on weight and force for victory. + +Mr. Webster no doubt improved in details, and made better arguments at the +bar than he did upon this occasion, but the Dartmouth College case, on the +whole, shows his legal talents so nearly at their best, and in such unusual +variety, that it is a fit point at which to pause in order to consider some +of his other great legal arguments and his position and abilities as a +lawyer. For this purpose it is quite sufficient to confine ourselves to the +cases mentioned by Mr. Curtis, and to the legal arguments preserved in the +collection of Mr. Webster's speeches. + +Five years after the Dartmouth College decision, Mr. Webster made his +famous argument in the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden. The case was called +suddenly, and Mr. Webster prepared his argument in a single night of +intense labor. The facts were all before him, but he showed a readiness in +arrangement only equalled by its force. The question was whether the State +of New York had a right under the Constitution to grant a monopoly of steam +navigation in its waters to Fulton and Livingston. Mr. Webster contended +that the acts making such a grant were unconstitutional, because the power +of Congress to regulate commerce was, within certain limitations, +exclusive. He won his cause, and the decision, from its importance, +probably enhanced the contemporary estimate of his effort. The argument was +badly reported, but it shows all its author's strongest qualities of close +reasoning and effective statement. The point in issue was neither difficult +nor obscure, and afforded no opportunity for a display of learning. It was +purely a matter of constitutional interpretation, and could be discussed +chiefly in a historical manner and from the standpoint of public interests. +This was particularly fitted to Mr. Webster's cast of mind, and he did his +subject full justice. It was pure argument on general principles. Mr. +Webster does not reach that point of intense clearness and condensation +which characterized Marshall and Hamilton, in whose writings we are +fascinated by the beauty of the intellectual display, and are held fast by +each succeeding line, which always comes charged with fresh meaning. +Nevertheless, Mr. Webster touches a very high point in this most difficult +form of argument, and the impressiveness of his manner and voice carried +all that he said to its mark with a direct force in which he stood +unrivalled. + +In Ogden v. Saunders, heard in 1827, Mr. Webster argued that the clause +prohibiting state laws impairing the obligation of contracts covered future +as well as past contracts. He defended his position with astonishing +ability, but the court very correctly decided against him. The same +qualities which appear in these cases are shown in the others of a like +nature, which were conspicuous among the multitude with which he was +intrusted. We find them also in cases involving purely legal questions, +such as the Bank of the United States v. Primrose, and The Providence +Railroad Co. v. The City of Boston, accompanied always with that ready +command of learning which an extraordinary memory made easy. There seemed +to be no diminution of Mr. Webster's great powers in this field as he +advanced in years. In the Rhode Island case and in the Passenger Tax cases, +argued when he was sixty-six years old, he rose to the same high plane of +clear, impressive, effective reasoning as when he defended his Alma Mater. + +Two causes, however, demand more than a passing mention,--the Girard will +case and the Rhode Island case. The former involved no constitutional +points. The suit was brought to break the will of Stephen Girard, and the +question was whether the bequest to found a college could be construed to +be a charitable devise. On this question Mr. Webster had a weak case in +point of law, but he readily detected a method by which he could go boldly +outside the law, as he had done to a certain degree in the Dartmouth +College case, and substitute for argument an eloquent and impassioned +appeal to emotion and prejudice. Girard was a free-thinker, and he provided +in his will that no priest or minister of any denomination should be +admitted to his college. Assuming that this excluded all religious +teaching, Mr. Webster then laid down the proposition that no bequest or +gift could be charitable which excluded Christian teaching. In other words, +he contended that there was no charity except Christian charity, which, the +poet assures us, is so rare. At this day such a theory would hardly be +gravely propounded by any one. But Mr. Webster, on the ground that Girard's +bequest was derogatory to Christianity, pronounced a very fine discourse +defending and eulogizing, with much eloquence, the Christian religion. The +speech produced a great effect. One is inclined to think that it was the +cause of the court's evading the question raised by Mr. Webster, and +sustaining the will, a result they were bound to reach in any event, on +other grounds. The speech certainly produced a great sensation, and was +much admired, especially by the clergy, who caused it to be printed and +widely distributed. It did not impress lawyers quite so favorably, and we +find Judge Story writing to Chancellor Kent that "Webster did his best for +the other side, but it seems to me altogether an address to the prejudices +of the clergy." The subject, in certain ways, had a deep attraction for Mr. +Webster. His imagination was excited by the splendid history of the Church, +and his conservatism was deeply stirred by a system which, whether in the +guise of the Romish hierarchy, as the Church of England, or in the form of +powerful dissenting sects, was, as a whole, imposing by its age, its +influence, and its moral grandeur. Moreover, it was one of the great +established bulwarks of well-ordered and civilized society. All this +appealed strongly to Mr. Webster, and he made the most of his opportunity +and of his shrewdly-chosen ground. Yet the speech on the Girard will is not +one of his best efforts. It has not the subdued but intense fire which +glowed so splendidly in his great speeches in the Senate. It lacked the +stately pathos which came always when Mr. Webster was deeply moved. It was +delivered in 1844, and was slightly tinged with the pompousness which +manifested itself in his late years, and especially on religious topics. No +man has a right to question the religious sincerity of another, unless upon +evidence so full and clear that, in such cases, it is rarely to be found. +There is certainly no cause for doubt in Mr. Webster's case. He was both +sincere and honest in religion, and had a real and submissive faith. But he +accepted his religion as one of the great facts and proprieties of life. He +did not reach his religious convictions after much burning questioning and +many bitter experiences. In this he did not differ from most men of this +age, and it only amounts to saying that Mr. Webster did not have a deeply +religious temperament. He did not have the ardent proselyting spirit which +is the surest indication of a profoundly religious nature; the spirit of +the Saracen Emir crying, "Forward! Paradise is under the shadow of our +swords." When, therefore, he turned his noble powers to a defence of +religion, he did not speak with that impassioned fervor which, coming from +the depths of a man's heart, savors of inspiration and seems essential to +the highest religious eloquence. He believed thoroughly every word he +uttered, but he did not feel it, and in things spiritual the heart must be +enlisted as well as the head. It was wittily said of a well-known +anti-slavery leader, that had he lived in the Middle Ages he would have +gone to the stake for a principle, under a misapprehension as to the facts. +Mr. Webster not only could never have misapprehended facts, but, if he had +flourished in the Middle Ages he would have been a stanch and honest +supporter of the strongest government and of the dominant church. Perhaps +this defines his religious character as well as anything, and explains why +the argument in the Girard will case, fine as it was, did not reach the +elevation and force which he so often displayed on other themes. + +The Rhode Island case grew out of the troubles known at that period as +Dorr's rebellion. It involved a discussion not only of the constitutional +provisions for suppressing insurrections and securing to every State a +republican form of government, but also of the general history and theory +of the American governments, both state and national. There was thus +offered to Mr. Webster that full scope and large field in which he +delighted, and which were always peculiarly favorable to his talents. His +argument was purely constitutional, and although not so closely reasoned, +perhaps, as some of his earlier efforts, is, on the whole, as fine a +specimen as we have of his intellectual power as a constitutional lawyer at +the bar of the highest national tribunal. Mr. Webster did not often +transcend the proper limits of purely legal discussion in the courts, and +yet even when the question was wholly legal, the court-room would be +crowded by ladies as well as gentlemen, to hear him speak. It was so at the +hearing of the Girard suit; and during the strictly legal arguments in the +Charles River Bridge case, the court-room, Judge Story says, was filled +with a brilliant audience, including many ladies, and he adds that +"Webster's closing reply was in his best manner, but with a little too much +_fierte_ here and there." The ability to attract such audiences gives an +idea of the impressiveness of his manner and of the beauty of his voice and +delivery better than anything else, for these qualities alone could have +drawn the general public and held their attention to the cold and dry +discussion of laws and constitutions. + +There is a little anecdote told by Mr. Curtis in connection with this Rhode +Island case, which illustrates very well two striking qualities in Mr. +Webster as a lawyer. The counsel in the court below had been assisted by a +clever young lawyer named Bosworth, who had elaborated a point which he +thought very important, but which his seniors rejected. Mr. Bosworth was +sent to Washington to instruct Mr. Webster as to the cause, and, after he +had gone through the case, Mr. Webster asked if that was all. Mr. Bosworth +modestly replied that there was another view of his own which his seniors +had rejected, and then stated it briefly. When he concluded, Mr. Webster +started up and exclaimed, "Mr. Bosworth, by the blood of all the Bosworths +who fell on Bosworth field, that is _the_ point of the case. Let it be +included in the brief by all means." This is highly characteristic of one +of Mr. Webster's strongest attributes. He always saw with an unerring +glance "_the_ point" of a case or a debate. A great surgeon will detect the +precise spot where the knife should enter when disease hides it from other +eyes, and often with apparent carelessness will make the necessary incision +at the exact place when a deflection of a hair's breadth or a tremor of the +hand would bring death to the patient. Mr. Webster had the same +intellectual dexterity, the mingled result of nature and art. As the tiger +is said to have a sure instinct for the throat of his victim, so Mr. +Webster always seized on the vital point of a question. Other men would +debate and argue for days, perhaps, and then Mr. Webster would take up the +matter, and grasp at once the central and essential element which had been +there all along, pushed hither and thither, but which had escaped all eyes +but his own. He had preeminently + + "The calm eye that seeks + 'Midst all the huddling silver little worth + The one thin piece that comes, pure gold." + +The anecdote further illustrates the use which Mr. Webster made of the +ideas of other people. He did not say to Mr. Bosworth, here is the true +point of the case, but he saw that something was wanting, and asked the +young lawyer what it was. The moment the proposition was stated he +recognized its value and importance at a glance. He might and probably +would have discovered it for himself, but his instinct was to get it from +some one else. + +It is one of the familiar attributes of great intellectual power to be able +to select subordinates wisely; to use other people and other people's labor +and thought to the best advantage, and to have as much as possible done for +one by others. This power of assimilation Mr. Webster had to a marked +degree. There is no depreciation in saying that he took much from others, +for it is a capacity characteristic of the strongest minds, and so long as +the debt is acknowledged, such a faculty is a subject for praise, not +criticism. But when the recipient becomes unwilling to admit the obligation +which is no detraction to himself, and without which the giver is poor +indeed, the case is altered. In his earliest days Mr. Webster used to draw +on one Parker Noyes, a mousing, learned New Hampshire lawyer, and freely +acknowledged the debt. In the Dartmouth College case, as has been seen, he +over and over again gave simply and generously all the credit for the +learning and the points of the brief to Mason and Smith, and yet the glory +of the case has rested with Mr. Webster and always will. He gained by his +frank honesty and did not lose a whit. But in his latter days, when his +sense of justice had grown somewhat blunted and his nature was perverted by +the unmeasured adulation of the little immediate circle which then hung +about him, he ceased to admit his obligations as in his earlier and better +years. From no one did Mr. Webster receive so much hearty and generous +advice and assistance as from Judge Story, whose calm judgment and wealth +of learning were always at his disposal. They were given not only in +questions of law, but in regard to the Crimes Act, the Judiciary Act, and +the Ashburton treaty. After Judge Story's death, Mr. Webster not only +declined to allow the publication by the judge's son and biographer of +Story's letters to himself, but he refused to permit even the publication +of extracts from his own letters, intended merely to show the nature of the +services rendered to him by Story. A cordial assent would have enhanced the +reputation of both. The refusal is a blot on the intellectual greatness of +the one and a source of bitterness to the descendants and admirers of the +other. It is to be regretted that the extraordinary ability which Mr. +Webster always showed in grasping and assimilating masses of theories and +facts, and in drawing from them what was best, should ever have been +sullied by a want of gratitude which, properly and freely rendered, would +have made the lustre of his own fame shine still more brightly. + +A close study of Mr. Webster's legal career, in the light of contemporary +reputation and of the best examples of his work, leads to certain quite +obvious conclusions. He had not a strongly original or creative legal mind. +This was chiefly due to nature, but in some measure to a dislike to the +slow processes of investigation and inquiry which were always distasteful +to him, although he was entirely capable of intense and protracted +exertion. He cannot, therefore, be ranked with the illustrious few, among +whom we count Mansfield and Marshall as the most brilliant examples, who +not only declared what the law was, but who made it. Mr. Webster's powers +were not of this class, but, except in these highest and rarest qualities, +he stands in the front rank of the lawyers of his country and his age. +Without extraordinary profundity of thought or depth of learning, he had a +wide, sure, and ready knowledge both of principles and cases. Add to this +quick apprehension, unerring sagacity for vital and essential points, a +perfect sense of proportion, an almost unequalled power of statement, +backed by reasoning at once close and lucid, and we may fairly say that Mr. +Webster, who possessed all these qualities, need fear comparison with but +very few among the great lawyers of that period either at home or abroad. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MASSACHUSETTS CONVENTION AND THE PLYMOUTH ORATION. + + +The conduct of the Dartmouth College case, and its result, at once raised +Mr. Webster to a position at the bar second only to that held by Mr. +Pinkney. He was now constantly occupied by most important and lucrative +engagements, but in 1820 he was called upon to take a leading part in a +great public work which demanded the exertion of all his talents as +statesman, lawyer, and debater. The lapse of time and the setting off of +the Maine district as a State had made a convention necessary, in order to +revise the Constitution of Massachusetts. This involved the direct resort +to the people, the source of all power, which is only required to effect a +change in the fundamental law of the State. On these rare occasions it has +been the honored custom in Massachusetts to lay aside all the +qualifications attaching to ordinary legislatures and to choose the best +men, without regard to party, public office, or domicile, for the +performance of this important work. No better or abler body could have been +assembled for this purpose than that which met in convention at Boston in +November, 1820. Among these distinguished men were John Adams, then in his +eighty-fifth year, and one of the framers of the original Constitution of +1780, Chief Justice Parker, of the Supreme Bench, the Federal judges, and +many of the leaders at the bar and in business. The two most conspicuous +men in the convention, however, were Joseph Story and Daniel Webster, who +bore the burden in every discussion; and there were three subjects, upon +which Mr. Webster spoke at length, that deserve more than a passing +allusion. + +Questions of party have, as a rule, found but little place in the +constitutional assemblies of Massachusetts. This was peculiarly the case in +1820, when the old political divisions were dying out, and new ones had not +yet been formed. At the same time widely opposite views found expression in +the convention. The movement toward thorough and complete democracy was +gathering headway, and directing its force against many of the old colonial +traditions and habits of government embodied in the existing Constitution. +That portion of the delegates which favored certain radical changes was +confronted and stoutly opposed by those who, on the whole, inclined to make +as few alterations as possible, and desired to keep things about as they +were. Mr. Webster, as was natural, was the leader of the conservative +party, and his course in this convention is an excellent illustration of +this marked trait in his disposition and character. + +One of the important questions concerned the abolition of the profession of +Christian faith as a qualification for holding office. On this point the +line of argument pursued by Mr. Webster is extremely characteristic. +Although an unvarying conservative throughout his life, he was incapable of +bigotry, or of narrow and illiberal views. At the same time the process by +which he reached his opinion in favor of removing the religious test shows +more clearly than even ultra-conservatism could, how free he was from any +touch of the reforming or innovating spirit. He did not urge that, on +general principles, religious tests were wrong, that they were relics of +the past and in hopeless conflict with the fundamental doctrines of +American liberty and democracy. On the contrary, he implied that a +religious test was far from being of necessity an evil. He laid down the +sound doctrine that qualifications for office were purely matters of +expediency, and then argued that it was wise to remove the religious test +because, while its principle would be practically enforced by a Christian +community, it was offensive to some persons to have it engrafted on the +Constitution. The speech in which he set forth these views was an able and +convincing one, entirely worthy of its author, and the removal of the test +was carried by a large majority. It is an interesting example of the +combination of steady conservatism and breadth of view which Mr. Webster +always displayed. But it also brings into strong relief his aversion to +radical general principles as grounds of action, and his inborn hostility +to far-reaching change. + +His two other important speeches in this convention have been preserved in +his works, and are purely and wholly conservative in tone and spirit. The +first related to the basis of representation in the Senate, whose members +were then apportioned according to the amount of taxable property in the +districts. This system, Mr. Webster thought, should be retained, and his +speech was a most masterly discussion of the whole system of government by +two Houses. He urged the necessity of a basis of representation for the +upper House different from that of the lower, in order to make the former +fully serve its purpose of a check and balance to the popular branch. This +important point he handled in the most skilful manner, and there is no +escape from his conclusion that a difference of origin in the two +legislative branches of the government is essential to the full and perfect +operation of the system. This difference of origin, he argued, could be +obtained only by the introduction of property as a factor in the basis of +representation. The weight of his speech was directed to defending the +principle of a suitable representation of property, which was a subject +requiring very adroit treatment. The doctrine is one which probably would +not be tolerated now in any part of this country, and even in 1820, in +Massachusetts, it was a delicate matter to advocate it, for it was hostile +to the general sentiment of the people. Having established his position +that it was all important to make the upper branch a strong and effective +check, he said that the point in issue was not whether property offered the +best method of distinguishing between the two Houses, but whether it was +not better than no distinction at all. This being answered affirmatively, +the next question to be considered was whether property, not in the sense +of personal possessions and personal power, but in a general sense, ought +not to have its due influence in matters of government. He maintained the +justice of this proposition by showing that our constitutions rest largely +on the general equality of property, which, in turn, is due to our laws of +distribution. This led him into a discussion of the principles of the +distribution of property. He pointed out the dangers arising in England +from the growth of a few large estates, while on the other hand he +predicted that the rapid and minute subdivision of property in France would +change the character of the government, and, far from strengthening the +crown, as was then generally prophesied, would have a directly opposite +effect, by creating a large and united body of small proprietors, who would +sooner or later control the country. He illustrated, in this way, the value +and importance of a general equality of property, and of steadiness in +legislation affecting it. These were the reasons, he contended, for making +property the basis of the check and balance furnished to our system of +government by an upper House. Moreover, all property being subject to +taxation for the purpose of educating the children of both rich and poor, +it deserved some representation for this valuable aid to government. It is +impossible, in a few lines,[1] to do justice to Mr. Webster's argument. It +exhibited a great deal of tact and ingenuity, especially in the distinction +so finely drawn between property as an element of personal power and +property in a general sense, and so distributed as to be a bulwark of +liberty. The speech is, on this account, an interesting one, for Mr. +Webster was rarely ingenious, and hardly ever got over difficulties by +fine-spun distinctions. In this instance adroitness was very necessary, and +he did not hesitate to employ it. By his skilful treatment, by his +illustrations drawn from England and France, which show the accuracy and +range of his mental vision in matters of politics and public economy, both +at home and abroad, and with the powerful support of Judge Story, Mr. +Webster carried his point. The element of property representation in the +Senate was retained, but so wholly by the ability of its advocate, that it +was not long afterwards removed. + +[Footnote 1: My brief statement is merely a further condensation of the +excellent abstract of this speech made by Mr Curtis.] + +Mr. Webster's other important speech related to the judiciary. The +Constitution provided that the judges, who held office during good +behavior, should be removable by the Governor on an address from the +Legislature. This was considered to meet cases of incompetency or of +personal misconduct, which could not be reached by impeachment. Mr. Webster +desired to amend the clause so as to require a two thirds vote for the +passage of the address, and that reasons should be assigned, and a hearing +assured to the judge who was the subject of the proceedings. These changes +were all directed to the further protection of the bench, and it was in +this connection that Mr. Webster made a most admirable and effective speech +on the well-worn but noble theme of judicial independence. He failed to +carry conviction, however, and his amendments were all lost. The perils +which he anticipated have never arisen, and the good sense of the people of +Massachusetts has prevented the slightest abuse of what Mr. Webster rightly +esteemed a dangerous power. + +Mr. Webster's continual and active exertion throughout the session of this +convention brought him great applause and admiration, and showed his powers +in a new light. Judge Story, with generous enthusiasm, wrote to Mr. Mason, +after the convention adjourned:-- + + "Our friend Webster has gained a noble reputation. He was before + known as a lawyer; but he has now secured the title of an eminent + and enlightened statesman. It was a glorious field for him, and he + has had an ample harvest. The whole force of his great mind was + brought out, and, in several speeches, he commanded universal + admiration. He always led the van, and was most skilful and + instantaneous in attack and retreat. He fought, as I have told him, + in the 'imminent deadly breach;' and all I could do was to + skirmish, in aid of him, upon some of the enemy's outposts. On the + whole, I never was more proud of any display than his in my life, + and I am much deceived if the well-earned popularity, so justly and + so boldly acquired by him on this occasion, does not carry him, if + he lives, to the presidency." + +While this convention, so memorable in the career of Mr. Webster and so +filled with the most absorbing labors, was in session, he achieved a still +wider renown in a very different field. On the 22d of December, 1820, he +delivered at Plymouth the oration which commemorated the two hundredth +anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. The theme was a splendid one, +both in the intrinsic interest of the event itself, in the character of the +Pilgrims, in the vast results which had grown from their humble beginnings, +and in the principles of free government, which had spread from the cabins +of the exiles over the face of a continent, and had become the common +heritage of a great people. We are fortunate in having a description of the +orator, written at the time by a careful observer and devoted friend, Mr. +Ticknor, who says:-- + + "_Friday Evening._--I have run away from a great levee there is + down-stairs, thronging in admiration round Mr. Webster, to tell you + a little word about his oration. Yet I do not dare to trust myself + about it, and I warn you beforehand that I have not the least + confidence in my own opinion. His manner carried me away + completely; not, I think, that I could have been so carried away if + it had been a poor oration, for of that, I apprehend, there can be + no fear. It _must_ have been a great, a very great performance, but + whether it was so absolutely unrivalled as I imagined when I was + under the immediate influence of his presence, of his tones, of his + looks, I cannot be sure till I have read it, for it seems to me + incredible. + + "I was never so excited by public speaking before in my life. Three + or four times I thought my temples would burst with the gush of + blood; for, after all, you must know that I am aware it is no + connected and compacted whole, but a collection of wonderful + fragments of burning eloquence, to which his whole manner gave + tenfold force. When I came out I was almost afraid to come near to + him. It seemed to me as if he was like the mount that might not be + touched and that burned with fire. I was beside myself, and am so + still." + + "_Saturday._--Mr. Webster was in admirable spirits. On Thursday + evening he was considerably agitated and oppressed, and yesterday + morning he had not his natural look at all; but since his entire + success he has been as gay and playful as a kitten. The party came + in one after another, and the spirits of all were kindled brighter + and brighter, and we fairly sat up till after two o'clock. I think, + therefore, we may now safely boast the Plymouth expedition has gone + off admirably." + +Mr. Ticknor was a man of learning and scholarship, just returned from a +prolonged sojourn in Europe, where he had met and conversed with all the +most distinguished men of the day, both in England and on the Continent. He +was not, therefore, disposed by training or recent habits to indulge a +facile enthusiasm, and such deep emotion as he experienced must have been +due to no ordinary cause. He was, in fact, profoundly moved because he had +been listening to one of the great masters of eloquence exhibiting, for the +first time, his full powers in a branch of the art much more cultivated in +America by distinguished men of all professions than is the custom +elsewhere. The Plymouth oration belongs to what, for lack of a better name, +we must call occasional oratory. This form of address, taking an +anniversary, a great historical event or character, a celebration, or +occasion of any sort as a starting point, permits either a close adherence +to the original text or the widest latitude of treatment. The field is a +broad and inviting one. That it promises an easy success is shown by the +innumerable productions of this kind which, for many years, have been +showered upon the country. That the promise is fallacious is proved by the +very small number among the countless host of such addresses which survive +the moment of their utterance. The facility of saying something is +counterbalanced by the difficulty of saying anything worth hearing. The +temptation to stray and to mistake platitude for originality is almost +always fatal. + +Mr. Webster was better fitted than any man who has ever lived in this +country for the perilous task of occasional oratory. The freedom of +movement which renders most speeches of this class diluted and commonplace +was exactly what he needed. He required abundant intellectual room for a +proper display of his powers, and he had the rare quality of being able to +range over vast spaces of time and thought without becoming attenuated in +what he said. Soaring easily, with a powerful sweep he returned again to +earth without jar or shock. He had dignity and grandeur of thought, +expression, and manner, and a great subject never became small by his +treatment of it. He had, too, a fine historical imagination, and could +breathe life and passion into the dead events of the past. + +Mr. Ticknor speaks of the Plymouth oration as impressing him as a series of +eloquent fragments. The impression was perfectly correct. Mr. Webster +touched on the historical event, on the character of the Pilgrims, on the +growth and future of the country, on liberty and constitutional principles, +on education, and on human slavery. This was entirely proper to such an +address. The difficulty lay in doing it well, and Mr. Webster did it as +perfectly as it ever has been done. The thoughts were fine, and were +expressed in simple and beautiful words. The delivery was grand and +impressive, and the presentation of each successive theme glowed with +subdued fire. There was no straining after mere rhetorical effect, but an +artistic treatment of a succession of great subjects in a general and yet +vivid and picturesque fashion. The emotion produced by the Plymouth oration +was akin to that of listening to the strains of music issuing from a +full-toned organ. Those who heard it did not seek to gratify their reason +or look for conviction to be brought to their understanding. It did not +appeal to the logical faculties or to the passions, which are roused by the +keen contests of parliamentary debate. It was the divine gift of speech, +the greatest instrument given to man, used with surpassing talent, and the +joy and pleasure which it brought were those which come from listening to +the song of a great singer, or looking upon the picture of a great artist. + +The Plymouth oration, which was at once printed and published, was received +with a universal burst of applause. It had more literary success than +anything which had at that time appeared, except from the pen of Washington +Irving. The public, without stopping to analyze their own feelings, or the +oration itself, recognized at once that a new genius had come before them, +a man endowed with the noble gift of eloquence, and capable by the exercise +of his talents of moving and inspiring great masses of his fellow-men. Mr. +Webster was then of an age to feel fully the glow of a great success, both +at the moment and when the cooler and more critical approbation came. He +was fresh and young, a strong man rejoicing to run the race. Mr. Ticknor +says, in speaking of the oration:-- + + "The passage at the end, where, spreading his arms as if to embrace + them, he welcomed future generations to the great inheritance which + we have enjoyed, was spoken with the most attractive sweetness and + that peculiar smile which in him was always so charming. The effect + of the whole was very great. As soon as he got home to our + lodgings, all the principal people then in Plymouth crowded about + him. He was full of animation, and radiant with happiness. But + there was something about him very grand and imposing at the same + time. I never saw him at any time when he seemed to me to be more + conscious of his own powers, or to have a more true and natural + enjoyment from their possession." + +Amid all the applause and glory, there was one letter of congratulation and +acknowledgment which must have given Mr. Webster more pleasure than +anything else, It came from John Adams, who never did anything by halves. +Whether he praised or condemned, he did it heartily and ardently, and such +an oration on New England went straight to the heart of the eager, +warm-blooded old patriot. His commendation, too, was worth having, for he +spoke as one having authority. John Adams had been one of the eloquent men +and the most forcible debater of the first Congress. He had listened to the +great orators of other lands. He had heard Pitt and Fox, Burke and +Sheridan, and had been present at the trial of Warren Hastings. His +unstinted praise meant and still means a great deal, and it concludes with +one of the finest and most graceful of compliments. The oration, he says, + + "is the effort of a great mind, richly stored with every species of + information. If there be an American who can read it without tears, + I am not that American. It enters more perfectly into the genuine + spirit of New England than any production I ever read. The + observations on the Greeks and Romans; on colonization in general; + on the West India islands; on the past, present, and future of + America, and on the slave-trade, are sagacious, profound, and + affecting in a high degree." + + "Mr. Burke is no longer entitled to the praise--the most consummate + orator of modern times." + + "What can I say of what regards myself? To my humble name, + _Exegisti monumentum aere perennius_." + +Many persons consider the Plymouth oration to be the finest of all Mr. +Webster's efforts in this field. It is certainly one of the very best of +his productions, but he showed on the next great occasion a distinct +improvement, which he long maintained. Five years after the oration at +Plymouth, he delivered the address on the laying of the corner-stone of +Bunker Hill monument. The superiority to the first oration was not in +essentials, but in details, the fruit of a ripening and expanding mind. At +Bunker Hill, as at Plymouth, he displayed the massiveness of thought, the +dignity and grandeur of expression, and the range of vision which are all +so characteristic of his intellect and which were so much enhanced by his +wonderful physical attributes. But in the later oration there is a greater +finish and smoothness. We appreciate the fact that the Plymouth oration is +a succession of eloquent fragments; the same is true of the Bunker Hill +address, but we no longer realize it. The continuity is, in appearance, +unbroken, and the whole work is rounded and polished. The style, too, is +now perfected. It is at once plain, direct, massive, and vivid. The +sentences are generally short and always clear, but never monotonous. The +preference for Anglo-Saxon words and the exclusion of Latin derivatives are +extremely marked, and we find here in rare perfection that highest +attribute of style, the union of simplicity, picturesqueness, and force. + +In the first Bunker Hill oration Mr. Webster touched his highest point in +the difficult task of commemorative oratory. In that field he not only +stands unrivalled, but no one has approached him. The innumerable +productions of this class by other men, many of a high degree of +excellence, are forgotten, while those of Webster form part of the +education of every American school-boy, are widely read, and have entered +into the literature and thought of the country. The orations of Plymouth +and Bunker Hill are grouped in Webster's works with a number of other +speeches professedly of the same kind. But only a very few of these are +strictly occasional; the great majority are chiefly, if not wholly, +political speeches, containing merely passages here and there in the same +vein as his great commemorative addresses. Before finally leaving the +subject, however, it will be well to glance for a moment at the few +orations which properly belong to the same class as the first two which we +have been considering. + +The Bunker Hill oration, after the lapse of only a year, was followed by +the celebrated eulogy upon Adams and Jefferson. This usually and with +justice is ranked in merit with its two immediate predecessors. As a whole +it is not, perhaps, quite so much admired, but it contains the famous +imaginary speech of John Adams, which is the best known and most hackneyed +passage in any of these orations. The opening lines, "Sink or swim, live or +die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote," since +Mr. Webster first pronounced them in Faneuil Hall, have risen even to the +dignity of a familiar quotation. The passage, indeed, is perhaps the best +example we have of the power of Mr. Webster's historical imagination. He +had some fragmentary sentences, the character of the man, the nature of the +debate, and the circumstances of the time to build upon, and from these +materials he constructed a speech which was absolutely startling in its +lifelike force. The revolutionary Congress, on the verge of the tremendous +step which was to separate them from England, rises before us as we read +the burning words which the imagination of the speaker put into the mouth +of John Adams. They are not only instinct with life, but with the life of +impending revolution, and they glow with the warmth and strength of feeling +so characteristic of their supposed author. It is well known that the +general belief at the time was that the passage was an extract from a +speech actually delivered by John Adams. Mr. Webster, as well as Mr. +Adams's son and grandson, received numerous letters of inquiry on this +point, and it is possible that many people still persist in this belief as +to the origin of the passage. Such an effect was not produced by mere +clever imitation, for there was nothing to imitate, but by the force of a +powerful historic imagination and a strong artistic sense in its +management. + +In 1828 Mr. Webster delivered an address before the Mechanics' Institute in +Boston, on "Science in connection with the Mechanic Arts," a subject which +was outside of his usual lines of thought, and offered no especial +attractions to him. This oration is graceful and strong, and possesses +sufficient and appropriate eloquence. It is chiefly interesting, however, +from the reserve and self-control, dictated by a nice sense of fitness, +which it exhibited. Omniscience was not Mr. Webster's foible. He never was +guilty of Lord Brougham's weakness of seeking to prove himself master of +universal knowledge. In delivering an address on science and invention, +there was a strong temptation to an orator like Mr. Webster to substitute +glittering rhetoric for real knowledge; but the address at the Mechanics' +Institute is simply the speech of a very eloquent and a liberally educated +man upon a subject with which he had only the most general acquaintance. +The other orations of this class were those on "The Character of +Washington," the second Bunker Hill address, "The Landing at Plymouth," +delivered in New York at the dinner of the Pilgrim Society, the remarks on +the death of Judge Story and of Mr. Mason, and finally the speech on laying +the corner-stone for the addition to the Capitol, in 1851. These were all +comparatively brief speeches, with the exception of that at Bunker Hill, +which, although very fine, was perceptibly inferior to his first effort +when the corner-stone of the monument was laid. The address on the +character of Washington, to an American the most dangerous of great and +well-worn topics, is of a high order of eloquence. The theme appealed to +Mr. Webster strongly and brought out his best powers, which were peculiarly +fitted to do justice to the noble, massive, and dignified character of the +subject. The last of these addresses, that on the addition to the Capitol, +was in a prophetic vein, and, while it shows but little diminution of +strength, has a sadness even in its splendid anticipations of the future, +which makes it one of the most impressive of its class. All those which +have been mentioned, however, show the hand of the master and are worthy to +be preserved in the volumes which contain the noble series that began in +the early flush of genius with the brilliant oration in the Plymouth +church, and closed with the words uttered at Washington, under the shadow +of the Capitol, when the light of life was fading and the end of all things +was at hand. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +RETURN TO CONGRESS. + + +The thorough knowledge of the principles of government and legislation, the +practical statesmanship, and the capacity for debate shown in the State +convention, combined with the splendid oration at Plymouth to make Mr. +Webster the most conspicuous man in New England, with the single exception +of John Quincy Adams. There was, therefore, a strong and general desire +that he should return to public life. He accepted with some reluctance the +nomination to Congress from the Boston district in 1822, and in December, +1823, took his seat. + +The six years which had elapsed since Mr. Webster left Washington had been +a period of political quiet. The old parties had ceased to represent any +distinctive principles, and the Federalists scarcely existed as an +organization. Mr. Webster, during this interval, had remained almost wholly +quiescent in regard to public affairs. He had urged the visit of Mr. Monroe +to the North, which had done so much to hasten the inevitable dissolution +of parties. He had received Mr. Calhoun when that gentleman visited +Boston, and their friendship and apparent intimacy were such that the South +Carolinian was thought to be his host's candidate for the presidency. +Except for this and the part which he took in the Boston opposition to the +Missouri compromise and to the tariff, matters to be noticed in connection +with later events, Mr. Webster had held aloof from political conflict. + +When he returned to Washington in 1823, the situation was much altered from +that which he had left in 1817. In reality there were no parties, or only +one; but the all-powerful Republicans who had adopted, under the pressure +of foreign war, most of the Federalist principles so obnoxious to Jefferson +and his school, were split up into as many factions as there were +candidates for the presidency. It was a period of transition in which +personal politics had taken the place of those founded on opposing +principles, and this "era of good feeling" was marked by the intense +bitterness of the conflicts produced by these personal rivalries. In +addition to the factions which were battling for the control of the +Republican party and for the great prize of the presidency, there was still +another faction, composed of the old Federalists, who, although without +organization, still held to their name and their prejudices, and clung +together more as a matter of habit than with any practical object. Mr. +Webster had been one of the Federalist leaders in the old days, and when +he returned to public life with all the distinction which he had won in +other fields, he was at once recognized as the chief and head of all that +now remained of the great party of Washington and Hamilton. No Federalist +could hope to be President, and for this very reason Federalist support was +eagerly sought by all Republican candidates for the presidency. The favor +of Mr. Webster as the head of an independent and necessarily disinterested +faction was, of course, strongly desired in many quarters. His political +position and his high reputation as a lawyer, orator, and statesman made +him, therefore, a character of the first importance in Washington, a fact +to which Mr. Clay at once gave public recognition by placing his future +rival at the head of the Judiciary Committee of the House. + +The six years of congressional life which now ensued were among the most +useful if not the most brilliant in Mr. Webster's whole public career. He +was free from the annoyance of opposition at home, and was twice returned +by a practically unanimous popular vote. He held a commanding and +influential and at the same time a thoroughly independent position in +Washington, where he was regarded as the first man on the floor of the +House in point of ability and reputation. He was not only able to show his +great capacity for practical legislation, but he was at liberty to advance +his own views on public questions in his own way, unburdened by the outside +influences of party and of association which had affected him so much in +his previous term of service and were soon to reassert their sway in all +his subsequent career. + +His return to Congress was at once signalized by a great speech, which, +although of no practical or immediate moment, deserves careful attention +from the light which it throws on the workings of his mind and the +development of his opinions in regard to his country. The House had been in +session but a few days when Mr. Webster offered a resolution in favor of +providing by law for the expenses incident to the appointment of a +commissioner to Greece, should the President deem such an appointment +expedient. The Greeks were then in the throes of revolution, and the +sympathy for the heirs of so much glory in their struggle for freedom was +strong among the American people. When Mr. Webster rose on January 19, +1824, to move the adoption of the resolution which he had laid upon the +table of the House, the chamber was crowded and the galleries were filled +by a large and fashionable audience attracted by the reputation of the +orator and the interest felt in his subject. His hearers were disappointed +if they expected a great rhetorical display, for which the nature of the +subject and the classic memories clustering about it offered such strong +temptations. Mr. Webster did not rise for that purpose, nor to make +capital by an appeal to a temporary popular interest. His speech was for a +wholly different purpose. It was the first expression of that grand +conception of the American Union which had vaguely excited his youthful +enthusiasm. This conception had now come to be part of his intellectual +being, and then and always stirred his imagination and his affections to +their inmost depths. It embodied the principle from which he never swerved, +and led to all that he represents and to all that his influence means in +our history. + +As the first expression of his conception of the destiny of the United +States as a great and united nation, Mr. Webster was, naturally, "more fond +of this child" than of any other of his intellectual family. The speech +itself was a noble one, but it was an eloquent essay rather than a great +example of the oratory of debate. This description can in no other case be +applied to Mr. Webster's parliamentary efforts, but in this instance it is +correct, because the occasion justified such a form. Mr. Webster's purpose +was to show that, though the true policy of the United States absolutely +debarred them from taking any part in the affairs of Europe, yet they had +an important duty to perform in exercising their proper influence on the +public opinion of the world. Europe was then struggling with the monstrous +principles of the "Holy Alliance." Those principles Mr. Webster reviewed +historically. He showed their pernicious tendency, their hostility to all +modern theories of government, and their especial opposition to the +principles of American liberty. If the doctrines of the Congress of Laybach +were right and could be made to prevail, then those of America were wrong +and the systems of popular government adopted in the United States were +doomed. Against such infamous principles it behooved the people of the +United States to raise their voice. Mr. Webster sketched the history of +Greece, and made a fine appeal to Americans to give an expression of their +sympathy to a people struggling for freedom. He proclaimed, so that all men +might hear, the true duty of the United States toward the oppressed of any +land, and the responsibility which they held to exert their influence upon +the opinions of mankind. The national destiny of his country in regard to +other nations was his theme; to give to the glittering declaration of +Canning, that he would "call in the new world to redress the balance of the +old," a deep and real significance was his object. + +The speech touched Mr. Clay to the quick. He supported Mr. Webster's +resolution with all the ardor of his generous nature, and supplemented it +by another against the interference of Spain in South America. A stormy +debate followed, vivified by the flings and taunts of John Randolph, but +the unwillingness to take action was so great that Mr. Webster did not +press his resolution to a vote. He had at the outset looked for a practical +result from his resolution, and had desired the appointment of Mr. Everett +as commissioner, a plan in which he had been encouraged by Mr. Calhoun, who +had given him to understand that the Executive regarded the Greek mission +with favor. Before he delivered his speech he became aware that Calhoun had +misled him, that Mr. Adams, the Secretary of State, considered Everett too +much of a partisan, and that the administration was wholly averse to any +action in the premises. This destroyed all hope of a practical result, and +made an adverse vote certain. The only course was to avoid a decision and +trust to what he said for an effect on public opinion. The real purpose of +the speech, however, was achieved. Mr. Webster had exposed and denounced +the Holy Alliance as hostile to the liberties of mankind, and had declared +the unalterable enmity of the United States to its reactionary doctrines. +The speech was widely read, not only wherever English was spoken, but it +was translated into all the languages of Europe, and was circulated +throughout South America. It increased Mr. Webster's fame at home and laid +the foundation of his reputation abroad. Above all, it stamped him as a +statesman of a broad and national cast of mind. + +He now settled down to hard and continuous labor at the routine business +of the House, and it was not until the end of March that he had occasion to +make another elaborate and important speech. At that time Mr. Clay took up +the bill for laying certain protective duties and advocated it strenuously +as part of a general and steady policy which he then christened with the +name of "the American system." Against this bill, known as the tariff of +1824, Mr. Webster made, as Mr. Adams wrote in his diary at the time, "an +able and powerful speech," which can be more properly considered when we +come to his change of position on this question a few years later. + +As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the affairs of the national courts +were his particular care. Western expansion demanded an increased number of +judges for the circuits, but, unfortunately, decisions in certain recent +cases had offended the sensibilities of Virginia and Kentucky, and there +was a renewal of the old Jeffersonian efforts to limit the authority of the +Supreme Court. Instead of being able to improve, he was obliged to defend +the court, and this he did successfully, defeating all attempts to curtail +its power by alterations of the act of 1789. These duties and that of +investigating the charges brought by Ninian Edwards against Mr. Crawford, +the Secretary of the Treasury, made the session an unusually laborious one, +and detained Mr. Webster in Washington until midsummer. + +The short session of the next winter was of course marked by the +excitement attendant upon the settlement of the presidential election which +resulted in the choice of Mr. John Quincy Adams by the House of +Representatives. The intense agitation in political circles did not, +however, prevent Mr. Webster from delivering one very important speech, nor +from carrying through successfully one of the most important and +practically useful measures of his legislative career. The speech was +delivered in the debate on the bill for continuing the national Cumberland +road. Mr. Webster had already, many years before, defined his position on +the constitutional question involved in internal improvements. He now, in +response to Mr. McDuffie of South Carolina, who denounced the measure as +partial and sectional, not merely defended the principle of internal +improvements, but declared that it was a policy to be pursued only with the +purest national feeling. It was not the business of Congress, he said, to +legislate for this State or that, or to balance local interests, and +because they helped one region to help another, but to act for the benefit +of all the States united, and in making improvements to be guided only by +their necessity. He showed that these roads would open up the West to +settlement, and incidentally defended the policy of selling the public +lands at a low price as an encouragement to emigration, telling his +Southern friends very plainly that they could not expect to coerce the +course of population in favor of their own section. The whole speech was +conceived in the broadest and wisest spirit, and marks another step in the +development of Mr. Webster as a national statesman. It increased his +reputation, and brought to him a great accession of popularity in the West. + +The measure which he carried through was the famous "Crimes Act," perhaps +the best monument that there is of his legislative and constructive +ability. The criminal law of the United States had scarcely been touched +since the days of the first Congress, and was very defective and +unsatisfactory. Mr. Webster's first task, in which he received most +essential and valuable though unacknowledged assistance from Judge Story, +was to codify and digest the whole body of criminal law. This done, the +hardly less difficult undertaking followed of carrying the measure through +Congress. In the latter, Mr. Webster, by his skill in debate and +familiarity with his subject, and by his influence in the House, was +perfectly successful. That he and Judge Story did their work well in +perfecting the bill is shown by the admirable manner in which the Act stood +the test of time and experience. + +When the new Congress came together in 1825, Mr. Webster at once turned his +attention to the improvement of the Judiciary, which he had been obliged to +postpone in order to ward off the attacks upon the court. After much +deliberation and thought, aided by Judge Story, and having made some +concessions to his committee, he brought in a bill increasing the Supreme +Court judges to ten, making ten instead of seven circuits, and providing +that six judges should constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. +Although not a party question, the measure excited much opposition, and was +more than a month in passing through the House. Mr. Webster supported it at +every stage with great ability, and his two most important speeches, which +are in their way models for the treatment of such a subject, are preserved +in his works. The bill was carried by his great strength in debate and by +height of forcible argument. But in the Senate, where it was deprived of +the guardianship of its author, it hung along in uncertainty, and was +finally lost through the apathy or opposition of those very Western members +for whose benefit it had been devised. Mr. Webster took its ultimate defeat +very coolly. The Eastern States did not require it, and were perfectly +contented with the existing arrangements, and he was entirely satisfied +with the assurance that the best lawyers and wisest men approved the +principles of the bill. The time and thought which he had expended were not +wasted so far as he was personally concerned, for they served to enhance +his influence and reputation both as a lawyer and statesman. + +This session brought with it also occasions for debate other than those +which were offered by measures of purely legislative and practical +interest. The administration of Mr. Adams marks the close of the "era of +good feeling," as it was called, and sowed the germs of those divisions +which were soon to result in new and definite party combinations. Mr. Adams +and Mr. Clay represented the conservative and General Jackson and his +friends the radical or democratic elements in the now all-embracing +Republican party. It was inevitable that Mr. Webster should sympathize with +the former, and it was equally inevitable that in doing so he should become +the leader of the administration forces in the House, where "his great and +commanding influence," to quote the words of an opponent, made him a host +himself. The desire of Mr. Adams to send representatives to the Panama +Congress, a scheme which lay very near his heart and to which Mr. Clay was +equally attached, encountered a bitter and factious resistance in the +Senate, sufficient to deprive the measure of any real utility by delaying +its passage. In the House a resolution was introduced declaring simply that +it was expedient to appropriate money to defray the expenses of the +proposed mission. The opposition at once undertook by amendments to +instruct the ministers, and generally to go beyond the powers of the House. +The real ground of the attack was slavery, threatened, as was supposed, by +the attitude of the South American republics--a fact which no one +understood or cared to recognize. Mr. Webster stood forth as the champion +of the Executive. In an elaborate speech of great ability he denounced the +unconstitutional attempt to interfere with the prerogative of the +President, and discussed with much effect the treaty-making power assailed +on another famous occasion, many years before, by the South, and defended +at that time also by the eloquence of a representative of Massachusetts. +Mr. Webster showed the nature of the Panama Congress, defended its objects +and the policy of the administration, and made a full and fine exposition +of the intent of the "Monroe doctrine." The speech was an important and +effective one. It exhibited in an exceptional way Mr. Webster's capacity +for discussing large questions of public and constitutional law and foreign +policy, and was of essential service to the cause which he espoused. It was +imbued, too, with that sentiment of national unity which occupied a larger +space in his thoughts with each succeeding year, until it finally pervaded +his whole career as a public man. + +At the second session of the same Congress, after a vain effort to confer +upon the country the benefit of a national bankrupt law, Mr. Webster was +again called upon to defend the Executive in a much more heated conflict +than that aroused by the Panama resolution. Georgia was engaged in +oppressing and robbing the Creek Indians, in open contempt of the treaties +and obligations of the United States. Mr. Adams sent in a message reciting +the facts and hinting pretty plainly that he intended to carry out the laws +by force unless Georgia desisted. The message was received with great wrath +by the Southern members. They objected to any reference to a committee, and +Mr. Forsyth of Georgia declared the whole business to be "base and +infamous," while a gentleman from Mississippi announced that Georgia would +act as she pleased. Mr. Webster, having said that she would do so at her +peril, was savagely attacked as the organ of the administration, daring to +menace and insult a sovereign State. This stirred Mr. Webster, although +slow to anger, to a determination to carry through the reference at all +hazards. He said:-- + + "He would tell the gentleman from Georgia that if there were rights + of the Indians which the United States were bound to protect, that + there were those in the House and in the country who would take + their part. If we have bound ourselves by any treaty to do certain + things, we must fulfil such obligation. High words will not terrify + us, loud declamation will not deter us from the discharge of that + duty. In my own course in this matter I shall not be dictated to by + any State or the representative of any State on this floor. I shall + not be frightened from my purpose nor will I suffer harsh language + to produce any reaction on my mind. I will examine with great and + equal care all the rights of both parties.... I have made these few + remarks to give the gentleman from Georgia to understand that it + was not by bold denunciation nor by bold assumption that the + members of this House are to be influenced in the decision of high + public concerns." + +When Mr. Webster was thoroughly roused and indignant there was a darkness +in his face and a gleam of dusky light in his deep-set eyes which were not +altogether pleasant to contemplate. How well Mr. Forsyth and his friends +bore the words and look of Mr. Webster we have no means of knowing, but the +message was referred to a select committee without a division. The interest +to us in all this is the spirit in which Mr. Webster spoke. He loved the +Union as intensely then as at any period of his life, but he was still far +distant from the frame of mind which induced him to think that his devotion +to the Union would be best expressed and the cause of the Union best served +by mildness toward the South and rebuke to the North. He believed in 1826 +that dignified courage and firm language were the surest means of keeping +the peace. He was quite right then, and he would have been always right if +he had adhered to the plain words and determined manner to which he treated +Mr. Forsyth and his friends. + +This session was crowded with work of varying importance, but the close of +Mr. Webster's career in the lower House was near at hand. The failing +health of Mr. E.H. Mills made it certain that Massachusetts would soon have +a vacant seat in the Senate, and every one turned to Mr. Webster as the +person above all others entitled to this high office. He himself was by no +means so quick in determining to accept the position. He would not even +think of it until the impossibility of Mr. Mills's return was assured, and +then he had to meet the opposition of the administration and all its +friends, who regarded with alarm the prospect of losing such a tower of +strength in the House. Mr. Webster, indeed, felt that he could render the +best service in the lower branch, and urged the senatorship upon Governor +Lincoln, who was elected, but declined. After this there seemed to be no +escape from a manifest destiny. Despite the opposition of his friends in +Washington, and his own reluctance, he finally accepted the office of +United States senator, which was conferred upon him by the Legislature of +Massachusetts in June, 1827. + +In tracing the labors of Mr. Webster during three years spent in the lower +House, no allusion has been made to the purely political side of his career +at this time, nor to his relations with the public men of the day. The +period was important, generally speaking, because it showed the first signs +of the development of new parties, and to Mr. Webster in particular, +because it brought him gradually toward the political and party position +which he was to occupy during the rest of his life. When he took his seat +in Congress, in the autumn of 1823, the intrigues for the presidential +succession were at their height. Mr. Webster was then strongly inclined to +Mr. Calhoun, as was suspected at the time of that gentleman's visit to +Boston. He soon became convinced, however, that Mr. Calhoun's chances of +success were slight, and his good opinion of the distinguished South +Carolinian seems also to have declined. It was out of the question for a +man of Mr. Webster's temperament and habits of thought, to think for a +moment of supporting Jackson, a candidate on the ground of military glory +and unreflecting popular enthusiasm. Mr. Adams, as the representative of +New England, and as a conservative and trained statesman, was the natural +and proper candidate to receive the aid of Mr. Webster. But here party +feelings and traditions stepped in. The Federalists of New England had +hated Mr. Adams with the peculiar bitterness which always grows out of +domestic quarrels, whether in public or private life; and although the old +strife had sunk a little out of sight, it had never been healed. The +Federalist leaders in Massachusetts still disliked and distrusted Mr. Adams +with an intensity none the less real because it was concealed. In the +nature of things Mr. Webster now occupied a position of political +independence; but he had been a steady party man when his party was in +existence, and he was still a party man so far as the old Federalist +feelings retained vitality and force. He had, moreover, but a slight +personal acquaintance with Mr. Adams and no very cordial feeling toward +him. This disposed of three presidential candidates. The fourth was Mr. +Clay, and it is not very clear why Mr. Webster refused an alliance in this +quarter. Mr. Clay had treated him with consideration, they were personal +friends, their opinions were not dissimilar and were becoming constantly +more alike. Possibly there was an instinctive feeling of rivalry on this +very account. At all events, Mr. Webster would not support Clay. Only one +candidate remained: Mr. Crawford, the representative of all that was +extreme among the Republicans, and, in a party sense, most odious to the +Federalists. But it was a time when personal factions flourished rankly in +the absence of broad differences of principle. Mr. Crawford was bidding +furiously for support in every and any quarter, and to Mr. Crawford, +accordingly, Mr. Webster began to look as a possible leader for himself and +his friends. Just how far Mr. Webster went in this direction cannot be +readily or surely determined, although we get some light on the subject +from an attack made on Mr. Crawford just at this time. Ninian Edwards, +recently senator from Illinois, had a quarrel with Mr. Crawford, and sent +in a memorial to Congress containing charges against the Secretary of the +Treasury which were designed to break him down as a candidate for the +presidency. Of the merits of this quarrel it is not very easy to judge, +even if it were important. The character of Edwards was none of the best, +and Mr. Crawford had unquestionably made a highly unscrupulous use, +politically, of his position. The members of the administration, although +with no great love for Edwards, who had been appointed Minister to Mexico, +were distinctly hostile to Mr. Crawford, and refused to attend a dinner +from which Edwards had been expressly excluded. Mr. Webster's part in the +affair came from his being on the committee charged with the investigation +of the Edwards memorial. Mr. Adams, who was of course excited by the +presidential contest, disposed to regard his rivals with extreme disfavor, +and especially and justly suspicious of Mr. Crawford, speaks of Mr. +Webster's conduct in the matter with the utmost bitterness. He refers to it +again and again as an attempt to screen Crawford and break down Edwards, +and denounces Mr. Webster as false, insidious, and treacherous. Much of +this may be credited to the heated animosities of the moment, but there can +be no doubt that Mr. Webster took the matter into his own hands in the +committee, and made every effort to protect Mr. Crawford, in whose favor he +also spoke in the House. It is likewise certain that there was an attempt +to bring about an alliance between Crawford and the Federalists of the +North and East. The effort was abortive, and even before the conclusion of +the Edwards business Mr. Webster avowed that he should take but little part +in the election, and that his only purpose was to secure the best terms +possible for the Federalists, and obtain recognition for them from the next +administration. At that time he wished Mr. Mason to be attorney-general, +and had already turned his thoughts toward the English mission for himself. + +To this waiting policy he adhered, but when the popular election was over, +and the final decision had been thrown into the House of Representatives, +more definite action became necessary. From the questions which he put to +his brother and others as to the course which he ought to pursue in the +election by the House, it is obvious that he was far from anxious to secure +the choice of Mr. Adams, and was weighing carefully other contingencies. +The feeling of New England could not, however, be mistaken. Public opinion +there demanded that the members of the House should stand by the New +England candidate to the last. To this sentiment Mr. Webster submitted, and +soon afterwards took occasion to have an interview with Mr. Adams in order +to make the best terms possible for the Federalists, and obtain for them +suitable recognition. Mr. Adams assured Mr. Webster that he did not intend +to proscribe any section or any party, and added that although he could not +give the Federalists representation in the cabinet, he should give them one +of the important appointments. Mr. Webster was entirely satisfied with this +promise and with all that was said by Mr. Adams, who, as everybody knows, +was soon after elected by the House on the first ballot. + +Mr. Adams on his side saw plainly the necessity of conciliating Mr. +Webster, whose great ability and influence he thoroughly understood. He +told Mr. Clay that he had a high opinion of Mr. Webster, and wished to win +his support; and the savage tone displayed in regard to the Edwards affair +now disappears from the Diary. Mr. Adams, however, although he knew, as he +says, that "Webster was panting for the English mission," and hinted that +the wish might be gratified hereafter, was not ready to go so far at the +moment, and at the same time he sought to dissuade Mr. Webster from being a +candidate for the speakership, for which in truth the latter had no +inclination. Their relations, indeed, soon grew very pleasant. Mr. Webster +naturally became the leader of the administration forces in the House, +while the President on his side sought Mr. Webster's advice, admired his +oration on Adams and Jefferson, dined at his house, and lived on terms of +friendship and confidence with him. It is to be feared, however, that all +this was merely on the surface. Mr. Adams at the bottom of his heart never, +in reality, relaxed in his belief that Mr. Webster was morally unsound. Mr. +Webster, on the other hand, whose Federalist opposition to Mr. Adams had +only been temporarily allayed, was not long in coming to the conclusion +that his services, if appreciated, were not properly recognized by the +administration. There was a good deal of justice in this view. The English +mission never came, no help was to be obtained for Mr. Mason's election as +senator from New Hampshire, the speakership was to be refused in order to +promote harmony and strength in the House. To all this Mr. Webster +submitted, and fought the battles of the administration in debate as no one +else could have done. Nevertheless, all men like recognition, and Mr. +Webster would have preferred something more solid than words and confidence +or the triumph of a common cause. When the Massachusetts senatorship was in +question Mr. Adams urged the election of Governor Lincoln, and objected on +the most flattering grounds to Mr. Webster's withdrawal from the House. It +is not a too violent conjecture to suppose that Mr. Webster's final +acceptance of a seat in the Senate was due in large measure to a feeling +that he had sacrificed enough for the administration. There can be no doubt +that coolness grew between the President and the Senator, and that the +appointment to England, if still desired, never was made, so that when the +next election came on Mr. Webster was inactive, and, despite his hostility +to Jackson, viewed the overthrow of Mr. Adams with a good deal of +indifference and some satisfaction. It is none the less true, however, that +during these years when the first foundations of the future Whig party were +laid, Mr. Webster formed the political affiliations which were to last +through life. He inevitably found himself associated with Clay and Adams, +and opposed to Jackson, Benton, and Van Buren, while at the same time he +and Calhoun were fast drifting apart. He had no specially cordial feeling +to his new associates; but they were at the head of the conservative +elements of the country, they were nationalists in policy, and they favored +the views which were most affected in New England. As a conservative and +nationalist by nature and education, and as the great New England leader, +Mr. Webster could not avoid becoming the parliamentary chief of Mr. Adams's +administration, and thus paved the way for leadership in the Whig party of +the future. + +In narrating the history of these years, I have confined myself to Mr. +Webster's public services and political course. But it was a period in his +career which was crowded with work and achievement, bringing fresh fame and +increased reputation, and also with domestic events both of joy and sorrow. +Mr. Webster steadily pursued the practice of the law, and was constantly +engaged in the Supreme Court. To these years belong many of his great +arguments, and also the prosecution of the Spanish claims, a task at once +laborious and profitable. In the summer of 1824 Mr. Webster first saw +Marshfield, his future home, and in the autumn of the same year he visited +Monticello, where he had a long interview with Mr. Jefferson, of whom he +has left a most interesting description. During the winter he formed the +acquaintance and lived much in the society of some well-known Englishmen +then travelling in this country. This party consisted of the Earl of Derby, +then Mr. Stanley, Lord Wharncliffe, then Mr. Stuart Wortley; Lord Taunton, +then Mr. Labouchere, and Mr. Denison, afterwards Speaker of the House of +Commons. With Mr. Denison this acquaintance was the foundation of a lasting +and intimate friendship maintained by correspondence. In June, 1825, came +the splendid oration at Bunker Hill, and then a visit to Niagara, which, of +course, appealed strongly to Mr. Webster. His account of it, however, +although indicative of a deep mental impression, shows that his power of +describing nature fell far short of his wonderful talent for picturing +human passions and action. The next vacation brought the eulogy on Adams +and Jefferson, when perhaps Mr. Webster may be considered to have been in +his highest physical and intellectual perfection. Such at least was the +opinion of Mr. Ticknor, who says:-- + + "He was in the perfection of manly beauty and strength; his form + filled out to its finest proportions, and his bearing, as he stood + before the vast multitude, that of absolute dignity and power. His + manner of speaking was deliberate and commanding. I never heard him + when his manner was so grand and appropriate; ... when he ended the + minds of men were wrought up to an uncontrollable excitement, and + then followed three tremendous cheers, inappropriate indeed, but as + inevitable as any other great movement of nature." + +He had held the vast audience mute for over two hours, as John Quincy Adams +said in his diary, and finally their excited feelings found vent in cheers. +He spoke greatly because he felt greatly. His emotions, his imagination, +his entire oratorical temperament were then full of quick sensibility. When +he finished writing the imaginary speech of John Adams in the quiet of his +library and the silence of the morning hour, his eyes were wet with tears. + +A year passed by after this splendid display of eloquence, and then the +second congressional period, which had been so full of work and +intellectual activity and well-earned distinction, closed, and he entered +upon that broader field which opened to him in the Senate of the United +States, where his greatest triumphs were still to be achieved. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TARIFF OF 1828 AND THE REPLY TO HAYNE. + + +The new dignity conferred on Mr. Webster by the people of Massachusetts had +hardly been assumed when he was called upon to encounter a trial which must +have made all his honors seem poor indeed. He had scarcely taken his seat +when he was obliged to return to New York, where failing health had +arrested Mrs. Webster's journey to the capital, and where, after much +suffering, she died, January 21, 1828. The blow fell with terrible severity +upon her husband. He had many sorrows to bear during his life, but this +surpassed all others. His wife was the love of his youth, the mother of his +children, a lovely woman whose strong but gentle influence for good was now +lost to him irreparably. In his last days his thoughts reverted to her, and +as he followed her body to the grave, on foot in the wet and cold, and +leading his children by the hand, it must indeed have seemed as if the wine +of life had been drunk and only the lees remained. He was excessively pale, +and to those who looked upon him seemed crushed and heart-broken. + +The only relief was to return to his work and to the excitement of public +affairs; but the cloud hung over him long after he was once more in his +place in the Senate. Death had made a wound in his life which time healed +but of which the scar remained. Whatever were Mr. Webster's faults, his +affection for those nearest to him, and especially for the wife of his +youth, was deep and strong. + + "The very first day of Mr. Webster's arrival and taking his seat in + the Senate," Judge Story writes to Mr. Ticknor, "there was a + process bill on its third reading, filled, as he thought, with + inconvenient and mischievous provisions. He made, in a modest + undertone, some inquiries, and, upon an answer being given, he + expressed in a few words his doubts and fears. Immediately Mr. + Tazewell from Virginia broke out upon him in a speech of two hours. + Mr. Webster then moved an adjournment, and on the next day + delivered a most masterly speech in reply, expounding the whole + operation of the intended act in the clearest manner, so that a + recommitment was carried almost without an effort. It was a triumph + of the most gratifying nature, and taught his opponents the danger + of provoking a trial of his strength, even when he was overwhelmed + by calamity. In the labors of the court he has found it difficult + to work himself up to high efforts; but occasionally he comes out + with all his powers, and when he does, it is sure to attract a + brilliant audience." + +It would be impossible to give a better picture than that presented by +Judge Story of Mr. Webster's appearance and conduct in the month +immediately following the death of his wife. We can see how his talents, +excited by the conflicts of the Senate and the court, struggled, sometimes +successfully, sometimes in vain, with the sense of loss and sorrow which +oppressed him. + +He did not again come prominently forward in the Senate until the end of +April, when he roused himself to prevent injustice. The bill for the relief +of the surviving officers of the Revolution seemed on the point of being +lost. The object of the measure appealed to Mr. Webster's love for the +past, to his imagination, and his patriotism. He entered into the debate, +delivered the fine and dignified speech which is preserved in his works, +and saved the bill. + +A fortnight after this he made his famous speech on the tariff of 1828, a +bill making extensive changes in the rates of duties imposed in 1816 and +1824. This speech marks an important change in Mr. Webster's views and in +his course as a statesman. He now gave up his position as the ablest +opponent in the country of the protective policy, and went over to the +support of the tariff and the "American system" of Mr. Clay. This change, +in every way of great importance, subjected Mr. Webster to severe criticism +both then and subsequently. It is, therefore, necessary to examine briefly +his previous utterances on this question in order to reach a correct +understanding of his motives in taking this important step and to +appreciate his reasons for the adoption of a policy with which, after the +year 1828, he was so closely identified. + +When Mr. Webster first entered Congress he was a thorough-going Federalist. +But the Federalists of New England differed from their great chief, +Alexander Hamilton, on the question of a protective policy. Hamilton, in +his report on manufactures, advocated with consummate ability the adoption +of the principle of protection for nascent industries as an integral and +essential part of a true national policy, and urged it on its own merits, +without any reference to its being incident to revenue. The New England +Federalists, on the other hand, coming from exclusively commercial +communities, were in principle free-traders. They regarded with disfavor +the doctrine that protection was a good thing in itself, and desired it, if +at all, only in the most limited form and purely as an incident to raising +revenue. With these opinions Mr. Webster was in full sympathy, and he took +occasion when Mr. Calhoun, in 1814, spoke in favor of the existing double +duties as a protective measure, and also in favor of manufactures, during +the debate on the repeal of the embargo, to define his position on this +important question. A few brief extracts will show his views, which were +expressed very clearly and with his wonted ability and force. + + "I consider," he said, "the imposition of double duties as a mere + financial measure. Its great object was to raise revenue, not to + foster manufactures.... I do not say the double duties ought to be + continued. I think they ought not. But what I particularly object + to is the holding out of delusive expectations to those concerned + in manufactures.... In respect to manufactures it is necessary to + speak with some precision. I am not, generally speaking, their + enemy. I am their friend; but I am not for rearing them or any + other interest in hot-beds. I would not legislate precipitately, + even in favor of them; above all, I would not profess intentions in + relation to them which I did not purpose to execute. I feel no + desire to push capital into extensive manufactures faster than the + general progress of our wealth and population propels it. + + "I am not in haste to see Sheffields and Birminghams in America. + Until the population of the country shall be greater in proportion + to its extent, such establishments would be impracticable if + attempted, and if practicable they would be unwise." + +He then pointed out the inferiority and the perils of manufactures as an +occupation in comparison with agriculture, and concluded as follows:-- + + "I am not anxious to accelerate the approach of the period when the + great mass of American labor shall not find its employment in the + field; when the young men of the country shall be obliged to shut + their eyes upon external nature, upon the heavens and the earth, + and immerse themselves in close and unwholesome workshops; when + they shall be obliged to shut their ears to the bleatings of their + own flocks upon their own hills, and to the voice of the lark that + cheers them at the plough, that they may open them in dust and + smoke and steam to the perpetual whirl of spools and spindles, and + the grating of rasps and saws. I have made these remarks, sir, not + because I perceive any immediate danger of carrying our + manufactures to an extensive height, but for the purpose of + guarding and limiting my opinions, and of checking, perhaps, a + little the high-wrought hopes of some who seem to look to our + present infant establishments for 'more than their nature or their + state can bear.' + + "_It is the true policy of government to suffer the different + pursuits of society to take their own course, and not to give + excessive bounties or encouragements to one over another. This, + also, is the true spirit of the Constitution. It has not, in my + opinion, conferred on the government the power of changing the + occupations of the people of different States and sections, and of + forcing them into other employments._ It cannot prohibit commerce + any more than agriculture, nor manufactures any more than commerce. + It owes protection to all." + +The sentences in italics constitute a pretty strong and explicit statement +of the _laissez faire_ doctrine, and it will be observed that the tone of +all the extracts is favorable to free trade and hostile to protection and +even to manufactures in a marked degree. We see, also, that Mr. Webster, +with his usual penetration and justice of perception, saw very clearly that +uniformity and steadiness of policy were more essential than even the +policy itself, and in his opinion were most likely to be attained by +refraining from protection as much as possible. + +When the tariff of 1816 was under discussion Mr. Webster made no elaborate +speech against it, probably feeling that it was hopeless to attempt to +defeat the measure as a whole, but he devoted himself with almost complete +success to the task of reducing the proposed duties and to securing +modifications of various portions of the bill. + +In 1820, when the tariff recommended at the previous session was about to +come before Congress, Mr. Webster was not in public life. He attended, +however, a meeting of merchants and agriculturists, held in Faneuil Hall in +the summer of that year, to protest against the proposed tariff, and he +spoke strongly in favor of the free trade resolutions which were then +adopted. He began by saying that he was a friend to manufactures, but not +to the tariff, which he considered as most injurious to the country. + + "He certainly thought it might be doubted whether Congress would + not be acting somewhat against the spirit and intention of the + Constitution in exercising a power to control essentially the + pursuits and occupations of individuals in their private + concerns--a power to force great and sudden changes both of + occupation and property upon individuals, _not as incidental to the + exercise of any other power, but as a substantial and direct + power_." + +It will be observed that he objects to the constitutionality of protection +as a "direct power," and in the speech of 1814, in the portion quoted in +italics, he declared against any general power still more forcibly and +broadly. It is an impossible piece of subtlety and refining, therefore, to +argue that Mr. Webster always held consistently to his views as to the +limitations of the revenue power as a source of protection, and that he put +protection in 1828, and subsequently sustained it after his change of +position, on new and general constitutional grounds. In the speeches of +1814 and 1820 he declared expressly against the doctrine of a general power +of protection, saying, in the latter instance:-- + + "It would hardly be contended that Congress possessed that sort of + general power by which it might declare that particular occupations + should be pursued in society and that others should not. _If such + power belonged to any government in this country, it certainly did + not belong to the general government._" + +Mr. Webster took the New England position that there was no general power, +and having so declared in this speech of 1820, he then went on to show that +protection could only come as incidental to revenue, and that, even in this +way, it became unconstitutional when the incident was turned into the +principle and when protection and not revenue was the object of the duties. +After arguing this point, he proceeded to discuss the general expediency +of protection, holding it up as a thoroughly mistaken policy, a failure in +England which that country would gladly be rid of, and defending commerce +as the truest and best support of the government and of general prosperity. +He took up next the immediate effects of the proposed tariff, and, +premising that it would confessedly cause a diminution of the revenue, +said:-- + + "In truth, every man in the community not immediately benefited by + the new duties would suffer a double loss. In the first place, by + shutting out the former commodity, the price of the domestic + manufacture would be raised. The consumer, therefore, must pay more + for it, and insomuch as government will have lost the duty on the + imported article, a tax equal to that duty must be paid to the + government. The real amount, then, of this bounty on a given + article will be precisely the amount of the present duty added to + the amount of the proposed duty." + +He then went on to show the injustice which would be done to all +manufacturers of unprotected articles, and ridiculed the idea of the +connection between home industries artificially developed and national +independence. He concluded by assailing manufacturing as an occupation, +attacking it as a means of making the rich richer and the poor poorer; of +injuring business by concentrating capital in the hands of a few who +obtained control of the corporations; of distributing capital less widely +than commerce; of breeding up a dangerous and undesirable population; and +of leading to the hurtful employment of women and children. The meeting, +the resolutions, and the speech were all in the interests of commerce and +free trade, and Mr. Webster's doctrines were on the most approved pattern +of New England Federalism, which, professing a mild friendship for +manufactures and unwillingly conceding the minimum of protection solely as +an incident to revenue, was, at bottom, thoroughly hostile to both. In 1820 +Mr. Webster stood forth, both politically and constitutionally, as a +free-trader, moderate but at the same time decided in his opinions. + +When the tariff of 1824 was brought before Congress and advocated with +great zeal by Mr. Clay, who upheld it as the "American system," Mr. Webster +opposed the policy in the fullest and most elaborate speech he had yet made +on the subject. A distinguished American economist, Mr. Edward Atkinson, +has described this speech of 1824 briefly and exactly in the following +words:-- + + "It contains a refutation of the exploded theory of the balance of + trade, of the fallacy with regard to the exportation of specie, and + of the claim that the policy of protection is distinctively the + American policy which can never be improved upon, and it indicates + how thoroughly his judgment approved and his better nature + sympathized with the movement towards enlightened and liberal + commercial legislation, then already commenced in Great Britain." + +This speech was in truth one of great ability, showing a remarkable +capacity for questions of political economy, and opening with an admirable +discussion of the currency and of finance, in regard to which Mr. Webster +always held and advanced the soundest, most scientific, and most +enlightened views. Now, as in 1820, he stood forth as the especial champion +of commerce, which, as he said, had thriven without protection, had brought +revenue to the government and wealth to the country, and would be +grievously injured by the proposed tariff. He made his principal objection +to the protection policy on the ground of favoritism to some interests at +the expense of others when all were entitled to equal consideration. Of +England he said, "Because a thing has been wrongly done, it does not follow +that it can be undone; and this is the reason, as I understand it, for +which exclusion, prohibition, and monopoly are suffered to remain in any +degree in the English system." After examining at length the different +varieties of protection, and displaying very thoroughly the state of +current English opinion, he defined the position which he, in common with +the Federalists of New England, then as always adhered to in the following +words:-- + + "Protection, when carried to the point which is now recommended, + that is, to entire prohibition, seems to me destructive of all + commercial intercourse between nations. We are urged to adopt the + system on general principles; ... I do not admit the general + principle; on the contrary, I think freedom of trade the general + principle, and restriction the exception." + +He pointed out that the proposed protective policy involved a decline of +commerce, and that steadiness and uniformity, the most essential requisites +in any policy, were endangered. He then with great power dealt with the +various points summarized by Mr. Atkinson, and concluded with a detailed +and learned examination of the various clauses of the bill, which finally +passed by a small majority and became law. + +In 1828 came another tariff bill, so bad and so extreme in many respects +that it was called the "bill of abominations." It originated in the +agitation of the woollen manufacturers which had started the year before, +and for this bill Mr. Webster spoke and voted. He changed his ground on +this important question absolutely and entirely, and made no pretence of +doing anything else. The speech which he made on this occasion is a +celebrated one, but it is so solely on account of the startling change of +position which it announced. Mr. Webster has been attacked and defended for +his action at this time with great zeal, and all the constitutional and +economic arguments for and against protection are continually brought +forward in this connection. From the tone of the discussion, it is to be +feared that many of those who are interested in the question have not +taken the trouble to read what he said. The speech of 1828 is by no means +equal in any way to its predecessors in the same field. It is brief and +simple to the last degree. It has not a shred of constitutional argument, +nor does it enter at all into a discussion of general principles. It makes +but one point, and treats that point with great force as the only one to be +made under the circumstances, and thereby presents the single and +sufficient reason for its author's vote. A few lines from the speech give +the marrow of the whole matter. Mr. Webster said:-- + + "New England, sir, has not been a leader in this policy. On the + contrary, she held back herself and tried to hold others back from + it, from the adoption of the Constitution to 1824. Up to 1824 she + was accused of sinister and selfish designs, _because she + discountenanced the progress of this policy_.... Under this angry + denunciation against her the act of 1824 passed. Now the imputation + is of a precisely opposite character.... Both charges, sir, are + equally without the slightest foundation. The opinion of New + England up to 1824 was founded in the conviction that, on the + whole, it was wisest and best, both for herself and others, that + manufactures should make haste slowly.... When, at the commencement + of the late war, duties were doubled, we were told that we should + find a mitigation of the weight of taxation in the new aid and + succor which would be thus afforded to our own manufacturing labor. + Like arguments were urged, and prevailed, but not by the aid of New + England votes, when the tariff was afterwards arranged at the + close of the war in 1816. Finally, after a winter's deliberation, + the act of 1824 received the sanction of both Houses of Congress + and settled the policy of the country. What, then, was New England + to do?... Was she to hold out forever against the course of the + government, and see herself losing on one side and yet make no + effort to sustain herself on the other? No, sir. Nothing was left + to New England but to conform herself to the will of others. + Nothing was left to her but to consider that the government had + fixed and determined its own policy; and that policy was + _protection_.... I believe, sir, almost every man from New England + who voted against the law of 1824 declared that if, notwithstanding + his opposition to that law, it should still pass, there would be no + alternative but to consider the course and policy of the government + as then settled and fixed, and to act accordingly. The law did + pass; and a vast increase of investment in manufacturing + establishments was the consequence." + +Opinion in New England changed for good and sufficient business reasons, +and Mr. Webster changed with it. Free trade had commended itself to him as +an abstract principle, and he had sustained and defended it as in the +interest of commercial New England. But when the weight of interest in New +England shifted from free trade to protection Mr. Webster followed it. His +constituents were by no means unanimous in support of the tariff in 1828, +but the majority favored it, and Mr. Webster went with the majority. At a +public dinner given to him in Boston at the close of the session, he +explained to the dissentient minority the reasons for his vote, which were +very simple. He thought that good predominated over evil in the bill, and +that the majority throughout the whole State of which he was the +representative favored the tariff, and therefore he had voted in the +affirmative. + +Much fault has been found, as has been said, both at the time and since, +with Mr. Webster's change of position on this question. It has been held up +as a monument of inconsistency, and as indicating a total absence of deep +conviction. That Mr. Webster was, in a certain sense, inconsistent is +beyond doubt, but consistency is the bugbear of small minds, as well as a +mark of strong characters, while its reverse is often the proof of wisdom. +On the other hand, it may be fairly argued that, holding as he did that the +whole thing was purely a business question to be decided according to +circumstances, his course, in view of the policy adopted by the government, +was at bottom perfectly consistent. As to the want of deep conviction, Mr. +Webster's vote on this question proves nothing. He believed in free trade +as an abstract general principle, and there is no reason to suppose that he +ever abandoned his belief on this point. But he had too clear a mind ever +to be run away with by the extreme vagaries of the Manchester school. He +knew that there was no morality, no immutable right and wrong, in an +impost or a free list. It has been the fashion to refer to Mr. Disraeli's +declaration that free trade was "a mere question of expediency" as a proof +of that gentleman's cynical indifference to moral principles. That the late +Earl of Beaconsfield had no deep convictions on any subject may be readily +admitted, but in this instance he uttered a very plain and simple truth, +which all the talk in the world about free trade as the harbinger and +foundation of universal peace on earth, cannot disguise. + +Mr. Webster never at any time treated the question of free trade or +protection as anything but one of expediency. Under the lead of Mr. +Calhoun, in 1816, the South and West initiated a protective policy, and +after twelve years it had become firmly established and New England had +adapted herself to it. Mr. Webster, as a New England representative, +resisted the protective policy at the outset as against her interests, but +when she had conformed to the new conditions, he came over to its support +simply on the ground of expediency. He rested the defence of his new +position upon the doctrine which he had always consistently preached, that +uniformity and permanency were the essential and sound conditions of any +policy, whether of free trade or protection. In 1828, neither at the dinner +in Boston nor in the Senate, did he enter into any discussion of general +principles or constitutional theories. He merely said, in substance, You +have chosen to make protection necessary to New England, and therefore I am +now forced to vote for it. This was the position which he continued to hold +to the end of his life. As he was called upon, year after year, to defend +protection, and as New England became more and more wedded to the tariff, +he elaborated his arguments on many points, but the essence of all he said +afterwards is to be found in the speech of 1828. On the constitutional +point he was obliged to make a more violent change. He held, of course, to +his opinion that, under the revenue power, protection could be incidental +only, because from that doctrine there was no escape. But he dropped the +condemnation expressed in 1814 and the doubts uttered in 1820 as to the +theory that it was within the direct power of Congress to enact a +protective tariff, and assumed that they had this right as one of the +general powers in the Constitution, or that at all events they had +exercised it, and that therefore the question was henceforward to be +considered as _res adjudicata_. The speech of 1828 marks the separation of +Mr. Webster from the opinions of the old school of New England Federalism. +Thereafter he stood forth as the champion of the tariff and of the +"American system" of Henry Clay. Regarding protection in its true light, as +a mere question of expediency, he followed the interests of New England +and of the great industrial communities of the North. That he shifted his +ground at the proper moment, bad as the "bill of abominations" was, and +that, as a Northern statesman, he was perfectly justified in doing so, +cannot be fairly questioned or criticised. It is true that his course was a +sectional one, but everybody else's on this question was the same, and it +could not be, it never has been, and never will be otherwise. + +The tariff of 1828 was destined indirectly to have far more important +results to Mr. Webster than the brief speech in which he signalized his +change of position on the question of protection. Soon after the passage of +the act, in May, 1828, the South Carolina delegation held a meeting to take +steps to resist the operation of the tariff, but nothing definite was then +accomplished. Popular meetings in South Carolina, characterized by much +violent talk, followed, however, during the summer, and in the autumn the +Legislature of the State put forth the famous "exposition and protest" +which emanated from Mr. Calhoun, and embodied in the fullest and strongest +terms the principles of "nullification." These movements were viewed with +regret and with some alarm throughout the country, but they were rather +lost sight of in the intense excitement of the presidential election. The +accession of Jackson then came to absorb the public attention, and brought +with it the sweeping removals from office which Mr. Webster strongly +denounced. At the same time he was not led into the partisan absurdity of +denying the President's power of removal, and held to the impregnable +position of steady resistance to the evils of patronage, which could be +cured only by the operation of an enlightened public sentiment. It is +obvious now that, in the midst of all this agitation about other matters, +Mr. Calhoun and the South Carolinians never lost sight of the conflict for +which they were preparing, and that they were on the alert to bring +nullification to the front in a more menacing and pronounced fashion than +had yet been attempted. + +The grand assault was finally made in the Senate, under the eye of the +great nullifier, who then occupied the chair of the Vice-President, and +came in an unexpected way. In December, 1829, Mr. Foote of Connecticut +introduced a harmless resolution of inquiry respecting the sales and +surveys of the Western lands. In the long-drawn debate which ensued, +General Hayne of South Carolina, on January 19, 1830, made an elaborate +attack on the New England States. He accused them of a desire to check the +growth of the West in the interests of the protective policy, and tried to +show the sympathy which should exist between the West and South, and lead +them to make common cause against the tariff. Mr. Webster felt that this +attack could not be left unanswered, and the next day he replied to it. +This first speech on Foote's resolution has been so obscured by the +greatness of the second that it is seldom referred to and but little read. +Yet it is one of the most effective retorts, one of the strongest pieces of +destructive criticism, ever uttered in the Senate, although its purpose was +simply to repel the charge of hostility to the West on the part of New +England. The accusation was in fact absurd, and but few years had elapsed +since Mr. Webster and New England had been assailed by Mr. McDuffie for +desiring to build up the West at the expense of the South by the policy of +internal improvements. It was not difficult, therefore, to show the +groundlessness of this new attack, but Mr. Webster did it with consummate +art and great force, shattering Hayne's elaborate argument to pieces and +treading it under foot. Mr. Webster only alluded incidentally to the tariff +agitation in South Carolina, but the crushing nature of the reply inflamed +and mortified Mr. Hayne, who, on the following day, insisted on Mr. +Webster's presence, and spoke for the second time at great length. He made +a bitter attack upon New England, upon Mr. Webster personally, and upon the +character and patriotism of Massachusetts. He then made a full exposition +of the doctrine of nullification, giving free expression of the views and +principles entertained by his master and leader, who presided over the +discussion. The debate had now drifted far from the original resolution, +but its real object had been reached at last. The war upon the tariff had +been begun, and the standard of nullification and of resistance to the +Union and to the laws of Congress had been planted boldly in the Senate of +the United States. The debate was adjourned and Mr. Hayne did not conclude +till January 25. The next day Mr. Webster replied in the second speech on +Foote's resolution, which is popularly known as the "Reply to Hayne." + +This great speech marks the highest point attained by Mr. Webster as a +public man. He never surpassed it, he never equalled it afterwards. It was +his zenith intellectually, politically, and as an orator. His fame grew and +extended in the years which followed, he won ample distinction in other +fields, he made many other splendid speeches, but he never went beyond the +reply which he made to the Senator from South Carolina on January 26, 1830. + +The doctrine of nullification, which was the main point both with Hayne and +Webster, was no new thing. The word was borrowed from the Kentucky +resolutions of 1799, and the principle was contained in the more cautious +phrases of the contemporary Virginia resolutions and of the Hartford +Convention in 1814. The South Carolinian reproduction in 1830 was fuller +and more elaborate than its predecessors and supported by more acute +reasoning, but the principle was unchanged. Mr. Webster's argument was +simple but overwhelming. He admitted fully the right of revolution. He +accepted the proposition that no one was bound to obey an unconstitutional +law; but the essential question was who was to say whether a law was +unconstitutional or not. Each State has that authority, was the reply of +the nullifiers, and if the decision is against the validity of the law it +cannot be executed within the limits of the dissenting State. The vigorous +sarcasm with which Mr. Webster depicted practical nullification, and showed +that it was nothing more or less than revolution when actually carried out, +was really the conclusive answer to the nullifying doctrine. But Mr. +Calhoun and his school eagerly denied that nullification rested on the +right to revolt against oppression. They argued that it was a +constitutional right; that they could live within the Constitution and +beyond it,--inside the house and outside it at one and the same time. They +contended that, the Constitution being a compact between the States, the +Federal government was the creation of the States; yet, in the same breath, +they declared that the general government was a party to the contract from +which it had itself emanated, in order to get rid of the difficulty of +proving that, while the single dissenting State could decide against the +validity of a law, the twenty or more other States, also parties to the +contract, had no right to deliver an opposite judgment which should be +binding as the opinion of the majority of the court. There was nothing very +ingenious or very profound in the argument by which Mr. Webster +demonstrated the absurdity of the doctrine which attempted to make +nullification a peaceable constitutional privilege, when it could be in +practice nothing else than revolution. But the manner in which he put the +argument was magnificent and final. As he himself said, in this very speech +of Samuel Dexter, "his statement was argument, his inference +demonstration." + +The weak places in his armor were historical in their nature. It was +probably necessary, at all events Mr. Webster felt it to be so, to argue +that the Constitution at the outset was not a compact between the States, +but a national instrument, and to distinguish the cases of Virginia and +Kentucky in 1799 and of New England in 1814, from that of South Carolina in +1830. The former point he touched upon lightly, the latter he discussed +ably, eloquently, ingeniously, and at length. Unfortunately the facts were +against him in both instances. When the Constitution was adopted by the +votes of States at Philadelphia, and accepted by the votes of States in +popular conventions, it is safe to say that there was not a man in the +country from Washington and Hamilton on the one side, to George Clinton and +George Mason on the other, who regarded the new system as anything but an +experiment entered upon by the States and from which each and every State +had the right peaceably to withdraw, a right which was very likely to be +exercised. When the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions appeared they were +not opposed on constitutional grounds, but on those of expediency and of +hostility to the revolution which they were considered to embody. Hamilton, +and no one knew the Constitution better than he, treated them as the +beginnings of an attempt to change the government, as the germs of a +conspiracy to destroy the Union. As Dr. Von Holst tersely and accurately +states it, "there was no time as yet to attempt to strangle the healthy +human mind in a net of logical deductions." That was the work reserved for +John C. Calhoun. + +What is true of 1799 is true of the New England leaders at Washington when +they discussed the feasibility of secession in 1804; of the declaration in +favor of secession made by Josiah Quincy in Congress a few years later; of +the resistance of New England during the war of 1812, and of the right of +"interposition" set forth by the Hartford Convention. In all these +instances no one troubled himself about the constitutional aspect; it was a +question of expediency, of moral and political right or wrong. In every +case the right was simply stated, and the uniform answer was, such a step +means the overthrow of the present system. + +When South Carolina began her resistance to the tariff in 1830, times had +changed, and with them the popular conception of the government established +by the Constitution. It was now a much more serious thing to threaten the +existence of the Federal government than it had been in 1799, or even in +1814. The great fabric which had been gradually built up made an overthrow +of the government look very terrible; it made peaceable secession a +mockery, and a withdrawal from the Union equivalent to civil war. The +boldest hesitated to espouse any principle which was avowedly +revolutionary, and on both sides men wished to have a constitutional +defence for every doctrine which they promulgated. This was the feeling +which led Mr. Calhoun to elaborate and perfect with all the ingenuity of +his acute and logical mind the arguments in favor of nullification as a +constitutional principle. At the same time the theory of nullification, +however much elaborated, had not altered in its essence from the bald and +brief statement of the Kentucky resolutions. The vast change had come on +the other side of the question, in the popular idea of the Constitution. It +was no longer regarded as an experiment from which the contracting parties +had a right to withdraw, but as the charter of a national government. "It +is a critical moment," said Mr. Bell of New Hampshire to Mr. Webster, on +the morning of January 26, "and it is time, it is high time that the +people of this country should know what this Constitution _is_." "Then," +answered Mr. Webster, "by the blessing of heaven they shall learn, this +day, before the sun goes down, what I understand it to be." With these +words on his lips he entered the senate chamber, and when he replied to +Hayne he stated what the Union and the government had come to be at that +moment. He defined the character of the Union as it existed in 1830, and +that definition so magnificently stated, and with such grand eloquence, +went home to the hearts of the people, and put into noble words the +sentiment which they felt but had not expressed. This was the significance +of the reply to Hayne. It mattered not what men thought of the Constitution +in 1789. The government which was then established might have degenerated +into a confederation little stronger than its predecessor. But the +Constitution did its work better, and converted a confederacy into a +nation. Mr. Webster set forth the national conception of the Union. He +expressed what many men were vaguely thinking and believing, and the +principles which he made clear and definite went on broadening and +deepening until, thirty years afterwards, they had a force sufficient to +sustain the North and enable her to triumph in the terrible struggle which +resulted in the preservation of national life. When Mr. Webster showed that +practical nullification was revolution, he had answered completely the +South Carolinian doctrine, for revolution is not susceptible of +constitutional argument. But in the state of public opinion at that time it +was necessary to discuss nullification on constitutional grounds also, and +Mr. Webster did this as eloquently and ably as the nature of the case +admitted. Whatever the historical defects of his position, he put weapons +into the hands of every friend of the Union, and gave reasons and arguments +to the doubting and timid. Yet after all is said, the meaning of Mr. +Webster's speech in our history and its significance to us are, that it set +forth with every attribute of eloquence the nature of the Union as it had +developed under the Constitution. He took the vague popular conception and +gave it life and form and character. He said, as he alone could say, the +people of the United States are a nation, they are the masters of an +empire, their union is indivisible, and the words which then rang out in +the senate chamber have come down through long years of political conflict +and of civil war, until at last they are part of the political creed of +every one of his fellow-countrymen. + +The reply to Hayne cannot, however, be dismissed with a consideration of +its historical and political meaning or of its constitutional significance. +It has a personal and literary importance of hardly less moment. There +comes an occasion, a period perhaps, in the life of every man when he +touches his highest point, when he does his best, or even, under a sudden +inspiration and excitement, something better than his best, and to which he +can never again attain. At the moment it is often impossible to detect this +point, but when the man and his career have passed into history, and we can +survey it all spread out before us like a map, the pinnacle of success can +easily be discovered. The reply to Hayne was the zenith of Mr. Webster's +life, and it is the place of all others where it is fit to pause and study +him as a parliamentary orator and as a master of eloquence. + +Before attempting, however, to analyze what he said, let us strive to +recall for a moment the scene of his great triumph. On the morning of the +memorable day, the senate chamber was packed by an eager and excited crowd. +Every seat on the floor and in the galleries was occupied, and all the +available standing-room was filled. The protracted debate, conducted with +so much ability on both sides, had excited the attention of the whole +country, and had given time for the arrival of hundreds of interested +spectators from all parts of the Union, and especially from New England. +The fierce attacks of the Southern leaders had angered and alarmed the +people of the North. They longed with an intense longing to have these +assaults met and repelled, and yet they could not believe that this +apparently desperate feat could be successfully accomplished. Men of the +North and of New England could be known in Washington, in those days, by +their indignant but dejected looks and downcast eyes. They gathered in the +senate chamber on the appointed day, quivering with anticipation, and with +hope and fear struggling for the mastery in their breasts. With them were +mingled those who were there from mere curiosity, and those who had come +rejoicing in the confident expectation that the Northern champion would +suffer failure and defeat. + +In the midst of the hush of expectation, in that dead silence which is so +peculiarly oppressive because it is possible only when many human beings +are gathered together, Mr. Webster rose. He had sat impassive and immovable +during all the preceding days, while the storm of argument and invective +had beaten about his head. At last his time had come; and as he rose and +stood forth, drawing himself up to his full height, his personal grandeur +and his majestic calm thrilled all who looked upon him. With perfect +quietness, unaffected apparently by the atmosphere of intense feeling about +him, he said, in a low, even tone: "Mr. President: When the mariner has +been tossed for many days in thick weather and on an unknown sea, he +naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest +glance of the sun, to take his latitude and ascertain how far the elements +have driven him from his true course. Let us imitate this prudence; and, +before we float farther on the waves of this debate, refer to the point +from which we departed, that we may, at least, be able to conjecture where +we now are. I ask for the reading of the resolution before the Senate." +This opening sentence was a piece of consummate art. The simple and +appropriate image, the low voice, the calm manner, relieved the strained +excitement of the audience, which might have ended by disconcerting the +speaker if it had been maintained. Every one was now at his ease; and when +the monotonous reading of the resolution ceased Mr. Webster was master of +the situation, and had his listeners in complete control. With breathless +attention they followed him as he proceeded. The strong masculine +sentences, the sarcasm, the pathos, the reasoning, the burning appeals to +love of State and country, flowed on unbroken. As his feelings warmed the +fire came into his eyes; there was a glow on his swarthy cheek; his strong +right arm seemed to sweep away resistlessly the whole phalanx of his +opponents, and the deep and melodious cadences of his voice sounded like +harmonious organ-tones as they filled the chamber with their music. As the +last words died away into silence, those who had listened looked +wonderingly at each other, dimly conscious that they had heard one of the +grand speeches which are land-marks in the history of eloquence; and the +men of the North and of New England went forth full of the pride of +victory, for their champion had triumphed, and no assurance was needed to +prove to the world that this time no answer could be made. + +As every one knows, this speech contains much more than the argument +against nullification, which has just been discussed, and exhibits all its +author's intellectual gifts in the highest perfection. Mr. Hayne had +touched on every conceivable subject of political importance, including +slavery, which, however covered up, was really at the bottom of every +Southern movement, and was certain sooner or later to come to the surface. +All these various topics Mr. Webster took up, one after another, displaying +a most remarkable strength of grasp and ease of treatment. He dealt with +them all effectively and yet in just proportion. Throughout there are +bursts of eloquence skilfully mingled with statement and argument, so that +the listeners were never wearied by a strained and continuous rhetorical +display; and yet, while the attention was closely held by the even flow of +lucid reasoning, the emotions and passions were from time to time deeply +aroused and strongly excited. In many passages of direct retort Mr. Webster +used an irony which he employed always in a perfectly characteristic way. +He had a strong natural sense of humor, but he never made fun or descended +to trivial efforts to excite laughter against his opponent. He was not a +witty man or a maker of epigrams. But he was a master in the use of a cold, +dignified sarcasm, which at times, and in this instance particularly, he +used freely and mercilessly. Beneath the measured sentences there is a +lurking smile which saves them from being merely savage and cutting +attacks, and yet brings home a keen sense of the absurdity of the +opponent's position. The weapon resembled more the sword of Richard than +the scimetar of Saladin, but it was none the less a keen and trenchant +blade. There is probably no better instance of Mr. Webster's power of +sarcasm than the famous passage in which he replied to Hayne's taunt about +the "murdered coalition," which was said to have existed between Adams and +Calhoun. In a totally different vein is the passage about Massachusetts, +perhaps in its way as good an example as we have of Webster's power of +appealing to the higher and more tender feelings of human nature. The +thought is simple and even obvious, and the expression unadorned, and yet +what he said had that subtle quality which stirred and still stirs the +heart of every man born on the soil of the old Puritan Commonwealth. + +The speech as a whole has all the qualities which made Mr. Webster a great +orator, and the same traits run through his other speeches. An analysis of +the reply to Hayne, therefore, gives us all the conditions necessary to +forming a correct idea of Mr. Webster's eloquence, of its characteristics +and its value. The Attic school of oratory subordinated form to thought to +avoid the misuse of ornament, and triumphed over the more florid practice +of the so-called "Asiatics." Rome gave the palm to Atticism, and modern +oratory has gone still farther in the same direction, until its predominant +quality has become that of making sustained appeals to the understanding. +Logical vigilance and long chains of reasoning, avoided by the ancients, +are the essentials of our modern oratory. Many able men have achieved +success under these conditions as forcible and convincing speakers. But the +grand eloquence of modern times is distinguished by the bursts of feeling, +of imagery or of invective, joined with convincing argument. This +combination is rare, and whenever we find a man who possesses it we may be +sure that, in greater or less degree, he is one of the great masters of +eloquence as we understand it. The names of those who in debate or to a +jury have been in every-day practice strong and effective speakers, and +also have thrilled and shaken large masses of men, readily occur to us. To +this class belong Chatham and Burke, Fox, Sheridan and Erskine, Mirabeau +and Vergniaud, Patrick Henry and Daniel Webster. + +Mr. Webster was of course essentially modern in his oratory. He relied +chiefly on the sustained appeal to the understanding, and he was a +conspicuous example of the prophetic character which Christianity, and +Protestantism especially, has given to modern eloquence. At the same time +Mr. Webster was in some respects more classical, and resembled more closely +the models of antiquity, than any of those who have been mentioned as +belonging to the same high class. He was wont to pour forth the copious +stream of plain, intelligible observations, and indulge in the varied +appeals to feeling, memory, and interest, which Lord Brougham sets down as +characteristic of ancient oratory. It has been said that while Demosthenes +was a sculptor, Burke was a painter. Mr. Webster was distinctly more of the +former than the latter. He rarely amplified or developed an image or a +description, and in this he followed the Greek rather than the Englishman. +Dr. Francis Lieber wrote: "To test Webster's oratory, which has ever been +very attractive to me, I read a portion of my favorite speeches of +Demosthenes, and then read, always aloud, parts of Webster; then returned +to the Athenian; and Webster stood the test." Apart from the great +compliment which this conveys, such a comparison is very interesting as +showing the similarity between Mr. Webster and the Greek orator. Not only +does the test indicate the merit of Mr. Webster's speeches, but it also +proves that he resembled the Athenian, and that the likeness was more +striking than the inevitable difference born of race and time. Yet there +is no indication that Webster ever made a study of the ancient models or +tried to form himself upon them. + +The cause of the classic self-restraint in Webster was partly due to the +artistic sense which made him so devoted to simplicity of diction, and +partly to the cast of his mind. He had a powerful historic imagination, but +not in the least the imagination of the poet, which + + "Bodies forth the forms of things unknown." + +He could describe with great vividness, brevity, and force what had +happened in the past, what actually existed, or what the future promised. +But his fancy never ran away with him or carried him captive into the +regions of poetry. Imagination of this sort is readily curbed and +controlled, and, if less brilliant, is safer than that defined by +Shakespeare. For this reason, Mr. Webster rarely indulged in long, +descriptive passages, and, while he showed the highest power in treating +anything with a touch of humanity about it, he was sparing of images drawn +wholly from nature, and was not peculiarly successful in depicting in words +natural scenery or phenomena. The result is, that in his highest flights, +while he is often grand and affecting, full of life and power, he never +shows the creative imagination. But if he falls short on the poetic side, +there is the counterbalancing advantage that there is never a false note +nor an overwrought description which offends our taste and jars upon our +sensibilities. + +Mr. Webster showed his love of direct simplicity in his style even more +than in his thought or the general arrangement and composition of his +speeches. His sentences are, as a rule, short, and therefore pointed and +intelligible, but they never become monotonous and harsh, the fault to +which brevity is always liable. On the contrary, they are smooth and +flowing, and there is always a sufficient variety of form. The choice of +language is likewise simple. Mr. Webster was a remorseless critic of his +own style, and he had an almost extreme preference for Anglo-Saxon words +and a corresponding dislike of Latin derivatives. The only exception he +made was in his habit of using "commence" instead of its far superior +synonym "begin." His style was vigorous, clear, and direct in the highest +degree, and at the same time warm and full of vitality. He displayed that +rare union of strength with perfect simplicity, the qualities which made +Swift the great master of pure and forcible English. + +Charles Fox is credited with saying that a good speech never reads well. +This opinion, taken in the sense in which it was intended, that a +carefully-prepared speech, which reads like an essay, lacks the freshness +and glow that should characterize the oratory of debate, is undoubtedly +correct. But it is equally true that when a speech which we know to have +been good in delivery is equally good in print, a higher intellectual plane +is reached and a higher level of excellence is attained than is possible to +either the mere essay or to the effective retort or argument, which loses +its flavor with the occasion which draws it forth. Mr. Webster's speeches +on the tariff, on the bank, and on like subjects, able as they are, are +necessarily dry, but his speeches on nobler themes are admirable reading. +This is, of course, due to the variety and ease of treatment, to their +power, and to the purity of the style. At the same time, the immediate +effect of what he said was immense, greater, even, than the intrinsic merit +of the speech itself. There has been much discussion as to the amount of +preparation which Mr. Webster made. His occasional orations were, of +course, carefully written out beforehand, a practice which was entirely +proper; but in his great parliamentary speeches, and often in legal +arguments as well, he made but slight preparation in the ordinary sense of +the term. The notes for the two speeches on Foote's resolution were jotted +down on a few sheets of note-paper. The delivery of the second one, his +masterpiece, was practically extemporaneous, and yet it fills seventy +octavo pages and occupied four hours. He is reported to have said that his +whole life had been a preparation for the reply to Hayne. Whether he said +it or not, the statement is perfectly true. The thoughts on the Union and +on the grandeur of American nationality had been garnered up for years, and +this in a greater or less degree was true of all his finest efforts. The +preparation on paper was trifling, but the mental preparation extending +over weeks or days, sometimes, perhaps, over years, was elaborate to the +last point. When the moment came, a night's work would put all the +stored-up thoughts in order, and on the next day they would pour forth with +all the power of a strong mind thoroughly saturated with its subject, and +yet with the vitality of unpremeditated expression, having the fresh glow +of morning upon it, and with no trace of the lamp. + +More than all this, however, in the immediate effect of Mr. Webster's +speeches was the physical influence of the man himself. We can but half +understand his eloquence and its influence if we do not carefully study his +physical attributes, his temperament and disposition. In face, form, and +voice, nature did her utmost for Daniel Webster. No envious fairy was +present at his birth to mar these gifts by her malign influence. He seemed +to every one to be a giant; that, at least, is the word we most commonly +find applied to him, and there is no better proof of his enormous physical +impressiveness than this well-known fact, for Mr. Webster was not a man of +extraordinary stature. He was five feet ten inches in height, and, in +health, weighed a little less than two hundred pounds. These are the +proportions of a large man, but there is nothing remarkable about them. We +must look elsewhere than to mere size to discover why men spoke of Webster +as a giant. He had a swarthy complexion and straight black hair. His head +was very large, the brain weighing, as is well known, more than any on +record, except those of Cuvier and of the celebrated bricklayer. At the +same time his head was of noble shape, with a broad and lofty brow, and his +features were finely cut and full of massive strength. His eyes were +extraordinary. They were very dark and deep-set, and, when he began to +rouse himself to action, shone with the deep light of a forge-fire, getting +ever more glowing as excitement rose. His voice was in harmony with his +appearance. It was low and musical in conversation; in debate it was high +but full, ringing out in moments of excitement like a clarion, and then +sinking to deep notes with the solemn richness of organ-tones, while the +words were accompanied by a manner in which grace and dignity mingled in +complete accord. The impression which he produced upon the eye and ear it +is difficult to express. There is no man in all history who came into the +world so equipped physically for speech. In this direction nature could do +no more. The mere look of the man and the sound of his voice made all who +saw and heard him feel that he must be the embodiment of wisdom, dignity, +and strength, divinely eloquent, even if he sat in dreamy silence or +uttered nothing but heavy commonplaces. + +It is commonly said that no one of the many pictures of Mr. Webster gives a +true idea of what he was. We can readily believe this when we read the +descriptions which have come down to us. That indefinable quality which we +call personal magnetism, the power of impressing by one's personality every +human being who comes near, was at its height in Mr. Webster. He never, for +instance, punished his children, but when they did wrong he would send for +them and look at them silently. The look, whether of anger or sorrow, was +punishment and rebuke enough. It was the same with other children. The +little daughter of Mr. Wirt once came into a room where Mr. Webster was +sitting with his back toward her, and touched him on the arm. He turned +suddenly, and the child started back with an affrighted cry at the sight of +that dark, stern, melancholy face. But the cloud passed as swiftly as the +shadows on a summer sea, and the next moment the look of affection and +humor brought the frightened child into Mr. Webster's arms, and they were +friends and playmates in an instant. + +The power of a look and of changing expression, so magical with a child, +was hardly less so with men. There have been very few instances in history +where there is such constant reference to merely physical attributes as in +the case of Mr. Webster. His general appearance and his eyes are the first +and last things alluded to in every contemporary description. Every one is +familiar with the story of the English navvy who pointed at Mr. Webster in +the streets of Liverpool and said, "There goes a king." Sidney Smith +exclaimed when he saw him, "Good heavens, he is a small cathedral by +himself." Carlyle, no lover of America, wrote to Emerson:-- + + "Not many days ago I saw at breakfast the notablest of all your + notabilities, Daniel Webster. He is a magnificent specimen. You + might say to all the world, 'This is our Yankee Englishman; such + limbs we make in Yankee land!' As a logic fencer, or parliamentary + Hercules, one would incline to back him at first sight against all + the extant world. The tanned complexion; that amorphous crag-like + face; the dull black eyes under the precipice of brows, like dull + anthracite furnaces needing only to be _blown_; the mastiff mouth + accurately closed; I have not traced so much of _silent Berserkir + rage_ that I remember of in any man. 'I guess I should not like to + be your nigger!' Webster is not loquacious, but he is pertinent, + conclusive; a dignified, perfectly bred man, though not English in + breeding; a man worthy of the best reception among us, and meeting + such I understand." + +Such was the effect produced by Mr. Webster when in England, and it was a +universal impression. Wherever he went men felt in the depths of their +being the amazing force of his personal presence. He could control an +audience by a look, and could extort applause from hostile listeners by a +mere glance. On one occasion, after the 7th of March speech, there is a +story that a noted abolitionist leader was present in the crowd gathered to +hear Mr. Webster, and this bitter opponent is reported to have said +afterwards, "When Webster, speaking of secession, asked 'what is to become +of me,' I was thrilled with a sense of some awful impending calamity." The +story may be apocryphal, but there can be no doubt of its essential truth +so far as the effect of Mr. Webster's personal presence goes. People looked +at him, and that was enough. Mr. Parton in his essay speaks of seeing +Webster at a public dinner, sitting at the head of the table with a bottle +of Madeira under his yellow waistcoat, and looking like Jove. When he +presided at the Cooper memorial meeting in New York he uttered only a few +stately platitudes, and yet every one went away with the firm conviction +that they had heard him speak words of the profoundest wisdom and grandest +eloquence. + +The temptation to rely on his marvellous physical gifts grew on him as he +became older, which was to be expected with a man of his temperament. Even +in his early days, when he was not in action, he had an impassible and +slumberous look; and when he sat listening to the invective of Hayne, no +emotion could be traced on his cold, dark, melancholy face, or in the +cavernous eyes shining with a dull light. This all vanished when he began +to speak, and, as he poured forth his strong, weighty sentences, there was +no lack of expression or of movement. But Mr. Webster, despite his capacity +for work, and his protracted and often intense labor, was constitutionally +indolent, and this sluggishness of temperament increased very much as he +grew older. It extended from the periods of repose to those of action +until, in his later years, a direct stimulus was needed to make him exert +himself. Even to the last the mighty power was still there in undiminished +strength, but it was not willingly put forth. Sometimes the outside impulse +would not come; sometimes the most trivial incident would suffice, and like +a spark on the train of gunpowder would bring a sudden burst of eloquence, +electrifying all who listened. On one occasion he was arguing a case to the +jury. He was talking in his heaviest and most ponderous fashion, and with +half-closed eyes. The court and the jurymen were nearly asleep as Mr. +Webster argued on, stating the law quite wrongly to his nodding listeners. +The counsel on the other side interrupted him and called the attention of +the court to Mr. Webster's presentation of the law. The judge, thus +awakened, explained to the jury that the law was not as Mr. Webster stated +it. While this colloquy was in progress Mr. Webster roused up, pushed back +his thick hair, shook himself, and glanced about him with the look of a +caged lion. When the judge paused, he turned again to the jury, his eyes no +longer half shut but wide open and glowing with excitement. Raising his +voice, he said, in tones which made every one start: "If my client could +recover under the law as I stated it, how much more is he entitled to +recover under the law as laid down by the court;" and then, the jury now +being thoroughly awake, he poured forth a flood of eloquent argument and +won his case. In his latter days Mr. Webster made many careless and dull +speeches and carried them through by the power of his look and manner, but +the time never came when, if fairly aroused, he failed to sway the hearts +and understandings of men by a grand and splendid eloquence. The lion slept +very often, but it never became safe to rouse him from his slumber. + +It was soon after the reply to Hayne that Mr. Webster made his great +argument for the government in the White murder case. One other address to +a jury in the Goodridge case, and the defence of Judge Prescott before the +Massachusetts Senate, which is of similar character, have been preserved to +us. The speech for Prescott is a strong, dignified appeal to the sober, and +yet sympathetic, judgment of his hearers, but wholly free from any attempt +to confuse or mislead, or to sway the decision by unwholesome pathos. Under +the circumstances, which were very adverse to his client, the argument was +a model of its kind, and contains some very fine passages full of the +solemn force so characteristic of its author. The Goodridge speech is +chiefly remarkable for the ease with which Mr. Webster unravelled a +complicated set of facts, demonstrated that the accuser was in reality the +guilty party, and carried irresistible conviction to the minds of the +jurors. It was connected with a remarkable exhibition of his power of +cross-examination, which was not only acute and penetrating, but extremely +terrifying to a recalcitrant witness. The argument in the White case, as a +specimen of eloquence, stands on far higher ground than either of the other +two, and, apart from the nature of the subject, ranks with the very best of +Mr. Webster's oratorical triumphs. The opening of the speech, comprising +the account of the murder and the analysis of the workings of a mind seared +with the remembrance of a horrid crime, must be placed among the very +finest masterpieces of modern oratory. The description of the feelings of +the murderer has a touch of the creative power, but, taken in conjunction +with the wonderful picture of the deed itself, the whole exhibits the +highest imaginative excellence, and displays the possession of an +extraordinary dramatic force such as Mr. Webster rarely exerted. It has the +same power of exciting a kind of horror and of making us shudder with a +creeping, nameless terror as the scene after the murder of Duncan, when +Macbeth rushes out from the chamber of death, crying, "I have done the +deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?" I have studied this famous exordium +with extreme care, and I have sought diligently in the works of all the +great modern orators, and of some of the ancient as well, for similar +passages of higher merit. My quest has been in vain. Mr. Webster's +description of the White murder, and of the ghastly haunting sense of guilt +which pursued the assassin, has never been surpassed in dramatic force by +any speaker, whether in debate or before a jury. Perhaps the most +celebrated descriptive passage in the literature of modern eloquence is the +picture drawn by Burke of the descent of Hyder Ali upon the plains of the +Carnatic, but even that certainly falls short of the opening of Webster's +speech in simple force as well as in dramatic power. Burke depicted with +all the ardor of his nature and with a wealth of color a great invasion +which swept thousands to destruction. Webster's theme was a cold-blooded +murder in a quiet New England town. Comparison between such topics, when +one is so infinitely larger than the other, seems at first sight almost +impossible. But Mr. Webster also dealt with the workings of the human heart +under the influence of the most terrible passions, and those have furnished +sufficient material for the genius of Shakespeare. The test of excellence +is in the treatment, and in this instance Mr. Webster has never been +excelled. The effect of that exordium, delivered as he alone could have +delivered it, must have been appalling. He was accused of having been +brought into the case to hurry the jury beyond the law and evidence, and +his whole speech was certainly calculated to drive any body of men, +terror-stricken by his eloquence, wherever he wished them to go. Mr. +Webster did not have that versatility and variety of eloquence which we +associate with the speakers who have produced the most startling effect +upon that complex thing called a jury. He never showed that rapid +alternation of wit, humor, pathos, invective, sublimity, and ingenuity +which have been characteristic of the greatest advocates. Before a jury as +everywhere else he was direct and simple. He awed and terrified jurymen; he +convinced their reason; but he commanded rather than persuaded, and carried +them with him by sheer force of eloquence and argument, and by his +overpowering personality. + +The extravagant admiration which Mr. Webster excited among his followers +has undoubtedly exaggerated his greatness in many respects; but, high as +the praise bestowed upon him as an orator has been, in that direction at +least he has certainly not been overestimated. The reverse rather is true. +Mr. Webster was, of course, the greatest orator this country has ever +produced. Patrick Henry's fame rests wholly on tradition. The same is true +of Hamilton, who, moreover, never had an opportunity adequate to his +talents, which were unquestionably of the first order. Fisher Ames's +reputation was due to a single speech which is distinctly inferior to many +of Webster's. Clay's oratory has not stood the test of time; his speeches, +which were so wonderfully effective when he uttered them, seem dead and +cold and rather thin as we read them to-day. Calhoun was a great debater, +but was too dry and hard for the highest eloquence. John Quincy Adams, +despite his physical limitations, carried the eloquence of combat and +bitter retort to the highest point in the splendid battles of his +congressional career, but his learning, readiness, power of expression, +argument, and scathing sarcasm were not rounded into a perfect whole by the +more graceful attributes which also form an essential part of oratory. + +Mr. Webster need not fear comparison with any of his countrymen, and he has +no reason to shun it with the greatest masters of speech in England. He had +much of the grandeur of Chatham, with whom it is impossible to compare him +or indeed any one else, for the Great Commoner lives only in fragments of +doubtful accuracy. Sheridan was universally considered to have made the +most splendid speech of his day. Yet the speech on the Begums as given by +Moore does not cast Webster's best work at all into the shade. Webster did +not have Sheridan's brilliant wit, but on the other hand he was never +forced, never involved, never guilty of ornament, which fastidious judges +would now pronounce tawdry. Webster's best speeches read much better than +anything of Sheridan, and, so far as we can tell from careful descriptions, +his manner, look, and delivery were far more imposing. The "manly +eloquence" of Fox seems to have resembled Webster's more closely than that +of any other of his English rivals. Fox was more fertile, more brilliant, +more surprising than Webster, and had more quickness and dash, and a +greater ease and charm of manner. But he was often careless, and sometimes +fell into repetitions, from which, of course, no great speaker can be +wholly free any more than he can keep entirely clear of commonplaces. +Webster gained upon him by superior finish and by greater weight of +argument. Before a jury Webster fell behind Erskine as he did behind +Choate, although neither of them ever produced anything at all comparable +to the speech on the White murder; but in the Senate, and in the general +field of oratory, he rises high above them both. The man with whom Webster +is oftenest compared, and the last to be mentioned, is of course Burke. It +may be conceded at once that in creative imagination, and in richness of +imagery and language, Burke ranks above Webster. But no one would ever have +said of Webster as Goldsmith did of Burke:-- + + "Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining, + And thought of convincing while they thought of dining." + +Webster never sinned by over refinement or over ingenuity, for both were +utterly foreign to his nature. Still less did he impair his power in the +Senate as Burke did in the Commons by talking too often and too much. If he +did not have the extreme beauty and grace of which Burke was capable, he +was more forcible and struck harder and more weighty blows. He was greatly +aided in this by his brief and measured periods, and his strength was never +wasted in long and elaborate sentences. Webster, moreover, would never have +degenerated into the ranting excitement which led Burke to draw a knife +from his bosom and cast it on the floor of the House. This illustrates what +was, perhaps, Mr. Webster's very strongest point,--his absolute good taste. +He may have been ponderous at times in his later years. We know that he was +occasionally heavy, pompous, and even dull, but he never violated the rules +of the nicest taste. Other men have been more versatile, possessed of a +richer imagination, and more gorgeous style, with a more brilliant wit and +a keener sarcasm, but there is not one who is so absolutely free from +faults of taste as Webster, or who is so uniformly simple and pure in +thought and style, even to the point of severity.[1] + +[Footnote 1: A volume might be written comparing Mr. Webster with other +great orators. Only the briefest and most rudimentary treatment of the +subject is possible here. A most excellent study of the comparative +excellence of Webster's eloquence has been made by Judge Chamberlain, +Librarian of the Boston Public Library, in a speech at the dinner of the +Dartmouth Alumni, which has since been printed as a pamphlet.] + +It is easy to compare Mr. Webster with this and the other great orator, +and to select points of resemblance and of difference, and show where Mr. +Webster was superior and where he fell behind. But the final verdict must +be upon all his qualities taken together. He had the most extraordinary +physical gifts of face, form, and voice, and employed them to the best +advantage. Thus equipped, he delivered a long series of great speeches +which can be read to-day with the deepest interest, instruction, and +pleasure. He had dignity, grandeur, and force, a strong historic +imagination, and great dramatic power when he chose to exert it. He +possessed an unerring taste, a capacity for vigorous and telling sarcasm, a +glow and fire none the less intense because they were subdued, perfect +clearness of statement joined to the highest skill in argument, and he was +master of a style which was as forcible as it was simple and pure. Take him +for all in all, he was not only the greatest orator this country has ever +known, but in the history of eloquence his name will stand with those of +Demosthenes and Cicero, of Chatham and Burke. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE STRUGGLE WITH JACKSON AND THE RISE OF THE WHIG PARTY. + + +In the year preceding the delivery of his great speech Mr. Webster had lost +his brother Ezekiel by sudden death, and he had married for his second wife +Miss Leroy of New York. The former event was a terrible grief to him, and +taken in conjunction with the latter seemed to make a complete break with +the past, and with its struggles and privations, its joys and successes. +The slender girl whom he had married in Salisbury church and the beloved +brother were both gone, and with them went those years of youth in which,-- + + "He had sighed deep, laughed free, + Starved, feasted, despaired, been happy." + +One cannot come to this dividing line in Mr. Webster's life without regret. +There was enough of brilliant achievement and substantial success in what +had gone before to satisfy any man, and it had been honest, simple, and +unaffected. A wider fame and a greater name lay before him, but with them +came also ugly scandals, bitter personal attacks, an ambition which warped +his nature, and finally a terrible mistake. One feels inclined to say of +these later years, with the Roman lover:-- + + "Shut them in + With their triumphs and their glories and the rest, + Love is best." + +The home changed first, and then the public career. The reply which, as +John Quincy Adams said, "utterly demolished the fabric of Hayne's speech +and left scarcely a wreck to be seen," went straight home to the people of +the North. It gave eloquent expression to the strong but undefined feeling +in the popular mind. It found its way into every house and was read +everywhere; it took its place in the school books, to be repeated by shrill +boy voices, and became part of the literature and of the intellectual life +of the country. In those solemn sentences men read the description of what +the United States had come to be under the Constitution, and what American +nationality meant in 1830. The leaders of the young war party in 1812 were +the first to arouse the national sentiment, but no one struck the chord +with such a master hand as Mr. Webster, or drew forth such long and deep +vibrations. There is no single utterance in our history which has done so +much by mere force of words to strengthen the love of nationality and +implant it deeply in the popular heart, as the reply to Hayne. + +Before the delivery of that speech Mr. Webster was a distinguished +statesman, but the day after he awoke to a national fame which made all his +other triumphs pale. Such fame brought with it, of course, as it always +does in this country, talk of the presidency. The reply to Hayne made Mr. +Webster a presidential candidate, and from that moment he was never free +from the gnawing, haunting ambition to win the grand prize of American +public life. There was a new force in his career, and in all the years to +come the influence of that force must be reckoned and remembered. + +Mr. Webster was anxious that the party of opposition to General Jackson, +which then passed by the name of National Republicans, should be in some +way strengthened, solidified, and placed on a broad platform of distinct +principles. He saw with great regret the ruin which was threatened by the +anti-masonic schism, and it would seem that he was not indisposed to take +advantage of this to stop the nomination of Mr. Clay, who was peculiarly +objectionable to the opponents of masonry. He earnestly desired the +nomination himself, but even his own friends in the party told him that +this was out of the question, and he acquiesced in their decision. Mr. +Clay's personal popularity, moreover, among the National Republicans was, +in truth, invincible, and he was unanimously nominated by the convention at +Baltimore. The action of the anti-masonic element in the country doomed +Clay to defeat, which he was likely enough to encounter in any event; but +the consolidation of the party so ardently desired by Mr. Webster was +brought about by acts of the administration, which completely overcame any +intestine divisions among its opponents. + +The session of 1831-1832, when the country was preparing for the coming +presidential election, marks the beginning of the fierce struggle with +Andrew Jackson which was to give birth to a new and powerful organization +known in our history as the Whig party, and destined, after years of +conflict, to bring overwhelming defeat to the "Jacksonian democracy." There +is no occasion here to enter into a history of the famous bank controversy. +Established in 1816, the bank of the United States, after a period of +difficulties, had become a powerful and valuable financial organization. In +1832 it applied for a continuance of its charter, which then had three +years still to run. Mr. Webster did not enter into the personal contest +which had already begun, but in a speech of great ability advocated a +renewal of the charter, showing, as he always did on such themes, a +knowledge and a grasp of the principles and intricacies of public finance +unequalled in our history except by Hamilton. In a second speech he made a +most effective and powerful argument against a proposition to give the +States authority to tax the bank, defending the doctrines laid down by +Chief Justice Marshall in McCullough vs. Maryland, and denying the power of +Congress to give the States the right of such taxation, because by so doing +they violated the Constitution. The amendment was defeated, and the bill +for the continuance of the charter passed both Houses by large majorities. + +Jackson returned the bill with a veto. He had the audacity to rest his veto +upon the ground that the bill was unconstitutional, and that it was the +duty of the President to decide upon the constitutionality of every measure +without feeling in the least bound by the opinion of Congress or of the +Supreme Court. His ignorance was so crass that he failed to perceive the +distinction between a new bill and one to continue an existing law, while +his vanity and his self-assumption were so colossal that he did not +hesitate to assert that he had the right and the power to declare an +existing law, passed by Congress, approved by Madison, and held to be +constitutional by an express decision of the Supreme Court, to be invalid, +because he thought fit to say so. To overthrow such doctrines was not +difficult, but Mr. Webster refuted them with a completeness and force which +were irresistible. At the same time he avoided personal attack in the +dignified way which was characteristic of him, despite the extraordinary +temptation to indulge in invective and telling sarcasm to which Jackson by +his ignorance and presumption had so exposed himself. The bill was lost, +the great conflict with the bank was begun, and the Whig party was founded. + +Another event of a different character, which had occurred not long before, +helped to widen the breach and to embitter the contest between the parties +of the administration and of the opposition. When in 1829 Mr. McLane had +received his instructions as Minister to England, he had been directed by +Mr. Van Buren to reopen negotiations on the subject of the West Indian +trade, and in so doing the Secretary of State had reflected on the previous +administration, and had said that the party in power would not support the +pretensions of its predecessors. Such language was, of course, at variance +with all traditions, was wholly improper, and was mean and contemptible in +dealing with a foreign nation. In 1831 Mr. Van Buren was nominated as +Minister to England, and came up for confirmation in the Senate some time +after he had actually departed on his mission. Mr. Webster opposed the +confirmation in an eloquent speech full of just pride in his country and of +vigorous indignation against the slight which Mr. Van Buren had put upon +her by his instructions to Mr. McLane. He pronounced a splendid "rebuke +upon the first instance in which an American minister had been sent abroad +as the representative of his party and not as the representative of his +country." The opposition was successful, and Mr. Van Buren's nomination +was rejected. It is no doubt true that the rejection was a political +mistake, and that, as was commonly said at the time, it created sympathy +for Mr. Van Buren and insured his succession to the presidency. Yet no one +would now think as well of Mr. Webster if, to avoid awakening popular +sympathy and party enthusiasm in behalf of Mr. Van Buren, he had silently +voted for that gentleman's confirmation. To do so was to approve the +despicable tone adopted in the instructions to McLane. As a patriotic +American, above all as a man of intense national feelings, Mr. Webster +could not have done otherwise than resist with all the force of his +eloquence the confirmation of a man who had made such an undignified and +unworthy exhibition of partisanship. Politically he may have been wrong, +but morally he was wholly right, and his rebuke stands in our history as a +reproach which Mr. Van Buren's subsequent success can neither mitigate nor +impair. + +There was another measure, however, which had a far different effect from +those which tended to build up the opposition to Jackson and his followers. +A movement was begun by Mr. Clay looking to a revision and reduction of the +tariff, which finally resulted in a bill reducing duties on many articles +to a revenue standard, and leaving those on cotton and woollen goods and +iron unchanged. In the debates which occurred during the passage of this +bill Mr. Webster took but little part, but they caused a furious outbreak +on the part of the South Carolinians led by Hayne, and ended in the +confirmation of the protective policy. When Mr. Webster spoke at the New +York dinner in 1831, he gave his hearers to understand very clearly that +the nullification agitation was not at an end, and after the passage of the +new tariff bill he saw close at hand the danger which he had predicted. + +In November, 1832, South Carolina in convention passed her famous ordinance +nullifying the revenue laws of the United States, and her Legislature, +which assembled soon after, enacted laws to carry out the ordinance, and +gave an open defiance to the Federal government. The country was filled +with excitement. It was known that Mr. Calhoun, having published a letter +in defence of nullification, had resigned the vice-presidency, accepted the +senatorship of South Carolina, and was coming to the capital to advocate +his favorite doctrine. But the South Carolinians had made one trifling +blunder. They had overlooked the President. Jackson was a Southerner and a +Democrat, but he was also the head of the nation, and determined to +maintain its integrity. On December 10, before Congress assembled, he +issued his famous proclamation in which he took up rigorously the position +adopted by Mr. Webster in his reply to Hayne, and gave the South +Carolinians to understand that he would not endure treason, but would +enforce constitutional laws even though he should be compelled to use +bayonets to do it. The Legislature of the recalcitrant State replied in an +offensive manner which only served to make Jackson angry. He, too, began to +say some pretty violent things, and, as he generally meant what he said, +the gallant leaders of nullification and other worthy people grew very +uneasy. There can be no doubt that the outlook was very threatening, and +the nullifiers were extremely likely to be the first to suffer from the +effects of the impending storm. + +Mr. Webster was in New Jersey, on his way to Washington, when he first +received the proclamation, and at Philadelphia he met Mr. Clay, and from a +friend of that gentleman received a copy of a bill which was to do away +with the tariff by gradual reductions, prevent the imposition of any +further duties, and which at the same time declared against protection and +in favor of a tariff for revenue only. This headlong plunge into concession +and compromise was not at all to Mr. Webster's taste. He was opposed to the +scheme for economical reasons, but still more on the far higher ground that +there was open resistance to laws of undoubted constitutionality, and until +that resistance was crushed under foot any talk of compromise was a blow at +the national dignity and the national existence which ought not to be +tolerated for an instant. His own course was plain. He proposed to sustain +the administration, and when the national honor should be vindicated and +all unconstitutional resistance ended, then would come the time for +concessions. Jackson was not slow in giving Mr. Webster something to +support. At the opening of the session a message was sent to Congress +asking that provision might be made to enable the President to enforce the +laws by means of the land and naval forces if necessary. The message was +referred to a committee, who at once reported the celebrated "Force Bill," +which embodied the principles of the message and had the entire approval of +the President. But Jackson's party broke, despite the attitude of their +chief, for many of them were from the South and could not bring themselves +to the point of accepting the "Force Bill." The moment was critical, and +the administration turned to Mr. Webster and took him into their councils. +On February 8 Mr. Webster rose, and, after explaining in a fashion which no +one was likely to forget, that this was wholly an administration measure, +he announced his intention, as an independent senator, of giving it his +hearty and inflexible support. The combination thus effected was +overwhelming. Mr. Calhoun was now thoroughly alarmed, and we can well +imagine that the threats of hanging, in which it was rumored that the +President had indulged, began to have a good deal of practical significance +to a gentleman who, as Secretary of War, had been familiar with the +circumstances attending the deaths of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. At all +events, Mr. Calhoun lost no time in having an interview with Mr. Clay, and +the result was, that the latter, on February 11, announced that he should, +on the following day, introduce a tariff bill, a measure of the same sort +having already been started in the House. The bill as introduced did not +involve such a complete surrender as that which Mr. Webster had seen in +Philadelphia, but it necessitated most extensive modifications and gave all +that South Carolina could reasonably demand. Mr. Clay advocated it in a +brilliant speech, resting his defence on the ground that this was the only +way to preserve the tariff, and that it was founded on the great +constitutional doctrine of compromise. Mr. Webster opposed the bill +briefly, and then introduced a series of resolutions combating the proposed +measure on economical principles and on those of justice, and especially +assailing the readiness to abandon the rightful powers of Congress and +yield them up to any form of resistance. Before, however, he could speak in +support of his resolutions, the "Force Bill" came up, and Mr. Calhoun made +his celebrated argument in support of nullification. This Mr. Webster was +obliged to answer, and he replied with the great speech known in his works +as "The Constitution not a compact between sovereign States." In a general +way the same criticism is applicable to this debate as to that with Hayne, +but there were some important differences. Mr. Calhoun's argument was +superior to that of his follower. It was dry and hard, but it was a +splendid specimen of close and ingenious reasoning, and, as was to be +expected, the originator and master surpassed the imitator and pupil. Mr. +Webster's speech, on the other hand, in respect to eloquence, was decidedly +inferior to the masterpiece of 1830. Mr. Curtis says, "Perhaps there is no +speech ever made by Mr. Webster that is so close in its reasoning, so +compact, and so powerful." To the first two qualities we can readily +assent, but that it was equally powerful may be doubted. So long as Mr. +Webster confined himself to defending the Constitution as it actually was +and as what it had come to mean in point of fact, he was invincible. Just +in proportion as he left this ground and attempted to argue on historical +premises that it was a fundamental law, he weakened his position, for the +historical facts were against him. In the reply to Hayne he touched but +slightly on the historical, legal, and theoretical aspects of the case, and +he was overwhelming. In the reply to Calhoun he devoted his strength +chiefly to these topics, and, meeting his keen antagonist on the latter's +own chosen ground, he put himself at a disadvantage. In the actual present +and in the steady course of development, the facts were wholly with Mr. +Webster. Whatever the people of the United States understood the +Constitution to mean in 1789, there can be no question that a majority in +1833 regarded it as a fundamental law, and not as a compact--an opinion +which has now become universal. But it was quite another thing to argue +that what the Constitution had come to mean was what it meant when it was +adopted. The identity of meaning at these two periods was the proposition +which Mr. Webster undertook to maintain, and he upheld it as well and as +plausibly as the nature of the case admitted. His reasoning was close and +vigorous; but he could not destroy the theory of the Constitution as held +by leaders and people in 1789, or reconcile the Virginia and Kentucky +resolutions or the Hartford Convention with the fundamental-law doctrines. +Nevertheless, it would be an error to suppose that because the facts of +history were against Mr. Webster in these particulars, this able, +ingenious, and elaborate argument was thrown away. It was a fitting +supplement and complement to the reply to Hayne. It reiterated the national +principles, and furnished those whom the statement and demonstration of an +existing fact could not satisfy, with an immense magazine of lucid +reasoning and plausible and effective arguments. The reply to Hayne gave +magnificent expression to the popular feeling, while that to Calhoun +supplied the arguments which, after years of discussion, converted that +feeling into a fixed opinion, and made it strong enough to carry the North +through four years of civil war. But in his final speech in this debate Mr. +Webster came back to his original ground, and said, in conclusion, "Shall +we have a general government? Shall we continue the union of States under a +_government_ instead of a league? This vital and all-important question the +people will decide." The vital question went to the great popular jury, and +they cast aside all historical premises and deductions, all legal +subtleties and refinements, and gave their verdict on the existing facts. +The world knows what that verdict was, and will never forget that it was +largely due to the splendid eloquence of Daniel Webster when he defended +the cause of nationality against the slave-holding separatists of South +Carolina. + +While this great debate was in progress, and Mr. Webster and the faithful +adherents of Jackson were pushing the "Force Bill" to a vote, Mr. Clay was +making every effort to carry the compromise tariff. In spite of his +exertions, the Force Bill passed on February 20, but close behind came the +tariff, which Mr. Webster opposed, on its final passage, in a vigorous +speech. There is no need to enter into his economical objections, but he +made his strongest stand against the policy of sacrificing great interests +to soothe South Carolina. Mr. Clay replied, but did not then press a vote, +for, with that dexterous management which he had exhibited in 1820 and was +again to display in 1850, he had succeeded in getting his tariff bill +carried rapidly through the House, in order to obviate the objection that +all money bills must originate in the lower branch. The House bill passed +the Senate, Mr. Webster voting against it, and became law. There was no +further need of the Force Bill. Clay, Calhoun, even the daring Jackson +ultimately, were very glad to accept the easy escape offered by a +compromise. South Carolina had in reality prevailed, although Mr. Clay had +saved protection in a modified form. Her threats of nullification had +brought the United States government to terms, and the doctrines of Calhoun +went home to the people of the South with the glory of substantial victory +about them, to breed and foster separatism and secession, and prepare the +way for armed conflict with the nobler spirit of nationality which Mr. +Webster had roused in the North. + +Speaking of Mr. Webster at this period, Mr. Benton says:-- + + "He was the colossal figure on the political stage during that + eventful time, and his labors, splendid in their day, survive for + the benefit of distant posterity."... "It was a splendid era in his + life, both for his intellect and his patriotism. No longer the + advocate of classes or interests, he appeared as the great + defender of the Union, of the Constitution, of the country, and of + the administration to which he was opposed. Released from the bonds + of party and the narrow confines of class and corporation advocacy, + his colossal intellect expanded to its full proportions in the + field of patriotism, luminous with the fires of genius, and + commanding the homage not of party but of country. His magnificent + harangues touched Jackson in his deepest-seated and ruling feeling, + love of country, and brought forth the response which always came + from him when the country was in peril and a defender presented + himself. He threw out the right hand of fellowship, treated Mr. + Webster with marked distinction, commended him with public praise, + and placed him on the roll of patriots. And the public mind took + the belief that they were to act together in future, and that a + cabinet appointment or a high mission would be the reward of his + patriotic service. It was a crisis in the life of Mr. Webster. He + stood in public opposition to Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. With Mr. + Clay he had a public outbreak in the Senate. He was cordial with + Jackson. The mass of his party stood by him on the proclamation. He + was at a point from which a new departure might be taken: one at + which he could not stand still; from which there must be either + advance or recoil. It was a case in which _will_ more than + _intellect_ was to rule. He was above Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun in + intellect, below them in will: and he was soon seen cooperating + with them (Mr. Clay in the lead) in the great measure condemning + President Jackson." + +This is of course the view of a Jacksonian leader, but it is none the less +full of keen analysis and comprehension of Mr. Webster, and in some +respects embodies very well the conditions of the situation. Mr. Benton +naturally did not see that an alliance with Jackson was utterly impossible +for Mr. Webster, whose proper course was therefore much less simple than it +appeared to the Senator from Missouri. There was in reality no common +ground possible between Webster and Jackson except defence of the national +integrity. Mr. Webster was a great orator, a splendid advocate, a trained +statesman and economist, a remarkable constitutional lawyer, and a man of +immense dignity, not headstrong in temper and without peculiar force of +will. Jackson, on the other hand, was a rude soldier, unlettered, +intractable, arbitrary, with a violent temper and a most despotic will. Two +men more utterly incompatible it would have been difficult to find, and +nothing could have been more wildly fantastic than to suppose an alliance +between them, or to imagine that Mr. Webster could ever have done anything +but oppose utterly those mad gyrations of personal government which the +President called his "policy." + +Yet at the same time it is perfectly true that just after the passage of +the tariff bill Mr. Webster was at a great crisis in his life. He could not +act with Jackson. That way was shut to him by nature, if by nothing else. +But he could have maintained his position as the independent and unbending +defender of nationality and as the foe of compromise. He might then have +brought Mr. Clay to his side, and remained himself the undisputed head of +the Whig party. The coalition between Clay and Calhoun was a hollow, +ill-omened thing, certain to go violently to pieces, as, in fact, it did, +within a few years, and then Mr. Clay, if he had held out so long, would +have been helpless without Mr. Webster. But such a course required a very +strong will and great tenacity of purpose, and it was on this side that Mr. +Webster was weak, as Mr. Benton points out. Instead of waiting for Mr. Clay +to come to him, Mr. Webster went over to Clay and Calhoun, and formed for a +time the third in that ill-assorted partnership. There was no reason for +his doing so. In fact every good reason was against it. Mr. Clay had come +to Mr. Webster with his compromise, and had been met with the reply "that +it would be yielding great principles to faction; and that the time had +come to test the strength of the Constitution and the government." This was +a brave, manly answer, but Mr. Clay, nationalist as he was, had straightway +deserted his friend and ally, and gone over to the separatists for support. +Then a sharp contest had occurred between Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay in the +debate on the tariff; and when it was all over, the latter wrote with frank +vanity and a slight tinge of contempt: "Mr. Webster and I came in +conflict, and I have the satisfaction to tell you that he gained nothing. +My friends flatter me with my having completely triumphed. There is no +permanent breach between us. I think he begins already to repent his +course." Mr. Clay was intensely national, but his theory of preserving the +Union was by continual compromise, or, in other words, by constant yielding +to the aggressive South. Mr. Webster's plan was to maintain a firm +attitude, enforce absolute submission to all constitutional laws, and prove +that agitation against the Union could lead only to defeat. This policy +would not have resulted in rebellion, but, if it had, the hanging of +Calhoun and a few like him, and the military government of South Carolina, +by the hero of New Orleans, would have taught slave-holders such a lesson +that we should probably have been spared four years of civil war. Peaceful +submission, however, would have been the sure outcome of Mr. Webster's +policy. But a compromise appealed as it always does to the timid, +balance-of-power party. Mr. Clay prevailed, and the manufacturers of New +England, as well as elsewhere, finding that he had secured for them the +benefit of time and of the chapter of accidents, rapidly came over to his +support. The pressure was too much for Mr. Webster. Mr. Clay thought that +if Mr. Webster "had to go over the work of the last few weeks he would have +been for the compromise, which commands the approbation of a great +majority." Whether Mr. Webster repented his opposition to the compromise no +one can say, but the change of opinion in New England, the general assent +of the Whig party, and the dazzling temptations of presidential candidacy +prevailed with him. He fell in behind Mr. Clay, and remained there in a +party sense and as a party man for the rest of his life. + +The terrible prize of the presidency was indeed again before his eyes. Mr. +Clay's overthrow at the previous election had removed him, for the time +being at least, from the list of candidates, and thus freed Mr. Webster +from his most dangerous rival. In the summer of 1833 Mr. Webster made a +tour through the Western States, and was received everywhere with +enthusiasm, and hailed as the great expounder and defender of the +Constitution. The following winter he stood forward as the preeminent +champion of the Bank against the President. Everything seemed to point to +him as the natural candidate of the opposition. The Legislature of +Massachusetts nominated him for the presidency, and he himself deeply +desired the office, for the fever now burned strongly within him. But the +movement came to nothing. The anti-masonic schism still distracted the +opposition. The Kentucky leaders were jealous of Mr. Webster, and thought +him "no such man" as their idol Henry Clay. They admitted his greatness and +his high traits of character, but they thought his ambition mixed with too +much self-love. Governor Letcher wrote to Mr. Crittenden in 1836 that Clay +was more elevated, disinterested and patriotic than Webster, and that the +verdict of the country had had a good effect on the latter. Despite the +interest and enthusiasm which Mr. Webster aroused in the West, he had no +real hold upon that section or upon the masses of the people and the +Western Whigs turned to Harrison. There was no hope in 1836 for Mr. +Webster, or, for that matter, for his party either. He received the +electoral vote of faithful Massachusetts, and that was all. As it was then, +so it had been at the previous election, and so it was to continue to be at +the end of every presidential term. There never was a moment when Mr. +Webster had any real prospect of attaining to the presidency. Unfortunately +he never could realize this. He would have been more than human, perhaps, +if he had done so. The tempting bait hung always before his eyes. The prize +seemed to be always just coming within his reach, and was really never near +it. But the longing had entered his soul. He could not rid himself of the +idea of this final culmination to his success; and it warped his feelings +and actions, injured his career, and embittered his last years. + +This notice of the presidential election of 1836 has somewhat anticipated +the course of events. Soon after the tariff compromise had been effected, +Mr. Webster renewed his relations with Mr. Clay, and, consequently, with +Mr. Calhoun, and their redoutable antagonist in the President's chair soon +gave them enough to do. The most immediate obstacle to Mr. Webster's +alliance with General Jackson was the latter's attitude in regard to the +bank. Mr. Webster had become satisfied that the bank was, on the whole, a +useful and even necessary institution. No one was better fitted than he to +decide on such a question, and few persons would now be found to differ +from his judgment on this point. In a general way he may be said to have +adopted the Hamiltonian doctrine in regard to the expediency and +constitutionality of a national bank. There were intimations in the spring +of 1833 that the President, not content with preventing the re-charter of +the bank, was planning to strike it down, and practically deprive it of +even the three years of life which still remained to it by law. The scheme +was perfected during the summer, and, after changing his Secretary of the +Treasury until he got one who would obey, President Jackson dealt his great +blow. On September 26 Mr. Taney signed the order removing the deposits of +the government from the Bank of the United States. The result was an +immediate contraction of loans, commercial distress, and great confusion. + +The President had thrown down the gage, and the leaders of the opposition +were not slow to take it up. Mr. Clay opened the battle by introducing two +resolutions,--one condemning the action of the President as +unconstitutional, the other attacking the policy of removal, and a long and +bitter debate ensued. A month later, Mr. Webster came forward with +resolutions from Boston against the course of the President. He presented +the resolutions in a powerful and effective speech, depicting the +deplorable condition of business, and the injury caused to the country by +the removal of the deposits. He rejected the idea of leaving the currency +to the control of the President, or of doing away entirely with paper, and +advocated the re-charter of the present bank, or the creation of a new one; +and, until the time for that should arrive, the return of the deposits, +with its consequent relief to business and a restoration of stability and +of confidence for the time being at least. He soon found that the +administration had determined that no law should be passed, and that the +doctrine that Congress had no power to establish a bank should be upheld. +He also discovered that the constitutional pundit in the White House, who +was so opposed to a single national bank, had created, by his own fiat, a +large number of small national banks in the guise of state banks, to which +the public deposits were committed, and the collection of the public +revenues intrusted. Such an arbitrary policy, at once so ignorant, +illogical, and dangerous, aroused Mr. Webster thoroughly, and he entered +immediately upon an active campaign against the President. Between the +presentation of the Boston resolutions and the close of the session he +spoke on the bank, and the subjects necessarily connected with it, no less +than sixty-four times. He dealt entirely with financial topics,--chiefly +those relating to the currency, and with the constitutional questions +raised by the extension of the executive authority. This long series of +speeches is one of the most remarkable exhibitions of intellectual power +ever made by Mr. Webster, or indeed by any public man in our history. In +discussing one subject in all its bearings, involving of necessity a +certain amount of repetition, he not only displayed an extraordinary grasp +of complicated financial problems and a wide knowledge of their scientific +meaning and history, but he showed an astonishing fertility in argument, +coupled with great variety and clearness of statement and cogency of +reasoning. With the exception of Hamilton, Mr. Webster is the only +statesman in our history who was capable of such a performance on such a +subject, when a thorough knowledge had to be united with all the resources +of debate and all the arts of the highest eloquence. + +The most important speech of all was that delivered in answer to Jackson's +"Protest," sent in as a reply to Mr. Clay's resolutions which had been +sustained by Mr. Webster as chairman of the Committee on Finance. The +"Protest" asserted, in brief, that the Legislature could not order a +subordinate officer to perform certain duties free from the control of the +President; that the President had the right to put his own conception of +the law into execution; and, if the subordinate officer refused to obey, +then to remove such officer; and that the Senate had therefore no right to +censure his removal of the Secretary of the Treasury, in order to reach the +government deposits. To this doctrine Mr. Webster replied with great +elaboration and ability. The question was a very nice one. There could be +no doubt of the President's power of removal, and it was necessary to show +that this power did not extend to the point of depriving Congress of the +right to confer by law specified and independent powers upon an inferior +officer, or of regulating the tenure of office. To establish this +proposition, in such a way as to take it out of the thick and heated +atmosphere of personal controversy, and put it in a shape to carry +conviction to the popular understanding, was a delicate and difficult task, +requiring, in the highest degree, lucidity and ingenuity of argument. It is +not too high praise to say that Mr. Webster succeeded entirely. The real +contest was for the possession of that debatable ground which lies between +the defined limits of the executive and legislative departments. The +struggle consolidated and gave coherence to the Whig party as representing +the opposition to executive encroachments. At the time Jackson, by his +imperious will and marvellous personal popularity, prevailed and obtained +the acceptance of his doctrines. But the conflict has gone on, and the +balance of advantage now rests with the Legislature. This tendency is quite +as dangerous as that of which Jackson was the exponent, if not more so. The +executive department has been crippled; and the influence and power of +Congress, and especially of the Senate, have become far greater than they +should be, under the system of proportion and balance embodied in the +Constitution. Despite Jackson's victory there is, to-day, far more danger +of undue encroachments on the part of the Senate than on that of the +President. + +At the next session the principal subject of discussion was the trouble +with France. Irritated at the neglect of the French government to provide +funds for the payment of their debt to us, Jackson sent in a message +severely criticising them, and recommending the passage of a law +authorizing reprisals on French property. The President and his immediate +followers were eager for war, Calhoun and his faction regarded the whole +question as only matter for "an action of assumpsit," while Mr. Webster and +Mr. Clay desired to avoid hostilities, but wished the country to maintain a +firm and dignified attitude. Under the lead of Mr. Clay, the recommendation +of reprisals was rejected, and under that of Mr. Webster a clause smuggled +into the Fortification Bill to give the President three millions to spend +as he liked was struck out and the bill was subsequently lost. This affair, +which brought us to the verge of war with France, soon blew over, however, +and caused only a temporary ripple, although Mr. Webster's attack on the +Fortification Bill left a sting behind. + +In this same session Mr. Webster made an exhaustive speech on the question +of executive patronage and the President's power of appointment and +removal. He now went much farther than in his answer to the "Protest," +asserting not only the right of Congress to fix the tenure of office, but +also that the power of removal, like the power of appointment, was in the +President and Senate jointly. The speech contained much that was valuable, +but in its main doctrine was radically unsound. The construction of 1789, +which decided that the power of removal belonged to the President alone, +was clearly right, and Mr. Webster failed to overthrow it. His theory, +embodied in a bill which provided that the President should state to the +Senate, when he appointed to a vacancy caused by removal, his reasons for +such removal, was thoroughly mischievous. It was more dangerous than +Jackson's doctrine, for it tended to take the power of patronage still more +from a single and responsible person and vest it in a large and therefore +wholly irresponsible body which has always been too much inclined to +degenerate into an office-broking oligarchy, and thus degrade its high and +important functions. Mr. Webster argued his proposition with his usual +force and perspicuity, but the speech is strongly partisan and exhibits the +disposition of an advocate to fit the Constitution to his particular case, +instead of dealing with it on general and fundamental principles. + +The session closed with a resolution offered by Mr. Benton to expunge the +resolutions of censure upon the President, which was overwhelmingly +defeated, and was then laid upon the table, on the motion of Mr. Webster. +He also took the first step to prevent the impending financial disaster +growing out of the President's course toward the bank, by carrying a bill +to stop the payment of treasury warrants by the deposit banks in current +banknotes, and to compel their payment in gold and silver. The rejection of +Benton's resolutions served to embitter the already intense conflict +between the President and his antagonists, and Mr. Webster's bill, while it +showed the wisdom of the opposition, was powerless to remedy the mischief +which was afoot. + +In this same year (1835) the independence of Texas was achieved, and in the +session of 1835-36 the slavery agitation began its march, which was only to +terminate on the field of battle and in the midst of contending armies. +Mr. Webster's action at this time in regard to this great question, which +was destined to have such an effect upon his career, can be more fitly +narrated when we come to consider his whole course in regard to slavery in +connection with the "7th of March" speech. The other matters of this +session demand but a brief notice. The President animadverted in his +message upon the loss of the Fortification Bill, due to the defeat of the +three million clause. Mr. Webster defended himself most conclusively and +effectively, and before the session closed the difficulties with France +were practically settled. He also gave great attention to the ever-pressing +financial question, trying to mitigate the evils which the rapid +accumulation of the public funds was threatening to produce. He felt that +he was powerless, that nothing indeed could be done to avert the +approaching disaster; but he struggled to modify its effects and delay its +progress. + +Complications increased rapidly during the summer. The famous "Specie +Circular," issued by the Secretary of the Treasury without authority of +law, weakened all banks which did not hold the government deposits, forced +them to contract their loans, and completed the derangement of domestic +exchange. This grave condition of affairs confronted Congress when it +assembled in December, 1836. A resolution was introduced to rescind the +Specie Circular, and Mr. Webster spoke at length in the debate, defining +the constitutional duties of the government toward the regulation of the +currency, and discussing in a masterly manner the intricate questions of +domestic exchanges and the excessive circulation of bank notes. On another +occasion he reiterated his belief that a national bank was the true remedy +for existing ills, but that only hard experience could convince the country +of its necessity. + +At this session the resolution to expunge the vote of censure of 1833 was +again brought forward by Mr. Benton. The Senate had at last come under the +sway of the President, and it was clear that the resolution would pass. +This precious scheme belongs to the same category of absurdities as the +placing Oliver Cromwell's skull on Temple Bar, and throwing Robert Blake's +body on a dung-hill by Charles Stuart and his friends. It was not such a +mean and cowardly performance as that of the heroes of the Restoration, but +it was far more "childish-foolish." The miserable and ludicrous nature of +such a proceeding disgusted Mr. Webster beyond measure. Before the vote was +taken he made a brief speech that is a perfect model of dignified and +severe protest against a silly outrage upon the Constitution and upon the +rights of senators, which he was totally unable to prevent. The original +censure is part of history. No "black lines" can take it out. The expunging +resolution, which Mr. Curtis justly calls "fantastic and theatrical," is +also part of history, and carries with it the ineffaceable stigma affixed +by Mr. Webster's indignant protest. + +Before the close of the session Mr. Webster made up his mind to resign his +seat in the Senate. He had private interests which demanded his attention, +and he wished to travel both in the United States and in Europe. He may +well have thought, also, that he could add nothing to his fame by remaining +longer in the Senate. But besides the natural craving for rest, it is quite +possible that he believed that a withdrawal from active and official +participation in politics was the best preparation for a successful +candidacy for the presidency in 1840. This certainly was in his mind in the +following year (1838), when the rumor was abroad that he was again +contemplating retirement from the Senate; and it is highly probable that +the same motive was at bottom the controlling one in 1837. But whatever the +cause of his wish to resign, the opposition of his friends everywhere, and +of the Legislature of Massachusetts, formally and strongly expressed, led +him to forego his purpose. He consented to hold his seat for the present, +at least, and in the summer of 1837 made an extended tour through the West, +where he was received as before with the greatest admiration and +enthusiasm. + +The distracted condition of the still inchoate Whig party in 1836, and the +extraordinary popularity of Jackson, resulted in the complete victory of +Mr. Van Buren. But the General's chosen successor and political heir found +the great office to which he had been called, and which he so eagerly +desired, anything but a bed of roses. The ruin which Jackson's wild policy +had prepared was close at hand, and three months after the inauguration the +storm burst with full fury. The banks suspended specie payments and +universal bankruptcy reigned throughout the country. Our business interests +were in the violent throes of the worst financial panic which had ever been +known in the United States. The history of Mr. Van Buren's administration, +in its main features, is that of a vain struggle with a hopeless network of +difficulties, and with the misfortune and prostration which grew out of +this wide-spread disaster. It is not necessary here to enter into the +details of these events. Mr. Webster devoted himself in the Senate to +making every effort to mitigate the evils which he had prophesied, and to +prevent their aggravation by further injudicious legislation. His most +important speech was delivered at the special session against the first +sub-treasury bill and Mr. Calhoun's amendment. Mr. Calhoun, who had wept +over the defeat of the bank bill in 1815, was now convinced that all banks +were mistakes, and wished to prevent the acceptance of the notes of specie +paying banks for government dues. Mr. Webster's speech was the fullest and +most elaborate he ever made on the subject of the currency, and the +relations of the government to it. His theme was the duty and right of the +general government under the Constitution to regulate and control the +currency, and his masterly argument was the best that has ever been made, +leaving in fact nothing to be desired. + +In the spring of 1839 there was talk of sending Mr. Webster to London as +commissioner to settle the boundary disputes, but it came to nothing, and +in the following summer he went to England in his private capacity +accompanied by his family. The visit was in every way successful. It +brought rest and change as well as pleasure, and was full of interest. Mr. +Webster was very well received, much attention was paid him, and much +admiration shown for him. He commanded all this, not only by his +appearance, his reputation, and his intellectual force, but still more by +the fact that he was thoroughly and genuinely American in thought, feeling, +and manner. + +He reached New York on his return at the end of December, and was there met +by the news of General Harrison's nomination by the Whigs. In the previous +year it had seemed as if, with Clay out of the way by the defeat of 1832, +and Harrison by that of 1836, the great prize must fall to Mr. Webster. His +name was brought forward by the Whigs of Massachusetts, but it met with no +response even in New England. It was the old story; Mr. Clay and his +friends were cool, and the masses of the party did not desire Mr. Webster. +The convention turned from the Massachusetts statesman and again nominated +the old Western soldier. + +Mr. Webster did not hesitate as to the course he should pursue upon his +return. He had been reelected to the Senate in January, 1839, and after the +session closed in July, 1840, he threw himself into the campaign in support +of Harrison. The people did not desire Mr. Webster to be their President, +but there was no one whom they so much wished to hear. He was besieged from +all parts of the country with invitations to speak, and he answered +generously to the call thus made upon him. + +On his way home from Washington, in March, 1837, more than three years +before, he had made a speech at Niblo's Garden in New York,--the greatest +purely political speech which he ever delivered. He then reviewed and +arraigned with the greatest severity the history of Jackson's +administration, abstaining in his characteristic way from all personal +attack, but showing, as no one else could show, what had been done, and the +results of the policy, which were developing as he had predicted. He also +said that the worst was yet to come. The speech produced a profound +impression. People were still reading it when the worst really came, and +the great panic broke over the country. Mr. Webster had, in fact, struck +the key-note of the coming campaign in the Niblo-Garden speech of 1837. In +the summer of 1840 he spoke in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and +Virginia, and was almost continually upon the platform. The great feat of +1833-34, when he made sixty-four speeches in the Senate on the bank +question, was now repeated under much more difficult conditions. In the +first instance he was addressing a small and select body of trained +listeners, all more or less familiar with the subject. In 1840 he was +obliged to present these same topics, with all their infinite detail and +inherent dryness, to vast popular audiences, but nevertheless he achieved a +marvellous success. The chief points which he brought out were the +condition of the currency, the need of government regulation, the +responsibility of the Democrats, the miserable condition of the country, +and the exact fulfillment of the prophecies he had made. The argument and +the conclusion were alike irresistible, but Mr. Webster showed, in handling +his subject, not only the variety, richness, and force which he had +displayed in the Senate, but the capacity of presenting it in a way +thoroughly adapted to the popular mind, and yet, at the same time, of +preserving the impressive tone of a dignified statesman, without any +degeneration into mere stump oratory. This wonderful series of speeches +produced the greatest possible effect. They were heard by thousands and +read by tens of thousands. They fell, of course, upon willing ears. The +people, smarting under bankruptcy, poverty, and business depression, were +wild for a change; but nothing did so much to swell the volume of public +resentment against the policy of the ruling party as these speeches of Mr. +Webster, which gave character and form to the whole movement. Jackson had +sown the wind, and his unlucky successor was engaged in the agreeable task +of reaping the proverbial crop. There was a political revolution. The Whigs +swept the country by an immense majority, the great Democratic party was +crushed to the earth, and the ignorant misgovernment of Andrew Jackson +found at last its fit reward. General Harrison, as soon as he was elected, +turned to the two great chiefs of his party to invite them to become the +pillars of his administration. Mr. Clay declined any cabinet office, but +Mr. Webster, after some hesitation, accepted the secretaryship of state. He +resigned his seat in the Senate February 22, 1841, and on March 4 following +took his place in the cabinet, and entered upon a new field of public +service. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SECRETARY OF STATE.--THE ASHBURTON TREATY. + + +There is one feature in the history, or rather in the historic scenery of +this period, which we are apt to overlook. The political questions, the +debates, the eloquence of that day, give us no idea of the city in which +the history was made, or of the life led by the men who figured in that +history. Their speeches might have been delivered in any great centre of +civilization, and in the midst of a brilliant and luxurious society. But +the Washington of 1841, when Mr. Webster took the post which is officially +the first in the society of the capital and of the country, was a very odd +sort of place, and widely different from what it is to-day. It was not a +village, neither was it a city. It had not grown, but had been created for +a special purpose. A site had been arbitrarily selected, and a city laid +out on the most magnificent scale. But there was no independent life, for +the city was wholly official in its purposes and its existence. There were +a few great public buildings, a few large private houses, a few hotels and +boarding houses, and a large number of negro shanties. The general effect +was of attempted splendor, which had resulted in slovenliness and +straggling confusion. The streets were unpaved, dusty in summer, and deep +with mud in winter, so that the mere difficulty of getting from place to +place was a serious obstacle to general society. Cattle fed in the streets, +and were milked by their owners on the sidewalk. There was a grotesque +contrast between the stately capitol where momentous questions were +eloquently discussed and such queerly primitive and rude surroundings. Few +persons were able to entertain because few persons had suitable houses. +Members of Congress usually clubbed together and took possession of a +house, and these "messes," as they were called,--although without doubt +very agreeable to their members,--did not offer a mode of life which was +easily compatible with the demands of general society. Social enjoyments, +therefore, were pursued under difficulties; and the city, although +improving, was dreary enough. + +Society, too, was in a bad condition. The old forms and ceremonies of the +men of 1789 and the manners and breeding of our earliest generation of +statesmen had passed away, and the new democracy had not as yet a system of +its own. It was a period of transition. The old customs had gone, the new +ones had not crystallized. The civilization was crude and raw, and in +Washington had no background whatever,--such as was to be found in the old +cities and towns of the original thirteen States. The tone of the men in +public life had deteriorated and was growing worse, approaching rapidly its +lowest point, which it reached during the Polk administration. This was due +partly to the Jacksonian democracy, which had rejected training and +education as necessary to statesmanship, and had loudly proclaimed the +great truths of rotation in office, and the spoils to the victors, and +partly to the slavery agitation which was then beginning to make itself +felt. The rise of the irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery +made the South overbearing and truculent; it produced that class of +politicians known as "Northern men with Southern principles," or, in the +slang of the day, as "doughfaces;" and it had not yet built up a strong, +vigorous, and aggressive party in the North. The lack of proper social +opportunities, and this deterioration among men in public life, led to an +increasing violence and roughness in debate, and to a good deal of coarse +dissipation in private. There was undoubtedly a brighter side, but it was +limited, and the surroundings of the distinguished men who led our +political parties in 1841 at the national capital, do not present a very +cheerful or attractive picture. + +When the new President appeared upon the scene he was followed by a general +rush of hungry office-seekers, who had been starving for places for many +years. General Harrison was a brave, honest soldier and pioneer, simple in +heart and manners, unspoiled and untaught by politics of which he had had a +good share. He was not a great man, but he was honorable and well +intentioned. He wished to have about him the best and ablest men of his +party, and to trust to their guidance for a successful administration. But +although he had no desire to invent a policy, or to draft state papers, he +was determined to be the author of his own inaugural speech, and he came to +Washington with a carefully-prepared manuscript in his pocket. When Mr. +Webster read this document he found it full of gratitude to the people, and +abounding in allusions to Roman history. With his strong sense of humor, +and of the unities and proprieties as well, he was a good deal alarmed at +the proposed speech; and after much labor, and the expenditure of a good +deal of tact, he succeeded in effecting some important changes and +additions. When he came home in the evening, Mrs. Seaton, at whose house he +was staying, remarked that he looked worried and fatigued, and asked if +anything had happened. Mr. Webster replied, "You would think that something +had happened if you knew what I have done. I have killed seventeen Roman +proconsuls." It was a terrible slaughter for poor Harrison, for the +proconsuls were probably very dear to his heart. His youth had been passed +in the time when the pseudo classicism of the French Republic and Empire +was rampant, and now that, in his old age, he had been raised to the +presidency, his head was probably full of the republics of antiquity, and +of Cincinnatus called from the plough, to take the helm of state. + +M. de Bacourt, the French minister at this period, a rather shallow and +illiberal man who disliked Mr. Webster, gives, in his recently published +correspondence, the following amusing account of the presentation of the +diplomatic corps to President Harrison,--a little bit of contemporary +gossip which carries us back to those days better than anything else could +possibly do. The diplomatic corps assembled at the house of Mr. Fox, the +British minister, who was to read a speech in behalf of the whole body, and +thence proceeded to the White House where + + "the new Secretary of State, Mr. Webster, who is much embarrassed + by his new functions, came to make his arrangements with Mr. Fox. + This done, we were ranged along the wall in order of seniority, and + after too long a delay for a country where the chief magistrate has + no right to keep people waiting, the old General came in, followed + by all the members of his Cabinet, who walked in single file, and + so kept behind him. He then advanced toward Mr. Fox, whom Mr. + Webster presented to him. Mr. Fox read to him his address. Then the + President took out his spectacles and read his reply. Then, after + having shaken hands with the English minister, he walked from one + end of our line to the other, Mr. Webster presenting each of us by + name, and he shaking hands with each one without saying a word. + This ceremony finished he returned to the room whence he had come, + and reappeared with Mrs. Harrison--the widow of his eldest + son--upon his arm, whom he presented to the diplomatic corps _en + masse_. Mr. Webster, who followed, then presented to us Mrs. + Finley, the mother of this Mrs. Harrison, in the following terms: + 'Gentlemen, I introduce to you Mrs. Finley, the lady who attends + Mrs. Harrison;' and observe that this good lady who attends the + others--takes care of them--is blind. Then all at once, a crowd of + people rushed into the room. They were the wives, sisters, + daughters, cousins, and lady friends of the President and of all + his ministers, who were presented to us, and _vice versa_, in the + midst of an inconceivable confusion." + +Fond, however, as Mr. Webster was of society, and punctilious as he was in +matters of etiquette and propriety, M. de Bacourt to the contrary +notwithstanding, he had far more important duties to perform than those of +playing host and receiving foreign ministers. Our relations with England +when he entered the cabinet were such as to make war seem almost +inevitable. The northeastern boundary, undetermined by the treaty of 1783, +had been the subject of continual and fruitless negotiation ever since that +time, and was still unsettled and more complicated than ever. It was agreed +that there should be a new survey and a new arbitration, but no agreement +could be reached as to who should arbitrate or what questions should be +submitted to the arbitrators, and the temporary arrangements for the +possession of the territory in dispute were unsatisfactory and precarious. +Much more exciting and perilous than this old difficulty was a new one and +its consequences growing out of the Canadian rebellion in 1837. Certain of +the rebels fled to the United States, and there, in conjunction with +American citizens, prepared to make incursions into Canada. For this +purpose they fitted out an American steamboat, the Caroline. An expedition +from Canada crossed the Niagara River to the American shore, set fire to +the Caroline, and let her drift over the Falls. In the fray which occurred, +an American named Durfree was killed. The British government avowed this +invasion to be a public act and a necessary measure of self-defence; but it +was a question when Mr. Van Buren went out of office whether this avowal +had been made in an authentic manner. There was another incident, however, +also growing out of this affair, even more irritating and threatening than +the invasion itself. In November, 1840, one Alexander McLeod came from +Canada to New York, where he boasted that he was the slayer of Durfree, and +thereupon was at once arrested on a charge of murder and thrown into +prison. This aroused great anger in England, and the conviction of McLeod +was all that was needed to cause immediate war. In addition to these +complications was the question of the right of search for the impressment +of British seamen and for the suppression of the slave-trade. Our +government was, of course, greatly hampered in action by the rights of +Maine and Massachusetts on the northeastern boundary, and by the fact that +McLeod was within the jurisdiction and in the power of the New York courts, +and wholly out of reach of those of the United States. The character of the +national representatives on both sides in London tended, moreover, to +aggravate the growing irritation between the two countries. Lord Palmerston +was sharp and domineering, and Mr. Stevenson, our minister, was by no means +mild or conciliatory. Between them they did what they could to render +accommodation impossible. + +To evolve a satisfactory and permanent peace from these conditions was the +task which confronted Mr. Webster, and he was hardly in office before he +received a demand from Mr. Fox for the release of McLeod, in which full +avowal was made that the burning of the Caroline was a public act. Mr. +Webster determined that the proper method of settling the boundary +question, when that subject should be reached, was to agree upon a +conventional and arbitrary line, and that in the mean time the only way to +dispose of McLeod was to get him out of prison, separate him, +diplomatically speaking, from the affair of the Caroline, and then take +that up as a distinct matter for negotiation with the British government. +The difficulty in regard to McLeod was the most pressing, and so to that he +gave his immediate attention. His first step was to instruct the +Attorney-General to proceed to Lockport, where McLeod was imprisoned, and +communicate with the counsel for the defence, furnishing them with +authentic information that the destruction of the Caroline was a public +act, and that therefore McLeod could not be held responsible. He then +replied to the British minister that McLeod could, of course, be released +only by judicial process, but he also informed Mr. Fox of the steps which +had been taken by the administration to assure the prisoner a complete +defence based on the avowal of the British government that the attack on +the Caroline was a public act. This threw the responsibility for McLeod, +and for consequent peace or war, where it belonged, on the New York +authorities, who seemed, however, but little inclined to assist the general +government. McLeod came before the Supreme Court of New York in July, on a +writ of _habeas corpus_, but they refused to release him on the grounds set +forth in Mr. Webster's instructions to the Attorney-General, and he was +remanded for trial in October, which was highly embarrassing to our +government, as it kept this dangerous affair open. + +But this and all other embarrassments to the Secretary of State sank into +insignificance beside those caused him by the troubles in his own political +party. Between the time of the instructions to the Attorney-General and +that of the letter to Mr. Fox, President Harrison died, after only a month +of office. Mr. Tyler, of whose views but little was known, at once +succeeded, and made no change in the cabinet of his predecessor. On the +last day of May, Congress, called in extra session by President Harrison, +convened. A bill establishing a bank was passed, and Mr. Tyler vetoed it on +account of constitutional objections to some of its features. The +triumphant Whigs were filled with wrath at this unlooked-for check. Mr. +Clay reflected on the President with great severity in the Senate, the +members of the party in the House were very violent in their expressions of +disapproval, and another measure, known as the "Fiscal Corporation Act," +was at once prepared. Mr. Webster regarded this state of affairs with great +anxiety and alarm. He said that such a contest, if persisted in, would ruin +the party and deprive them of the fruits of their victory, besides +imperilling the important foreign policy then just initiated. He strove to +allay the excitement, and resisted the passage of any new bank measure, +much as he wished the establishment of such an institution, advising +postponement and delay for the sake of procuring harmony if possible. But +the party in Congress would not be quieted. They were determined to force +Mr. Tyler's hand at all hazards, and while the new bill was pending, Mr. +Clay, stung by the taunts of Mr. Buchanan, made a savage attack upon the +President. As a natural consequence, the "Fiscal Corporation" scheme shared +the fate of its predecessor. The breach between the President and his party +was opened irreparably, and four members of the cabinet at once resigned. +Mr. Webster was averse to becoming a party to an obvious combination +between the Senate and the cabinet to harass the President, and he was +determined not to sacrifice the success of his foreign negotiations to a +political quarrel. He therefore resolved to remain in the cabinet for the +present, at least, and, after consulting the Massachusetts delegation in +Congress, who fully approved his course, he announced his decision to the +public in a letter to the "National Intelligencer." His action soon became +the subject of much adverse criticism from the Whigs, but at this day no +one would question that he was entirely right. It was not such an easy +thing to do, however, as it now appears, for the excitement was running +high among the Whigs, and there was great bitterness of feeling toward the +President. Mr. Webster behaved in an independent and patriotic manner, +showing a liberality of spirit, a breadth of view, and a courage of opinion +which entitle him to the greatest credit. + +Events, which had seemed thus far to go steadily against him in his +negotiations, and which had been supplemented by the attacks of the +opposition in Congress for his alleged interference with the course of +justice in New York, now began to turn in his favor. The news of the +refusal of the New York court to release McLeod on a _habeas corpus_ had +hardly reached England when the Melbourne ministry was beaten in the House +of Commons, and Sir Robert Peel came in, bringing with him Lord Aberdeen as +the successor of Lord Palmerston in the department of foreign affairs. The +new ministry was disposed to be much more peaceful than their predecessors +had been, and the negotiations at once began to move more smoothly. Great +care was still necessary to prevent outbreaks on the border, but in October +McLeod proved an _alibi_ and was acquitted, and thus the most dangerous +element in our relations with England was removed. Matters were still +further improved by the retirement of Mr. Stevenson, whose successor in +London was Mr. Everett, eminently conciliatory in disposition and in full +sympathy with the Secretary of State. + +Mr. Webster was now able to turn his undivided attention to the +long-standing boundary question. His proposition to agree upon a +conventional line had been made known by Mr. Fox to his government, and +soon afterwards Mr. Everett was informed that Lord Ashburton would be sent +to Washington on a special mission. The selection of an envoy well known +for his friendly feeling toward the United States, which was also +traditional with the great banking-house of his family, was in itself a +pledge of conciliation and good will. Lord Ashburton reached Washington in +April, 1842, and the negotiation at once began. + +It is impossible and needless to give here a detailed account of that +negotiation. We can only glance briefly at the steps taken by Mr. Webster +and at the results achieved by him. There were many difficulties to be +overcome, and in the winter of 1841-42 the case of the Creole added a fresh +and dangerous complication. The Creole was a slave-ship, on which the +negroes had risen, and, taking possession, had carried her into an English +port in the West Indies, where assistance was refused to the crew, and +where the slaves were allowed to go free. This was an act of very doubtful +legality, it touched both England and the Southern States in a very +sensitive point, and it required all Mr. Webster's tact and judgment to +keep it out of the negotiation until the main issue had been settled. + +The principal obstacle in the arrangement of the boundary dispute arose +from the interests and the attitude of Massachusetts and Maine. Mr. Webster +obtained with sufficient ease the appointment of commissioners from the +former State, and, through the agency of Mr. Sparks, who was sent to +Augusta for the purpose, commissioners were also appointed in Maine; but +these last were instructed to adhere to the line of 1783 as claimed by the +United States. Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster readily agreed that a treaty +must come from mutual conciliation and compromise; but, after a good deal +of correspondence, it became apparent that the Maine commissioners and the +English envoy could not be brought to an agreement. A dead-lock and +consequent loss of the treaty were imminent. Mr. Webster then had a long +interview with Lord Ashburton. By a process of give and take they agreed on +a conventional line and on the concession of certain rights, which made a +fair bargain, but unluckily the loss was suffered by Maine and +Massachusetts, while the benefits received by the United States accrued to +New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. This brought the negotiators to the +point at which they had already been forced to halt so many times before. +Mr. Webster now cut the knot by proposing that the United States should +indemnify Maine and Massachusetts in money for the loss they were to suffer +in territory, and by his dexterous management the commissioners of the two +States were persuaded to assent to this arrangement, while Lord Ashburton +was induced to admit the agreement into a clause of the treaty. This +disposed of the chief question in dispute, but two other subjects were +included in the treaty besides the boundary. The first related to the +right of search claimed by England for the suppression of the slave-trade. +This was met by what was called the "Cruising Convention," a clause which +stipulated that each nation should keep its own squadron on the coast of +Africa, to enforce separately its own laws against the slave-trade, but in +mutual cooeperation. The other subject of agreement grew out of the Creole +case. England supposed that we sought the return of the negroes because +they were slaves, but Mr. Webster argued that they were demanded as +mutineers and murderers. The result was an article which, while it +carefully avoided even the appearance of an attempt to bind England to +return fugitive slaves, provided amply for the extradition of criminals. +The case of the Caroline was disposed of by a formal admission of the +inviolability of national territory and by an apology for the burning of +the steamboat. As to the action in regard to the slaves on the Creole, Mr. +Webster could only obtain the assurance that there should be "no officious +interference with American vessels driven by accident or violence into +British ports," and with this he was content to let the matter drop. On the +subject of impressment, the old _casus belli_ of 1812, Mr. Webster wrote a +forcible letter to Lord Ashburton. In it he said that, in future, "in every +regularly-documented American merchant vessel, the crew who navigate it +will find their protection in the flag which is over them." In other words, +if you take sailors out of our vessels, we shall fight; and this simple +statement of fact ended the whole matter and was quite as binding on +England as any treaty could have been. + +Thus the negotiation closed. The only serious objection to its results was +that the interests of Maine were sacrificed perhaps unduly,--as a recent +discussion of that point seems to show. But such a sacrifice was fully +justified by what was achieved. A war was averted, a long standing and +menacing dispute was settled, and a treaty was concluded which was +creditable and honorable to all concerned. By his successful introduction +of the extradition clause, Mr. Webster rendered a great service to +civilization and to the suppression and punishment of crime. Mr. Webster +was greatly aided throughout--both in his arguments, and in the +construction of the treaty itself--by the learned and valuable assistance +freely given by Judge Story. But he conducted the whole negotiation with +great ability and in the spirit of a liberal and enlightened statesman. He +displayed the highest tact and dexterity in reconciling so many clashing +interests, and avoiding so many perilous side issues, until he had brought +the main problem to a solution. In all that he did and said he showed a +dignity and an entire sufficiency, which make this negotiation one of the +most creditable--so far as its conduct was concerned--in which the United +States was ever engaged. + +While the negotiation was in progress there was a constant murmur among the +Whigs about Mr. Webster's remaining in the cabinet, and as soon as the +treaty was actually signed a loud clamor began--both among the politicians +and in the newspapers--for his resignation. In the midst of this outcry the +Senate met and ratified the treaty by a vote of thirty-nine to nine,--a +great triumph for its author. But the debate disclosed a vigorous +opposition, Benton and Buchanan both assailing Mr. Webster for neglecting +and sacrificing American, and particularly Southern, interests. At the same +time the controversy which Mr. Webster called "the battle of the maps," and +which was made a great deal of in England, began to show itself. A map of +1783, which Mr. Webster obtained, had been discovered in Paris, sustaining +the English view, while another was afterwards found in London, supporting +the American claim. Neither was of the least consequence, as the new line +was conventional and arbitrary; but the discoveries caused a great deal of +unreasonable excitement. Mr. Webster saw very plainly that the treaty was +not yet secure. It was exposed to attacks both at home and abroad, and had +still to pass Parliament. Until it was entirely safe, Mr. Webster +determined to remain at his post. The clamor continued about his +resignation, and rose round him at his home in Marshfield, whither he had +gone for rest. At the same time the Whig convention of Massachusetts +declared formally a complete separation from the President. In the language +of to-day, they "read Mr. Tyler out of the party." There was a variety of +motives for this action. One was to force Mr. Webster out of the cabinet, +another to advance the fortunes of Mr. Clay, in favor of whose presidential +candidacy movements had begun in Massachusetts, even among Mr. Webster's +personal friends, as well as elsewhere. Mr. Webster had just declined a +public dinner, but he now decided to meet his friends in Faneuil Hall. An +immense audience gathered to hear him, many of them strongly disapproving +his course, but after he had spoken a few moments, he had them completely +under control. He reviewed the negotiation; he discussed fully the +differences in the party; he deplored, and he did not hesitate strongly to +condemn these quarrels, because by them the fruits of victory were lost, +and Whig policy abandoned. With boldness and dignity he denied the right of +the convention to declare a separation from the President, and the implied +attempt to coerce himself and others. "I am, gentlemen, a little hard to +coax," he said, "but as to being driven, that is out of the question. If I +choose to remain in the President's councils, do these gentlemen mean to +say that I cease to be a Massachusetts Whig? I am quite ready to put that +question to the people of Massachusetts." He was well aware that he was +losing party strength by his action; he knew that behind all these +resolutions was the intention to raise his great rival to the presidency; +but he did not shrink from avowing his independence and his intention of +doing what he believed to be right, and what posterity admits to have been +so. Mr. Webster never appeared to better advantage, and he never made a +more manly speech than on this occasion, when, without any bravado, he +quietly set the influence and the threats of his party at defiance. + +He was not mistaken in thinking that the treaty was not yet in smooth +water. It was again attacked in the Senate, and it had a still more severe +ordeal to go through in Parliament. The opposition, headed by Lord +Palmerston, assailed the treaty and Lord Ashburton himself, with the +greatest virulence, denouncing the one as a capitulation, and the other as +a grossly unfit appointment. Moreover, the language of the President's +message led England to believe that we claimed that the right of search had +been abandoned. After much correspondence, this misunderstanding drew forth +an able letter from Mr. Webster, stating that the right of search had not +been included in the treaty, but that the "cruising convention" had +rendered the question unimportant. Finally, all complications were +dispersed, and the treaty ratified; and then came an attack from an +unexpected quarter. General Cass--our minister at Paris--undertook to +protest against the treaty, denounce it, and leave his post on account of +it. This wholly gratuitous assault led to a public correspondence, in which +General Cass, on his own confession, was completely overthrown and broken +down by the Secretary of State. This was the last difficulty, and the work +was finally accepted and complete. + +During this important and absorbing negotiation, other matters of less +moment, but still of considerable consequence, had been met by Mr. Webster, +and successfully disposed of. He made a treaty with Portugal, respecting +duties on wines; he carried on a long correspondence with our minister to +Mexico in relation to certain American prisoners; he vindicated the course +of the United States in regard to the independence of Texas, teaching M. de +Bocanegra, the Mexican Secretary of State, a lesson as to the duties of +neutrality, and administering a severe reproof to that gentleman for +imputing bad faith to the United States; he conducted the correspondence, +and directed the policy of the government in regard to the troubles in +Rhode Island; he made an effort to settle the Oregon boundary; and, +finally, he set on foot the Chinese mission, which, after being offered to +Mr. Everett, was accepted by Mr. Cushing with the best results. But his +real work came to an end with the correspondence with General Cass at the +close of 1842, and in May of the following year he resigned the +secretaryship. In the two years during which he had been at the head of the +cabinet, he had done much. His work added to his fame by the ability which +it exhibited in a new field, and has stood the test of time. In a period of +difficulty, and even danger, he proved himself singularly well adapted for +the conduct of foreign affairs,--a department which is most peculiarly and +traditionally the employment and test of a highly-trained statesman. It may +be fairly said that no one, with the exception of John Quincy Adams, has +ever shown higher qualities, or attained greater success in the +administration of the State Department, than Mr. Webster did while in Mr. +Tyler's cabinet. + +On his resignation, he returned at once to private life, and passed the +next summer on his farm at Marshfield,--now grown into a large +estate,--which was a source of constant interest and delight, and where he +was able to have beneath his eyes his beloved sea. His private affairs were +in disorder, and required his immediate attention. He threw himself into +his profession, and his practice at once became active, lucrative, and +absorbing. To this period of retirement belong the second Bunker Hill +oration and the Girard argument, which made so much noise in its day. He +kept himself aloof from politics, but could not wholly withdraw from them. +The feeling against him, on account of his continuance in the cabinet, had +subsided, and there was a feeble and somewhat fitful movement to drop Clay, +and present Mr. Webster as a candidate for the presidency. Mr. Webster, +however, made a speech at Andover, defending his course and advocating Whig +principles, and declared that he was not a candidate for office. He also +refused to allow New Hampshire to mar party harmony by bringing his name +forward. When Mr. Clay was nominated, in May, 1844, Mr. Webster, who had +beheld with anxiety the rise of the Liberty party and prophesied the +annexation of Texas, decided, although he was dissatisfied with the silence +of the Whigs on this subject, to sustain their candidate. This was +undoubtedly the wisest course; and, having once enlisted, he gave Mr. Clay +a hearty and vigorous support, making a series of powerful speeches, +chiefly on the tariff, and second in variety and ability only to those +which he had delivered in the Harrison campaign. Mr. Clay was defeated +largely by the action of the Liberty party, and the silence of the Whigs +about Texas and slavery cost them the election. At the beginning of the +year Mr. Webster had declined a reelection to the Senate, but it was +impossible for him to remain out of politics, and the pressure to return +soon became too strong to be resisted. When Mr. Choate resigned in the +winter of 1844-45, Mr. Webster was reelected senator, from Massachusetts. +On the first of March the intrigue, to perfect which Mr. Calhoun had +accepted the State Department, culminated, and the resolutions for the +annexation of Texas passed both branches of Congress. Four days later Mr. +Polk's administration, pledged to the support and continuance of the +annexation policy, was in power, and Mr. Webster had taken his seat in the +Senate for his last term. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RETURN TO THE SENATE.--THE SEVENTH OF MARCH SPEECH. + + +The principal events of Mr. Polk's administration belong to or grow out of +the slavery agitation, then beginning to assume most terrible proportions. +So far as Mr. Webster is concerned, they form part of the history of his +course on the slavery question, which culminated in the famous speech of +March 7, 1850. Before approaching that subject, however, it will be +necessary to touch very briefly on one or two points of importance in Mr. +Webster's career, which have no immediate bearing on the question of +slavery, and no relation to the final and decisive stand which Mr. Webster +took in regard to it. + +The Ashburton treaty was open to one just criticism. It did not go far +enough. It did not settle the northwestern as it did the northeastern +boundary. Mr. Webster, as has been said, made an effort to deal with the +former as well as the latter, but he met with no encouragement, and as he +was then preparing to retire from office, the matter dropped. In regard to +the northwestern boundary Mr. Webster agreed with the opinion of Mr. +Monroe's cabinet, that the forty-ninth parallel was a fair and proper line; +but the British undertook to claim the line of the Columbia River, and this +excited corresponding claims on our side. The Democracy for political +purposes became especially warlike and patriotic. They declared in their +platform that we must have the whole of Oregon and reoccupy it at once. Mr. +Polk embodied this view in his message, together with the assertion that +our rights extended to the line of 54 deg. 40' north, and a shout of +"fifty-four-forty or fight" went through the land from the enthusiastic +Democracy. If this attitude meant anything it meant war, inasmuch as our +proposal for the forty-ninth parallel, and the free navigation of the +Columbia River, made in the autumn of 1845, had been rejected by England, +and then withdrawn by us. Under these circumstances Mr. Webster felt it his +duty to come forward and exert all his influence to maintain peace, and to +promote a clear comprehension, both in the United States and in Europe, of +the points at issue. His speech on this subject and with this aim was +delivered in Faneuil Hall. He spoke of the necessity of peace, of the fair +adjustment offered by an acceptance of the forty-ninth parallel, and +derided the idea of casting two great nations into war for such a question +as this. He closed with a forcible and solemn denunciation of the president +or minister who should dare to take the responsibility for kindling the +flames of war on such a pretext. The speech was widely read. It was +translated into nearly all the languages of Europe, and on the continent +had a great effect. About a month later he wrote to Mr. MacGregor of +Glasgow, suggesting that the British government should offer to accept the +forty-ninth parallel, and his letter was shown to Lord Aberdeen, who at +once acted upon the advice it contained. While this letter, however, was on +its way, certain resolutions were introduced in the Senate relating to the +national defences, and to give notice of the termination of the convention +for the joint occupation of Oregon, which would of course have been nearly +equivalent to a declaration of war. Mr. Webster opposed the resolutions, +and insisted that, while the Executive, as he believed, had no real wish +for war, this talk was kept up about "all or none," which left nothing to +negotiate about. The notice finally passed, but before it could be +delivered by our minister in London, Lord Aberdeen's proposition of the +forty-ninth parallel, as suggested by Mr. Webster, had been received at +Washington, where it was accepted by the truculent administration, agreed +to by the Senate, and finally embodied in a treaty. Mr. Webster's +opposition had served its purpose in delaying action and saving bluster +from being converted into actual war,--a practical conclusion by no means +desired by the dominant party, who had talked so loud that they came very +near blundering into hostilities merely as a matter of self-justification. +The declarations of the Democratic convention and of the Democratic +President in regard to England were really only sound and fury, although +they went so far that the final retreat was noticeable and not very +graceful. The Democratic leaders had had no intention of fighting with +England when all they could hope to gain would be glory and hard knocks, +but they had a very definite idea of attacking without bluster and in good +earnest another nation where there was territory to be obtained for +slavery. + +The Oregon question led, however, to an attack upon Mr. Webster which +cannot be wholly passed over. He had, of course, his personal enemies in +both parties, and his effective opposition to war with England greatly +angered some of the most warlike of the Democrats, and especially Mr. C.J. +Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, a bitter Anglophobist. Mr. Ingersoll, in +February, made a savage attack upon the Ashburton negotiation, the treaty +of Washington, and upon Mr. Webster personally, alleging that as Secretary +of State he had been guilty of a variety of grave misdemeanors, including a +corrupt use of the public money. Some of these charges, those relating to +the payment of McLeod's counsel by our government, to instructions to the +Attorney-General to take charge of McLeod's defence, and to a threat by +Mr. Webster that if McLeod were not released New York would be laid in +ashes, were repeated in the Senate by Mr. Dickinson of New York. Mr. +Webster peremptorily called for all the papers relating to the negotiation +of 1842, and on the sixth and seventh of April (1846), he made the +elaborate speech in defence of the Ashburton treaty, which is included in +his collected works. It is one of the strongest and most virile speeches he +ever delivered. He was profoundly indignant, and he had the completest +mastery of his subject. In fact, he was so deeply angered by the charges +made against him, that he departed from his almost invariable practice, and +indulged in a severe personal denunciation of Ingersoll and Dickinson. +Although he did not employ personal invective in his oratory, it was a +weapon which he was capable of using with most terrible effect, and his +blows fell with crushing force upon Ingersoll, who writhed under the +strokes. Through some inferior officers of the State Department Ingersoll +got what he considered proofs, and then introduced resolutions calling for +an account of all payments from the secret service fund; for communications +made by Mr. Webster to Messrs. Adams and Gushing of the Committee on +Foreign Affairs; for all papers relating to McLeod, and for the minutes of +the committee on Foreign Affairs, to show that Mr. Webster had expressed an +opinion adverse to our claim in the Oregon dispute. Mr. Ingersoll closed +his speech by a threat of impeachment as the result and reward of all this +evil-doing, and an angry debate followed, in which Mr. Webster was attacked +and defended with equal violence. President Polk replied to the call of the +House by saying that he could not feel justified, either morally or +legally, in revealing the uses of the secret service fund. Meantime a +similar resolution was defeated in the Senate by a vote of forty-four to +one, Mr. Webster remarking that he was glad that the President had refused +the request of the House; that he should have been sorry to have seen an +important principle violated, and that he was not in the least concerned at +being thus left without an explanation; he needed no defence, he said, +against such attacks. + +Mr. Ingersoll, rebuffed by the President, then made a personal explanation, +alleging specifically that Mr. Webster had made an unlawful use of the +secret service money, that he had employed it to corrupt the press, and +that he was a defaulter. Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts replied with great +bitterness, and the charges were referred to a committee. It appeared, on +investigation, that Mr. Webster had been extremely careless in his +accounts, and had delayed in making them up and in rendering vouchers, +faults to which he was naturally prone; but it also appeared that the money +had been properly spent, that the accounts had ultimately been made up, and +that there was no evidence of improper use. The committee's report was +laid upon the table, the charges came to nothing, and Mr. Ingersoll was +left in a very unpleasant position with regard to the manner in which he +had obtained his information from the State Department. The affair is of +interest now merely as showing how deeply rooted was Mr. Webster's habitual +carelessness in money matters, even when it was liable to expose him to +very grave imputations, and what a very dangerous man he was to arouse and +put on the defensive. + +Mr. Webster was absent when the intrigue and scheming of Mr. Polk +culminated in war with Mexico, and so his vote was not given either for or +against it. He opposed the volunteer system as a mongrel contrivance, and +resisted it as he had the conscription bill in the war of 1812, as +unconstitutional. He also opposed the continued prosecution of the war, +and, when it drew toward a close, was most earnest against the acquisition +of new territory. In the summer of 1847 he made an extended tour through +the Southern States, and was received there, as he had been in the West, +with every expression of interest and admiration. + +The Mexican war, however, cost Mr. Webster far more than the anxiety and +disappointment which it brought to him as a public man. His second son, +Major Edward Webster, died near the City of Mexico, from disease contracted +by exposure on the march. This melancholy news reached Mr. Webster when +important matters which demanded his attention were pending in Congress. +Measures to continue the war were before the Senate even after they had +ratified the peace. These measures Mr. Webster strongly resisted, and he +also opposed, in a speech of great power, the acquisition of new +territories by conquest, as threatening the very existence of the nation, +the principles of the Constitution, and the Constitution itself. The +increase of senators, which was, of course, the object of the South in +annexing Texas and in the proposed additions from Mexico, he regarded as +destroying the balance of the government, and therefore he denounced the +plan of acquisition by conquest in the strongest terms. The course about to +be adopted, he said, will turn the Constitution into a deformity, into a +curse rather than a blessing; it will make a frame of government founded on +the grossest inequality, and will imperil the existence of the Union. With +this solemn warning he closed his speech, and immediately left Washington +for Boston, where his daughter, Mrs. Appleton, was sinking in consumption. +She died on April 28th and was buried on May 1st. Three days later, Mr. +Webster followed to the grave the body of his son Edward, which had been +brought from Mexico. Two such terrible blows, coming so near together, need +no comment. They tell their own sad story. One child only remained to him +of all who had gathered about his knees in the happy days at Portsmouth +and Boston, and his mind turned to thoughts of death as he prepared at +Marshfield a final resting-place for himself and those he had loved. +Whatever successes or defeats were still in store for him, the heavy cloud +of domestic sorrow could never be dispersed in the years that remained, nor +could the gaps which had been made be filled or forgotten. + +But the sting of personal disappointment and of frustrated ambition, +trivial enough in comparison with such griefs as these, was now added to +this heavy burden of domestic affliction. The success of General Taylor in +Mexico rendered him a most tempting candidate for the Whigs to nominate. +His military services and his personal popularity promised victory, and the +fact that no one knew Taylor's political principles, or even whether he was +a Whig or a Democrat, seemed rather to increase than diminish his +attractions in the eyes of the politicians. A movement was set on foot to +bring about this nomination, and its managers planned to make Mr. Webster +Vice-President on the ticket with the victorious soldier. Such an offer was +a melancholy commentary on his ambitious hopes. He spurned the proposition +as a personal indignity, and, disapproving always of the selection of +military men for the presidency, openly refused to give his assent to +Taylor's nomination. Other trials, however, were still in store for him. +Mr. Clay was a candidate for the nomination, and many Whigs, feeling that +his success meant another party defeat, turned to Taylor as the only +instrument to prevent this danger. In February, 1848, a call was issued in +New York for a public meeting to advance General Taylor's candidacy, which +was signed by many of Mr. Webster's personal and political friends. Mr. +Webster was surprised and grieved, and bitterly resented this action. His +biographer, Mr. Curtis, speaks of it as a blunder which rendered Mr. +Webster's nomination hopeless. The truth is, that it was a most significant +illustration of the utter futility of Mr. Webster's presidential +aspirations. These friends in New York, who no doubt honestly desired his +nomination, were so well satisfied that it was perfectly impracticable, +that they turned to General Taylor to avoid the disaster threatened, as +they believed, by Mr. Clay's success. Mr. Webster predicted truly that Clay +and Taylor would be the leading candidates before the convention, but he +was wholly mistaken in supposing that the movement in New York would bring +about the nomination of the former. His friends had judged rightly. Taylor +was the only man who could defeat Clay, and he was nominated on the fourth +ballot. Massachusetts voted steadily for Webster, but he never approached a +nomination. Even Scott had twice as many votes. The result of the +convention led Mr. Webster to take a very gloomy view of the prospects of +the Whigs, and he was strongly inclined to retire to his tent and let them +go to deserved ruin. In private conversation he spoke most disparagingly of +the nomination, the Whig party, and the Whig candidate. His strictures were +well deserved, but, as the election drew on, he found or believed it to be +impossible to live up to them. He was not ready to go over to the Free-Soil +party, he could not remain silent, yet he could not give Taylor a full +support. In September, 1848, he made his famous speech at Marshfield, in +which, after declaring that the "sagacious, wise, far-seeing doctrine of +_availability_ lay at the root of the whole matter," and that "the +nomination was one not fit to be made," he said that General Taylor was +personally a brave and honorable man, and that, as the choice lay between +him and the Democratic candidate, General Cass, he should vote for the +former and advised his friends to do the same. He afterwards made another +speech, in a similar but milder strain, in Faneuil Hall. Mr. Webster's +attitude was not unlike that of Hamilton when he published his celebrated +attack on Adams, which ended by advising all men to vote for that +objectionable man. The conclusion was a little impotent in both instances, +but in Mr. Webster's case the results were better. The politicians and +lovers of availability had judged wisely, and Taylor was triumphantly +elected. + +Before the new President was inaugurated, in the winter of 1848-49, the +struggle began in Congress, which led to the delivery of the 7th of March +speech by Mr. Webster in the following year. At this point, therefore, it +becomes necessary to turn back and review briefly and rapidly Mr. Webster's +course in regard to the question of slavery. + +His first important utterance on this momentous question was in 1819, when +the land was distracted with the conflict which had suddenly arisen over +the admission of Missouri. Massachusetts was strongly in favor of the +exclusion of slavery from the new States, and utterly averse to any +compromise. A meeting was held in the state-house at Boston, and a +committee was appointed to draft a memorial to Congress, on the subject of +the prohibition of slavery in the territories. This memorial,--which was +afterwards adopted,--was drawn by Mr. Webster, as chairman of the +committee. It set forth, first, the belief of its signers that Congress had +the constitutional power "to make such a prohibition a condition on the +admission of a new State into the Union, and that it is just and proper +that they should exercise that power." Then came an argument on the +constitutional question, and then the reasons for the exercise of the power +as a general policy. The first point was that it would prevent further +inequality of representation, such as existed under the Constitution in +the old States, but which could not be increased without danger. The next +argument went straight to the merits of the question, as involved in +slavery as a system. After pointing out the value of the ordinance of 1787 +to the Northwest, the memorial continued:-- + + "We appeal to the justice and the wisdom of the national councils + to prevent the further progress of a great and serious evil. We + appeal to those who look forward to the remote consequences of + their measures, and who cannot balance a temporary or trifling + convenience, if there were such, against a permanent growing and + desolating evil. + + "... The Missouri territory is a new country. If its extensive and + fertile fields shall be opened as a market for slaves, the + government will seem to become a party to a traffic, which in so + many acts, through so many years, it has denounced as impolitic, + unchristian, and inhuman.... The laws of the United States have + denounced heavy penalties against the traffic in slaves, because + such traffic is deemed unjust and inhuman. We appeal to the spirit + of these laws; we appeal to this justice and humanity; we ask + whether they ought not to operate, on the present occasion, with + all their force? We have a strong feeling of the injustice of any + toleration of slavery. Circumstances have entailed it on a portion + of our community, which cannot be immediately relieved from it + without consequences more injurious than the suffering of the evil. + But to permit it in a new country, where yet no habits are formed + which render it indispensable, what is it but to encourage that + rapacity and fraud and violence against which we have so long + pointed the denunciation of our penal code? What is it but to + tarnish the proud fame of the country? What is it but to render + questionable all its professions of regard for the rights of + humanity and the liberties of mankind." + +A year later Mr. Webster again spoke on one portion of this subject, and in +the same tone of deep hostility and reproach. This second instance was that +famous and much quoted passage of his Plymouth oration in which he +denounced the African slave-trade. Every one remembers the ringing words:-- + + "I hear the sound of the hammer, I see the smoke of the furnaces + where manacles and fetters are still forged for human limbs. I see + the visages of those who, by stealth and at midnight, labor in this + work of hell,--foul and dark as may become the artificers of such + instruments of misery and torture. Let that spot be purified, or + let it cease to be of New England. Let it be purified, or let it be + set aside from the Christian world; let it be put out of the circle + of human sympathies and human regards, and let civilized man + henceforth have no communion with it." + +This is directed against the African slave-trade, the most hideous feature, +perhaps, in the system. But there was no real distinction between slavers +plying from one American port to another and those which crossed the ocean +for the same purpose. There was no essential difference between slaves +raised for the market in Virginia--whence they were exported and sold--and +those kidnapped for the same object on the Guinea coast. The physical +suffering of a land journey might be less than that of a long sea-voyage, +but the anguish of separation between mother and child was the same in all +cases. The chains which clanked on the limbs of the wretched creatures, +driven from the auction block along the road which passed beneath the +national capitol, and the fetters of the captured fugitive were no softer +or lighter than those forged for the cargo of the slave-ships. Yet the man +who so magnificently denounced the one in 1820, found no cause to repeat +the denunciation in 1850, when only domestic traffic was in question. The +memorial of 1819 and the oration of 1820 place the African slave-trade and +the domestic branch of the business on precisely the same ground of infamy +and cruelty. In 1850 Mr. Webster seems to have discovered that there was a +wide gulf fixed between them, for the latter wholly failed to excite the +stern condemnation poured forth by the memorialist of 1819 and the orator +of 1820. The Fugitive Slave Law, more inhuman than either of the forms of +traffic, was defended in 1850 on good constitutional grounds; but the +eloquent invective of the early days against an evil which constitutions +might necessitate but could not alter or justify, does not go hand in hand +with the legal argument. + +The next occasion after the Missouri Compromise, on which slavery made its +influence strongly felt at Washington, was when Mr. Adams's scheme of the +Panama mission aroused such bitter and unexpected resistance in Congress. +Mr. Webster defended the policy of the President with great ability, but he +confined himself to the international and constitutional questions which it +involved, and did not discuss the underlying motive and true source of the +opposition. The debate on Foote's resolution in 1830, in the wide range +which it took, of course included slavery, and Mr. Hayne had a good deal to +say on that subject, which lay at the bottom of the tariff agitation, as it +did at that of every Southern movement of any real importance. In his +reply, Mr. Webster said that he had made no attack upon this sensitive +institution, that he had simply stated that the Northwest had been greatly +benefited by the exclusion of slavery, and that it would have been better +for Kentucky if she had come within the scope of the ordinance of 1787. The +weight of his remarks was directed to showing that the complaint of +Northern attacks on slavery as existing in the Southern States, or of +Northern schemes to compel the abolition of slavery, was utterly groundless +and fallacious. At the same time he pointed out the way in which slavery +was continually used to unite the South against the North. + + "This feeling," he said, "always carefully kept alive, and + maintained at too intense a heat to admit discrimination or + reflection, is a lever of great power in our political machine. + There is not and never has been a disposition in the North to + interfere with these interests of the South. Such interference has + never been supposed to be within the power of government; nor has + it been in any way attempted. The slavery of the South has always + been regarded as a matter of domestic policy left with the States + themselves, and with which the Federal government had nothing to + do. Certainly, sir, I am and ever have been of that opinion. The + gentleman, indeed, argues that slavery, in the abstract, is no + evil. Most assuredly, I need not say I differ with him altogether + and most widely on that point. I regard domestic slavery as one of + the greatest evils, both moral and political." + +His position is here clearly defined. He admits fully that slavery within +the States cannot be interfered with by the general government, under the +Constitution. But he also insists that it is a great evil, and the obvious +conclusion is, that its extension, over which the government does have +control, must and should be checked. This is the attitude of the memorial +and the oration. Nothing has yet changed. There is less fervor in the +denunciation of slavery, but that may be fairly attributed to circumstances +which made the maintenance of the general government and the enforcement of +the revenue laws the main points in issue. + +In 1836 the anti-slavery movement, destined to grow to such vast +proportions, began to show itself in the Senate. The first contest came on +the reception of petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia. Mr. Calhoun moved that these petitions should not be received, +but his motion was rejected by a large majority. The question then came on +the petitions themselves, and, by a vote of thirty-four to six, their +prayer was rejected, Mr. Webster voting with the minority because he +disapproved this method of disposing of the matter. Soon after, Mr. Webster +presented three similar petitions, two from Massachusetts and one from +Michigan, and moved their reference to a committee of inquiry. He stated +that, while the government had no power whatever over slavery in the +States, it had complete control over slavery in the District, which was a +totally distinct affair. He urged a respectful treatment of the petitions, +and defended the right of petition and the motives and characters of the +petitioners. He spoke briefly, and, except when he was charged with placing +himself at the head of the petitioners, coldly, and did not touch on the +merits of the question, either as to the abolition of slavery in the +District or as to slavery itself. + +The Southerners, especially the extremists and the nullifiers, were always +more ready than any one else to strain the powers of the central government +to the last point, and use them most tyrannically and illegally in their +own interest and in that of their pet institution. The session of 1836 +furnished a striking example of this characteristic quality. Mr. Calhoun +at that time introduced his monstrous bill to control the United States +mails in the interests of slavery, by authorizing postmasters to seize and +suppress all anti-slavery documents. Against this measure Mr. Webster spoke +and voted, resting his opposition on general grounds, and sustaining it by +a strong and effective argument. In the following year, on his way to the +North, after the inauguration of Mr. Van Buren, a great public reception +was given to him in New York, and on that occasion he made the speech in +Niblo's Garden, where he defined the Whig principles, arraigned so +powerfully the policy of Jackson, and laid the foundation for the triumphs +of the Harrison campaign. In the course of that speech he referred to +Texas, and strongly expressed his belief that it should remain independent +and should not be annexed. This led him to touch upon slavery. He said:-- + + "I frankly avow my entire unwillingness to do anything that shall + extend the slavery of the African race on this continent, or add + other slave-holding States to the Union. When I say that I regard + slavery in itself as a great moral, social, and political evil, I + only use the language which has been adopted by distinguished men, + themselves citizens of slave-holding States. I shall do nothing, + therefore, to favor or encourage its further extension. We have + slavery already amongst us. The Constitution found it in the Union, + it recognized it, and gave it solemn guaranties. To the full + extent of the guaranties we are all bound in honor, in justice, and + by the Constitution.... But when we come to speak of admitting new + States, the subject assumes an entirely different aspect.... In my + opinion, the people of the United States will not consent to bring + into the Union a new, vastly extensive, and slave-holding country, + large enough for half a dozen or a dozen States. In my opinion, + they ought not to consent to it.... On the general question of + slavery a great portion of the community is already strongly + excited. The subject has not only attracted attention as a question + of politics, but it has struck a far deeper-toned chord. It has + arrested the religious feeling of the country; it has taken strong + hold on the consciences of men. He is a rash man, indeed, and + little conversant with human nature, and especially has he a very + erroneous estimate of the character of the people of this country, + who supposes that a feeling of this kind is to be trifled with or + despised. It will assuredly cause itself to be respected. It may be + reasoned with, it may be made willing--I believe it is entirely + willing--to fulfil all existing engagements and all existing + duties, to uphold and defend the Constitution as it is established, + with whatever regrets about some provisions which it does actually + contain. But to coerce it into silence, to endeavor to restrain its + free expression, to seek to compress and confine it, warm as it is + and more heated as such endeavors would inevitably render + it,--should this be attempted, I know nothing, even in the + Constitution or in the Union itself, which would not be endangered + by the explosion which might follow." + +Thus Mr. Webster spoke on slavery and upon the agitation against it, in +1837. The tone was the same as in 1820, and there was the same ring of +dignified courage and unyielding opposition to the extension and +perpetuation of a crying evil. + +In the session of Congress preceding the speech at Niblo's Garden, numerous +petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District had been offered. +Mr. Webster reiterated his views as to the proper disposition to be made of +them; but announced that he had no intention of expressing an opinion as to +the merits of the question. Objections were made to the reception of the +petitions, the question was stated on the reception, and the whole matter +was laid on the table. The Senate, under the lead of Calhoun, was trying to +shut the door against the petitioners, and stifle the right of petition; +and there was no John Quincy Adams among them to do desperate battle +against this infamous scheme. + +In the following year came more petitions, and Mr. Calhoun now attempted to +stop the agitation in another fashion. He introduced a resolution to the +effect that these petitions were a direct and dangerous attack on the +"institution" of the slave-holding States. This Mr. Clay improved in a +substitute, which stated that any act or measure of Congress looking to the +abolition of slavery in the District would be a violation of the faith +implied in the cession by Virginia and Maryland,--a just cause of alarm to +the South, and having a direct tendency to disturb and endanger the Union. +Mr. Webster wrote to a friend that this was an attempt to make a new +Constitution, and that the proceedings of the Senate, when they passed the +resolutions, drew a line which could never be obliterated. Mr. Webster also +spoke briefly against the resolutions, confining himself strictly to +demonstrating the absurdity of Mr. Clay's doctrine of "plighted faith." He +disclaimed carefully, and even anxiously, any intention of expressing an +opinion on the merits of the question; although he mentioned one or two +reasonable arguments against abolition. The resolutions were adopted by a +large majority, Mr. Webster voting against them on the grounds set forth in +his speech. Whether the approaching presidential election had any +connection with his careful avoidance of everything except the +constitutional point, which contrasted so strongly with his recent +utterances at Niblo's Garden, it is, of course, impossible to determine. +John Quincy Adams, who had no love for Mr. Webster, and who was then in the +midst of his desperate struggle for the right of petition, says, in his +diary, in March, 1838, speaking of the delegation from Massachusetts:-- + + "Their policy is dalliance with the South; and they care no more + for the right of petition than is absolutely necessary to satisfy + the feeling of their constituents. They are jealous of Cushing, + who, they think, is playing a double game. They are envious of my + position as the supporter of the right of petition; and they + truckle to the South to court their favor for Webster. He is now + himself tampering with the South on the slavery and the Texas + question." + +This harsh judgment may or may not be correct, but it shows very plainly +that Mr. Webster's caution in dealing with these topics was noticed and +criticised at this period. The annexation of Texas, moreover, which he had +so warmly opposed, seemed to him, at this juncture, and not without reason, +to be less threatening, owing to the course of events in the young +republic. Mr. Adams did not, however, stand alone in thinking that Mr. +Webster, at this time, was lukewarm on the subject. In 1839 Mr. Giddings +says "that it was impossible for any man, who submitted so quietly to the +dictation of slavery as Mr. Webster, to command that influence which was +necessary to constitute a successful politician." How much Mr. Webster's +attitude had weakened, just at this period, is shown better by his own +action than by anything Mr. Giddings could say. The ship Enterprise, +engaged in the domestic slave-trade from Virginia to New Orleans, had been +driven into Port Hamilton, and the slaves had escaped. Great Britain +refused compensation. Thereupon, early in 1840, Mr. Calhoun introduced +resolutions declaratory of international law on this point, and setting +forth that England had no right to interfere with, or to permit, the +escape of slaves from vessels driven into her ports. The resolutions were +idle, because they could effect nothing, and mischievous because they +represented that the sentiment of the Senate was in favor of protecting the +slave-trade. Upon these resolutions, absurd in character and barbarous in +principle, Mr. Webster did not even vote. There is a strange contrast here +between the splendid denunciation of the Plymouth oration and this utter +lack of opinion, upon resolutions designed to create a sentiment favorable +to the protection of slave-ships engaged in the domestic traffic. Soon +afterwards, when Mr. Webster was Secretary of State, he advanced much the +same doctrine in the discussion of the Creole case, and his letter was +approved by Calhoun. There may be merit in the legal argument, but the +character of the cargo, which it was sought to protect, put it beyond the +reach of law. We have no need to go farther than the Plymouth oration to +find the true character of the trade in human beings as carried on upon the +high seas. + +After leaving the cabinet, and resuming his law practice, Mr. Webster, of +course, continued to watch with attention the progress of events. The +formation of the Liberty party, in the summer of 1843, appeared to him a +very grave circumstance. He had always understood the force of the +anti-slavery movement at the North, and it was with much anxiety that he +now saw it take definite shape, and assume extreme grounds of opposition. +This feeling of anxiety was heightened when he discovered, in the following +winter, while in attendance upon the Supreme Court at Washington, the +intention of the administration to bring about the annexation of Texas, and +spring the scheme suddenly upon the country. This policy, with its +consequence of an enormous extension of slave territory, Mr. Webster had +always vigorously and consistently opposed, and he was now thoroughly +alarmed. He saw what an effect the annexation would produce upon the +anti-slavery movement, and he dreaded the results. He therefore procured +the introduction of a resolution in Congress against annexation; wrote some +articles in the newspapers against it himself; stirred up his friends in +Washington and New York to do the same, and endeavored to start public +meetings in Massachusetts. His friends in Boston and elsewhere, and the +Whigs generally, were disposed to think his alarm ill-founded. They were +absorbed in the coming presidential election, and were too ready to do Mr. +Webster the injustice of supposing that his views upon the probability of +annexation sprang from jealousy of Mr. Clay. The suspicion was unfounded +and unfair. Mr. Webster was wholly right and perfectly sincere. He did a +good deal in an attempt to rouse the North. The only criticism to be made +is that he did not do more. One public meeting would have been enough, if +he had spoken frankly, declared that he knew, no matter how, that +annexation was contemplated, and had then denounced it as he did at Niblo's +Garden. "One blast upon his bugle-horn were worth a thousand men." Such a +speech would have been listened to throughout the length and breadth of the +land; but perhaps it was too much to expect this of him in view of his +delicate relations with Mr. Clay. At a later period, in the course of the +campaign, he denounced annexation and the increase of slave territory, but +unfortunately it was then too late. The Whigs had preserved silence on the +subject at their convention, and it was difficult to deal with it without +reflecting on their candidate. Mr. Webster vindicated his own position and +his own wisdom, but the mischief could not then be averted. The annexation +of Texas after the rejection of the treaty in 1844 was carried through, +nearly a year later, by a mixture of trickery and audacity in the last +hours of the Tyler administration. + +Four days after the consummation of this project Mr. Webster took his seat +in the Senate, and on March 11 wrote to his son that, "while we feel as we +ought about the annexation of Texas, we ought to keep in view the true +grounds of objection to that measure. Those grounds are,--want of +constitutional power,--danger of too great an extent of territory, and +opposition to the increase of slavery and slave representation. It was +properly considered, also, as a measure tending to produce war." He then +goes on to argue that Mexico had no good cause for war; but it is evident +that he already dreaded just that result. When Congress assembled again, in +the following December, the first matter to engage their attention was the +admission of Texas as a State of the Union. It was impossible to prevent +the passage of the resolution, but Mr. Webster stated his objections to the +measure. His speech was brief and very mild in tone, if compared with the +language which he had frequently used in regard to the annexation. He +expressed his opposition to this method of obtaining new territory by +resolution instead of treaty, and to acquisition of territory as foreign to +the true spirit of the Republic, and as endangering the Constitution and +the Union by increasing the already existing inequality of representation, +and extending the area of slavery. He dwelt on the inviolability of slavery +in the States, and did not touch upon the evils of the system itself. + +By the following spring the policy of Mr. Polk had culminated, intrigue had +done its perfect work, hostilities had been brought on with Mexico, and in +May Congress was invited to declare a war which the administration had +taken care should already exist. Mr. Webster was absent at this time, and +did not vote on the declaration of war; and when he returned he confined +himself to discussing the war measures, and to urging the cessation of +hostilities, and the renewal of efforts to obtain peace. + +The next session--that of the winter of 1846-47--was occupied, of course, +almost entirely with the affairs of the war. In these measures Mr. Webster +took scarcely any part; but toward the close of the session, when the terms +on which the war should be concluded were brought up, he again came +forward. February 1, 1847, Mr. Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced the famous +proviso, which bears his name, as an amendment to the bill appropriating +three millions of dollars for extraordinary expenses. By this proviso +slavery was to be excluded from all territory thereafter acquired or +annexed by the United States. A fortnight later Mr. Webster, who was +opposed to the acquisition of more territory on any terms, introduced two +resolutions in the Senate, declaring that the war ought not to be +prosecuted for the acquisition of territory, and that Mexico should be +informed that we did not aim at seizing her domain. A similar resolution +was offered by Mr. Berrien of Georgia, and defeated by a party vote. On +this occasion Mr. Webster spoke with great force and in a tone of solemn +warning against the whole policy of territorial aggrandizement. He +denounced all that had been done in this direction, and attacked with +telling force the Northern democracy, which, while it opposed slavery and +favored the Wilmot Proviso, was yet ready to admit new territory, even +without the proviso. His attitude at this time, in opposition to any +further acquisition of territory on any terms, was strong and determined, +but his policy was a terrible confession of weakness. It amounted to saying +that we must not acquire territory because we had not sufficient courage to +keep slavery out of it. The Whigs were in a minority, however, and Mr. +Webster could effect nothing. When the Wilmot Proviso came before the +Senate Mr. Webster voted for it, but it was defeated, and the way was clear +for Mr. Polk and the South to bring in as much territory as they could get, +free of all conditions which could interfere with the extension of slavery. +In September, 1847, after speaking and voting as has just been described in +the previous session of Congress, Mr. Webster addressed the Whig convention +at Springfield on the subject of the Wilmot Proviso. What he then said is +of great importance in any comparison which may be made between his earlier +views and those which he afterwards put forward, in March, 1850, on the +same subject. The passage is as follows:-- + + "We hear much just now of a panacea for the dangers and evils of + slavery and slave annexation, which they call the 'Wilmot Proviso.' + That certainly is a just sentiment, but it is not a sentiment to + found any new party upon. It is not a sentiment on which + Massachusetts Whigs differ. There is not a man in this hall who + holds to it more firmly than I do, nor one who adheres to it more + than another. + + "I feel some little interest in this matter, sir. Did I not commit + myself in 1837 to the whole doctrine, fully, entirely? And I must + be permitted to say that I cannot quite consent that more recent + discoverers should claim the merit, and take out a patent. + + "I deny the priority of their invention. Allow me to say, sir, it + is not their thunder. + + "There is no one who can complain of the North for resisting the + increase of slave representation, because it gives power to the + minority in a manner inconsistent with the principles of our + government. What is past must stand; what is established must + stand; and with the same firmness with which I shall resist every + plan to augment the slave representation, or to bring the + Constitution into hazard by attempting to extend our dominions, + shall I contend to allow existing rights to remain. + + "Sir, I can only say that, in my judgment, we are to use the first, + the last, and every occasion which occurs, in maintaining our + sentiments against the extension of the slave-power." + +In the following winter Mr. Webster continued his policy of opposition to +all acquisitions of territory. Although the cloud of domestic sorrow was +already upon him, he spoke against the legislative powers involved in the +"Ten Regiment" Bill, and on the 23d of March, after the ratification of the +treaty of peace, which carried with it large cessions of territory, he +delivered a long and elaborate speech on the "Objects of the Mexican War." +The weight of his speech was directed against the acquisition of +territory, on account of its effect on the Constitution, and the increased +inequality of representation which it involved. He referred to the plan of +cutting up Texas so as to obtain ten senators, as "borough mongering" on a +grand scale, a course which he proposed to resist to the last; and he +concluded by denouncing the whole project as one calculated to turn the +Constitution into a curse rather than a blessing. "I resist it to-day and +always," he said. "Whoever falters or whoever flies, I continue the +contest." + +In June General Taylor was nominated, and soon after Mr. Webster left +Washington, although Congress was still in session. He returned in August, +in time to take part in the settlement of the Oregon question. The South, +with customary shrewdness, was endeavoring to use the territorial +organization of Oregon as a lever to help them in their struggle to gain +control of the new conquests. A bill came up from the House with no +provision in regard to slavery, and Mr. Douglas carried an amendment to it, +declaring the Missouri Compromise to be in full force in Oregon. The House +disagreed, and, on the question of receding, Mr. Webster took occasion to +speak on the subject of slavery in the territories. He was disgusted with +the nomination of Taylor and with the cowardly silence of the Whigs on the +question of the extension of slavery. In this frame of mind he made one of +the strongest and best speeches he ever delivered on this topic. He denied +that slavery was an "institution;" he denied that the local right to hold +slaves implied the right of the owner to carry them with him and keep them +in slavery on free soil; he stated in the strongest possible manner the +right of Congress to control slavery or to prohibit it in the territories; +and he concluded with a sweeping declaration of his opposition to any +extension of slavery or any increase of slave representation. The Oregon +bill finally passed under the pressure of the "Free-Soil" nominations, with +a clause inserted in the House, embodying substantially the principles of +the Wilmot Proviso. + +When Congress adjourned, Mr. Webster returned to Marshfield, where he made +the speech on the nomination of General Taylor. It was a crisis in his +life. At that moment he could have parted with the Whigs and put himself at +the head of the constitutional anti-slavery party. The Free-Soilers had +taken the very ground against the extension of slavery which he had so long +occupied. He could have gone consistently, he could have separated from the +Whigs on a great question of principle, and such a course would have been +no stronger evidence of personal disappointment than was afforded by the +declaration that the nomination of Taylor was one not fit to be made. Mr. +Webster said that he fully concurred in the main object of the Buffalo +Convention, that he was as good a Free-Soiler as any of them, but that the +Free-Soil party presented nothing new or valuable, and he did not believe +in Mr. Van Buren. He then said it was not true that General Taylor was +nominated by the South, as charged by the Free-Soilers; but he did not +confess, what was equally true, that Taylor was nominated through fear of +the South, as was shown by his election by Southern votes. Mr. Webster's +conclusion was, that it was safer to trust a slave-holder, a man without +known political opinions, and a party which had not the courage of its +convictions, than to run the risk of the election of another Democrat. Mr. +Webster's place at that moment was at the head of a new party based on the +principles which he had himself formulated against the extension of +slavery. Such a change might have destroyed his chances for the presidency, +if he had any, but it would have given him one of the greatest places in +American history and made him the leader in the new period. He lost his +opportunity. He did not change his party, but he soon after accepted the +other alternative and changed his opinions. + +His course once taken, he made the best of it, and delivered a speech in +Faneuil Hall, in which it is painful to see the effort to push aside +slavery and bring forward the tariff and the sub-treasury. He scoffed at +this absorption in "one idea," and strove to thrust it away. It was the +cry of "peace, peace," when there was no peace, and when Daniel Webster +knew there could be none until the momentous question had been met and +settled. Like the great composer who heard in the first notes of his +symphony "the hand of Fate knocking at the door," the great New England +statesman heard the same warning in the hoarse murmur against slavery, but +he shut his ears to the dread sound and passed on. + +When Mr. Webster returned to Washington, after the election of General +Taylor, the strife had already begun over our Mexican conquests. The South +had got the territory, and the next point was to fasten slavery upon it. +The North was resolved to prevent the further spread of slavery, but was by +no means so determined or so clear in its views as its opponent. President +Polk urged in his message that Congress should not legislate on the +question of slavery in the territories, but that if they did, the right of +slave-holders to carry their slaves with them to the new lands should be +recognized, and that the best arrangement was to extend the line of the +Missouri Compromise to the Pacific. For the originator and promoter of the +Mexican war this was a very natural solution, and was a fit conclusion to +one of the worst presidential careers this country has ever seen. The plan +had only one defect. It would not work. One scheme after another was +brought before the Senate, only to fail. Finally, Mr. Webster introduced +his own, which was merely to authorize military government and the +maintenance of existing laws in the Mexican cessions, and a consequent +postponement of the question. The proposition was reasonable and sensible, +but it fared little better than the others. The Southerners found, as they +always did sooner or later, that facts were against them. The people of New +Mexico petitioned for a territorial government and for the exclusion of +slavery. Mr. Calhoun pronounced this action "insolent." Slavery was not +only to be permitted, but the United States government was to be made to +force it upon the people of the territories. Finally, a resolution was +offered "to extend the Constitution" to the territories,--one of those +utterly vague propositions in which the South delighted to hide +well-defined schemes for extending, not the Constitution, but +slave-holding, to fresh fields and virgin soil. This gave rise to a sharp +debate between Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun as to whether the Constitution +extended to the territories or not. Mr. Webster upheld the latter view, and +the discussion is chiefly interesting from the fact that Mr. Webster got +the better of Mr. Calhoun in the argument, and as an example of the +latter's excessive ingenuity in sustaining and defending a more than +doubtful proposition. The result of the whole business was, that nothing +was done, except to extend the revenue laws of the United States to New +Mexico and California. + +Before Congress again assembled, one of the subjects of their debates had +taken its fortunes into its own hands. California, rapidly peopled by the +discoveries of gold, had held a convention and adopted a frame of +government with a clause prohibiting slavery. When Congress met, the +Senators and Representatives of California were in Washington with their +free Constitution in their hands, demanding the admission of their State +into the Union. + +New Mexico was involved in a dispute with Texas as to boundaries, and if +the claim of Texas was sanctioned, two thirds of the disputed territory +would come within the scope of the annexation resolutions, and be +slave-holding States. Then there was the further question whether the +Wilmot Proviso should be applied to New Mexico on her organization as a +territory. + +The President, acting under the influence of Mr. Seward, advised that +California should be admitted, and the question of slavery in the other +territories be decided when they should apply for admission. Feeling was +running very high in Washington, and there was a bitter and protracted +struggle of three weeks, before the House succeeded in choosing a Speaker. +The State Legislatures on both sides took up the burning question, and +debated and resolved one way or the other with great excitement. The +Southern members held meetings, and talked about secession and about +withdrawing from Congress. The air was full of murmurs of dissolution and +intestine strife. The situation was grave and even threatening. + +In this state of affairs Mr. Clay, now an old man, and with but a short +term of life before him, resolved to try once more to solve the problem and +tide over the dangers by a grand compromise. The main features of his plan +were: the admission of California with her free Constitution; the +organization of territorial governments in the Mexican conquests without +any reference to slavery; the adjustment of the Texan boundary; a guaranty +of the existence of slavery in the District of Columbia until Maryland +should consent to its abolition; the prohibition of the slave-trade in the +District; provision for the more effectual enforcement of the Fugitive +Slave Law, and a declaration that Congress had no power over the +slave-trade between the slave-holding States. As the admission of +California was certain, the proposition to bring about the prohibition of +the slave-trade in the District was the only concession to the North. +Everything else was in the interest of the South; but then that was always +the manner in which compromises with slavery were made. They could be +effected in no other way. + +This outline Mr. Clay submitted to Mr. Webster January 21, 1850, and Mr. +Webster gave it his full approval, subject, of course, to further and more +careful consideration. February 5 Mr. Clay introduced his plan in the +Senate, and supported it in an eloquent speech. On the 13th the President +submitted the Constitution of California, and Mr. Foote moved to refer it, +together with all matters relating to slavery, to a select committee. It +now became noised about that Mr. Webster intended to address the Senate on +the pending measures, and on the 7th of March he delivered the memorable +speech which has always been known by its date. + +It may be premised that in a literary and rhetorical point of view the +speech of the 7th of March was a fine one. The greater part of it is taken +up with argument and statement, and is very quiet in tone. But the famous +passage beginning "peaceable secession," which came straight from the +heart, and the peroration also, have the glowing eloquence which shone with +so much splendor all through the reply to Hayne. The speech can be readily +analyzed. With extreme calmness of language Mr. Webster discussed the whole +history of slavery in ancient and modern times, and under the Constitution +of the United States. His attitude is so judicial and historical, that if +it is clear he disapproved of the system, it is not equally evident that he +condemned it. He reviewed the history of the annexation of Texas, defended +his own consistency, belittled the Wilmot Proviso, admitted substantially +the boundary claims of Texas, and declared that the character of every +part of the country, so far as slavery or freedom was concerned, was now +settled, either by law or nature, and that he should resist the insertion +of the Wilmot Proviso in regard to New Mexico, because it would be merely a +wanton taunt and reproach to the South. He then spoke of the change of +feeling and opinion both at the North and the South in regard to slavery, +and passed next to the question of mutual grievances. He depicted at length +the grievances of the South, including the tone of the Northern press, the +anti-slavery resolutions of the Legislature, the utterances of the +abolitionists, and the resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law. The last, +which he thought the only substantial and legally remediable complaint, he +dwelt on at great length, and severely condemned the refusal of certain +States to comply with this provision of the Constitution. Then came the +grievances of the North against the South, which were dealt with very +briefly. In fact, the Northern grievances, according to Mr. Webster, +consisted of the tone of the Southern press and of Southern speeches which, +it must be confessed, were at times a little violent and somewhat +offensive. The short paragraph reciting the unconstitutional and +high-handed action of the South in regard to free negroes employed as +seamen on Northern vessels, and the outrageous treatment of Mr. Hoar at +Charleston in connection with this matter, was not delivered, Mr. Giddings +says, but was inserted afterwards and before publication, at the suggestion +of a friend. After this came the fine burst about secession, and a +declaration of faith that the Southern convention called at Nashville would +prove patriotic and conciliatory. The speech concluded with a strong appeal +in behalf of nationality and union. + +Mr. Curtis correctly says that a great majority of Mr. Webster's +constituents, if not of the whole North, disapproved this speech. He might +have added that that majority has steadily increased. The popular verdict +has been given against the 7th of March speech, and that verdict has passed +into history. Nothing can now be said or written which will alter the fact +that the people of this country who maintained and saved the Union have +passed judgment upon Mr. Webster and condemned what he said on the 7th of +March, 1850, as wrong in principle and mistaken in policy. This opinion is +not universal,--no opinion is,--but it is held by the great body of mankind +who know or care anything about the subject, and it cannot be changed or +substantially modified, because subsequent events have fixed its place and +worth irrevocably. It is only necessary, therefore, to examine very briefly +the grounds of this adverse judgment, and the pleas put in against it by +Mr. Webster and by his most devoted partisans. + +From the sketch which has been given of Mr. Webster's course on the slavery +question, we see that in 1819 and 1820 he denounced in the strongest terms +slavery and every form of slave-trade; that while he fully admitted that +Congress had no power to touch slavery in the States, he asserted that it +was their right and their paramount duty absolutely to stop any further +extension of slave territory. In 1820 he was opposed to any compromise on +this question. Ten years later he stood out to the last, unaffected by +defeat, against the principle of compromise which sacrificed the rights and +the dignity of the general government to the resistance and threatened +secession of a State. + +After the reply to Hayne in 1830, Mr. Webster became a standing candidate +for the presidency, or for the Whig nomination to that office. From that +time forth, the sharp denunciation of slavery and traffic in slaves +disappears, although there is no indication that he ever altered his +original opinion on these points; but he never ceased, sometimes mildly, +sometimes in the most vigorous and sweeping manner, to attack and oppose +the extension of slavery to new regions, and the increase of slave +territory. If, then, in the 7th of March speech, he was inconsistent with +his past, such inconsistency must appear, if at all, in his general tone in +regard to slavery, in his views as to the policy of compromise, and in his +attitude toward the extension of slavery, the really crucial question of +the time. + +As to the first point, there can be no doubt that there is a vast +difference between the tone of the Plymouth oration and the Boston memorial +toward slavery and the slave-trade, and that of the 7th of March speech in +regard to the same subjects. For many years Mr. Webster had had but little +to say against slavery as a system, but in the 7th of March speech, in +reviewing the history of slavery, he treats the matter in such a very calm +manner, that he not only makes the best case possible for the South, but +his tone is almost apologetic when speaking in their behalf. To the +grievances of the South he devotes more than five pages of his speech, to +those of the North less than two. As to the infamy of making the national +capital a great slave-mart, he has nothing to say--although it was a matter +which figured as one of the elements in Mr. Clay's scheme. + +But what most shocked the North in this connection were his utterances in +regard to the Fugitive Slave Law. There can be no doubt that under the +Constitution the South had a perfect right to claim the extradition of +fugitive slaves. The legal argument in support of that right was excellent, +but the Northern people could not feel that it was necessary for Daniel +Webster to make it. The Fugitive Slave Law was in absolute conflict with +the awakened conscience and moral sentiment of the North. To strengthen +that law, and urge its enforcement, was a sure way to make the resistance +to it still more violent and intolerant. Constitutions and laws will +prevail over much, and allegiance to them is a high duty, but when they +come into conflict with a deep-rooted moral sentiment, and with the +principles of liberty and humanity, they must be modified, or else they +will be broken to pieces. That this should have been the case in 1850 was +no doubt to be regretted, but it was none the less a fact. To insist upon +the constitutional duty of returning fugitive slaves, to upbraid the North +with their opposition, and to urge upon them and upon the country the +strict enforcement of the extradition law, was certain to embitter and +intensify the opposition to it. The statesmanlike course was to recognize +the ground of Northern resistance, to show the South that a too violent +insistence upon their constitutional rights would be fatal, and to endeavor +to obtain such concessions as would allay excited feelings. Mr. Webster's +strong argument in favor of the Fugitive Slave Law pleased the South, of +course; but it irritated and angered the North. It promoted the very +struggle which it proposed to allay, for it admitted the existence of only +one side to the question. The consciences of men cannot be coerced; and +when Mr. Webster undertook to do it he dashed himself against the rocks. +People did not stop to distinguish between a legal argument and a defence +of the merits of catching runaway slaves. To refer to the original law of +1793 was idle. Public opinion had changed in half a century; and what had +seemed reasonable at the close of the eighteenth century was monstrous in +the middle of the nineteenth. + +All this Mr. Webster declined to recognize. He upheld without diminution or +modification the constitutional duty of sending escaping slaves back to +bondage; and from the legal soundness of this position there is no escape. +The trouble was that he had no word to say against the cruelty and +barbarity of the system. To insist upon the necessity of submitting to the +hard and repulsive duty imposed by the Constitution was one thing. To urge +submission without a word of sorrow or regret was another. The North felt, +and felt rightly, that while Mr. Webster could not avoid admitting the +force of the constitutional provisions about fugitive slaves, and was +obliged to bow to their behest, yet to defend them without reservation, to +attack those who opposed them, and to urge the rigid enforcement of a +Fugitive Slave Law, was not in consonance with his past, his conscience, +and his duty to his constituents. The constitutionality of a Fugitive Slave +Law may be urged and admitted over and over again, but this could not make +the North believe that advocacy of slave-catching was a task suited to +Daniel Webster. The simple fact was that he did not treat the general +question of slavery as he always had treated it. Instead of denouncing and +deploring it, and striking at it whenever the Constitution permitted, he +apologized for its existence, and urged the enforcement of its most +obnoxious laws. This was not his attitude in 1820; this was not what the +people of the North expected of him in 1850. + +In regard to the policy of compromise there is a much stronger contrast +between Mr. Webster's attitude in 1850 and his earlier course than in the +case of his views on the general subject of slavery. In 1819, although not +in public life, Mr. Webster, as is clear from the tone of the Boston +memorial, was opposed to any compromise involving an extension of slavery. +In 1832-33 he was the most conspicuous and unyielding enemy of the +principle of compromise in the country. He then took the ground that the +time had come to test the strength of the Constitution and the Union, and +that any concession would have a fatally weakening effect. In 1850 he +supported a compromise which was so one-sided that it hardly deserves the +name. The defence offered by his friends on this subject--and it is the +strongest point they have been able to make--is that these sacrifices, or +compromises, were necessary to save the Union, and that--although they did +not prevent ultimate secession--they caused a delay of ten years, which +enabled the North to gather sufficient strength to carry the civil war to a +successful conclusion. It is not difficult to show historically that the +policy of compromise between the national principle and unlawful opposition +to that principle was an entire mistake from the very outset, and that if +illegal and partisan State resistance had always been put down with a firm +hand, civil war might have been avoided. Nothing strengthened the general +government more than the well-judged and well-timed display of force by +which Washington and Hamilton crushed the Whiskey Rebellion, or than the +happy accident of peace in 1814, which brought the separatist movement in +New England to a sudden end. After that period Mr. Clay's policy of +compromise prevailed, and the result was that the separatist movement was +identified with the maintenance of slavery, and steadily gathered strength. +In 1819 the South threatened and blustered in order to prevent the complete +prohibition of slavery in the Louisiana purchase. In 1832 South Carolina +passed the nullification ordinance because she suffered by the operation of +a protective tariff. In 1850 a great advance had been made in their +pretensions. Secession was threatened because the South feared that the +Mexican conquests would not be devoted to the service of slavery. Nothing +had been done, nothing was proposed even, prejudicial to Southern +interests; but the inherent weakness of slavery, and the mild conciliatory +attitude of Northern statesmen, incited the South to make imperious demands +for favors, and seek for positive gains. They succeeded in 1850, and in +1860 they had reached the point at which they were ready to plunge the +country into the horrors of civil war solely because they lost an +election. They believed, first, that the North would yield everything for +the sake of union, and secondly, that if there was a limit to their +capacity for surrender in this direction, yet a people capable of so much +submission in the past would never fight to maintain the Union. The South +made a terrible mistake, and was severely punished for it; but the +compromises of 1820, 1833, and 1850 furnished some excuse for the wild idea +that the North would not and could not fight. Whether a strict adherence to +the strong, fearless policy of Hamilton, which was adopted by Jackson and +advocated by Webster in 1832-33, would have prevented civil war, must, of +course, remain matter of conjecture. It is at least certain that in that +way alone could war have been avoided, and that the Clay policy of +compromise made war inevitable by encouraging slave-holders to believe that +they could always obtain anything they wanted by a sufficient show of +violence. + +It is urged, however, that the policy of compromise having been adopted, a +change in 1850 would have simply precipitated the sectional conflict. In +judging Mr. Webster, the practical question, of course, is as to the best +method of dealing with matters as they actually were and not as they might +have been had a different course been pursued in 1820 and 1832. The +partisans of Mr. Webster have always taken the ground that in 1850 the +choice was between compromise and secession; that the events of 1861 showed +that the South, in 1850, was not talking for mere effect; that the +maintenance of the Union was the paramount consideration of a patriotic +statesman; and that the only practicable and proper course was to +compromise. Admitting fully that Mr. Webster's first and highest duty was +to preserve the Union, it is perfectly clear now, when all these events +have passed into history, that he took the surest way to make civil war +inevitable, and that the position of 1832 should not have been abandoned. +In the first place, the choice was not confined to compromise or secession. +The President, the official head of the Whig party, had recommended the +admission of California, as the only matter actually requiring immediate +settlement, and that the other questions growing out of the new territories +should be dealt with as they arose. Mr. Curtis, Mr. Webster's biographer, +says this was an impracticable plan, because peace could not be kept +between New Mexico and Texas, and because there was great excitement about +the slavery question throughout the country. These seem very insufficient +reasons, and only the first has any practical bearing on the matter. +General Taylor said: Admit California, for that is an immediate and +pressing duty, and I will see to it that peace is preserved on the Texan +boundary. Zachary Taylor may not have been a great statesman, but he was a +brave and skilful soldier, and an honest man, resolved to maintain the +Union, even if he had to shoot a few Texans to do it. His policy was bold +and manly, and the fact that it was said to have been inspired by Mr. +Seward, a leader in the only Northern party which had any real principle to +fight for, does not seem such a monstrous idea as it did in 1850 or does +still to those who sustain Mr. Webster's action. That General Taylor's +policy was not so wild and impracticable as Mr. Webster's friends would +have us think, is shown by the fact that Mr. Benton, Democrat and +Southerner as he was, but imbued with the vigor of the Jackson school, +believed that each question should be taken up by itself and settled on its +own merits. A policy which seemed wise to three such different men as +Taylor, Seward, and Benton, could hardly have been so utterly impracticable +and visionary as Mr. Webster's partisans would like the world to believe. +It was in fact one of the cases which that extremely practical statesman +Nicolo Machiavelli had in mind when he wrote that, "Dangers that are seen +afar off are easily prevented; but protracting till they are near at hand, +the remedies grow unseasonable and the malady incurable." + +It may be readily admitted that there was a great and perilous political +crisis in 1850, as Mr. Webster said. In certain quarters, in the excitement +of party strife, there was a tendency to deride Mr. Webster as a +"Union-saver," and to take the ground that there had been no real danger of +secession. This, as we can see now very plainly, was an unfounded idea. +When Congress met, the danger of secession was very real, although perhaps +not very near. The South, although they intended to secede as a last +resort, had no idea that they should be brought to that point. Menaces of +disunion, ominous meetings and conventions, they probably calculated, would +effect their purpose and obtain for them what they wanted, and subsequent +events proved that they were perfectly right in this opinion. On February +14 Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Harvey:-- + + "I do not partake in any degree in those apprehensions which you + say some of our friends entertain of the dissolution of the Union + or the breaking up of the government. I am mortified, it is true, + at the violent tone assumed here by many persons, because such + violence in debate only leads to irritation, and is, moreover, + discreditable to the government and the country. But there is no + serious danger, be assured, and so assure our friends." + +The next day he wrote to Mr. Furness, a leader of the anti-slavery party, +expressing his abhorrence of slavery as an institution, his unwillingness +to break up the existing political system to secure its abolition, and his +belief that the whole matter must be left with Divine Providence. It is +clear from this letter that he had dismissed any thought of assuming an +aggressive attitude toward slavery, but there is nothing to indicate that +he thought the Union could be saved from wreck only by substantial +concessions to the South. Between the date of the letter to Harvey and +March 7, Mr. Curtis says that the aspect of affairs had materially changed, +and that the Union was in serious peril. There is nothing to show that Mr. +Webster thought so, or that he had altered the opinion which he had +expressed on February 14. In fact, Mr. Curtis's view is the exact reverse +of the true state of affairs. If there was any real and immediate danger to +the Union, it existed on February 14, and ceased immediately afterwards, on +February 16, as Dr. Von Holst correctly says, when the House of +Representatives laid on the table the resolution of Mr. Root of Ohio, +prohibiting the extension of slavery to the territories. By that vote, the +victory was won by the slave-power, and the peril of speedy disunion +vanished. Nothing remained but to determine how much the South would get +from their victory, and how hard a bargain they could drive. The admission +of California was no more of a concession than a resolution not to +introduce slavery in Massachusetts would have been. All the rest of the +compromise plan, with the single exception of the prohibition of the +slave-trade in the District of Columbia, was made up of concessions to the +Southern and slave-holding interest. That Henry Clay should have +originated and advocated this scheme was perfectly natural. However wrong +or mistaken, this had been his steady and unbroken policy from the outset, +as the best method of preserving the Union and advancing the cause of +nationality. Mr. Clay was consistent and sincere, and, however much he may +have erred in his general theory, he never swerved from it. But with Mr. +Webster the case was totally different. He had opposed the principle of +compromise from the beginning, and in 1833, when concession was more +reasonable than in 1850, he had offered the most strenuous and unbending +resistance. Now he advocated a compromise which was in reality little less +than a complete surrender on the part of the North. On the general question +of compromise he was, of course, grossly inconsistent, and the history of +the time, as it appears in the cold light of the present day, shows plainly +that, while he was brave and true and wise in 1833, in 1850 he was not only +inconsistent, but that he erred deeply in policy and statesmanship. It has +also been urged in behalf of Mr. Webster that he went no farther than the +Republicans in 1860 in the way of concession, and that as in 1860 so in +1850, anything was permissible which served to gain time. In the first +place, the _tu quoque_ argument proves nothing and has no weight. In the +second place, the situations in 1850 and in 1860 were very different. + +There were at the former period, in reference to slavery, four parties in +the country--the Democrats, the Free-Soilers, the Abolitionists, and the +Whigs. The three first had fixed and widely-varying opinions; the last was +trying to live without opinions, and soon died. The pro-slavery Democrats +were logical and practical; the Abolitionists were equally logical but +thoroughly impracticable and unconstitutional, avowed nullifiers and +secessionists; the Free-Soilers were illogical, constitutional, and +perfectly practical. As Republicans, the Free-Soilers proved the +correctness and good sense of their position by bringing the great majority +of the Northern people to their support. But at the same time their +position was a difficult one, for while they were an anti-slavery party and +had set on foot constitutional opposition to the extension of slavery, +their fidelity to the Constitution compelled them to admit the legality of +the Fugitive Slave Law and of slavery in the States. They aimed, of course, +first to check the extension of slavery and then to efface it by gradual +restriction and full compensation to slave-holders. When they had carried +the country in 1860, they found themselves face to face with a breaking +Union and an impending war. That many of them were seriously frightened, +and, to avoid war and dissolution, would have made great concessions, +cannot be questioned; but their controlling motive was to hold things +together by any means, no matter how desperate, until they could get +possession of the government. This was the only possible and the only wise +policy, but that it involved them in some contradictions in that winter of +excitement and confusion is beyond doubt. History will judge the men and +events of 1860 according to the circumstances of the time, but nothing that +happened then has any bearing on Mr. Webster's conduct. He must be judged +according to the circumstances of 1850, and the first and most obvious fact +is, that he was not fighting merely to gain time and obtain control of the +general government. The crisis was grave and serious in the extreme, but +neither war nor secession were imminent or immediate, nor did Mr. Webster +ever assert that they were. He thought war and secession might come, and it +was against this possibility and probability that he sought to provide. He +wished to solve the great problem, to remove the source of danger, to set +the menacing agitation at rest. He aimed at an enduring and definite +settlement, and that was the purpose of the 7th of March speech. His +reasons--and of course they were clear and weighty in his own +mind--proceeded from the belief that this wretched compromise measure +offered a wise, judicious, and permanent settlement of questions which, in +their constant recurrence, threatened more and more the stability of the +Union. History has shown how wofully mistaken he was in this opinion. + +The last point to be considered in connection with the 7th of March speech +is the ground then taken by Mr. Webster with reference to the extension of +slavery. To this question the speech was chiefly directed, and it is the +portion which has aroused the most heated discussion. What Mr. Webster's +views had always been on the subject of slavery extension every one knew +then and knows now. He had been the steady and uncompromising opponent of +the Southern policy, and in season and out of season, sometimes vehemently +sometimes gently, but always with firmness and clearness, he had declared +against it. The only question is, whether he departed from these +often-expressed opinions on the 7th of March. In the speech itself he +declared that he had not abated one jot in his views in this respect, and +he argued at great length to prove his consistency, which, if it were to be +easily seen of men, certainly needed neither defence nor explanation. The +crucial point was, whether, in organizing the new territories, the +principle of the Wilmot Proviso should be adopted as part of the measure. +This famous proviso Mr. Webster had declared in 1847 to represent exactly +his own views. He had then denied that the idea was the invention of any +one man, and scouted the notion that on this doctrine there could be any +difference of opinion among Whigs. On March 7 he announced that he would +not have the proviso attached to the territorial bills, and should oppose +any effort in that direction. The reasons he gave for this apparent change +were, that nature had forbidden slavery in the newly-conquered regions, and +that the proviso, under such circumstances, would be a useless taunt and +wanton insult to the South. The famous sentence in which he said that he +"would not take pains uselessly to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor to +reenact the will of God," was nothing but specious and brilliant rhetoric. +It was perfectly easy to employ slaves in California, if the people had not +prohibited it, and in New Mexico as well, even if there were no cotton nor +sugar nor rice plantations in either, and but little arable land in the +latter. There was a classic form of slave-labor possible in those +countries. Any school-boy could have reminded Mr. Webster of + + "Seius whose eight hundred slaves + Sicken in Ilva's mines." + +Mining was one of the oldest uses to which slave-labor had been applied, +and it still flourished in Siberia as the occupation of serfs and +criminals. Mr. Webster, of course, was not ignorant of this very obvious +fact; and that nature, therefore, instead of forbidding slave-labor in the +Mexican conquests, opened to it a new and almost unlimited field in a +region which is to-day one of the greatest mining countries in the world. +Still less could he have failed to know that this form of employment for +slaves was eagerly desired by the South; that the slave-holders fully +recognized their opportunity, announced their intention of taking +advantage of it, and were particularly indignant at the action of +California because it had closed to them this inviting field. Mr. Clingman +of North Carolina, on January 22, when engaged in threatening war in order +to bring the North to terms, had said, in the House of Representatives: +"But for the anti-slavery agitation our Southern slave-holders would have +carried their negroes into the mines of California in such numbers that I +have no doubt but that the majority there would have made it a +slave-holding State."[1] At a later period Mr. Mason of Virginia declared, +in the Senate, that he knew of no law of nature which excluded slavery from +California. "On the contrary," he said, "if California had been organized +with a territorial form of government only, the people of the Southern +States would have gone there freely, and have taken their slaves there in +great numbers. They would have done so because the value of the labor of +that class would have been augmented to them many hundred fold."[2] These +were the views of practical men and experienced slave-owners who +represented the opinions of their constituents, and who believed that +domestic slavery could be employed to advantage anywhere. Moreover, the +Southern leaders openly avowed their opposition to securing any region to +free labor exclusively, no matter what the ordinances of nature might be. +In 1848, it must be remembered in this connection, Mr. Webster not only +urged the limitation of slave area, and sustained the power of Congress to +regulate this matter in the territories, but he did not resist the final +embodiment of the principle of the Wilmot Proviso in the bill for the +organization of Oregon, where the introduction of slavery was infinitely +more unlikely than in New Mexico. Cotton, sugar, and rice were excluded, +perhaps, by nature from the Mexican conquests, but slavery was not. It was +worse than idle to allege that a law of nature forbade slaves in a country +where mines gaped to receive them. The facts are all as plain as possible, +and there is no escape from the conclusion that in opposing the Wilmot +Proviso, in 1850, Mr. Webster abandoned his principles as to the extension +of slavery. He practically stood forth as the champion of the Southern +policy of letting the new territories alone, which could only result in +placing them in the grasp of slavery. The consistency which he labored so +hard to prove in his speech was hopelessly shattered, and no ingenuity, +either then or since, can restore it. + +[Footnote 1: _Congressional Globe_, 31st Congress, 1st Session, p. 203.] + +[Footnote 2: Ibid., Appendix, p. 510.] + +A dispassionate examination of Mr. Webster's previous course on slavery, +and a careful comparison of it with the ground taken in the 7th of March +speech, shows that he softened his utterances in regard to slavery as a +system, and that he changed radically on the policy of compromise and on +the question of extending the area of slavery. There is a confused story +that in the winter of 1847-48 he had given the anti-slavery leaders to +understand that he proposed to come out on their ground in regard to +Mexico, and to sustain Corwin in his attack on the Democratic policy, but +that he failed to do so. The evidence on this point is entirely +insufficient to make it of importance, but there can be no doubt that in +the winter of 1850 Mr. Webster talked with Mr. Giddings, and led him, and +the other Free-Soil leaders, to believe that he was meditating a strong +anti-slavery speech. This fact was clearly shown in the recent newspaper +controversy which grew out of the celebration of the centennial anniversary +of Webster's birth. It is a little difficult to understand why this +incident should have roused such bitter resentment among Mr. Webster's +surviving partisans. To suppose that Mr. Webster made the 7th of March +speech after long deliberation, without having a moment's hesitation in the +matter, is to credit him with a shameless disregard of principle and +consistency, of which it is impossible to believe him guilty. He +undoubtedly hesitated, and considered deeply whether he should assume the +attitude of 1833, and stand out unrelentingly against the encroachments of +slavery. He talked with Mr. Clay on one side. He talked with Mr. Giddings, +and other Free-Soilers, on the other. With the latter the wish was no +doubt father to the thought, and they may well have imagined that Mr. +Webster had determined to go with them, when he was still in doubt and +merely trying the various positions. There is no need, however, to linger +over matters of this sort. The change made by Mr. Webster can be learned +best by careful study of his own utterances, and of his whole career. Yet, +at the same time, the greatest trouble lies not in the shifting and +inconsistency revealed by an examination of the specific points which have +just been discussed, but in the speech as a whole. In that speech Mr. +Webster failed quite as much by omissions as by the opinions which he +actually announced. He was silent when he should have spoken, and he spoke +when he should have held his peace. The speech, if exactly defined, is, in +reality, a powerful effort, not for compromise or for the Fugitive Slave +Law, or any other one thing, but to arrest the whole anti-slavery movement, +and in that way put an end to the dangers which threatened the Union and +restore lasting harmony between the jarring sections. It was a mad project. +Mr. Webster might as well have attempted to stay the incoming tide at +Marshfield with a rampart of sand as to seek to check the anti-slavery +movement by a speech. Nevertheless, he produced a great effect. His mind +once made up, he spared nothing to win the cast. He gathered all his +forces; his great intellect, his splendid eloquence, his fame which had +become one of the treasured possessions of his country,--all were given to +the work. The blow fell with terrible force, and here, at last, we come to +the real mischief which was wrought. The 7th of March speech demoralized +New England and the whole North. The abolitionists showed by bitter anger +the pain, disappointment, and dismay which this speech brought. The +Free-Soil party quivered and sank for the moment beneath the shock. The +whole anti-slavery movement recoiled. The conservative reaction which Mr. +Webster endeavored to produce came and triumphed. Chiefly by his exertions +the compromise policy was accepted and sustained by the country. The +conservative elements everywhere rallied to his support, and by his ability +and eloquence it seemed as if he had prevailed and brought the people over +to his opinions. It was a wonderful tribute to his power and influence, but +the triumph was hollow and short-lived. He had attempted to compass an +impossibility. Nothing could kill the principles of human liberty, not even +a speech by Daniel Webster, backed by all his intellect and knowledge, his +eloquence and his renown. The anti-slavery movement was checked for the +time, and pro-slavery democracy, the only other positive political force, +reigned supreme. But amid the falling ruins of the Whig party, and the +evanescent success of the Native Americans, the party of human rights +revived; and when it rose again, taught by the trials and misfortunes of +1850, it rose with a strength which Mr. Webster had never dreamed of, and, +in 1856, polled nearly a million and a half of votes for Fremont. The rise +and final triumph of the Republican party was the condemnation of the 7th +of March speech and of the policy which put the government of the country +in the hands of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. When the war came, +inspiration was not found in the 7th of March speech. In that dark hour, +men remembered the Daniel Webster who replied to Hayne, and turned away +from the man who had sought for peace by advocating the great compromise of +Henry Clay. + +The disapprobation and disappointment which were manifested in the North +after the 7th of March speech could not be overlooked. Men thought and said +that Mr. Webster had spoken in behalf of the South and of slavery. Whatever +his intentions may have been, this was what the speech seemed to mean and +this was its effect, and the North saw it more and more clearly as time +went on. Mr. Webster never indulged in personal attacks, but at the same +time he was too haughty a man ever to engage in an exchange of compliments +in debate. He never was in the habit of saying pleasant things to his +opponents in the Senate merely as a matter of agreeable courtesy. In this +direction, as in its opposite, he usually maintained a cold silence. But +on the 7th of March he elaborately complimented Calhoun, and went out of +his way to flatter Virginia and Mr. Mason personally. This struck close +observers with surprise, but it was the real purpose of the speech which +went home to the people of the North. He had advocated measures which with +slight exceptions were altogether what the South wanted, and the South so +understood it. On the 30th of March Mr. Morehead wrote to Mr. Crittenden +that Mr. Webster's appointment as Secretary of State would now be very +acceptable to the South. No more bitter commentary could have been made. +The people were blinded and dazzled at first, but they gradually awoke and +perceived the error that had been committed. + +Mr. Webster, however, needed nothing from outside to inform him as to his +conduct and its results. At the bottom of his heart and in the depths of +his conscience he knew that he had made a dreadful mistake. He did not +flinch. He went on in his new path without apparent faltering. His speech +on the compromise measures went farther than that of the 7th of March. But +if we study his speeches and letters between 1850 and the day of his death, +we can detect changes in them, which show plainly enough that the writer +was not at ease, that he was not master of that real conscience of which he +boasted. + +His friends, after the first shock of surprise, rallied to his support, +and he spoke frequently at union meetings, and undertook, by making immense +efforts, to convince the country that the compromise measures were right +and necessary, and that the doctrines of the 7th of March speech ought to +be sustained. In pursuance of this object, during the winter of 1850 and +the summer of the following year, he wrote several public letters on the +compromise measures, and he addressed great meetings on various occasions, +in New England, New York, and as far south as Virginia. We are at once +struck by a marked change in the character and tone of these speeches, +which produced a great effect in establishing the compromise policy. It had +never been Mr. Webster's habit to misrepresent or abuse his opponents. Now +he confounded the extreme separatism of the abolitionists and the +constitutional opposition of the Free-Soil party, and involved all +opponents of slavery in a common condemnation. It was wilful +misrepresentation to talk of the Free-Soilers as if they were identical +with the abolitionists, and no one knew better than Mr. Webster the +distinction between the two, one being ready to secede to get rid of +slavery, the other offering only a constitutional resistance to its +extension. His tone toward his opponents was correspondingly bitter. When +he first arrived in Boston, after his speech, and spoke to the great crowd +in front of the Revere House, he said, "I shall support no agitations +having their foundations in unreal, ghostly abstractions." Slavery had now +become "an unreal, ghostly abstraction," although it must still have +appeared to the negroes something very like a hard fact. There were men in +that crowd, too, who had not forgotten the noble words with which Mr. +Webster in 1837 had defended the character of the opponents of slavery, and +the sound of this new gospel from his lips fell strangely on their ears. So +he goes on from one union meeting to another, and in speech after speech +there is the same bitter tone which had been so foreign to him in all his +previous utterances. The supporters of the anti-slavery movement he +denounces as insane. He reiterates his opposition to slave extension, and +in the same breath argues that the Union must be preserved by giving way to +the South. The feeling is upon him that the old parties are breaking down +under the pressure of this "ghostly abstraction," this agitation which he +tries to prove to the young men of the country and to his fellow-citizens +everywhere is "wholly factitious." The Fugitive Slave Law is not in the +form which he wants, but still he defends it and supports it. The first +fruits of his policy of peace are seen in riots in Boston, and he +personally advises with a Boston lawyer who has undertaken the cases +against the fugitive slaves. It was undoubtedly his duty, as Mr. Curtis +says, to enforce and support the law as the President's adviser, but his +personal attention and interest were not required in slave cases, nor would +they have been given a year before. The Wilmot Proviso, that doctrine which +he claimed as his own in 1847, when it was a sentiment on which Whigs could +not differ, he now calls "a mere abstraction." He struggles to put slavery +aside for the tariff, but it will not down at his bidding, and he himself +cannot leave it alone. Finally he concludes this compromise campaign with a +great speech on laying the foundation of the capitol extension, and makes a +pathetic appeal to the South to maintain the Union. They are not pleasant +to read, these speeches in the Senate and before the people in behalf of +the compromise policy. They are harsh and bitter; they do not ring true. +Daniel Webster knew when he was delivering them that that was not the way +to save the Union, or that, at all events, it was not the right way for him +to do it. + +The same peculiarity can be discerned in his letters. The fun and humor +which had hitherto run through his correspondence seems now to fade away as +if blighted. On September 10, 1850, he writes to Mr. Harvey that since +March 7 there has not been an hour in which he has not felt a "crushing +sense of anxiety and responsibility." He couples this with the declaration +that his own part is acted and he is satisfied; but if his anxiety was +solely of a public nature, why did it date from March 7, when, prior to +that time, there was much greater cause for alarm than afterwards. In +everything he said or wrote he continually recurs to the slavery question +and always in a defensive tone, usually with a sneer or a fling at the +abolitionists and anti-slavery party. The spirit of unrest had seized him. +He was disturbed and ill at ease. He never admitted it, even to himself, +but his mind was not at peace, and he could not conceal the fact. Posterity +can see the evidences of it plainly enough, and a man of his intellect and +fame knew that with posterity the final reckoning must be made. No man can +say that Mr. Webster anticipated the unfavorable judgment which his +countrymen have passed upon his conduct, but that in his heart he feared +such a judgment cannot be doubted. + +It is impossible to determine with perfect accuracy any man's motives in +what he says or does. They are so complex, they are so often undefined, +even in the mind of the man himself, that no one can pretend to make an +absolutely correct analysis. There have been many theories as to the +motives which led Mr. Webster to make the 7th of March speech. In the heat +of contemporary strife his enemies set it down as a mere bid to secure +Southern support for the presidency, but this is a harsh and narrow view. +The longing for the presidency weakened Mr. Webster as a public man from +the time when it first took possession of him after the reply to Hayne. It +undoubtedly had a weakening effect upon him in the winter of 1850, and had +some influence upon the speech of the 7th of March. But it is unjust to say +that it did more. It certainly was far removed from being a controlling +motive. His friends, on the other hand, declare that he was governed solely +by the highest and most disinterested patriotism, by the truest wisdom. +This explanation, like that of his foes, fails by going too far and being +too simple. His motives were mixed. His chief desire was to preserve and +maintain the Union. He wished to stand forth as the great saviour and +pacificator. On the one side was the South, compact, aggressive, bound +together by slavery, the greatest political force in the country. On the +other was a weak Free-Soil party, and a widely diffused and earnest moral +sentiment without organization or tangible political power. Mr. Webster +concluded that the way to save the Union and the Constitution, and to +achieve the success which he desired, was to go with the heaviest +battalions. He therefore espoused the Southern side, for the compromise was +in the Southern interest, and smote the anti-slavery movement with all his +strength. He reasoned correctly that peace could come only by administering +a severe check to one of the two contending parties. He erred in attempting +to arrest the one which all modern history showed was irresistible. It is +no doubt true, as appears by his cabinet opinion recently printed, that he +stood ready to meet the first overt act on the part of the South with +force. Mr. Webster would not have hesitated to have struck hard at any body +of men or any State which ventured to assail the Union. But he also +believed that the true way to prevent any overt act on the part of the +South was by concession, and that was precisely the object which the +Southern leaders sought to obtain. We may grant all the patriotism and all +the sincere devotion to the cause of the Constitution which is claimed for +him, but nothing can acquit Mr. Webster of error in the methods which he +chose to adopt for the maintenance of peace and the preservation of the +Union. If the 7th of March speech was right, then all that had gone before +was false and wrong. In that speech he broke from his past, from his own +principles and from the principles of New England, and closed his splendid +public career with a terrible mistake. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LAST YEARS. + + +The story of the remainder of Mr. Webster's public life, outside of and +apart from the slavery question, can be quickly told. General Taylor died +suddenly on July 9, 1850, and this event led to an immediate and complete +reorganization of the cabinet. Mr. Fillmore at once offered the post of +Secretary of State to Mr. Webster, who accepted it, resigned his seat in +the Senate, and, on July 23, assumed his new position. No great negotiation +like that with Lord Ashburton marked this second term of office in the +Department of State, but there were a number of important and some very +complicated affairs, which Mr. Webster managed with the wisdom, tact, and +dignity which made him so admirably fit for this high position. + +The best-known incident of this period was that which gave rise to the +famous "Huelsemann letter." President Taylor had sent an agent to Hungary to +report upon the condition of the revolutionary government, with the +intention of recognizing it if there were sufficient grounds for doing so. +When the agent arrived, the revolution was crushed, and he reported to the +President against recognition. These papers were transmitted to the Senate +in March, 1850. Mr. Huelsemann, the Austrian _charge_, thereupon complained +of the action of our administration, and Mr. Clayton, then Secretary of +State, replied that the mission of the agent had been simply to gather +information. On receiving further instructions from his government, Mr. +Huelsemann rejoined to Mr. Clayton, and it fell to Mr. Webster to reply, +which he did on December 21, 1850. The note of the Austrian _charge_ was in +a hectoring and highly offensive tone, and Mr. Webster felt the necessity +of administering a sharp rebuke. "The Huelsemann letter," as it was called, +was accordingly dispatched. It set forth strongly the right of the United +States and their intention to recognize any _de facto_ revolutionary +government, and to seek information in all proper ways in order to guide +their action. The argument on this point was admirably and forcibly stated, +and it was accompanied by a bold vindication of the American policy, and by +some severe and wholesome reproof. Mr. Webster had two objects. One was to +awaken the people of Europe to a sense of the greatness of this country, +the other to touch the national pride at home. He did both. The foreign +representatives learned a lesson which they never forgot, and which opened +their eyes to the fact that we were no longer colonies, and the national +pride was also aroused. Mr. Webster admitted that the letter was, in some +respects, boastful and rough. This was a fair criticism, and it may be +justly said that such a tone was hardly worthy of the author. But, on the +other hand, Huelsemann's impertinence fully justified such a reply, and a +little rough domineering was, perhaps, the very thing needed. It is certain +that the letter fully answered Mr. Webster's purpose, and excited a great +deal of popular enthusiasm. The affair did not, however, end here. Mr. +Huelsemann became very mild, but he soon lost his temper again. Kossuth and +the refugees in Turkey were brought to this country in a United States +frigate. The Hungarian hero was received with a burst of enthusiasm that +induced him to hope for substantial aid, which was, of course, wholly +visionary. The popular excitement made it difficult for Mr. Webster to +steer a proper course, but he succeeded, by great tact, in showing his own +sympathy, and, so far as possible, that of the government, for the cause of +Hungarian independence and for its leader, without going too far or +committing any indiscretion which could justify a breach of international +relations with Austria. Mr. Webster's course, including a speech at a +dinner in Boston, in which he made an eloquent allusion to Hungary and +Kossuth, although carefully guarded, aroused the ire of Mr. Huelsemann, who +left the country, after writing a letter of indignant farewell to the +Secretary of State. Mr. Webster replied, through Mr. Hunter, with extreme +coolness, confining himself to an approval of the gentleman selected by Mr. +Huelsemann to represent Austria after the latter's departure. + +The other affairs which occupied Mr. Webster's official attention at this +time made less noise than that with Austria, but they were more complicated +and some of them far more perilous to the peace of the country. The most +important was that growing out of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty in regard to +the neutrality of the contemplated canal in Nicaragua. This led to a +prolonged correspondence about the protectorate of Great Britain in +Nicaragua, and to a withdrawal of her claim to exact port-charges. It is +interesting to observe the influence which Mr. Webster at once obtained +with Sir Henry Bulwer and the respect in which he was held by that +experienced diplomatist. Besides this discussion with England, there was a +sharp dispute with Mexico about the right of way over the Isthmus of +Tehuantepec, and the troubles on the Texan boundary before Congress had +acted upon the subject. Then came the Lopez invasion of Cuba, supported by +bodies of volunteers enlisted in the United States, which, by its failure +and its results, involved our government in a number of difficult +questions. The most serious was the riot at New Orleans, where the Spanish +consulate was sacked by a mob. To render due reparation for this outrage +without wounding the national pride by apparent humiliation was no easy +task. Mr. Webster settled everything, however, with a judgment, tact, and +dignity which prevented war with Spain and yet excited no resentment at +home. At a later period, when the Kossuth affair was drawing to an end, the +perennial difficulty about the fisheries revived and was added to our +Central American troubles with Great Britain, and this, together with the +affair of the Lobos Islands, occupied Mr. Webster's attention, and drew +forth some able and important dispatches during the summer of 1852, in the +last months of his life. + +While the struggle was in progress to convince the country of the value and +justice of the compromise measures and to compel their acceptance, another +presidential election drew on. It was the signal for the last desperate +attempt to obtain the Whig nomination for Mr. Webster, and it seemed at +first sight as if the party must finally take up the New England leader. +Mr. Clay was wholly out of the race, and his last hour was near. There was +absolutely no one who, in fame, ability, public services, and experience +could be compared for one moment with Mr. Webster. The opportunity was +obvious enough; it awakened all Mr. Webster's hopes, and excited the ardor +of his friends. A formal and organized movement, such as had never before +been made, was set on foot to promote his candidacy, and a vigorous and +earnest address to the people was issued by his friends in Massachusetts. +The result demonstrated, if demonstration were needed, that Mr. Webster had +not, even under the most favorable circumstances, the remotest chance for +the presidency. His friends saw this plainly enough before the convention +met, but he himself regarded the great prize as at last surely within his +grasp. Mr. Choate, who was to lead the Webster delegates, went to +Washington the day before the convention assembled. He called on Mr. +Webster and found him so filled with the belief that he should be nominated +that it seemed cruel to undeceive him. Mr. Choate, at all events, had not +the heart for the task, and went back to Baltimore to lead the forlorn hope +with gallant fidelity and with an eloquence as brilliant if not so grand as +that of Mr. Webster himself. A majority[1] of the convention divided their +votes very unequally between Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Webster, the former +receiving 133, the latter 29, on the first ballot, while General Scott had +131. Forty-five ballots were taken, without any substantial change, and +then General Scott began to increase his strength, and was nominated on the +fifty-third ballot, receiving 159 votes. Most of General Scott's supporters +were opposed to resolutions sustaining the compromise measures, while +those who voted for Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Webster favored that policy. +General Scott owed his nomination to a compromise, which consisted in +inserting in the platform a clause strongly approving Mr. Clay's measures. +Mr. Webster expected the Fillmore delegates to come to him, an unlikely +event when they were so much more numerous than his friends, and, moreover, +they never showed the slightest inclination to do so. They were chiefly +from the South, and as they chose to consider Mr. Fillmore and not his +secretary the representative of compromise, they reasonably enough expected +the latter to give way. The desperate stubbornness of Mr. Webster's +adherents resulted in the nomination of Scott. It seemed hard that the +Southern Whigs should have done so little for Mr. Webster after he had done +and sacrificed so much to advance and defend their interests. But the South +was practical. In the 7th of March speech they had got from Mr. Webster all +they could expect or desire. It was quite possible, in fact it was highly +probable, that, once in the presidency, he could not be controlled or +guided by the slave-power or by any other sectional influence. Mr. +Fillmore, inferior in every way to Mr. Webster in intellect, in force, in +reputation, would give them a mild, safe administration and be easily +influenced by the South. Mr. Webster had served his turn, and the men +whose cause he had advocated and whose interests he had protected cast him +aside. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Curtis says a "great majority continued to divide their +votes between Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Webster." The highest number reached by +the combined Webster and Fillmore votes, on any one ballot, was 162, three +more than was received on the last ballot by General Scott, who, Mr. Curtis +correctly says, obtained only a "few votes more than the necessary +majority."] + +The loss of the nomination was a bitter disappointment to Mr. Webster. It +was the fashion in certain quarters to declare that it killed him, but this +was manifestly absurd. The most that can be said in this respect was, that +the excitement and depression caused by his defeat preyed upon his mind and +thereby facilitated the inroads of disease, while it added to the clouds +which darkened round him in those last days. But his course of action after +the convention cannot be passed over without comment. He refused to give +his adhesion to General Scott's nomination, and he advised his friends to +vote for Mr. Pierce, because the Whigs were divided, while the Democrats +were unanimously determined to resist all attempts to renew the slavery +agitation. This course was absolutely indefensible. If the Whig party was +so divided on the slavery question that Mr. Webster could not support their +nominee, then he had no business to seek a nomination at their hands, for +they were as much divided before the convention as afterwards. He chose to +come before that convention, knowing perfectly well the divisions of the +party, and that the nomination might fall to General Scott. He saw fit to +play the game, and was in honor bound to abide by the rules. He had no +right to say "it is heads I win, and tails you lose." If he had been +nominated he would have indignantly and justly denounced a refusal on the +part of General Scott and his friends to support him. It is the merest +sophistry to say that Mr. Webster was too great a man to be bound by party +usages, and that he owed it to himself to rise above them, and refuse his +support to a poor nomination and to a wrangling party. If Mr. Webster could +no longer act with the Whigs, then his name had no business in that +convention at Baltimore, for the conditions were the same before its +meeting as afterward. Great man as he was, he was not too great to behave +honorably; and his refusal to support Scott, after having been his rival +for a nomination at the hands of their common party, was neither honorable +nor just. If Mr. Webster had decided to leave the Whigs and act +independently, he was in honor bound to do so before the Baltimore +convention assembled, or to have warned the delegates that such was his +intention in the event of General Scott's nomination. He had no right to +stand the hazard of the die, and then refuse to abide by the result. The +Whig party, in its best estate, was not calculated to excite a very warm +enthusiasm in the breast of a dispassionate posterity, and it is perfectly +true that it was on the eve of ruin in 1852. But it appeared better then, +in the point of self-respect, than four years before. In 1848 the Whigs +nominated a successful soldier conspicuous only for his availability and +without knowing to what party he belonged. They maintained absolute +silence on the great question of the extension of slavery, and carried on +their campaign on the personal popularity of their candidate. Mr. Webster +was righteously disgusted at their candidate and their negative attitude. +He could justly and properly have left them on a question of principle; but +he swallowed the nomination, "not fit to be made," and gave to his party a +decided and public support. In 1852 the Whigs nominated another successful +soldier, who was known to be a Whig, and who had been a candidate for their +nomination before. In their platform they formally adopted the essential +principle demanded by Mr. Webster, and declared their adhesion to the +compromise measures. If there was disaffection in regard to this +declaration of 1852, there was disaffection also about the silence of 1848. +In the former case, Mr. Webster adhered to the nomination; in the latter, +he rejected it. In 1848 he might still hope to be President through a Whig +nomination. In 1852 he knew that, even if he lived, there would never be +another chance. He gave vent to his disappointment, put no constraint upon +himself, prophesied the downfall of his party, and advised his friends to +vote for Franklin Pierce. It was perfectly logical, after advocating the +compromise measures, to advise giving the government into the hands of a +party controlled by the South. Mr. Webster would have been entirely +reasonable in taking such a course before the Baltimore convention. He had +no right to do so after he had sought a nomination from the Whigs, and it +was a breach of faith to act as he did, to advise his friends to desert a +falling party and vote for the Democratic candidate. + +After the acceptance of the Department of State, Mr. Webster's health +became seriously impaired. His exertions in advocating the compromise +measures, his official labors, and the increased severity of his annual +hay-fever,--all contributed to debilitate him. His iron constitution +weakened in various ways, and especially by frequent periods of intense +mental exertion, to which were superadded the excitement and nervous strain +inseparable from his career, was beginning to give way. Slowly but surely +he lost ground. His spirits began to lose their elasticity, and he rarely +spoke without a tinge of deep sadness being apparent in all he said. In +May, 1852, while driving near Marshfield, he was thrown from his carriage +with much violence, injuring his wrists, and receiving other severe +contusions. The shock was very great, and undoubtedly accelerated the +progress of the fatal organic disease which was sapping his life. This +physical injury was followed by the keen disappointment of his defeat at +Baltimore, which preyed upon his heart and mind. During the summer of 1852 +his health gave way more rapidly. He longed to resign, but Mr. Fillmore +insisted on his retaining his office. In July he came to Boston, where he +was welcomed by a great public meeting, and hailed with enthusiastic +acclamations, which did much to soothe his wounded feelings. He still +continued to transact the business of his department, and in August went to +Washington, where he remained until the 8th of September, when he returned +to Marshfield. On the 20th he went to Boston, for the last time, to consult +his physician. He appeared at a friend's house, one evening, for a few +moments, and all who then saw him were shocked at the look of illness and +suffering in his face. It was his last visit. He went back to Marshfield +the next day, never to return. He now failed rapidly. His nights were +sleepless, and there were scarcely any intervals of ease or improvement. +The decline was steady and sure, and as October wore away the end drew +near. Mr. Webster faced it with courage, cheerfulness, and dignity, in a +religious and trusting spirit, with a touch of the personal pride which was +part of his nature. He remained perfectly conscious and clear in his mind +almost to the very last moment, bearing his sufferings with perfect +fortitude, and exhibiting the tenderest affection toward the wife and son +and friends who watched over him. On the evening of October 23 it became +apparent that he was sinking, but his one wish seemed to be that he might +be conscious when he was actually dying. After midnight he roused from an +uneasy sleep, struggled for consciousness, and ejaculated, "I still live." +These were his last words. Shortly after three o'clock the labored +breathing ceased, and all was over. + +A hush fell upon the country as the news of his death sped over the land. A +great gap seemed to have been made in the existence of every one. Men +remembered the grandeur of his form and the splendor of his intellect, and +felt as if one of the pillars of the state had fallen. The profound grief +and deep sense of loss produced by his death were the highest tributes and +the most convincing proofs of his greatness. + +In accordance with his wishes, all public forms and ceremonies were +dispensed with. The funeral took place at his home on Friday, October 29. +Thousands flocked to Marshfield to do honor to his memory, and to look for +the last time at that noble form. It was one of those beautiful days of the +New England autumn, when the sun is slightly veiled, and a delicate haze +hangs over the sea, shining with a tender silvery light. There is a sense +of infinite rest and peace on such a day which seems to shut out the noise +of the busy world and breathe the spirit of unbroken calm. As the crowds +poured in through the gates of the farm, they saw before them on the lawn, +resting upon a low mound of flowers, the majestic form, as impressive in +the repose of death as it had been in the fullness of life and strength. +There was a wonderful fitness in it all. The vault of heaven and the +spacious earth seemed in their large simplicity the true place for such a +man to lie in state. There was a brief and simple service at the house, and +then the body was borne on the shoulders of Marshfield farmers, and laid in +the little graveyard which already held the wife and children who had gone +before, and where could be heard the eternal murmur of the sea. + + * * * * * + +In May, 1852, Mr. Webster said to Professor Silliman: "I have given my life +to law and politics. Law is uncertain and politics are utterly vain." It is +a sad commentary for such a man to have made on such a career, but it fitly +represents Mr. Webster's feelings as the end of life approached. His last +years were not his most fortunate, and still less his best years. Domestic +sorrows had been the prelude to a change of policy, which had aroused a +bitter opposition, and to the pangs of disappointed ambition. A sense of +mistake and failure hung heavily upon his spirits, and the cry of "vanity, +vanity, all is vanity," came readily to his lips. There is an infinite +pathos in those melancholy words which have just been quoted. The sun of +life, which had shone so splendidly at its meridian, was setting amid +clouds. The darkness which overspread him came from the action of the 7th +of March, and the conflict which it had caused. If there were failure and +mistake they were there. The presidency could add nothing, its loss could +take away nothing from the fame of Daniel Webster. He longed for it +eagerly; he had sacrificed much to his desire for it; his disappointment +was keen and bitter at not receiving what seemed to him the fit crown of +his great public career. But this grief was purely personal, and will not +be shared by posterity, who feel only the errors of those last years coming +after so much glory, and who care very little for the defeat of the +ambition which went with them. + +Those last two years awakened such fierce disputes, and had such an +absorbing interest, that they have tended to overshadow the half century of +distinction and achievement which preceded them. Failure and disappointment +on the part of such a man as Webster seem so great, that they too easily +dwarf everything else, and hide from us a just and well proportioned view +of the whole career. Mr. Webster's success had, in truth, been brilliant, +hardly equalled in measure or duration by that of any other eminent man in +our history. For thirty years he had stood at the head of the bar and of +the Senate, the first lawyer and the first statesman of the United States. +This is a long tenure of power for one man in two distinct departments. It +would be remarkable anywhere. It is especially so in a democracy. This +great success Mr. Webster owed solely to his intellectual power +supplemented by great physical gifts. No man ever was born into the world +better formed by nature for the career of an orator and statesman. He had +everything to compel the admiration and submission of his fellow-men:-- + + "The front of Jove himself; + An eye like Mars to threaten and command; + A station like the herald Mercury + New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill; + A combination and a form indeed, + Where every god did seem to set his seal, + To give the world assurance of a man." + +Hamlet's words are a perfect picture of Mr. Webster's outer man, and we +have but to add to the description a voice of singular beauty and power +with the tone and compass of an organ. The look of his face and the sound +of his voice were in themselves as eloquent as anything Mr. Webster ever +uttered. + +But the imposing presence was only the outward sign of the man. Within was +a massive and powerful intellect, not creative or ingenious, but with a +wonderful vigor of grasp, capacious, penetrating, far-reaching. Mr. +Webster's strongest and most characteristic mental qualities were weight +and force. He was peculiarly fitted to deal with large subjects in a large +way. He was by temperament extremely conservative. There was nothing of the +reformer or the zealot about him. He could maintain or construct where +other men had built; he could not lay new foundations or invent. We see +this curiously exemplified in his feeling toward Hamilton and Madison. He +admired them both, and to the former he paid a compliment which has become +a familiar quotation. But Hamilton's bold, aggressive genius, his audacity, +fertility, and resource, did not appeal to Mr. Webster as did the prudence, +the constructive wisdom, and the safe conservatism of the gentle Madison, +whom he never wearied of praising. The same description may be given of his +imagination, which was warm, vigorous, and keen, but not poetic. He used it +well, it never led him astray, and was the secret of his most conspicuous +oratorical triumphs. + +He had great natural pride and a strong sense of personal dignity, which +made him always impressive, but apparently cold, and sometimes solemn in +public. In his later years this solemnity degenerated occasionally into +pomposity, to which it is always perilously near. At no time in his life +was he quick or excitable. He was indolent and dreamy, working always under +pressure, and then at a high rate of speed. This indolence increased as he +grew older; he would then postpone longer and labor more intensely to make +up the lost time than in his earlier days. When he was quiescent, he seemed +stern, cold, and latterly rather heavy, and some outer incentive was needed +to rouse his intellect or touch his heart. Once stirred, he blazed forth, +and, when fairly engaged, with his intellect in full play, he was as grand +and effective in his eloquence as it is given to human nature to be. In the +less exciting occupations of public life, as, for instance, in foreign +negotiations, he showed the same grip upon his subject, the same capacity +and judgment as in his speeches, and a mingling of tact and dignity which +proved the greatest fitness for the conduct of the gravest public affairs. +As a statesman Mr. Webster was not an "opportunist," as it is the fashion +to call those who live politically from day to day, dealing with each +question as it arises, and exhibiting often the greatest skill and talent. +Still less was he a statesman of the type of Charles Fox, who preached to +the deaf ears of one generation great principles which became accepted +truisms in the next. Mr. Webster stands between the two classes. He viewed +the present with a strong perception of the future, and shaped his policy +not merely for the daily exigency, but with a keen eye to subsequent +effects. At the same time he never put forward and defended single-handed a +great principle or idea which, neglected then, was gradually to win its way +and reign supreme among a succeeding generation. + +His speeches have a heat and glow which we can still feel, and a depth and +reality of thought which have secured them a place in literature. He had +not a fiery nature, although there is often so much warmth in what he said. +He was neither high tempered nor quick to anger, but he could be fierce, +and, when adulation had warped him in those later years, he was capable of +striking ugly blows which sometimes wounded friends as well as enemies. + +There remains one marked quality to be noticed in Mr. Webster, which was of +immense negative service to him. This was his sense of humor. Mr. Nichol, +in his recent history of American literature, speaks of Mr. Webster as +deficient in this respect. Either the critic himself is deficient in humor +or he has studied only Webster's collected works, which give no indication +of the real humor in the man. That Mr. Webster was not a humorist is +unquestionably true, and although he used a sarcasm which made his +opponents seem absurd and even ridiculous at times, and in his more +unstudied efforts would provoke mirth by some happy and playful allusion, +some felicitous quotation or ingenious antithesis, he was too stately in +every essential respect ever to seek to make mere fun or to excite the +laughter of his hearers by deliberate exertions and with malice +aforethought. He had, nevertheless, a real and genuine sense of humor. We +can see it in his letters, and it comes out in a thousand ways in the +details and incidents of his private life. When he had thrown aside the +cares of professional or public business, he revelled in hearty, boisterous +fun, and he had that sanest of qualities, an honest, boyish love of pure +nonsense. He delighted in a good story and dearly loved a joke, although +no jester himself. This sense of humor and appreciation of the ridiculous, +although they give no color to his published works, where, indeed, they +would have been out of place, improved his judgment, smoothed his path +through the world, and saved him from those blunders in taste and those +follies in action which are ever the pitfalls for men with the fervid, +oratorical temperament. + +This sense of humor gave, also, a great charm to his conversation and to +all social intercourse with him. He was a good, but never, so far as can be +judged from tradition, an overbearing talker. He never appears to have +crushed opposition in conversation, nor to have indulged in monologue, +which is so apt to be the foible of famous and successful men who have a +solemn sense of their own dignity and importance. What Lord Melbourne said +of the great Whig historian, "that he wished he was as sure of anything as +Tom Macaulay was of everything," could not be applied to Mr. Webster. He +owed his freedom from such a weakness partly, no doubt, to his natural +indolence, but still more to the fact that he was not only no pedant, but +not even a very learned man. He knew no Greek, but was familiar with Latin. +His quotations and allusions were chiefly drawn from Shakespeare, Milton, +Homer, and the Bible, where he found what most appealed to him--simplicity +and grandeur of thought and diction. At the same time, he was a great +reader, and possessed wide information on a vast variety of subjects, which +a clear and retentive memory put always at his command. The result of all +this was that he was a most charming and entertaining companion. + +These attractions were heightened by his large nature and strong animal +spirits. He loved outdoor life. He was a keen sportsman and skilful +fisherman. In all these ways he was healthy and manly, without any tinge of +the mere student or public official. He loved everything that was large. +His soul expanded in the free air and beneath the blue sky. All natural +scenery appealed to him,--Niagara, the mountains, the rolling prairie, the +great rivers,--but he found most contentment beside the limitless sea, amid +brown marshes and sand-dunes, where the sense of infinite space is +strongest. It was the same in regard to animals. He cared but little for +horses or dogs, but he rejoiced in great herds of cattle, and especially in +fine oxen, the embodiment of slow and massive strength. In England the +things which chiefly appealed to him were the Tower of London, Westminster +Abbey, Smithfield cattle market, and English agriculture. So it was always +and everywhere. He loved mountains and great trees, wide horizons, the +ocean, the western plains, and the giant monuments of literature and art. +He rejoiced in his strength and the overflowing animal vigor that was in +him. He was so big and so strong, so large in every way, that people sank +into repose in his presence, and felt rest and confidence in the mere fact +of his existence. He came to be regarded as an institution, and when he +died men paused with a sense of helplessness, and wondered how the country +would get on without him. To have filled so large a space in a country so +vast, and in a great, hurrying, and pushing democracy, implies a +personality of a most uncommon kind. + +He was, too, something more than a charming companion in private life. He +was generous, liberal, hospitable, and deeply affectionate. He was adored +in his home, and deeply loved his children, who were torn from him, one +after another. His sorrow, like his joy, was intense and full of force. He +had many devoted friends, and a still greater body of unhesitating +followers. To the former he showed, through nearly all his life, the warm +affection which was natural to him. It was not until adulation and flattery +had deeply injured him, and the frustrated ambition for the presidency had +poisoned both heart and mind, that he became dictatorial and overbearing. +Not till then did he quarrel with those who had served and followed him, as +when he slighted Mr. Lawrence for expressing independent opinions, and +refused to do justice to the memory of Story because it might impair his +own glories. They do not present a pleasant picture, these quarrels with +friends, but they were part of the deterioration of the last years, and +they furnish in a certain way the key to his failure to attain the +presidency. The country was proud of Mr. Webster; proud of his intellect, +his eloquence, his fame. He was the idol of the capitalists, the merchants, +the lawyers, the clergy, the educated men of all classes in the East. The +politicians dreaded and feared him because he was so great, and so little +in sympathy with them, but his real weakness was with the masses of the +people. He was not popular in the true sense of the word. For years the +Whig party and Henry Clay were almost synonymous terms, but this could +never be said of Mr. Webster. His following was strong in quality, but weak +numerically. Clay touched the popular heart. Webster never did. The people +were proud of him, wondered at him, were awed by him, but they did not love +him, and that was the reason he was never President, for he was too great +to succeed to the high office, as many men have, by happy or unhappy +accident. There was also another feeling which is suggested by the +differences with some of his closest friends. There was a lurking distrust +of Mr. Webster's sincerity. We can see it plainly in the correspondence of +the Western Whigs, who were not, perhaps, wholly impartial. But it existed, +nevertheless. There was a vague, ill-defined feeling of doubt in the +public mind; a suspicion that the spirit of the advocate was the ruling +spirit in Mr. Webster, and that he did not believe with absolute and +fervent faith in one side of any question. There was just enough +correctness, just a sufficient grain of truth in this idea, when united +with the coldness and dignity of his manner and with his greatness itself, +to render impossible that popularity which, to be real and lasting in a +democracy, must come from the heart and not from the head of the people, +which must be instinctive and emotional, and not the offspring of reason. + +There is no occasion to discuss, or hold up to reprobation, Mr. Webster's +failings. He was a splendid animal as well as a great man, and he had +strong passions and appetites, which he indulged at times to the detriment +of his health and reputation. These errors may be mostly fitly consigned to +silence. But there was one failing which cannot be passed over in this way. +This was in regard to money. His indifference to debt was perceptible in +his youth, and for many years showed no sign of growth. But in his later +years it increased with terrible rapidity. He earned twenty thousand a year +when he first came to Boston,--a very great income for those days. His +public career interfered, of course, with his law practice, but there never +was a period when he could not, with reasonable economy, have laid up +something at the end of every year, and gradually amassed a fortune. But +he not only never saved, he lived habitually beyond his means. He did not +become poor by his devotion to the public service, but by his own +extravagance. He loved to spend money and to live well. He had a fine +library and handsome plate; he bought fancy cattle; he kept open house, and +indulged in that most expensive of all luxuries, "gentleman-farming." He +never stinted himself in any way, and he gave away money with reckless +generosity and heedless profusion, often not stopping to inquire who the +recipient of his bounty might be. The result was debt; then subscriptions +among his friends to pay his debts; then a fresh start and more debts, and +more subscriptions and funds for his benefit, and gifts of money for his +table, and checks or notes for several thousand dollars in token of +admiration of the 7th of March speech.[1] This was, of course, utterly +wrong and demoralizing, but Mr. Webster came, after a time, to look upon +such transactions as natural and proper. In the Ingersoll debate, Mr. +Yancey accused him of being in the pay of the New England manufacturers, +and his biographer has replied to the charge at length. That Mr. Webster +was in the pay of the manufacturers in the sense that they hired him, and +bade him do certain things, is absurd. That he was maintained and supported +in a large degree by New England manufacturers and capitalists cannot be +questioned; but his attitude toward them was not that of servant and +dependent. He seems to have regarded the merchants and bankers of State +Street very much as a feudal baron regarded his peasantry. It was their +privilege and duty to support him, and he repaid them with an occasional +magnificent compliment. The result was that he lived in debt and died +insolvent, and this was not the position which such a man as Daniel Webster +should have occupied. + +[Footnote 1: The story of the gift of ten thousand dollars in token of +admiration of the 7th of March speech, referred to by Dr. Von Holst +(_Const. Hist. of the United States_) may be found in a volume entitled, +_In Memoriam, B. Ogle Tayloe_, p. 109, and is as follows: "My opulent and +munificent friend and neighbor Mr. William W. Corcoran," says Mr. Tayloe, +"after the perusal of Webster's celebrated March speech in defence of the +Constitution and of Southern rights, inclosed to Mrs. Webster her husband's +note for ten thousand dollars given him for a loan to that amount. Mr. +Webster met Mr. Corcoran the same evening, at the President's, and thanked +him for the 'princely favor.' Next day he addressed to Mr. Corcoran a +letter of thanks which I read at Mr. Corcoran's request." This version is +substantially correct. The morning of March 8 Mr. Corcoran inclosed with a +letter of congratulation some notes of Mr. Webster's amounting to some six +thousand dollars. Reflecting that this was not a very solid tribute, he +opened his letter and put in a check for a thousand dollars, and sent the +notes and the check to Mr. Webster, who wrote him a letter expressing his +gratitude, which Mr. Tayloe doubtless saw, and which is still in existence. +I give the facts in this way because Mr. George T. Curtis, in a newspaper +interview, referring to an article of mine in the _Atlantic Monthly_, said, +"With regard to the story of the ten thousand dollar check, which story Mr. +Lodge gives us to understand he found in the pages of that very credulous +writer Dr. Von Holst, although I have not looked into his volumes to see +whether he makes the charge, I have only to say that I never heard of such +an occurrence before, and that it would require the oath of a very credible +witness to the fact to make me believe it." I may add that I have taken the +trouble not only to look into Dr. Von Holst's volumes but to examine the +whole matter thoroughly. The proof is absolute and indeed it is not +necessary to go beyond Mr. Webster's own letter of acknowledgment in search +of evidence, were there the slightest reason to doubt the substantial +correctness of Mr. Tayloe's statement. The point is a small one, but a +statement of fact, if questioned, ought always to be sustained or +withdrawn.] + +He showed the same indifference to the source of supplies of money in other +ways. He took a fee from Wheelock, and then deserted him. He came down to +Salem to prosecute a murderer, and the opposing counsel objected that he +was brought there to hurry the jury beyond the law and the evidence, and it +was even murmured audibly in the court-room that he had a fee from the +relatives of the murdered man in his pocket. A fee of that sort he +certainly received either then or afterwards. Every ugly public attack that +was made upon him related to money, and it is painful that the biographer +of such a man as Webster should be compelled to give many pages to show +that his hero was not in the pay of manufacturers, and did not receive a +bribe in carrying out the provisions of the treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo. +The refutation may be perfectly successful, but there ought to have been no +need of it. The reputation of a man like Mr. Webster in money matters +should have been so far above suspicion that no one would have dreamed of +attacking it. Debts and subscriptions bred the idea that there might be +worse behind, and although there is no reason to believe that such was the +case, these things are of themselves deplorable enough. + +When Mr. Webster failed it was a moral failure. His moral character was not +equal to his intellectual force. All the errors he ever committed, whether +in public or in private life, in political action or in regard to money +obligations, came from moral weakness. He was deficient in that intensity +of conviction which carries men beyond and above all triumphs of +statesmanship, and makes them the embodiment of the great moral forces +which move the world. If Mr. Webster's moral power had equalled his +intellectual greatness, he would have had no rival in our history. But this +combination and balance are so rare that they are hardly to be found in +perfection among the sons of men. The very fact of his greatness made his +failings all the more dangerous and unfortunate. To be blinded by the +splendor of his fame and the lustre of his achievements and prate about the +sin of belittling a great man is the falsest philosophy and the meanest +cant. The only thing worth having, in history as in life, is truth; and we +do wrong to our past, to ourselves, and to our posterity if we do not +strive to render simple justice always. We can forgive the errors and +sorrow for the faults of our great ones gone; we cannot afford to hide or +forget their shortcomings. + +But after all has been said, the question of most interest is, what Mr. +Webster represented, what he effected, and what he means in our history. +The answer is simple. He stands to-day as the preeminent champion and +exponent of nationality. He said once, "there are no Alleghanies in my +politics," and he spoke the exact truth. Mr. Webster was thoroughly +national. There is no taint of sectionalism or narrow local prejudice about +him. He towers up as an American, a citizen of the United States in the +fullest sense of the word. He did not invent the Union, or discover the +doctrine of nationality. But he found the great fact and the great +principle ready to his hand, and he lifted them up, and preached the gospel +of nationality throughout the length and breadth of the land. In his +fidelity to this cause he never wavered nor faltered. From the first burst +of boyish oratory to the sleepless nights at Marshfield, when, waiting for +death, he looked through the window at the light which showed him the +national flag fluttering from its staff, his first thought was of a united +country. To his large nature the Union appealed powerfully by the mere +sense of magnitude which it conveyed. The vision of future empire, the +dream of the destiny of an unbroken union touched and kindled his +imagination. He could hardly speak in public without an allusion to the +grandeur of American nationality, and a fervent appeal to keep it sacred +and intact. For fifty years, with reiteration ever more frequent, +sometimes with rich elaboration, sometimes with brief and simple allusion, +he poured this message into the ears of a listening people. His words +passed into text-books, and became the first declamations of school-boys. +They were in every one's mouth. They sank into the hearts of the people, +and became unconsciously a part of their life and daily thoughts. When the +hour came, it was love for the Union and the sentiment of nationality which +nerved the arm of the North, and sustained her courage. That love had been +fostered, and that sentiment had been strengthened and vivified by the life +and words of Webster. No one had done so much, or had so large a share in +this momentous task. Here lies the debt which the American people owe to +Webster, and here is his meaning and importance in his own time and to us +to-day. His career, his intellect, and his achievements are inseparably +connected with the maintenance of a great empire, and the fortunes of a +great people. So long as English oratory is read or studied, so long will +his speeches stand high in literature. So long as the Union of these States +endures, or holds a place in history, will the name of Daniel Webster be +honored and remembered, and his stately eloquence find an echo in the +hearts of his countrymen. + + + + +INDEX. + + +Aberdeen, Lord, succeeds Lord Palmerston as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, + 252; + offers forty-ninth parallel, in accordance with Mr. Webster's suggestion, + 266. + +Adams, John, in Massachusetts Convention, 111; + letter to Webster on Plymouth oration, 123; + eulogy on, 125; + supposed speech of, 126. + +Adams, John Quincy, most conspicuous man in New England, 129; + opposed to Greek mission, 135; + opinion of Webster's speech against tariff of 1824, 136; + elected President, 137, 149; + anxious for success of Panama mission, 140; + message on Georgia and Creek Indians, 142; + Webster's opposition to, 145; + bitter tone toward Webster in Edwards's affair, 147; + interview with Webster, 148, 149; + conciliates Webster, 149; + real hostility to Webster, 150; + defeated for presidency, 151; + comment on eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 153; + compared with Webster as an orator, 201; + opinion of reply to Hayne, 206; + opinion of Mr. Webster's attitude toward the South in 1838, 285. + +Ames, Fisher, compared with Webster as an orator, 201. + +Appleton, Julia Webster, daughter of Mr. Webster, death of, 271. + +Ashburton, Lord, appointed special commissioner, 251; + arrives in Washington, 253; + negotiation with Mr. Webster, 255 ff.; + attacked by Lord Palmerston, 259. + +Ashmun, George, defends Mr. Webster, 269. + +Atkinson, Edward, summary of Mr. Webster's tariff speech of 1824, + 163-165. + + +Bacourt, M. de, French Minister, description of Harrison's reception of + diplomatic corps, 245. + +Baltimore, Whig Convention at, 338. + +Bank of the United States, debate on establishment, and defeat of, in + 1814-15, 62; + established, 66; + beginning of attack on, 208. + +Bartlett, Ichabod, counsel for State against College, 79; + attack on Mr. Webster, 80. + +Bell, Samuel, remarks to Webster before reply to Hayne, 178. + +Bellamy, Dr., early opponent of Eleazer Wheelock, 75. + +Benton, Thomas H., account of Mr. Webster in 1833, 219, 220; + error in view of Webster, 221; + fails in first attempt to carry expunging resolution, 232; + carries second expunging resolution, 234; + attacks Ashburton treaty, 257; + supports Taylor's policy in 1850, 312. + +Bocanegra, M. de, Webster's correspondence with, 260. + +"Boston Memorial," 275. + +Bosworth, Mr., junior counsel in Rhode Island case, 105. + +Brown, Rev. Francis, elected president of Dartmouth College, 78; + refuses to obey new board of trustees, 79; + writes to Webster as to state of public opinion, 94. + +Buchanan, James, taunts Mr. Clay, 251; + attacks Ashburton treaty, 257. + +Bulwer, Sir Henry, respect for Mr. Webster, 336. + +Burke, Edmund, Webster compared with as an orator, 199, 202, 203. + + +Calhoun, John C., speech in favor of repealing embargo, 53; + sustains double duties, 55, 157; + asks Webster's assistance to establish a bank, 63; + introduces bill to compel revenue to be collected in specie, 66; + internal improvement bill of, 68; + visit to Webster, who regards him as his choice for President, 130-145; + misleads Webster as to Greek mission, 135; + author of exposition and protest, 171; + presides over debate on Foote's resolution, 172; + compared with Webster as an orator, 201; + resigns vice-presidency and returns as Senator to support + nullification, 212; + alarmed at Jackson's attitude and at Force Bill, 214; + consults Clay, 215; + nullification speech on Force Bill, 215; + merits of speech, 216; + supports compromise, 219; + alliance with Clay, 222; + and Webster, 226; + attitude in regard to France, 230; + change on bank question, 236; + accepts secretaryship of state to bring about annexation of Texas, 263; + moves that anti-slavery petitions be not received, 1836, 281; + bill to control United States mails, 282; + tries to stifle petitions, 284; + resolutions on Enterprise affair, 286; + approves Webster's treatment of Creole case, 287; + pronounces anti-slavery petition of New Mexico "insolent," 298; + argument as to Constitution in territories, 298; + Webster's compliments to on 7th of March, 326. + +California, desires admission as a state, 299; + slavery possible in, 319. + +Carlyle, Thomas, description of Webster, 194. + +Caroline, affair of steamboat, 247. + +Cass, Lewis, attack upon Ashburton treaty, 259; + Democratic candidate for presidency and defeated, 274. + +Chamberlain, Mellen, comparison of Webster with other orators, 203, note. + +Chatham, Earl of, compared with Webster as an orator, 201. + +Choate, Rufus, compared with Webster as an orator, 202; + resigns senatorship, 262; + leads Webster delegates at Baltimore, 338. + +Clay, Henry, makes Mr. Webster chairman of Judiciary Committee, 131; + active support of Greek resolutions, 134; + author of American system and tariff of 1824, 136, 163; + desires Panama mission, 140; + Webster's opposition to, 145; + candidate for presidency in 1832, 207; + bill for reduction of tariff, 1831-32, 211; + consults with Calhoun, 215; + introduces Compromise bill, 215; + carries Compromise bill, 218, 219; + alliance with Calhoun, 222; + opinion of Webster's course in 1833, 222, 223; + alliance with Webster, 226; + introduces resolutions of censure on Jackson, 228; + attitude in regard to France, 230; + declines to enter Harrison's cabinet, 240; + attacks President Tyler, 250, 251; + movement in favor of, in Massachusetts, 258; + nominated for presidency and defeated, 262; + movement to nominate in 1848, 273; + resolutions as to slavery in the District, 284; + plan for compromise in 1850, 300; + introduces Compromise bill in Senate, 301; + policy of compromise, 309, 310; + consistent supporter of compromise policy, 315; + not a candidate for presidency in 1852, 337; + popularity of, 355. + +Clingman, Thomas L., advocates slavery in California, 320. + +Congregational Church, power and politics of, in New Hampshire, 76. + +Congress, leaders in thirteenth, 49; + leaders in fourteenth, 64. + +Cooper, James Fenimore, Webster's speech, at memorial meeting, 195. + +Corcoran, Wm. W., gift to Mr. Webster, 357, note. + +Crawford, William H., attack on by Ninian Edwards, 136, 146, 147; + bids for support of Webster and Federalists, 146; + defended by Webster, 147; + fails to get support of Federalists, 148. + +Creole, case of the, 253, 255, 287. + +Crimes Act, 138. + +Crittenden, John J., Morehead's letter to, about 7th of March speech, 326. + +Cruising Convention, the, 255, 259. + +Cumberland Road, bill for, 137. + +Curtis, George T., biography of Webster, 1, note; + opinion of reply to Calhoun, 216; + of expunging resolution, 234; + describes New York movement for Taylor as a blunder, 273; + says majority disapproved 7th of March speech, 303; + considers Taylor's policy in 1850 impracticable, 311; + views as to danger of secession in 1850, 314. + +Cushing, Caleb, Minister to China, 260; + course in 1838, 285. + + +Dartmouth College case, account of, 74-97. + +Davis, Daniel, 30. + +Denison, John Evelyn, friendship and correspondence with Mr. Webster, 152. + +Dexter, Samuel, a leader at Boston bar, 30; + practises in New Hampshire, 36. + +Dickinson, Daniel S., attack upon Mr. Webster, 268. + +Disraeli, Benjamin, free trade a question of expediency, 169. + +Douglas, Stephen A., offers amendment to Oregon bill, 294. + +Dunham, Josiah, attacks Webster for deserting Wheelock, 77. + +Durfree, American citizen killed on Caroline, 247. + +Duvall, Judge, opposed to Dartmouth College, 87; + writes dissenting opinion, 96. + + +Edwards, Ninian, charges against Mr. Crawford, 136, 146, 147; + character of, 146, 147. + +Enterprise, case of the, 286. + +Erskine, Lord, compared with Webster as an orator, 202. + +Everett, Edward, Webster desires appointment of as Commissioner to Greece, + 135; + Minister to England, 252; + refuses Chinese mission, 260. + + +Farrar, Timothy, report of Dartmouth College case, 81, 86. + +Federalists, ruling party in New Hampshire, 76; + defeated on college issue, 78; + movement of to get decision for college, 92-94; + position of in 1823, 130, 131; + hostility to John Quincy Adams, 145, 146; + attempted alliance with Crawford, 146-148; + to be recognized by Adams, 149; + free-traders in New England, 155 ff. + +Fillmore, Millard, offers Mr. Webster secretaryship of state, 333; + candidate for Whig nomination, 338; + urges Mr. Webster to stay in the cabinet, 344. + +Foote, Henry S., moves to refer admission of California to a select + committee, 301. + +Foote, Samuel A., resolution regarding public lands, 172. + +Force Bill, introduced, 214; + debated, 215, 216. + +Forsyth, John, attacks Mr. Adams's message on Creek Indians, 142; + answered by Webster, 142, 143. + +Fox, Charles James, "no good speech reads well," 189; + compared with Webster as an orator, 202; + as a statesman, 350. + +Fox, Henry S., British minister at Harrison's reception of diplomatic + corps, 245; + demands release of McLeod, 248. + +Free-Soil party, nominations in 1848 do not obtain Webster's support, + 274, 296; + attitude in regard to slavery in 1860, 316; + injured by 7th of March speech, 324; + revival and victory, 325. + +Fryeburg, Maine, Webster's school at, 26; + oration before citizens of, 27. + + +Gibbons vs. Ogden, case of, 99. + +Giddings, Joshua R., opinion of Mr. Webster's attitude toward the South in + 1838, 286; + says Mr. Webster inserted passage about free negroes and Mr. Hoar after + delivery of 7th of March speech, 303; + interview with Mr. Webster, 322. + +Girard will case, 101, 261. + +Goodrich, Dr. Chauncey A., description of close of Mr. Webster's argument + in Dartmouth case, 89, 90. + +Goodridge, Major, case of, 198. + +Gore, Christopher, admits Mr. Webster as a student in his office, 28; + character of, 29; + advises Webster to refuse clerkship, moves his admission to the bar, 31. + +Greece, revolution in, 132. + + +Hamilton, Alexander, compared with Webster as an orator, 201; + as a financier, 208, 226, 228; + in regard to attack on Adams, 274; + Webster's opinion of, and feeling to, 349. + +Hanover, oration before citizens of, 20, 22. + +Harrison, William Henry, nominee of Whigs in 1836, 225; + nominated by Whigs again in 1839; elected President, 240; + character of inaugural speech, anecdote, 244; + reception of diplomatic corps, 245; + death of, 250. + +Hartford Convention, Mr. Webster's view of, 58. + +Harvey, Peter, character of his reminiscences, 95, note. + +Hayne, Robert Y., first attack on New England, 172; + second speech, 173; + Webster's reply to, 174 ff., 279; + effect of reply to, 206. + +Henry, Patrick, compared with Webster as an orator, 200. + +Hoar, Samuel, treatment of at Charleston, 302. + +Holmes, John, counsel for State at Washington, poor argument, 84, 91. + +Hopkinson, Joseph, with Mr. Webster in Dartmouth case at Washington, good + argument of, 84. + +Huelsemann, Mr., Austrian Charge, Mr. Webster's correspondence with, 334; + leaves the country in anger, 335. + + +Ingersoll, C.J., attack on Mr. Webster, 267-270. + + +Jackson, Andrew, Webster's opposition to as candidate for presidency, 145; + accession to the presidency, 171; + sweeping removals, 172; + begins attack on bank, 208; + vetoes bill for renewal of bank charter, 209; + determined to maintain integrity of Union, 212; + issues his proclamation, 213; + message asking for Force Bill, cannot hold his party, supported by + Webster, 214; + threatens to hang Calhoun, 215; + not sorry for compromise, 219; + alliance with Webster impossible, 221; + removes the deposits, 226; + sends "Protest" to Senate, 228, 229; + struggle with Senate and policy toward France, 230. + +Jefferson, Thomas, intends an unlimited embargo, 45; + eulogy on, 125. + +Johnson, Judge, adverse at first to Dartmouth college, 87; + converted to support of college, 93. + + +Kent, James, Chancellor, brought over to support of college, 93. + +Kentucky, leaders in, opposed to Webster, 224, 225. + +Kossuth, arrival and reception of in United States, 335. + + +Labouchere, Mr., 152. + +Lawrence, Abbot, treatment of by Mr. Webster, 354. + +Leroy, Caroline, Miss, second wife of Mr. Webster, 205. + +Letcher, Robert P., opinion of Webster, 225. + +Liberty party, 262, 287. + +Lieber, Dr. Francis, opinion of Webster's oratory, 187. + +Lincoln, Levi, elected senator from Massachusetts and declines, 144. + +Livingston, Judge, adverse at first to Dartmouth college, 87; + converted to support of college, 93. + +Lobes Islands, affair of the, 336. + +Lopez, invasion of Cuba, 336. + + +Madison, James, Federalists refuse to call on, 60; + vetoes Bank Bill, 64; + Mr. Webster's admiration for, 349. + +Macgregor, Mr., of Glasgow, Webster's letter to, 266. + +Maine, conduct in regard to northeastern boundary, 248, 254, 256. + +Marshall, John, sympathy for Dartmouth College, 87; + his political prejudices aroused by Webster, 88; + announces that decision is reserved, 92; + declines to hear Pinkney, 95; + his decision, 96. + +Marshfield, Mr. Webster's first visit to, 152; + his affection for, 261; + accident to Mr. Webster at, 343; + Mr. Webster returns to, to die, 344; + Mr. Webster buried at, 345, 346. + +Mason, Jeremiah, character and ability, 38; + effect upon, and friendship for Webster, 39; + plain style and effect with juries, 40; + thinks Webster would have made a good actor, 42; + allied with trustees of college, 76; + advises delay in removal of Wheelock, 78; + appears for college, 79; + brief in college case, 80; + attaches but little importance to doctrine of impairing contracts, 81; + unable to go to Washington, 84; + Webster's remarks on death of, 127; + supported by Webster for attorney-generalship, 148; + and for senatorship, 150. + +Mason, John Y., advocates slavery in California, 320; + Webster's compliment to on 7th of March, 326. + +Massachusetts, settlement of, 1, 2; + constitutional convention of in 1820, 110; + Webster's defence of, 185; + conduct in regard to northeastern boundary, 248, 254; + Whig convention of, declares against Tyler, 258. + +McDuffie, George, Webster's reply to, on Cumberland Road Bill, 137, 173. + +McLane, Louis, instructions of Van Buren to, as minister to England, 210. + +McLeod, Alexander, boasts of killing Durfree, 247; + arrested in New York, 247; + habeas corpus refused, 249; + proves an alibi and is acquitted, 252. + +Melbourne, Lord, ministry of, beaten, 252. + +Mexico, war with, declared, 270, 290. + +Mills, E.H., failing health, leaves Senate, 144. + +Monroe, James, visit to the North urged by Webster, 129. + + +New Hampshire, settlement of, 2; + soil, etc., 3; + people of, 4; + bar of, 35, 36; + Webster refuses to have his name brought forward by, in 1844, 262. + +New Mexico, petitions against slavery, 298; + quarrel with Texas, 299; + slavery possible in, 319. + +New Orleans, destruction of Spanish consulate at, 336. + +New York, attitude of, in McLeod affair, 248, 249. + +Niagara, Webster's visit to, and account of, 152. + +Niblo's Garden, Mr. Webster's speech at, 238. + +Nicaragua, British protectorate of 336. + +Niles, Nathaniel, Judge, pupil of Bellamy and opponent of John Wheelock, + 75. + +Noyes, Parker, early assistance to Webster, 107. + +Nullification, Webster's discussion, and history of, 174 ff. + + +Ogden vs. Saunders, case of, 100. + +Oregon, boundary of, Webster's effort to settle, 260-264; + Webster's opinion in regard to boundary of, 265; + claims of British and of Democracy, 285; + territorial organization of, 294. + +Otis, Harrison Gray, a leader at Boston bar, 30. + + +Palmerston, Lord, hostile to the United States, 248; + assails Ashburton treaty and Lord Ashburton, 259. + +Panama Congress, debate on mission to, 140, 279. + +Parker, Isaac, Chief Justice, in Massachusetts convention, 111. + +Parsons, Theophilus, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, 30; + practice in New Hampshire, 36; + argument as to visitatorial powers at Harvard College, 81. + +Parton, James, description of Webster at public dinner, 195. + +Peake, Thomas, "Law of Evidence," Webster's attack on, 37. + +Peel, Sir Robert, effect of his obtaining office in 1841, 252. + +Pickering, Timothy, unwavering Federalist, 50. + +Pinkney, William, member of fourteenth Congress, 64; + counsel of State in Dartmouth, case, 94, 95; + anecdote of, with Webster, 95, note. + +Plumer, William, leading lawyer in New Hampshire and early opponent of + Webster; + opinion of Webster, 36; + refutes Mr. Webster's attack on "Peake," 37; + in ill health and unable to act for Wheelock, 76; + elected Governor and attacks trustees, 78. + +Plymouth, oration at, 117-124, 277. + +Polk, James K., elected President; + committed to annexation policy, 263; + principal events of his administration connected with slavery, 264; + declarations as to Oregon, 265; + accepts Lord Aberdeen's offer of forty-ninth parallel, 266; + real intentions as to Mexico and England, 267; + refuses information as to secret service fund, 269; + brings on Mexican war, 270, 290; + policy as to slavery in territories, 207. + +Portugal, treaty with, 260. + +Prescott, James, Judge, Webster's defence of, 197. + + +Randolph, John, member of fourteenth Congress, 64; + challenges Webster, 67; + takes part in debate on Greek resolution, 134. + +Rhode Island, case of, 104, 105; + troubles in, 260. + +"Rockingham Memorial," 48. + +"Rogers' Rangers," 5. + +Root, Mr., of Ohio, resolution against extension of slavery in 1850, 314. + + +Scott, Winfield, nominated, for presidency, 338-343. + +Seaton, Mrs., Webster at house of, 244. + +Seward, William H., advises Taylor as to policy in 1850, 312. + +Sheridan, R.B., compared with Webster as an orator, 201, 202. + +Shirley, John M., history of Dartmouth College causes, 74. + +Silliman, Prof. Benj., Mr. Webster's remark to on his own career, 346. + +Smith, Jeremiah, Chief Justice of New Hampshire, 36; + allied with trustees of the college, 76; + appears for college, 79, 80; + unable to go to Washington, 84. + +Smith, Sidney, remark on Webster's appearance, 194. + +Spanish claims, 152. + +Sparks, Jared, obtains appointment of boundary commissioners by Maine, 254. + +"Specie Circular," debate on, 233, 284. + +South Carolina, agitation in against the tariff in 1828, 171; + ordinance of nullification, 212; + substantial victory of, in 1838, 219. + +Stanley, Mr., Earl of Darby, 152. + +Stevenson, Andrew, minister to England, unconciliatory, 248; + retires, and is succeeded by Mr. Everett, 252. + +Story, Joseph, chosen trustee of Dartmouth College by the State, 79; + adverse to Dartmouth College, 87; + converted to support of college, 93; + writes opinion in Dartmouth case, 96; + opinion of Girard will case argument, 102; + Webster's obligations to, 108; + a member of Massachusetts convention, 111; + supports property qualification for the Senate, 115; + opinion of Webster's work in the convention, 116, 117; + Webster's remarks on death of, 127; + assists Webster in preparing Crimes Act, 138; + and Judiciary Bill, 189; + description of Mr. Webster after his wife's death, 155; + assists Webster in Ashburton negotiation, 256; + treatment of, by Webster, 364. + +Sullivan, George, leading lawyer in New Hampshire, 36; + counsel for Woodward and State trustees, able argument, 79. + +Sullivan, James, 30. + + +Taney, Roger, removes the deposits, 226. + +Tayloe, B. Ogle, anecdote of Mr. Corcoran's gift to Webster, 357. + +Taylor, Zachary, tempting candidate for Whigs, 272; + movement for, in New York, 273; + nominated for presidency, 273; + elected President, 274; + elected by Southern votes, 296; + advises admission of California, 301; + attitude and policy in 1850, 311, 312; + death, 333; + agent sent to Hungary by, 333. + +Tazewell, L.W., Mr. Webster's reply to on Process Bill, 155. + +Tehuantepec, Isthmus of, right of way over, 336. + +Texas, independence of, achieved, 232; + annexation of, 263, 289; + Mr. Webster's warning against annexation, 288; + admission as a State, 280; + plan to divide, 294; + troubles with New Mexico, 299. + +Thompson, Thomas W., Webster a student in his office, 27. + +Ticknor, George, account of Plymouth oration, 118, 119; + impression of Plymouth oration, 120; + description of Webster at Plymouth, 122; + account of Webster's appearance in eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 152, + 153. + +Todd, Judge, opposed to Dartmouth College, 87; + absent at decision, 96. + +Tyler, John, succeeds to presidency on death of Harrison; + vetoes Bank Bill, 250; + quarrels with Whigs, 251; + read out of party by Massachusetts Whigs, 258. + + +Van Buren, Martin, instructions to McLane, 210; + confirmation as minister to England, opposed, 210; + confirmation of, defeated, 211; + elected President, character of his administration, 236; + defeated for a second term, 240; + candidate of Free-Soil party in 1848, 274, 296. + + +Washington, Bushrod, Judge, friendly to college, 87; + opinion in favor of college, 96. + +Washington, city of, appearance of, and society in, in 1841, 241-243. + +Washington, George, opinion of Ebenezer Webster, 7; + oration upon, 127. + +Webster, Abigail Eastman, second wife of Ebenezer and mother of Daniel, 8; + assents to Ezekiel's going to college, 24. + +Webster, Daniel. + Birth, delicacy, friendship with old sailor, 9; + at the district schools, 10; + reads to the teamsters, reads books in circulating library, 11; + at Exeter Academy, with Dr. Wood, learns that he is to go to college, 12; + enters Dartmouth College, 13; + sacrifices made to him in childhood, 14; + Ezekiel lends him money, manner of accepting devotion of those about him, + 15; + studies and scholarship, 16, 17; + opinions of fellow students; his general conduct, 18; + eloquence and appearance in college, 19; + edits newspaper, writes verses, 20; + oration at Hanover, 20-22; + other orations in college, begins study of law, 23; + obtains his father's consent to Ezekiel's going to college, 24; + teaches school at Fryeburg, 25; + conduct and appearance at Fryeburg, 26; + delivers oration at Fryeburg; returns to Salisbury and studies law, 27; + goes to Boston and is admitted to Mr. Gore's office, 28; + sees leaders of Boston bar, 29; + appointed clerk of his father's court, 30; + declines the office, 31; + opens an office at Boscawen; moves to Portsmouth, 32; + early habit of debt, 33; + first appearance in court, 34; + early manner, 37; + described by Mason, opinion of Mason's ability, 38; + value of Mason's example, 40; + married to Miss Grace Fletcher, at Salisbury, 41; + home in Portsmouth, popularity, mimicry, conservatism in religion and + politics, 42; + moderate and liberal federalist, 43; + gradual entrance into politics, "appeal to old Whigs," speeches at + Salisbury and Concord, pamphlet on embargo, 44; + line of argument against embargo, "The State of our Literature," speech + at Portsmouth, 1812, 45; + character of opposition to war in this speech, 46, 47; + writes the "Rockingham Memorial," 48; + elected to Congress, placed on Committee on Foreign Relations, 49; + introduces resolutions on French decrees, votes steadily with his party, + 50; + dropped from Committee on Foreign Relations, tries to obtain debate on + his resolutions, 51; + strong speech against Enlistment Bill, 52; + speech on repeal of embargo, replies to Calhoun, 54; + remarks on double duties, 55; + character of these speeches, 56; + superiority to other speakers in Congress, 57; + views as to Hartford Convention, 58; + votes against war taxes, 59; + partisanship, calls on Mr. Madison, 60; + conversational manner in debate, 61; + takes a leading part in debate on establishment of bank, 1814-15, 62; + power of his argument against irredeemable paper, 63; + opinion of fourteenth Congress, 64; + speech against Bank Bill in session of 1815-16, 66; + votes against Bank Bill, introduces specie resolutions, carries them, 66; + challenged by Randolph, 67; + votes for internal improvements, retires from public life, 68; + removal to Boston, success in Supreme Court of United States, 69; + grief at the death of his daughter Grace, 70; + position on leaving Congress, 71; + reception in Boston, 72; + importance of period upon which he then entered, 73; + consulted by John Wheelock on troubles with trustees, 76; + refuses to appear before legislative committee for Wheelock, and goes + over to side of trustees, his excuse, 77; + advises efforts to soothe Democrats and circulation of rumors of + founding a new college, 78; + joins Mason and Smith in re-argument at Exeter, 79; + anger at Bartlett's attack, fine argument at Exeter, 80; + relies for success on general principles, and has but little faith in + doctrine of impairing obligation of contracts, 81, 82; + gives but little space to this doctrine in his argument at Washington, + 83; + raises money in Boston to defray expenses of college case, 84; + adds but little to argument of Mason and Smith, 85; + "something left out" in report of his argument, 86; + dexterous argument, appeal to political sympathies of Marshall, 87; + depicts Democratic attack on the college, 88; + description of concluding passage of his argument, 89-91; + moves for judgment _nunc pro tunc_, 96; + true character of success in this case, 97, 98; + argument in Gibbons vs. Ogden, 99; + in Ogden vs. Saunders and other cases, 100; + in Girard will case, 101, 102; + nature of his religious feeling, 103; + argument in Rhode Island case, 104; + attracts audiences even to legal arguments, anecdote of Mr. Bosworth, + 105; + skill in seizing vital points, 106; + capacity for using others, early acknowledgment, later ingratitude, 107; + refusal to acknowledge Judge Story's assistance, 108; + comparative standing as a lawyer, 109; + leader of conservative party in Massachusetts Convention, 111; + speech on abolition of religious test, 112; + on property qualification, for the Senate, 113, 115; + on the independence of the Judiciary, 116; + Plymouth oration, 117; + manner and appearance, 118; + fitness for occasional oratory, 120; + great success at Plymouth, 121, 122; + improvement in first Bunker Hill oration, quality of style, 124; + oration on Adams and Jefferson, 125; + supposed speech of John Adams, 126; + oration, before Mechanics Institute, other orations, 127; + oration on laying corner-stone of addition to capitol, 128; + reelected to Congress, 129; + political position in 1823, 130; + placed at head of Judiciary Committee, 131; + speech on revolution in Greece, 132; + its objects and purposes, 133, 134; + withdraws his resolutions, success of his speech, 135; + speech against tariff of 1824, defends Supreme Court, 136; + speech on the Cumberland Road Bill, 137; + carries through the Crimes Act, 138; + carries Judiciary Bill through House, lost in Senate, 139; + supports mission to Panama Congress, 140, 141; + supports reference of message on Georgia and Creek Indians, 142; + tone of his speech, 143; + elected senator from Massachusetts, 144; + early inclination to support Calhoun, opposition to Jackson and Adams, + 145; + to Clay, relations with Crawford, 146; + on committee to examine charges of Edwards, defends Crawford, 147; + wishes Mr. Mason to be Attorney-General, and English mission for himself, + takes but little part in election, 148; + interview with Mr. Adams, 148, 149; + friendly relations with Mr. Adams, supports administration, 149; + real hostility to, feels that he is not properly recognized, and accepts + senatorship, 150; + inactive in election, allied with Clay and Adams, and founders of Whig + party, 161; + Spanish claims, first sees Marshfield, English friends, Niagara, oration + at Bunker Hill, and eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 152, 153; + grief on death of his wife, 154; + appearance in Washington after death of his wife, 155; + speech on bill for revolutionary officers, on tariff of 1828, 156, 165; + free-trade Federalist when he entered Congress, 157; + remarks in 1814 on protective duties, 158, 159; + advocates modifications in tariff of 1816, 160; + speech at Faneuil Hall against tariff in 1820, 160-163; + speech against tariff of 1824, 163-165; + reasons for his change of position, as to tariff in 1828, 166, 167; + speech at Boston dinner, 167; + character of this change of policy, and question of consistency, 168; + treats free trade or protection as a question of expediency, 169; + change on the constitutional question, 170; + opposes Jackson's removals from office, 172; + first speech on Foote's resolution, 173; + second speech, reply to Hayne, 174; + argument on nullification, 175; + weak places in his argument, 176; + intention in this speech, definition of the Union as it is, 179, 180; + scene of the speech and feeling at the North, 181; + opening sentence of the speech, 182; + manner and appearance on that day, 183; + variety in the speech, 184; + sarcasm, defence of Massachusetts, 185; + character of his oratory, 186, 187; + of his imagination, 188; + of his style, 189; + preparation of speeches, 190; + physical appearance and attributes, 191, 192; + manner with and effect on children, 193; + effect of his appearance in England, 194; + anecdotes of effect produced by his look and appearance, 195; + constitutional indolence, needs something to excite him in later life, + anecdote, 196; + defence of Prescott, 197; + Goodridge case, White case, greatness of argument in latter, 198; + opening passage compared with Burke's description of Hyder Ali's + invasion, 199; + as a jury lawyer, 200; + compared in eloquence with other great orators, 201, 202; + perfect taste of as an orator, 203; + rank as an orator, 204; + change made by death of Ezekiel and by second marriage, 205; + general effect on the country of reply to Hayne, 206; + ambition for presidency begins, desires consolidation of party, no + chance for nomination, 207; + advocates renewal of bank charter, 208; + overthrows doctrines of bank veto, 209; + opposes confirmation of Van Buren as minister to England, 210; + defeats confirmation, 211; + predicts trouble from tariff, 212; + sees proclamation, wholly opposed to Clay's first Compromise Bill, 213; + sustains the administration and supports the Force Bill, 214; + reply to Calhoun, "the Constitution not a compact," 216, 217; + opposes the Compromise Bill, 218; + Benton's view of, 219, 220; + impossible to ally himself with Jackson, 221; + joins Clay and Calhoun, 222; + soundness of his opposition to compromise, 223; + falls in behind Clay, tour in the West, nominated by Massachusetts for + presidency, 224; + no chance of success, effect of desire for presidency, 225; + alliance with Clay and Calhoun, opinion as to the bank, 226; + presents Boston resolutions against President's course, 227; + speaks sixty-four times on bank during session, 228; + speech on the "protest," 229; + attitude in regard to troubles with France, 230; + defeats Fortification Bill, speech on executive patronage, 231; + defeat of Benton's first expunging resolution, 232; + defence of his course on Fortification Bill, 233; + speech on "Specie Circular" and against expunging resolution, 234; + desires to retire from the Senate but is persuaded to remain, 235; + efforts to mitigate panic, 236; + visits England, hears of Harrison's nomination for presidency, 237; + enters campaign, speech of 1837 at Niblo's Garden, 238; + speeches during campaign, 239; + accepts secretaryship of state, 240; + modifies Harrison's inaugural, "kills proconsuls," 244; + De Bacourt's account of, at reception of diplomatic corps, 245, 246; + opinion as to general conduct of difficulties with England, 248; + conduct of McLeod affair, 249; + deprecates quarrel with Tyler, 250; + decides to remain in the cabinet, 252; + conduct of the Creole case, 253; + management of Maine and Massachusetts, settles boundary, 254; + obtains "Cruising Convention," and extradition clause, letter on + impressment, 255; + character of negotiation and its success, 256; + treaty signed, "the battle of the maps," continues in cabinet, 257; + refuses to be forced from cabinet, 258; + speech in Faneuil Hall defending his course, 258; + character of this speech, explains "Cruising Convention," 259; + refutes Cass, other labors in State Department, 260; + resigns secretaryship of state and resumes his profession, 261; + anxiety about Texas and Liberty party, supports Clay, 262; + reelected to the Senate, 263; + efforts to maintain peace with England, speech in Faneuil Hall, 265; + letter to Macgregor suggesting forty-ninth parallel, opposition to war in + the Senate, 266; + attacked by Ingersoll and Dickinson, 267; + speech in defence of Ashburton treaty, 268; + remarks on President Polk's refusal of information as to secret service + fund, careless in his accounts, 269; + absent when Mexican war declared, course on war measures, tour in the + South, 270; + denounces acquisition of territory, death of his son and daughter, visit + to Boston for funerals, 271; + refuses nomination for vice-presidency and opposes the nomination of + Taylor, 272; + has only a few votes in convention of 1848, 273; + disgusted with the nomination of Taylor, decides to support it, speech at + Marshfield, 274; + course on slavery, draws Boston memorial, 275; + character of this memorial, 276; + attack on slave-trade in Plymouth oration, 277; + compared with tone on same subject in 1850, 278; + silence as to slavery in Panama speech, 279; + treatment of slavery in reply to Hayne, 279, 280; + treatment of anti-slavery petitions in 1836, 281; + treatment of slavery in speech at Niblo's Garden, 282, 283; + treatment of anti-slavery petitions in 1837, 284; + views as to abolition in the District, 285; + attitude toward the South in 1838, 280; + adopts principle of Calhoun's Enterprise resolutions in Creole case, 287; + attempts to arouse the North as to annexation of Texas, 288; + objections to admission of Texas, 280; + absent when Mexican war declared, 290; + views on Wilmot Proviso, 291; + speech at Springfield, 292; + speech on objects of Mexican war, 293; + Oregon, speech on slavery in the territories, 294; + speech on Oregon Bill, and at Marshfield on Taylor's nomination, 295; + adheres to Whigs, declares his belief in Free Soil principles, 296; + effort to put slavery aside, 297; + plan for dealing with slavery in Mexican conquests, refutes Calhoun's + argument as to Constitution in territories, 298; + Clay's plan of compromise submitted to, 300; + delivers 7th of March speech, 301; + analysis of 7th of March speech, 301, 302; + speech disapproved at the North, 303; + previous course as to slavery summed up, change after reply to Hayne, + 304; + grievances of South, 305; + treatment of Fugitive Slave Law, 305-308; + course in regard to general policy of compromise; merits of that policy, + 308-312; + views as to danger of secession, 313, 314; + necessity of compromise in 1850, 315; + attitude of various parties in regard to slavery, 316; + wishes to finally settle slavery question, 317; + treatment of extension of slavery, 318; + disregards use of slaves in mines, 319; + inconsistent on this point, 321; + interviews with Giddings and Free-Soilers, 322; + real object of speech, 323; + immediate effect of speech in producing conservative reaction, 324; + compliments Southern leaders in 7th of March speech, 325, 326; + effort to sustain the compromise measures, bitter tone, 327; + attacks anti-slavery movement, 328, 329; + uneasiness evident, 330; + motives of speech, 330-332; + accepts secretaryship of state, 333; + writes the Huelsemann letter, 334; + treatment of Kossuth and Hungarian question, 335; + of other affairs of the department, 336: + hopes for nomination for presidency, 337; + belief that he will be nominated, 338; + loss of the nomination, 339; + refuses to support Scott, 340; + character of such a course, 341-343; + declining health, accident at Marshfield, 344; + death and burial, 345; + disappointments in his later years, 346; + his great success in life, 347; + his presence, 348; + character of his intellect, 348, 349; + dignity, 349; + character as a statesman, 350; + sense of humor, 351; + charm in conversation, 352; + large nature, love of large things, 353; + affection, generosity, treatment of friends, 355; + admired but not generally popular, 356; + distrust of his sincerity, 355, 356; + failings, indifference to debt, 356; + extravagance, 357; + attacked on money matters, 358; + attitude toward New England capitalists and in regard to sources of + money, 359; + moral force not equal to intellectual, 360; + devotion to Union, place in history, 361-362. + +Webster, Ebenezer, born in Kingston, enlists in "Rangers," 5; + settles at Salisbury, 6; + marries again, serves in Revolution, 7; + physical and mental qualities, 8; + made a judge, 11; + resolves to educate Daniel, 12; + consents to let Ezekiel go to college, 24; + disappointment at Daniel's refusal of clerkship, 31; + death, 32; + strong federalist, anecdote, 48. + +Webster, Edward, Major, death of, 270. + +Webster, Ezekiel, anecdote of his lending Daniel money, 15; + obtains consent of his father to go to college, 24; + teaches school in Boston, 28; + admitted to bar, 32; + strong Federalist, 43; + death of, 205. + +Webster, Grace, daughter of Daniel Webster, illness, 65; + death, 70. + +Webster, Grace Fletcher, first wife of Mr. Webster; + marriage and character, 41, 42; + death, 164. + +Webster, Thomas, first of name, 5. + +Wheelock, Eleazer, founder of Dartmouth College, 75. + +Wheelock, John, succeeds his father as President of Dartmouth College, 75; + begins war on trustees; consults Mr. Webster, 76; + writes to Webster to appear before legislative committee, 77; + removed from presidency and goes over to the Democrats, 78; + originator of the doctrine of impairing obligation of contracts, 81; + fees Mr. Webster, 359. + +Whig Party, origin of, 151; + condition in 1836, 235; + nominate Harrison, 237, 238; + carries the country in 1840, 240; + anger against Tyler, 250; + murmurs against Mr. Webster's remaining in Tyler's cabinet, 267; + attacks of, in Massachusetts, upon Tyler, 258; + silence about slavery and Texas, are defeated in 1844, 262, 289; + nominate Taylor, 273; + indifference to Mr. Webster's warning as to Texas, 288; + attitude in regard to slavery in 1850, 316; + nomination of Scott by, in 1852, 338-343. + +White, Stephen, case of murder of, Webster's speech for prosecution, 198 + ff.; + Webster's fee in, 359. + +Wilmot Proviso, Mr. Webster's views on, 291-293; + embodied in Oregon Bill, 295; + shall it be applied to New Mexico, 299; + attacked in 7th of March speech, 301, 302. + +Wirt, William, counsel for State in Dartmouth case at Washington, + unprepared, makes poor argument, 84, 91; + anecdote of daughter of and Mr. Webster, 193. + +Wood, Dr., of Boscawen, Webster's tutor, 12, 13. + +Woodward, William H., secretary of new board of trustees; action against, + 79. + +Wortley, Mr. Stuart, 152. + + +Yancey, William L., attack on Webster, 358. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Daniel Webster, by Henry Cabot Lodge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANIEL WEBSTER *** + +***** This file should be named 13047.txt or 13047.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/4/13047/ + +Produced by Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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