Y 
 
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 Z6S&J 
 
 University of California. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 0^< 18** 
 
 tfate/y 
 
Daniel Webster. 
 
 » lVn v H Tulv 18M, and presented to Stephen M. 
 From a Dagnerrotype ta.en «*^**$££. 
 
 ( The last picture from lift ever taken of Mr. Webster.) 
 
THE 
 
 Webster Centennial 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 WEBSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 MARSHFIELD, MASS., OCTOBER 12, 1882. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF OTHER CELEBRATIONS ON THE ONE 
 HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 BIRTH OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 - 
 
 ].I)ITi;i) P.Y THOMAS HARRISON CtTMMIXGS, 
 etary of the Webster Historical Society. 
 
 'A) 
 
 y+jj u 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE WEBSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 S3 Equitable Building. 
 
 18S3. 
 
.-' 
 
 NAI 
 
 A 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 
 
 1883, 
 By Stephen M. Allen. 
 
 Electrotyped by ADDISON C. Getchell, 4 Pearl Street, Boston. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Thirty years have now elapsed since the death of the great 
 Webster fell like a deep shadow across the path of our country's 
 progress. And though his loss fell with peculiar emphasis upon 
 the people of Massachusetts, it was also keenly and profoundly 
 felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. That his 
 death was indeed a national loss, was abundantly shown by the 
 expressions of grief that followed him to the tomb. No man since 
 the days of Washington called forth so many and such eloquent 
 tributes of respect and veneration. 
 
 But the year of our Lord 1882, besides marking the thirtieth 
 anniversary of the nation's mourning, likewise brings to mind the 
 centennial anniversary of Daniel Webster's birth. And verily did 
 the shade of the great statesman seem to be born again this year. 
 His spirit seemed to traverse the land and flood it with an old-time 
 eloquence which only the memory of a Webster could inspire. 
 There is a long succession of eulogies and panegyrics, beginning 
 with the proceedings at Chicago and the Webster centennial dinner 
 at Boston, January 18, 1882. Subsequently came the meeting at 
 the Revere House, Boston, January 25, 1882, followed by the 
 anniversary observances at Dartmouth College, June 29, 1882. 
 Finally came the Webster Historical Society with their celebration 
 at Marshfield, October 12, and the pilgrimage to Salisbury, N.H., 
 October 23, 1882. Most of these celebrations have been published 
 separately, and bear ample testimony to the deep hold which the 
 personality of Webster still has upon the affections of the Ameri- 
 can people. The present volume is published by the Webster 
 Historical Society, and is specially designed to embody, in a per- 
 manent form, the testimonials of respect to Webster's memory 
 called forth by their celebration at Marshfield. It was supposed 
 
il PREFACE. 
 
 that such a volume might not be without its value to the friends of 
 the Society, and not without some interest to the country at large. 
 The fact that the President of the United States, Chester A. 
 Arthur, himself a member of the Webster Historical Society, 
 aided the celebration by his presence, gave a national importance 
 to this event. Considerable space has therefore been given to the 
 reception of the President by the State and city authorities on the 
 day preceding the Marshfield celebration, for the reason that the 
 events were so interwoven as to make both days appear one con- 
 tinued effort of commemoration. The value of the work as a 
 memorial of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Daniel 
 Webster has been enhanced by the addition of an account of the 
 proceedings of the Marshfield Club at the Parker House, January 
 18, and of the Dartmouth Alumni at the Revere House, January 
 25. This book is likewise designed to set forth more fully the 
 purposes and aims of the Society itself, and will be the initiatory 
 volume of a series of publications to be issued annually by the 
 Society. The first chapter, on "American Statesmanship, its 
 Relation to the Purposes and Aims of the Webster Historical 
 Society," is from the pen of Hon. Stephen M. Allen, the first 
 President of the Society. We are under great obligations to the 
 Boston daily papers, from which we have borrowed freely, and to 
 George E. McNeill, Esq., of Cambridge, for valued services. The 
 task of the present editor has, therefore, been little more than 
 
 that of mere selection and arrangement. 
 
 T.H.C. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 I. American Statesmanship 
 
 II. Preparation eor the Webster Centennial . 
 
 III. State and Boston Reception .... 
 
 IV. Marshfield, the Home of Webster 
 
 V. Webster Centennial 
 
 VI. Other Celebrations 
 
 VII. Commemorative Exercises at Franklin, N.H. 
 
 VIII. By-Laws and Roll of Members 
 
 IX. Conclusion 
 
 Page 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 46 
 
 154 
 
 236 
 
 246 
 
 270 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Daniel Webster Frontispiece. 
 
 Page 
 The Presidential Party at the Webster Mansion 
 
 The Home of Webster 41 
 
 Reception of the President and Guests by Mrs. Fletcher 
 
 Webster 51 
 
 Webster, the Marshfield Farmer 149 
 
 Birth-place of Daniel Webster 207 
 
 The Eide to Boscawen . . 239 
 
 Note. — We are indebted to Mr. A. N. Hardy, of Boston, for the two excellent 
 photographic pictures, The Presidential Party at the Webster Mansion, and Reception 
 of the President and Guests by Mrs. Fletcher Webster; to Mr. J. H. Williams, of South 
 Scituate, for the picture of The Home of Webster; and to Hon. Stephen M. Allen for the 
 photo-engraving of the last picture ever taken of Mr. Webster. 
 
The Presidential Party at the Webster Mansion 
 
WEBSTER CENTENNIAL AT MARSHFIELD, 
 
 PKOCEEDINGS OP THE WEBSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 I. 
 AMERICAN STATESMANSHIP ; 
 
 ITS KELATION TO THE PURPOSES AND AIMS OF THE WEBSTER 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 AT no period in the history of our great Republic was 
 there ever a more pressing need of an elevated states- 
 manship in national and State legislation, than at the present 
 time. Fifty millions of people are waiting to be practically 
 taught the arts of national union, domestic prosperity, and 
 that political faith which the free institutions and resources 
 of this country would naturally warrant. That these free in- 
 stitutions are inestimable benefits, and that these resources 
 are almost unbounded, no one can deny. They afford every 
 comfort and even luxury which any civilized people could 
 reasonably desire. They furnish the nation's mind with 
 subjects that quicken its thought and discussion. They can 
 secure to all the highest growth in education and culture 
 consistent with the prosperity of the country itself. Such 
 advantages place the American people above any other 
 nationality on the face of the globe. And this it was that 
 led Webster to say on Bunker Hill, in one of his most glori- 
 ous bursts of eloquence, "That motionless shaft will be the 
 most powerful of speakers. Its speech will be of civil and 
 religious liberty. It will speak of patriotism and of courage. 
 It will speak of the moral improvement of mankind. De- 
 crepit age will lean against its base, and ingenuous youth 
 
2 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 will gather round it, speak to each other of the glorious 
 events with which it is connected, and exclaim, Thank God ! 
 I also am an American." So should we say, Thank God 
 that we are Americans ! Thank God that we live in a free 
 country, where free institutions prevail to awaken and keep 
 alive the faculties of the people ; where every man, by his 
 share in the government, is called upon to cherish a public 
 spirit, and to have a regard for the general welfare of his 
 country ; where knowledge must prevail, and where liberty 
 and union are the only basis on which our system can exist. 
 With such benefits, therefore, and such interests to care for, 
 it behooves us to learn what means are best adapted for 
 perpetuating this Union which Providence has so wonder- 
 fully vouchsafed us. Of that Union, it is no exaggeration to 
 say, that Daniel Webster's influence is one of the highest 
 and most controlling forces. It is the purpose of this So- 
 ciety, therefore, first and foremost of all, to transmit this 
 influence as a sacred legacy to future generations, unsullied 
 and unbroken ; reverently to gather up the works of the 
 great statesman, his written and spoken words alike, that his 
 integrity may be preserved, and his memory kept alive in the 
 hearts of the American people. Finally, to study his relations 
 with the life of the country, that a better appreciation may be 
 brought about of his far-reaching work as a statesman. 
 
 Chancellor Kent said at a public dinner in New York given 
 to Webster in 1831, just after his famous reply to Hayne, 
 " Socrates was said to have drawn philosophy down from the 
 skies and scattered it among the schools. It may be said 
 with equal truth that constitutional law, by means of these 
 senatorial discussions and the master genius that guided 
 them, was rescued from the archives of our tribunals and the 
 libraries of our lawyers, and placed under the eye and sub- 
 mitted to the judgment of the American people. Their ver- 
 dict is with us, and from it there lies no appeal." 
 
AMERICAN STATESMANSHIP. 
 
 In looking back now and examining this work with a crit- 
 ical and careful eye, it is not difficult to see that Webster 
 borrowed freely from the principles of those statesmen who 
 preceded him in the management of our public affairs. His 
 acquaintance with the history of the governments of the 
 world, with the constitution and the writings of its earlier 
 founders, with the laws, history and interests of the coun- 
 try itself, had served to establish him in those eternal prin- 
 ciples by which particular measures are effected. 
 
 Now it needs no great prescience to determine that the 
 highest principles of statesmanship which the fathers of the 
 country taught, are more needed at the present time than 
 when they moved and spoke. Washington, Adams, Jeffer- 
 son and Hamilton, Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Jackson, 
 never taught national principles in their day that are not as 
 much and even more necessary in our own. Then, the issues 
 giving rise to these questions were vivid before their minds, 
 without the ocular proof, while to-day we have them before 
 our eyes, and can make the application without any doubt 
 as to the ultimate results. Our politics, descending as it 
 often does to the grossest forms of selfishness, partakes more 
 of the nature of passion than of principle. It includes many 
 different classes of men who are constantly perverting the 
 right uses of government, and arrogating to themselves things 
 and principles peculiar to their own selfish notions, from 
 the strait-jacketed religious sectarian with his dogmatic opin- 
 ions, to the inebriated free-thinker who can see no virtue in 
 a Christian life except through his own libertinage, and the 
 rendering of all law, both human and divine, to suit his own 
 special beliefs. Again, there is the monopolist and the usury 
 class. The former would control all honest effort or gain 
 for his own selfish purposes, to the exclusion of all legitimate 
 business. The latter would carry himself according to law, 
 take the pound of flesh and rob the poor man of his last 
 
4 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 dollar, if the bond but permitted. Again, there is the spec- 
 ulative class, who will not labor in any profession, but de- 
 liberately plan out a life — and far as possible live it — of 
 sponging the community out of what they can get, regardless 
 of the consequences. Not the least dangerous of all these is 
 the class not confined to any particular party, who would 
 barter all principle and the country's good for personal 
 preferment, and are determined to live at the expense of the 
 government at all hazards. Such men are the pests of 
 society and of all good government, and need to be watched 
 more closely than any other class .of our citizens. It is a 
 melancholy fact that they are not confined to ward politi- 
 cians alone, but rise sometimes to the higher positions of our 
 political society. It is, therefore, the purpose of this Society 
 not only to perpetuate the name and influence of Webster, 
 but to awaken, if possible, in the minds of the young an 
 increasing interest in the principles of government taught by 
 the fathers of the Kepublic, and repeatedly enunciated in 
 each succeeding decade of our history by the distinguished 
 statesmen of the different political parties. The work of the 
 present must be to bring together a majority to remedy these 
 evils, and maintain a pure and righteous government, and to 
 strive to educate the minority to appreciate and support it 
 with their hearty co-operation. 
 
 A government protecting all in their religious, political, 
 economic and social rights, encouraging all, upholding all 
 and fostering all alike, — this was what Webster sought to 
 buildup; this was the aim of his whole life and the key- 
 note to his whole existence. And herein lies the innate power 
 of the Webster Historical Society. It should seek to study 
 and propagate national, unpartisan principles, and the im- 
 portance of this study cannot be too highly valued or too 
 faithfully prosecuted. "It is the moral character of his pub- 
 lic conduct," says the scholarly Curtis, "the unselfish and 
 
AMERICAN STATESMANSHIP. 5 
 
 unsectional scope of his patriotism, the grandeur of his views, 
 which could take in the welfare of a great country and stretch 
 beyond the narrow limits of local interests and sectional 
 feelings, . . . these are the traits in Mr. Webster's public 
 character about which the men of the present day are most 
 concerned. Teach them, I pray you, by precept and by 
 example, that what is now needed for the welfare and happi- 
 ness of this people is to imitate his regard for the rights, the 
 feelings and the interests of all sections, and to love with 
 equal affection all who bear the name of Americans and who 
 honor the flag of the Union as the symbol of their country." 
 
 This idea regarding the real character of Webster's abiding 
 influence for the cause of the Union is unquestionably the 
 only true one. And with all his power and greatness 
 Daniel Webster well knew just what the nature of his sur- 
 viving influence would be. As long ago as 1850, in an inter- 
 view which the writer had with him, he expressed the same 
 idea, and then it was we got the first inspirations for the 
 establishment of this Society. This fundamental idea of 
 transmitting his mighty influence as defender of the Union 
 furnished the ground- work of our plan. But it was not from 
 this alone — it was from Webster's own acts — that we got our 
 earliest encouragement. 
 
 In 1848, at a meeting held in Louisville, Ky., with some 
 private friends, a question of establishing lyceums for young 
 men and assisting them in the study of the history of their 
 country came up for discussion. There were present Judge 
 Huntington, of Indiana, Hamilton Smith, of Kentucky, and 
 others. Subsequently a similar meeting was held at the 
 house of Thomas Buchanan Read, of Cincinnati. I was re- 
 quested by the first-named gentlemen to speak to Mr. Web- 
 ster about furnishing his own speeches to help along the 
 cause of political education. I wrote him on the subject in 
 1850, and he sent me at Boston a boxful of speeches in pam- 
 
6 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 phlet form, and soon came in person to my office to help 
 make a selection. Five hundred of these speeches were dis- 
 tributed by me in the West. This was the beginning. The 
 political animosities preceding and the concentration of energy 
 during the war, rendered it impossible to continue the work 
 or to organize a society of this sort, even with the help of 
 Fletcher Webster. It Avas not until the death of Peter Har- 
 vey, and the appearance of his volume, that the other friends 
 of Mr. Webster found it practicable to organize a permanent 
 body. 
 
 There was then a renewed disposition to recognize and dis- 
 charge the long-standing debt of justice and gratitude which 
 the country owed to the memory of Daniel Webster. On 
 January 18, 1878, the first regular meeting was held, and the 
 organization of the Webster Historical Society was perma- 
 nently effected. Its subsequent history may be found among 
 its records and in the books of the Society. With its pres- 
 ent membership of six hundred names, including the most 
 distinguished men of the country at large, it has a sufficient 
 guarantee for its future existence and a wide career of use- 
 fulness in the field it has chosen. 
 
PREPARATIONS. 
 
 II. 
 
 PREPAEATIOXS FOE THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 THE Society having determined to hold a centennial cele- 
 bration at Marshfield, in memory of the great states- 
 man, and the State and city authorities having cordially 
 entered into their plans for the demonstration, the press of 
 the country at once took up and greatly popularized the ob- 
 ject, and, from the beginning, forwarded with great liberality 
 the views and purposes of the Society. Invitations were ex- 
 tended to the President of the United States and his Cabinet, 
 and other distinguished statesmen throughout the country, 
 to attend as guests of the Society. The Governors of the 
 several New England States with their military staffs were 
 invited, as were also many distinguished literary and scien- 
 tific gentlemen, who cordially responded to the invitations. 
 The twelfth day of October was selected as the day for the 
 meeting at Marshfield. The merchants of Boston provided 
 liberal contributions for paying the expenses. The ancient 
 and Honorable Artillery Company kindly accepted the invi- 
 tation of the Society to do full escort duty on the occasion, 
 both in Boston and at Marshfield, and the Old Colony Rail- 
 road Company at once tendered cars for the President and 
 invited guests free of charge. The following Committees 
 were appointed to make arrangements for the Celebration : — 
 
 General Arrangements. — Stephen M. Allen, F. O. Prince, Albert 
 Palmer, W. W. Clapp, R. M. Pulsifer, George E. McNeill. 
 
 Finance. — Stillman B. Allen, E. S. Tobey, W. B. Wood, Roland 
 Worthington, Peter Butler. 
 
 Invitations and Receptions. — Oliver Ames, E. S. Tobey, George 
 C. Richardson, Roland Worthington, G. Washington Warren. 
 
 Arrangements for Tents, &c, at Marshfield. — R. M. Yale, 
 Henry W. Nelson, Edwin Adams, Frank B. Devereaux. 
 
8 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Printing. — John II. Butler, F. M. Boutwell, T. II. Cummings, 
 Addison C. Getchell. 
 
 Entertainments at Marshfield. — John H. Butler, Frank B. Dev- 
 ereaux, Stephen M. Allen. 
 
 Transportation. — Edward F. Thayer, Jas. R. Kendrick, Franeis M. 
 Boutwell. 
 
 Staff of the President of the Society. — Horace G. Allen, Frank 
 B. Devereaux, Thomas Nelson, Thomas Aspinwall, Charles A. Prince, 
 Thos. S. Lockwood, Wm. J. Wright, E. S. Tobey, Jr., John II. Butler. 
 E. W. Hall. 
 
 The Committees were assisted in their work by the officers 
 of the Society and members of the Executive Committee, who 
 were as follows : — 
 
 Officers of the Society. — Stephen M. Allen, President ; Francis 
 M. Boutwell, Treasurer ; Thomas H. Cummings, Secretary. 
 
 Executive Committee. —Albert Palmer, Stillman B. Allen, Henry 
 W. Nelson, Wm. II. S. Jordan, Theo. II. Bell, John D. Long, A. E. 
 Pillsbury. 
 
 The following Programme was arranged for the day's pro- 
 ceedings : — 
 
 PROGRAMME AT THE TOMB. 
 
 Dirge. — By Boston City Band. 
 
 Original Hymn. — Air, " Zion." (An old favorite of Mr. Webster.) 
 
 Prayer. — Rev. Ebenezer Alden. D.D. 
 
 Address. — By Hon. Stephen M. Allen. 
 
 Poem. — By W. C. Wilkinson. 
 
 Singing of Selections from Longfellow 's " Psalm of Life." 
 
 PROGRAMME IN THE TENT. 
 Dinner. 
 
 Announcement of Officers of the Society. 
 Address of His Excellency the Governor, John D. Long. 
 Response. — By the President, Chester A. Arthur. 
 Reading of Unpublished Manuscript. — By Stillman B. Allen. 
 " The United States Senate."— Hon. Henry L. Dawes. 
 u The New England States." — Hon. Chas. H. Bell, Governor of New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 " The City of Boston." — Hon. Samuel A. Green, Mayor of Boston. 
 " Marshfield." — Rev. Ebenezer Alden. 
 "Dartmouth College." — President S. C. Bartlett. 
 "Harvard College." — Hon. Geo. B. Loring. 
 
PREPARATIONS. 9 
 
 14 N.E. Historic, Genealogical Society."' — Hon. Marshall P.- Wilder. 
 "Pilgrim Society." — Hon. Thomas Russell. 
 
 lt The Relation of Statesmanship to Commerce." — Hon. Alexander H. 
 Rice. 
 
 Concluding Address. — Hon. Geo. S. Boutwell. 
 
 Letters from Distinguished Men. 
 
 Resolutions of Thanks, introduced by Secretary T. H. Cummings. 
 
10 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE STATE AXD BOSTON RECEPTION. 
 
 THE fact that the President of the United States was to 
 be the guest of the Webster Historical Society on 
 October 12, led the State authorities and the city government 
 of Boston to extend an invitation to the President requesting 
 him to accept a reception at their hands. 
 
 The President, being unable to extend his proposed visit, 
 consented to anticipate it by one day. A joint programme 
 was armnged, consisting of a grand review of the entire State 
 militia, a procession, a reception at Faneuil Hall, a drive in 
 the suburbs, a dinner and reception at the Brunswick Hotel. 
 In accordance with this plan the Presidential party left New 
 York at 5.15 p.m. October 10, via the Fall Kiver Line, steamer 
 "Old Colony." 
 
 The Presidential party consisted of — 
 
 Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States. 
 
 Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, Secretary of War. 
 
 Hon. W. E. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 First Assistant Postmaster General .Hatton. 
 
 Hon. Daniel G. Eollins, Surrogate of New York. 
 
 C. E. Miller, Esq., of New York. 
 
 W. M. Cooper, Esq., of New York. 
 
 Hon. Stephen M. Allen, of Boston, President of the Webster Historical 
 Society. 
 
 T. H. Cummings, Esq., Secretary of the W r ebster Historical Society. 
 
 Hon. C. F. Choate, President of the Old Colony Eailroad and Steam- 
 boat Companies. 
 
 Cornelius N. Bliss, Esq., of Bliss, Fabyan & Co., New York, Director 
 of the Old Colony Railroad Company. 
 
 Chester A. Arthur, Jr. 
 
 Fred T. Phillips, Esq., Private Secretary to the President. 
 
 As the steamer left the pier the crowd gave three hearty 
 cheers, and when rounding the Battery and headed up East 
 
STATE AXD BOSTON RECEPTION. 11 
 
 river, she was saluted by the whistles of all the steamers 
 near by, and every craft in the harbor dipped her colors. 
 
 The night on the Sound was a perfect one, Avith a clear sky 
 and a light northwest breeze, and the President appeared to 
 take the utmost enjoyment in the trip. A portion of the time 
 Avas spent in the wheel-house, where the genial captain, Bay- 
 lis Davis, the commander of the "Old Colony," entertained 
 him with pointing out the objects of interest, or the relation 
 of a few of the many incidents which have occurred to him 
 in his long service with the Company. 
 
 At 8 o'clock dinner was served in the forward dinino- 
 saloon, which had been arranged for the occasion with bunt- 
 ing in profusion. As the party proceeded to the saloqp the 
 passengers lined the way on either side, and stood with heads 
 uncovered during the passage. The table was shut off from 
 the rest of the saloon by a judicious use of flags and bunting, 
 and was ornamented with three handsome baskets of flowers, 
 and Avas presided over by President Choate of the O.C.R.R. 
 Those Avho sat at the table were President Arthur, Secretaries 
 Lincoln and Chandler, and Assistant Postmaster General 
 Hatton, Hon. S. M. Allen, President, and T. H. Cumminffs, 
 Secretary, of the Webster Historical Society, Surrogate Rol- 
 lins, Director Bliss, C. E. Miller, Esq., C. A. Arthur, Jr., 
 W. M. Cooper, Esq., and Private Secretary Phillips. The 
 dinner was prepared under the direction of SteAvard George 
 A. Rice, to Avhom much credit is due for its excellence. 
 
 At the dinner there Avere no formalities, and subsequent to 
 it the conversation became general. After the dinner a con- 
 cert AA^as given in the main saloon by Gilmore's band. 
 
 The steamer reached Fall River at 5.10 a.m. Wednesday, 
 after a smooth passage on the Sound. 
 
 After the boat had been docked, the guard of Cadets, under 
 Lieutenant Ticknor, avIio, with General Berry and Colonels 
 
12 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Fiske and Martin of the Governor's staff, had come down the 
 night before, took breakfast on board. 
 
 Just before 8 o'clock General Berry and the accompanying 
 officers Avere presented to the President, whom they took in 
 charge in the name of the State, and soon after the party sat 
 down to breakfast. 
 
 At exactly 8.34 a.m. the train started for Boston, Su- 
 perintendent Kendrick, of the Old Colony Railroad, taking 
 a seat on the engine. 
 
 The train consisted of the engine " Gen. Warren," Engi- 
 neer S. P. Willis; the sleeping car "Meriden," with the 
 guard of Cadets, a baggage car, No. 21, and the parlor car 
 "Border City," for the President and his party, placed in 
 the rear to afford a view of the road. In the parlor car 
 Conductor C. E. Russell looked after the interests of his 
 guests, and the entire train was in charge of Conductor C. 
 P. Haskins. The Cadets were detailed at the gangway and 
 along the passage to the train, and saluted as the President, 
 leaning on Gen. Berry's arm, passed and entered the car, 
 followed by the other gentlemen of the party. At nearly 
 all of the stations of the road there were feAV spectators to 
 note its passage, but at Taunton there was quite a demon- 
 stration, necessarily brief, however, for the train flashed by 
 like a meteor. Handkerchiefs were fluttered from the 
 windows of trains on side tracks, and laborers, farm hands 
 and mechanics paused at their work to throw a passing 
 glance at the speeding cars. At North Easton the only stop 
 of the trip was made to receive telegraphic orders. At 9.44 
 the train arrived at the South Boston station. 
 
 The Presidential party were received by Gov. Long and 
 Staff, Lieut. Gov. Weston and Mayor Green, and after an 
 informal reception were escorted to their carriages, and under 
 the escort of the Cadets and Lancers proceeded to the Com- 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 13 
 
 mon, where the entire militia of the State were in process 
 of forming for the grand review. 
 
 Gen. Wales, in his capacity as Police Commissioner, had 
 made ample police arrangements, and never before Avere 
 they so effectually carried out. The Common for a consider- 
 able distance to the east and north of the parade ground was 
 roped off, and the line was guarded by one hundred and 
 twenty-five officers, and only those having business were 
 permitted to enter the enclosure. The officers were at their 
 posts at half-past eight precisely, and their duty for the first 
 hour Avas comparatively easy, as but a feAV hundred people 
 had assembled ; but as the militia began to march upon the 
 Common the hundreds increased to thousands, and when the 
 President arrived there Avere probably fifty thousand scat- 
 tered in every part of the Common to which they could gain 
 access. 
 
 As the horses of the President's carriage passed over the 
 curbing of the Boylston-street entrance the commanding 
 officer of the battery gave the order "Fire," and three guns 
 alternately belched forth until the Presidential salute had 
 been giA r en. As he passed the right of the line of the 
 Second Brigade, the band gave the "President's March," 
 which AA^as repeated by the bands of the several regiments 
 all along the line until the Second Corps of Cadets was 
 reached, the band of which struck up "Hail to the Chief." 
 The steadiness Avith which the troops remained in position 
 while the President was passing, and the correct manner in 
 which the officers saluted, could not be excelled by the same 
 number of regular-army troops, and Massachusetts Avell has 
 reason to be proud of such a fine body of organized and 
 disciplined men. The moment the President and his party 
 readied the left of the Second Brigade the bugler, by 
 direction of Gen. Peach, sounded "Forward," and al- 
 most instantly the brigade was in motion, the start being 
 
14 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 made at 10.35. The President in a few minutes had re- 
 viewed the entire column, and was driven to his place in line 
 between the two brigades, immediately behind the Second 
 Corps of Cadets. As the President was awaiting the move- 
 ment of the advance column, which was somewhat delayed on 
 Columbus avenue, the crowd gave him quite an enthusiastic 
 reception, which he acknowledged by touching his hat. He 
 also received quite an ovation as he went out of the Boylston- 
 street entrance, and in Park square there were rounds of 
 cheers and waving of hats and handkerchiefs. 
 
 The procession was headed by a platoon of mounted police, 
 and then followed the entire militia of the State in the follow- 
 ing order : — 
 
 SECOND BRIGADE. 
 
 Brigadier General, Benjamin F. Peach. Jr. 
 
 Staff— Lieutenant Colonel Charles C. Fry, Assistant Adjutant Gen- 
 eral; Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Kittredge, Medical Director; Major 
 Joseph A. Ingalls, Assistant Inspector General; Captain Charles W. 
 Knapp, Brigade Quartermaster ; Captain Ezra J. Trull, Captain A. N. 
 Sampson. Aides-de-Camp ; Captain Edward E. Currier, Engineer ; Cap- 
 tain Elijah George, Judge Advocate; Captain Aaron A. Hull, Provost 
 Marshal. 
 
 NINTH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, 344 MEN. 
 
 Boston City Band, 26 pieces, T. F. Hersey, leader. 
 
 Colonel, William M. Strachan. 
 
 Staff— Lieutenant Colonel, Lawrence J. Logan; Major, Patrick J. 
 Grady ; Major. Frederick B. Bogan ; First Lieutenant David McGuire, 
 Adjutant ; First Lieutenant Simon S. Rankin, Quartermaster ; First Lieu- 
 tenant Frank P. Scully, Assistant Surgeon. 
 
 Company A, Boston — Captain, Patrick C. Reardon; First Lieutenant, 
 D. J. Keefe; Second Lieutenant, John M. Doherty — 43 men. 
 
 Company E, Boston — Captain, Lawrence J. Ford; First Lieutenant. 
 Frederick F. Doherty — 40 men. 
 
 Company B, South Boston — First Lieutenant. James W. Mahoney; 
 Second Lieutenant. Edmund W. Hagerty — 37 men. 
 
 Company C, Boston — Captain. James J. Barry; Second Lieutenant. 
 James II. Xugent — 40 men. 
 
 Company F. Lawrence — Captain, Daniel F. Dolan; First Lieutenant. 
 William II. Donovan; Second Lieutenant, Eugene A. McCarthy — 35 
 men. 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 15 
 
 Company D, Charlestown — Captain, Matthew J. Callahan; First 
 Lieutenant, E. P. Sullivan; Second Lieutenant, Edward O'Brien — 58 
 men. 
 
 Company G, Charlestown — Second Lieutenant, Michael J. Mitchell 
 — 35 men. 
 
 Company II. East Boston — Captain, Charles J. F. Madigan; First 
 Lieutenant, John J. Foley — 34 men. 
 
 FIFTH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, 331 MEN. 
 
 Fifth Regiment (South Abington) Band, Wm. Bowles, leader, 25 
 pieces. 
 
 Colonel, William A. Bancroft. 
 
 Staff — Lieutenant Colonel, Alonzo L. Richardson; Major, G. Frank 
 Frost ; Major, John L. Curtiss ; First Lieutenant Richard W. Sutton, 
 Adjutant ; First Lieutenant Henry N. Wheeler, Paymaster ; Rev. Samuel 
 J. Barrows, Chaplain. 
 
 Company D, Boston — Captain, Henry A. Snow; First Lieutenant, 
 George T. Sears; Second Lieutenant, Samuel Porter — 40 men. 
 
 Company B, Cambridge — Captain, Thomas C. Henderson ; First Lieu- 
 tenant, Charles H. Cutler; Second Lieutenant, William H.Wilson — 31 
 men. 
 
 Company C, Newton — Captain, Isaac H. Houghton ; First Lieutenant, 
 W. E. Glover; Second Lieutenant, George II. Benyon — 37 men. 
 
 Company G, Woburn — Captain, Charles W. Converse; First Lieu- 
 tenant, Charles E. Halliday; Second Lieutenant, Joseph M. Hall — 43 
 men. 
 
 Company II, Charlestown — Captain. J. Henry Brown; First Lieuten- 
 ant. Everett P. Miers — 34 men. 
 
 Company A, Boston — Captain, Leon H. Bateman ; First Lieutenant, 
 L. Edgar Timson; Second Lieutenant, George M. Hodgdon— 33 men. 
 
 Company F. Waltham — Captain, John E. Glidden; First Lieutenant, 
 Gideon F. Haynes; Second Lieutenant. William II. Holland — 26 men. 
 
 Company E, Medford — First Lieutenant, Harry J. Newhall — 30 men. 
 
 EIGHTH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, 509 MEN. 
 
 Haverhill Cornet Band. 2G pieces, T. D. Perkins, leader. 
 
 Colonel, Charles L. Avers. 
 
 Staff — Lieutenant Colonel, Francis A. Osgood; Major, William N". 
 Tyler; Major, Lawrence N. Duchesney; Major, Clarence M. Sprague; 
 First Lieutenant Oscar C. Lougee, Adjutant ; First Lieutenant Fitz W. 
 Perkins. Quartermaster; Major George W. Snow, Surgeon; First Lieu- 
 tenant F. A. Durgin, Assistant Surgeon; First Lieutenant John G. War- 
 ner, Paymaster; Rev. Gilbert C. Osgood, Chaplain. 
 
 Company E. Beverly — Captain. Charles L. Dodge; First Lieutenant, 
 Winthrop E. Perry ; Second Lieutenant, Lucius II. Perry — 43 men. 
 
16 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Company K, Salem — Captain, James Leonard; First Lieutenant. 
 Almon Allard; Second Lieutenant, Charles H. Marsden — 40 men. 
 
 Company G, Gloucester — Captain, Fitz E. Oakes, Jr. ; First Lieuten- 
 ant Edward G. Winchester; Second Lieutenant, Howard E. Gaffney — 
 34 men. 
 
 Company L, Salem — Captain, George A. Copeland; First Lieutenant, 
 S. M. Eastman; Second Lieutenant. N. F. Barker — 31 men. 
 
 Company F. Haverhill — Captain, George H. Hanscom : First Lieu- 
 tenant, George W. Sargent; Second Lieutenant, Benjamin H. Jellison — 
 44 men. 
 
 Company B, Xewburyport — Captain, Charles N. Safford; First Lieu- 
 tenant, J. Hermann Carver; Second Lieutenant, William D. Sargent — 
 43 men. 
 
 Company A, Newburyport — Captain, J. Albert Mills ; First Lieuten- 
 ant. Charles W. Adams; Second Lieutenant, Elmer E. Towne — 39 men. 
 
 Company M, Law r rence — Captain, John I. Gibson; First Lieutenant, 
 AVilliam L. Stedman ; Second Lieutenant. Edward A. Rogers — 40 men. 
 
 Company I, Lynn— Captain. Charles E. Chase; First Lieutenant, 
 James F. Pool ; Second Lieutenant, Eben T. Brackett — 42 men. 
 
 Company H, Chelsea — Captain, Charles J. Foye; First Lieutenant, 
 Seldon A. Lennan ^ Second Lieutenant. Amos N". Kincaid — 34 men. 
 
 Company D, Lynn — Captain, Harry E. Palmer; First Lieutenant, 
 Horace E. Monroe; Second Lieutenant, T. Dexter Johnson — 42 men. 
 
 Company C. Marblehead — Captain. Stuart F. McClearn; First Lieu- 
 tenant, Edward D. Tutt; Second Lieutenant, John C. Caswell, Jr. — 40 
 men. 
 
 FIRST BATTALION, LIGHT ARTILLERY, 8 PIECES, 169 MEN. 
 
 Major, George S. Merrill. 
 
 Staff— First Lieutenant James Ingalls, Adjutant; First Lieutenant 
 James McConnell, Quartermaster; Major L. S. Dow, Surgeon; First 
 Lieutenant Albert D. Swan, Paymaster. 
 
 Battery A, Boston — Captain, Joseph W. Smith; First Lieutenant, 
 George W. Brooks ; First Lieutenant, AVilliam Appleton ; Second Lieu- 
 tenant, George B. Cartwright, Jr. — 75 men. 
 
 Battery C, Melrose — Captain, Charles O. Boyd; First Lieutenant, 
 James Marshall ; First Lieutenant, Thomas B. Stantial ; Second Lieuten- 
 ant, Amos W. Lynde — 81 men. 
 
 FIRST BATTALION OF CAVALRY, 294 MEN. 
 
 Higgins' Mounted Band. 26 pieces, C. Higgins, leader. 
 
 Major. Charles A. Young. 
 
 Staff — First Lieutenant James P. Frost, Adjutant; First Lieutenant 
 Sullivan B^ Xewton, Quartermaster; Major William H. Emery, Surgeon; 
 First Lieutenant H L. Burrell, Assistant Surgeon ; First Lieutenant 
 Michael W. Fitzsimmons, Paymaster ; Rev. Edward A. Horton, Chap- 
 lain. 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 17 
 
 Company A, Boston — Captain, Benjamin W. Dean ;. First Lieutenant, 
 Horace G. Kemp ; Second Lieutenant, Henry D. Andrews — 101 men. 
 
 Company D, Boston — Captain, Francis H. Goss; First Lieutenant, 
 John Thomas ; Second Lieutenant, Thomas Talbot — 70 men. 
 
 FIRST CORPS OF CADETS, 139 MEN. 
 
 Boston Cadet Band, 30 pieces. J. Thomas Baldwin, leader. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel, Thomas F. Edmands. 
 
 Staff — Major, Wm. F. Lawrence; First Lieutenant Henry B. Rice, 
 Adjutant; First Lieutenant Charles C. Melcher, Quartermaster; Major 
 Wm. L. Richardson, Surgeon; First Lieutenant Charles M. Green, As- 
 sistant Surgeon; Captain Charles E. Stevens, Paymaster. 
 
 Company C, Boston — Captain, George R. Rogers; First Lieutenant, 
 William A. Hayes — 24 men. 
 
 Company A, Boston — Captain, Francis H. Appleton; First Lieuten- 
 ant, William M. Rice — 24 men. 
 
 Company B, Boston — Captain, William H. Alline; First Lieutenant, 
 J. Edward R. Hill— 32 men. 
 
 Company D, Boston — Captain, Albert C. Pond; First Lieutenant, 
 Thomas B. Ticknor — 22 men. 
 
 SECOND CORPS OF CADETS, 116 MEN. 
 
 Salem Cadet Band, Jean Missud, leader, 25 pieces. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, Edward Hobbs. 
 
 Staff— Major, Frank Dalton ; First Lieutenant Andrew Fitz, Adjutant ; 
 First Lieutenant Edward A. Simonds, Quartermaster ; Major David Cog- 
 gin, Surgeon; First Lieutenant Samuel B. Clarke, Assistant Surgeon; 
 Captain Thomas H. Johnson, Paymaster ; Rev Ellery C. Butler, Chap- 
 lain. 
 
 Company B, Salem — Captain, John W. Hart ; First Lieutenant, Sam- 
 uel A. Johnson; Second Lieutenant, George A. Hart — 41 men. 
 
 Company A, Salem — Captain, Walter C. Harris; First Lieutenant, 
 Edward W. Abbott; Second Lieutenant, Edward A. Maloon — 40 men. 
 
 THE PRESIDENT'S PARTY. 
 
 First Carriage — The President. Governor Long, General Berry. 
 
 Second Carriage — Secretary Lincoln, Mayor Green, the Collector of 
 the Port. 
 
 Third Carriage — Secretary Chandler, Lieutenant-Governor Weston, 
 Colonel Fiske, General Dale. 
 
 Fourth Carriage — Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, Secretary to 
 the President Phillips, Colonel Draper. Hon. George B. Loring. 
 
 Fifth Carriage — Cornelius N. Bliss, Charles E. Miller and D. G. Rol- 
 lins, of New York, Colonel Bouve. 
 
18 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Sixth Carriage — Hon. Stephen M. Allen, C. A. Arthur. Jr.. General 
 N. P. Banks, General W. W. Blackmar. 
 
 Seventh Carriage — Colonel E. H. Haskell, Colonel Morris Schaff, Hon. 
 Daniel A. Gleason, Hon. Henry B. Peirce. 
 
 Eighth Carriage — Hon. Charles R. Ladd, Hon. George S. Hey wood. 
 Colonel Lockwood, Colonel Jordan. 
 
 Ninth Carriage— Hon. Rodney Wallace, Hon. E. C. Fitz, Hon. Rufus 
 D. Woods, Colonel Harwood. 
 
 Tenth Carriage — Hon. M. J. Flatley, Hon. Matthew H. Cushing. Hon. 
 Joseph Davis, Hon. Nathaniel Wales. 
 
 FIRST BRIGADE. 
 
 Brigadier-General, Nathaniel Wales. 
 
 Staff — Lieutenant-Colonel William M. Olin. Assistant Adjutant-Gen- 
 eral; Lieutenant-Colonel George E. Pinkham, Medical Director; Major 
 John W. Sanger, Assistant Inspector-General ; Captain John B. Osborn, 
 Brigade Quartermaster; Captain Benjamin F. Field, Jr., Captain Joseph 
 H. Lathrop, Aides-de-Camp ; Captain Frank N. Brown. Engineer; Cap- 
 tain Bowdoin S. Parker, Judge Advocate ; Captain F. W. Reynolds. Pro- 
 vost Marshal. 
 
 SECOND REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, 359 MEN. 
 
 Fitchburg Band, Warren Russell, leader, 26 pieces. 
 
 Colonel, Benjamin F. Bridges, Jr. 
 
 Staff— Lieutenant-Colonel, Embury P. Clark; Major, Frederick W. 
 Merriam ; Major, George F. Sessions ; First Lieutenant James B. Bridges, 
 Adjutant; First Lieutenant Charles D. Colson, Quartermaster; Major 
 Daniel Clark, Surgeon; First Lieutenant Orland J. Brown, Assistant 
 Surgeon ; First Lieutenant Charles L. Hayden, Paymaster ; Rev Henry 
 W. Eldridge, Chaplain. 
 
 Company H, South Deerfield — Captain, Pharcellas D. Bridges; First 
 Lieutenant, Albion C. Boynton; Second Lieutenant, Edson M Roche — 
 44 men. 
 
 Company E, Shelburne Falls — Captain. Herbert W. Swan; First 
 Lieutenant, Willis M. Johnson ; Second Lieutenant, George D. Eldridge 
 — 40 men. 
 
 Company F, North Adams — Captain, Charles L. Frink ; First Lieu- 
 tenant, Perry M. Farley ; Second Lieutenant, Edwin Barnard — 40 men. 
 
 Company D, Holyoke — Captain, Charles W. Brown ; First Lieutenant, 
 George E. Russell; Second Lieutenant, George Maxwell — 33 men. 
 
 Company A, Worcester — Captain, Edwin R. Shumway ; Second Lieu- 
 tenant. Frank W. Barrett — 44 men. 
 
 Company C, Worcester — Captain. Winslow S. Lincoln; First Lieu- 
 tenant. Edward A. Harris; Second Lieutenant. Phineas L. Rider — 43 
 men. 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 19 
 
 Company G, Springfield — Captain, Hubert M. Coney ; First Lieuten- 
 ant, J. J. Leonard ; Second Lieutenant, Henry Knapp — 42 men. 
 
 Company B, Springfield — Captain, Frederick G. Southmayd; First 
 Lieutenant, Henry McDonald; Second Lieutenant, Thomas F. Cordis — 
 41 men. 
 
 SIXTH REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, 526 MEN. 
 
 American Band of Lowell, R. MeDaniell, leader, 26 pieces. 
 
 Colonel, Smith M. Decker. 
 
 Staff — Lieutenant-Colonel, Henry G. Greene; Major, Henry Parsons; 
 Major, Charles F. Woodward; Major, Josiah W. Bride; First Lieutenant 
 Charles II. Littlefield, Adjutant; First Lieutenant Ambrose M. Page, 
 Quartermaster; Major Nathan S. Chamberlain, Surgeon; First Lieuten- 
 ant Lewis G. Holt, Paymaster; Rev. Alphonso E. White, Chaplain. 
 
 Company L, Boston — Captain, Charles F. A. Francis; First Lieuten- 
 ant. W. J. B. Oxley; Second Lieutenant, G. W. Brady — 50 men. 
 
 Company F, Marlborough — Captain, Thomas E. Jackson; First Lieu- 
 tenant, T. Joseph Beaudry; Second Lieutenant, George J. Andrews — 
 47 men. 
 
 Company I, Concord — Captain, Frank W. Holden; First Lientenant, 
 Sherman Hoar; Second Lieutenant, Thomas T. Buttrick — 43 men. 
 
 Company M, Milford — Captain, Henry J. Bailey; First Lieutenant, 
 George P. Cooke; Second Lieutenant, Horace E. Whitney — 37 men 
 
 Company G, Lowell — Captain, Charles H. Richardson; First Lieu- 
 tenant, Asa W. Mead; Second Lieutenant, Frank E. Cleveland — 33 men. 
 
 Company C, Lowell — Captain, George O. E. French; First Lieuten- 
 ant, Charles Conners; Second Lieutenant, William M. Foster — 41 men. 
 
 Company A, Wakefield — First Lieutenant, Charles A. Cheney ; Second 
 Lieutenant, Herbert W. Walton — 44 men. 
 
 Company H, Stoneham — Captain, George II. Chaffin ; First Lieuten- 
 ant, John F. Berry; Second Lieutenant, S. A. Lawrence — 47 men. 
 
 Company D, Fitchburg — Captain. Thomas II. Shea; First Lieutenant, 
 James P. Kane ; Second Lieutenant, Frank S. Lynch — 39 men. 
 
 Company E, Ashburnham — Captain, Walter II. Laws ; First Lieu- 
 tenant-, Charles H. Pratt; Second Lieutenant, Alvah S. Fullford — 38 
 men. 
 
 Company K, Leominster — Captain, Edgar A. Buffington; Second 
 Lieutenant, Clement II. Turner — 3G men. 
 
 Company B, Fitchburg — Captain, George Burford; First Lieutenant, 
 George A. Bailey; Second Lieutenant, Frederick E. Bruce — 34 men. 
 
 FIRST REGIMENT OF INFANTRY, 441 MEN. 
 
 Reeves' American Band of Providence, 2G pieces, D. W. Reeves, 
 leader. 
 
 Colonel, Austin C. Wellington. 
 
 Staff — Lieutenant -Colonel, Daniel A. Butler; Major, Alfred B. 
 
20 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Hodges; Major, Samuel R. Field; Acting-Major, Captain Henry L. Park- 
 inson, Jr. ; First Lieutenant Frederick G. King, Adjutant ; First Lieuten- 
 ant Wm. \\ . Kellett, Quartermaster; First Lieutenant James F. Jackson, 
 Paymaster. 
 
 Company M, Fall River — Captain. Sierra L. Braley ; First Lieutenant, 
 Valorous O. Say ward; Second Lieutenant, C. B. Woodman — 46 men. 
 
 Company F, Taunton — Captain, Alden H. Blake; First Lieutenant, 
 Edward E. Hill; Second Lieutenant, Alanson Pratt — 30 men. 
 
 Company G, Taunton — Captain, Walter Carter; First Lieutenant, 
 Thomas J. Brady; Second Lieutenant, Thomas R. Peabody — 41 men. 
 
 Company E. New Bedford — Captain. John K. McAfee; First Lieu- 
 tenant, Zacheus C. Dunham; Second Lieutenant, William R. Spooner — 
 4G men 
 
 Company I, Brockton — Captain. James X. Keith; First Lieutenant, 
 Frederick Wood; Second Lieutenant. Nathan E. Leach — 29 men. 
 
 Company D. Roxbury Captain Horace T. Rockwell ; First Lieuten- 
 ant, Harry C. Gardner ; Second Lieutenant, Joseph H. Frothingham — 
 43 men. 
 
 Company H, Plymouth — Captain, John W. Hunting ; First Lieuten- 
 ant, Charles D. Burgess; Second Lieutenant, E. B. Pierce — 22 men. 
 
 Company A, West Roxbury — Captain, John B. McKay ; First Lieu- 
 tenant, D. T. Curtin; Second Lieutenant, Thomas Holden — 35 men. 
 
 Company L, East Boston — First Lieutenant, George E. Harringtqn; 
 Second Lieutenant, Seymour Harding — 41 men. 
 
 Company C, Boston — Captain, Charles L. Hovey ; First Lieutenant, 
 J. Marion Moulton ; Second Lieutenant, Henry C. Durkee — 40 men. 
 
 Company K, Boston — Captain, George E. Lovett; First Lieutenant, 
 Samuel Hobbs; Second Lieutenant, Charles A. Wyman — 26 men. 
 
 Company B, Cambridge — Captain, Albert F. Fessenden ; First Lieu- 
 tenant, William L. Fox ; Second Lieutenant. Henry G. W r ells — 34 men. 
 
 LIGHT ARTILLERY, 4 PIECES, 50 MEN. 
 
 Worcester Cadet Band, M. Ingraham, leader, 26 pieces. 
 
 Battery B. Worcester — Captain, Henry C. Wadsworth; First Lieu- 
 tenant. George L. Allen; First Lieutenant, Mason A. Boyden; Second 
 Lieutenant, Fred W. Wellington; First Lieutenant Henry S. Knight, 
 Assistant Surgeon. 
 
 COMPANY F, CAVALRY, 75 MEN. 
 
 Dunstable Band, H. Spaulding, leader, 20 pieces. 
 
 Captain, Sherman Fletcher; First Lieutenant, Arthur M. Clement; 
 Second Lieutenant, William L. Kittredge ; First Lieutenant Joseph B. 
 Heald, Assistant Surgeon. 
 
 The procession moved steadily over the folloAving route : 
 Columbus avenue, West Newton, Washington, Franklin, 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 21 
 
 Congress, Milk, India, Commercial, South Market, Mer- 
 chants row, State, Washington, School, Beacon, Dartmouth, 
 and Boylston streets to the Common. The President and 
 escort passed through Berkeley street from Beacon to the 
 Brunswick. A strong detail of police was necessary to keep 
 clear the line of march at many points. 
 
 Shortly after 11 a.m. the long line filed into Columbus 
 avenue and began its march. First came two or three 
 mounted policemen skirmishing along far ahead of the col- 
 umn, removing teams and warning back too venturesome pe- 
 destrians. Then followed Superintendent of Police Adams 
 with an escort, and behind him the regular detail, which 
 stretched from curb to curb. With but a little space inter- 
 vening was the head of the column, Gen. Peach and his staff, 
 of the Second Brigade, then the famous Ninth Regiment, 
 which, as did all the other organizations, marched with com- 
 pany front. Its ranks were full, the bearing of the men was 
 soldierly. The Fifth Regiment came next, and then followed 
 the Eighth, both of them showing that they are well up in 
 drill, as well as careful of their accoutrements. Then came 
 the First Battalion of Light Artillery, its bright scarlet trap- 
 pings being the first masses of color to break the sober blue. 
 Following this were the Lancers and the Roxbury Horse 
 Guards, and then at an interval the two corps of Cadets, the 
 first with their Avhite coats, the second with those articles of 
 costume of crimson hue, and then, at length, the President. 
 He was seated with Gov. Long in a landeau drawn by four 
 white horses. Around this equipage were mounted officers of 
 the Governor's and the Brigade staffs. In the other carriages 
 were other guests of the State, and State officers ; their escort 
 were details of the Lancers and of the Horse Guards. 
 
 After another little break came the staff of the First Bri- 
 gade, surrounding and supporting General Wales, its com- 
 mander. Then in quick succession marched the Second, the 
 
22 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Sixth and the First Kegiments of Infantry, Battery B of Light 
 Artillery and Company F of Cavalry, a squad of police fol- 
 lowing the last and closing the line. The progress was rapid ; 
 it was watched by a large and decorous crowd, whose mem- 
 bers greeted the President by removal of head-covering or 
 wave of handkerchief, to which he responded with raised hat. 
 The scene in and around State street during the procession 
 may be regarded as in a sense the culmination of the out- 
 door demonstration. For several hours of the forenoon the 
 street from Merchants row to the Old State House was 
 occupied by a constantly increasing throng, the overlooking 
 windows and even the house-tops being occupied. The win- 
 dows of the Old State House, which were chiefly restricted 
 to persons connected with the City Government, afforded a 
 rare opportunity to note the massive effect of the militia 
 bodies as the long columns moved up, the narrow space at the 
 north side of that building necessitating a wheeling move- 
 ment opposite Congress street, which added much to the 
 animation and picturesque effect. As the head of the organ- 
 izations wheeled into State street and marched up with the 
 Superintendent and a double force of police, and then the 
 mounted staff of the Second Brigade, the sight was a very 
 striking one. The long blue lines of the Ninth, Fifth and 
 Eighth Kegiments followed in quick succession ; then' the 
 Light Artillery and the briliantly uniformed Lancers gave va- 
 riety to the picture. After the passage of the Cadets, whose 
 rhythmical and elastic step was particularly admired, the 
 cheering announced the advent of the carriage containing 
 President Arthur. As he sat in the barouche with Gov. 
 Long and Gen. Berry he was the centre of observation. 
 Audible comments were heard on every side as to the fine 
 appearance of the guest of the day, and the plaudits that 
 greeted him gave him occasion constantly to bow his recog- 
 nition. The Governor and the Mayor were also cordially 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 23 
 
 recognized, but though the long and attractive ranks of the 
 First Brigade remained to be seen, there was a general move- 
 ment of the throng as soon as the central figure had passed, 
 and all rushed forward to obtain a near view of the Chief 
 Magistrate. 
 
 For fully an hour prior to the procession reaching the 
 State House the approaches to it were crowded with a mass 
 of people. Every Avindow and other point of vantage in the 
 building itself had its occupant. The grounds surrounding 
 it contained a goodly number of favored sight-seers, Avhile 
 the pillars of the gates, the trees, railings and every elevated 
 spot in the vicinity were eagerly sought by adventurous boys. 
 The street in front of the State House was so crowded with 
 people that, were it not for the industrious energy of the 
 police and the force of the procession itself, a passage would 
 have been difficult. At 12.30 a body of police officers clear- 
 ing the road indicated the coming of the procession. Soon 
 the mounted police appeared, followed by Brigadier General 
 B. F. Peach and staff; the Boston City Band, playing the 
 inspiring and familiar "Marching through Georgia," followed 
 and stimulated the elastic tread of the Ninth Regiment. As 
 the different regiments passed, the music of brass bands or 
 tap of drum kept up the enthusiasm of the processionists 
 and the crowded masses on the sidewalks. As the Lancers 
 went by the sun shone out brilliantly, and the dancing plumes 
 and gay pennants looked attractive. When the barouche 
 containing the President, Gov. Long and Adjutant General 
 Berry reached the State House, a halt was ordered. An 
 enthusiastic gentleman called for three cheers for President 
 Arthur, which were warmly given, the President acknow- 
 ledging the compliment by bowing to the people. After 
 a halt of ten minutes the march was resumed, and as the 
 carriages containing the other visiting dignitaries went by 
 they were pretty warmly recognized, the occupants bow- 
 
24 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 ing their appreciation. At fifteen minutes past one the 
 entire procession had passed. 
 
 The right of the First Brigade reached Dartmouth street 
 soon after one o'clock, where it halted to allow the President 
 to reach the Brunswick, where the troops passed in review 
 before him. When the two corps of Cadets arrived at Berke- 
 ley street they broke from the line and escorted the Presi- 
 dent directly to the hotel, which was reached at precisely 
 1.25. The Cadets were drawn up in line in front of the hotel, 
 and as the President left his carriage and was received on the 
 steps of the hotel by Mayor Green, the two organizations 
 presented arms. The formal ceremonies of tendering to the 
 President the hospitalities of the city did not occupy more than 
 a minute, and the Presidential party then repaired to the 
 rooms assigned them. In the mean time the First and Second 
 Corps of Cadets inarched to the extreme left of the column, 
 while the right of the line made preparations for the review. 
 A few minutes later some of the members of Gov. Long's 
 staff appeared upon the reviewing stand and gave the signal 
 for the column to move, and almost immediately Gen. Peach 
 and his staff wheeled from Dartmouth into Boylston street, 
 and the great military event of the day was taking place. 
 Before the commanding general had reached Clarendon street 
 the President and party, Gov. Long and other State officers, 
 Mayor Green and the Reception Committee and several 
 invited guests, were upon the reviewing stand, the President 
 occupying a central position, with Gov. Long and Mayor 
 Green upon his left. The brigade contained for the first time 
 during the day all the organizations which comprise it, the 
 three regiments of infantry leading, followed by the artillery 
 and the cavalry battalion, consisting of the Lancers and the 
 Roxbury Horse Guards. The President returned the salute 
 of Gen. Peach and his staff, and also the salutes of the field 
 and staff officers of each organization, and remained with 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 25 
 
 uncovered head as the colors were dipped in honor of the 
 Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy. The First 
 Brigade took the prescribed interval, and its full regiments 
 made a fine appearance. The troops moved by company 
 front, and were thirty-five minutes in passing the reviewing 
 stand. The two corps of Cadets formed the left of the line, 
 and it is no discredit to the other commands to say that the 
 alignment of the First Cadets as they passed the President 
 was about as near perfect as could be, and aroused the enthu- 
 siasm of the crowd which had assembled to get a view of the 
 President as well as to watch the military pageant. 
 
 After a lunch the guests took carriages. The Lancers 
 and Horse Guards acted as escort to the party, who occu- 
 pied carriages as follows: No. 1, President Arthur, Mayor 
 Green and Alderman Hall; No. 2, Secretary Chandler, 
 Secretary Lincoln and Councilman Pratt; No. 3, Chester A. 
 Arthur, Jr., Assistant Postmaster-Gen. Ilatton and Alder- 
 man Stebbins ; No. 4, Hon. George B. Loring, M. W. 
 Cooper and Godfrey Morse; No. 5, Surrogate Eollins, 
 George Bliss, Mr. Springhart and Councilman Mathews ; 
 No. 6, Private Secretary Phillips and Mr. C. N. Bliss. In 
 this order the party proceeded to Faneuil Hall, for the 
 public reception. 
 
 The interior of Faneuil Hall, with its pictures and me- 
 morials, which make the place always impressive, was fit- 
 tingly and elaborately decorated by Messrs. Lamprell & 
 Marble. Below the great painting of Webster replying to 
 Hayne, and just above the niches containing the busts of 
 Adams and Webster, were heavy festoons of bunting, and the 
 front of the platform was covered with pink and decorated 
 muslin, spaced off by depending knots. In the centre of the 
 ceiling was a medallion representation of a spread eagle, 
 holding an olive-branch in its talons, from which extended 
 horizontally four staves with spears holding United States 
 
26 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 flags. Between these, and running in long, sweeping curves 
 from the same central figure to the tops of the columns, were 
 bunting streamers, eight on either side, falling in heavy knots 
 at the outer ends. Just below the knots on the upper por- 
 tion of the pillars were the seals of the New England States, 
 and still further down, running around the gallery front, was 
 a covering of pink and ornamented muslin, fastened at inter- 
 vals with shields representing each of the States. Below 
 these were heavy hanging bands of red and white, decorating 
 the lower pillars around the interior. Above the carved 
 eagle on the rear gallery stood six United States flags with 
 spears on the staves ; and the clock and base beneath were 
 embellished with sunburstry and stars on a blue ground. 
 Under the clock was placed the seal of the city of Boston in 
 white, with closely clustering festoons of white depending. 
 Sunbursts surmounted and environed the portraits of Robert 
 Treat Paine and Caleb Strong on the south and north sides of 
 the galleries, and half-way between these and the gallery 
 ends were United States emblems, while at the gallery cor- 
 ners stood half-furled British, French and German standards, 
 the whole effect combining minuteness of detail with artistic 
 unity of design. 
 
 At 2.25 p.m. the doors were opened to the crowd that filled 
 the space between the markets in Merchants row and ex- 
 tended on either side of that area for some distance. As is 
 usually the case, in it were many women, and also, as usual, 
 they were more eager than the men to gain admittance to the 
 historic interior. In less than ten minutes floor and galleries 
 were filled much more closely than could have been comfort- 
 able, and still there were thousands who sought in vain to 
 pass inward through the portals. In spite of the crowding, 
 however, the best of good-nature prevailed, each one, whether 
 successful in endeavor or unsuccessful, signifying by conduct 
 that while visits of Presidents to Boston are so rare, some 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 27 
 
 discomfort must be endured by those who desire to see him 
 when he does come. President Arthur, accompanied by 
 Mayor Green, the Reception Committee of the City Govern- 
 ment, Secretary Lincoln, Secretary Chandler, Chester A. 
 Arthur, Jr., and several others, entered the hall at 3.40 p.m. 
 He was greeted most cordially, and then cheered. 
 
 When the applause and cheers had subsided, Mayor Green 
 said : " I am directed by the President to say that he would 
 like to shake the hand of each and every one of you, but the 
 time is so limited that he w r ill be able to spend but a very few 
 minutes here. He will say a few words, and after that will 
 shake hands with a very few. I have the pleasure and the 
 honor of presenting the Honorable Chester A. Arthur, Presi- 
 dent of the United States." The President was again cheered ; 
 he said : " You have my most sincere gratitude for your cordial 
 and enthusiastic reception. I know well that everything of the 
 demonstration with which to-day I have been greeted does not 
 proceed from the promptings of personal regard ; they only 
 give voice to the loyalty of Boston and of Massachusetts to the 
 Government of the United States. [Applause.] I know chat 
 they show the respect that the citizens of this grand old Com- 
 monwealth and of this magnificent city pay to the Federal Uni- 
 ty which they themselves have helped to constitute, and in this 
 spirit I accept and thank you for these courtesies." [Applause.] 
 
 Then followed a loud and persistent demand for Mr. Lincoln 
 to say something. When it was found that nothing but com- 
 pliance with its wishes would quiet the crowd, the Mayor 
 said : I have the distinguished honor of introducing to you 
 Secretary Lincoln." Mr. Lincoln was given three thundering 
 cheers. He said, — 
 
 " Fellow-citizens of Boston : You are all aware that it is 
 not expected or intended that any speeches should be made 
 on this occasion. It was hoped by the President and myself 
 that we would be able to take by the hand a few of you and 
 
28 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 make your acquaintance. I can only thank you for this very 
 kind greeting." [Applause.] 
 
 Again the crowd clamored for a speech, this time from 
 Secretary Chandler ; like Secretary Lincoln, he was unwilling 
 to disarrange the programme that had been agreed upon, but, 
 like him, he was obliged to utter a few words. In present- 
 ing him, Mayor Green said : "I have the great pleasure of 
 introducing Secretary Chandler." Again the hall resounded 
 with plaudits and cheers. Secretary Chandler said, — 
 
 " Citizens of Boston : First we were captured by the Old 
 Colony Railroad, secondly by the Government of Massa- 
 chusetts, thirdly by the city of Boston, and now we seem 
 to have been taken possession of by the people of the city. 
 [Applause.] I want to say to you, fellow-citizens, that you 
 have reason to be proud of the militia of the State of Massa- 
 chusetts. [Applause.] No liner military display by better- 
 organized and disciplined soldiers was ever made on Boston 
 Common than has been made by your citizen soldiery. [Ap- 
 plause.] And I reflect, fellow-citizens, that it was such 
 soldiers from Massachusetts as were assembled on Boston 
 Common who went out from this city in 1861 and saved the 
 National Capitol to the American Government. [Applause.] 
 And what I desire to say to you in addition to thanking you 
 for this magnificent reception to Massachusetts and to Boston, 
 and for courtesies to the President of the United States, is 
 that I hope you will cherish as the apple of your eye the 
 militia of your grand old Commonwealth." [Applause.] 
 
 After shaking hands with the citizens, the President and 
 party accompanied the Mayor and Committee for a drive. 
 Their carriages rolled quickly out over the Mill-dam to Chest- 
 nut Hill Reservoir and around the beautiful drive on the 
 borders of the lake, and thence passed through a number of 
 the handsome streets in the Brookline suburb, finally re- 
 turning to the Brunswick at a few minutes after 6 o'clock. 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 29 
 
 Dinner was awaiting them ; and after a few minutes the 
 President was ushered into the supper room, at the end of 
 the corridor, opposite the Venetian parlor, where a magnifi- 
 cent repast had been prepared. The room, beautiful in itself, 
 had been the scene of busy florists' labors all day, and the 
 scene was one of the most attractive ever witnessed in Boston. 
 The table, which, of course, ran lengthwise of the room, was 
 decorated with fruits and flowers in a very artistic and some- 
 what unusual manner. Most prominent were three huge 
 baskets of flowers, mostly roses and ferns, one at each end, 
 and the third and largest in the centre, in front of the Presi- 
 dent's plate. Trailing cissus and Failence ferns ran on the 
 snow-white cloth from plate to plate and from dish to dish, 
 and scattered over the table at frequent intervals were small 
 French vases holding either orchids, Jacqueminot roses, 
 dahlias or violets, or combinations of these flowers. The 
 whole effect was admirable, and Messrs. Twombly & Sons, 
 the artists, were frequently commended by the guests as they 
 sat at the table. Another pleasing effect was produced by 
 hanging the chandeliers with garlands of small white flowers, 
 with their blossoms opening down, instead of festooning them, 
 as is usually done, with smilax. The decorations of the room 
 were no less tasteful than those of the table. Over the side- 
 board hung a large bronze medallion of the first President, 
 and beneath it, on the sideboard itself, perched an eagle, 
 bearing small silk flags representing the various nations, and 
 protecting a floral shield of exquisite design. The lambre- 
 quins around the room were hung with smilax and bouquets ; 
 in the two small window recesses were growing palms, and 
 in the bay window a large potted Pandarus Vetchi, and a 
 Cyathea palm of equal dimensions. Over each door was 
 suspended a bouquet. 
 
 The party at dinner comprised thirty-three. His Honor 
 Mayor Green sat at the head of the table (which was really 
 
30 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 the centre), and on his right sat President Arthur. On the 
 Mayor's left sat Gov. Long. The President's right-hand neigh- 
 bor was Collector Worthington, and at the Governor's left 
 sat Secretary Chandler. The other gentlemen at the table 
 were Secretary Lincoln, Congressmen Eanney and Morse, 
 United States Attorney Sanger, Postmaster Tobey, First 
 Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, Judge Nelson of the 
 United States District Court, District Attorney George Bliss, 
 of New York, Gen. N. P. Banks, Hon. C. W. Slack, Com- 
 modore Ralph Chandler, U. S. N., Mr. Charles E. Miller, of 
 New York, Mr. M. W. Cooper, of New York, Hon. Solomon 
 
 B. Stebbins, President of the Board of Aldermen, Mr. S. F. 
 McCleary, the City Clerk, Mr. Chester A. Arthur, Jr., Mr. 
 
 C. L. Best, Mr. Godfrey Morse, Mr. T. R. Matthews, Hon. 
 
 D. G. Rollins, of New York, Hon. Asa French, Mr. M. P. 
 Kennard, Hon. D. W. Gooch, President Charles E. Pratt, of 
 the Common Council, Mr. Alderman Hall, Mr. C. M. Bliss, 
 of New York, Mr. Robert Grant and Mr. F. J. Phillips. 
 The banquet was of the most sumptuous character. 
 
 As soon as the President had dined the time had come for 
 the reception tendered him by the city of Boston For it 
 the greater part of the ground and first floors of the Hotel 
 Brunswick had been prepared. The decorations were simple 
 yet tasteful. Lines of green were run around the walls, and 
 here and there, at window spaces, alcove apertures and other ap- 
 propriate places , were small bunches of brilliant flowers . There 
 were added a few rare pot plants that served to fill up some 
 corners that hardly needed them, but yet were made glorious 
 by their glossy leaves. The main dining hall was converted 
 into a music room ; in fine, it was so changed that no sign of 
 its normal uses was left. Its floors were covered with Turk- 
 ish rugs ; the walls were ornamented with fine paintings ; its 
 windows and doorways were hung with handsome draperies 
 and portieres. Everywhere there were wax-lights, gas-lights 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 31 
 
 and electric lights, their combined glow and glimmer and 
 glare flooding the rooms with a radiance that was nearly as 
 bright and far more fi ting than that of day. 
 
 All those who came — and the arrivals began promptly at 
 9 p.m. — entered the house by its Clarendon-street doorway, 
 where they were met by City Messenger Peters and his 
 assistants, who ushered them up-stairs to the dressing rooms, 
 which were on the rear corridor of the first floor — those for 
 ladies being on the right, those for gentlemen on the left. 
 After the wraps had been removed there was an informal 
 grouping in the passage-way, along which the company slowly 
 moved, making three fourths of the circuit of the building to 
 the grand staircase, down which it passed to the main hall 
 on the ground floor. Along this it moved to its extreme 
 westerly end, thence into the first of the suite of parlors 
 opening from it there, and so on through these rooms, in the 
 last of which was the President with Mayor Green. His 
 Honor made the introductions, which took considerable time. 
 The ladies, who entered on the left of their escorts, were 
 presented first, and then the gentlemen ; for many the Presi- 
 dent had a few pleasant words ; to others he simply said, "I 
 am happy to see you," in a manner that carried with it the 
 conviction that he meant all that he said. After the Presi- 
 dent had been spoken to, there was the supper room in the 
 east end of the house to be sought, and thence, after a salad 
 or an ice had been eaten, there was an escape into the small 
 supper room and the music room. After a promenade to 
 the strains of the Boston Cadet Band orchestra, the dressing 
 rooms were returned to, the carriages were sought, and the 
 return home was made. Arrivals and departures were 
 looked upon by a crowd that numbered thousands, but that 
 was so kept back by judicious police arrangements that it 
 did not in any way interfere with the convenience of the 
 guests. 
 
32 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Full dress was one of the requirements of the event, and 
 it was closely complied with by the three or more thousand 
 who were present. A few gentlemen appeared in Prince 
 Albert coats and black cravats, but all the others were in 
 dress coats and satin ties, or in military or naval uniforms. 
 All the ladies were arrayed in tasteful costumes. Many of 
 them were elegantly as well as expensively dressed, the 
 attractions of beautiful silks in all the fashionable hues being 
 enhanced by family diamonds and laces and other jewels and 
 draperies of lesser interest and value. The progress through 
 the rooms was made as easy and comfortable as possible by 
 Messrs. Nathan G. Smith, Henry Parkman, William F. 
 Wharton, Charles H. Orr, James G. Freeman, William H. 
 Whitmore, Robert Grant, Charles Albert Prince, Francis 
 Peabody, Jr., Hugh Cochrane, J. Montgomery Sears, Henry 
 M. Martin, W. C. Fisk, George P. Sanger, Jr., Louis Cur- 
 tiss, William K. Millar, John J. Hayes, Prentis Cummings, 
 Malcolm S. Greenough, M. J. Houghton, George L. Hunt- 
 ress, Munroe Chickering, Nathan Applet on, A. Frank, Roger 
 Wolcott, Henry W. Swift, Frederick A. Winslow, Otis 
 Kimball, B. L. Arbecam, S. A. B. Abbott, A. A. Rand, 
 Charles J. Prince, John F. Andrew, Christopher P. Dona- 
 hue, who acted as ushers, and who were ever courteous and 
 ever ready to comply with the many requests that were made 
 of them. Although the reception nominally came to an end 
 at 11 p.m., it was continued until well past midnight, no 
 shorter lapse of time being sufficient for the full performance 
 of its courtesies. 
 
 The number of invitations issued by the committee was 
 2210, each commanding the presence of a lady and gentle- 
 man, and among the prominent persons invited, very few of 
 whom were absent, were the following : Gov. Long and 
 staff, Lieutenant-Governor Weston and the Executive Coun- 
 cil, Chief Justice Morton and Associate Justices Field, 
 
STATE AND BOSTON 11ECEPTION. 33 
 
 Devens and Charles Allen of the Supreme Court, Chief 
 Justice Brigham and Associate Justices of the Superior 
 Court, of whom Judges Rockwell, Pitman, Colburn, Gard- 
 ner, Staples, Knowlton, Blodgett and Mason were present, 
 Hon. Josiah Quincy, Hon. Alexander H. Eice, Hon. F. W. 
 Lincoln, Jr., Hon. J. M. Wightman, Hon. William Gaston, 
 Hon. Henry L. Pierce, Hon. Samuel C. Cobb and Hon. F. 
 O. Prince, all ex-Mayors of Boston , General Nathaniel 
 Wales, staff, field and line officers of the First Brigade ; 
 Gen. B. F. Peach, Jr., staff, field and line officers of the 
 Second Brigade ; Collector Worthington and Deputy Collec- 
 tors Fiske, Munroe, Barnes and Swift ; Gen. A. B. Under- 
 wood, Charles W. Slack, M. P. Kennard, Sub-Treasurer; 
 Hon. E. S. Tobey, Postmaster; Hon. Horace Gray and Hon. 
 John Lowell, and Hon. Thomas L. Nelson of the United 
 States Court, Hon. George P. Sanger, Gen. N. P. Banks, 
 Col. J. F. Head, Major T. J. Eckerson, Capt. J. F. Weston, 
 Lieut. II. D. Borup, Capt. N. C. Cook, Col. C. L. Best, 
 Capt. JohnEgan and Gen. N. B. McLaughlin, of the United 
 States Army ; Commodore O. C. Badger, Capt. Ralph Chan- 
 dler, Lieut. Com., A. S. Snow, Capt. R. L. Plythian, E. D. 
 Robie, C. H. Baker, Lieut. Col. E. B. Hebb, Lieut. S. J. 
 Logan, all of the U. S. Navy; Capt. J. Mack and field and 
 staff of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company ; Gen. 
 B. F. Butler, Hon. Stephen M. Allen ; C. Wolff, C. S. Gile, 
 H. C. Adams, C. A. Henderson, W. II. Stuart, Horace N. 
 Fisher, E. C. Hammer, Henri Verleye, S. B. Schlesinger, 
 J. M. Rodocanachi, E. M. Brewer, B. C. Clark, Jose M. 
 Aguayo, C. L. Bartlett, G. Lootz, M. Crosby, W. Brandt 
 Storer, Croiz Antonio Furro, Joaquin M. Torroza, Oscar 
 Iasigi and Luther Carroll, Foreign Consuls residing in Bos- 
 ton; Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Hon. Oliver Ames, 
 Waldo Adams, Hon. Josiah G. Abbott, Edward Atkinson, 
 Thomas B. Aldrich, John F. Andrew, Nathan Appleton, 
 
34 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Nathaniel J. Bradlee, F. Quincy Browne, J. Tisdale Brad- 
 lee, Rev. Joshua P. Bodfish, Martin Brimmer, Edward 
 Burgess, Causten Browne, A. A. Burrage, A. W. Boardman, 
 Mrs. Ole Bull, Hon. S. Z. Bowman, Mrs. James M. Bebee, 
 George H. Bond, Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, H. P. Bowditch, 
 Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, Dr. W. S. Bigelow, Hon. R. R. 
 Bishop, Hon. S. W. Boardman, Hon. George S. Boutwell, 
 H. J. Bowerman, William Bliss, Matthew Bolles, William 
 H. Baldwin, Henry F. Coe, T. Jefferson Coolidge, Hon. 
 John W. Candler, Hon. E. W. Converse, Dr. David W: 
 Cheever, Charles R. Codman, U. H. Crocker, Frederick 
 Crowninshield, Miss Maria Cabot, Parker C. Chandler, Arthur 
 Cabot, Dr. Samuel Cabot, Samuel Cabot, Jr., Gen. P. A. 
 Collins, Charles F. Choate, Linus M. Child, Geo. P. Denny, 
 Thomas Dana, Oliver Ditson, A. S. Dabney, Walter Dabney, 
 L. S. Dabney, R. H. Dana, M. F. Dickinson, Jr., Charles 
 F. Donnelly, Rev. Chas. F. Dole, Gen. M. T. Donohoe, Dr. 
 De Gersdorff, Wm. Endicott, Jr., Percival Leveritt, Samuel 
 Eliot, Charles W. Eliot, Dr. Calvin Ellis, Prof. Wm. Ever- 
 ett, Julius Eichberg, JohnM. Forbes, Col. Jonas H. French, 
 Isaac Fenno, Charles E. Fuller, John S. Farlon, Hon. 
 Rufus S. Frost, Dr. Reginald H. Fitz, William H. Forbes, 
 Rev. O. B. Frothingham, Hon. James A. Fox, A. A. Fol- 
 som, John L. Gardner, Patrick Grant, John C. Gray, Jr., 
 Charles E. Grinnell, Prof. E. Palmer Gould, II. II. Hunne- 
 well, Dr. John Homans, Alphenus Hardy, E. B. Haskell, 
 Hon. E. R. Hoar, Samuel Hoar, Franklin Haven, Jr., Col. 
 Wm. Y. Hutchings, Clement Hugh Hill, Francis L. Higgin- 
 son, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Dr. Charles D. Homans, Mrs. 
 Julia Ward Howe, Col. John Jeffries, E. D. Jordan, Jerome 
 Jones, Francis Jacques, Henry P. Kidder, E. AY. Kinsley, 
 Col. Theodore Lyman, A. A. Lawrence, Gen. Samuel C. 
 Lawrence, Weston Lewis, Henry Cabot Lodge, Solomon 
 Lincoln, William Caleb Loring, Dr. S. K. Lothrop, John 
 
STATE AND BOSTON RECEPTION. 35 
 
 Lathrop, Col. Thomas L. Livermore, Mrs. James Lodge, Mrs. 
 James Lawrence, Hon. Leopold Morse, William Minot, Jr., 
 R. M. Morse, Jr., Thomas Motley, Dr. Francis Minot, Miss 
 Abby May, Martin Milmore, David Nevins, Hon. Charles J. 
 Noyes, Gen. F. A. Osborne, Richard Olney, Dr. J. P. Oliver, 
 James R. Osgood, Rev. Jeremiah O'Connor, Rev. H. Roe 
 O'Donnell, Edgar Parker, George Putman, Hon. Albert 
 Palmer, Avery Plumer, R. M. Pulsifer, Robert Treat Paine, 
 Jr., H. W. Putman, F. H. Peabody, Jacob Pfaff, Dr. Henry 
 P. Quincy, General Samuel M. Quincy, Miss Mary Quincy, 
 Hon. Joseph S. Ropes, General A. P. Rockwell, Hon. 
 Thomas Russell, Benjamin S. Rotch, W. R. Robeson, Dr. 
 Le Baron Russell, Hon. A. A. Ranney, Maj. Geo. B. 
 Russell, John P. Spaulding, Maj. J. Henry Sleeper, Gen. 
 R. H. Stephenson, Lemuel Shaw, Gen. Horace Binney 
 Sargent, Ignatius Sargent, Prof. Charles S. Sargent, Geo. 
 O. Shattuck, Moorfield Storey, O. H. Samson, Mrs. Mary 
 L. Seavy, Dr. Lucy Sewall, Mrs. Dr. Mary J. Safibrd, 
 John IT. Sturgis, R. H. Stearns, Hon. Thomas Talbot, Ben- 
 jamin H. Ticknor, Howard M. Ticknor, Mrs. Fenno Tudor, 
 Henry Van Brunt, Gen. Francis A. Walker, J. Huntington 
 Wolcott and Gen. Charles F. Wolcott. 
 
36 THE WEBSTEIi CENTENNIAL, 
 
 IV. 
 
 MARSHFIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER. 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER was born at Salisbury, N.H., Jan- 
 uary 18, 1782. It was deemed advisable for the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee of the Webster Historical Society to defer 
 the celebration of the event until the fall ; and as Salisbury 
 was remote, and Marshfield was Webster's chosen home, 
 the committee decided on the choice of the latter as the 
 best place to commemorate his memory. On the morn- 
 ing of October 12 the town of Marshfield was early astir, in 
 anticipation of the great event to occur within its borders, 
 and of the distinguished personages who were to honor it by 
 their presence. The day broke with the sky laden with dull, 
 heavy clouds, betokening rain, and the wind was in a quarter 
 which presaged a storm ; but before eight o'clock it shifted and 
 the clouds lightened, but did not break away. The highways 
 were less deserted than is usual in the first hours of daylight. 
 Here and there was an occasional farmer driving in with his 
 family from a neighboring town to make a day of it. As 
 the morning advanced the chill easterly wind proved a source 
 of great discomfort, but the clouds grew less threatening as 
 the day advanced. Not until nine o'clock did the crowds 
 from the surrounding country begin to assemble in large 
 numbers. Conveyances of every conceivable fashion were 
 driven in. Many came by the regular morning trains from 
 the south, and others in the neighborhood wended their 
 way on foot. Crowds lingered around the station, waiting 
 the arrival of the Presidential train, and others visited 
 the Webster homestead and the tomb of the departed states- 
 man. 
 
MARSIIFIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER. 37 
 
 At no season does the quiet Marshfield homestead appear 
 adorned in so many of nature's beauties as on the morn of an 
 Indian summer day, when a few frosts have touched the 
 forest with a glory of autumnal colors. At dawn to-day, 
 before even the van of the multitude had broken the natural 
 quiet of the scene, the delights of the spot which won the 
 heart of Daniel Webster were perhaps seen at best advan- 
 tage. The showers of the previous night had improved the 
 sandy roads and washed a coating of dust from the foliage 
 near the public thoroughfare. Going from the village of 
 Marshfield, or rather from the point where the railroad left 
 the visiting multitude, the Webster mansion is approached 
 over an ordinary country road, which winds through the 
 woods up a gentle slope for something more than half a mile. 
 One or two houses and a few clearings are all that break a 
 gorgeous panorama of rainbow tints, which hang dancing 
 upon the branches as far into the woods as eye can reach. 
 Rarely has this rich grandeur of nature's handiwork been 
 surpassed. It is a season of exceptional delight for all who 
 find pleasure in the lavish treasures of the fountain of art. 
 The chill winds of September across the marshes intensified 
 the coloring of the heavy foliage, and the beauty of a Marsh- 
 field landscape seemed to be at its height. It is, then, 
 through such scenes that half the distance to the Webster 
 mansion is passed. As a higher elevation is reached, breaks 
 in the trees disclose glimpses of the blue waters of Massa- 
 chusetts bay, a mile or two away, and scattered along the 
 horizon are always to be seen the sails of the nation's com- 
 merce, which the friends of Webster know he loved to watch 
 on their course, from his windows. A few rods west of the 
 grounds surrounding the modern Webster mansion is a large 
 tract of pasture land, whereon were spread the tents for the 
 principal exercises of the day's celebration. Stretching away 
 in unbroken expanse to the marshes, which seem to broaden 
 
38 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 into the ocean beyond, the view from the road at this point 
 is enchanting. Facing the sea to the northeast, a glimpse is 
 caught of the Webster homestead through the trees at the 
 right of the immediate foreground. A quarter of a mile to 
 the left there rise the white stones of the little cemetery on 
 a commanding knoll, whereon the tomb of the great man is 
 the central object. 
 
 Passing on from this point of observation, the road turns 
 slightly toward the south, and the entrance to the Webster 
 estate is by a pleasant driveway beneath a brilliant canopy 
 of foliage. The destruction of the original mansion by fire 
 in February, 1878, has not been forgotten by the public, and 
 the loss is keenly felt. The little building a few yards from 
 the house, often used by Mr. Webster as a study, was the 
 only thing to escape the flames. The present mansion occu- 
 pies the exact site of the old one, but it is of modern con- 
 struction, and therefore of no historical interest. Commo- 
 dious barns and other out-buildings have replaced those 
 destroyed, and the present aspect of the estate is that of a 
 country residence of a retired merchant of ample means. 
 Since the death of Ashburton Webster, a few months after 
 the fire of 1878, Mrs. Fletcher Webster, daughter-in-law of 
 the departed statesman, has had control of the property, and 
 during nearly all the time has occupied the mansion. 
 
 Within the lands of the estate the ceremonies of the day 
 were to be enacted. The place resembled a miniature camp. 
 The most noticeable objects were the two large dinner tents 
 for the use, respectively, of the Webster Historical Society 
 and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. That 
 of the former was nearest the road, between which and the 
 dinner tent are three smaller tents for the ladies' and recep- 
 tion rooms. The larger canvas was oblong in shape, and 
 within were accommodations for about five hundred persons at 
 sixteen tables. Eaised on a platform alone: the south side was 
 
MARSHFIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER. 39 
 
 a table sixty feet long for the officers and guests of the Soci- 
 ety, to the number of twenty-five, and directly in front and 
 below were the tables for the members of the press. Running 
 from south to north were thirteen long tables, eight having 
 plates for fourteen persons on each side, and the remainder, 
 three at one end and two at the other, seating thirty-six 
 people each. Flanking the officers' table, on either side, and 
 running in the same direction, w^ere two smaller tables, each 
 for fourteen persons. The ornamentation of the tent was 
 simple, and consisted of a line of flags of all nations pendent 
 from the top of the pitch, with streamers of red, white and 
 blue carried from the intervals between the flags to the sides,- 
 those at each end being arranged in semi-circular form around 
 the tent poles. 
 
 Near by, and at such a distance that when the flaps were 
 raised they would make a covered way between the two, 
 were the dining quarters of the Ancients. This was like the 
 other in form and size, and its interior arrangements were 
 very similar. Along the north was a raised table, with 
 plates for eighteen, for the commander and members of his 
 staff, and below, on either side, two tables, with accommoda- 
 tions for fourteen each, were placed for the invited guests of 
 the corps. The main body of the command was provided 
 for by ten tables running north and south, and capable of 
 seating seventeen persons on each side, making provision for 
 a total of three hundred and eighty-six persons within the 
 tent. The decoration was more elaborate than in the Soci- 
 ety's tent, with which it corresponded as far as concerns the 
 arrangement of flags and streamers, but, in addition, around 
 the top of the flap, tri-colored bunting was gracefully draped, 
 and behind the commander's seat was a glory of flags, in the 
 centre of a lace drapery arranged on a partition for the entire 
 length of the table. 
 
 To the east of the dinner tents, and makimr three sides of 
 
40 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 a square, on which they faced inward, were three large wall 
 tents, each divided into two compartments. That fronting 
 to the west, and with a large flag-pole rising above it, from 
 which floated the President's flag above the new banner of 
 the Ancients, denoted that here were the quarters designed 
 for the most honored guest of the day. As befitting the 
 high station of its occupant, its interior was gotten up more 
 elaborately than was to be seen elsewhere. In the first com- 
 partment entrance a board floor was laid, and on that was a 
 Persian rug surrounded with a wide border of Prussian blue. 
 On the pole which rose in the centre was a national shield, 
 draped with flags and lace in a tasty design, while above, 
 streamers were carried from the pole to all parts of the room. 
 At the top of the walls was lace drapery, caught up in grace- 
 ful loops by large plaques, representing the four seasons, 
 and a liberal use of bunting heightened the eflect of the dra- 
 pery. In front of the centre pole was a bamboo table, and 
 near it a comfortable reclining chair upholstered in a rich 
 crimson material. The rear apartment was intended for pri- 
 vate use, where the President could receive and entertain his 
 personal friends, and where he could be secure from intru- 
 sion. The approach to it Avas marked by parted curtains 
 formed of flags, with a large shield and eagle disposed to 
 advantage above it, and apparently held in position by two 
 flags on either side, whose folds were allowed to fall uncon- 
 fined. The centre pole in this apartment was relieved of its 
 bareness by a pretty arrangement of flags, and bunting and 
 lace, caught up as before with plaques, were freely used, 
 although not to the same extent as in the public or reception 
 room of the tent. In rear of all was a small tent for toilet 
 purposes. 
 
 Fronting to the north on the square was a tent of form and 
 size like to the President's for the use of Commander Mack. 
 Its interior arrangements were similar, except that the floor 
 
I 
 
 k 
 
 V 
 
MARSHFIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER. 41 
 
 was of nature's own manufacture, and the decorations were 
 far less elaborate. Directly opposite was the tent of the 
 Committee of Arrangements, in which no decoration was 
 visible save that for the inner man. Three quartermaster's 
 tents were placed north of and parallel with the dinner tent, 
 and to the west were the quarters of the commissary and the 
 kitchens, while away off in one corner were the headquarters 
 of Chief Wade of the State Police. The whole field was 
 roped in, for which purpose the ropes and stakes so familiar 
 on occasions around the parade ground of Boston Common 
 were brought into service. Standing in the centre, the out- 
 lines of the Webster mansion could be seen through the trees, 
 and in the far distance occasional glimpses of the deep blue 
 waters of Massachusetts Bay rounded off the scene. 
 
 The Webster estate, as seen in 1852, just before his death, 
 has been so fully described in one of the Boston dailies that 
 we give the description almost entire : 
 
 It was more of a magnificent farm with elegant ap- 
 pendages, than the mere elegant residence of a gentleman ; 
 a place indeed, which, if in England, could hardly be 
 described without using the word baronial. There were 
 in the estate about 2000 acres of undulating and marshy 
 land, suggesting the appropriateness of the name of " Marsh- 
 field," and sloping down to the sea. The farm was com- 
 bined from those of Thomas, a noted royalist in the 
 Revolution, and Winslow, the latter having been famous 
 in the history of the Commonwealth. The estate came into 
 Mr. Webster's possession about the year 1827, during 
 the administration of John Quincy Adams, and here he 
 gratified his taste for, and manifested his knowledge of, 
 the science of agriculture. In that direction Mr. Webster 
 accomplished more good than can be easily estimated. He 
 was amply compensated for his pains and outlay in the satis- 
 
42 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 faction of possessing one of the best farms in New England. 
 It was a good deal to say in those days that the flower-garden 
 covered more than an acre of ground, including the richest 
 and rarest varieties. In arboriculture Mr. Webster was con- 
 spicuous, an imposing array of forest trees of every size and 
 variety adorning the avenues, slopes and otherwise unutilized 
 areas. Mr. Webster was unable to patronize nurseries dur- 
 ing the inception of his enterprise, and, from the seed-plant- 
 ing of his own hand, there had in 1852 risen more than 
 100,000 trees to a respectable growth, and which since that 
 time must have increased in size and multiplied in number, 
 supposing them to have been undisturbed, in a manner to 
 astonish the far-sighted originator, could he now look down 
 upon the unbrageous fields of Marshfield. Of fruit trees there 
 was an abundance, the old orchard containing 300 trees and 
 the new one 1000 in most vigorous and flourishing condition. 
 The estate was admirably laid out, the landscape-gardening 
 being so exquisite that, as the different walks, paths, avenues 
 and drives were traversed, every element in the refined and 
 beautified landscape appeared to be exactly where it should 
 be — in the very fittest place. That which has been claimed 
 as essential to every perfect landscape was not lacking in 
 Marshfield. The trio of lovely lakes has been often expa- 
 tiated upon, and to marked degree enhanced the beauties of 
 the prospects. They were near to the mansion, and fed by 
 the purest of springs. In the largest of these lakes, Mr. 
 Webster, by the device of providing peculiar islands in the 
 centre, was enabled to domesticate a flock of wild geese — a 
 rare accomplishment. It will be seen that the rural scenery 
 of Marshfield, under the master touch of this wonderful 
 man, must have been a congenial retreat for painter and poet. 
 And the effect was augmented by the outlying territory, sup- 
 plementing the immediate prospects, the immense expanse 
 of marsh-land, streams, islands, forest patches, all skirted 
 
MARSHEIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER. 43 
 
 by the beaches stretching far away to right and left, with 
 old Ocean filling out the vistas into a magnificent out- 
 spread of delightful scenery. We now come to the build- 
 ings of the estate, of which there were some 30. The man- 
 sion, out-houses, residence of the superintendent, dairyman's 
 house and fisherman's, the landlord's office, gardener's prem- 
 ises and all those structures which cluster about the large 
 barns and stables — these give the air of large population 
 to the estate, and impress the observer with the presence 
 and power of varied life. The mansion itself was worthy of 
 extended scrutiny. The main portion was built in 1774, and 
 the subsequent additions more than doubled the size and com- 
 pletely modernized the appearance. Its location was on the 
 summit of a beautiful lawn, and it stood, completely girded by 
 a piazza, under the delightful shadow of a great elm. Below 
 stairs there were nine elegantly furnished rooms, all en suite, 
 the chief apartment being the gothic library. Articles of 
 vertu abounded throughout the establishment, and the con- 
 spicuous results of womanly taste were everywhere manifest. 
 There were portraits of Mr. Webster by Stuart and Healey ;. 
 one of Lord Ashburton ; of Judge Story, by Harding ; of 
 other members of the family, together with many other ex- 
 cellent artistic productions, both of painter and sculptor. Mr. 
 Webster's daughter Julia made a deep impression on that 
 home, and to her he was indebted for his finely designed 
 library. His entire collection of books, just before his death, 
 was valued at $40,000. 
 
 Mr. Webster gives a description of Marshfield in a letter 
 to Mrs. Curtis: "And now, from generalities to facts. An 
 old-fashioned two-story house, with a piazza (stoop?) all 
 round it, stands on a gentle rising, facing due south, and 
 distant fifty rods from the road which runs in front. Be- 
 yond the road is a ridge of hilly land, not very high, covered 
 with oak wood, running in the same direction as the road, 
 
44 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 and leaving a little depression or break exactly opposite the 
 house, through which the southern breezes fan us of an after- 
 noon. I feel them now, coming, not over beds of violets, 
 but over Plymouth bay, fresh, if not fragrant. A carriage- 
 way leads from the road to the house, not bold and impu- 
 dent, right up straight to the front door, like the march of a 
 column of soldiers, but winding over the lower parts of the 
 ground, sheltering itself among trees and hedges, and getting 
 possession at last, more by grace than force, as other achieve- 
 ments are best made. Two other houses are in sight, one a 
 farm-house, cottage-built, at the end of the avenue, so covered 
 up in an orchard as to be hardly visible ; the other a little 
 farther off in the same direction, that is, to the left on the 
 road, very neat and pretty, with a beautiful field of grass by 
 its side. Opposite the east window of the east front room 
 stands a noble spreading elm, the admiration of all beholders. 
 Beyond that is the garden, sloping to the east, and running 
 down till the tide washes its lower wall. Back of the house 
 are such vulgar things as barns ; and on the other side, that 
 is, to the north and northwest, is a fresh- water pond of some 
 extent, with green grass growing down to its margin, and a 
 good walk all round it, one side the walk passing through a 
 thick belt of trees, planted by the same hand that now indites 
 this eloquent description. This pond is separated on the 
 east by a causeway from the marshes and the salt water, and 
 over this causeway is the common passage to the northern 
 parts of the farm. I say nothing of orchards and copses 
 and clumps interspersed over the lawn, because such things 
 may be seen in vulgar places. But now comes the climax. 
 From the doors, from the windows, and, still better, from 
 twenty little elevations, all of which are close by, you see 
 the ocean, a mile off, reposing in calm, or terrific in storm, as 
 the case may be. There, you have now Marshfield ; and let 
 us recapitulate : 1. The ocean : as to that, when it is men- 
 
MARSHFIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER. 45 
 
 tioned, enough is said. 2. A dry and pure air: not a bog, 
 nor a ditch, nor an infernal gutter, in five miles ; not a parti- 
 cle of exhalation but from the ocean and a running New 
 England stream. 3. A walk of a mile, always fit for ladies' 
 feet, when not too wet, through the orchard and the belt. 4. 
 Five miles of excellent hard beach-driving on the seashore, 
 commencing a mile and a half from the house. 5. A region 
 of pine forest, three miles back, dark and piney in appear- 
 ance and in smell, as you ever witnessed in the remotest 
 interior." 
 
46 THE WEBSTEK CENTENNIAL. 
 
 V. 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 WHILE the preliminary arrangements were being com- 
 pleted in Marshfield, the officers of the Society and 
 Committee of Arrangements were completing their work. 
 The President, Stephen M. Allen, and his aids, were each at 
 the Brunswick, awaiting the pleasure of their guests. 
 
 The Ancient and Honorable Artillery, who had been un- 
 tiring in their efforts to make the occasion the grandest of 
 their long history, and who had for .the first time in a great 
 many years changed the time of their fall field-day celebra- 
 tions in order to do escort duty to the Webster Historical 
 Society and their guest, the President of the United States, 
 were promptly at their armory at seven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and, notwithstanding a raw, cold east wind was blowing, 
 the old corps turned out over two hundred men, exclusive of 
 band, drum corps and staff. After breakfast was served, 
 the formation was made by Adjutant McDonough, and, 
 headed by the Boston City band, with Simpson's drum corps, 
 the column commenced the march to the Brunswick. 
 
 The following is the roster of the corps : — 
 
 Captain, Capt. John Mack, of Boston ; First Lieutenant, Capt. Samuel 
 Hichborn, of Boston ; Second Lieutenant, Sergt. William P. Jones, of 
 Boston; Adjutant, Maj. John McDonough, of Boston. 
 
 First Sergeant of Infantry. Col. A. N". Proctor, of Boston; Second 
 Sergeant, Sergt. Edward E. Wells, of Boston; Third Sergeant, Edwin 
 Warner, of Boston; Fourth Sergeant, Capt. Samuel H. Babeock, of 
 Boston; Fifth Sergeant, Col. Henry A. Stevens, of East Cambridge; 
 Sixth Sergeant, Lieut. J. Henry Taylor, of Chelsea. 
 
 First Sergeant of Artillery, Dr. E. W. Sweet, of Worcester; Second 
 Sergeant, Sergt. William M. Maynard, of Hyde Park ; Third Sergeant, 
 William Tyner, of Boston; Fourth Sergeant, Samuel Farquhar, of New- 
 ton; Fifth Sergeant. James M. Gleason, of Boston; Sixth Sergeant. 
 Sergt. William X. Mills, of Boston. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 47 
 
 Chief of Staff. Maj. Charles W, Stevens; Surgeon. Dr. Melville E. 
 Webb; Assistant Surgeons, Lieut. John Sullivan and Lieut. Thomas 
 Risteaux; Paymaster, Vincent Lafonne; Assistant Paymaster, Lieut. 
 George II. Allen; Quartermaster, George P. May; Sergeant Major, 
 Lieut. J. P. Frost ; Quartermaster Sergeant. John II. Peak ; Commissary 
 Sergeant, James II. Smith ; Hospital Steward, Alfred S. Dinsmore ; ( Jolor 
 Bearers, Capt. John S. Blair and Sergt. William P. Bacon; Directing 
 Sergeant, William C. Pfaff; Right General Guide, Capt. Edwin R. Frost ; 
 Left General Guide, Lieut. George E. Hall; Chaplains, Rev. E. C. Bolles, 
 Rev. II. Bernard Carpenter, Rev. E. A. Horton. 
 
 Honorary Staff, Past Commanders, Col. Isaac II. Wright. Col. Mar- 
 shall P. Wilder, Capt. James A. Fox, Major Gen. N". P. Banks, Maj. 
 George O. Carpenter, Col. Edward Wyman, Capt. A. A. Folsom. Maj: 
 Dexter II. Follett, Capt. John L. Stevenson, Col. Charles W. Wilder and 
 Capt. W. H. Cundy, Brig. Gen. B. F. Peach, Jr., Col. W. A. Bancroft, 
 Col. B. F. Bridges, Jr., Brig. Gen. I. S. Burrell, Maj. George S. Merrill, 
 Maj. Charles A. Young, Lieut. Col. Edward Hobbs, Capt. E. ,). Trull, 
 Capt. Benjamin F. Field, Jr., Capt. Ralph Carpenter, Col. A. C. Eddy; 
 witli Capt. G. A. Fuller, Capt. Frank S. Belton and Lieut. G. Henry Wit- 
 thaus, Lieut. II. R. McMurray, Lieut. II. H. Brockway and Lieut. Benja- 
 min Gurney, all of the Old Guard of New York. 
 
 After leaving the armory, the route, the column being 
 headed by a fine squad of police from station 2, was through 
 South Market, Commercial, State, Washington, School, Tre- 
 mont streets, to the Park-street gate, thence across the Com- 
 mon to Boylston street, and down that street to the Hotel 
 Brunswick. 
 
 Arriving at the hotel, where Mayor Fox, of Cambridge, 
 assisted by Major Davis, of the Ancients and Honorables, was 
 in charge of the arrangements of the occasion, the organiza- 
 tion deployed m line and saluted President Arthur as he 
 emerged from the hotel, at 9.10 o'clock, accompanied by 
 President Allen, of the Webster Historical Society. The 
 procession then started in the following order : — 
 
 The military Division of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, eighty- 
 four muskets, preceded by the band. 
 
 First carriage, containing President Arthur, Mayor Green, and Stephen 
 M. Allen, President of the Webster Historical Society. 
 
 Second carriage — Secretaries Lincoln and Chandler, Chester A. Arthur, 
 Jr. 
 
48 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Third carriage — Judge Sanger, Judge Nelson and ex-Gov. Banks. 
 
 Fourth carriage — Assistant Postmaster Hatton, of New York, Secre- 
 tary Phillips, Postmaster Tobey and Mr. Cooper. 
 
 Fifth carriage— G. W. Burnham, of New York, Judge Warren and 
 Stillman B. Allen. 
 
 Sixth carriage — Ex-Governor Farnham, of Vermont, Judge Miller, 
 Oliver Ames and Ex-Governor Pace. 
 
 Seventh carriage — Edward F. Thayer, Mr. Tilton and Geo. C. Rich- 
 ardson. 
 
 Eighth carriage — Horace G. Allen, Francis M. Boutwell, Thomas S. 
 Lockwood, Thomas H. Cummings. 
 
 Carriages containing the City Committee of Entertainment, and invited 
 guests of the Society. 
 
 The Civic Division of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, preceded 
 by a drum corps. 
 
 The President's carriage was flanked by ex-Commanders 
 Folsom and Cundy of the Ancients, with six members on 
 either side wearing the uniform of the Worcester Continen- 
 tals. At the rear of the carriages was a detachment of the 
 Ancients. On starting, the President was cheered by the stu- 
 dents of the Institute of Technology, who stood on the steps 
 of that institution. The procession then moved through 
 Bolyston street, Park square, Eliot and Kneeland streets to 
 the South-street side of the Old Colony station, the President 
 being heartily greeted along the way. The train carrying 
 the Ancients, Avhich was announced for 9.15, did not start 
 until 9.50. It comprised nine cars. This was followed pre- 
 cisely at ten o'clock by the President's train. The tram for 
 Marshnekl which started ten minutes after the President's 
 had five cars, as did also the one which left before the escort 
 train. 
 
 Groups of people were gathered at stations to see the train 
 pass, but no stop was made until Hingham Avas reached, 
 where Governor Long joined the party, accompanied by Dr. 
 B. Joy Jeffries and Colonel W. T. Bouv«. A great crowd 
 gathered at this station, and the President bowed his acknowl- 
 edgments from the rear platform of the car. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 49 
 
 The Ancients' train arrived at 11.02 o'clock, and the line 
 was at once formed, to be ready to move on the arrival of 
 the Presidential train a few minutes later. Details from 
 several of the Plymouth County Grand Army Posts had 
 arrived in the mean time, and they took position at the rear 
 of the line. The parade was in charge of the Ancient and 
 Honorable Artillery Company, that organization acting as 
 escort to the Webster Historical Society and its guests. 
 Col. vYyman acted as Marshal. The arrivals by the public 
 trains had been large, and when at 11.06 o'clock the Presi- 
 dent's train drew up at the platform there was a great crowd 
 waiting to receive him. He immediately stepped upon the 
 platform, accompanied by Hon. Stephen M. Allen, President 
 of the Webster Historical Society, Gov. Long, the members 
 of the Cabinet, and other distinguished guests. Carriages 
 were in waiting, and as the party took their places in the 
 line there sounded from a high hill opposite the tented field 
 the roar of cannon, as a detachment of Battery A, of Boston, 
 began firing a Presidential salute of twenty-one guns. The 
 line of march was taken up in the following order : — 
 
 Platoon of mounted police under command of Chief Wade. Band of 
 2G pieces. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (infantry). Col. Wyman, 
 Marshal and Aids. 
 
 Carriages containing President Arthur and other guests, as follows : — 
 
 First — The President, the Governor, Hon. Stephen M. Allen. 
 
 Second — The Mayor of Boston, the Collector of the Port of Boston, 
 Secretary Lincoln, Secretary Chandler. 
 
 Third — Chester A. Arthur, Jr., Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, 
 Hon. E. S. Tobey, Private Secretary Phillips. 
 
 Fourth — C. F. Choate, M. W. Cooper, C. N. Bliss, Hon. Oliver Ames. 
 
 Fifth — Gov. Plaisted, of Maine, Gov. Bell, of New Hampshire, 
 ex-Gov. Farnham, of Vermont. ex-Gov. Pice, of Massachusetts. 
 
 Sixth— Gov. Bigelow, of Connecticut, Gov. Littlefield, of Rhode 
 Island, ex-Gov. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, ex-Gov. Banks, of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 Seventh — President Bartlett, of Dartmouth College, Charles A. White, 
 lion. Thos. Pussell. 
 
50 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Eighth — Mrs. Stephen M. Allen. Mrs. II. G. Allen, Mr. C. A. Grin- 
 nell. 
 
 Ninth — Gordon Webster Burnham, of New York, Judge G. W. 
 Warren. 
 
 Tenth — Senator Hoar. Senator Dawes, Hon. George B. Loring, ex- 
 Gov. Jewell, of Connecticut. 
 
 Coombs* Fifth Regiment Band, of South Abington, 25 pieces. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. 
 
 Plymouth County Division Grand Army of the .Republic, Benj. S. 
 Atwood, Division Commander ; Charles D. Nash, Assistant Adjutant 
 General. Details from the following Posts : — 
 
 Fletcher Webster Post 13, of Brockton, Alfred C. Monroe, Com- 
 mander, 40 men. 
 
 Post 76, of Plymouth, John Shannon, Commander, 50 men. 
 
 Post 8, of Midclleboro', B, W Bump, Commander, 30 men. 
 
 Post 31, of Scituate, A. A. Seaverns, Commander, 40 men. 
 
 Post 74, of Rockland, Isaac Hopkins, Commander. 60 men. 
 
 Post 73, cf Abington, A. H. Wright, Commander, 60 men. 
 
 Post 78, of South Abington, Timothy Reed, Commander, 100 men. 
 
 Post 111, of Pembroke, Henry H. Collamore, Commander, 40 men. 
 
 Post 14, of Hingham, I. Frank Goodwin, Commander, 60 men. 
 
 Post 120, of South Scituate, Alphonso Thomas, Commander, 40 men. 
 
 Post 127, of Hanson, Charles Atwood, Commander, 35 men. 
 
 Post 124, of East Bridgewater, W. H. Osborne, Commander, 50 men. 
 
 Honorary Members of the W r ebster Historical Society, in Barges. 
 
 The W T ebster Historical Society on foot. 
 
 Rear Guard of Police. 
 
 Among those in the ranks of the Webster Historical So- 
 ciety were Judge Nelson, of the United States District Court, 
 District Attorney Sanger, Hon. Robert C. Pitman, of the 
 Superior Bench, Sheriff Clark, of Suffolk, Hon. Leopold 
 Morse, Hon. Eustace C. Fitz, Aldermen Slade and Hall, and 
 President Pratt, of the Boston City Council. In addition to 
 the guests named above as occupying carriages were the fol- 
 lowing persons : Rev. Elisha Mulford, D.D., Col. Joseph A. 
 Harwood, Hon. George W. Johnson, of Milford, Rev. Minot 
 J. Savage, Rev. E. C. Bolles, Hon. Charles E. Gallagher, 
 Hon. James Smith, Rev. J. P. Bodfish, Hon. Joseph M. 
 Wightman, Hon. F. W. Lincoln, T. S. Amory, Esq., George 
 

 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 51 
 
 W. Morse, Esq., of Newton, R. G. F. Candage, Esq., of 
 Brookline, Hon. E. S. Converse, of Maiden, Nathan WaiTen, 
 
 of Waltham, Gen. Horace Binney Sargent, of Salem, Hon. 
 Jeremiah Gatchell, of Blackstone, Hon. James W. Stock- 
 well, of Sutton, George II. Patch, Department Commander 
 of the Grand Army, Hon. Harmon Hall, of Saugus, Harbor 
 and Land Commissioner Nye, George W. Ware, Jr., of I >*I- 
 mont, Hon. Warren E. Locke, of Norwood, II. O. Houghton, 
 of Cambridge, Hon. Selwyn Z. Bowman, S. N. Gilford, Hon. 
 B. W. Harris, Hon. John W. Candler, Hon. Francis B. 
 Hayes, Eben D. Jordan, George B. Hyde, Insurance Com- 
 missioner Julius H. Clarke, C. F. Choate, President Old 
 Colony Railroad, Gov. Head, of New Hampshire, Gen. Jno. 
 Eaton. 
 
 The line proceeded as promptly as possible over the heavy 
 sandy road. The first half of the line went directly to the 
 Webster mansion. The Second Division, beginning with 
 the second corps of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company, turned to the left at the field where the tents were 
 spread, where the President's escort also returned after hav- 
 ing proceeded to the Webster house. 
 
 It was precisely 11.50 o'clock when the head of the pro- 
 cession filed into the grounds of the Webster mansion. As 
 the carriage containing the President of the United States 
 passed up the winding avenue, under the graceful elms and 
 sturdy maples planted by Mr. Webster with his own hand, 
 the sun, which had been previously obscured in heavy clouds, 
 suddenly burst forth, and President Arthur entered the house 
 in the full brightness of the meridian sun. It was a pictur- 
 esque sight — groups of people scattered over the spacious 
 grounds awaiting the approach of the distinguished guests. 
 A photographer was present, and secured a view of the Pres- 
 idential party at the entrance of the Webster mansion. Six 
 members of the G. A. R. of Plymouth County acted as 
 
52 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 guards on the portico of the mansion, whose piazzas were 
 crowded with the neighbors of the hostess. On alighting: from 
 the carriage, President Arthur stepped into the portico, and 
 Mrs. Fletcher Webster and the Selectmen of Marshfield at the 
 same moment appeared in the vestibule, and President Arthur 
 was presented, as were Gov. Long, Chester A. Arthur, Jr., 
 and several others of the distinguished guests. Mrs. Web- 
 ster extended a cordial greeting to the President and guests, 
 and a formal welcome was given by Hon. Stephen M. Allen, 
 President of the Webster Historical Society. He said, — 
 
 " Mr. President : In behalf of Mrs. Fletcher Webster, the 
 surviving possessor of this domain, as well as for the Web- 
 ster Historical Society, I welcome you to the home of Daniel 
 Webster, the defender of the Constitution under which you 
 were made Chief Magistrate of the Republic. The associa- 
 tions and teachings of this spot cannot fail to add new confi- 
 dence to your position and hopes, and impress you with all 
 the strength, dignity and beauty of that high responsibility 
 which Providence so suddenly and unexpectedly thrust upon 
 you. To your coolness and strength of nerve under the na- 
 tion's calamity ; to your intellectual and moral independence, 
 your patriotism and fidelity, all so powerfully felt and quickly 
 known through the whole country and around the world, it was 
 owing that the Republic passed its most dangerous and 
 solemn crisis without serious public difficulty. It is due to 
 your discretion and statesmanship with its moral dignity and 
 independence, that confidence was so soon restored and has 
 since been so fully maintained. In behalf of this Society, on 
 the books of which your name was enrolled as an early mem- 
 ber, I thank you for this attention and presence. May the 
 occasion prove valuable to us all." 
 
 When Mr. Allen had done speaking, the President re- 
 sponded briefly, expressing his pleasure that he was able to 
 visit the home of a man who was so famous in his time, and 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 53 
 
 whose influence since his death has been so powerful and so 
 widespread. The President and Mrs. Webster then passed 
 into the house, where, at the end of the great hall opposite the 
 door, an informal reception took place, the President stand- 
 ing directly in front of the celebrated paintings of Mr. Web- 
 ster and Grace Fletcher, which he turned to and attentively 
 studied. At the President's left stood Mrs. Webster ; next 
 to her Mrs. James Campbell, and then the two Misses 
 Devereaux. The following were the guests of the house 
 present : Hon. James A. Campbell and wife, of Philadelphia, 
 Mr. George Fred Williams, of Boston, Mr. W. K. Armistcad, 
 and the two Misses Devereaux. Conspicuous in the mansion 
 were the elegant articles of art and adornment saved from 
 the conflagration of the Webster mansion ; on the right of 
 the hall, near the entrance, hung the portraits of Edward 
 and Fletcher Webster, sons of Daniel, one of whom died in 
 the Mexican war ; the other being killed at the head of his 
 regiment — the 12th Massachusetts — in the late war. 
 The swords which each carried during those wars hung be- 
 tween the pictures. A large number of the more promi- 
 nent guests of the occasion were present at the house. At 
 12.15 the following list of guests invited to remain to the 
 breakfast was read, the persons being seated on the right 
 and left of the President, who occupied the head of the 
 table, in the following order: Mrs. Webster, Mrs. Stephen 
 M. Allen, Secretary Lincoln, President Allen of the AYeb- 
 ster Historical Society, Mrs. Campbell, Secretary Chandler, 
 Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, C. A. Arthur, Jr., 
 Mayor Green, President Choate of the Old Colony Kail road, 
 Oliver Ames, Gen. N. P. Banks, Judge Hatch, Judge 
 Nelson, Judge Russell, President Bartlett, Gov. Bell, of New 
 Hampshire, ex-Gov. Boutwell, Gov. Plaisted, of Maine, Mr. 
 Baker, Mr. Armistead, Hon. Marshall Jewell, Gov. Long, 
 Gov. Littlefield, of Rhode Island, Gov. Bigelow, of Con- 
 
54 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 necticut, Gov. Farnham, of Vermont, Capt. Sprague, ex-Gov. 
 Rice, Mr. Bliss, Mr. Chas. Austin White, Mr. Kellogg, G. 
 W. Burnham, Mr. Phillips, the President's private secretary, 
 and Roland Worthington. The names of Andrew J. Hall, 
 Lucius Slade, Chas. E. Pratt and Godfrey Morse, of the 
 Boston Committee, and Mr. and Mrs. Geo. W. Wright and 
 Miss Wright, of Duxbury, friends of the President, were 
 called, but they were unable to reach the room because of 
 the crowd. The tables were spread for forty-two guests, 
 ten of whom were members of the household or their 
 guests. This breakfast was given by Messrs. Blake, Hatch 
 and Sprague, Selectmen of Marshfield. At 12.30 the break- 
 fast was put upon the two tables spread in the front and back 
 parlors at the right of the hall. The President then descended 
 from the upper floor, whither he had retired to arrange his 
 toilet, and the party entered the breakfast parlors as their 
 names were called. This entertainment occupied something 
 more than an hour. The procession then re-formed in the 
 same order as the march from the station, Mrs. Fletcher 
 Webster and Mrs. S. M. Allen riding with President Arthur 
 and the Hon. S. M. Allen. 
 
 AT THE TOMB. 
 
 The Webster lot occupies the crest of the little hill which 
 for two centuries has been the burial-place of many of the 
 dead from the neighboring towns. The cemetery is now in 
 charge of the Webster Historical Society, and fresh inter- 
 ments are but rarely made. The lot wherein are buried the 
 remains of nine members of the Webster family is a rather 
 small enclosure, surrounded by a plain iron fence, according 
 to the custom of twenty-five and fifty years ago. The tomb 
 of Daniel Webster occupies a rectangular wing in the rear 
 and facing the entrance which fronts to the east. The exte- 
 rior appearance of the tomb is simply that of a large grass- 
 
THE WEBSTER GENTEXXIAL. 55 
 
 grown mound, upon which is an upright marble slab of the 
 simplest description, with shape and inscription as here indi- 
 cated : 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 Nothing else marks the resting-place of Daniel Webster. 
 In other positions are placed head-stones, suitably inscribed, 
 indicating the graves of other members of the family. For 
 the ceremonies of the day the tomb was made conspicuous by 
 decorations which, while of the simplest nature, were most 
 appropriate. Nothing could be more fit than the arch of 
 autumn leaves over the entrance to the lot, and the like 
 design at the top of the mound, to embellish the resting- 
 place of the dead, while the glory of the coloring, the paint- 
 ing of nature on the limbs and foliage, as if in recognition of 
 the occasion, might be most appropriately understood as a 
 tribute to the fame and greatness of the man whose honored 
 dust lies within. This embellishment of the tomb was in far 
 better taste and keeping with the day and time than would 
 have been the most elaborate and costly display of flowers. 
 A platform, with speakers' desk, and seats for the principal 
 guests, had been erected in front of the lot. It had been 
 heavily draped in evergreen and flowers. On a white back- 
 ground, in letters of green, was the inscription, "I still live." 
 The tomb itself was hidden under a mass of evergreen and 
 dahlias, while festoons of green were hung between the stones 
 marking the graves of the other members of the Webster 
 family. 
 
 Directly in the rear of the platform centre, beneath an arch 
 of evergreens, Avas an oil painting of Daniel Webster. Upon 
 the President alighting at the platform, and after all the 
 ladies and gentlemen comprising the party had taken their 
 seats, the City band played a dirge. Mr. Elmore Allen 
 
56 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Pierce, of Boston, then read an original hymn, which the 
 whole audience afterward sang to the air of "Zion." The 
 following is a copy of the hymn : — 
 
 WEBSTER'S TOMB. 
 
 Darkly sealed the mausoleum, keeping 
 
 Saered dust, so long at rest ; 
 Nations mourn and peoples weeping, 
 Green the turf so fondly blest, 
 Faith enshrining 
 Joins our souls with those arisen, 
 
 Angels twining 
 Wreathe our prayers in one for heaven. 
 
 Not alone the statesman sleepeth, 
 
 Who listening Senates held command : ' 
 
 Stalwart sons the tomb here keepeth, 
 Martyred with the Union band. 
 Sorrows blending 
 Link the States from sea to sea. 
 
 Never ending 
 Triumphing in unity. 
 
 Rock of ages ! cleft, to duty 
 
 Kindly hold these granite walls, 
 Shielding age and youth and beauty, 
 Yield ! when God the Saviour calls. 
 Angels guiding, 
 Mouldering dust return to life. 
 
 Faith abiding, 
 Rise ! beyond a world of strife. 
 
 After the singing, the following prayer was offered by Eev. 
 Ebenezer Alden, D.D., of Marshfield, who officiated at the 
 funeral of Daniel Webster in 1852 : — 
 
 Let us pray : O God, thou art our God, as thou wert 
 our fathers' God, and we will extol thee. As we gather to- 
 day around these graves of this ancient place of burial, Ave 
 pray that thou wilt impress us duly both with mortality and 
 immortality. As Ave come to commemorate the birth and 
 life of him Avho lies here Ave pray thee that all these services 
 in which Ave are engaged may tend to lift our thoughts to 
 thee, and to fit us more faithfully to honor thee here in life 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 57 
 
 and fulfil the station in life in which thou hast placed us. We 
 thank thee for the early influences which surrounded thy dis- 
 tinguished servant whose life and death we to-day commem- 
 orate. We thank thee for all the struggles of his early man- 
 hood, through which thou didst carry him with such success, 
 and we thank thee for all the wisdom and grace that thou 
 didst impart to him in subsequent years. We thank thee for 
 all the influences he exerted for good as he went up to the 
 house of God ; as he evinced his deep reverence for thee ; as 
 he engaged in the various works and responsibilities as Sen- 
 ator and as counsellor for the nation ; as he directed the affairs 
 of our Commonwealth and of our nation ; and now we pray 
 thee that so far as his life was in accordance with thy truth, 
 so far as he is an example of the fear of God, so far as 
 he displayed the great truths which have been the salva- 
 tion of our nation, although by thy holy providences thou 
 hast called us to pass through this sacrifice of blood and 
 of treasure, we pray thee as we review his life and the seal 
 Avhich thou hast set to the great principles which he has ex- 
 pounded, that thou wouldst to-day, as our minds go back to 
 him, help us to learn such lessons as shall be for our own 
 good and that of our entire people We come to commit to 
 thee all who are here. We pray now especially for our 
 President, that thou wouldst guard his life, and that thou 
 wilt impart to him all that wisdom and that grace in the per- 
 formance of duties which he needs so much. And we be- 
 seech thee that thou Avouldst be with his counsellors and with 
 all the Senators and members in Congress, teaching them 
 wisdom and righteousness. We pray thee for the Governor 
 of this Commonwealth, and for all in authority, and for our 
 entire people throughout the whole country — East, West, 
 North and South. We pray that this commemorative occa- 
 sion may tend to cement the affections of this people, may 
 draw us forth in gratitude to thee for the great men thou 
 
58 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 hast given us, and fit us for all the scenes before us. Be with 
 us in all time to come ; may the nation be preserved not as 
 a beacon, but as a bright and shining example to the nations 
 of the earth, of virtue, of temperance, of righteousness and 
 of the fear of God. And now we pray that thou wouidst be 
 with us not only at this hour, but throughout the services of 
 the day ; and we pray not alone that all our country ma}^ be 
 blessed, but that thy kingdom may come throughout all the 
 world, and that that time may be imminent when thou mayst 
 be acknowledged King of kings and Lord of lords, on whom 
 are many crowns. Forgive us our sins ; sanctify our affec- 
 tions ; guide us individually through the pilgrimage of life ; 
 and when we finish our course, receive us to thee and to 
 immortality. And this we ask through our Saviour, of the 
 one living and true God, to whom with thee and the Holy 
 Spirit Ave ascribe the praise of our salvation. Amen. 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. STEPHEN M. ALLEN. 
 
 Distinguished Friends and Fellow Citizens : 
 
 The sepulchre before us has been thrice consecrated, and 
 is a sacred one. More than two and a half centuries ago the 
 spot on which it stands Avas first dedicated to civil and re- 
 ligious liberty, the parent of all true political union. Here, 
 some of the most distinguished of the Pilgrim Fathers 
 early settled, and here, at last, "they rested," surrounded by 
 these beautiful headlands and harbors, by these green hills 
 and fertile plains. Here Avere laid, a century and a half 
 later, some of the fathers of the ReA T olution, sons and grand- 
 sons of the Pilgrims, Avorthy successors of their fame and 
 glory. BorroAving republican ideas from Aristides and 
 Cato through the historic pages of Greece and Rome, these 
 sturdy patriots traced them through Hampden and Cromwell, 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 59 
 
 and saw them rise and fall under the bloody conflicts of the 
 Commonwealth. Later on, in their own hands, these prin- 
 ciples gleamed with living light at Lexington and Bunker 
 Hill, and boldly rose to a zenith of brilliancy at Monmouth 
 and at Yorktown. Here, on this spot, after three quarters of a 
 century, the green turf was again broken, this time for the de- 
 fender of that Union which their blood had so firmly cemented 
 — Daniel Webster; and here, father and mother, sons and 
 daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, alike, now lie side 
 by side in one common family tomb. Among the family thus 
 grouped together here in death, there are names of historic 
 interest, — names that glorified and adorned nearly every 
 walk of life, from the towering statesman clothed in gar- 
 ments of high civic life, and the patriotic soldier bathed in 
 flowing blood, to the humbler, but no less beautiful, types 
 of domestic virtue, and noble representatives of filial and 
 maternal love. Scarce a year has elapsed since this family 
 circle was made well-nigh complete by the death of one 
 who, though mature of mind and in middle life, was still 
 possessed of all the charms of youth and of beauty. Around 
 this enclosure we see studded here, in strong contrast with 
 the green mound at its head, dots of white marble, small 
 shafts with individual names in small letters, indicative alike 
 of* the modesty and high worth of the dust that lies beneath. 
 On searching further, we find a plain slab in no way distin- 
 guished from the rest but by the simple name of "Daniel 
 Webster." Not a single syllable, not a character, more. 
 There is no epitaph to sound his praises, no word to celebrate 
 his mighty deeds and triumphs. Even for the dates of his 
 birth and death — dates so deeply engraven on every true 
 American heart — there is no indication here, and we have to 
 look for them, with his sublime declaration of faith, elsewhere. 
 All is silent, and it is meet that it should be so. For silence 
 is golden ; silence quickens thought, and the simple name of 
 
GO THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Webster — synonymous with patriotism, the Constitution and 
 the constitutional history of the country — suffices to tell the 
 story of his great life. To every patriotic American it 
 speaks louder than tongues of brass, and reveals more of his 
 true grandeur and glory than volumes could unfold. It tells 
 of a life spent in teaching a great nation to be just ; of life- 
 long undivided efforts to reconcile and unite in brotherly 
 love a distracted and divided people ; of unfaltering devotion 
 to the cause of the Union ; of a profound study and masterly 
 exposition of the principles underlying the American Con- 
 stitution, whose history is his history, and whose growth 
 was symmetrical with his ; and finally, of a generous self- 
 sacrifice to his country's welfare, and a never-failing readi- 
 ness to espouse the cause of truth and justice wherever and 
 with whomsoever found. 
 
 It is, indeed, a fit spot this — looking out upon the broad 
 blue ocean so beautifully described in one of his last letters 
 while Secretary of State, to the President of the United 
 States — for the final resting-place of him whose natal cen- 
 tennial we celebrate to-day. 
 
 Fitting too to be thus embraced within the circling dust 
 of Pilgrims and .Revolutionary patriots, inheritors of the 
 same principles of civil and religious liberty, and fathers 
 of the same Republic to which his own life had been so long 
 and so fully devoted. With such associations, with such 
 tender memories clinging around this spot, can I not with 
 propriety exclaim, "Tread softly — the ground whereon you 
 stand is holy. All hail, thrice-consecrated spot ! " 
 
 These vivid memories, this grave, and a handful of earth, 
 are all indeed that here remain to remind us of Webster. But 
 of his immortality — and it is with that we are concerned 
 more especially — how shall I speak ? Where shall I find lan- 
 guage to express it and do him justice ? His fame, his charac- 
 ter, the memory of his great deeds and actions already embla- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 61 
 
 zoned upon the pages of history in characters of living light, 
 will endure forever. Generations of Americans yet unborn, 
 in studying the needs of their country, will think and speak 
 of him with gratitude and admiration. And in every land 
 the name of Webster will go down to posterity as the defender 
 of humanity's cause, and the invincible champion of consti- 
 tutional liberty. 
 
 Deeply impressed, then, with the greatness of my subject, 
 and only too conscious of my own inability to render unto 
 Webster the things that are Webster's, the honor and the 
 glory that are justly due him, I stand here to-day as one 
 among a thousand others, a simple friend of the departed 
 statesman. But, mark you well, I am not here to champion 
 the cause of Webster. He needs no champion. Choate and 
 Parker, Curtis and Everett, and others, have done this 
 before me right eloquently and well. But to-day I come 
 and invite you to review once more, and reflect with me on 
 the facts of his well-spent life. To examine how much, if 
 any, of truth there be in the criticisms so freely bestowed 
 upon his course. To see how he stood in comparison with 
 the other great men and minds of his time. And finally, 
 to recognize his transcendent greatness as a jurist, an ora- 
 tor, and a statesman. This will be the order of my dis- 
 course. 
 
 In the order of time and in the great tide of human 
 events, great emergencies call for correspondingly great 
 men ; and whether men present themselves in the line of 
 promotion, or go with a single bound from obscurity to 
 distinction, their titles to fame are equally valid. It was 
 an emergency in religious thought that made of Luther a 
 bold reformer, and of Loyola a strong enthusiast. It was 
 an emergency in political events that brought Napoleon and 
 Cromwell to the front, and gave the name of Great to Wash- 
 ington. And so, in like manner, it was an emergency in 
 
62 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 the history of our American Constitution that made of Daniel 
 Webster almost its sole exponent and interpreter, lifting him 
 up from nothing to greatness, from obscurity to a high posi- 
 tion, and clothing him with undying fame and glory. 
 
 Son of Ebenezer and Abigail Eastman Webster, he was 
 born at Salisbury, N.H., January 18, 1782, at the dawn of 
 the final recognition of American Independence, and at the 
 very time when William Pitt, the idol of British royalty, was 
 coining into almost regal power. It was in a small frame 
 cottage erected on what was once the most northerly settled 
 farm in New England ; it was in midwinter, with snow- 
 bound roads, among the denudated hills where the hibernat- 
 ing brown bear still slept, dreaming of coming spring ; it was 
 in a pathless wilderness covering cratered caverns from 
 which nightly issued the gray wolf to stalk the deer in his 
 well-trodden browsing glen, — that the future statesman and 
 orator first saw the light of day. Here, with the Bible as 
 his first text-book, so early learned that his memory could 
 never trace back his first attempt at reading it, and with the 
 Constitution of his country printed upon his pinafore, his 
 education was first begun. 
 
 Even now, methinks, I see the young lad listening nightly, 
 by the pale light of the tallow dip, or the flickering of the 
 pitchwood-split, to the fireside tales of the family, or itiner- 
 ant clergy going their stated rounds. And, however fan- 
 ciful my picture, certain it is that here he first learned by 
 heart the story of the Pilgrims, and the leading events of the 
 Revolution which separated the colonies from the mother 
 country. Here the conflicting opinions of English states- 
 men, which then, as now, were a puzzle to consistency, 
 were thoroughly discussed. And here it was that his breast 
 first glowed with the fire of patriotism, and his slumbering 
 intellect first awakened to real life and action, — that mighty 
 intellect which in after years was to shape the destinies of 
 
XIAL. 
 
 THE WEBSTER CEXTEXNI 
 
 a great nation, and furnish solution to problems that baffled 
 for two-score years nearly thirty millions of people. That 
 fervid, generous, far-reaching patriotism that never knew 
 State lines or sections, but only a whole and undivided 
 country. 
 
 Private lessons at home, with incidental labors upon the 
 farm, furnished the groundwork of his primary studies, and 
 enabled him to enter the academy at Exeter. Here, with 
 additional teaching by the Rev. Mr. Wood, of Boscawen, he 
 fitted for college, entering Dartmouth at fifteen, the same 
 age at which Burke, with whom he is so often compared, 
 was matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin. 
 
 Mr. Webster has related the story himself when his father 
 told him for the first time that he would send him to col- 
 lege. "I remember," says he, "the very hill we were ascend- 
 ing through the deep snow, in a New England puug, when 
 my father first made known his purpose to me. I could not 
 speak. How could he, I thought, with so large a family, 
 and in such narrow circumstances, think of incurring so 
 great an expense for me? A warm glow ran all over me, 
 and I laid my head upon my father's shoulder and wept. 
 The next moment I felt as proud as a Roman consul to whom 
 a triumph had been decreed." Such was the beginning of 
 .his college career ; a beginning, auspicious indeed, to say 
 the least, and the sensitive boy already seemed to foreshadow 
 the great and mighty statesman. 
 
 At the period of entering college it is safe to affirm he was 
 acquainted in theory with the politics of the ojd and the new 
 world. This appears in all his early correspondence, and the 
 time had evidently come when he could read and reason from 
 the events of his own day as well as those of the past. 
 The French Revolution, unlike that in America which had 
 been so successful, was on the wane. Republican ideas 
 across the ocean were then nearly strangled, this time by 
 
64 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 the force of concentrated intellect alone. With young Pitt 
 the premier of England, republican sympathy died early. 
 With Chatham, his noble father, it had a longer and more 
 natural growth. And so, while attending diligently to his 
 other studies, Webster found time to trace the current of 
 these events in the political world. At that time the young 
 Corsican had just conquered Italy. A year or two later, 
 while Webster was delivering his Fourth of July oration 
 to his fellow-students at Dartmouth, Napoleon was fighting 
 successfully his battles of the Pyramids and the Nile. The 
 imagery of these strange and startling facts was not lost 
 on him, but found a safe resting-place in his mind for future 
 use. 
 
 His course at Dartmouth was in every way clear and 
 creditable ; he secured the respect and love of all, and 
 maintained it to the close. Graduating with honor in 1801, 
 the physical, moral and intellectual status of the man, 
 thereafter, through much toil and labor, developed with that 
 of his country, — grew with its growth, and strengthened 
 with its strength. Even at this early day Webster seemed 
 a part of the age in which he lived. His mind, like the 
 rocky hills among which he was born, was metamorphic, 
 yet strongly primitive, — fused by the broadest and most 
 natural principles, yet recombined and cemented in great 
 strength and harmony. Witness his orations at eighteen and 
 twenty, — patterns of growing eloquence and of remarkable 
 strength and skill. The former, delivered at Dartmouth, 
 drew tears from the veterans, as well as many another's eyes. 
 The latter, delivered at Fryeburg, Me., embraced all the 
 principles for governing a republic ; and even at the present 
 day, for patriotic fervor, moral sublimity, national unity of 
 thought, and grandeur of republican ideas, it is well-nigh un- 
 surpassed. 
 
 After teaching two quarters at the academy of Fryeburg, 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 65 
 
 and finishing his course of law, he was admitted to the bar 
 in 1805. He practised two years at Boscawen, declining the 
 remunerative office of clerk to a county court, and subse- 
 quently removed to Portsmouth, where he worked success- 
 fully, though pitted against some of the best legal talent 
 and experience in the county. 
 
 In looking back now, it is easy to see that this period of 
 competition, extending over nearly ten years, produced a 
 marked degree of influence on the development of his future 
 ability and character as a jurist; too marked an influence, 
 in fact, to be passed over here in silence. The names of 
 .Mason, Smith, Story and Parsons abundantly attest this, 
 and are sufficient of themselves to honor any rival who 
 measured lances with them. Mr. Webster himself bore 
 testimony to this influence when presenting the resolutions 
 of the Suffolk bar upon Mr. Mason's death. He said, "I will 
 not say of the advantages which I have deriyed from his 
 intercourse and conversation, all that Mr. Fox said of Ed- 
 mund Burke ; but I am bound to say that, of my own pro- 
 fessional discipline and attainments, whatever they may be, 
 I owe much to that close attention to the discharge of my 
 duties which I was compelled to pay, for nine successive 
 years from day to day, by Mr. Mason's efforts and argu- 
 ments at the same bar. I must have been unintelligent indeed 
 not to have learned something from the constant displays 
 of that power which I had so much occasion to see and 
 feel." Of Judge Story's influence, Kufus Choate says, 
 "Such was his affluence of knowledge, such his stimulant 
 enthusiasm, he was burning with so incredible a passion for 
 learning and fame, that his influence over young Webster 
 was instant, and it was great and permanent." It was in 
 this arena, wrestling day by day with these gladiators of 
 forensic dispute, that Webster grew and was strengthened 
 and became mighty and all-powerful at the American bar. 
 
66 THE WEBSTEB CENTENNIAL. 
 
 During this decade of his life, occurred two events which 
 in a measure helped to shape and fashion his future career. 
 The first was his marriage to Grace Fletcher, daughter of 
 Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Hopkinton. It was a case of love at' 
 first sight. He first saw her when on horseback, riding up 
 to the church door. 
 
 Their courtship, a friend assured me, was a most unique 
 and happy one. When one day engaged with her in trying 
 to unravel a tangled skein of silk, he suddenly said, " Grace, 
 can vou tie a love-knot that will not untie during this life?" 
 "I know not," she replied, "but I am willing to try, Daniel." 
 That love-knot is still in existence, and I treasure it among 
 the choicest of my souvenirs of Webster. They were mar- 
 ried in 1808, and their domestic life was ever after the most 
 happy until her death in 1828.* The second event I refer to 
 was his election to Congress from the State of Xew Hampshire 
 in 1813. Remember, this was when the second war with' Eng- 
 land had already begun — when Burke, Pitt and Fox, the 
 great statesmen of the old world, were dead, and Washing- 
 ton, Franklin and Hamilton of the new world had gone to 
 their rest. It was when the influence of these political 
 giants was somewhat subsiding, that Webster, the child 
 of the wilderness, like a moral Achilles, first stepped into 
 the nation's forum where his crowning triumphs were to be 
 won. Napoleon, too, had superseded the Republic of 
 France. He had passed from General to Consul, and from 
 Consul to Emperor, when Webster, taking his seat in 
 the house of Congress, May, 1813, on the 10th of June 
 following made his maiden speech concerning the famous 
 Berlin and Milan decrees. He was placed upon the Com- 
 mittee of Foreign Affairs, and his services there, his mastery 
 of the questions of currency and finance, as well as his 
 
 *In 1829, Mr. Webster married Miss Caroline Leroy, who survived him 
 thirty years. See note at end of address. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 67 
 
 subsequent speeches on the increase of the navy and the 
 repeal of the embargo and orders in council, gave him a 
 wide influence, and raised him to the first rank of debaters. 
 Even at this epoch, Mr. Lowndes said of him, " The North has 
 not his equal, nor the South his superior." Remark that all 
 this was done at the age of thirty-one, a period of years 
 when Burke was still a neophyte in politics, and had made 
 an unsuccessful attempt at the bar. I would also call your 
 attention to the fact that the House at this time contained 
 many talented men. There were Clay and Calhoun, Lowndes, 
 Pickering, Gaston and Forsyth in the first rank ; Marion, 
 Berien, J. W. Taylor, Oakley, Gunnison, W. R. King, 
 Grundy, Kent of Maryland, Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, 
 Pitkin of Connecticut, and Randolph of Virginia, and many 
 others of scarcely less note in the second. But among them 
 all he v ras facile princeps ; and, to my mind, there were only 
 two, Clay and Calhoun, who, in their respective specialties, 
 approached or could in any way bear comparison with 
 Webster. 
 
 Clay was live years older than Webster, and had but 
 little of his training and classical knowledge. Yet he knew 
 more of the outside world, had had a larger experience in 
 State legislation, and was twice elected to the United States 
 Senate before meeting Webster in the halls of Congress. 
 
 The personal associations of Clay in early life, owing to 
 the newly settled district in the West in which he lived, were 
 not, like those of Webster's, surrounded or strongly con- 
 trolled by religious convictions and a high political moral 
 force, and he was not personally so generous. And I say this, 
 not to rate Henry Clay's advance upon his opportunities the 
 less, but to honor and appreciate those of Webster the more. 
 All the world knows that Webster, out of courtesy, often 
 deferred to Clay in polities, and gave him precedence with 
 the people as a candidate for the Presidency, even when his 
 
6S THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 own chances for the office were most likely to succeed. 
 Had Clay shown an equal magnanimity of soul towards 
 Webster's elevation, I doubt not that both of these great 
 men would have become Presidents in time, and then the 
 destiny of the world might have felt the result. Perhaps I 
 may be pardoned for alluding here in this connection to 
 a calumny which has of late obtained somewhat widely 
 among us. They say that Webster, being smitten with the 
 Presidential fever, stooped to barter for votes, and, failing 
 to realize his hopes, died of a broken heart. But let the 
 dead man have a hearing. I knew Webster from my boy- 
 hood up ; and I, with thousands of others now living, can 
 say that his whole life and habit was a contradiction to this, 
 and therefore would of itself pronounce this calumny false — 
 utterly and profoundly false. That Daniel W^ebster wanted 
 to be President of the United States, I concede. But that 
 was a laudable ambition. That Webster so coveted the office 
 of President that he could and did sacrifice his honor in pursuit 
 of it, I most emphatically deny ; and his own oft-repeated 
 words bear me out in the contradiction. AVebster's nature and 
 mind were too great for that, his morality too strong, and his 
 sense of honor and self-respect too high and unswerving ; such 
 a debasement was morally impossible. Webster may indeed 
 have died a disappointed man. But, mark you well, it was 
 a disappointment born of the falsity of friends, — a disap- 
 pointment born of the treachery of party leaders, — a dis- 
 appointment that drove him to look to young men and the 
 people at large for sympathy, because they alone, un warped 
 by the prejudices of party, could judge him with fairness 
 and impartiality. This was his only disappointment. He 
 believed to his dying day that if the people had had their own 
 way, unbiased by selfish and jealous party leaders, he would 
 have been elected President of the United States ; and that 
 impression remains in the minds of his old friends to-day. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 69 
 
 Webster had his faults, indeed, but an immodest or indeli- 
 cate aspiration to the Presidency assuredly was not one of 
 them. Mr. Clay's ambition to become President was much 
 stronger than Webster's, and he was determined to suc- 
 ceed or prevent Mr. Webster from ever receiving the nomi- 
 nation of his party. With Clay, the law of expediency was 
 seemingly the more natural one ; and with great fertility of 
 mind, and often to successful purpose, though he instituted 
 compromises, it must be said they often lacked the founda- 
 tion of great natural principle. Webster, on the other hand, 
 was slow to yield a principle ; he stood out strong for the 
 right, and he resented an infringement of the Constitution 
 and laws as he would a personal injury. Clay was eloquent 
 indeed, but without that intellectually sublime foundation of 
 an orator in his nature possessed by Webster. He did not 
 reason as well as Webster, and his influence, in consequence, 
 was more electric than logical upon the people. 
 
 The only man who could compare with Webster in logical 
 acumen, and this only from his own standpoint, was John C. 
 Calhoun, whose character and ability, to my knowledge, he 
 always very highly respected. 
 
 If I may be allowed an illustration from physics, I would 
 say that while Clay's brain battery, orally illustrated, was 
 purely electric with metaphysical force, Calhoun's was mag- 
 netic, and was nearly always directed to one central point. 
 Webster's was largely a combination of both, with a great 
 natural and broad flow of illustration, eloquent as well as 
 logical, and as convincing in manner. Clay lighted up, 
 lifted and stirred whatever he touched and handled, making 
 a strong impression at the time, but leaving less for future 
 thought. Calhoun's was a sharp, keen, penetrating intel- 
 lect, yet shorn of the strength it might otherwise have pos- 
 sessed, because of the narrow scope of its very intensity, 
 an intensity which exposed him to the blighting effects of 
 
70 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 • sectional prejudice or narrow-mindedness. Nullification, 
 slavery and South Carolina were Calhoun's idols ; beyond 
 them the world seemed to him secondary. Webster, on the 
 contrary, while possessed of an equal amount of penetration 
 and sagacity, was broader in his sympathies and larger in his 
 views, and these he always expressed with vigor and strength. 
 Webster indeed loved Massachusetts, but he loved South 
 Carolina and the other States too with an almost equal love, 
 as his letters and speeches and all his public acts show. 
 Furthermore, Calhoun was no lawyer, nor did he ever pre- 
 tend to be. In this respect Webster outstripped both him 
 and Clay, and was, to the mind of most of his legal friends, 
 the greatest lawgiver the country has ever produced. As 
 an orator, Calhoun was pungent and grasping, and this pecu- 
 liarity of force some call great, but Webster was even greater 
 in all these phases of oratory. The Plymouth Rock speech, 
 his Bunker Hill discourse, and his crushing reply to Hayne, 
 have no equal in the field of American oratory. But it was 
 in his sterling integrity, in his courteousness, in the sin- 
 cerity of his belief in the righteousness of his cause, — a 
 sincerity that lifted him above all suspicion of personal 
 treachery to the Union, — it was in these, I say, that John 
 C. Calhoun resembled Webster ; and, recognizing this fact, 
 Webster always respected him, as I have said, more than 
 any of his peers. 
 
 Having thus shown how Webster stood in comparison with 
 his giant associates, reaching out to a future full of promise 
 and hope, let us resume now the thread of his life and subse- 
 quent career before the world. 
 
 Webster had now reached the age of forty years ; and, 
 though he had given promise of, he had not yet fully realized, 
 his character of greatness. From this epoch, however, I can 
 truly say that his career as a jurist was positively assured. 
 Side by side with his professional character grewhis reputation 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL 71 
 
 as an orator and his reputation as a statesman, until they too 
 became firmly fixed and established. Onward and upward 
 he went in his triple career of glory to the highest niche in 
 the gallery of his country's fame. Bear with me, then, if, 
 glancing rapidly over this period of his life, I touch lightly 
 on its leading events and his greatest efforts. And first, let 
 me speak of the growth of his professional reputation, or the 
 formation of his character and power as a lawyer. Time, 
 indeed, will not allow me here to dwell at length upon this 
 side of his career. But some salient facts there are which 
 demand recognition and cannot be passed over in silence. 
 Recall, for instance, the case of Gibbons and Ogden in 1824, 
 which settled an important principle in navigation, and for 
 which Chief Justice Wayne, a quarter of a century later, 
 paid Webster the glowing tribute of having fixed the constitu- 
 tionality of the whole subject Recall the case of Ogden and 
 Saunders in 1827, the case of the Proprietors of the Charles 
 River Bridge in 1836, the Alabama Bank in 1889, the Rhode 
 Island Constitution in 1840, and the Girard Will case in 
 1844. All this recalls to mind Mr. Webster's practice in the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, and his unsurpassed 
 sagacity in developing constitutional law. These efforts 
 raised him to a leadership at the American bar ; " enabled 
 him," says Mr. Everett, "to establish a new school of consti- 
 tutional law, and led him to distinguish himself before all his 
 contemporaries in this branch of his profession." But his 
 greatest triumph (and I must not forget it) was in the fam- 
 ous Dartmouth College case, at Washington. Who has not 
 heard of this brilliant trial in which he appeared as junior 
 counsel and comparatively unknown, to win in one plea - 
 a national reputation? "In it," says Mr. Ticknor, "the 
 logic and law were rendered irresistible. He opened his 
 case, as he always does, with perfect simplicity in the gen- 
 eral statement of facts : and then went on to unfold the 
 
72 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 topics of his argument in a lucid order whicn made each 
 position sustain every other. But as he advanced, his heart 
 warmed to the subject and occasion. Thoughts and feelings 
 that had grown old with his best affections rose unbidden to 
 his lips. He remembered that the institution he was defend- 
 ing was the one where his youth had been nurtured ; and the 
 moral tenderness and beauty this gave to the grandeur of his 
 thoughts, the sort of religious sensibility it imparted to his 
 urgent appeals and demands for the stern fulfilment of what 
 law and justice required, wrought up the whole audience to 
 an extraordinary state of excitement. Many betrayed strong 
 agitation, and many were dissolved in tears. When he ceased 
 to speak there was a perceptible interval before any one was 
 willing to break the silence ; and, when that vast crowd sep- 
 arated, no one person of the whole number doubted that the 
 man who had that day so moved, astonished and controlled 
 them had vindicated for himself a place at the side of the first 
 jurist of the country." Such is the tribute paid him by one 
 fully competent to measure the value of such a speech. And 
 to her credit be it said, Dartmouth has never been wanting 
 either in gratitude or affection for her eloquent defender. 
 Her sons have always delighted to honor the memory of 
 Webster. And from Maine to Texas they have sounded the 
 key-note to this Centennial anniversary, and risen as one man 
 to vindicate his honor and do homage to his greatness. For 
 my own part, confessedly partial, I doubt whether any after 
 effort of his life has ever created for him so much genuine 
 admiration, affection and real gratitude as this. I must con- 
 fess, however, that in reading this speech I find it difficult 
 to distinguish between the greatness of the advocate and the 
 greatness of the orator. 
 
 But, leaving him as a lawyer to the admiration of lawyers 
 and law students, I turn me now to Webster as an orator 
 and in his rounded and full development as a statesman. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 73 
 
 December 22, 1820, was the two-hundredth anniversary 
 of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth rock. On this 
 shore, but a few miles from this very spot, from whose hilltops 
 the monuments to the Pilgrim Fathers may be seen, and a 
 little more than half a century ago, Daniel Webster at the early 
 age of thirty-eight delivered an oration — and let me say it, 
 an immortal oration — that has not only vindicated his title 
 to greatness in oratory, but has likewise been so crystallized 
 into the national life of this country that its passages 
 have become as household words throughout the length and 
 breadth of the land. So true it is that the work of 
 genius, in whatever way or at whatever time it takes ex- 
 pression finds a responsive echo deep down in the hearts 
 of the people of all times, in the hearts of old and young 
 alike. What school-boy has not heard of the famous Ply- 
 mouth Rock speech? — that speech of which John Adams 
 said, "It 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 Eng- 
 land than any production I ever read. The observation on 
 the Greeks and Romans ; on colonization in general ; on the 
 West ' India islands ; on the past, present and future in 
 America, and on the slave trade, are sagacious, profound and 
 'affecting in a hii>*h decree. Mr. Burke is no longer entitled 
 to the praise, the most consummate orator of modern times. 
 This oration will be read five hundred years hence with as 
 much rapture as it was heard. It ought to be read at the 
 end of every century, and, indeed, at the end of every year, 
 for ever and ever." And might he not have added, had he 
 lived to our day, there is no further need for an expression 
 of Webster's opinion on the evils of slavery than those 
 uttered at Plymouth rock ? His condemnation of the hor- 
 
74 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 rors and influences of slavery, uttered in fiery lines, was like 
 the scorching blast from a smelting furnace. 
 
 Slavery ! Now I touch upon a vital question. Webster's 
 opinions upon slavery! What were they? his critics, his 
 earnest, severe critics, sarcastically ask. And immediately 
 they lash themselves with rage into a blind fury, and call the 
 dead statesman a traitor. Traitor? He whose whole life 
 was one continual combat with slavery, a traitor? wlio, in 
 sentiment and principle, was as much an anti-slavery man or 
 constitutional abolitionist as Giddings, Garrison or Sumner. 
 Let the truth be told ! The great question with Webster 
 was the means of action. Who can deny to-day that the 
 extremists of the South were as logical in their claims for the 
 maintenance of slavery as were the abolitionists of the North 
 for its unconditional overthrow? Webster stood alone, but 
 Webster was consistent. He claimed to maintain the Con- 
 stitution and the laws of the land in good faith, and he acted 
 up to his belief. He had done all he could — had succeeded 
 in helping to abolish the slave trade, opposed the extension 
 of slavery, and finally, had offered to buy and free the slaves 
 at the expense of the common country. He did not know 
 how to violate the Constitution with impunity himself, and 
 his whole life was ensrao-ed in preventing others from* doins: 
 so. He knew that, both under the original Constitution and 
 the laws, slavery existed ; that there was a fugitive-slave* 
 law as old as both of the Constitutions, under which the slave- 
 holder of the South had the right, by solemn compact, to 
 reclaim a fugitive slave ; and he well knew that this system 
 never could be broken except by force of arms. Webster 
 was not ready for this, because he was always by nature 
 more of a constitutionalist than a revolutionist, and his love 
 of law and order, both human and divine, seemed to be a 
 pre-natal impress upon his soul. He knew, and was free to 
 admit, that the slaveocracy had the legal right to the pound 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL 75 
 
 of flesh, because it was in the bond. Mark it well — the right 
 was in the bond ! But the earnest labor of his life was to 
 see that they did not draw a drop of blood in payment of 
 that bond. For this he was reviled and maltreated both in 
 the North and South. He dreaded (and the result has 
 proved the divinity of his prescience) that disunion would 
 be forcibly attempted by the South, and that the country, 
 plunged in all the horrors of the civil war, would be deluged 
 with the blood of its citizens. Who can now say that he 
 was not right? Who, standing here to-day and counting 
 the fearful cost of life and treasure, would assume the respon- 
 sibility of taking from God's hands the power of dealing out 
 retribution ? And yet this was done by many calling them- 
 selves Christians in both North and South. Was not this 
 spirit calling for the enactment of the laws of God more of the 
 Old than the New Testament ? Did it not call bitterly for 
 " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth " ? Was not the 
 passion attending it more the venom of the viper than the 
 charity of the gleaner upon the Mount of Olives ? Was it 
 not the religion that burned martyrs at the stake rather than 
 that which sat at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth ? 
 
 This, distinguished friends, is the true statement of Web- 
 ster's position on the burning question of slavery. In all 
 justice to him, and in the light of what has since occurred, 
 it must be said of him that the slave never had a truer 
 friend, nor the country a more staunch and devoted adher- 
 ent. Even his speech on the 7th of March, 1850 (and I may 
 with propriety refer to that here) — that speech for which he 
 was so cruelly and so unjustly criticised — even that speech, 
 I say, was nothing more than a reproduction in detail of the 
 acts and opinions of his life. For forty years he had fought 
 nobly for the Union, and when the whole fabric seemed 
 threatened with destruction, he gathered his mantle about 
 him, and, forgetting his own interest, set forth boldly for the 
 
76 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 contest. Conscious of his own sincerity of service to the 
 country, and of his unbiased and unselfish demands upon her 
 forbearance in hearing and helping him maintain the truth, 
 he opened his whole heart and soul. He spoke as a defender 
 of the Constitution and the Union. He flattered neither side 
 upon the question at issue, but, being just to both, he laid 
 bare the truth to all. Strong and temperate was his argu- 
 ment in favor of compromise, but the minds of men were in 
 no mood for such counsel. Unmindful of the past, and with 
 an ingratitude as base as it was undeserved, they dared to 
 call his patriotism in question and treat him with public 
 scorn. Did the giant quail before their pigmy wrath ? He 
 stood alone, indeed, to breast the storm of abuse they hurled 
 upon him, but he stood calm, fearless and undaunted. 
 
 "As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form. 
 Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 
 Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head."' 
 
 He was determined to vindicate himself before the people 
 of Massachusetts, and he did it. He came down to Faneuil 
 Hall to meet his constituents face to face. He stood in the 
 public squares of Boston and said, "that he had hoped for 
 their approval, but however that might be, he would perse- 
 vere regardless of all personal consequences. He would say 
 nothing to foster unkind passions between North and South. 
 The simple question was whether Massachusetts, renowned 
 for her intelligent character, conspicuous before the world, 
 a leading State in the Union, would conquer her local preju- 
 dices, would shrink from the fair, reasonable and moderate 
 performance (and no more is asked) of her sworn obliga- 
 tions? Meanwhile," he bravely added, "I shall take no step 
 backward, but shall continue to labor for peace, harmony 
 and concord." 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 77 
 
 He wrote the cabinet's circular, which we shall hear read 
 to-day, setting forth in clear and forcible language the prin- 
 ciples of his defence, without alluding directly to the speech 
 itself. And in a letter to his constituents dated March 
 21, 1851, he penned these noble words: "Since the com- 
 mencement of last March I have done something and haz- 
 arded much to uphold the Constitution of the United States 
 and to maintain interests of the most vital importance to 
 the citizens of Boston. And I shall do more and hazard 
 more whenever, in my judgment, it becomes necessary that 
 more be done or more be hazarded. I shall perform with 
 unflinching perseverance, and to the end, my duty to my 
 whole country ; nor do I in the slightest degree fear the 
 result. Folly and fanaticism may have their hour. They 
 may not only affect the minds of individuals, but they may 
 also seize on public bodies of greater or less dignity. But 
 their reign is without doubt destined to be short even where, 
 for the moment, it seems most triumphant. We of Massa- 
 chusetts are not doomed to a course of political conduct such 
 as would reproach our ancestors, destroy our own prosperity, 
 and expose us to the derision of the civilized world. No 
 such future is before us. Far otherwise. 
 
 "Patriotism, the union of good men, fidelity, which has 
 hitherto enabled the people of this State to discern and ap- 
 preciate their own history and character, will bring them 
 back to their accustomed feelings of love of country, and of 
 respect and veneration for its institutions ! " 
 
 Could any attempt at vindication of character be imagined 
 more noble than this ? But alas for the times ! and alas for the 
 political morals ! are not some of the specimens of American 
 statesmanship nowadays shorn of their glory ? Is the day of 
 honest, manly, straightforward defence of public action over? 
 And instead, are we to have substituted disgusting pleas for 
 
78 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 mercy, excuses and apologies for deliberate wrong-doing, 
 from our politicians and statesmen ? 
 
 Notwithstanding the outcry raised against this speech, 
 whether by political or personal enemies, for myself I can 
 find no point in the address which may be construed as in- 
 consistent with the action of Webster's whole life, except it 
 be the possible admission of New Mexico as a State without 
 restriction ; and be it remembered that he was not in the 
 Senate when that bill passed. This limit, Webster said, was 
 needless, as Providence itself had provided the remedy, in 
 forever prohibiting slavery there. He afterwards stated that 
 he should have proposed an amendment to the bill had he 
 been in the Senate at the time of its passage. But 
 however I may question his opinion upon this point, I 
 shall none the less hold to my original proposition, that 
 Daniel Webster's motives were always pure and patriotic ; 
 that he did an unselfish act when he made this speech ; and 
 that this speech itself will live and be admired by future 
 generations lomr after those who declaim so bitterlv against 
 it now will be forgotten. 
 
 So much for the slavery question and his 7th of March 
 speech. 
 
 I have already said that Webster in his Plymouth Rock 
 discourse gave abundant evidence of consummate ability as 
 an orator. His oration at the laying of the corner-stone of 
 Bunker Hill monument, June 17, 1825, likewise proved him 
 to be, without question, an anniversary orator of the first 
 order. But the eulogy of Adams and Jefferson in 1826, 
 the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, 
 as well as the second Bunker Hill discourse in 1843, con- 
 firmed this fact, and settled it forever beyond the shadow of 
 a doubt. 
 
 Fain would I dwell with you upon these masterpieces of 
 human eloquence, but that is now impossible. Time will 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 79 
 
 not allow it ; and, however reluctantly, we must leave them 
 for the present to resume the thread of his career in public 
 life as a statesman. It was at the close of the August ses- 
 sion in 1816 that Mr. Webster removed to Boston ; and his 
 subsequent services to Massachusetts, beginning with the 
 convention of 1820 for the revision of the Constitution, were 
 of the highest order. After six years' absence he was again 
 elected to the House of Representatives, where he took his 
 seat December, 1823. From this tiino to 1852, the year of 
 his death, a period of nearly thirty years, he served continu- 
 ously either as Representative or Senator from Massachusetts, 
 and also held the office of Secretary of State under several 
 different administrations with much distinction to himself. 
 Taking this epoch of his life all in all, I find it summed up 
 and characterized in the discussion of three leading ques- 
 tions which absorbed his attention above all others- — ques- 
 tions involving mighty interests even to the very existence 
 of this our country, and marking his transcendent ability and 
 character as a statesman — slavery, the protective tariff, and 
 the doctrine of nullification. Of the first-named subject, 
 and Webster's attitude upon it, I have already spoken suffi- 
 ciently at length to dismiss the matter here without much 
 further comment. But, in reiterating my former statement 
 regarding the consistency of Webster's actions on slavery, I 
 will only refer, in passing, to the comments of Thomas H. 
 Benton on Webster's words in the Missouri controversy. 
 "This," writes Benton, "is what Mr. Webster said on the 
 subject of slavery, and although it was in reply to an invec- 
 tive of my own, I made no answer impugning its correct- 
 ness, and must add that I never saw anything in Mr. Web- 
 ster inconsistent with what he then said." 
 . Let this expression of opinion, from a bitter opponent 
 who had always watched Webster with a critical and jealous 
 
80 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL 
 
 eye, serve at least to shame, if it does not silence, the innu- 
 endoes and slurs of those who will not believe. 
 
 As regards the second question, the protective tariff, 
 Webster always sought in this, as in all other questions, 
 to simplify and reduce the problem to its original principles. 
 His sole aim and purpose was to promote foreign commerce' 
 and develop domestic industries hand in hand together. 
 Convinced that the real prosperity of this country depended 
 equally upon the flourishing of its internal and external in- 
 terests, he always sought to adjust them nicely and balance 
 them together. It was the prosperity of the whole country, 
 and not that of any particular section, that he constantly 
 worked for. On such a broad principle, it was but natural 
 then that he should fail to please all parties concerned. But 
 as regards his courage, his consistency, his patriotism and his 
 logical soundness upon this point, Rufus Choate in his eulogy 
 has so vindicated him that no words of mine, however forci- 
 ble, could add a single jot or tittle to its thoroughness. I 
 therefore refer those who are disposed to question the sincerity 
 of Dauicl Webster's statesmanship on the tariff to this mas- 
 terly, eloquent and definitive discourse. Let them examine 
 it for themselves, let them examine it for their own enlight- 
 meut, and, if they be fair minded and open to conviction, 
 they must soon be convinced of their error, and their doubts 
 will be speedily set at rest. This far-reaching principle 
 should serve as a guide to the statesmen of our own day in 
 the settlement of this much-vexed question. 
 
 But the greatest service by far that Webster ever ren- 
 dered this country was his action upon the great question of 
 nullification — "nullification," as Benton described it, "the 
 right claimed by a single State to nullify at will an act of 
 the general government ; " or, as Madison more tersely puts 
 it, "the right to violate without cause a faith solemnly 
 pledged." This pernicious doctrine, fraught with so much 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 81 
 
 ruin to our Republic, took its rise, its force and its devel- 
 opment, as every one knows, in the State of South Caro- 
 lina. John C. Calhoun and Colonel Robert Hayne were its 
 champions, with Webster intrenched behind the Constitution 
 for an antagonist. It was in January, 1830, a date forever 
 memorable in the history of our country's annals, that this 
 question was brought to a final crisis ; I refer, of course, to 
 the famous debate on Foote's resolution, wherein Webster's 
 brilliant reply to Hayne dealt nullification its death-blow. 
 
 " The thunderer stood, and chose from out his store."' 
 
 " What were his sensations during the delivery of this 
 splendid oration, he has himself narrated in answer to a 
 friend. *I felt,' said he, r as if everything I had ever seen, 
 or read, or heard, was floating before me in one grand pano- 
 rama, and I had little else to do than to reach up and cull a 
 thunderbolt and hurl it at him.'" 
 
 Of that speech Mr. Everett said, "It has been my fortune 
 to hear the greatest living orators on both sides of the water, 
 but I must confess that I never heard anything which so 
 nearly realized my conception of what Demosthenes was 
 when he delivered the oration for the crown. Webster's 
 ponderous syllables had an energy, a vehemence of meaning 
 in them that fascinated while they startled. His thoughts, 
 in their statuesque beauty merely, would have gained all 
 critical judgment ; but he realized the antique fable, and 
 warmed the marble into life. There was a sense of power 
 in his language — of power withheld and suggestive of still 
 greater power — that subdued as by a spell of mystery the 
 hearts of all. The exulting rush of feeling with which he 
 went through the peroration threw a glow over his counte- 
 nance like an inspiration." 
 
 "This speech," continues Mr. Everett, "is the most cele- 
 brated speech ever delivered in Congress. But I would go 
 
82 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 further, and say, with Mr. David Harsha, that it has no 
 superior in the annals of parliamentary debate, that in many 
 respects it was the greatest oratorical effort ever made by 
 any statesman in ancient or in modern times." 
 
 In 1833 the doctrine was again pressed, this time by the 
 eminent talent of John C. Calhoun. The country was 
 threatened with all the horrors of a civil war, when Webster 
 again stepped to the front and averted the calamity. Little 
 do the people of to-day realize, separated as we are from this 
 epoch by nearly half a century, how much we owe of the 
 blessings we now enjoy to the genius and courage of Daniel 
 Webster. In this contest with Calhoun, this intellectual 
 struggle of mind grappling with mind for the supremacy, in 
 which Webster was " eloquence wrapped in action like a god 
 sublime," — in this contest, I say, was settled a question 
 involving the fate of untold millions of people. Those 
 who heard him, indeed, realized this, for at the close of 
 Webster's final effort the audience, comprising friend and 
 foe alike, rose spontaneously to greet him as defender of the 
 Constitution. And we to-day, distinguished friends, may 
 not we, by the light of what has since occurred, may not we 
 also hail him as the savior of the country? Was it not a 
 god-like prescience that could see and feel and depict with 
 so much vehemence the horrors of secession brooding like a 
 cloud over the country ? And did he not stake his reputa- 
 tion, which was dearer to him than life itself, did he not 
 stake his all, I say, in standing out so boldly against public 
 opinion on this subject? And finally, did he not succeed in 
 averting the danger, even though at the fearful sacrifice of 
 popularity and friendship? 
 
 But Webster's statesmanship, you understand, did not 
 end with vindicating and interpreting the Constitution and 
 law. There were other questions of almost equal impor- 
 tance, that enlisted his attention and called for the dis- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 83 
 
 play of much broader statesmanship. The first was the set- 
 tlement of the currency and bank question. You will re- 
 member that he was instrumental in passing the specie bill 
 of 1817, which called for the payment of the public debt in 
 hard money ; and in fact, the records of Congress will show 
 that he always sought to uphold the public credit by build- 
 ing up a sound currency upon a specie basis. From this, 
 infer, as we confidently may, what his attitude would be 
 upon this question in our own time, and then, do not forget 
 his famous speech in 1833 upon the bank controversy, with 
 its still more famous allusion to the extent of the British 
 empire, that speech of which Chancellor Kent says in black 
 and white, "that it surpasses everything, in logic, in sim- 
 plicity and beauty and energy of diction, in clearness, in 
 rebuke, in sarcasm, in patriotic and glowing feeling, in just 
 and profound constitutional views, in critical severity and 
 matchless strength ; it is worth millions to our liberties. " 
 
 Again, in 1842, Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State, ne- 
 gotiated a treaty with Lord Ashburton that reflected the most 
 sublime credit upon his skill as a diplomatist. This treaty es- 
 tablished the northeastern boundary with England, which had 
 long been a bone of contention between the two countries. 
 It was delicate work, this, as everybody knows, and called 
 for an incredible amount of tact, finesse and skill. "It was," 
 says Harsha, "one of the most praiseworthy acts of Mr. 
 Webster's life, one for which his name deserves to be held 
 in lasting remembrance by a grateful people." 
 
 And so it was, fellow-citizens, with each and every one 
 of Webster's public acts in his capacity as a statesman. 
 Whether he sought to sustain the Union by consistency of 
 action, advocating reason, sense and justice, as he did on the 
 slavery question ; whether he aimed at promoting foreign 
 commerce by free trade, or later sought to develop home in- 
 dustries by protection ; whether he fought for the Constitution 
 
84 THE AVEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 or interpreted laws, as he did so bravely on the question of 
 State rights and nullification ; whether he upheld the public 
 credit by restoring a sound currency and giving value to its 
 money, or upheld the honor of his native land, and vindicated 
 its rights in establishing boundaries, his statesmanship was' 
 always broad, manly and distinguished. It was marked with 
 the stamp of patriotism, of genius and greatness, and well 
 deserved the confidence and gratitude of the whole American 
 people. 
 
 Should this great Republic ever totter and crumble, and 
 the dust of its ruins be scattered over the earth ; should the 
 liberties we enjoy be torn ruthlessly from our grasp, grim 
 oppression, tyranny and cruel despotism grind us to atoms, 
 like other nations in the past; should the memory of this 
 fair land, smiling to-day in peace and plenty, be ignomini- 
 ously disgraced, covered with opprobrium or blotted forever 
 from the human mind, — then, and not till then, will the peo- 
 ple forget the services of Daniel Webster, the greatest of 
 American statesmen ! 
 
 Thus we have seen that Webster stood peerless and unap- 
 proachable in his threefold capacity as lawyer, as orator and 
 as statesman. 
 
 But "it is appointed for all men once to die," says the 
 Scripture, and, "after death, judgment." 
 
 And so, while Webster stood, as a poet describes him, 
 with — 
 
 " Height elate, transfigured feature, majesty sublime with grace, 
 Glorious in the awful beauty of Olympian form and face, ,, — 
 
 With the mantle of his greatness wrapt round about him 
 and his triple laurels still fresh upon his brow, the icy hand 
 of death, the fell destroyer, was laid upon him, and he came 
 home to Marshfield to die. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 85 
 
 Herein I find a most convincing proof of the simplicity 
 and native grandeur of his character as a man. 
 
 He who, by his spoken word, hud held command of list- 
 ening senates ; who had sat upon the thrones of state and 
 dispensed wisdom and truth to the multitude with so much 
 grace and dignity ; who for forty years had enjoyed nearly all 
 the honors that a flattering world could bestow, when he 
 was wearied turned his face homeward to this little hamlet 
 town to make it his final resting-place — this, this is indeed 
 grandeur of an almost superhuman order. 
 
 I Aveli remember how he was wont to say that " one maj r 
 live as a conqueror, a king or a magistrate, but one must 
 die like a man." And truly this familiar saying was the 
 key-note to his life and death. He had walked as a king 
 among men, conquering all through sheer force of mind and 
 heart. " Since Charlemagne," says Theodore Parker, " I think 
 there has not been such a grand figure in all Christendom." 
 And when his time had arrived, he went forth to meet his 
 fate " corde magno et animo volenti" with all the composure 
 of one Avho had everything to hope for, and nothing to fear. 
 Great and profoundly reverent in life, it should be said that 
 Daniel Webster was still greater and more reverent in death. 
 The calm serenity, the utter fearlessness, the sublime resigna- 
 tion and the Christian fortitude with Avhich he met the awful 
 summons has scarce a parallel in history. And this crown- 
 ing act of his life, with his noble profession of Christian 
 faith, cannot but win the admiration of all people forever. 
 
 It was just thirty years ago this very month of October 
 that his great spirit passed calmly away on a quiet Sabbath 
 morn. 
 
 And who can doubt, fellow-citizens, but that on this su- 
 preme day of his life his greatest consolation, M when his eyes 
 were turned for the last time to behold the sun in heaven, 
 was, to see him shining on the glorious ensign of the Repub- 
 
86 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 lie, blazing on all its ample folds as they floated over the sea 
 and over the land, and in every wind under the whole 
 heavens, that sentiment dear to every American heart — 
 Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable !" 
 
 It is said that the words I still live were the last to seal 
 his quivering lips in death. Were they prophetic ? Did the 
 dying man forecast the future ? Ten thousand faithful sons 
 of Massachusetts came down to the sea with sorrowing 
 hearts ; and here on this spot, October 29, 1852, they joined 
 the funeral cortege to pay their last sad tribute to him they 
 loved so well. Their ranks to-day are thinned indeed ; the 
 bones of many are whitening on the battlefields of the South ; 
 but some there are, perhaps many within sound of my voice, 
 who remember well that famous day and year. Ask them 
 to-day if Webster still lives, and they will give you as 
 answer: Does the sun still move in his heavenly orbit? 
 Have the moon and stars ceased to give forth light? Is 
 humanity so far debased as to be unmindful of those who 
 served her most and best? God forbid that Daniel Webster 
 should be forgotten ! He was of humanity's highest and 
 best, with some of its weakness, but with most of its great- 
 ness. He served his country faithfully and well. And 
 therefore I say that wherever there beats an honest Ameri- 
 can heart, wherever there throbs a pulse of the true friend 
 of human kind, there also will the memory of Webster still 
 live, and there will it endure forever. 
 
 Webster will live through his achievements, which, like 
 the principles of truth wherewith they were effected, are 
 eternal and immutable. And whether we regard him as a 
 lawgiver or as an orator, his greatness is so unparalleled that 
 the influences he has left behind can never die. As a law- 
 giver he followed nature to the extreme of just and natural 
 compensation. There was nothing obscure or mythical in 
 the status and principles of his mind ; and he has done more 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 87 
 
 to lay a permanent legal and constitutional foundation for 
 this Republic than any other man, although I may add that 
 the principles of law established in his works are of so gen- 
 eral a nature that they may be applied to almost any place 
 and time. And first, as regards the land question in its rela- 
 tion to a republic, Webster said that Europe would be tied 
 to monarchical forms only so long as the lands were kept in 
 bulk from the people ; so long as the present laws of primo- 
 geniture existed and were in force, so long would England be 
 bound to a monarchy; while France, on the other hand, 
 divided and sub-divided, would find in this the greatest safe- 
 guard for its Republic. Accordingly, in the free sale of 
 public lands and the diversity of means of living, he found 
 the strongest support to the Union. In his Pilgrim address 
 of 1820 he predicted the occupancy of the Pacific coast by 
 our government, and all his public efforts were on a scale 
 comprehending such a possibility. Industrial independence 
 was a bond of union while the general government was pro- 
 tected in its necessary privileges. State rights also were to 
 him sacred as long as the rights of the Union were respected. 
 He was a States' rights man in the fullest sense of that term, 
 for he reserved to the general government only the power 
 to sustain and protect itself, as the present Constitution 
 unequivocally provides. He believed in a proper tariff ad- 
 justing itself to the needs of the whole people, but not op- 
 pressive in its local effects. 
 
 He sustained internal improvements of rivers, harbors and 
 public highways ; but improvements for the benefit of the 
 whole people, not local improvements carried out for mere per- 
 sonal gain. His financial policy had its base upon a metallic 
 currency ; and yet no one would be so foolish as to say that 
 an issue from the government holding the specie would be 
 foreign to its privileges or detrimental to the rights of the 
 people. As to what is now termed Civil Service Reform he 
 
88 THE WEBSTER 'CENTENNIAL. 
 
 was its primary author. He did not favor the ins simply 
 because they were in, irrespective of merit ; but invariably 
 sustained the "survival of the fittest." With labor and cap- 
 ital as connected in our day he would work no division. He 
 honored labor, and regarded it as the best and surest capital 
 that the country could possess. He knew our own resources 
 as no other man ; and our prosperity, he said, was depend- 
 ent on their proper development. Education with him was 
 a primary requisite for individual as well as national progress. 
 He would not have been satisfied with a mere technical 
 knowledge of books, but would have made education an 
 inspired way for securing the means of living on a high pro- 
 gressive stage of elevation. Finally, without being in the 
 strictest sense either a politician or a partisan, he ever recog- 
 nized the value of, and always maintained a strong fidelity to, 
 his party. And yet he often asserted, and the assertion is 
 true to-day, that two thirds of the voters in the whole country 
 thought alike on all essential questions of political economy 
 — they were only separated by traditional influences of party, 
 without which they would have voted together. 
 
 This was Webster's political platform — a platform in 
 every way suited both to his time and to ours, and, I do 
 not hesitate to say, suited to the real needs of this country 
 for a century yet to come. The political works of Chatham, 
 Pitt, Burke or Fox do not contain so much of the real 
 science of government, whether republican or monarchical, 
 as do the published works of Daniel Webster. And if the 
 principles he enunciated, whether in the hails of state or 
 otherwise, be faithfully applied by his countrymen, if the 
 laws he gave and the counsels he recommended be diligently 
 observed and honestly enacted, this Republic will stand — 
 and stand while the tottering thrones of Europe decay and 
 crumble to dust and disappear finally from the face of the 
 earth. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 89 
 
 So much for Webster as a lawgiver. I shall enter upon 
 no critical analysis of Webster as an orator. We have already 
 dilated somewhat at length upon this side of his character 
 elsewhere. It therefore remains for me to resume, in a few 
 words, merely the leading characteristics of this his great- 
 ness. Webster was sui generis, his own type of an orator. 
 They say he lacked the imaginative faculty to give high 
 color and vividness to his speeches. But this, to my 
 mind, is a great mistake. Webster possessed a strong im- 
 agination, but it was of a peerless and original order. He 
 did not like fiction, indeed, and his imagination was never 
 used for the creation of unreal pictures. But, on the con- 
 trary, he sought to portray the truth, and the real truth, and 
 nothing but the truth, in all its force and beauty. His 
 highest bursts of eloquence were the imagery of nature. 
 When observed, even through microscopic lenses magnified 
 and brought up to the tastes of the most fastidious, they 
 were found to be invariably true to their originals. Every 
 thought was marked and numbered and had its appropriate 
 place, as did the colorings of his imagery. His genius was 
 the genius of intellect, and not the genius of intuition. The 
 former with a high moral nature always reveals the truth ; 
 the latter paints imaginative pictures which are oftentimes 
 unreal and evanescent. The genius of Burke was the geniuo 
 of intuition. His efforts were metaphysically ideal, while 
 those of Webster were intrinsically real. The lees of the 
 healing oil used by Webster when tried down to their ulti- 
 mates would form a mass of natural principles ; while that 
 of Burke, after its volatile elements had been exhaled, 
 would leave nothing behind but ashes. Burke's culminating 
 illuminations were still meteoric ; Webster's, after the thun- 
 ders were o'er, were the quiet cerulean beams of the rain- 
 bow with penetrating flashes of sunlight. The former went 
 out like an incandescent flame ; the latter only faded as the 
 pacific surface of the sky became wholly serene. 
 
90 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 It takes the best elements of both Burke and Fox to make 
 up even a portion of the character of Webster, while for love 
 and reverence of the divinely beautiful, those of Milton 
 should be added. 
 
 Another characteristic of Webster's mind in oratory was 
 his love of truth. If his cause could be gained by the illus- 
 tration and proof of truth itself, he was the man to gain it ; 
 if not, like Sampson shorn of his locks, he was powerless. 
 
 His oratorical force was not of a vindictive character which 
 would lacerate and destroy its object, but rather a sublime 
 feeling that would make the victim feel willing to immolate 
 himself beneath the ruin which his own folly had created. 
 
 His mind was ponderous and elephantine in its tread, but 
 never cat-like ; it never crushed principles like some of his 
 rougher associates in legislation, nor like those whose 
 thought was so nimble and step so light as to be able to 
 cover up and hide the salient points of a debate. Further- 
 more, there was no lack of foresight in his conceptions, and 
 the structures created by his mind were solid yet roomy, 
 harmonious and yet comfortably adapted to real use, and 
 always supremely beautiful. 
 
 And now, fellow-citizens, to speak of the beauty of his 
 orations, which with golden effulgence are scattered over 
 each line and thought and sentence, to enumerate the 
 honeyed charms that cluster round the spoken words of 
 Daniel Webster, to refresh your minds and revive your 
 memories of the golden-mouthed eloquence of him whose 
 voice to-day is hushed in the silence of the grave, — this, 
 fellow-citizens, this is a task I leave for other and more elo- 
 quent tongues than mine. But this I will say, when the 
 history of this world's oratory comes to be written, when the 
 names of those who have pleaded right earnestly and well for 
 truth, justice, humanity and honor are inscribed in letters of 
 bronze and marble, when the names of Demosthenes and 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 91 
 
 Cicero, of Burke, Fox and Sheridan, will be no longer 
 quoted, then will still be remembered the name and Avords 
 of Daniel Webster, the greatest of American orators. 
 
 And now my task is well-nigh done. To other days in the 
 great future we must now commit this interesting spot, its 
 decorations and observances, its memoirs and its teachings. 
 To those who come after us we bequeath it as a legacy of 
 love, to be cherished as the Mecca of constitutional states- 
 manship. An hundred years have now winged their fleeting 
 course, and yet, in the lapse of ages the experience of a 
 century is as a grain of sand upon the seashore. We must 
 not forget, however, that the duty of this day has been to 
 analyze with the past, the period we now compass, and thus 
 draw for the future, useful, valuable and instructive lessons. 
 
 Onward and upward our aim : as through the cycle 
 of ages we move, forgetting not the changing ground on 
 which we stand, nor the progressive times in which we live. 
 With the past in our history, we strive to profit, and upon 
 Webster's teachings predict future successful effort for in- 
 creasing goodness and greatness. We leave behind a century 
 whose march, sometimes martial in its tread, gave birth to 
 mighty minds to formulate its civil laws. Strong men, wise 
 heads and honest hearts, that culled from the universe of 
 thought, texts to fortify and maintain an imperishable polit- 
 ical union. The founders of the Republic are gone ! Webster, 
 too, its defender, is gone ! and we mourn that ten decades 
 of life, while measuring our country's weal, have buried 
 beneath the dust all mortal of her sires ! We honored them 
 in life, we revere them in death, and shall ever love to pay 
 tribute to their virtues in the forum, as well as over their 
 silent and grass-grown graves. 
 
 Note.— We copy the following from the pen of the Rev. William Hague, as pub- 
 lished in the " Magazine of American History," August, 1882 : — 
 
 'The quiet departure of Mrs. Caroline Leroy Webster, on Sunday, February 20, at the 
 
 Lerov mansion, was announced genei*ally by the press, and awakened many slumbering 
 dated with New" York, Boston and Washington, as well as 
 
 memories of her life, associatec 
 
92 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 PROF. WILKINSON'S POEM. 
 
 Ye see him truly, now ; 
 
 Their hour and power are past 
 Who fain had shamed that brow : 
 
 It wears its crown at last ! 
 
 Hail him, his countrymen ! 
 
 First of your foremost few, 
 Given back to you again 
 
 Yet greater than ye knew. 
 
 Greater — for good and great ; 
 
 Not false, as they forswore ! 
 He, who to save the State, 
 
 The State to please forbore. 
 
 Well may the State be saved — 
 Saved at such cost of blame, 
 
 While still her mood he braved — 
 Accord him. late, his fame ! 
 
 His way in farming all men knew ; 
 Way wide, forecasting, free, 
 A liberal tilth that made the tiller poor. 
 That huge Websterian plough what furrows drew 
 Through fallows fattened from the barren sea ! 
 Yoked to that plough and matched for mighty size, 
 What oxen moved ! — in progress equal, sure. 
 Unconscious of resistance, as of force 
 Not finite, elemental, like his own, 
 Taking its way with unimpeded course. 
 He loved to look into their meek brown eyes, 
 That with a light of love half human shone 
 Calmly on him from out the ample front. 
 
 with Pelham and New Kochelle. Born at the house of her father, Jacob Leroy, Esq., 
 New York, 1797, a considerable proportion of her early remembrances were associated 
 with scenes of rural life pertaining both to the manor and the town. 
 
 "Mr. Webster, having met Miss Leroy at her city residence, recognized at once the 
 rare quality of her intellectual culture, her graceful manners, her conversational gifts, 
 and her queenly power as a leader of society. In the year 1829 she became his second 
 wife, and in the more extended sphere of social and public life that she thus entered, 
 W'.s, from first to last, perfectly at home. 
 
 "The storm that raged on Wednesday, March 1, was at its height when the funeral 
 service was ministered in Trinity Church, New Roc'nelle, by the Rector, Rev. Mr. 
 Canedy, and Rev. Mr. Higgins, Rector of Christ Church, Pelham; and as the attendance 
 of ladies was necessarily limited, the large gathering of gentlemen, from homes far and 
 near, was remarkable, indicating the profoundly cherished memories relating to the 
 career of the great statesman, the completed close of whose home life on earth'seemed 
 as if now emphasized by the funeral dirge within the temple, and the majestic voice of 
 the tempest without. 
 
 "Not long after the death of Mr Webster, as we well remember, one hundred citi- 
 zens of Boston contributed one thousand dollars each to a fund of one hundred thousand 
 dollars, which was invested for Mrs. Webster's benefit, and the interest of this she duly 
 received at her home in New Rochelle, a timely and welcome contribution to the cheer 
 of her tranquil life evening." 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 93 
 
 So. when ho came to die 
 
 At Marshfleld by the sea 
 And now the end is nigh, 
 
 Up from the pleasant lea 
 Move his dumb friends in solemn, slow, 
 
 Funereal procession, and before 
 Their master's door 
 
 In melancholy file compassionately go ; 
 He will be glad to see his trusty friends once more. 
 
 Now let him look a look that shall suffice, — 
 Lo, let the dying man 
 Take all the peace he can 
 From those large tranquil brows and deep soft eyes. 
 Rest it will be to him, 
 Before his eyes grow dim, 
 To bathe his aged eyes in one deep gaze 
 Commingled with old days, 
 On faces of such friends sincere, 
 With fondness brought from boyhood dear. 
 
 Farewell, a long look and the last, 
 And these have turned and passed. 
 Henceforth he will no more 
 As was his wont before, 
 Step forth from yonder door 
 To taste the freshness of the early dawn, 
 The whiteness of the sky, 
 The whitening stars on high, 
 The dews yet white that lie 
 Far spread in pearl upon the glimmering lawn ; 
 Never at evening go, 
 Sole pacing to and fro, 
 With musing step and slow, 
 Beneath the cope of heaven set thick with stars, 
 Considering by wiiose hand 
 Those works, in wisdom planned, 
 Were fashioned, and still stand 
 Serenely fast and fair above these earthly jars. 
 Never again ! Forth he will soon be brought 
 
 By neighbors that have loved him, having known, 
 Plain farmers, with the farmer's natural thought 
 
 And feeling, sympathetic to his own. 
 All in a temperate air, a golden light, 
 
 Rich with October, sad with afternoon, 
 Fitly let him be laid, with rustic rite, 
 
 To rest amid the ripened harvest boon. 
 He loved the ocean's mighty murmur deep, 
 
94 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 And this shall lull him through his dreamless sleep. 
 But those plain men will speak above his head, . 
 This is a lonesome world, and Webster dead ! 
 
 Be sure, O State, that he. 
 So great, so simple, wrought for thee, 
 By only being what he could but be. 
 He loved thee. State, with self -postponing love ; 
 At length, through him, at leisure to be just, 
 Pronounce, I pray, 
 
 To-day. 
 Thy late " Well done! " 
 
 Well won, 
 Upon thy son — 
 Late, but full-voiced and penitent, above 
 His dust. 
 
 The great assembly, which at this point numbered fully 
 10,000 people, sang the following verses from Longfellow's 
 "Psalm of Life," and thus closed the exercises at the 
 tomb : — 
 
 Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 
 
 Life is but an empty dream ! 
 For the soul is dead that slumbers, 
 
 And things are not what they seem. 
 
 Life is real ! Life is earnest ! 
 
 And the grave is not its goal : 
 Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
 
 Was not spoken of the soul. 
 
 Lives of great men all remind us 
 
 We can make our lives sublime, 
 And, departing, leave behind us 
 
 Footprints on the sands of time ; — 
 
 Footprints, that perhaps another, 
 
 Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
 A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
 
 Seeing, shall take heart again. 
 
 Let us, then, be up and doing, 
 
 With a heart for any fate ; 
 Still achieving, still pursuing, 
 
 Learn to labor and to wait. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 95 
 
 The guests made a brief inspection of the lot, and after 
 shaking hands with a few privileged persons the President 
 again entered his carriage, and the procession re-formed and 
 marched to the grand tent of the Society. 
 
 It was three o'clock before the procession, returning from 
 the tomb, reached the great dining-tents, the one devoted to 
 the Webster Historical Society and guests, having plates laid 
 for five hundred people. On a raised platform, running 
 lengthwise, on the south side, was a table with twenty-five 
 plates. In the rear of the centre was a glory surrounding a 
 painting of Mr. Webster, a decorated rail running in the rear 
 of the seats of the principal personages. The seats at this 
 table were occupied as follows : To the right of Gov. Long, 
 the new President of the Webster Historical Society, sat the 
 President of the United States; then in order on the riffht 
 were Mrs. Fletcher Webster, Hon. W. E. Chandler, Mayor 
 Green, Hon. James Campbell, Mrs. Campbell, Gov. Bell of 
 New Hampshire, Mr. Williams, Mr. Armistead, ex-Gov. 
 Boutwell, Dr. George B. Loring, President Bartlett, Hon. 
 Stillman B. Allen and C. A. Arthur, Jr. To the left of 
 Gov. Long the order was as follows : Hon. Stephen M. 
 Allen, Mrs. Allen, Senators Dawes and Hoar, Assistant 
 Postmaster-General Hatton, Collector Worthington, Secre- 
 tary Lincoln, Private Secretary Phillips, ex-Gov. Farnham 
 of Vermont, and Gov. Littlefield of Rhode Island. The 
 great tent was appropriately though not profusely decorated 
 with streamers and illuminated seals of the several New Eng- 
 land States, also of New York. When the assembly was 
 seated at the table, President Allen announced the following 
 list of officers of the Society for the ensuing year : Presi- 
 dent, Gov. John D. Long ; Vice-Presidents, Hon. Albert 
 Palmer, Henry W. Nelson, Stillman B. Allen, William As- 
 pinwall and A. E. Pillsbury ; Executive Committee, Hon. 
 Stephen M. Allen, Hon. E. S. Tobey, John H. Butler, Ro- 
 
96 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 land Worthington and Edward F. Thayer; Corresponding 
 Secretary, Hon. Stephen M. Allen ; Treasurer, Francis Bout- 
 well ; Recording Secretary, Thomas H. Cummings ; Commit- 
 tee on Perfecting Organization, N. W. Ladd, Albert Palmer, 
 E. S. Tobey, George F. Richardson, Stillman B. Allen, Ed- 
 ward Wyman and B. P. Smith. Without further formality 
 the dinner was proceeded with. 
 
 Directly in front of President Arthur sat together the two 
 ex-Governors — Rice and Jewell — respectively of Massa- 
 chusetts and Connecticut. The dinner was not long, and, 
 before it was fairly concluded, a delegation consisting 
 of Cols. Wyman and Kingsbury and Gen. Martin, repre- 
 senting the Ancients, appeared and were soon in close com- 
 munion with Gov. Long and the President. They expressed 
 the desire of the Ancients to the effect that that body wished 
 to see the ruler of the nation for only a few moments. The 
 President was willing, and was excused for five minutes. 
 Escorted by the delegation in question, as well as by Hon. 
 Stephen M. Allen, the President was soon in the presence 
 of y e Ancients, President Arthur never gazed on a happier 
 company, and he was received with round after round of ap- 
 plause, the gentlemen all rising and cheering as he came to 
 the right hand ot Captain Mack. As soon as he could be 
 heard, Captain Mack said: "Allow me to introduce to you 
 the first President of the United States whom we ever had 
 the honor to receive. Allow me to say to you, gentlemen, 
 that this is a bright day for me as your Commander to think 
 I have had the honor, commanding the Ancient and Honora- 
 ble Artillery Company, to do escort duty for the first time to 
 the President of the United States. Gentlemen, now allow 
 me to introduce to you President Arthur : God bless him ! " 
 President Arthur was cheered to the echo. Bowing, as the 
 applause ceased, he said, — 
 
 " I thank you most cordially for your kindly and enthusi- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 97 
 
 astic greeting, and I thank you, too, for the pleasure and 
 the honor of your escort duty. I am glad to meet so many 
 'Ancient and Honorable ' men [laughter and applause] , and 
 I hope that each member of the corps will, like the Countess 
 of Desmond, 
 
 Live to the age of one hundred and ten, 
 And die by the fall from a cherry-tree then. 
 
 " You each and all have my good wishes and my thanks for 
 your escort duty, and for your courtesies." [Applause.] 
 
 After a few moments of pleasant interchange of sentiment, 
 the President returned to his seat in the other tent. 
 
 At the close of the dinner Gov. Long was introduced as 
 the President of the day. He spoke as follows : — 
 
 ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR LONG. 
 
 A hundred years ago last January, Daniel Webster was 
 born. Thirty years ago this month he died and was buried 
 on this farm. To-day we visit his grave, not pouring upon 
 it libations of wine and milk and blood, not shedding over it 
 the tears of recent grief, but paying it the tribute of a rev- 
 erent memory, the gratitude of a nation's heart, and the 
 justice due a mighty defender and savior of our country. 
 My poor word of praise and criticism concerning him has 
 been spoken, and I shall not repeat it. Here he speaks for 
 himself. On this sacred soil, within sight of these elms, in 
 the open air of this October day, there comes a feeling that 
 he is here, that his great eyes greet us, and that his 
 eloquent lips will speak and silence ours. And here indeed 
 he is. What idle formality was it that took us to the dust 
 he long ago shook off, when here, in every whisper of the 
 wind, in every scarlet leaf, in these woods and fields and 
 streams, he, the genius of them all, still lives, as he still lives 
 in the Constitution he expounded and moulded, in the Union 
 
y« THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 he cemented and preserved, and in the impress he stamped 
 upon the political sentiment of the American people. 
 
 This spot has well been chosen for the tribute of this day. 
 Here, with a sense of restfulness and sympathy, came the 
 great heart of Daniel Webster. Large as was the honor he 
 bestowed on Marshfield, he bestowed nothing grander than he 
 found. For here the lonely sea, which he loved, and in whose 
 vastness and grandeur his own great soul felt a subtle kin- 
 ship, communed with him, yet spoke no language he did not 
 comprehend, and breathed no whisper he did not catch. 
 Here with him the Pilgrim sage sought the freedom of the 
 new world for the exercise of his conscience. Here Winslow 
 and Standish and Bradford and Brewster walked the forest 
 aisles and discussed with him great themes of constitutional 
 law, of chartered rights, of civil and religious liberty. Here, 
 under his elm and from beneath his almost equally overhang- 
 ing brim and brow, he saw the sails of the "Mayflower" far 
 off, and in her cabin gravely drew the compact that embodied 
 the germ of those basal ideas of union and liberty, one and 
 inseparable, which were imprinted on his heart like a legend. 
 Here in all the earth and air was the spirit of that Pilgrim 
 enterprise and purpose of which he never tired, to which he 
 drew close, and from which he drank copious inspiration. 
 Here, too, the very soil, responding to his sympathetic care 
 and nurture, turned to verdure and beauty ; here he looked 
 his oxen in the face ; and here the wide fields, barren and 
 bleak, clothed themselves for him with the graceful shade of 
 groves and were musical with the rustle of the waving grain. 
 In the touching homely humanity which attaches to Webster 
 in his relation to rural things, to the farm and to all the in- 
 stincts of neighborly New England life, there is something 
 that endears him to us, independent of his great eminence 
 as a statesman and a lawyer. Whether he planted, or fished, 
 or gunned, or waded streams, or cooled his shadowy brow 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 99 
 
 under the trees, or drove over the country roads, or met his 
 neighbors in the fields or by the fireside, it was all the same ; 
 it was the sense of the proximity of a New England man, born 
 in the humble farm-house, true to the instincts of the fields, 
 and loving the cattle and the hay, the furrow and the marsh. 
 
 And here the great orator, the great Senator, the great 
 lawyer, is still the Marshfield farmer and neighbor. He has 
 to-day given us all a cordial welcome. He has fed us at his 
 table. He has sat with us in his library and under his elm. 
 He has shown us his crops and barns, his cattle and sheep. 
 We grasp his hand and go back to our homes ; and not till 
 we have broken the charm of his personal courtesy are 
 we fully conscious that we have been with him who pro- 
 nounced the magnificent funeral oration of Adams and Jef- 
 ferson, the discourses at Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill, 
 the Dartmouth College argument and the overwhelming and 
 resistless replies to Hayne and Calhoun. All honor to his 
 memory ; all gratitude for his service ; all justice to his 
 fame ! 
 
 It is my happy privilege and duty to give cordial welcome 
 to all who have gathered here — to the officers and citizens 
 of this town of Marshfield and this County of Plymouth in 
 which Webster lived, and to my fellow-citizens of this Com- 
 monwealth of which he was so many years the admiration 
 and glory. I welcome the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company and the veteran soldiers and sailors of the Grand 
 Army, whose gunpowder was Webster's logic. In the name 
 of the Commonwealth and in behalf of the Webster His- 
 torical Society, I also cordially welcome the distinguished 
 guests who have come from beyond our borders, the Gov- 
 ernors of our beloved sister New England States, and espe- 
 cially him whose name I have kept till last in order to 
 present him first, the President of the United States. Wel- 
 come, sir, to Massachusetts and to Marshfield — to the State 
 
100 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 of the Adamses, whose successor you are, and to the grave of 
 Webster, but for whom it is hardly too much to say that to- 
 day they would have had no successor. Massachusetts thinks 
 no courtesy too great, no greeting too cordial, to bestow 
 upon the Chief Magistrate of the nation in which there is no 
 stauncher or more loyal State. But with especial interest 
 does she welcome you, remembering your association with 
 Garfield whom she honored and loved, the dignity with which 
 you bore the terrible ordeal of his long agony of death and 
 succeeded to his place, and the courage and force of convic- 
 tion with which, on more than one occasion, you have exer- 
 cised the prerogative of your great office. Fellow-citizens, I 
 present you to the President of the United States. 
 
 His Excellency's words were closely listened to and fre- 
 quently applauded, his allusion to the exercise by the Pres- 
 ident of his veto power being received with most decided 
 manifestations of approval. President Arthur's introduction 
 was accepted by three hearty cheers. 
 
 PRESIDENT ARTHUR'S ADDRESS. 
 
 After the storm of applause which greeted the introduc- 
 tion by Governor Long of the President, at the conclusion 
 of his speech, had subsided, President Arthur rose and was 
 greeted by three cheers and continuous applause. He spoke 
 as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, — It is fortunately in ac- 
 cord with the proprieties of this occasion, no less than my 
 own inclination, that I should confine within narrow limits 
 my acknowledgment for your flattering salutation. I am 
 deeply moved by the warmth of your reception and the 
 heartiness of your greeting. It is but a fresh display of the 
 splendid hospitality which, since I came within the borders 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 101 
 
 of Massachusetts, has every where obstructed my way with 
 demonstrations of courtesy and respect. [Applause.] I 
 trust, sir, that neither my gratitude nor my sympathy with 
 the purposes which have turned our reverent footsteps thith- 
 erward to-day will be measured by my poor endeavor to 
 give them expression. 
 
 The character and genius of that illustrious man whose 
 life moved grandly on in so many paths of eminence, in 
 commemoration of whose birth, a hundred years ago to-day, 
 amid the peaceful scenes where he found rest from the fret 
 and worry of life, have for more than a generation been the 
 theme of discussion and eulogy. I shall not attempt to 
 labor in the field over which so many flashing sickles have 
 swept, and which has so long been crowded with illustrious 
 gleaners ; but I may, perhaps, be permitted to declare my 
 approval of what has been accomplished by this Society in 
 furtherance of the object for which it was founded. 
 
 It is asserted, upon w T hat I suppose to be trustworthy 
 authority, that near the close of his honored life, Mr. Web- 
 ster expressed the wish, that, for aiding to transmit his fame 
 to future generations of his countrymen, for kindling in their 
 hearts the flame of patriotism, and for instructing them in 
 tl\e principles of constitutional government, there should be 
 disseminated far and wide among them such recorded efforts 
 of his genius as seemed most worthy to be thus preserved. 
 Many of the loftiest and most inspiring of Mr. Webster's 
 utterances have long been as familiar as household words in 
 the mouth of every school-boy in the land ; but it is doubtless 
 true that many others, scarcely less dignified in subject, mas- 
 terly in treatment and splendid in diction, are comparatively 
 unknown. In all that you have hitherto done, in all that 
 you will henceforth do to secure the result which Mr. Web- 
 ster wished, by the collection and circulation of all his works 
 which have permanent value, — and which of them have 
 
102 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 not ? — I assure you of my most earnest sympathy. No one 
 of the rising generation of our countrymen who seeks to be 
 instructed in those political doctrines which are the basis of 
 our federal government, to acquaint himself with the consti- 
 tutional history of his country, and with the origin, progress 
 and significance of its institutions, can by any other course 
 so surely and so speedily attain these ends as by a resort to 
 that great storehouse of eloquence and wisdom, — the pub- 
 lished writings of Daniel Webster. [Loud applause.] And 
 so, gentlemen of the Webster Historical Society, I bid you 
 God-speed in this and all other laudable work which you 
 have set yourselves to accomplish. Let me once more tender 
 my thanks to you for all your kindness, and express the pro- 
 found hope that this noble Commonwealth, all its cities and 
 villages and hamlets, and all that dwell within its borders, may 
 be blessed by the abiding presence of prosperity and peace. 
 
 Gov. Long then said : " An interesting relic has been 
 handed me, an ear of corn [holding it up in his hand] gath- 
 ered upon this place upon the day of the funeral of Daniel 
 Webster, thirty years ago, planted perhaps by him. The 
 next item upon the programme is the reading of an unpub- 
 lished manuscript by Stillman B. Allen." 
 
 WEBSTER'S VINDICATION. 
 
 Hon. Stillman B. Allen, of Boston, said: "I have been 
 requested to call the attention of the Society and our guests 
 to a hitherto unpublished letter of Daniel Webster upon the 
 supremacy and the perpetuity of the Constitution and the 
 Union of the United States. Many years before our civil 
 war, the statesman at whose tomb we have to-day reverently 
 bowed, saw, as no other man saw, in the black cloud just 
 rising over the southern horizon, and heard, as no other man 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 103 
 
 heard, in the mutterings of disunion and treason, portents of 
 the awful storm which afterward burst in desolation upon 
 our land. Generously, nobly, fruitlessly, the great de- 
 fender of the Constitution strove by self-sacrifice to avert 
 the strife. In October, 1850, while a member of President 
 Fillmore's cabinet, Mr. Webster wrote the paper in question, 
 intending to send it to all United States officers. The cabi- 
 net, for political reasons, objected to the paper, and it was 
 never sent or made public. A few years ago it was found 
 among Mr. Webster's papers at Marshfield. The following 
 is the paper as prepared by the then Secretary of State : " 
 
 CABINET CIRCULAR OF DANIEL WEBSTER, OCTOBER, 1850. 
 
 The open manner in which disunion, secession, or a sepa- 
 ration of the States, is suggested and recommended in some 
 parts of the country, naturally calls on those to whom are 
 confided the power and trust of maintaining the Constitution, 
 and seeing that the laws of the United States be faithfully 
 executed, to reflect upon the duties which events not yet 
 indeed probable, but possible, may require them to perform. 
 In the Northern and Eastern States, these sentiments of dis- 
 union are espoused principally by persons of heated imagina- 
 tions, assembling together and passing resolutions of such 
 wild and violent character as to render them nearly harmless. 
 It is not so in other parts of the country. There are States 
 in the South in which secession and dismemberment are pro- 
 posed or recommended by persons of character and influence, 
 filling stations of high public trust, and, it is painful to add, 
 in some instances, not unconnected with the Government of 
 the United States itself. Legislatures of some of the States 
 have directed the government of those States to re-assemble 
 them in the contingency of the passage of certain laws by 
 Congress. While these occurrences do not constitute an 
 exigency calling for any positive proceeding either by the 
 
104 THE WEBSTEE CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Executive Government of the United States or by Congress, 
 yet they justly awaken attention, and admonish those in 
 whose hands the administration of the government is placed, 
 not to be found either unadvised, surprised or unprepared, 
 should a crisis arrive. The Constitution of the United States 
 is founded on the idea of a division of power between the 
 general government and the respective State governments ; 
 and this division is marked out and defined by the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States with as much distinctness and accu- 
 racy as the nature of the subject and the imperfection of 
 language will admit. The powers of Congress are specifi- 
 cally enumerated, and all other powers necessary to carry 
 these specified powers into effect are also expressly granted. 
 The Constitution was adopted by the people in the several 
 States, acting through the agency of conventions chosen by 
 themselves ; the Legislatures of the States had nothing to do 
 with this proceeding, but to regulate the time and manner in 
 which these conventions thus chosen by the people, the true 
 source of all power, should assemble. The Constitution of 
 the United States purports to be a perpetual form of govern- 
 ment ; it contains no limits for its duration, and suggests no 
 means and no form of proceeding by which it can be dis- 
 solved, or its obligations dispensed with ; it requires the per- 
 sonal allegiance of every citizen of the United States, and 
 demands a solemn oath for its support from every man 
 employed in any public trust, whether under the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, or any State government. This 
 obligation and this oath are enjoined in broad and general 
 terms without qualification or modification, and with refer- 
 ence to no supposed possible change of circumstances or 
 events. 
 
 No man can sit in a State Legislature, or on the bench of a 
 State court, or execute the process of such court, or hold a 
 commission in the militia, or fill any other office in a State 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTEXXIAL. 105 
 
 government, without having first taken and subscribed an 
 oath to support the Constitution of the United States. With- 
 out looking, therefore, to what might be the result of forcible 
 revolution, since such cases can, of course, be governed by 
 no previously established rule, it is certainly the manifest 
 duty of all those who are entrusted with the Government of 
 the United States in its several branches and departments to 
 uphold and maintain that government to the full extent of its 
 constitutional power and authority, to enact all laws neces- 
 sary to that end, and to take care that those laws be executed 
 by all the means created and conferred by the Constitution 
 itself. We are to look to but one future, and that a future 
 in which the Constitution of the country shall stand as it 
 now stands ; laws passed in conformity to it to be executed 
 as they have hitherto been executed, and the public peace 
 maintained as it has hitherto been maintained. Whatsoever 
 of the future may be supposed to lie out of this line, is not so 
 much a thing to be expected, as a thing to be feared and 
 dreaded, and to be guarded against by the firmest resolution 
 and the utmost vigilance of all who are entrusted with the 
 conduct of public affairs ; no alternative can be presented 
 which is to authorize them to depart from the course which 
 they have sworn to pursue. In conferring the necessary 
 powers on the, general government, it was foreseen that ques- 
 tions as to the just extent of those powers might occur, and 
 that cases of conflict between the laws of the United States 
 and the laws of individual States might arise. It was of in- 
 dispensable necessity, therefore, that the manner in which 
 such questions should be settled, and the tribunal which 
 should have the ultimate authority to decide them, should be 
 established and fixed by the Constitution itself ; and this has 
 been clearly and amply done. By the Constitution of the 
 United States, that instrument itself, all acts of Congress 
 passed in conformity to it, and public treaties, constitute the 
 
106 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 supreme law of the land, and are to be of controlling force 
 and effect, anything in any State constitution or State law to 
 the contrary notwithstanding ; and the judges in every State, 
 as well as of the courts of the United States, are expressly 
 bound thereby. The supreme rule, then, is plainly and 
 clearly declared and established : it is the Constitution of 
 the United States, the laws of Congress passed in pursuance 
 thereof, and treaties made under the authority of the United 
 States. And here the great and turning question arises, 
 Who in the last resort is to construe and interpret this su- 
 preme law? If it be alleged, for example, that a particular 
 act of a State Legislature is a violation of the Constitution 
 of the United States, and therefore void, what tribunal has 
 authority finally to determine this important question ? It is 
 evident that if this power had not been vested in the tribu- 
 nals of the United States the government would have wanted 
 the means of its own preservation ; all its granted powers 
 would have depended upon the variable and uncertain deci- 
 sions of State courts. 
 
 It is a well-established maxim in political organization, 
 that the judicial power must be made co-extensive with the 
 constitutional and legislative power ; otherwise there can be 
 no adequate provision for the interpretation and execution of 
 the laws. In conformity with this plain and necessary prin- 
 ciple, the Constitution declares that the judicial power of the 
 United States shall extend to all cases in law and equity ari- 
 sing under the Constitution, the laws of the United States 
 and treaties, no matter in what court such a case arises. 
 Whenever and wherever such a case comes up, the judicial 
 pow r er of the United States extends to it, and attaches upon 
 it ; and if it arise in any State court, the acts of Congress 
 have made provision for its transfer to the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, there to be finally heard and adjudged. 
 This proceeding is well known to the profession, and need 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 107 
 
 not now be particularly stated or rehearsed. Finally, the 
 President of the United States is by the Constitution made 
 commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia 
 when called into the actual service of the United States ; and 
 all these military means are put under his control in order 
 that he may be able to see that the laws be faithfully exe- 
 cuted. The Government of the United States, therefore, 
 though a government of limited powers, is complete in itself, 
 and, to the extent of those powers, possesses all the faculties 
 for legislation, interpretation and execution of the laws, and 
 nothing is necessary but fidelity in all those who are elected 
 by the people to hold office in its various departments to 
 cause it to be upheld, maintained and efficiently administered. 
 The Constitution assigns particular classes of causes to the 
 original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and other courts 
 are to exercise such powers and duties as are or may be pre- 
 scribed by Congress. Congress has not as yet found it neces- 
 sary or expedient to confer on the circuit or other inferior 
 courts all the jurisdiction created or authorized by the Con- 
 stitution ; thus there are many cases in which a summary 
 jurisdiction usually belonging to courts, such as that of 
 mandamus and injunction, are not provided for by general 
 law, but some such cases are provided for. Thus by the act 
 of March 2, 1833, it is declared that the jurisdiction of the 
 Circuit Courts of the United States shall extend to all cases 
 in law or equity arising under the revenue laws of the United 
 States ; and if any person be injured in his person or prop- 
 erty on account of any act by him done under any revenue 
 law of the United States, he may bring suit immediately in 
 the Circuit Court of the United States ; and if he be sued in 
 any State court for such act, he may cause such suit to be 
 immediately removed into the Circuit Court of the United 
 States ; and if the State court refuse a copy of its record, 
 that record may be supplied by affidavit ; and if the defend- 
 
108 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 ant be under arrest, or in custody, he is to be brought by 
 habeas corpus before the Circuit Court of the United States. 
 Under the first part of these provisions, writs of mandamus 
 and injunction may be issued, and all other writs and pro- 
 cesses suitable to the case ; and any judge of any court of 
 the United States is authorized to grant writs of habeas cor- 
 pus in all cases of prisoners committed or confined for any 
 act done in pursuance of a law of the United States, or of 
 any order, process or decree of any court of the United 
 States. These provisions are all found in the permanent 
 sections of the act of Congress already referred to. The im- 
 portance and efficiency of these provisions, if events were to 
 arise in which obstruction to the collection of revenue should 
 be attempted or threatened, are too obvious to require com- 
 ment. The several district attorneys of the United States 
 will take especial care to inform themselves of these enact- 
 ments of law, and be prepared to cause them to be enforced 
 in the first and in every case which may arise, justly calling 
 for their application. 
 
 Declarations merely theoretical, or resolutions only de- 
 claratory of opinions, from however high authority emanat- 
 ing, cannot properly be made the subject of legal or judicial 
 proceedings. They may be very intemperate, they may be 
 very exceptionable, they may be very unconstitutional ; but 
 until something shall be actually done or attempted, hinder- 
 ing or obstructing the execution of the laws of the United 
 States, or injuring those employed in their execution, the 
 officers of the government will remain vigilant indeed, and 
 prepared for events, but without any positive exercise of 
 authority. It is most earnestly to be hoped that the return- 
 ing good sense of the people in all the States, and an 
 increase of harmony and brotherly good- will everywhere, 
 may prevent the necessity of resorting to the exercise of 
 legal authority ; it is to be hoped that all good citizens will 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 109 
 
 ba much, more inclined to reflect on the value of the Union 
 and the benefits which it has conferred upon all, than to 
 speculate upon impracticable means for its severance or dis- 
 solution. No State legislation, it is evident, is competent 
 to declare such severence or dissolution — the people of no 
 State have clothed their Legislature with any such authority ; 
 any act therefore proclaiming such severence by a Legisla- 
 ture, would be merely null and void as altogether exceeding 
 its constitutional powers. No State was brought into the 
 Union by the Legislature thereof, and no State can be put 
 out of the Union by the Legislature thereof. Doubtless it is 
 to be admitted that revolution, forcible revolution, may pro- 
 duce dismemberment more or less extensive ; but there is no 
 power on earth competent, by any peaceable or recognized 
 manner of proceeding, to discharge the consciences of the 
 citizens of the United States from the duty of supporting the 
 Constitution. The government may be overthrown, or the 
 Union broken into fragments by force of arms or force of 
 numbers, but neither can be done by any prescribed form or 
 peaceable existing authority. 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. HENRY L. DAWES. 
 
 Gov. Long having introduced Hon. Henry L. Dawes as 
 the junior Senator from Massachusetts, and then having 
 changed the title to senior, Mr. Dawes said, — 
 
 It is quite evident that his Excellency is not as familiar 
 with the Massachusetts delegation in the present Congress as 
 he is sure to be in the next, or he would not have fallen into 
 the mistake or corrected the mistake into which he has fallen. 
 When he comes to know that delegation better, I am quite 
 sure he will call upon some other one to respond to the senti- 
 ment which he has announced. But he is in command still, 
 and it is best for us to get on as well as we can while his au- 
 
110 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 thority lasts, for it won't last long. But turning from these 
 things to the suggestions of this occasion, let me inquire why 
 we are here. 
 
 The multitude which gathers around the tomb of Webster 
 to-day is drawn hither by differing impulses. Personal at- 
 tachment and the remembrance of charming social intercourse 
 and intimacy bring here contemporaries. Alas that they 
 are so few ! Others are here to pay tribute to eloquence 
 and statesmanship unequalled among men, or to do homage 
 to faculties in their completeness and power well-nigh super- 
 natural. But those upon whom devolve those public duties 
 in the halls of Congress, in the discharge of which he per- 
 formed his greatest work and achieved his most enduring 
 fame, have come to this, the statesman's Mecca, for instruc- 
 tion as well as inspiration, for courage and for light. It is 
 not that they are making a pilgrimage to the tomb of the 
 greatest of all statesmen that their arm and purpose are 
 strengthened by this visit. Nor does the legislator of to- 
 day here grow self-confident in the discharge of duty, be- 
 cause it may be that in looking back over half a century of 
 the Republic he can now see more clearly what has been 
 than this statesman saw what was to be. But those called 
 upon to solve the problems now before us do become bolder 
 in the discharge of that duty when they find that one has 
 gone before them, expounding in advance of them all the 
 great principles of constitutional government and all the 
 general measures of administration which tax our statesman- 
 ship, and that, too, with a profoundness of research and an 
 illumination and power of argument to which neither the 
 study nor the experience of the most gifted who have come 
 after him have added anything. In the forum of debate he 
 placed the nationalism of the Republic upon a foundation 
 which no man could shake. The fallacies which assailed it 
 he ground into impalpable powder which no man could 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. Ill 
 
 gather up, thirty years before it was tried in the fiery ordeal 
 cf the civil war. While yet the statesman of to-day was a 
 schcol-boy or a puling infant, Webster demonstrated the 
 principles which alone are the basis of a sound and stable 
 currency. His burning words upon appointments to the 
 civil service, uttered half a century ago, are still borrowed 
 as the watchword of reform. He made it plain that pro- 
 tection to American labor is national prosperity, and from 
 his lips this people first learned the true constitutional scope 
 of internal improvement. These questions now, as then, 
 confront us, and in grappling with them he stands firmest 
 who plants his feet upon the foundation thus laid for him. 
 When the legislator in the discharge of public duty shall 
 come to where the ways part, and is compelled to follow 
 either the dictates of his own judgment or the opinions of 
 others, if he doubt, let him come here and be taught. Let 
 him here learn that with whomsoever else he may differ, 
 he cannot afford to differ with himself; that with whomso- 
 ever else he may be at war, he must be at peace with him- 
 self, or be of all men the most miserable. If, as it will 
 sometimes be with him, he shall through the long agony of 
 doubt reach at last the luxury of a conviction, woe be to him 
 if he barter that luxury for the approval of others, be they 
 few or many. It is his own judgment and conscience, not 
 other men's, that he must obey. If he cannot win self- 
 respect, he can win no other. What though the vindication 
 be thirty years in coming ! The longer it is waited for, the 
 more full and complete it will be. He does not deserve it 
 who cannot wait for it. 
 
 Thirty years of the life of this Republic have wrought 
 their will upon men and measures since Mr. Webster closed 
 his eyes upon the scenes of earth. Were it permitted him 
 to revisit the theatre of his labors and triumphs in the halls 
 of Congress, and to look again upon senates and cabinets, 
 
112 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 feeling the sources and compassing the boundaries of nation- 
 al power, what a revelation would break upon his vision ! 
 Not a contemporary remains in the public service to greet 
 him. Rivals and rivalries, antagonists and antagonisms, are 
 alike stilled in the grave. But the danger-signals which he 
 reared upon the headlands, little heeded till the storm was 
 upon us, are not forgotten now that the sky is cleared and 
 the ship safe at her anchorage. How grand the procession 
 of events which is passing before his eyes ! The discord- 
 ance of States which he had prayed never to see has indeed 
 come, and the clash of arms and spilling of brothers' blood, 
 from which he had recoiled, are terrible realities now. But 
 he is permitted to see also, rising out of the darkness a 
 more glorious dawn, and out of the conflict a more enduring 
 peace, whose beneficence gladdens his soul. He sees a 
 prosperity and power never dreamed of, crowning a new life 
 and a new baptism of the Republic of to-day, saved, regen- 
 erated and rehabilitated, — a nation altogether free, and 
 thereby altogether "one and inseparable." A vision this, 
 second only to that which " prophets waited for " ! 
 
 Gov. Long said : " Unable to call upon all the New England 
 States, I call upon that one which has, among other honors, 
 the distinction of being the birthplace of Daniel Webster ; 
 and, to respond for that State, I call upon His Excellency 
 Gov. Bell." 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES H. BELL. 
 
 I had expected, Mr. President, to be called upon to answer 
 only for the State of New Hampshire, as the birthplace of 
 the great man whose memory we honor to-day, and I was 
 not apprised until this morning that the greater distinction 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL,. 113 
 
 and responsibility were to be mine, of speaking for the other 
 States of New England also. 
 
 I fear that I shall acquit myself very imperfectly of the 
 duty assigned me, and must beg to apologize for all my 
 shortcomings, in advance. But I have at least the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing that the esteem in which the memory of 
 Webster is held by New Hampshire is shared by all New 
 England, and that when I utter her sentiments, I express 
 equally those of her sister States. 
 
 • It is at once an easy and a difficult thing to speak of Daniel 
 Webster : easy, since there are so many traits of his charac- 
 ter, and so many incidents of his career, that furnish matter 
 for speech ; difficult, because one cannot but realize how in- 
 adequate is all that ordinary man can say, to do justice to 
 his many great qualities, and to portray him in his true 
 proportions. 
 
 Webster, more than any other of the notable men whose 
 lives have constituted the history of the Republic, possessed 
 a combination of elements of greatness which are seldom 
 found, except singly. Most of the leaders of men are de- 
 scribable in a word or a phrase. They are distinguished 
 from their fellows by only a single dimension of superiority. 
 Thus we characterize one as an orator, another as a jurist, 
 and a third as a warrior, and thereby define the one essential 
 quality of each in which he excels. In other respects they 
 are on a par with ordinary humanity. 
 
 But Webster, as he surpassed other men not simply in 
 one, but in divers departments of capacity and attainment, 
 cannot be disposed of in a paragraph. Every path of use- 
 fulness and distinction which he trod needs to be explored 
 and illustrated in order to depict him justly ; and then the 
 hand of a master is requisite to blend the several constituents 
 of the picture into a harmonious whole. 
 
 Let us for a moment consider some of the more important 
 
114 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 relations which he sustained to the community, that we may 
 the better judge what station among men should rightfully 
 be accorded him. 
 
 As a lawyer, he held a place second to no other. Trained 
 in the school of Mason and the other expert practitioners of 
 the New Hampshire bar at the beginning of the century, he 
 early made himself a proficient in the technicalities of the 
 profession. And when his later experience brought him to 
 the consideration of larger questions, when principles were 
 to be discussed in lieu of precedents, his discriminating and 
 logical intellect, saturated with the very spirit of the law, led 
 him unerringly to just conclusions. And I suppose it hardly 
 admits of question that no American jurist, except it may be 
 Marshall alone, dealt with the great problems arising out of 
 the fundamental law of the land, with the confidence, the 
 ease and the mastery of Daniel Webster. 
 
 In like manner, if we regard him as an orator, he stands 
 easily in the foremost rank. There have been public speakers 
 whose discourse warmed and moved popular assemblies, as 
 the wind SAvays the field of ripening grain, but whose words, 
 when read in the cooler atmospheie of the closet, are found 
 to have spent their force, and become mere sounding verbi- 
 age. And there have been others whose harangues had no 
 effect in the delivery, save to empty the seats of hearers, but 
 which light up the printed page with the fire of eloquence, 
 and have secured immortality for their authors. 
 
 It was Webster's happy gift to combine the best qualities 
 of both classes. He was a master of speech. Our language 
 contains no compositions more harmonious, more lucid and 
 more forcible in style than those of Webster. And his man- 
 ner was worthy of his matter. His earnest soul shone forth 
 in his imposing presence, his piercing eye, his resonant voice, 
 his impressive gesticulation. He convinced and delighted 
 his immediate audience, no less than his subsequent readers. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL . ' \ 115 
 
 The speeches by which he won the verdicts of juries^ the 
 judgment of courts, the resolutions of Senates and the 
 plaudits of assemblies, are the same which those who appre- 
 ciate genuine eloquence have perused with ever-increasing 
 admiration since, and which critics hold up as models for 
 imitation to-day. Judging by every proper standard of 
 oratory, we find no superior' of Webster in our history. 
 
 As a statesman, a legislator, a diplomatist, who of our 
 ablest public agents has rendered more substantial benefits 
 to the country than he, or has sustained the national dignity 
 and honor more worthily ? To recapitulate his achievements 
 to this audience is needless ; they are familiar as the national 
 history which records them. 
 
 The chief characteristic of Webster in his public capacity, 
 as it seems to me, was his devotion to his Avhole country. 
 True he loved the State of his nativity with the affection of a 
 child for its mother ; true he loved the State of his adoption, 
 which holds and sacredly guards his ashes ; but he was first 
 and most of all an American citizen. The sense of nation- 
 ality was strong within him ; his sympathies and aspirations 
 and labors were co-extensive with the limits of his country. 
 From his earliest public appearance he manifested a deep 
 and abiding veneration for the fathers of the Republic, and 
 for the system of government which they founded. " Fidel- 
 ity to the Constitution and the Union" was the watchword 
 of his youth, and the motto of his lifetime. It tinged his 
 views and influenced his conduct throughout his whole career. 
 
 He saw the nation involved in two successive wars, neither 
 of which met his approval. From a sense of duty he de- 
 clared his opposition to them, but he did not allow that oppo- 
 sition to reach the point of becoming factious. He loved his 
 native land too well to wish to trail her banner in the dust, 
 for the mere reason that in his opinion the cause for which 
 she engaged in hostilities was insufficient. 
 
116 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 In the days when South Carolina attempted to put in 
 practice the fatal doctrine of nullification, President Jackson 
 stood up manfully for the integrity of the Union and the 
 supremacy of the Constitution, and in so doing placed him- 
 self in direct antagonism to no insignificant portion of his own 
 political party. A less magnanimous and patriotic opponent 
 than Webster would have exulted over the dissension in the 
 hostile camp, and left the contestants to extricate themselves 
 from their dilemma as best they could. But he, true to his 
 life-long convictions, and for the love he bore to his whole 
 country, nobly extended his moral support to the President in 
 enforcing the Constitution and the laws of the land. 
 
 And his attitude in the trying hours of 1850 was taken in ac- 
 cordance with the same cardinal principle of his lifetime. He, 
 more clearly than any of his contemporaries in the North, 
 foresaw the troubles of the future. He knew that disunion 
 and war were inevitable, unless some change could be effect- 
 ed in the attitude of the two great divisions of the nation to- 
 wards one another. And to bring about more cordial relations, 
 and avert the dreaded catastrophe, he was willing to concede 
 much. 
 
 By many his apprehensions were pronounced exaggerated 
 or insincere, and he was cried out upon as an alarmist, and 
 a truckler to the South. But they who thus censured his 
 course, themselves realized, eleven years later, how just were 
 his prognostications ; and then, when they saw that civil war 
 was the sole and certain alternative, they were ready to sur- 
 render much more than he had ever dreamed of yielding. 
 
 One special debt of gratitude which the nation owes to 
 Webster should never be suffered to pass out of remem- 
 brance. Knowing better than any other man the true tem- 
 per of both sections of the country, and realizing the mortal 
 peril that menaced the existence of the Eepublic, he did all 
 that lay in man's power to strengthen the loyal masses for 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 117 
 
 the ordeal. It was his eloquent periods which impressed 
 upon the public mind the inestimable value of our free insti- 
 tutions ; it was his masterly refutation of the specious doc- 
 trine of nullification and secession that constituted the strong- 
 hold of the champions of the Union in 1861. The principles 
 which he established preserved the government from destruc- 
 tion then, and will, we devoutly hope, render it perpetual. 
 
 Great men, not a few, have arisen in the land : has any 
 other one been great in so many ways as Webster was? 
 Our country has been fortunate in many useful public ser- 
 vants : has any other rendered services of equal importance 
 with his ? 
 
 We have had Washington, serene amidst alarms, of dis- 
 cretion and judgment, unsurpassed ; Hamilton, an originator, 
 uniting the bold theories of youth with the practical skill 
 that belongs to maturity, as the orange bears blossoms and 
 fruit together; Jefferson, an investigator, the first to com- 
 prehend and evoke the latent genius of Democracy ; Lincoln, 
 the embodiment of justice and sound sense, his pulse synchro- 
 nous with the beating of the great loyal heart of the nation ; 
 and others, not less eminent and patriotic. Comparisons 
 might, perhaps, be out of place here ; but it is not too much 
 to claim for Daniel Wesbter that he loved his country as 
 well as any of these ; that he gave her as loyal and disinter- 
 ested service : that he contributed as greatly in his day and 
 way to her grandeur and glory ; and that — the petty conten- 
 tions of his time happily forgotten — his name will go down 
 to posterity with equal honor and benediction. 
 
 At this point President Arthur, Gov. Long, Mayor Green, 
 and the other members of the Presidential party, were 
 obliged to retire, and Hon. Stephen M. Allen presided dur- 
 ing the remainder of the exercises. He called upon Hon. 
 
118 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 B. W. Harris to speak for the national House of Repressnta- 
 tives. It was found that Mr. Harris had retired, and Mr. 
 Allen said : " We had hoped to hear from the head of the 
 city of Boston." 
 
 ADDRESS OF HOK SAMUEL A. GREEX, 
 Mayor of Boston. 
 
 I thank you, Mr. President, for your kind mention of the 
 municipality which I have the honor to represent. The city 
 of Boston is in hearty sympathy with these exercises of the 
 Webster Historical Society. The statesman whose life you 
 commemorate to-day was, during many years, a citizen of 
 Boston as well as of Marshfield, and any services touching 
 his memory appeal as deeply and as strongly to the city as 
 to the town. A generation has come and gone since Mr. 
 Webster's death, and few people remember his outward 
 appearance ; but though his manly form has passed away, 
 the great principles for which he stood and struggled are 
 now recognized throughout the nation, and bear witness to 
 the wisdom of his ideas. His views were as broad as the 
 whole country, and took in the interests of every section of 
 the land. His name and fame rest on a solid foundation, 
 and the calumnies of his critics will break as vainly on his 
 character as the surging seas on the rock-bound coast of his 
 native New England. The lesson of this day, Mr. President, 
 will be poorly learned, the inspiration of this hour will be 
 lost, if they do not teach us to study the example and to 
 imitate the virtues of the great expounder of the Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 119 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. EBEXEZER ALDEN. 
 
 Some seven years after Mr. Webster's memorable address 
 at Plymouth, with his family, he first found his way to 
 Marshfield. He boarded, that summer and for two or three 
 seasons, with Capt. John Thomas, in the old colonial man- 
 sion which for the remainder of his life became his country 
 home. 
 
 In an address to his " friends and neighbors " on the occa- 
 sion of a public reception a few months before his death, he 
 said, "Many, when they come down through these pine 
 woods and over these sandy hills to see us, wonder what 
 drew Mr. Webster to Marshfield. Why, gentlemen, I tell 
 them it was partly good sense, but more good fortune." 
 Here he found a retired spot, shut out from the busy world ; 
 a place well situated for his favorite recreation of fishing, 
 both in the brooks and in the bay ; lands which, though 
 sterile and sandy, were capable of improvement, as the thou- 
 sands of trees which he planted and the green acres which 
 he left behind him attested; and what was far more, a kind 
 people of the "twenty years" among whom he said, "Happy 
 have they been to me and mine ; for during all that period I 
 know not of one unkind thing done, or an unkind word 
 spoken, to me or those that are near and dear to me." Mr. 
 Webster's personal magnetism secured for him the warm 
 affection and regard of those immediately about him, the 
 family of whom he bought his house and the neighbors 
 whom he employed upon his farm. To this day those of 
 them who survive, love and revere his memory. 
 
 Mr. Webster identified himself with this people. In the 
 early part of his residence here, habitually, though not so 
 regularly in his last years, he attended worship in the old 
 Pilgrim Church in the neighborhood. Though he appears 
 never to have transferred his relation from the church in 
 
120 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Salisbury, N.H., which he joined when a young man, for a 
 number of years he was a member of the First Parish in 
 this town, and through life cordially gave it his aid in the 
 support of the institutions of the gospel. 
 
 One of the most interesting remembrances of Mr. Web- 
 ster is his selection of the ancient Winslow burying-ground 
 as the place for his tomb. Mount Auburn would have been 
 honored had he chosen that as his last resting-place. He 
 preferred to be associated in after years with the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, the elements of whose character entered so largely 
 into his own. He lies near the site of the thatched meeting- 
 house in which Edward Winslow worshipped God, and not 
 far from the tomb in which are the mortal remains of the 
 first child born to the Pilgrims of the " Mayflower," the first 
 mother, who was also the first bride, of the Plymouth colony, 
 and the first Governor who was a native of our country. His 
 epitaph will carry down to posterity his profound reverence 
 for God, his testimony to the divine reality of the religion 
 of Jesus Christ, and his deep conviction that the only religion 
 which is vital is that of inward experience. 
 
 PRESIDEXT BAPvTLETT'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Allen then introduced President S. C. Bartlett, of 
 Dartmouth College, who spoke as follows : — 
 
 Dartmouth College has never been slow to pay a tribute to 
 her greatest son. Some thirty years ago, almost immediate- 
 ly upon his death, she summoned to her aid the most brilliant 
 of all her alumni, and embalmed the memory of Webster in 
 the matchless words of Rufus Choate. On his centennial 
 birthday in January last, her widely scattered sons gathered 
 in the several centres — Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Chi- 
 cago, Minneapolis — to do him honor. At the annual com- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 121 
 
 mencement in June, they came together from the East and 
 the West to the college halls to listen to an eloquent voice 
 from the South in his praise. And two days ago the board of 
 trustees met in the chief city of his native State and voted to 
 hold up to all future generations of students the recollection, 
 of his illustrious example and his special tastes, by establishing 
 the Daniel Webster professorship of the Latin language and 
 literature. 
 
 Dartmouth College knows him well. She knew him first 
 in the youth not sixteen years of age, with the tears of grati- 
 tude to his self-denying father scarcely dry upon his cheeks, 
 fresh from the counsels and instructions of a country pastor, 
 hastily, and by his own testimony, "miserably prepared, both 
 in Greek and Latin," and by the testimony of his classmates 
 "through his collegiate course, improving in excellence as 
 time advanced." The loving survivors of his classmates and 
 friends, fifty years later, drew so well the portrait of the 
 youthful student, that he stands before us unmistakable and 
 lifelike. Let me present to you the picture in the very 
 words they used. Behold, then, the young undergraduate, 
 already holding men by "those black piercing eyes, peering 
 out under dark, overhanging brows;" the solemn tones 
 of his voice on special occasions, the mingled "modesty" and 
 "dignity of his mien," and the "earnestness with which he 
 threw his whole soul into his subject." He stands before us 
 in character " unimpeachable," " constant at the recitation and 
 always well prepared," "good in all the branches," "pecul- 
 iarly industrious," though mastering his studies "with ease," 
 "distinguished for the uncommon extent of his knowledge," 
 "his thorough investigation," the "vigor "and "fulness" of 
 his thinking, and "the flow of his eloquence," — so pre-emi- 
 nent that "no one of his class was ever spoken of as second 
 to him," accounted, indeed, "the most remarkable man in 
 college." We can stand even with Elihu Smith by his side 
 
122 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 as "he received his degree with a graceful bow ; " and, two 
 months later, with Daniel Abbott, Ave shake hands with him 
 on the east bank of the Merrimac, as he sets off " on horse- 
 back, with his wardrobe and his library in his saddle-bags," 
 to his magnificent career, then all unknown, now known to 
 all. That boy was father of that man. 
 
 Dartmouth College was fortunate in receiving Daniel Web- 
 ster within her walls ; or, if you please, in possessing the 
 qualities and conditions that drew him thither. But she can 
 only claim to have helped in some degree the unfolding of 
 his extraordinary powers. His mind was then as unique as 
 his massive head. It was no 'prentice pupil sent to drudge 
 through some routine drill : it was the young master come to 
 gather up the implements of his mighty art. No institution 
 made Daniel Webster : he was himself an institution. And 
 yet shall I say that, though an exceptional alumnus, he was, 
 in some respects, a representative alumnus, showing forth, 
 though to an almost ideal extent, the mental force and direct- 
 ness, the breadth and clearness, the industry and practical- 
 ness, toward which the long line of her alumni have steadily 
 aimed and moved. 
 
 His Alma Mater did for her foster child what she could ; 
 and in the early prime of his powers he did for her what he 
 could, perhaps what no other man could. She had given 
 him her literary honors : he brought his professional honors 
 and laid them at her feet. His first national glory became 
 her glory and defence. Who does not know the story of 
 the little college struggling in the grasp of the State ; of the 
 case transferred to the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 and regarded by one of its judges beforehand as hardly a 
 case at all ; of that masterly argument to which Judge Story 
 listened "the first hour with astonishment, the second with 
 delight, and the third with conviction ;" of the orator waxing 
 warm and tender at the last, till his voice choked with emo- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 123 
 
 tion, and many around were in tears ; and the interval of 
 silence that fell like a curtain on the audience as he closed? 
 He had fused his great intellect and great heart into one great 
 argument for the good mother that he loved, and the fiery 
 stream, like some lava-tide, had swept all before it as it 
 rolled on its way. But, till the decision came, he still bore 
 "a load much heavier," he said, than he "was accustomed to 
 near." I hold in my hand a letter of his, written in the 
 interval (July 27, 1818), showing alike his modesty and his 
 magnanimity. "I send you," he wrote to his friend McGaw, 
 who had asked it, "with great cheerfulness, a sketch of our 
 views of the case in the question about Dartmouth College. 
 I have never allowed myself to indulge any great hopes of 
 success ; but, if even a few such men as Judge Wilde should 
 think that we had made out our case, it would repay the 
 labor. If you should think there is any merit in the man- 
 ner of the argument, you must recollect that it is drawn 
 from materials furnished by Judge Smith and Mr. Mason, as 
 well as from the little contributed by myself." Six months 
 later he could write that memorable letter beginning, "All is 
 safe and certain." The decision had been rendered, which, 
 in the words of Everett, " was a battle fought and a victory 
 gained for every college and university, for every academy 
 and school, in the United States endowed with property or 
 possessed of chartered rights," "the doctrines of which" — 
 so said Chief Justice Waite in 1879 — "have become so im- 
 bedded in the jurisprudence of the United States as to make 
 them, to all intents and purposes, a part of the Constitution." 
 Even in defending the college that he loved, he was then an 
 expounder of the Constitution, which he loved better still. 
 
 And, as he never forgot the friends of his youth, so he 
 never forgot the institution of his early training. Within 
 the present year there has come a reminiscence from the 
 West — a voice from the past — of Webster in his later 
 
124 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 years saying in substance to his fellow-alumnus, a wealthy 
 congressman : " I once did for the college what I could with 
 my legal skill, and I charge you to do for her what you can 
 with your wealth." He loved her thus to the end with an 
 affection so warm, and was bound to her with ties so strong 
 — being rightly named by Judge Hopkinson, her second 
 founder — that we may not inaptly say, adapting his own 
 famous words — Daniel Webster and Dartmouth College, in 
 influence and history, " now and forever, one and insepara- 
 ble." 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. GEO. B. LOEING. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 President Bartlett has spoken in a tender and affectionate 
 manner of one of the great sons of Dartmouth, over which 
 institution he has the honor to preside. That he should 
 have clone this with the proudest emotion is natural, when 
 we remember that Daniel Webster is the great alumnus of 
 that ancient college. That he should have done it with the 
 warmest emotion is natural, when we remember that from 
 the lips of that great son of a distinguished Alma Mater, 
 there fell the most eloquent and touching appeal ever made 
 for the very existence of a maternal institution of learning, 
 recorded in all the long line of oratorical triumphs. The 
 conclusion of that masterly argument has made Dartmouth 
 College radiant with tender associations. It was in her de- 
 fence that the voice of every faithful and affectionate alumnus 
 was uttered in behalf of his Alma Mater. When Daniel 
 Webster, amidst the solemn and tearful stillness of the 
 highest court in the land, moved as it was by his argument 
 and by his eloquence to tears, exclaimed, "Sir, I know not 
 how others may feel, but for myself, when I see my Alma 
 Mater surrounded, like Caesar in the senate house, by those 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 125 
 
 who are reiterating stab after stab, I would not, for this 
 right hand, have her turn to me and say, * Et tu quoque, mi 
 fiW — and thou too, my son!" he expressed the emotion 
 which every scholar feels towards the spot where his mind 
 was directed along the fragrant walks of knowledge, and 
 where his rising powers first felt the sweet influences which 
 fill the Academic groves. 
 
 And now I take Daniel Webster and bring him before you 
 as an alumnus of that college which made him her adopted 
 son, and which, in taking to her bosom this illustrious child 
 of Dartmouth, felt that she secured to herself as high an 
 honor in adopting him as she did in sending forth that long 
 line of illustrious statesmen, lawyers, jurists, theologians, 
 who have made her history the admiration of the literary 
 world. I speak for Harvard here, not because I think my- 
 self worthy to perform this service. There are those here, 
 and have been this day, who stand foremost on her distin- 
 guished and honorable roll, and who, as the leading scholars 
 of the classes in which they were graduated, represent her 
 power in the cultivation of the human mind. I do my ser- 
 vice, then, sir, with many misgivings, conscious that my 
 voice is feeble beside theirs, and that I can in no way respond 
 as would the President of that illustrious University, were he 
 here to discharge this duty which has fallen from his shoul- 
 ders upon my own, with his silver tongue and his powerful 
 oratory, pleading for the prosperity and rejoicing in the 
 honorable record of the great institution over which he pre- 
 sides. 
 
 I speak, then, as an humble son of Harvard, and I desire 
 in that capacity to present to your minds the relations which 
 Daniel Webster held to that great college during his majestic 
 career as a citizen of Massachusetts, and as the foremost 
 statesman of the Republic in his day. He was for a long 
 time a member of the government of Harvard, called by her 
 
126 THE AVEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 into intimate relations with herself, as she has so often called 
 with the warmest cordiality the great intellects which have 
 come within her cognizance. She accepted Daniel Webster as 
 her friend and ally and son ; she accepted with the same spirit 
 the great Agassiz, to teach the world that for all great intel- 
 lectual powers she had a warm and affectionate heart. He 
 sat at her council board to give the weight of his great name 
 to the dignified presence she maintained before the world, 
 and the salutary influence of his instinctive love of sound 
 learning as the sure foundation of the Republic. And when 
 the time arrived for the celebration of the second centennial 
 anniversary of her foundation, she summoned him among the 
 great and £ood of the land who gathered around her hearth- 
 stone and called her mother. I remember it well, that most 
 distinguished assembly of all goodly companies which ever 
 gathered within the borders of this ancient Commonwealth. 
 It was the anniversary of the founding of that college which 
 was so dear to the heart of the founders of the State, the 
 conditores impeviorum who framed our free institutions. 
 Men had assembled there, the old and the young, to worship 
 once more at the altar which they loved so well. There in 
 that illustrious assembly, gathered around the festive board, sat 
 Josiah Quincy, the wise and honored President of the Univer- 
 sity, the orator of the occasion, the historian of Harvard, the 
 incorruptible magistrate, the son of that inspired and inspiring 
 orator of the Revolution, who, dying as he approached his 
 native shores on his return from his patriotic mission to the 
 mother country, bearing within his soul his divine love of 
 freedom, bequeathed to his boy his treasured books, and his 
 solemn injunctions to be a faithful and patriotic citizen, and 
 an obedient and devoted son to his bereaved mother. 
 
 There, too, sat Edward Everett, the most brilliant and 
 accomplished orator of that day or of any day of our Repub- 
 lic, — he who has left for the young men of this country a 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 127 
 
 legacy of literature which should be cherished and studied 
 for all time to come, as the Chief Magistrate of the Republic 
 has told us the volumes of Webster should be cherished, for 
 doctrine and reproof and for the strengthening of the massive 
 structure of the government under which we live, — to cele- 
 brate, as he said in his fascinating address as presiding officer 
 of the dinner, "the birthday of the genial mother of our 
 spirits, who folded us in her arms and carried us in her 
 bosom* and not us alone, but all who for two hundred 
 years have drawn the pure milk of intellectual life and truth 
 from her maternal breast." With what enthusiasm he re T 
 minded us also that " within the short space of twenty-three 
 years there were graduated at Harvard six men who exer- 
 cised an influence over the country's destinies which no time 
 shall outlive ! Within that brief period there went forth 
 from yonder walls, James Otis, John Hancock, Joseph 
 Warren, Josiah Quincy, besides Samuel and John Adams 
 — * (jeminos duofalmina belli. 9 " 
 
 There sat the venerable and scholarly and pure-minded 
 John Thornton Kirkland, the beloved ex-President of the 
 University, who from his warm and genial heart declared, 
 as he addressed that great audience with a faltering voice 
 from which the old-time music had not yet died out, " that 
 the necessary expenses of a liberal education should be re- 
 duced, that the stream of knowledge may be open to all who 
 will drink." 
 
 There sat John Gorham Palfrey, the scholarly divine of 
 that day, the statesman and brilliant and philosophical his- 
 torian of a later day, impressing upon those who listened to 
 his sound and admirable speech the inseparable union of 
 "learning and religion, twin sisters, united in their origin, 
 united in their imperial sway over man's higher nature." 
 
 There sat Joseph Story, just then in the height of his great 
 judicial career, the learned law student and author of the 
 
128 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL 
 
 land, the profound, patriotic, liberal jurist and interpreter 
 of the Constitution, extending a kindly greeting, and stretch- 
 ins: out his hand of fraternal love to the universities of 
 old England. 
 
 There, too, sat Lemuel Shaw, — of whom I once heard one 
 of the most brilliant of the bar of this country say, that he 
 " had made more law than any man of his time in America," — 
 the pride of Massachusetts jurisprudence, who, true to the 
 mistress. whom he loved and honored through a long and 
 pure and dignified and learned life, gave as his sentiment on 
 the occasion, " The law : nurtured by an enlightened philoso- 
 phy, invigorated by sound learning, and embellished by elegant 
 literature, the most efficient support of constitutional liberty." 
 
 And there sat Peleg Sprague, the lofty descendant of the 
 best of the Pilgrims, the great Senator of one State, that of 
 his adoption, the great jurist of another State, that of his 
 birth, who, after having shed glory and honor upon the child 
 of Massachusetts as a Senator, shed still more glory and hon- 
 or upon his native State as one of the great jurists of the 
 land. I can see him now with his manly port, his glowing 
 eye, his Roman face, paying his warm tribute to the virtues 
 of his ancestors and declaring of the Pilgrim mothers "as 
 Cicero declared of letters, ' 'Adolescentiam alunt, senectutem 
 oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis solatium prcebent, 
 delectant domi.'" 
 
 John Collins Warren, the son of the great surgeon of the 
 Revolution, the nephew of the martyr at Bunker Hill, the 
 imperial surgeon of his own time, modestly and ardently 
 expressed " gratitude to the noble country of our fathers." 
 And Hugh S. Legare, of South "Carolina, standing on the soil 
 of Massachusetts, and remembering the bond that bound 
 these powerful States together in the days of trial, and re- 
 membering moreover the deep and unquenchable sympathy 
 which existed between the Huguenots and the Puritans in 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 129 
 
 their love of religious liberty and their search for it on the 
 wild shores of an unexplored continent, exclaimed with the 
 fervid eloquence of the native State, as the fraternal sentiment 
 he would contribute to the occasion, " The fathers of New 
 England ! like the wisest of all men, they sought wisdom 
 first, and with wisdom they found all the blessings of exist- 
 ence." 
 
 And I think no one of all that throng could ever forget 
 the uprising of the young lyrist of America who appeared 
 there almost for the first time on a public occasion, just re- 
 turned from Europe with the culture and enthusiasm of the 
 youthful scholar, and sang with a superba audacia as one of 
 the most brilliant wits and advocates of that day called it, 
 his song " When the Puritans came over," having just then 
 commenced a career which has made the name of Oliver 
 Wendell Holmes a household word throughout the land 
 wherever refined wit, and pure sentiment, and generous 
 appeal, and patriotic fervor, and honorable service are appre- 
 ciated, and who has just closed a distinguished service as 
 one of the cultivated teachers of American youth in the 
 walks of sound and reliable science, retiring to private life 
 and " delightful studies " with the kindly benediction of the 
 " troops of friends " whom he has secured in every sphere of 
 educated life 
 
 But among them all and above them all, the loftiest peak 
 in all that mountain range, there sat one man who as he rose 
 seemed to lift up that congregation of scholars and to crown 
 the scene with the " eternal sunshine " of his towering natural 
 powers. He was not a son of Harvard. He was a son, sir, 
 of Dartmouth, with all his love of education and all his vast 
 intellectual force and ambition inspired by what was in his 
 early days a frontier college. Having drunk from her springs 
 he had brought his great mind into the service of Massachu- 
 setts, and had given his presence to the halls of Harvard, a 
 
130 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 pillar to the Commonwealth, a crown to all the imposing 
 mental strength engaged at that day in completing her great- 
 ness. I do not now recall the sentiment to which he respond- 
 ed, but I do remember the theme on which he dwelt, and I 
 cannot express the regret I feel that his speech has nowhere 
 been recorded. With great feeling and eloquence he entered 
 upon his discourse on popular education. There in those 
 classic walls, in the presence of the scholars whom I have 
 enumerated, he placed himself alongside of what Lord Bacon 
 calls the common and concurrent judgment and intellect of 
 mankind, and spoke his eloquent word for that vast flowing 
 tide of popular education which has borne on the American 
 people to their great achievement among the nations of the 
 earth. As an alumnus of Dartmouth and an adopted son of 
 Harvard, a college student standing on college ground, he 
 spoke for that universal diffusion of knowledge which has 
 roused the American mind and warmed the American heart 
 with that love of sound learning which has made us powerful 
 in peace and in war, strong, independent, loyal. Let me 
 say in the presence of this assembly, in the presence of the 
 head of that favored college which gave Webster his educa- 
 tion, let me say as the representative of the practical and 
 industrial department of our government, claiming no merit 
 of scholarship beyond that which would teach the farmers of 
 this country how to manage that inestimable blessing, their 
 own independent acres, as the head of that department which 
 I trust will one day stand, as it should, foremost in the confi- 
 dence and esteem of the people whose servant it is, — let me 
 say that Mr. Webster's power on that occasion grew out of 
 the fact that he embodied in himself, more than any other 
 man then living, that broad general culture which distinguishes 
 the American mind. From the schools of this country and 
 Europe there go forth scientists who devote themselves to 
 exploring the realm of matter and to interpreting all physical 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 131 
 
 laws, and scholars to whom the great volume of learning 
 is open on every page. The contest between these great 
 classes of cultivated minds has found expression in the dis- 
 cussion on the comparative value of classical and technolog- 
 ical studies which has so long occupied the educational 
 thought of both continents. When Matthew Arnold discusses 
 " cultivation of a sense for conduct," and " cultivation of a 
 sense for beauty," he defines the two lines along which mod- 
 ern education has chosen to travel. And when he discusses 
 the one as against the other, and declares for that literary 
 culture which prepares the human mind for a true under- 
 standing of all that is beautiful in thought, he assumes that 
 there must be a natural incapacity for comprehending the 
 practical and the aesthetic at the same time. But we are 
 taught that this is not so. The business of American educa- 
 tion is to send into every walk in life skill and taste com- 
 bined. Capacity for work and love of knowledge are the 
 two halves of that dual existence which the learned American 
 longs to compass. This combination our boys labor for in 
 the industrial college, our prosperous men in every branch 
 of business desire, and our laboring men may find in it the 
 comfort and solace of the hard toil of life. As a representa- 
 tive of these two educational forces Mr. Webster stands 
 almost unequalled. Placing them in parallel lines he went 
 on in his great educational work. Here on these hills he 
 applied his " cultivation of his sense for conduct," that which 
 made him a useful companion to the farmers of this country ; 
 that which made him love his land as a farmer should love 
 it ; that which made him proud of his crops and gave him a 
 profound interest in all agricultural association and endeavor. 
 With what enthusiasm he gave instruction to his farmer ! 
 How fondly he dwells on the details of his farm ! From his 
 sick-chamber in Washington he sends forth instructions with 
 regard to his lands and his cattle, which had evidently given 
 
132 THE WEBSTEK CENTENNIAL. 
 
 him a new sense of life, and had lifted him into the sturdy 
 strength of the yeoman as he "walks afield." The consola- 
 tion which he drew from the contemplation of healthy animal 
 life was like a religious consolation to his soul. In his hard 
 toil the memories of rural life cheered him ; in his hours of 
 pain and weakness the abounding life of nature was his cor- 
 dial. The comfort and repose which Choate found in his 
 library, Webster found on his farm. The one leaned for 
 support on the arm of his fellow-man, the other found 
 strength from reposing on the lap of Nature. And while 
 pursuing with his whole mind and heart this practical and 
 material path, without contraction or narrowness, never 
 sharpened and belittled by details, he kept his mind filled 
 with that literary inspiration which gave him his vast power 
 whenever he appeared before senates and the people, and 
 gave him the capacity to win for himself the enviable title of 
 the great Defender of the Constitution, and enabled him to 
 convince courts and juries by his learning as a lawyer and his 
 might as an advocate. So I say in response to the toast for 
 Harvard, that when she adopted Daniel Webster as her son, 
 she took to her fireside one who represented the American 
 mind in all its power, and represented as you, I am sure, 
 once the distinguished and thoughtful Secretary of the Board 
 of Education in Massachusetts [turning to Gov. Boutwell], 
 will recognize, the importance of that wide general culture 
 which makes our boys useful wherever they may be found ; 
 which has made the popular mind of America the command- 
 ing mind of this age of the world ; which enables us to adopt 
 all cultivated men from foreign lands into the deepest labor 
 of our life ; leads us to open our doors to all great intellectual 
 effort ; and is preparing the way we have opened in the last 
 half-century to range ourselves by the side of the highest 
 literary nations of ancient or modern times. 
 
 Now, my friends, I hope you will pardon me. Had I had 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 133 
 
 five minutes' warning I could have made a shorter speech, 
 but I had comparatively no warning at all. The programme 
 of this performance was presented to me as I was coming to 
 this tent, with the statement that I was to respond for Har- 
 vard College. My heart sank within me, and it was not 
 until I had the pleasure and honor of facing an audience of 
 my fellow r -citizens that my courage rose with the occasion 
 and gave me power to respond, even in this unworthy man- 
 ner, to the toast assigned me. I only wish President Eliot 
 had been here, sir. I only wish the President of the for- 
 tunate University which adopted Daniel Webster could have 
 been here to join hands with the accomplished President of 
 the still more fortunate college which gave him birth, so that 
 the American people might see how the son of one literary 
 family can be adopted into the domestic harmony and peace 
 and beauty of another. 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
 
 President Allen said : " We expected with us to-day the 
 venerable President of the New England Historic, Genealog- 
 ical Society. Not being able to come, he sent a few words, 
 and I will ask Hon. Albert Palmer to read them to you." 
 
 Hon. Albert Palmer prefaced his reading by saying : " Mr. 
 President, I feel honored in being called upon to read the 
 very short speech of the venerable gentleman whose absence 
 by this Society is profoundly regretted, as it is always 
 regretted in any public assembly in Massachusetts. Mr. 
 Wilder's letter is as follows : " 
 
 Your Excellency : I thank you most sincerely for your 
 recognizance of the Xew England Historic, Genealogical So- 
 ciety on this occasion. This is manifestly proper, for, like 
 our parent institution, the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 
134 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 its mission is to gather up, preserve and transmit to those 
 who are to succeed us whatever may be interesting and in- 
 structive in regard to the history of our blessed land, and 
 especially of our own beloved Xew England. And what can 
 be of more interest to a son of America than the commemo- 
 ration of the life and services of him whose birth we this day 
 celebrate, of him to whom this nation owes more for the 
 preservation of her Constitution and the perpetuation of our 
 honor than to any other man ? I have spoken on several 
 occasions commemorative of the birth of Mr. Webster the 
 present season, and I most heartily rejoice that I am remem- 
 bered among those who are to take part in these ceremonies. 
 I rejoice, also, that the Webster Historical Society have in 
 their wisdom chosen this place, the consecrated home of our 
 departed friend, as a most appropriate spot on which to show 
 forth, by public demonstration, that gratitude which the na- 
 tion owes to the memory of her illustrious son — here, by 
 the presence of the chief magistrate of our nation and other 
 dignitaries of our land and these congregated thousands, to 
 engrave on the tablet of time another memorial of the worth 
 of one of the greatest men of this or any other age. 
 
 As I have said on another occasion, I count it one of the 
 happiest reminiscences of my somewhat protracted life that I 
 was numbered among the friends of Mr. Webster ; and I am 
 most grateful to the Giver of all good that my life has been 
 prolonged to this time, and that I am able once more to join 
 in the service of paying honors to the memory of one of the 
 most illustrious men the world has ever known. Xew Eng- 
 land has had no such other talented son ; America has had 
 no superior statesman, orator or jurist. As a wise counsel- 
 lor in the halls of Congress, as champion of the American 
 Union, the expounder of the Constitution and the great apostle 
 of international right, he stood above all his compeers in this 
 or other lands. His works are among the most valuable of 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 135 
 
 American literature. No other set of volumes contains more 
 patriotism or wisdom than these. In your own words, Mr. 
 President, "He put the work and genius of more than an 
 ordinary lifetime of service into the arching and knitting of 
 the Union. He made it the charter of one great country, 
 the United States of America. He made the States a nation, 
 and enfolded them in its single banner. To-day, and while 
 the Eepublic endures, the student and the legislator turn to 
 the full fountain of his statement for the enunciation of these 
 principles. His extraordinary intellectual power, his com- 
 prehensive mind, his powerful advocacy of those great prin- 
 ciples which have made our nation what it is, have astonished 
 the world, and will forever illumine the history of our blessed 
 land and shine with brighter and brighter effulgence, while 
 honor, patriotism, loyalty and integrity shall have a place in 
 the record of human excellence." 
 
 Mr/President, I rejoice in the establishment of the Web- 
 ster Historical Society, whose peculiar object is the gather- 
 ing up and preserving through future time all that can be 
 secured in regard to the life and services of America's illus- 
 trious son. God bless its efforts ! Long may it live to pur- 
 sue the noble work of perpetuating the name and fame of 
 Daniel Webster ! 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. THOMAS RUSSELL. 
 I thank you, Governor, for calling on me to respond to 
 that sentiment. You represent the State. Our Society 
 represents the founders of the State. And never Avere their 
 virtues better set forth than by Daniel Webster, and never 
 was a nobler sacrifice offered to their memory, than when, 
 standing on Plymouth Rock and speaking in their name, lie 
 stamped out the remains of the foul African slave trade in 
 
136 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 New England. Well may he rest by the side of the children 
 of Winslow, almost in sight of the homes and graves of 
 Alden, of Standish and Brewster, of Bradford and of Carver. 
 
 But when Webster had spoken of the Pilgrims, nothing 
 remained to be said ; and you will pardon me if I leave my 
 text to tell briefly Avhy an old Abolitionist desires to be here 
 to-day. I never found it necessary to prove my loyalty to 
 liberty by attempting to defile the tomb of Daniel Webster. 
 We have grown tolerant since 1850. It has come to be sus- 
 pected that two men may differ and yet each be honest. We 
 can retain our respect for a faithful representative in either 
 branch of Congress who has voted for a bill that we do not 
 altogether like, while we give honor and praise and thanks 
 to the President who met that bill by a manly veto. 
 
 When our friend Allen told me that this celebration was 
 planned for the sixth day of October, I said to him, " Make 
 it the 6th of March and everybody will come ! " And that 
 light word brings up the thought, can it be that this great 
 man who for sixty-eight years had lived in all honor — the 
 upright statesman, the devoted patriot, the loving son and 
 father, the faithful husband — yes, in spite of lying lips and 
 prurient pens, the faithful husband — the kind neighbor, the 
 good citizen — can it be that all at once he allowed his glory 
 to depart, and became a recreant to the principles of his life ? 
 Forbid it, charity, forbid it, common sense ! On the 7th of 
 March his most disappointed friend might say, "The past at 
 least is secure, and in the light of the past must this day be 
 judged." 
 
 Kemember, the motive of his speech was the fear of dis- 
 union, the dread of civil war. And the answer from a thou- 
 sand platforms and presses was that there was no danger, 
 and that war was a bugbear. Long ago Ave learned that he 
 saw more than others, although even his eyes could not see 
 what ours now behold. But if all could have seen what he 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 137 
 
 then saw, and could have seen no more, how many of his 
 critics would have been found upon his side ! 
 
 When Edward Everett died he was honored by the love 
 and reverence of the whole land. Yet he had approved every 
 word that had been spoken by his friend. How, then, did 
 he gain this unanimity of praise ? Simply by living to share 
 and to guide the public counsels in the hour of war. And 
 who doubts where Webster would have been found in that 
 hour ? Who does not feel that the full height and depth and 
 warmth of a plea for union was never reached because his 
 tongue Avas silent in the grave? How often in those dark 
 days did we borrow the language of Choate and cry out, 
 " Oh for one hour of Daniel Webster ! " Yet did Ave not hear 
 his voice, and was not his influence felt all through the war? 
 To what armory did men turn for weapons ; at what source 
 did they find inspiration ? You cannot trace out the love of 
 union which you feel, any more than you can trace each grain 
 of iron in your veins. But more than tongue can tell, it 
 came from the teachings of Webster. I can ffive one remi- 
 niscence, which I received from an older member of my 
 family, of a memorable occasion in 1830 9 when the elder 
 children were allowed to remain at the fireside until mid- 
 night, while their father, with faltering voice and tearful eyes, 
 read the grand defence of Massachusetts and of the Union. 
 His influence flows through every vein and throbs in every 
 nerve of this nation's life. None of our generals — no, not 
 our all-conquering Grant — wielded a mightier force in its 
 defence. Think of tile double victory he helped to win. He 
 was blamed because his love of union seemed to overshadow 
 his love of liberty. But by the restoration of union was 
 liberty secured. The slave was emancipated by the triumph 
 of our government, and our government triumphed through 
 the victories of our armies, and those armies were recruited 
 and inspired by the love of union which he had spent his life 
 
138 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 to teach. Glorious champion ! lying here by the sea, he 
 struck a blow which helped to break alike the force of rebel- 
 lion and the fetters of the slave. And the triumph was 
 neither temporary nor partial. It is union forever ! Thank 
 
 God, it is LIBERTY FOR ALL ! 
 
 President Allen said, " I recognize among us one whose 
 face thirty years ago was seen at the funeral of Webster, and 
 who was then the Governor of the Commonwealth. I have 
 the honor to introduce to you the Hon. George S. Boutwell, 
 of Massachusetts." 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen: 
 
 Mr. Webster was one of the last of a long line of American 
 statesmen who, in the presence of slavery, strove to pre- 
 serve liberty and the Union, and of that long line he was the 
 greatest. For seventy years the thoughtful men of all 
 parties were forced to consider the system of slavery in 
 America, its relations to the Union, and its inherent antag- 
 onism to the principles on which the government was 
 founded. 
 
 Slavery gave birth to one form of civilization, and freedom 
 srave birth to another, and from the be<rinnin<>; the rule of the 
 continent was the prize for which the parties contended. 
 Each succeeding census made clear and more clear the truth 
 that time was on the side of liberty, and that a postponement 
 of the struggle would be fatal to slavery. Hence, each 
 census from 1820 to 1860, inclusive, with the exception of 
 that of 1840, when the public mind was pre-occupied with 
 grave questions of finance, wrought a crisis which menaced 
 the public peace. On two occasions Mr. Webster met the 
 peril and controlled it. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 139 
 
 First, in 1830, when he chose his place with Gen. Jack- 
 son, and won imperishable fame on the floor of the Senate ; 
 and again, in 1850, when he secured a postponement of the 
 contest, but at the sacrifice of his popularity and the ruin of 
 his fortunes. Mr. AVebster claimed that the postponement 
 of the struggle would result in the supremacy of liberty and 
 the preservation of the Union ; and it would be unjust to 
 deny to him that foresight, statesmanship and patriotism 
 which the claim involves. It is true, indeed, that he did not 
 anticipate the immediate abolition of slavery. His thoughts 
 and policy contemplated only peaceful measures. First, the 
 limitation of the system, and then the gradual emancipation 
 of the slaves. The compromise measures of 1850 gave the 
 North ten years of time, and those years were years of prep- 
 aration for the struggle of 1860 and the war of the rebellion. 
 
 In those ten years the public mind was educated and the 
 body of the people were prepared for the solution of the 
 problem, whether by peace or by war. If the contest had 
 been precipitated in 1850 the result might have been a 
 division of the Republic, and for the continent there would 
 have been neither union nor liberty. 
 
 It is not just to Mr. AVebster to assume that he builded 
 better than he knew. He builded as he knew. 
 
 At the moment of his death his policy appeared to be 
 acceptable to the country, but in less than two years, old 
 compromises were violated, and it was then idle and in vain 
 to make appeals in behalf of the new. In the review we 
 must admit that the processes of compromise from the for- 
 mation of the Constitution to the opening of the rebellion 
 were calculated to preserve liberty and the Union, and, in 
 the end, to render them one and inseparable. The incidental 
 results were disagreeable, but they were also temporary. 
 The end was freedom for the continent, and a continent 
 included within the limits of the Union. 
 
140 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Thus liberty and the Union became one and inseparable. 
 
 For thirty years Mr. Webster was the chief personage in 
 Massachusetts, in New England, in the Republic. In politics 
 he had competitors, but in diplomacy, in logical precision 
 and force, in knowledge of the Constitution, in ability to 
 deal with the gravest questions of law and statesmanship, in 
 that genius by whose poAver he adorned whatever he said 
 with an imagery as bold and magnificent as that of Milton, 
 and as true to nature as that of Shakespeare, he was without 
 an equal or a rival. Wherever he stood he was great, and 
 the demand which he made for public consideration was 
 based on that greatness. 
 
 v Mr. Webster was not an unconscious bearer of a royal 
 intellect, and at the end he was forced to look with some- 
 thing of contempt upon that public action which advanced 
 inferior men and denied to him the chiefest honor of the 
 Republic. 
 
 When Mr. Webster spoke at Plymouth in 1820, when he 
 spoke in the Senate of 1830, there were men living who had 
 heard Burke, and Fox, and Sheridan, and with them only, 
 of all English speaking orators, was he contrasted or com- 
 pared. And if, for the moment, we can command the whole 
 range of history, it is difficult to summon another orator 
 who, in the Senate and in the contest of 1830, could have 
 met so completely the demand of the occasion, and justified 
 so fully his cause and his conduct of it to future ages. And 
 if again, for the moment, we can command the whole range 
 of history, can its ten great orators be named and Mr. Web- 
 ster be excluded from the list ? Of those who have spoken 
 the English language, he is inferior only to Burke, and if 
 the position which Macaulay assigns to Burke shall be sus- 
 tained by the continuing judgment of mankind, then will 
 Mr. Webster's countrymen claim for him the second place on 
 the page of universal history. ' An orator is not made by a 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 141 
 
 single happy paragraph, nor born of one fortunate speech. 
 He is to live in the public eye through a long period of time, 
 and he must deal temperately, forcibly, persuasively, wisely, 
 with a variety of questions touching the public interests or 
 relating to the public welfare. All these conditions, and 
 whatever else may be demanded of the orator, were fully met 
 in Mr. Webster's career. 
 
 Mr. Webster was great in intellect, majestic in his person, 
 great in his friendships, great in his enmities. 
 
 His fame rests upon the intellectual forces that he pos- 
 sessed, and the nature and extent of the uses to which they 
 were applied. A public man cannot choose his career. He 
 must deal with the questions of his own generation. It was 
 Mr. Webster's fortune to be called to the study and discus- 
 sion of a new constitution framed for a new people. In the 
 main his views have been sustained by judicial decisions and 
 sanctioned by the course of political events. 
 
 The virtue of a written constitution is in the interpretation 
 given to it. Mr. Webster spoke for national life, for national 
 power, for public honor, for public virtue. His views of the 
 Constitution are to be considered by all who shall study that 
 Constitution and by all who are called to interpret it. He 
 has thus become a worker in all the future of the Republic. 
 The two great orators of antiquity pleaded the cause of dying 
 states, but it was Webster's better fortune to aid in giving 
 form and character to a young and growing nation. 
 
142 THE WEBSTER CENTENXIAL. 
 
 LETTERS FROM INVITED GUESTS. 
 
 The following are extracts from letters of invited guests 
 who were unable to be present : — 
 
 [From Hon. Roscoe Conkling.] 
 
 I beg you to receive my thanks for the invitation to be 
 the guest of the Webster Historical Society, at Marshfield 
 on the 12th of October, on occasion of the Centennial celebra- 
 tion of Mr. Webster's birth. Much esteeming the honor of 
 your note, it would be very gratifying to join in paying hom- 
 age to the memory of a man whose fame far outreached his 
 country, when to be foremost in Massachusetts might have 
 rounded the ambition of any man. A master of our lan- 
 guage, a master of the science and the practice of govern- 
 ment and of law, his knowledge of our institution, and his 
 matchless powers of exposition, enabled him to leave an 
 imperishable impress on the history and thought of America. 
 To pay honor to such an intellect and to such achievements 
 is to bear good witness of ourselves. 
 
 I would I could be one of you on the appointed day, but 
 less grateful duties deny me the privilege. 
 
 [From Hon. William M. Evarts.] 
 I regret very much to find that it will be quite impossible 
 for me to attend the Marshfield celebration on Thursday 
 night. I had expected to be able to take part in this inter- 
 esting commemoration at the earlier date purposed for it, but 
 engagements which I cannot escape will prevent my leaving 
 the city at this time. I should be very glad, by a visit to 
 Marshfield, to recall the impressive scene at Mr. Webster's 
 burial just thirty years ago, as well as to meet and hear the 
 eminent persons who are to pay their homage to his memory 
 at his grave. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 143 
 
 [From George Ticknor Curtis, Esq.] 
 
 New York, October 8, 1882. 
 
 Gentlemen, — I have been honored by your invitation to 
 attend the celebration at Marshfield on the 12th of this 
 month, of the centennial year of Mr. Webster's birth, to be 
 held under the auspices* of the Webster Historical Society. 
 It will not be in my power to be present ; and it is with a 
 divided feeling that I am obliged to forego the acceptance of 
 your invitation. I should indeed be most glad on some 
 accounts to unite with you in paying honor to the memory 
 of my great friend, at his favorite home and at the tomb 
 where his mortal remains repose. But I have not seen 
 Marshfield since the time-, now nearly thirty years ago, when 
 I stood with others at his bedside and witnessed his remark- 
 able death, heard and treasured his last words, and then, 
 when all was duly and decently arranged, along with the 
 thousands who followed his hearse, laid all of him that could 
 die in the burial-place which he had chosen and which over- 
 looks the scene that he had loved so well. It might be that 
 to me painful feelings would be awakened by the absence of 
 that old familiar house, every part of which, and its sur- 
 roundings, are vividly present to my memory. I would 
 wish not to break this image by ocular proof that it no 
 longer exists in reality as it is painted in my recollection in 
 colors and lineaments that can never fade so long as recollec- 
 tion remains to me. I must therefore content myself with 
 expressing in this form a few thoughts which the occasion 
 naturally suggests. 
 
 The thirty years which have rolled by since the death of 
 Daniel Webster has divided our present era from his by a 
 great chasm. A sectional civil war, which he feared, and 
 strove with his utmost efforts to avert, has come and gone. 
 Sectional passions, which he deprecated and discouraged, 
 have burned their fiercest fires, and those fires are now al- 
 
144 THE WEBSTEK CENTENNIAL. 
 
 most extinguished. Great changes in the political and social 
 condition of the country, marked by radical alterations of the 
 federal Constitution, have followed from the triumph in arms 
 of one of the sections over the other. Our political system 
 in one respect is to-day fundamentally different from what it 
 was in Mr. Webster's lifetime. Between his era and that in 
 which we are now living there is a wide gulf. Yet across 
 that gulf his majestic figure stands out to view as that of the 
 most important statesman of an age fruitful in great men. 
 It is now almost universally admitted that to his teachings 
 and to his influence we owe the prevalence of the constitu- 
 tional doctrine which made it right for the federal govern- 
 ment to vindicate its just authority by resisting an attempt 
 to break up the Union. It is also now plainly to be seen 
 that if his warnings had been heeded — warnings which in 
 perfect impartiality and in an all-comprehending patriotism 
 he gave to both sections regardless of the consequences to 
 himself — there never would have been any secession or any 
 necessity for an assertion of the federal authority on the field 
 of battle ; there would have been no war, no suffering such 
 as war always brings in its train, no scars to remain on the 
 feelings of one portion of this people towards another. Mr. 
 Webster, therefore, as a great historical character, has a 
 fame that is marked by a double glory. He not only pointed 
 to this nation how it could and ought to avert the necessity 
 of a sectional conflict, but when that conflict had come, after 
 he had passed away, his constitutional doctrines, taught at 
 an earlier period and ingrained into the political faith of a 
 generation, were found to be the only principle on which the 
 federal government could justly claim the right to encounter 
 by arms an attempted secession of the States from the Union. 
 And now in the celebration of his birthday or in the modes 
 of doing honor to his memory, what have we to do more 
 than to impress upon the rising generations the importance 
 
THE WEBSTEK CENTENNIAL. 145 
 
 of a study of his public character and the abounding nature 
 of his patriotism. His great abilities, his intellectual pre- 
 eminence are known of all men. Monuments of his intel- 
 lectual power, which will probably never perish so long as 
 our language endures, are erected all along the period during 
 which he personally influenced his age. The traces which 
 he has left in our constitutional law can never be obliterated 
 Avhile our institutions shall continue to live. His eloquence 
 will never cease to move and inspire so long as the record 
 of it shall remain among men. It is the moral character of 
 his public conduct, the unselfish and unsectional scope of his 
 patriotism, the grandeur of his views, which could take in the 
 welfare of a great country and stretch beyond the narrow limits 
 of local interest and sectional feelings — the courage that could 
 look to posterity for a vindication that contemporaries denied 
 him — these are the traits in Mr. Webster's public character 
 about which the young men of the present day are most 
 concerned and most anxious to be informed Be assured 
 that your Society cannot do a better work than to meet this 
 desire of the youth of this day to learn why it is that their 
 elders, who knew and loved Webster, do now, after thirty 
 years have elapsed since his life ended, regard him as the 
 greatest statesman in American history, next after Washing- 
 ton. I have good reason to know that Webster's reputation 
 is growing every year, that the educated and thoughtful 
 young men of the present day are studying his career, and 
 that they are free from the prejudices which some of his 
 contemporaries endeavored to transmit to them. Teach 
 them, I pray you, by precept and by example, that what is 
 now needed for the welfare and happiness of this people is 
 to imitate his regards for the rights, the feelings and the 
 interests of all sections, and to love with equal affection all 
 who bear the name of American, and who honor the flag of 
 the Union as the symbol of their country. 
 
146 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 [From Hon. Robert R. Bishop.] 
 
 Boston, October 11, 1882. 
 
 Gentlemen, — I regret my inability to be present at the 
 dinner to be given to the President of the United States at 
 the home of Daniel Webster on the 12th inst. Mr. Webster's 
 great argument before the Senate of Massachusetts in the 
 impeachment trial of Judge Prescott forever connects his 
 fame and life with our General Court, as it does with the 
 principles of constitutional liberty. It would give me, as a 
 member of the present legislature, great satisfaction to join 
 in the tribute which will be paid to his memory both by the 
 nation, through its head, and by the assemblage which will 
 honor the occasion. 
 
 [From Prof. S. G. Brown.] 
 
 Dartmouth College, October 9, 1882. 
 Gentlemen, — It is with great regret that I am obliged to 
 decline the invitation from the Webster Historical Society to 
 attend the Centennial celebration of the year of the birth of 
 Daniel Webster at Marshfield. No name of the generation in 
 which he lived will stand higher than his ; no patriotism was 
 purer or broader in its scope ; and no words or counsels will 
 be more frequently appealed to in the future, or will have 
 greater weight, than those in which he so wisely expounded 
 the true meaning of the Constitution, and so eloquently 
 defended the Union under which the nation has grown to be 
 so prosperous and so powerful. It is surely peculiarly fitting 
 that his birth one hundred years ago should be commemo- 
 rated near the home which he so much loved and within 
 sight of his honored grave. 
 
 [From Chief Justice Marcus Morton,] 
 
 Andover, October 10, 1882. 
 My dear sir, — I have received your invitation to attend 
 the Centennial celebration of the birth of Daniel Webster, 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 147 
 
 and to respond to the toast of " The Courts of Massachusetts." 
 I very much regret that the pressure of public duties makes 
 it impossible for me to accept. 
 
 The courts of Massachusetts were the training-school in 
 which Mr. Webster was educated and in which he laid the 
 foundation of his great fame as a statesman and constitutional 
 lawyer. Successful statesmanship consists in the application 
 and enforcement of the same eternal principles in the affairs 
 of nations which the lawyer in his daily practice is called 
 upon to apply in the contests of individuals. It would be 
 trite and commonplace to dwell upon the great ability and 
 success with which Mr. Webster enforced and expounded 
 those principles in the national field of duty in which the 
 State assigned him for so large a part of his life, or upon 
 the lustre which his career reflected upon the bar of Massa- 
 chusetts. These are known of all men. There was one act 
 of his not conspicuous or well known, which exerted a great 
 and beneficial influence upon the welfare of the State, for 
 which the courts and the bar ought to feel especially grate- 
 ful to him. In 1830, upon the death of Chief Justice Parker, 
 the governor tendered the office of Chief Justice to Lemuel 
 Shaw, then in full practice in the Suffolk bar. It is one of 
 the traditions ol the courts that Mr. Shaw was disinclined to 
 accept the position, and was finally induced to do so by the 
 earnest and powerful advice and persuasion of Mr. Webster. 
 Thus her greatest statesman gave to Massachusetts he^ 
 greatest jurist. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS. 
 
 Resolutions introduced by Mr. Thomas H. Cummings 
 secretary of Webster Historical Society : 
 
 Whereas the success of this, celebration is due, in great 
 
148 THE WEBSTEE CENTENNIAL. 
 
 measure, to the generous co-operation of other influences 
 than our own, therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, that the thanks of the Webster Historical Soci- 
 ety are due, and are hereby tendered, to the President of 
 the United States, for his acceptance of our invitation and 
 kindly attendance here to-day ; to the members of his cabi- 
 net, the Governors, past and present, and other distinguished 
 statesmen, our honored guests ; to Mrs. Fletcher Webster, 
 for her cordial reception ; to the Ancient and Honorable Ar- 
 tillery, for its appropriate and ready response to our calls 
 upon its valued services ; to the Plymouth Division of the 
 G. A. R., for the escort given our citizens ; to the merchants 
 of Boston, for their generous munificence ; to the town of 
 Marshfleld, for its generous entertainment; to the press, for 
 its voluntary assistance, and to the ladies who have graced 
 us with their presence. 
 
 Mr. Allen in closing the exercises of the day gave a brief his- 
 tory of the organization as given in the first chapter of this vol- 
 ume ; and thanking the people for their attention to the services, 
 commended the Society and its objects to the whole country. 
 
 The members of the Society and guests who had remained 
 to the close of the services then took their way to the sta- 
 tion, commenting on the success of the celebration, and, it is 
 hoped, with renewed appreciation of the life and work of the 
 great statesman. After a short delay the cars were taken 
 for Plymouth, and from that point to Boston. It is a pleas- 
 ant thing to record that no accident occurred during; the day. 
 
 The crowd at its height probably numbered from 15,000 
 to 18,000 people. The transportation of this multitude was 
 a task of no small magnitude, considering the disadvantages 
 under which the railroad people labored. The work was 
 done in first-class shape. The promptness with which the 
 great crowd was taken to its destination and returned, all on 
 
Webster the Farmer. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 149 
 
 a single-track branch road, without a single mishap, would 
 merit high commendation in the management of any road. 
 
 The same commendation can be made of the police arrange- 
 ments, which were carried out with perfect efficiency. Chief 
 Wade of the State force was in charge, and his sixteen men 
 were reinforced by the County Deputy Sheriffs, and a detail 
 from the Boston city force. Nothjng was allowed to inter- 
 fere with the prompt movement of the procession and vari- 
 ous bodies from point to point, and the courteous officers 
 were of great assistance in many ways besides the enforce- 
 ment of order. 
 
 The badges worn by the guests and members of the Web- 
 ster Historical Society Avere appropriately designed for the 
 occasion. They were ribbons of different colors stamped 
 with a portrait of Webster representing him as the Marshfield 
 farmer. 
 
 The day was drawing to a close ere the conclusion of the 
 after-dinner exercises, and, although but half of the speeches 
 had been delivered, the President was obliged to take an 
 early train for Boston in order to fulfil engagements for the 
 evening. As the guests, comprising the Presidential party, 
 left the tent, they drew the attention of the many hundreds 
 thromnn^ the enclosure, and as the noble form of the Chief 
 Executive was distinguished from the others, cheer after 
 cheer rent the air. To this outburst of enthusiasm the Pres- 
 ident responded by lifting his hat, and after entering the 
 carriage he was driven rapidly to another portion of the 
 grounds. In the mean time the Grand Army Posts had 
 formed in line to receive the President, and at 4.45 o'clock 
 the guests, escorted by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company, proceeded to the station and immediately entered 
 the cars. The procession was followed by a motley crowd 
 of old and young, all eager for a parting glance at their dis- 
 tinguished visitor. The platform was at the base of a grad- 
 
150 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 ual slope, whose face was blackened with the crowds who 
 had gathered to witness the departure, and at 5.05 o'clock, 
 as the train slowly moved away, the air resounded with the 
 huzzas of the multitude and the music of "Hail to the Chief." 
 President Arthur waived his farewell to the people of Marsh- 
 field, and, entering the car, sank into an easy-chair, as if 
 glad of an opportunity to rest. He chatted pleasantly with 
 Gov. Long and others upon the events of the day, and ex- 
 pressed himself as having derived much enjoyment from the 
 visit. After a brief rest the President mingled with the 
 guests who composed this distinguished gathering, and held 
 a pleasant informal reception. A few privileged ones were 
 presented, and the time was passed in a general discussion 
 of topics relating to the State and nation. Political matters, 
 although touched upon, Avere not made prominent. A glance 
 through the car showed an assemblage of culture and intel- 
 ligence rarely seen in railroad travel. A group in the centre 
 of the car, representing as it did the United States, including 
 our New England States, formed a striking picture. Sur- 
 rounding the President, and in consultation with him, were 
 Gov. Long of Massachusetts, Gov. Plaisted of Maine, Gov. 
 Farnham of Vermont, Gov. Bell of New Hampshire, Gov. 
 Bigelow of Connecticut, Secretary Chandler, Secretary Lin- 
 coln, while at a little distance were Gov. Littlefieid of Rhode 
 Island, Mayor Green, Hon. Marshall Jewell, Hon. Alexander 
 H. Rice, Chester A. Arthur, Jr., Private Secretary Phillips, 
 Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, Hon. George Bliss, 
 President Choate of the Old Colony Railroad, and others. 
 Here and there were Senators and Congressmen discussing 
 some problem, or exchanging views with the staff officers, 
 whose brilliant uniforms rendered them the more conspicu- 
 ous. The whole combined to make a picture of perfect 
 social enjoyment. As the train approached Hingham the 
 scene changed. Here Gov. Long was to take his departure. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL . 151 
 
 He was accompanied by Colonel B. S. Lovell and Colonel 
 Bouve. On the platform were several hundred men and 
 women whose anxiety to see the President was rewarded, 
 for, as the train stopped, he stepped out upon the rear plat- 
 form, receiving an ovation. The stop was not long, how- 
 ever, and the crowds were soon lost to view. 
 
 The train drew into the Old Colony passenger station at 
 6.40 o'clock. The vestibule and upper end of the train house 
 were crowded with people, and a large gathering filled Knee- 
 land street and adjacent highways. The Ancients filed out 
 of the cars and formed upon the platform, with the centre 
 opposite the President's car, the last one of the train. The 
 President and suite and Mayor Green took position in the 
 column, which passed through the vestibule to Kneeland 
 street. Considerable enthusiasm was manifested, and the 
 President was loudly cheered. The column was then formed 
 on Kneeland street, the President's party in carriages occu- 
 pying a position between the right and left wings of the 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. The first car- 
 riage contained President Arthur, Mayor Green, and Hon. 
 E. S. Tobey, who represented President Allen of the Web- 
 ster Historical Society, the latter having remained in Marsh- 
 field. The second carriage was occupied by Secretaries 
 Lincoln and Chandler, President Arthur's son and Hon. 
 Leopold Morse. The third conveyed Private Secretary 
 Phillips, Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, ex-Governor 
 Farnham of Vermont, and Hon. G. Washington Warren ; and 
 in the fourth and last barouche were seated Mr. E. F. Thayer, 
 of the Historical Society, and Mr. E. S. Tobey, Jr. The 
 President's carriage was flanked by a guard of honor from 
 the Worcester Continentals. The route was through Knee- 
 land and Eliot streets, Park square and Boylston street to 
 the Hotel Brunswick, which Avas reached at about 7.10 
 o'clock. The party, on alighting, remained upon the steps 
 
152 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 while the escort passed in review, and then entered the hotel 
 and ascended to the President's apartments. Here the guests 
 were surrendered by the Webster Historical Society to the 
 committee of the City Government, and the formalities of the 
 day were ended. Early in the evening the President and 
 suite dined as the guests of the City Committee. 
 
 On the morning of the 13th, Messrs. Stephen M. Allen, R. 
 M. Pulsifer, George W. Richardson and E. F. Thayer waited 
 upon the President at the Brunswick. 
 
 In conversation the President expressed himself as highly 
 gratified at the attentions shown him, and as greatly pleased 
 with his trip to the city. It was his first visit to Marshfield, 
 he said, and he mentioned incidentally that he had never 
 seen Mr. Webster, During the reception Hon. Stephen M. 
 Allen offered for the acceptance of the President the only 
 memento of the celebration to be had, in the shape of a small 
 baton, made of the wood of a tree which grew by the side of 
 Mr. Webster's birthplace in Salisbury, N.H. The President 
 accepted the offering gratefully, with the remark that he 
 would treasure it as a pleasant memento of an occasion which 
 he should never forget. 
 
 The time having arrived for the departure, the four-horse 
 landau was driven up to the hotel for the last time and en- 
 tered by the President and the Mayor, Secretaries Chandler 
 and Lincoln, Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton, Private 
 Secretary Phillips, Mrs. Secretary Chandler and her sister 
 and the City Committee taking other conveyances. The 
 officers of the Webster Historical Society and the Committee 
 of Reception bade adieu to the President in the rotunda of 
 the hotel. A few moments before the carriages started, the 
 President sent his aid to Mr. Allen, who stepped down to the 
 side of the carriage, Avhen the President again expressed him- 
 self as highly pleased with his visit, and added, "Please thank 
 your Committee for me for the great discretion used through- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 153 
 
 out the celebration." There were few bystanders, and no de- 
 monstration except by the guests of the hotel. The Albany 
 station was reached at 10.40 o'clock, the party debarking at 
 the side entrance, and passing through a small crowd, which 
 applauded the President, to the train. When the special car 
 was reached, the President paused for a moment outside, and 
 was soon surrounded by a group of fifty or more, among 
 whom were John Hoey, Esq., of New York, and Gen. Wil- 
 son, President of the New York & New England Eailroad. 
 The former Avas earnestly requested by the President to 
 accompany him on the trip, but was obliged to decline the 
 honor. Soon after, Mrs. Gen. Custer, who was a passenger 
 on the train, came forward and was presented, while others 
 of those around took advantage of the opportunity to shake 
 the Chief Executive by the hand. 
 
 A few moments later the party boarded the train, it being 
 decide! that Councilman Mathews and Morse should journey 
 with them to Worcester, while Mayor Green and the ladies 
 went as far as the Columbus-avenue station, returning thence 
 to the hotel in carriages. Mr. George W. Armstrong also 
 entered the car as the railroad's representative, and also to 
 look after the substantial comforts which had been provided- 
 Promptly at 11 o'clock the gong sounded, the train started, 
 and, amid the waving of hats, the Presidential visit became a 
 thing of the past ; and the last act in the Centennial cele- 
 bration of the birth of Daniel Webster by the Webster His- 
 torical Society had closed. 
 
154 SHE WEBSTEK CENTENNIAL. 
 
 VI. 
 
 OTHER CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS. 
 
 DINNER OF THE MARSHFIELD CLUB. 
 
 THE one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Daniel 
 Webster was celebrated by a banquet and speeches at 
 Parkers, January 18, 1882, by the members of the Marshfield 
 Club and their invited guests. It was an occasion remarkable 
 for two features, sometimes distinct and sometimes blended, 
 for eloquent eulogy of the great statesman, and for calm, 
 comprehensive analyses of his ability and of the service 
 which he rendered to the country. It was the latter feature 
 which made the occasion of value. From every eulogy the 
 ordinary listener naturally, and usually with justice, makes 
 a discount ; but a dispassionate estimate of a man's ability 
 which sets him over against a nation, and shows how he has 
 rendered it an inestimable and unique service, moves even 
 the indifferent listener. Such criticism was passed upon the 
 services of Webster, and as the long account to his credit 
 was rolled up, with the nation as debtor, he seemed to tower 
 above all men of his time. The speakers included the best 
 of Massachusetts ; their theme was the greatest of American 
 statesmen, and as a result of their words a new impetus will 
 doubtless be given to the reading of his masterly speeches 
 and to a study of his statesmanship, while his oracular say- 
 ings may fall with greater weight than ever. Mayor Prince, 
 who presided at the dinner, invited the late ex-Governor 
 Bullock to be present, and received his reply almost at the 
 same time as the news of his death. It ran thus : — 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 155 
 
 Worcester, Jan. 17, 1882. 
 The Hon Frederick O. Prince. My dear sir, — I had the honor and 
 pleasure a few days since of accepting an invitation extended to me by 
 yourself and other gentlemen of the committee to attend the dinner of 
 the Marslifield club on the 18th inst. I have anticipated the greatest 
 satisfaction in uniting with the club on that occasion in rendering justice 
 and veneration to the great name which loses none of its proportions in 
 history as time goes on. But the serious illness of a near relative com- 
 pels me to forego the gratification of meeting you. I remain, with high 
 regard, Yours most truly, 
 
 Alexander H. Bullock. 
 
 From five o'clock for a half-hour the second floor at Par- 
 ker's in the hall and small parlors was thronged with a dis- 
 tinguished company of gentlemen. Dignified men, gray- 
 haired veterans of the law and finance and the pulpit, young 
 men with an apparent abundant promise of a middle-life 
 prolific in work worthy the example of the great man they 
 honored, all these were mingled in agreeable confusion. At 
 nearly six the company passed by twos into the handsome 
 dining-room, ex-Mayor Prince and the Hon. Eobert C. 
 Winthrop leading the way. The room, with its walls of 
 mirrors set in their white and gold ^frames of Corinthian 
 columns, and with its ceiling brightly adorned with the em- 
 blems of many nations, was a scene of living colors. Along 
 the tables double trains of smilax held between them fre- 
 quent bouquets of red and white roses. Red and white 
 glasses in their delicate shapes added the superior art in form 
 to the art of the cook. Hanging in festoons from each of 
 the three chandeliers, sparkling with their profusion of glass 
 pendants, were bright vines of smilax, and at the lowest 
 point of the graceful curve was a full-blown red rose. Cen- 
 tral under each chandelier was a flying dove, bearing in its 
 bill a spray of smilax, as if it were an emblem of peace and 
 joy. Most to be noticed of all the ornaments of the room, 
 however, were the two portraits of Webster, painted by 
 Joseph Ames. At the head of the room was that striking 
 
156 
 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL, 
 
 portrait, three-quarters length, draped on each side with a 
 national flag, and opposite to it, at the other end of the hall, 
 was the half-length portrait, strong and massive, similarly 
 draped. Ex-Mayor Prince sat at the head of the table, and 
 on his right were Gov. Long, Mayor Green and William 
 Amory, Esq. ; on his left were Gov. Bell, of New Hampshire, 
 and Franklin Haven, Esq. Down the outside of the tables 
 the order was as follows : — 
 
 G. T. Curtis. 
 W. W. Greenough. 
 J. S. Amory. 
 William Gray. 
 J. W. Bradbury, Me. 
 H. W. Paine. 
 Theodore Lyman. 
 E. D. Jordan. 
 William Aspinwall. 
 E. E Dorr. 
 W. P. Lee. 
 General Williamson. 
 E. S. Spofford. 
 T. W. Paine. 
 Nahum Capen. 
 C. P. Thompson. 
 Ellerton Pratt. 
 Charles Merriam. 
 Nathaniel Thayer, Jr. 
 Richard Olney. 
 J. Q. Adams. 
 Leverett Saltonstall. 
 Charles Devens. 
 T. C. Amory. 
 
 G. W. Burnham. N.Y. 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder. 
 
 S. K. Lothrop. 
 
 H. K. Oliver. 
 
 J. C. Park. 
 
 H. X. Hudson. 
 
 XL A. Whitney. 
 
 F. M. Weld. 
 
 G. P. Minot. 
 Jo S. Fay. 
 George Lunt. 
 J. II Carlton. 
 Thomas Sanders. 
 Joseph Burnett. 
 Sigourney Butler. 
 F. I. Amory. 
 
 A. T. Perkins. 
 Franklin Haven, Jr. 
 E. Peirson Beebe. 
 J. M. Brown. 
 C. L. Woodbury. 
 Alex. Coehran. 
 Lemuel Shaw. 
 C. W. Jones, of Florida. 
 
 Down the inside of the tables the order was as follows : — 
 
 Isaac Thaeher. 
 Aaron Hobart. 
 J. S. Walker. 
 Edward Stanwood. 
 E. B. Haskell. 
 E. II. Clement. 
 J. M. Keith. 
 L. W. Tappan. 
 S. H. Gookin. 
 
 C. L. Flint. 
 L. Farnham. 
 C. H. Taylor. 
 F. C. Sanford. 
 B. F. Stevens. 
 J. C. Jordan. 
 H. Dumoresq. 
 J. A. Gordon. 
 Peter Butler. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 157 
 
 J. E. Russell. T. H. Clay. 
 
 John Jeffries. W. VV. Swan. 
 
 John D. Bates. S. A. B. Abbott. 
 
 Edward Burnett, H. B. Breek. 
 
 Richard Saltonstall. T. L. Jenks. 
 
 L. S. Tuckerman. S. J. Thomas. 
 
 C. A. Prince. E. I. Thomas. 
 
 R. D. Smith. Chandler Bobbins. 
 
 S. G. Snelling. George Gardner. 
 
 F. L. Ames. Richard Sullivan. 
 
 Robert Codman. W. A. Field 
 Wiit Dexter. 
 
 The bill of fare of the dinner was elegant in typography, 
 beautiful in its engraver's art, and valuable as an historical 
 reproduction of the two noted Webster homesteads. It was 
 a quarto menu. Upon the first page were the words, 
 "Marshfield club, January 18, 1882," in handsome script. 
 Over the page was an excellent steel portrait of Webster 
 over his signature in fac-simile. Under this was, "1782- 
 1882. Vera pro gratis.'" The next page, in large script, 
 read, " Commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of 
 the birth of Daniel Webster, by the Marshfield club, at the 
 Parker house, Boston, January 18, 1882." Page four con- 
 tained the menu, and opposite it was an excellent steel plate 
 of the old Webster homestead in Salisbury, N.H., where 
 Webster was born. It was a perfect reproduction of the 
 type of New England country homes which are even now so 
 familiar upon the hills of this and our neighboring States. 
 On the last leaf was a clearly cut steel engraving of the 
 Webster home at Green Harbor, Marshfield. This fine 
 artistic production was from the house of Messrs. John A. 
 Lowell & Co. The list of edibles spread is as follows ; — 
 
158 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 MENU. 
 
 Oysters on shell. 
 
 Soup. 
 
 Cream Asparagus. Consomme. 
 
 Fish. 
 
 Chicken Halibut a la creme. Smelt a la Tartar. 
 
 Entree. 
 
 Chicken Cutlets. Sweetbreads. 
 
 Remove. 
 
 Saddle Kentucky Mutton. 
 
 Sirloin Beef. 
 
 Beleve. 
 
 Roman Punch. 
 
 Game. 
 
 Canvas Back Duck. Red Head Duck. Larded Quail. 
 
 Sweets. 
 
 Omelette Souffle. Wine Jelly. Charlotte Russe. 
 
 Roquefort. Brie. Cheese. Olives. 
 
 Fruit. Ice Cream. Sherbet. 
 
 Coffee. 
 
 It was a little after eight when ex-Mayor' Prince called the 
 company to order for the after-dinner speeches, and the last 
 speech was not ended till half-past eleven. 
 
 EX-MAYOR PRINCE'S ADDRESS. 
 Gentlemen of the Marshfield Club, guests of the Club: 
 
 We* have come together this evening to indulge a sentiment 
 so common and natural that it finds expression in every 
 community, civilized or uncivilized, ancient or modern. I 
 allude to that sentiment which prompts us to commemorate 
 the talents, virtues and services of the benefactors of man- 
 kind. We perpetuate by some of the forms of plastic art — 
 by monuments of stone or bronze, by painting or sculpture, 
 by oratory or poetry — the great men of their age — 
 
 " One of the few, the immortal names, 
 That were not born to die. 7 ' 
 
 Of these was Daniel Webster ; for whatever differences of 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 159 
 
 opinion may have obtained, or may still obtain, touching 
 some of his views on political questions, it must be conceded 
 by all .whose capacity to appreciate truth is not disturbed by 
 prejudice or passion, that he was one of the most remarkable, 
 one of the greatest, men the country has produced — a true 
 representative of all that is grand in the American character. 
 There was nothing dwarfed in his composition. No part of 
 him was developed to the injury of some other part. His 
 intellectual growth and his moral growth were equally com- 
 plete. We may not apply to him the epithet — " godlike " — 
 so often used by his adoring friends ; but we can with truth 
 assert, in the words of Hamlet, that 
 
 " lie was a man — take him for all in all, 
 I shall not look upon his like again." 
 
 His broad and comprehensive understanding, his great 
 logical capacity, his remarkable power of analysis, his con- 
 centrativeness and constructiveness, enabled him to master 
 every subject which received his attention ; so that he became 
 a profound jurist, a powerful advocate, an unsurpassed 
 orator, a skilful diplomatist and a consummate statesman. 
 When we remember the eminence Mr. Webster attained as 
 a lawyer, and especially as a constitutional lawyer ; when 
 we recall his skill and capacity in the elucidation of those 
 grave questions resulting from the peculiar relations of the 
 federal government to the States and the States to the gov- 
 ernment, his accurate comprehension of the true principles 
 of finance, his clear perception of what should be the charac- 
 ter of our domestic and foreign policy, his sagacious antici- 
 pation of the political future, immediate or distant, his 
 prophetic discernment of the result of the full development 
 of the American system, we are disposed to say of him, what 
 the Roman historian said of the great Roman statesman, that 
 his versatile genius was so fitted to all uses he seemed to 
 have been born for whatever he undertook. 
 
160 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Such was the general judgment of his contemporaries, and 
 such is the judgment of the country to-day ; for time, which 
 disturbs so often and so largely the fame of so many who 
 were deemed great in their day and generation, takes noth- 
 ing from Webster. On the contrary, it is not extravagant 
 to say that his fame increases as the years go by — vires 
 acquirit eundo — for he was one of those rare men who are 
 best seen and appreciated from a distance of time — as some 
 great natural objects, like the Pyramids, are best seen and 
 appreciated from a distance of space. If we are too near the 
 latter, we cannot know their just proportions ; if we are too 
 near the former, Ave cannot understand their just relations 
 to nor their exact influence on contemporaneous events. It 
 would be interesting to conjecture what the great intellect 
 of Webster might have accomplished if a change of circum- 
 stances had led him to other fields of mental labor ; if he had 
 devoted himself to the sciences, natural or moral, to meta- 
 physics, to philosophy, to history or literature. It would 
 be interesting to imagine how he would have developed, and 
 what he would have achieved, if he had been born and lived, 
 under a different form of government. But the occasion 
 does not permit us to indulge in such speculation. 
 
 It is not for me to speak in this presence of the life and 
 character of Webster, of his public services, and his place in 
 the Pantheon of illustrious Americans ; Choate, and Everett, 
 and Gushing, and Evarts, and Winthrop, and our lamented 
 brother, the eloquent Hillard, and other distinguished schol- 
 ars have already expressed the opinions of the country on 
 this great theme. Mr. Webster's fame requires no further 
 eulogiums for its security. But it is always pleasant to re- 
 peat the praises of those we venerate, and as such rehearsal 
 is fitting and appropriate on occasions like this, you will be 
 addressed by those whom you will be glad to hear, for they 
 appreciate the great statesman. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 161 
 
 Before I introduce them, permit me to refer for a moment 
 to one particular debt of gratitude which the country owes 
 him. We succeeded in maintaining the integrity of the 
 Union by appealing to that sentiment of patriotism which 
 comes from nationalism, from political unity as opposed to 
 mere confederation and political connection. I claim for Mr. 
 Webster that he created to a great extent this sentiment by 
 his intepretation of the Constitution. Before his comment- 
 aries on this instrument there was in the public mind no clear 
 and discriminating distinction between the powers properly 
 belonging thereunder to the general government, and those 
 undelegated reserved rights which remained to the States. 
 The relation of these sovereignties to each other was only 
 imperfectly understood. No such confederation as produced 
 a " national union " had ever before been organized in an- 
 cient or modern times. There had been confederations like 
 those of ancient Greece and Switzerland, but such organiza- 
 tions were merely compacts for certain limited purposes. 
 They did not create that M perfect union," that individuality 
 which makes the people one people, with common political 
 interests and a common political destiny, and fills and ani- 
 mates the whole country with the spirit and passion of an 
 uncompromising, unyielding and absorbing patriotism. Our 
 glorious Constitution would not have accomplished this happy 
 result if the great expounder had not, through his masterly 
 appreciation of this beautiful political conception of the 
 fathers, demonstrated its true nature and character. If the 
 people had believed that the United States were a mere po- 
 litical league, and not a "National Union,'' there could have 
 been no general sentiment that the government was a com- 
 mon government ; that the country, however divided into 
 States for local purposes, was still a common country, with 
 a common flag, so that any assault thereon was rebellion and 
 
162 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 treason, which the people of all sections were bound by loy- 
 alty and patriotism to repel. 
 
 The great statesman, in all his addresses and speeches, in 
 all that he wrote and said on public affairs, constantly argued 
 for the Union, the " Union now and forever, one and insepa- 
 rable." His generation and the generation which saved the 
 Union were thus fully imbued with the conviction of its indis- 
 solubility, and the duty ofmaintaining.it. When, therefore, 
 the government called the people to arms in its defence, 
 millions responded to the call ; and, not as sons of the several 
 States, not as citizens of several sovereignties, but as Amer- 
 icans, as children of one country, they marched against 
 rebellion. Mr. Webster's construction of the Constitution 
 will never be changed, for it has been confirmed by the im- 
 mutable, irreversible decrees of battle and victory. Born 
 one hundred years ago to-day, he sleeps by the side of the 
 sea he loved so well. Yet he "still lives," for he cannot be 
 forgotten while patriotism, faith in popular government, 
 faith in Kepublican institutions, pride of country and the love 
 of man for man shall continue to animate the American heart. 
 As he embraced, not a part merely, not a section, but the 
 whole country, in his affections, his memory will be cher- 
 ished by the whole people. He "still lives," for he cannot 
 die — the dead survive in the recollection of the living. 
 
 Vita enim mortuorum in memorid vivorum posita est. 
 
 REMARKS OF GOVERNOR LONG. 
 
 It is but a poor tribute that even the most eloquent voice, 
 
 least of all mine, can pay for Massachusetts to the memory 
 
 of her greatest statesman, her mightiest intellect and her 
 
 most powerful orator. Among her sons he towers like the 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 163 
 
 lonely and massive shaft on Bunker Hill, upon the base and 
 the crest of which his name is emblazoned clearer than if 
 chiselled deep in its granite cubes. For years he was her 
 synonym. Among the States he sustained her at that proud 
 height which Winthrop and Sam Adams gave her in the 
 colonial and provincial days. With what matchless grandeur 
 he defended her ! With what overwhelming power he im- 
 pressed her convictions upon the national life ! God seems 
 to appoint men to special work, and, that done, the very 
 effort of its achievement exhausts them, and they rise not 
 again to the summit of their meridian. So it was with 
 Webster. He knows little even of written constitutions and 
 frames of government who does not know that they exist 
 almost less in the letter than in the interpretation and con- 
 struction of the letter. In this light it is not too much to 
 say that the Constitution of the United States, as it existed 
 when it carried our country through the greatest peril that 
 ever tested it, was the crystallization of the mind of Webster 
 as well as of its original framers. It came from them, and 
 was only accepted by some of our own as a compact of 
 States, sovereign in all but certain enumerated powers dele- 
 gated to a central government. He made it the crucible of 
 a welded Union — the charter of one great country, the 
 United States of America. He made the States a nation, 
 and enfolded them in its single banner. It was the over- 
 whelming logic of his discussion, the household familiarity 
 of his simple but irresistible statement, that gave us munition 
 to fight the war for the preservation of the Union and the 
 abolition of slavery. It was his eloquence, clear as crystal, 
 and precipitating itself in the school-books and literature of a 
 people, which had trained up the generation of twenty years 
 ago to regard this nation as one, to love its flag with a pat- 
 riotism that knew no faction or section, to be loyal to the 
 whole country, and to find in its Constitution power to sup- 
 
164 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 press any hand or combination raised against it. The great 
 rebellion of 1861 went down hardly more before the cannon 
 of Grant and Farragut than the thunder of Webster's reply 
 to Hayne. He knew not the extent of his own achievement. 
 His greatest failure was that he rose not to the height and 
 actual stroke of his own resistless argument, and that he 
 lacked the sublime inspiration, the disentanglement and the 
 courage, to let the giant he had created go upon his errand, 
 first of force, and then, through that, of surer peace. He 
 had put the work and the genius of more than an ordinary 
 lifetime of service into the arching and knitting of the Union, 
 and this he could not bear to put to the final test ; his great 
 heart was sincere in the prayer that his eyes might not be- 
 hold the earthquake that would shake it to those foundations 
 which, though he knew it not, he had made so strong that a 
 succeeding generation saw them stand the shock as the oak 
 withstands the storm. Men are not gods, and it needed in 
 him that he should rise to a moral sublimity and daring as 
 lofty as the intellectual heights above which he soared with 
 unequalled strength. So had he been godlike. 
 
 V A great man touches the heart of the people as well as 
 their intelligence. They not only admire, they also love 
 him. It sometimes seems as if they sought in him some 
 weakness of our common human nature, that they may chide 
 him for it, forgive it, and so endear him to themselves the 
 more. Massachusetts had her friction with the younger 
 Adams, only to lay him away with profounder honor, and to 
 remember him devotedly as the defender of the right of peti- 
 tion and "the old man eloquent." She forgave the over- 
 weening conceit of Sumner ; she revoked her unjust censure 
 of him, and now points her youth to him in his high niche 
 as the unsullied patriot, without fear and without reproach, 
 who stood and spoke for equal rights, and whose last great 
 service was to demand and enforce his country's just claims 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 165 
 
 against the dishonorable trespass of the cruisers of that Eng- 
 land he had so much admired. Massachusetts smote, too, 
 and broke the heart of Webster, her idol, and then broke 
 her own above his grave, and to-day writes his name highest 
 upon her roll of statesmen. It seems disjointed to say that, 
 with such might as his, the impression that comes from his 
 face upon the wall, as from his silhouette upon the back- 
 ground of our history, is that of sadness, — the sadness of the 
 great deep eyes, the sadness of the lonely shore he loved, and 
 by which he sleeps. The story of Webster from the begin- 
 ning is the very pathos of romance. A minor chord runs 
 through it like the tenderest note in a song. What elo- 
 quence of tears is in that narrative, which reveals in this 
 giant of intellectual strength the heart, the single, loving 
 heart of a child, and in which he describes the winter sleigh- 
 ride up the New Hampshire hills when his father told him 
 that, at whatever cost, he should have a college education, 
 and he, too full to speak, while a warm glow ran all over 
 him, laid his head upon his father's shoulder and wept ! 
 
 The greatness of Webster and his title to enduring grati- 
 tude have two illustrations : He taught the people of the 
 United States, in the simplicity of common understanding, 
 the principles of the Constitution and government of the 
 country, and he wrought for them, in a style of matchless 
 strength and beauty, the literature of statesmanship. From 
 his lips flowed the discussion of constitutional law, of econo- 
 mic philosophy, of finance, of international right, of national 
 grandeur, and of the whole range of high public themes, so 
 clear and judicial that it was no longer discussion, but judg- 
 ment. To-day, and so it will be while the Republic endures, 
 the student and the legislator turn to the full fountain of his 
 statement for the enunciation of these principles. What 
 other authority is quoted or holds even the second or third 
 place ? Even his words have embedded themselves in the 
 
166 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 common phraseology, and come to the tongue like passages 
 from the psalms or the poets. I do not know that a sentence 
 or a word of Sumner's repeats itself in our everyday par- 
 lance. The exquisite periods of Everett are recalled like the 
 consummate work of some master of music, but no note or 
 refrain sings itself over and over again to our ears. The 
 brilliant eloquence of Choate is like the flash of a bursting 
 rocket, lingering upon the retina indeed after it has faded 
 from the wings of the night, but as elusive of our grasp as 
 spray-drops tliat glisten in the sun. The fiery enthusiasm 
 of Andrew did, indeed, burn some of his heart-beats forever 
 into the sentiment of Massachusetts ; but Webster made his 
 language the very household words of a nation. They are 
 the library of a people. They inspired and still inspire pat- 
 riotism. They taught and still teach loyalty. They are the 
 school-book of the citizen. They are the inwrought and ac- 
 cepted fibre of American politics. If the temple of our Re- 
 public shall ever fall, they will "still live " above the ground 
 like those great foundation stones in ancient ruins, which 
 remain in lonely grandeur, unburied in the dust that springs 
 to turf over all else, and making men wonder from what rare 
 quarry and by what mighty force they came. To Webster, 
 almost more than to any other man — nay, at this distance 
 and in. the generous spirit of this occasion it is hard to dis- 
 criminate among the lustrous names which now cluster at the 
 gates of heaven, as the golden bars mass the west at sunset 
 — yet to Webster especially of them all is it due that to-day, 
 wherever a son of the United States, at home or abroad, 
 "beholds the gorgeous ensign of the Republic,, now known 
 and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, 
 its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a 
 stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured," he can 
 utter a prouder boast than Civis Romanus sum. For he can 
 say, I am an American citizen. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 167 
 
 ADDRESS OF ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 
 
 I would most gladly have been exempted from this call, 
 even at the cost of all the compliments by which it has been 
 accompanied. I heartily wish that I were in a better condi- 
 tion for making any adequate response. I am conscious that 
 such occasions belong to younger men, and I thought that I 
 had made an unalterable resolution, after Yorktown, that I 
 would render myself responsible for no more public ad- 
 dresses. And I can honestly say that no other occasion than 
 this would have brought me out to-night. But I could not 
 find it in my heart to excuse myself from dining here, albeit 
 for the first time, with the Marshfield Club, at their most 
 kind invitation, in honor of the centennial birthday of one 
 with whom I had so many personal and so many public and 
 so many proud associations for a quarter of a century, and 
 who, by his life and death and burial, has made Marshfield a 
 name and a place never to be forgotten in the annals of our 
 country or of the world. How could I ever forget those de- 
 lightful days which I spent there with him, forty years ago, 
 more or less ! His matchless form rises to my eye at this 
 moment, as he welcomed the British minister and myself at 
 his door on a midsummer morning, clad in his favorite rustic 
 suit, with the broad-brimmed white hat overshadowing that 
 Olympian brow, — just as he may be seen in one of the most 
 characteristic of his familiar portraits. He was a subject for 
 Kembrandt on that morning, and Kembrandt never had a 
 subject more worthy of his magic brush. 
 
 I remember Avell how proudly he treated us to fish of his 
 own. catching, to game of his own shooting, to beef or mut- 
 ton of his own raising, and to vegetables of every sort from 
 his own gardens, with nothing on his table from any other 
 source except the delicious black Hamburgs which grand old 
 Colonel Perkins, his lifelong and devoted friend, had just 
 sent him from his greenhouse at Brookline. But his own 
 
168 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 presence and his own conversation were the choicest luxuries 
 we enjoyed. He was not always gracious in society, and at 
 other people's tables on ceremonious occasions he was some- 
 times reserved and moody. But he was the very prince of 
 hosts at his own board ; on that occasion, certainly, his rich 
 reminiscences and sparkling anecdotes 
 
 " Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine." 
 
 And then I remember his taking us out to see the results 
 of an experiment he was trying on the different fertilizers for 
 his fields, pointing us to four carefully measured and exactly 
 equal areas of Indian corn, one of them served with guano, 
 one with kelp, one with fish from his own shores, and one 
 with the common manure from his own barns ; but he was 
 as conservative in his agriculture as he was in his politics, 
 and unhesitatingly gave the palm to the old-fashioned article. 
 On that day he was eminently and exclusively the farmer of 
 Marshfield, discoursing on soils and climates, on English 
 farming and Scotch farming, as if they had been the sole 
 study of his life, and careful for nothing but his crops and 
 his cattle. 
 
 And now, my friends, Iioav shall I go on to speak of him 
 more generally, or how can I hope to say anything about 
 him which has not again and again been better said by others ? 
 Webster has long ago been the subject of as glowing and 
 as exhaustive tributes as can be found in the English lan- 
 guage. Nobody but he himself could surpass the tributes 
 wdiich his career has called forth from an hundred pens and 
 lips. We have become accustomed of late to great public 
 manifestations at the death of our illustrious men. But 
 Webster's death, thirty years ago, gave occasion to lamenta- 
 tions throughout the land, which no one then living, and 
 now living, will have forgotten. Every press, every plat- 
 form, almost every pulpit, poured forth strains of the most 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 169 
 
 impressive eulogy. Living and dead, he has been the theme 
 of the most eloquent orators, of the most faithful and loving 
 biographers, of the most accomplished essayists of our land. 
 Everett and Choate and Hi Hard, as you have said, and Presi- 
 dent Felton, of Harvard, and President Woods, of Bowdoin, 
 and more recently, Mr. Evarts, — to name no others, — have 
 found in him the inspiration of some of their most celebrated 
 efforts. I thank you for reminding the company that I 
 united with Mr. Evarts, four or five years ago, in a sincere 
 and earnest attempt to say of him whatever was truest and 
 best, at the unveiling of that grand heroic statue in Central 
 park, presented to the city of New York so munificently by 
 one whom we are all glad to see present on this occasion. 
 There is nothing which I desire to alter in that tribute, and 
 there is but little for me to add. 
 
 And after all, Mr. President, what are all the fine things 
 which have ever been said of him, or which ever can be said 
 of him, to-night or a hundred years hence, compared with 
 the splendid record which he has left of himself, as an advo- 
 cate in the courts, as a debater in the Senate, as an orator 
 before the people ? We do not search out for what was said 
 about Pericles or Demosthenes or Cicero or Burke. It is 
 enough for us to read their orations. There are those, in- 
 deed, who may justly desire to be measured by the momen- 
 tary opinions which others have formed and expressed about 
 them. There are not a few who may well be content to live 
 on the applauses and praises which their efforts have called 
 forth from immediate hearers and admirers. They will enjoy 
 at least a reflected and traditional fame. But Webster will 
 always stand safest and strongest on his own showing. His 
 fame will be independent of praise or dispraise from other 
 men's lips. He can be measured to his full altitude as a 
 thinker, a writer, a speaker, only by the standard of his own 
 immortal productions. That masterly style, that pure Saxon 
 
170 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 English, that clear and cogent statement, that close and 
 clinching logic, that power of going down to the depths and 
 up to the heights of any great argument, letting the immate- 
 rial or incidental look out for itself, those vivid descriptions, 
 those magnificent metaphors, those thrilling appeals — not 
 introduced as mere ornaments wrought out in advance and 
 stored up for an opportunity of display, but sparkling and 
 blazing out in the very heat of an effort, like gems uncover- 
 ing themselves in the working of a mine — -these are some 
 of the characteristics which will secure for Webster a fame 
 altogether his own, and will make his works a model and a 
 study, long after most of those who have praised him, or 
 who have censured him, shall be forgotten. 
 
 What if those six noble volumes of his were obliterated 
 from the roll of American literature and American eloquence ! 
 What if those great speeches, recently issued in a single 
 compendious volume, had no existence ! What if those con- 
 summate defences of the Constitution and the Union had 
 never been uttered, and their instruction and inspiration had 
 been lost to us during the fearful ordeal to which that Con- 
 stitution and that Union have since been subjected ! Are we 
 quite sure that we should have had that Constitution as it 
 was, and the Union as it is, to be fought for, if the birth 
 we are commemorating had never occurred — if that bright 
 Northern star had never gleamed above the hills of New 
 Hampshire? Let it be, if you please, that its light was not 
 always serene and steady. Let it be that mist and clouds 
 sometimes gathered over its disc, and hid its guiding rays 
 from many a wistful eye. Say, even, if you will, that to 
 some eyes it seemed once to be shooting madly from its 
 sphere. Make every deduction which his bitterest enemies 
 have ever made for any alleged deviation from the course 
 which he has marked out for it by others, or which it seemed 
 to have marked out for itself, in its path across the sky. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 171 
 
 Still, still there is radiance and glory enough left, as we con- 
 template its whole golcen track, to make us feel and acknowl- 
 edge that it had no fellow in our firmament. We did not 
 always agree with Mr. Webster. I certainly did not, for 
 one. It seems but yesterday that, coming out of church of 
 a Sunday morning at Washington, where for many months 
 he had sat in my own pew — and a more humble and devout 
 worshipper I have never seen — and when he had kindly 
 informed me . that letters from Boston announced that I 
 should be in the Senate as his successor, the next day — as I 
 was — I told him of my regret that I could not vote altogether 
 as he might have voted, and avowed my purpose to support 
 in the Senate the policy I had advocated in the House. I am 
 not quite sure that the Marshfield Club would have welcomed 
 me as a guest about that time. But I rejoice to remember 
 that no admiration or affection for him — and I was conscious 
 of the magnetism of both — overcame the strength of my 
 own conscientious convictions. But did I imagine that his 
 great mind had no convictions of its own, and that a poor 
 miserable seeking for the Presidency was the only motive 
 which actuated him ? Never for a moment. Did I sympa- 
 thize with all or any of the violent denunciations which were 
 poured out against him in so many quarters for his course in 
 1850? Never for an instant. I deplored them all, and did 
 what I could to avert them. But charitable construction was 
 an unknown element in the party politics of that period, and 
 not on one side only, but on all sides. The fugitive slave 
 law — which I am always more than willing to remember 
 that, in the shape in which it was forced upon us, I voted 
 against, and which Webster and Clay would gladly have had 
 modified before its passage — had maddened the whole coun- 
 try. Then was fulfilled for Webster, if for nobody else, the 
 saying of Milton in the Agonistes : 
 
172 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Fame, if not double-faced, is double-mouthed, 
 And with contrary blast proclaims most deeds ; 
 On both her wings, one black the other white, 
 Bears greatest names in her wild aery flight. 
 
 Let us rejoice, my friends, that on the white wing only, 
 on this centennial birthday, his name is now cleaving the 
 clouds. It is not necessary that we should consider him to 
 have been infallible or immaculate. He would have rebuked 
 his best friend for such an assumption. No man is infallible. 
 No man is immaculate. But his faults and failings, such as 
 they were, have often been grossly exaggerated at home and 
 abroad, and I am glad of an opportunity of saying so, as a 
 close witness of a large part of his career. Meantime, no 
 nobler testimony can be found in our language, or in any 
 language, than that which he has borne, as often as he could 
 find an occasion, or could make an occasion, in life or at 
 death, to the great truths of the Bible, to the great teach- 
 ings of the Gospel, to religious instruction as a vital part of 
 all true education, and to religious faith as the basis of all 
 true morality. 
 
 Webster had great associates in the Senate — I will not 
 call them competitors or rivals — Clay, Calhoun — I need not 
 even name them, for their names are fresh in all your mem- 
 ories. Much less would I venture to institute any compari- 
 son between them and him. In some respects, indeed, he 
 was incomparable. He was a man of his own type ; as indi- 
 vidual and unique, intellectually and physically, as the great 
 Napoleon, or as our own Franklin ; cast in a mould of which 
 there has been no other impression in our part of the land, 
 and of whom it might almost he said, as Byron said of Sheri- 
 dan, that nature broke the die in moulding one such man. 
 His name has been written on the mountains, where it be- 
 longs — on one of the grandest mountains of his native State. 
 There it will endure, and find fit companionship with the 
 
THE WEBSTEli CENTENNIAL. 173 
 
 Adamses and JefFersons and Madisons, and with Washington 
 in the clear, upper sky above them all. And until those 
 mountains shall depart and those hills be removed, it will be 
 accepted and recognized as the very synonym of the most 
 powerful American mind, as well as the most impressive 
 American presence, of the age in which he lived and acted. 
 All honor to that name ! 
 
 ADDRESS OF MAYOR GREEX. 
 It gives me great pleasure to say, in my representative 
 capacity, that the city of Boston most cordially joins with 
 the Marshfield Club in celebrating the centennial anniversary 
 of Mr. Webster's birth. The memories of her great men are 
 among the proudest treasures of Boston, and she guards 
 them with jealous care. In the presence of this distinguished 
 assemblage, of which many were the personal friends of Mr. 
 Webster, it would be presumption in me to attempt an analy- 
 sis of his character. A son of New Hampshire by birth, a 
 son of Massachusstts by adoption, but in his feelings and 
 sympathies a citizen of the United States, Mr. Webster 
 stood on all occasions for the whole country. His fame and 
 reputation rest to-day on a foundation as solid as that of the 
 granite hills of his native State. It is well to note the lives 
 of great men, as they form epochs in our history ; and the 
 due observance of such events tend to kindle anew, through- 
 out our national limits, the fire of patriotic ardor. As the 
 chief executive officer of Boston, I extend to you, Mr. Pres- 
 ident, and through you to the members of this association, 
 her heartiest and warmest congratulations on this occasion. 
 
174 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The President. — New Hampshire, if she did not keep 
 her distinguished son to herself, can claim that he was loyal 
 to her and to her institutions, he having kept to the last in 
 affectionate remembrance her granite walls, her green hills, 
 her cloud-capped mountains, the rivers whose murmur lulled 
 the sleep in his cradle, the old hearth-stone, the grave of his 
 father and his mother. I trust the Governor of the State he 
 so loved will not re-Bell if I ask him to endorse these senti- 
 ments. 
 
 ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR BELL OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 I am glad to know that there are other representatives of 
 New Hampshire by birth, if not by residence, present, whose 
 standing, abilities and acquaintance with the great man 
 whose birth we are assembled to commemorate, peculiarly 
 quality them to address you in a manner befitting the occa- 
 sion. My shortcomings they will amply redeem. 
 
 Yet I do not hesitate to respond to your call. Indeed, 
 what citizen of New Hampshire is to be found who would 
 keep silence when summoned to declare his profound respect 
 and attachment to the memory of Daniel Webster ? 
 
 In the few words which I have to say I shall not presume 
 to attempt a portrayal or analysis of the transcendent powers 
 which gave Mr. Webster his exalted position. It will be 
 my task simply to point out to your notice the peculiar rela- 
 tions he sustained to New Hampshire, and which rendered 
 him especially near and dear to her people. 
 
 He was bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh. Four 
 generations of his ancestors had lived and died on her soil. 
 He was born and cradled amid her granite hills, and, like the 
 Switzer, inhaled with his native air the love of liberty and 
 the love of home. From the lips of the hardy frontiersmen 
 of New Hampshire who had fought the wily savage and 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 175 
 
 borne arms in the Revolutionary struggle, he learned the 
 lessons of courage and patriotism. In the district school of 
 New Hampshire he gained the rudiments of knowledge ; in 
 her higher seminaries of learning he fitted himself to enter 
 upon that great part in life which he was destined to fill. In 
 the courts of New Hampshire he became skilful in the use of 
 the lawyer's weapons ; in her political service he measured 
 himself with the foremost men in the nation on the floor of 
 Congress. One half of his lifetime he lived in New Hamp- 
 shire, and he did not remove away until he had won a na- 
 tional reputation at the bar and in the halls of legislation. 
 
 In my own town of Exeter the memory of Webster is es- 
 pecially cherished. It was there, in the celebrated classical 
 school, founded in the year after his birth and now approach- 
 ing its centenary, that he first enjoyed the privilege of a 
 higher instruction than the common schools afforded. In 
 that atmosphere of learning and refinement, under the en- 
 couragement of admiring and sympathetic teachers, his won- 
 derful powers of mind expanded and blossomed, like flowers 
 in the genial sunlight. His classmates were speedily left 
 behind. "Look your last upon Webster," said the usher, as 
 he removed him to a higher room : " you will never see him 
 again." It is safe to say that no youth, in the whole history 
 of the academy, ever derived greater benefits from the insti- 
 tution planted by the wise beneficence of John Phillips, than 
 did young Webster in his nine months' attendance there. 
 
 But this was not the last of Mr. Webster's connection with 
 the Exeter Academy. More than forty years later, while he 
 was President of its Board of Trustees, Dr. Benjamin Abbott, 
 his old master, surrendered the charge of the school he had 
 governed faithfully and with wonderful success for half a 
 century. At the festival given in his honor Mr. Webster, 
 then in the zenith of his fame, presided. His address con- 
 tained a merited tribute to the services and virtues of the 
 
176 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 venerable retiring principal, and also proclaimed, in eloquent 
 language that reached the hearts of his audience, his own 
 obligations and attachment to the seminary where his powers 
 received their early development. 
 
 Phillips' Exeter Academy is to-day holding memorial exer- 
 cises in honor of her greatest pupil. 
 
 Dartmouth College at Hanover, N.H., holds the name of 
 Webster in equally proud remembrance. His progress there 
 was not less wonderful than it had been at Exeter. He en- 
 tered a diffident, ill-prepared boy ; he graduated a cultivated, 
 matured man. The alumni of old Dartmouth are assembling 
 in the several cities of their abode, on this centennial occa- 
 sion, to testify their regard and admiration to the memory 
 of the foremost graduate of that venerable seat of learning. 
 
 The legal profession, of New Hampshire point with a par- 
 donable pride to their rolls, graced by the name of Daniel 
 Webster. Tradition represents him as coming forth from 
 his preparatory studies, armed cap-a-pie for the fray, and 
 winning success at the very outset of his career. One 
 account tells us that his first cause was tried before that very 
 able judge, Jeremiah Smith, who was so impressed with the 
 masterly manner in which he conducted it as to remark on 
 leaving the court room, that he had "never before met such 
 a young man as that." Another tradition is that he Avas first 
 engaged as junior counsel for the prisoner in a trial for mur- 
 der, and that in his opening address to the jury he stated the 
 case so ably and comprehensively that his senior, a noted 
 lawyer, declared that there was nothing left for him to say. 
 
 The old court house in Plymouth, N.H., is said on pretty 
 good authority to be the scene of his earliest forensic en- 
 counter, and the structure, after undergoing many vicissi- 
 tudes, has been purchased by one of the present New Hamp- 
 shire Senators in Congress, and is preserved as a memento 
 of the man and the occasion. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 177 
 
 Powers like Mr. Webster's were not permitted long to re- 
 main in the obscurity of a country village. lie soon removed 
 from Boscawen, where he had temporarily established him- 
 self, to Portsmouth, a place then of greater commercial 
 importance than now. The bar of Rockingham County was 
 then unequalled in the country, except in a few of the large 
 cities, in the ability and learning of its members. Mr. Web- 
 ster's place in it was not long equivocal. A leading position 
 was assigned by common consent, as soon as he had an 
 opportunity to assert himself. 
 
 In politics, too, the young counsellor soon came to the 
 front. In the first year of the war of 1812 he was chosen to 
 represent the people of New Hampshire in the Congress of 
 the United States. There, as elsewhere, he was at once rec- 
 ognized as a born leader. His matured views upon public 
 affairs, his ability and his eloquence, combined to render him 
 one of the foremost men on that floor. 
 
 So much had Mr. Webster accomplished before he left 
 New Hampshire to take up his abode in Massachusetts. In- 
 deed, he could hardly be said to leave New Hampshire, for 
 he still kept one foot on her soil. His paternal acres of 
 Elms Farm never left his possession, and never ceased to be 
 his other home. So long as he lived he continued to make 
 frequent visits to this scene of his childhood, every rock and 
 tree of which was endeared to his heart by hallowed asso- 
 ciations. In one corner of the home field lay the ashes of 
 his father and of his nearest relatives, and it was always his 
 own wish and intention, expressed to one of his confidential 
 friends, that his own remains and those of his immediate 
 family should be committed to the earth at their side ; but 
 the arrangements for the purpose were so long delayed that 
 they were never carried into effect. 
 
 It is pleasant to know that the old homestead of Webster 
 is since his death put to no unworthy use. It is to-day an 
 
178 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 asylum for the orphan children of New Hampshire, where 
 the little waifs of humanity are gathered and taught, and 
 kindly cared for, and put in the way to become useful mem- 
 bers of society. This institution owes its success to the 
 benevolent zeal and care of its President, who was a personal 
 friend of Mr. Webster, and possessed his entire confidence, 
 the venerable Judge George W. Nesmith, whose kindly face 
 I had hoped to see here to-day. His presence would have 
 given additional interest to this occasion, for his capacious 
 memory is stored with pleasant reminiscences of his illus- 
 trious friend, and he loves to relate them. I may add here, 
 that he is the owner of the Mecca of New Hampshire, the 
 spot where Daniel Webster was born. 
 
 The affection which Mr. Webster always continued to bear 
 to the State of his nativity is nowhere better evidenced than 
 in his reply to his New Hampshire friends and neighbors. 
 It was after his seventh-of-March speech, when many of his 
 former supporters were alienated, and a storm of bitter 
 obloquy was beating upon him. Those who approved his 
 course were giving him assurances of their confidence and 
 support, but nothing touched his heart so deeply as the letter 
 which bore the signatures of his New Hampshire friends and 
 neighbors. 
 
 " I could pour out my heart in tenderness of feeling," said 
 he, "for the affectionate letter which comes from you. Ap- 
 proving voices have been heard from other quarters, other 
 commendations have reached me ; but yours comes from home 
 — it is like the love of a family circle." 
 
 Strange indeed would it be if affection like this were not 
 reciprocated ; strange if New Hampshire did not raise her 
 voice on this anniversary to claim her peerless son as indeed 
 her own ! 
 
 It is true that in a public and far more important sense 
 Daniel Webster cannot be claimed as belonging to any State. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 He is the common property of the entire country. His great 
 services were bounded by no sub-divisional lines ; they were 
 rendered to the whole American people. The idea of the 
 Nation was ever uppermost in his mind. The fears he had 
 for the future of the Republic were from parricidal attempts 
 to destroy the Union. His fears were prophetic, but the 
 good providence of God did not allow the nation to be sun- 
 dered in twain. If Mr. Webster could have lived to witness 
 the civil war which he dreaded, he could have seen that his 
 idea of the Constitution, as embodied in his reply to Hay no 
 and to Calhoun, was that on which the defenders of the Union 
 took their impregnable stand ; and that the devotion to the 
 Union which he always inculcated, survived the long and 
 arduous struggle, and was triumphant in the end. Had his 
 life been prolonged to this day he would have enjoyed the 
 heartfelt satisfaction of seeing the dread trial surmounted, 
 the perpetuity of the Union under Providence assured, and 
 of beholding the gorgeous ensign of the Republic that he 
 apostrophized so beautifully, floating over a wiser, a reunited 
 and a reconciled people. 
 
 The President. — In the days when listening Senates 
 gave their admiring applause to the great orator, the South 
 declared that the North had not his equal nor the South his 
 superior. We should like to know if the South still main- 
 tains that opinion. We have present a distinguished son of 
 Florida, Senator Jones : will he please inform us ? 
 
 ADDRESS OF SENATOR JONES OF FLORIDA. 
 Gentlemen, — The year which has just closed has been 
 well called a Centennial year ; for if we recur to many of its 
 
180 THE WEBSTER CEXTEXXIAL. 
 
 most imposing and impressive celebrations, it will be found 
 that they commemorated great public events in our history 
 occurring one hundred years before. Yorktown, the Cow- 
 pens, Groton Heights, and other historic localities have had 
 their day, and the sieges and bloody fortunes which distin- 
 guished them have been well and justly commemorated. In 
 all that has been done to keep alive the memories of the past 
 during the year just terminated, it is impossible to overlook 
 the great prominence given to the military history of our 
 country, and the great names connected with it. But the 
 new year opens upon us and brings to our minds an event 
 not of a military character, but which, for consequences the 
 most far-reaching and important to the interests of this great 
 country, is inferior to no event in our annals. The birth of 
 an individual under ordinary circumstances has but little in- 
 fluence on the affairs of a great nation. Hundreds of thou- 
 sands of souls come in and go out of life whose names and 
 fortunes never interest or concern any one outside of their 
 own natural relations. But occasionally an individual comes 
 among us as if delegated by the power of the Almighty to 
 exercise a controlling influence and authority over the for- 
 tunes and destinies of men. Under other systems of govern- 
 ment, where rank and caste, independent of individual talent 
 and character, often give prominence and power, the road to 
 eminence is not so difficult to travel at times as it is here. 
 There, many men are born to distinction, and oftentimes the 
 most ordinary powers and abilities are, without effort or ex- 
 ertion, placed in control of the highest offices in the State. 
 The genius of our government has wisely and justly pro- 
 vided for no distinctions among the children of men, except 
 what they can secure from the people by their own talents 
 and character. And the very best commentary that can be 
 passed upon our institutions, and the best claim they can put 
 forth for the support of the people through all time, is in the 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 181 
 
 grand opportunities which they afford to all classes of citizens 
 without discrimination or favor, to share in the highest 
 honors and emoluments of the State. Whatever may be said 
 against us in other respects, no candid mind can deny that 
 here in this great land of equal rights, more than in any other 
 country in the world, individual man has a fairer, wider and 
 better field to develop the powers God has given him, and 
 secure the highest rewards of industry and talent. I know 
 very well that our government has not escaped from the 
 charge of degeneracy. It is often said, and that, too, by 
 men of character and reflection, that it is not what it was, 
 and that we are constantly moving in a direction opposite to 
 the line of true Democratic progress. Chances, I admit, 
 have taken place, but they were natural and regular. Great 
 wealth, a vast mixed population, wonderful inventions, which 
 have almost annihilated time and space, have within a hun- 
 dred years brought us innovations ; and who regrets it ? 
 Compare the condition of the country now with what it was 
 on the 18th of January, 1782, the day that Daniel Webster 
 first saw the light of heaven in his frontier home, and note 
 the contrast. And still every change has been an improve- 
 ment — every advanced step has placed us further on in the 
 line of true progress, until to-day this great government of 
 the people, for the people, is the pride and admiration of the 
 w T orld. Do you think that all this has been the result of 
 mere accident? Does climate, soil, or the physical state of 
 man on this continent, account for all that has been accom- 
 plished? Far from it. Other lands have soils as rich as 
 ours. Climates, too, as salubrious as any a Western sun 
 ever shone upon can be found in the midst of the rankest 
 despotisms of the East. 
 
 I feel that I have Avandered too far away from my subject. 
 We are here to-night to honor the memory of a man who did 
 more in his day and generation to make this country all I 
 
182 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 have tried to describe it than any other cause. Many may 
 think this is the language of exaggeration. It is not. No 
 warrior, military or naval, no public character of any party 
 or any day, ever accomplished half that Webster did to make 
 this great country all that we now find it, or who has so in- 
 effaceably impressed his mind, character and principles upon 
 the sources of our national life. You have had great armies 
 and generals, great legislators and judges, but what did they 
 fight for, legislate for, or judge for? Behind and beyond 
 them all were principles that had to be established and im- 
 pressed upon the public heart before either the warrior, the 
 legislator or the judge could bring into operation the skill 
 and training of his profession. Webster furnished material, 
 without which you would have had neither warriors, legisla- 
 tors nor judges. After all, most of the conspicuous charac- 
 ters in life are only imitators and followers. It is the pride 
 and boast of his fame that he occupies a like relation to those 
 who have succeeded him that the God of Nations does to 
 those who apply their petty contrivances to the mysterious 
 products which His wisdom has given for the happiness and 
 comfort of the human race. Our Constitution was an ex- 
 periment. Brought into life amid severe conflicts of opinion 
 respecting the best system of government for this new people, 
 it is far from perfect. But those who are most ready to 
 condemn its imperfections can have little idea of the difficul- 
 ties that were to be overcome in order to establish it. Local 
 jealousies, inspired by local interests ; extreme love of lib- 
 erty, the result of long years of oppression ; attachments for 
 State or colonial governments, and dread of all central 
 authority, — these and other opinions less numerous and popu- 
 lar, of an opposite character, gave us a Constitution made 
 up of concession and compromise, and which contained the 
 seminal principles of sectional and party strife. The advo- 
 cates of power professed to find in it the source of unlimited, 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 183 
 
 almost imperial, authority. The friend of liberty would see 
 nothing in it but the delegation of a few simple powers, 
 suited to the wants of a poor and sparsely populated coun- 
 try. Who was to settle and adjust the contentions sure to 
 arise from such an organic law ? Who was to give life and 
 energy to this new system ; reconcile the love of liberty with 
 t-he love of power; teach the people to be confiding and 
 trustful in their own institutions ; point out the difference in 
 consequences and dangers between those repositories of pub- 
 lic power which emanate from, and hold their authority by, 
 the consent of the people, and those self-constituted rulers 
 who justify their tyranny by pretensions of authority coming 
 from on high? This was a work that had to be done by 
 some one if this frame of government w r as to last. And it 
 seemed to be the pleasure of Divine Providence, in order to 
 render the work the more enduring and acceptable, to raise 
 up a man from among the lowly and humble and give him 
 godlike powers to perform this more than task. Gentle- 
 men, the limits which must bound any effort like this, pre- 
 vent me from doing more than glancing at the labors of 
 Daniel Webster for the good and glory of his country. 
 Springing as he did from the loins of the people, without 
 wealth, rank or station, and living at a time when these 
 tilings were more potent than they ever were, he had to 
 struggle against poverty and obscurity for long years before 
 the greatness of his intellect obtained for him his proper sta- 
 tion in the great battlefield of life. Naturally of a delicate 
 constitution, the weakness of his body led to the exertions 
 and sacrifices of his noble father to develop and cultivate his 
 mind. Unable to perform the hard labor which was the lot 
 of his family, every expedient of economy, every resource of 
 frontier frugality, was resorted to in order to save him from 
 the hard decree of fate which seemed to mark him for the 
 condition of a son of sweat and toil. Upon him the pride of 
 
184 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL, 
 
 the family soon became concentrated, and it was reserved for 
 an obscure, laborious, but honest New England farmer, to 
 raise up in an humble home, far away from the centres of 
 wealth, refinement and luxury, the grandest intellect that 
 ever adorned a senate or distinguished a nation. The pro- 
 fession of laAv — ever the gateway to fame under a govern- 
 ment like this — was the calling he selected. And I say 
 here to-night that if all the shortcomings of that profession 
 and its followers from the time of Coke to the present day 
 were massed together, they would be tenfold overbalanced 
 by the benefit it has conferred upon mankind and the world 
 in bringing out the powers and developing the usefulness 
 of Daniel Webster. He declared at a Bar dinner in Charles- 
 town that all he was he owed to the legal profession, and his 
 labors in the Supreme Court will forever remain the proudest 
 monuments of his genius and learning. Well may Massa- 
 chusetts and well may Boston take pride in honoring this 
 distinguished man. Here it was that he received encouraii'e- 
 ment and support when his great powers began to open upon 
 the country. From here, under the pressing solicitations of 
 a confiding and intelligent constituency, he went forth to the 
 councils of the nation to perform the great work for which 
 God had designed him. Abandoning his great practice and 
 his sure prospects of an ample fortune, at the call of Boston 
 he dedicated himself to the service and glory of his country. 
 And if there is a spot on earth that can, with more propriety 
 than another, do honor to his memory and his fame, it is the 
 one on which we stand to-night, which he loved and served 
 so well. Methinks his genius hovers over us here to-night. 
 And I doubt not, that if it were permitted his great spirit to 
 speak to us from his habitation in the skies, he would yet 
 inculcate and teach us the same great lessons of love, pat- 
 riotism and duty which he delighted to impress upon his 
 countrymen during his sojourn on earth. Never since Wash- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 185 
 
 ington lived was there a public man in this country more 
 universally loved and respected than Mr. Webster. His 
 great head and heart thought and felt for the entire country 
 and all of its people. No narrow idea of State or sectional 
 policy, no local attachments or party ties, no promptings of 
 individual ambition, were ever permitted to stand between 
 him and the most unbounded love and devotion for every 
 part of this great Republic. To the Union of these States 
 he was wedded by a principle of uncompromising loyalty ; 
 to the Constitution which created it he gave the full support 
 of his unrivalled talents and the unstinted allegiance of his 
 liberty-loving heart. While others discovered blemishes 
 upon it and condemned them, he nobly declared that with all 
 its defects it was too full of blessings for this people to be 
 disobeyed. While possessing talents and genius that would 
 have done honor to the Presidential office, and beyond any 
 other man justly entitled to it, he never, under the tempta- 
 tion of power, swerved a hair's breadth from the principles 
 which controlled his public conduct in order to swell his 
 popularity or increase his fame. 
 
 During the entire period of his public life he stood as a 
 grand sentinel on the ramparts of the Republic and watched 
 every movement, great or small, which threatened the in- 
 tegrity of the Union. And if that Union has survived the 
 shocks of battle, and is to-day the source of hope and free- 
 dom and life to millions of our race, to him whose memory 
 we honor to-night, more than to your generals or your ad- 
 mirals, are you indebted for the freedom and blessings it 
 affords. His intense love for the Union and the Constitution 
 was not the result of party attachment or sectional interest. 
 It was based upon a principle higher and nobler than that. 
 It sprang from a deep, inborn, disinterested, unchangeable 
 devotion to free institutions, and every attribute of genuine 
 Republican liberty, for which there could be no hope here or 
 
186 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 elsewhere without the Union and the Constitution. In the 
 warmth of debate it was said he was a lover of power. No 
 man ever loved it less, or freedom more. Nothing is so 
 conspicuous in his speeches and writings as the fervor and 
 clearness with which he expressed his attachment for the 
 great principles of liberty which inspired every movement 
 looking to the liberation and freedom of mankind. Who 
 among the statesmen of this country understood or appre- 
 ciated the great popular movements in Europe like Mr. 
 Webster? And who was more outspoken than he in sup- 
 port of every measure and principle which tended to lighten 
 the shackles and increase the privileges of the oppressed 
 people there ? The principles of the English revolution of 
 1688 he never tired of applauding. The orderly and con- 
 servative manner in which that great movement was brought 
 about and consummated, gave him confidence in the people ; 
 and while he was at all times the most advanced advocate of 
 popular rights, he thought that they suffered at times from 
 those violent and sudden shocks to society which came from 
 ill-timed and bloody revolutions. His great argument in the 
 Rhode Island case shows how averse he was to all attempts 
 at innovation which were not in accordance with regular Re- 
 publican methods. If he loved liberty, it was not the wild, 
 unregulated license of the mob, but it was the well-tempered 
 and self-controlling freedom of the Constitution, which gives 
 to man every rational right and enjoyment essential to his 
 happiness and Avelfare, while it respects and enjoins acquies- 
 cence in the settled rules of property and equality of privil- 
 eges among all classes of citizens. Gentlemen, I feel that I 
 am trespassing upon your indulgence to-night. But the 
 magnitude of the theme, the greatness and glory of the man 
 we honor,, constitutes my only apology. Coming as I do 
 from the far South, and speaking in the centre of the intelli- 
 gence and greatness of New England, I feel that the ground 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 187 
 
 on which I tread this night is as much a part of my country 
 as that in which my own home is erected. 1 I feel that here 
 in Boston, speaking to the memory of the great Webster, 
 that the spot on which we stand — that every foot of soil 
 over which floats the noble ensign of the Republic — has 
 been consecrated by his genius to the full freedom and equal 
 enjoyment of every American citizen. Your kindness and 
 hospitality have done much to make me feel that I am not a 
 stranger among you, and to relieve me from the embarrass- 
 ment which one always finds when he addresses those who 
 live at great distances from him. But the great man who 
 infused into the public heart of this great Republic the 
 undying principle of nationality — who during his whole life 
 taught his countrymen nothing but lessons of love and devo- 
 tion for their whole country, who could say that the fame of 
 the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Marions and Sumters were 
 the same to him as the fame of Adams. Warren and Ames 
 have done even more than you have to make mo feel that I 
 can speak to you with freedom as common brethren, bound 
 by every tie and interest to the greatness and glory of a com- 
 mon country. Short as has been the period of our national 
 existence, it has been prolific of great events and great men. 
 We have had a Hamilton, wise beyond his years, with a 
 mind stored with the choicest learning and knowledge. He 
 explored all the learning of the classics, surveyed every po- 
 litical structure, ancient and modern, and laid upon the altar 
 of his country, to guide and instruct us, the most profound 
 contributions of philosophic thought that were ever presented 
 to a people. We have had a Marshall, whose capacious 
 judicial intellect was equal to Mansfield's, who in his calm 
 and patient investigations of the judgment seat could by the 
 glance of his great mind dissolve and disentangle the most 
 complicated controversies, and separate, with the precision 
 of a mathematician, the higher outlines of truth and justice 
 
188 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 from the dark shadows of falsehood and error. We have 
 had a Jefferson whose inspirations of liberty were drawn 
 from the purest sources of human rights, whose great heart 
 was always in sympathy with the wants and feelings of the 
 people, and whose political philosophy consisted in drawing 
 every support for government from the virtue and intelli- 
 gence of those for whom it was created. We have had a 
 Clay, ardent, eloquent and practical. He could invest the 
 dullest subject with the animation and cheerfulness, attrac- 
 tions of his own bright genius. He lived in the hearts of 
 his devoted followers, but there was such a vast amount of 
 Promethean lire in his burning words, that it was impossible 
 for them to retain their interest with which he inspired them 
 after the heat and magnetism of his voice had subsided. 
 And we had a Calhoun, the master of severe logic, pure and 
 inflexible. His austerity resembled that of Pitt, of whom 
 Grattan has said that even Majesty itself felt abashed and 
 embarrassed by the presence of his towering superiority. 
 Patriotic and devoted to his own maxims of government, he 
 was the only real antagonist Mr. Webster ever met. The 
 time at last came when the fate of the Constitution was to be 
 put to the test of the highest argument under the searching 
 logic of these great masters of reason. The arena of conflict 
 was the Senate of the United States. 
 
 All the doubts and uncertainties created by nearly half a 
 century of controversy respecting the true character of the 
 government were to be cleared away by this decisive debate. 
 One of the States of the Union had made an issue with the 
 general government which involved every principle which 
 secured the perpetuity of the Union. The fate of an empire 
 the most interesting the sun ever shone upon was trembling 
 in the balance. The immortal Jackson, anxious but intrepid, 
 was at the head of the state. His native State was in arms 
 against the authority of the Union, and upon him devolved 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 189 
 
 the trying duty of deciding between the arguments which 
 were to settle the momentous controversy. The advocates 
 finished their work. It was performed in a manner that 
 would have reflected honor on the most renowned orators of 
 antiquity. That debate settled for all time the character of 
 our government. Had Jackson adopted the argument of Mr. 
 Calhoun, no power on earth could have prevented the disin- 
 tegration of the Union. But he decided the case in favor 
 of Mr. Webster and his country. The proclamation of the 
 great President went forth, and in- every line is compressed 
 the argument of the i^reat advocate of the Union. The world 
 never furnished such a spectacle of impartial action. And 
 if we are permitted to draw inspiration from the great trans- 
 actions of that day, let us with the great examples before us 
 revive the confidence and patriotism which were exhibited 
 when a Northern Senator pleaded successfully the cause of 
 the Union and the Constitution before a Southern President. 
 Now that the great controversy to which Mr. Webster de- 
 voted his life has been settled in favor of his argument, both 
 in the forms of reason and by the bloody wager of battle, 
 and while honoring his memory for the great services he ren- 
 dered his country, let us banish, as he did, all unworthy 
 feeling of passion and prejudice for or against any section of 
 our great country, and imitate his example by the exhibition 
 of a fraternal spirit and our devotion to the Constitution and 
 the Union. 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
 Hon. Marshall P. Wilder was introduced as an old and 
 valued friend of Webster, as one who sympathized fully with 
 him, particularly in his agricultural pursuits. He said, — 
 
190 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Mr. President, — I thank you most sincerely for the kind 
 words you have spoken of me, and you, my fellow-citizens, 
 for your cordial greetings, and I beg to assure you that I am 
 most happy to be here on this most interesting occasion — 
 here to meet so many old friends, with some of whom I have 
 stood in olden times shoulder to shoulder as Webster Whigs, 
 and from whose principles we have never departed. I thank 
 you, Mr. President, for your remembrance of me in connec- 
 tion with the Massachusetts Webster Association. At its 
 celebration, twenty-eight years ago, in this city, I had the 
 honor of presiding ; but of its presidents and thirty-one vice- 
 presidents only two are left to tell the story, and I alone to 
 represent it on this occasion. They are Messrs. George 
 Ticknor Curtis and Homer Foote, both of whom are present. 
 
 But when I look around me and see so many distinguished 
 gentlemen, I feel how very unimportant what I have to say 
 may be. After your scholarly, appropriate and patriotic ad- 
 dress — after the speech of his Excellency, Gov. Long, who 
 always brings such learning, ability and eloquence to the 
 discharge of his duties —after the eloquent address and faith- 
 ful tribute of the great national orator of the present day, 
 and in my present state of ill-health, I feel how feeble my 
 words may be. But unless my tongue cleave to the roof of 
 my mouth, it shall never be silent when the name of Daniel 
 Webster is spoken in my presence. Oh, no ! that name 
 warms up the old heart, it makes the pulse beat stronger and 
 the blood to course more freely in my veins. 
 
 It Avas my great privilege to be acquainted with Mr. 
 Webster both in public and private life, and I thank the 
 Giver of all good that He has prolonged my life to the pres- 
 ent time, and has given me strength to be here and bear 
 testimony to the transcendent character and acquisitions of 
 that immortal man. In the combined character of statesman, 
 orator and jurist, Mr. AVebster had no equal in this or any 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 191 
 
 other land. As the great champion of the American Union, 
 and the expounder and defender of the Constitution, he was 
 the Magnus Apollo of our age ! New England has had no 
 such other son ! America has had no more illustrious man ! 
 and his name and fame shall continue to illumine the pages 
 of history with brighter and brighter effulgence while patri- 
 otism, loyalty and gratitude shall have a place in the heart 
 of mankind. Oh, how dear to him was the union of our 
 States ! and could he speak to us again, with what majestic 
 voice and electric power would he enforce on us the duty of 
 preserving that Union for which he sacrificed his life ! Oh, 
 yes, I hear those memorable words once more. They come to 
 me now in trumpet tones from that upper sky, " The Union ! 
 the Union ! Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and 
 inseparable ! " 
 
 Mr. Webster was a great respecter of the laws of nations, 
 of universal justice and personal rights, a hater of despotic 
 power. Never shall I forget those tremendous anathemas 
 which he pronounced on the Emperor of Eussia should he 
 violate the laAv of nations and harm the head of the noble 
 Kossuth. 
 
 "If," said he, "the blood of Kossuth be taken, what will 
 it appease ? What will it pacify ? It will mingle with the 
 earth, it will mix with the waters of the ocean, the whole 
 civilized world will snuff it in the air, and it will return with 
 awful retribution on the violators of national laws and uni- 
 versal justice. There is something on earth greater than 
 arbitrary or despotic power. The lightning has its power, 
 the whirlwind has its power, and the earthquake has its 
 power ; but there is something among men more capable of 
 shaking despots' thrones than lightning, whirlwind or earth- 
 quake, — that is, the excited and aroused indignation of the 
 civilized world." 
 
 But to know Mr. Webster best, was to know him in pri- 
 
192 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 vate life, to know him at his own sweet home at Marshfield, 
 whither he had retired to enjoy the pleasures of rural life, 
 where -his boundless intellect could revel in the magnificence 
 of Nature, and learn from her some of the secrets of her 
 wonder-working power. Mr. Webster was from youth fond 
 of the cultivation of the soil, and through his whole life was 
 the constant patron and friend of agriculture, and did much 
 to promote it by his presence on public occasions. He was 
 present at the Norfolk Agricultural Society where Mr. Win- 
 throp will remember he made his famous turnip speech, in 
 which he said, " Strike out the cultivation of the turnip crop 
 in England, and she could not pay the interest on her 
 national debt." 
 
 Some present will remember his memorable address at the 
 formation of the United States Agricultural Society at Wash- 
 ington — his eloquent words to the "Farmer of Arlington," 
 George Washington Park Custis, who sat on the platform 
 with him. Well do I remember his speech to us when we 
 paid our respects to him at his own house. Said Mr. 
 Webster, "Brother Farmers, — You do me no more than 
 justice when you call me the Farmer of Marshfield. My 
 father was a farmer, and I am a farmer. When a boy on 
 the hills of New Hampshire, no cock crew so early that I 
 did not hear him. You are engaged in a noble enterprise. 
 The prosperity and glory of the Union are based on the 
 achievements of agricultural pursuits. I am most ardently 
 attached to agricultural pursuits. And, gentlemen, I will 
 say to you that when I took my second graduation at Dart- 
 mouth College I delivered an address on the importance of 
 forming agricultural societies ; and although I have not seen 
 that production since that day, you may find it by examin- 
 ing anions the archives of Marshfield. I came to Marshfield 
 as a farmer, and here I talk neither politics nor law. I love 
 its quiet shades, and here I love to commune with you upon 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL 193 
 
 the ennobling pursuits in which you are all engaged. I shall 
 remember you and this occasion ; and should we not meet 
 again in time, I trust we shall meet in a more genial clime, 
 and under a kindlier sun. Brother farmers, I bid you good- 
 morning." 
 
 This was the last time we ever met, but his friendly grasp 
 still lingers in the palm of my hand. 
 
 But, Mr. President, I must not trespass further on your 
 lime, and I will bring these remarks to a close. Well do I 
 remember that glorious yet mournful autumnal day when 
 the remains of that immortal Webster were consigned to the 
 bosom of mother earth — a day when Nature had enrobed her 
 forests and fields with crimson and gold, as if to do honor to 
 his memory. Never shall I forget that august form as he 
 lay in the open casket under his own favorite tree — the vast 
 concourse of weeping friends, and the grand funeral proces- 
 sion that wended its way over the fields which he had so often 
 trod, to the consecrated spot which he had prepared for his 
 last resting-place on earth, where his noble spirit might look 
 out over this broad and beautiful landscape, and still grander 
 scopes of old ocean's waves, over which his eyes had so often 
 delighted to roam, and where, in his own words, "the earli- 
 est light of the morning might gild it, and the parting day 
 linger and play on its summit." 
 
 ADDRESS OF GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS. 
 
 In what I shall say here to-night of Mr. Webster I mean 
 to speak within all the bounds of moderation ; but I must 
 express my serious convictions of what will be the judgment 
 of posterity. The longer I live and the more I study the 
 Constitution of the United States, the more I am impressed 
 
194 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 with his claim to be regarded as its defender, and as the 
 greatest of its expositors. It was not merely that he had a 
 chief and most important influence in settling many of the 
 specific questions of interpretation that arose during his day. 
 It was in his relation to the paramount question of the nature 
 of the Union as established by the Constitution, that his 
 power was most signally exercised, and his most enduring 
 laurels were won. In this respect it may, I think, be truly 
 said of him, that there has been no statesman of our age, 
 perhaps there has been no one of all the ages of modern 
 civilization, whose noble intellect has more impressed itself 
 upon the destinies of a great country, than has the intellect 
 of Daniel Webster. There have been men whose will, whose 
 ambition, whose selfish interests have enormously affected 
 the fortunes of millions, for good or for evil. But where 
 had there been a man whose intellect, apart from all passion, 
 has determined the character of a great government in such 
 a manner as to furnish the basis, the justifiable, legal and 
 moral basis, of a civil war of stupendous proportions, waged 
 for the assertion of lawful authority? This is the glory, the 
 untarnished, the unmatched glory of Daniel Webster, which 
 will carry his name and fame further down the course of the 
 centuries than that of any other American statesman of our 
 time. Let me occupy some few moments in a demonstration 
 of this truth ; for that it is a truth admitting of demonstration 
 I hold to be certain. 
 
 When the doctrine of what was called secession began to 
 be put into practical assertion and operation by the secession 
 of South Carolina, immediately after the election of Mr. 
 Lincoln to the Presidency, it so happened that the only de- 
 partment of the government which undertook officially to 
 define the principle on which that doctrine could be encoun- 
 tered was the Executive. From the 1st of November, 1860, 
 to the 4th of March, 1861, the Congress did nothing what- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 195 
 
 ever to furnish to the country a basis of action or a course 
 of policy. I shall introduce nothing here to-night in the 
 slightest degree criminating any individual or any party ; but 
 it is within the proprieties of this occasion to refer to well- 
 known historical facts* It so happened, as I have intimated, 
 that the doctrines of the Executive in encountering the de- 
 mand of South Carolina to be recognized as an independent 
 and foreign State by reason of the ordinance of secession, 
 which it was certain would be adopted, made it necessary for 
 President Buchanan in his annual message of December 3, 
 I860, to give to the country his conception of the rightful 
 power of the federal government in meeting that emergency. 
 What was his doctrine ? It was that to coerce a State to 
 remain in the Union, to make war upon a State, to preserve 
 her in her political capacity as a State from doing an uncon- 
 stitutional act, was not within the constitutional province of 
 the federal power ; but that to coerce and to compel the in- 
 dividual inhabitants of any State to submit to and obey the 
 laws of the United States, and to do it by the use of all the 
 force necessary to remove all obstructions to the exercise of 
 the conceded powers of the federal Constitution, was an 
 authority that the Government of the United States could 
 exert upon the strictest principles of constitutional interpre- 
 tation. Now where did President Buchanan get this doc- 
 trine? He did not invent it. He never claimed to have 
 invented it. It was squarely and strictly the doctrine ex- 
 pounded by Daniel Webster in 1830 in his reply to Hayne, 
 and in 1833 in his encounters with Mr. Calhoun. It was 
 the doctrine acted upon by Jackson. It was the doctrine 
 that was accepted at that time by all thinking men out of 
 South Carolina — North, South, East and West. The growth 
 of the claim of secession as a constitutional right w r as the 
 growth of a subsequent period. It was, indeed, a logical 
 deduction from Mr. Calhoun's premises, if you admitted the 
 
196 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 soundness of these premises. But the service which Web- 
 ster rendered to his age, and to all future ages, consisted in 
 the unanswerable demonstration which he made, that the 
 premises were unsound, and in the exposition of the consti- 
 tutional truth, that a voluntary cession of sovereign powers 
 by a free people to a government proper, is an irrevocable 
 cession, and not a mere international compact ; that it can be 
 broken up only by a revolution founded on some .past actual 
 expression, and that the alleged constitutional right of seces- 
 sion is not an exercise of the rights of revolution. 
 
 Now follow down the political history of the civil war, and 
 you will find that two things are undeniably true. The first 
 is that the Webster doctrine of the nature of the Union was 
 the ground on which men of all parties could unite in sup- 
 porting the government in the prosecution of the war, and 
 that nothing else could have united them. Neither Demo- 
 crats nor any considerable number of Republicans could ever 
 have accepted, or ever did accept, the theory that war was to 
 be made upon the Southern States to their subjugation as 
 States as if they had been foreign countries, or to the destruc- 
 tion of their autonomy as States of the Union. But the 
 destruction of the Confederate government and all its mili- 
 tary power for the purpose of restoring the just supremacy 
 of the Constitution over the people of the whole Union was 
 a platform on which all Northern men could stand, the prin- 
 ciple on which they could lend their aid and lay down their 
 lives. 
 
 Go on one stage further, and contemplate the close of the 
 war. What was it that prevented us of the North, the 
 stronger section, from being left with conquered provinces 
 and subjugated peoples on our hands, without any rights 
 which a conqueror in war is bound to respect? What was 
 it but the Webster doctrine of the nature of the Union, the 
 indestructible nature of a State as known to the American 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 197 
 
 system? It is true here, my friends, that the last and most 
 impressive lesson of Webster's life is to be discerned. In 
 his doctrine, his grand interpretation of the nature of the 
 Union — the indestructible powers, the supremacy of the 
 federal Constitution in respect to all the powers of govern- 
 ment committed to it — goes along with the equally inde- 
 structible supremacy of the States in all matters reserved to 
 them by the Constitution itself. And therefore do I say 
 that the share of those who were defeated in the field, in his 
 glory and renown, is as great as our own. The wild theories 
 of State suicide, of State subjugation, of the subjugation of 
 peoples, which sprang up as the war was closing, and for a 
 short time disturbed us all with fearful apprehensions, per- 
 ished out of the popular belief. What lived and still lives 
 was the imperishable doctrine of Webster, which was, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, the real guide of all public meas- 
 ures for the restoration of the Southern States to their normal 
 relations with the Union. It remains for the influences of 
 commerce to accomplish all that can be accomplished for the 
 spread of civilization and the amelioration of all conditions of 
 men. I wish, indeed, that the terms North and South could 
 be obliterated from our common speech, in that sense which 
 has so long marked and continues to mark a contrast, a di- 
 versity, between Northern and Southern civilization. It is 
 to commerce, yes, to trade and industry, in their material 
 forms, and in the beneficent improvements that always follow 
 in their train, that we are to look for the final removal of all 
 that now remains of antagonism between the North and the 
 South. And therefore, as one who has done with all party 
 politics and all sectional questions of the past, excepting as 
 matters of history, I now couple the name of Daniel Web- 
 ster, as the great expounder of the nature of the Union, with 
 the hope and belief that, as age rolls on after age, the recog- 
 nition of his constitutional doctrine will continue to operate, 
 
198 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 to preserve for the commercial enterprise of every succeeding 
 generation the means and opportunities by which it is now 
 and in the most distant future to make us a united and a 
 happy people. 
 
 HOX. JAMES W. BRADBURY 
 Of Maine, who was in the United States Senate with Web- 
 ster, said, — 
 
 After the eloquent addresses to which you have listened, 
 and in this presence, where there are so many who have 
 long known Mr. Webster, it becomes me to confine my- 
 self to very brief remarks. It was my good fortune to be 
 associated with him in the Senate during that excited and 
 long-continued effort to give governments to the Territories 
 organized from Mexico. The excitement was intense. Mr. 
 Webster appreciated the danger. He was aware that many 
 of those whose friendship he highly prized did not see the 
 danger, did not believe its existence. At that time the rel- 
 ative strength of the two sections of the Union Avas vastly 
 different from what it was ten years subsequent, and you 
 know that ten years from that time events demonstrated the 
 danger that Mr. Webster foresaw. Then the Northwestern 
 States were connected to the South by the great channel of 
 commerce, the Mississippi river; they were not connected 
 with the North in commercial relations by the great system 
 of railroads which subsequently existed ; and the position of 
 the country when the struggle came was vastly different from 
 that which it presented to us at the time Mr. Webster gave 
 his warning. He foresaw the coming danger ; he was willing 
 to risk reputation, the loss of friendship dearly prized, aad 
 the esteem of constituents that he had honored and whose 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 191) 
 
 regard he prized ; and he entered into the spirit of the com- 
 promise of Mr. Clay with all his ardor and strength. Thus 
 he showed his patriotic devotion to the Union ; not that he 
 loved his friends less, but that he loved the Union more. 
 It was from a true patriotic impulse that he gave that hearty 
 support to the compromise introduced by Mr. Clay. He 
 voluntarily sacrificed the good opinion of those who did not 
 realize that a peril existed. I think that his 7th of March 
 speech in the year 1850 was one of the most patriotic acts 
 of his life. I do not wish to speak at length of him ; I wish 
 simply to bear testimony to the patriotism of Daniel Webster. 
 
 HON". FRANKLIN HAVEN, 
 Who was presented as a constant friend of Webster, said, — 
 
 Webster was the greatest man America has produced. It 
 was my fortune to enjoy his friendship, and, to a great ex- 
 tent, his confidence for many years. We all know what 
 were his transcendent intellectual powers, and the admira- 
 tion which they called forth in this country and in all the 
 world. Webster's heart was as deep as his intellect ; it was 
 of course known but by those who came in direct contact 
 with him, but it dominated all his acts. 
 
 Mr. Haven spoke at some length of the confidence that 
 Webster's Marshfield friends reposed in him, and of the in- 
 terest that the statesman took in agricultural and rural pur- 
 suits, relating in this connection the details of an interesting 
 visit that he and Mrs. Haven made at Webster place when it 
 was the hospitable home of Mr. AVebster and his family. 
 
200 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The Chairman next called upon Gen. Williamson to tes- 
 tify to the estimation of the deceased statesman held by the 
 West. 
 
 ADDEESS OF GEN. WILLIAMSON. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Marshfield Club : 
 
 I owe you many thanks for your invitation to be present 
 on this commemorative occasion of the birth of one of the 
 greatest men, intellectually, and one of the purest patriots, 
 who has lived in any time or country. It is especially 
 grateful to me to meet so many who have the honor of having 
 been personally acquainted with Daniel Webster, and having 
 been favored with his friendship. The memory of having 
 been his friend, and, perchance, of having assisted him (for, 
 godlike as he was, he was mortal, and as such needed warm, 
 generous human sympathy) , must be a treasure and a heri- 
 tage highly prized by you all. Even a glance at the cold, 
 inanimate marble or the lifeless canvas presentment of the 
 great Massachusetts statesman raises high hopes and noble 
 resolves in the minds of the young men of the great Republic 
 who behold them. Though the massive brain has long ago 
 ceased its busy work, and the fond, warm heart, that seemed 
 to hold communion and sympathy not only with his fellow- 
 men, but with the domestic animals on his farm, has long 
 been stilled in death, the great thoughts to which he gave 
 utterance will live forever, and the memory of his kind and 
 simple nature will be transmitted down the generations, and 
 live in tradition for a^es to come, among the descendants of 
 those who knew and loved him as many of you have. The 
 happiness of seeing him was denied me, as my home was in 
 the then far West, beyond the Mississippi, until after the 
 close of Mr. Webster's life ; but this did not prevent me 
 from worshipping from afar the great New Englander, and 
 weeping bitter tears when he died, ending my fond hope of 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 201 
 
 some day meeting him faee to face. To what extent the life 
 and teachings of Daniel Webster have animated and in- 
 spired the world to great thoughts and noble actions may 
 never — can never — be known. It may be that the utterance 
 of the immortal words, "Liberty and Union, now and for- 
 ever, one and inseparable ! " animated the minds and nerved 
 the hearts of those who took arms in defence of liberty, 
 union, and the life of the nation. Who knows, save God 
 alone, and who shall say, that this nation does not owe the 
 preservation of the Union and its life to those sublime words ? 
 Webster, though dead, was as powerful as an army in fight- 
 ing the battles of his country which he loved so well. His 
 teachings were a living force ; and, like Jove, invisible to 
 mortals, though his presence was felt, led the loyal hosts on 
 to battle and to victory. On this one hundredth anniversary 
 of the birth of Daniel Webster, the nation should rise and 
 stand uncovered in apprehension that the spirit of the great 
 expounder of its fundamental law is again visiting its earthly 
 abode, enforcing his life teachings among the people, to the 
 end that their government and constitutional liberty shall be 
 enforced — the Magna Charta for the ages to come — to all 
 who love liberty. In conclusion, allow me to say that I am 
 surprised at my own temerity in attempting on such an 
 occasion as this to speak to a select Boston audience concern- 
 ing a man of whose life and character they know so much, 
 from personal contact and acquaintance, and I so little, 
 gleaned only from the literature of the times. 
 
 HON. GEORGE LUNT. 
 
 " No one more admired and respected him whose natal day 
 we now commemorate than Hon. George Lunt," were the 
 
202 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 words with which the President introduced the next speaker. 
 First paying a personal tribute to the memory of Mr. Web- 
 ster, Mr. Lunt said that he was glad of the opportunity to 
 correct recent misrepresentations of his position in anti- 
 slavery times. He stated that he accepted the chairmanship 
 of a special committee of the Senate, then appointed to give 
 a hearing on the question of abolition. The other two mem- 
 bers were unwilling to give a hearing, but the speaker was 
 in favor of hearing all interested. It accordingly took place, 
 but those who appeared declared themselves to be citizens 
 of the world rather than of Massachusetts, and as such de- 
 manded a recognition of their claims. The committee did 
 not consider themselves obliged to listen to every one on 
 earth, and so declined to hear them. After a few days the 
 hearing came to an end in disorder. A petition was sent to 
 the Legislature complaining of the wrongs inflicted by the 
 committee, but both branches, by an unusual majority, sus- 
 tained the members. "But," continued the speaker, "I hold 
 now, as I did then, that the colored man cannot be made the 
 social equal of the white man. The negro does not deserve 
 it, and it must not be." 
 
 HON. CHARLES LEVI WOODBURY. 
 Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury was introduced as a personal 
 friend of Daniel Webster. He had, he said, received many 
 acts of kindness from the great statesman, and he spoke of 
 the love and affection Mr. Choate bore to Mr, Webster, as 
 one of the rarest and most beautiful things on both sides. 
 " My thoughts," he continued, " go back to when, in the pleni- 
 tude of his reputation, his heart went fondly back to New 
 England. It is for that that we of New Hampshire, here to- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 203 
 
 ni^ht, honor him and cling to him, no matter what our politics 
 may be. He gave both his sons to the cause of the country 
 he loved so well ; and what Spartan or Roman could have 
 done more ? His memory will live so long as the love of 
 liberty shall live, so long as the history of our country shall 
 live." 
 
 HON. LEVEKETT SALTONSTALL. 
 The next speaker, Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, is a member 
 of the club ; and on being introduced, desired to speak only 
 of his personal memories of Mr. Webster. He remembered 
 the irreat man first in the White murder case, when the 
 speaker was but five years old. He remembered him in 
 Washington and at his father's table. He was also present 
 at Webster's great speech on the 7th of March, the ablest of 
 his life. It was a masterpiece of oratory, and the most 
 wonderful example of oratory in his life. "I thought then, 
 and think now, that Mr. Webster could not have said any- 
 thing different from what he said on that occasion. All who 
 differed with him then will agree with him now. It was a 
 speech for the Union. His greatness is before us now, as if 
 he addressed an assembly of gods and not of men, and he the 
 greatest among them. He was true to his country and true 
 to himself. And as we see small spirits to-day casting asper- 
 sions upon him, the foremost in the history of the country, 
 it reminds me of the man who, in picking out the spots on 
 the sun, forgot the great luminary itself." 
 
 OTHER SPEAKERS. 
 Hon. Charles P. Thompson was called on to respond for 
 the Essex Bar. He said the point had been arrived at when 
 
204 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 to speak disrespectfully of Daniel Webster does no harm to 
 his reputation, while it does immense injury to him who 
 utters the aspersion. He offered as a sentiment: "The life 
 of Daniel Webster, the highest encouragement to the states- 
 man ; the sternest rebuke to the politician." 
 
 Mr. John E. Russell, of the State Board of Agriculture, 
 spoke of the love of nature held by him whom all had assem- 
 bled to honor. He regarded Daniel Webster as the repre- 
 sentative American farmer. 
 
 The President announced the receipt of letters from gentle- 
 ilcmen unable to be present, among them being one from 
 Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, whose sudden death all mourned ; 
 Judge Lord ; Sir Edward Tilley, Minister of Finance of 
 Canada ; Hon. Alexander H. Stuart of Virginia, Secretary 
 of the Interior when Webster was at the head of the Cabinet ; 
 Hon. John Boyd, Mayor of St. John ; Hon. Francis Brinley ; 
 Hon. S. J. Tilden ; E. P. Whipple, Esq. ; Hon. E. R. Hoar ; 
 William H. Durnan of Hanover, N.H. ; Hon. Julius Rock- 
 well ; Hon. Charles H. Thomas and Hon. E. J. Phelps. 
 After a few words from Mr. T. C. Amory the company dis- 
 persed. 
 
 OBSERVANCE AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 The one hundredth anniversary of the birthday of Daniel 
 Webster was celebrated by a meeting held at Willard's hall 
 for the purpose of initiating a movement looking to the erec- 
 tion of a statue to that great man's memory in the district. 
 There was a good attendance, in spite of the very disagree- 
 able weather, of Senators, Representatives and noted public 
 men. A large oil painting of Webster was displayed on the 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 205 
 
 stage, and a model of the proposed statue, being a facsimile 
 of the one now erected in New York city, was placed on a 
 pedestal in the auditorium. Mr. Blaine, who was expected 
 to preside, was not present, owing to hoarseness from a 
 newly contracted cold, and sent his regrets. The President 
 also sent an encouraging letter. Dr. Loring was chosen to 
 preside, and opened the proceedings by stating the object of 
 the meeting. He referred in glowing terms to the memory 
 of the statesman in whose honor the meeting had been called, 
 and expressed his confidence in the success of the proposed 
 movement. Addresses were made by Senator Blair of New 
 Hampshire, ex-Speaker Randall, Waldo Hutchins and other 
 prominent gentlemen. A committee of seven was appointed 
 by the chair to make the necessary arrangements for receiv- 
 ing subscriptions for the object in view, and it was announced 
 that most of the money needed had been promised already. 
 
 President Arthur and ex-Secretary Blaine, who had been 
 invited to attend the Webster meeting at Willard's hall , sent 
 the following letters, which were read : — 
 
 Executive Mansion, 
 Washington, January 18, 1882. 
 Stilson Hutchins, Esq. 
 
 Dear sir, — I regret that other duties prevent me from 
 accepting your kind invitation to attend the meeting at Wil- 
 lard's hall to-night, to celebrate the centennial birthday of 
 Daniel Webster and to procure a statue of him for our city ; 
 but I shall take great pleasure in otherwise promoting the 
 purpose of your meeting. It is but tardy justice that now 
 and here, where W r ebster's eternal fame was won, we should 
 speedily erect his counterpart in enduring bronze, that those 
 who follow us should know the man as we saw him ; and it 
 is especially appropriate that he should be thus honored in 
 this city, beautiful beyond all others, by monuments to those 
 
206 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 who devoted their lives to preserve "Liberty and Union, now 
 and forever, one and inseparable." 
 
 I remain very faithfully yours, 
 
 Chester A. Arthur. 
 
 Washington. D.C., Jan. 18. 1882. 
 Stilson Hutchins, Esq. 
 
 Dear sir, — Severe hoarseness incapacitates me from pre- 
 siding at your meeting this evening. I sincerely regret this, 
 for I desire to speak an earnest word in favor of commemo- 
 rating the fame of Mr. Webster by a suitable monument in 
 Washington. The national capital contains some noble 
 memorials, reared to perpetuate the memory of military 
 heroes, but with the exception of Mi». Lincoln's, no monu- 
 ment has been erected to a civilian. It is well to begin with 
 Mr. Webster. His fame was acquired in Washington, and 
 his reputation exceeds that of any man who has served in the 
 American Congress. I have no doubt the response to the 
 appeal you have made will be general and generous. 
 
 Very sincerely, 
 
 James G. Blaine. 
 
 THE DAY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 Franklin, N.H., Jan. 18, 1882.— One hundred years 
 ago to-day, in a part of Salisbury, now a portion of Franklin, 
 Daniel Webster was born. His parents attended the Con- 
 gregational church at Salisbury, on the south road, four 
 miles distant from his birthplace, and two miles from Frank- 
 lin village. At that church this evening a meeting was held 
 to commemorate his birth. The old church was decorated 
 with flags and flowers, and a portrait of Mr. Webster was 
 suspended behind the pulpit. Other pictures of the states- 
 
*.. 
 
Birthplace of Daniel Webster. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 207 
 
 man were placed in various parts of the house. Deacon 
 Thomas D. Little, chairman of the committee of arrange- 
 ments, presided, and called to the platform several of the 
 oldest citizens, all of them natives of Salisbury, and all pre- 
 viously acquainted with Mr. Webster. Mr. Little read from 
 the church register, written in the hand of the Rev. Thomas 
 Worcester, long time a pastor of their church. The disputed 
 point as to Mr. Webster's church connections was settled 
 beyond doubt by an entry under date of September 13, 1807, 
 in which is plainly written that on that date Daniel Webster 
 united with the Congregational Church in Salisbury, N.H. 
 Under date of May 29, 1808, is written, "Married. Daniel 
 Webster, Esq., to Miss Grace Fletcher of Hopkinton," the 
 marriage occurring at the house of Judge Kelly, whose wife 
 was the sister of Mr. Webster's bride. This house is now 
 standing: in o- od condition near the village church. The 
 Rev. Mr. Barnum read several letters from Mr. Webster 
 to friends in Salisbury ; also his confession of faith written 
 to Mr. Worcester in 1808. Interesting reminiscences of 
 Webster were contributed by several old residents. 
 
 Concord, N.H., Jan. 18, 1882. — The one hundredth an- 
 niversary of the birth of Webster was celebrated here to-day 
 by the Webster Club. The exercises were opened in the 
 opera house, by Edgar H. Woodman, president of the club, 
 who after brief remarks introduced Colonel John H. George, 
 who spoke for about an hour, his remarks being greeted 
 with frequent applause. After music by the third regiment 
 band, Mr. Woodman said that many letters had been re- 
 ceived from prominent men throughout the country, and read 
 from several of them. 
 
 At the conclusion of the exercises in the opera house, a 
 reception was held at the rooms of the Webster Club, where 
 many prominent citizens of the city and State, with ladies, 
 
208 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 were present. An elegant lunch was served, followed by 
 dancing in an adjoining hall. 
 
 Exeter, N.H., Jan. 18, 1882.— The Phillips Exeter 
 Academy celebrated to-day the one hundredth birthday of 
 Webster, a former alumnus. Addresses were delivered by 
 Professor Perkins and by members of the academy. The 
 exercises were interesting and impressive. Many things 
 were brought out concerning his school life hitherto un- 
 known. 
 
 Portsmouth, N.H., Jan. 18, 1882. — Special exercises 
 commemorative of the one hundredth anniversary birthday 
 of Daniel Webster took place to-day at the high school in 
 the presence of goodly numbers, including Mayor Sise and 
 other members of the city government, clergy and prominent 
 residents. The programme embraced original historical 
 papers relating to the distinguished jurist's settlement in 
 Portsmouth, his residence here and incidents in his public 
 career, interspersed with selected orations and recitations 
 from Webster's writings. The exercises closed with ad- 
 dresses by Mayor Sise and others. Nearly all of the schools 
 had memorial services. 
 
 DARTMOUTH WEBSTER CENTENNIAL DINNER 
 IN BOSTON. 
 
 On the 25th of January, 1882, the Association of the 
 Alumni of Dartmouth College in Boston and its vicinity 
 held, at the Revere House, its seventeenth annual reunion 
 and dinner, which took the form of a celebration of the cen- 
 tennial of the birth of Daniel Webster. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL-. 
 
 209 
 
 The following-named gentlemen were present : - 
 
 Charles II. Bell, Governor of New 
 Hampshire, who presided at the 
 tables. 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder. 
 
 Walbridge A. Field, of the Supreme 
 Judicial Court. 
 
 Itcv. S. K. Lothrop, D.D. 
 
 Stephen M. Allen. 
 
 E. S. Tobey. 
 
 Rev. William Burnet Wright. 
 
 Josiah II. Benton, Jr. 
 
 John D. Philbrick. 
 
 C. Q. Tirrell, of Natick. 
 
 George W. Morse, of Newton. 
 
 Melvin O. Adams. 
 
 E. B. Hale. 
 A. B. Coffin. 
 W. E. Jewell. 
 Charles F. Kittredgp. 
 General Henry K. Oliver. 
 George William Estabrook. 
 John L. Hayes. 
 
 Nathan F. Safford. 
 Thomas L. Wakefield. 
 Prof. Ruggles. 
 S. II. Goodall. 
 Alphonso J. Robinson. 
 Horatio G. Parker. 
 Henry W. Fuller. 
 
 F. W. Lincoln. 
 Caleb Emery. 
 
 Rev. H. Allen Hazen. 
 
 G. B. Baleh. 
 J. L. Hildreth. 
 Calvin Cutler. 
 Rev. E. E. Strong. 
 Hiram Orcutt. 
 Prof. C. F. Emerson. 
 C. E. Dearborn. 
 Baxter P. Smith. 
 
 G. II. Holman. 
 H. II. Kimball. 
 F. E. Oliver. 
 Lewis Parkhurst. 
 Ira Russell. 
 
 Albert Palmer. 
 
 George A. Harden. 
 
 Rev. Daniel L. Furbur. 
 
 Judge Mellen Chamberlain. 
 
 John II. George. 
 
 J. W. Rollins. 
 
 Rev. Dr. J. W. Wellman. 
 
 T. S. Dame. 
 
 John F. Colby. 
 
 L. S. Fairbanks. 
 
 N. W. Ladd. 
 
 Dr. John A. Lamson. 
 
 John II. Hardy. 
 
 Dr. John A. Follett. 
 
 James B. Riehardson. 
 
 M. W. Tewksbury. 
 
 M. W. Hazen. 
 
 Rev. C. P. F. Bancroft. 
 
 Solon Bancroft. 
 
 S. N. Crosby. 
 
 Henry Wardwell. 
 
 J. H. Tyler. 
 
 D. H. Brown. 
 
 E. II. Davis. 
 J. W. Allard. 
 Judge John S. Ladd. 
 
 A. R. Brown. 
 
 F. W. Choate- 
 N. C. Berry. 
 
 B. Wood. 
 
 Prof. C. O. Thompson. 
 S. K. Hamilton. 
 S. L. Powers. 
 I. S. Morse. 
 E. A. Upton. 
 Dr. O. G. Cilley. 
 Dr. J. F. Jarvis. 
 Charles F. Kimball. 
 E. C. Carrigan. 
 J. G. Edgerly. 
 
 C. W. Thompson. 
 J. H. Clark. 
 Rev. J. B. Clark. 
 J. T. Gibson. 
 
 H. L. Parker. 
 
210 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 L. E. Shepard. William B. Stevens. 
 
 W. T. Stevens. D. Foster. 
 
 George II. Stevens. J. A. Staples. 
 
 William II. Haile. C. P. Chase. 
 
 J. O. Norris. F. Chase. 
 
 H. Hume. L. Cutler. 
 
 S. S. W T hite. J. H. Butler. 
 Dr. C. P. Scales. 
 
 Because of the death of the late John P. Healy, who was 
 President of the Alumni Association, Mr. George W. Morse 
 presided at the business meeting of the Association, at which 
 these officers were chosen : — 
 
 President. 
 
 Walbridge A. Field. 
 
 Vice-Presidents. 
 
 Judge Caleb Blodgett, of Boston ; Rev. William Burnet Wright, 
 
 of Boston ; Rev. C. P. F. Bancroft, of Andover ; William II. Haile, 
 
 of Springfield. 
 
 Executive Committee for three years. 
 
 George W. Morse, of Newton; Joseph G. Edgerly, of Fitchburg. 
 
 Secretary, Alfred S. Hall, of Winchester. 
 
 Treasurer, C. Q. Tirrell, of Natick. 
 
 Governor Bell, of New Hampshire, who presided, welcomed 
 the Alumni of Dartmouth, and in fitting words paid a tribute 
 to the memory of Hon. Harvey Jewell and Hon. J. P. Healy, 
 former members of the Alumni, and concluded by introduc- 
 ing the Eev. S. K. Lothrop, D.D. Mr. Lothrop delivered an 
 eloquent address. The Hon. Marshall P. Wilder and the Hon. 
 E. S. Tobey next addressed the Alumni. These addresses are 
 published in phamplet form by Little, Brown & Co., and are 
 well worth the reading by all who revere the name of Web- 
 ster. We republish here the two concluding speeches by 
 members of the Webster Historical Society, and only regret 
 that we are not able to publish all. 
 
* THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 211 
 
 The President on introducing Mr. Allen said, — 
 "Gentlemen, — I have the pleasure of introducing the 
 author of several valuable scientific works, who was an inti- 
 mate and favorite friend of Mr. Webster for many years, — 
 the Hon. Stephen M. Allen." 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. STEPHEN M. ALLEN. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : 
 
 I know not to what, or to whom, I am primarily indebted 
 for this honor. But this I do know, that the name of Dart- 
 mouth College, as connected with that of Daniel Webster, 
 has been vividly impressed upon my mind since childhood. 
 In maturer life, the subject became more interesting from 
 the fact that the present legal status of the college had been 
 established in the year of my own birth, through the efforts 
 of its most distinguished alumnus ; and that my family rela- 
 tions, who had been educated there, ever considered it a 
 triumph for education in New Hampshire, and a crowning 
 glory to Mr. Webster. My acquaintance with the great 
 statesman grew entirely out of family associations, and was 
 almost wholly private and social. Both of my grandfathers 
 — Japhet Allen and Jeremiah Gilman — were with Ebenezer 
 Webster in the Revolution ; and Colonel David Gilman, my 
 grandfather's brother, was with him in the old French wars, 
 under Washington and Amherst. Tradition says that Rev. 
 Samuel Hidden, of Yarmouth, N.H., aided young Webster 
 in the study of his classics, w T hen the latter was preceptor 
 of the Academy at Fryeburg. Daniel Webster and my 
 father were born in the same year, took lessons from the 
 same tutor ; and while Mr. Webster Was at Fryeburg Acad- 
 emy, Mr. Allen taught a district school near by, and was a 
 companion of Webster on many a fishing and rambling 
 excursion around Mt. Chocorua and the tributaries of the 
 Saco. 
 
212 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 My first sight of the great statesman was in a country 
 village in New Hampshire, when I was about ten years of 
 age ; but when at seventeen I came to Boston and was first 
 casually introduced, he was at the zenith of his glory. I 
 had been taught that he was not only one of the greatest, 
 but one of the best, men the country had ever known ; and 
 when subsequently I made myself known to him as the son 
 of an old friend, the great heart of the statesman warmed at 
 once to me through the memories of the grandfather and 
 father ; and the intimacy lasted till Mr. Webster's death. 
 For some years after my first introduction, though I saw but 
 little of him, I watched his course with a critic's eye, and 
 became convinced, on afterwards knowing him better per- 
 sonally, that all and more that had been early taught me in 
 his favor was true. He again introduced his son Fletcher to 
 me, whose intimate acquaintance, with that of his family, I 
 ever after valued and have kept up with affectionate remem- 
 brance. 
 
 It was my privilege also to have heard golden words eulo- 
 gistic of Mr. Webster from many of his contemporaries. 
 Some of these were older, and life-long friends. Some were 
 associated with him long years at the Bar, while others were 
 merchants and mechanics. Among these were Clay, Cass, 
 Benton, Calhoun, Talmadge, Cor win, Conrad, Crittenden 
 and Marshall ; also Jonathan Mason, Judge Story, Simon 
 Greenleaf, Rufus Choate, the elder Bowditch, Thomas H. 
 Perkins, the elder Winthrop, his old schoolmaster Tappan, 
 and some of the influential old mechanics of Boston, who 
 possessed his confidence and esteem. They all held him in 
 the highest veneration, and awarded him all the honors we 
 accord him to-day. During the last few years previous to 
 his death, he was in the habit of writing letters to his life- 
 long friend, Hon. Franklin Haven, who was at liberty to 
 show them to other friends ; and my heart has been many 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 213 
 
 times thrilled with the perusal of such letters through the 
 courtesy of Mr, Haven. 
 
 On my own part, I found Mr. Webster a most affectionate 
 and loving friend, and ever willing to instruct and advise the 
 lowliest citizen on any subject brought to his notice. I be- 
 lieved him to be the most exemplary statesman the country 
 had ever known, and a consistent Christian ; and such has 
 been the testimony of all who knew him personally and well. 
 The two daguerrotype pictures before you were the last ever 
 taken of Webster, and were produced at Franklin, N.H., 
 about three months before his death, and a few days before 
 he left that town for the last time. He sent them to me as 
 a present, with some other tokens of remembrance. lie had 
 contemplated giving a dinner there to twenty-five young 
 men whom he authorized Hon. Peter Butler and myself to 
 invite ; but two days before the same was to come off, he was 
 called back to Washington as he said, for a day, — after which 
 he went to Marshfield but to die. He sent for me to meet 
 him at the Revere House on his arrival in the city, and re- 
 commended the party of young friends to go up and have 
 their dinner, the fish for which he said were already caught ; 
 but we felt no heart to do so, and declined. He was at this 
 time quite feeble from an old complaint, and the solemnity 
 of his manner seemed to me prophetic of the coming calam- 
 ity. I well remember his last words, and the impress they 
 then made upon my heart. He said, "I am going to Wash- 
 ington for a day, and then I shall return here and go to 
 Marshfield; and then — and then — and then — Mr. Allen, 
 I don't know what ! " 
 
 Mr. Webster, when in Boston, often visited my office near 
 State street, and would talk with the familiarity of a father. 
 I knew and often saw many of his old friends in the West, 
 to whom he ever wished to be kindly remembered ; and once 
 he gave me some five hundred of his speeches for the young 
 
214 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 men of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. At Washington he 
 was ever accessible to those that called ; and whether as 
 Senator of Massachusetts, Cabinet officer, or private friend, 
 he was the same profound but genial entertainer. I once 
 dined at the house of one of our distinguished representatives 
 in Congress who disliked Mr. Webster with the bitterness 
 of his whole impetuous nature, and also supped with Mr. 
 Webster the same evening. The representative, after dinner, 
 began a tirade against Mr. Webster and some of the other 
 prominent statesmen while we walked the piazza, and became 
 so offensive that I told him I was going to Mr. Webster's 
 house to tea, and begged him to stop. He at once did so, 
 and apologized. How different the evening from the after- 
 noon ! How different the men ! I have never since passed 
 up the State House steps between those two men standing in 
 bronze before its portals, but I call to mind the afternoon 
 and evening I spent with them, respectively; in Washington, 
 — the one, a gall of bitterness to his enemies ; the other, a 
 Colossus of forbearance and Christian charity Mr. Webster 
 was well aware of this bitterness, and of my acquaintance 
 with its source ; yet the whole evening passed, during which 
 there was only one caller, and not a word of unkindness was 
 spoken. The conversation that evening was mostly of the 
 industries of the civilized world, labor and capital, and 
 their influence upon the young men of the country, and the 
 vast resources at hand for their future field of labor and sup- 
 port. He contrasted our own with that of other nations, 
 freely speaking of England and France. He touched upon 
 the character of the Pilgrims, — the Lollards of England as 
 he termed them, — and of the religious fanaticism which had 
 cost so many lives in olden time, and of the difference in the 
 spirit divine which shone forth at Calvary, in contrast with 
 that of the massacre of St. Bartholomew and that of the 
 Waldenses. Mr. Webster's knowledge of Scripture was 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 215 
 
 perfect, and his quotations were always elevating. How 
 often in hearing him have I thought of the inspired utterance 
 of the blind backwoods preacher, so beautifully expressed 
 in the common school-books of the day, where majestically, 
 with an elevated voice, he exclaimed : " Socrates died like a 
 man, but Jesus Christ like a God ! " I never knew of Mr. 
 Webster's uttering an irreverent word, and in but one note 
 from him did I ever detect any bitterness towards those who 
 had so wrongly maligned him. He was at last pained at 
 the coolness of some of his friends that he had nourished and 
 sustained through life, and who had grown rich and honored 
 through his means, but who, though well knowing his con- 
 scientious views of carrying out the Constitution, were will- 
 ing to join in the cry against him when he fulfilled his last 
 duty in trying to preserve the Union through perfectly con- 
 stitutional means. He felt that the abolitionists of Massa- 
 chusetts had greatly wronged their State and him by turning 
 a popular tide of abuse against him for simply upholding 
 the Constitution as a duty in its darkest day. He did feel 
 that his State had lowered itself, but would do him justice in 
 time ; and in a note to me in 1851, he said, "It would rejoice 
 me more than almost anything else to see Massachusetts re- 
 stored to her true character and position." 
 
 It has been said by some of Mr. Webster's enemies that 
 he bore hard, in a pecuniary way, upon his friends. This, in 
 my own behalf, and in behalf of one of his most intimate but 
 wealthy friends, I can positively contradict. Mr. Webster 
 well knew, from the year 1849 to the day of his death, that 
 he could have borroAved from me at any time a few thousand 
 dollars, payable at his convenience. He never asked for, 
 nor in any manner, direct or indirect, did he receive through 
 or from me, a dollar in his life that I remember. I take 
 pleasure also in saying the same of his son Fletcher, whom, 
 from his father's second introduction to me in 1850, I knew 
 
210 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 intimately until his death. A continued acquaintance with 
 his family since, including the three children who have died, 
 enables me to say the same of them. 
 
 Another word may not be improper in regard to their con- 
 vivial habits, for which they have also been maligned. For 
 the last ten years I have been much at the Webster mansion 
 as the guest of the family ; have often stopped two or three 
 days at a time ; have frequently dined and supped there 
 when I did not remain over night ;. and during all these years 
 I never saw, or saw used, a drop of ardent spirits or wine 
 of any kind about the house or upon the place. I take 
 pleasure in saying this, in justice to the bereaved and widowed 
 mother of a large family, now all dead, — who Avas of an 
 illustrious family herself, and whose heart has ever opened 
 to every good word and work illustrated by the life of the 
 husband and father to whom the country has owed and does 
 still owe so much. 
 
 The last words of Daniel Webster to me, after kindly 
 asking about the health of my family, were, "God bless you 
 and them ! " and I treasure these words as a blessing from 
 the great, the good, the just man. In comparison with other 
 characters m greatness and goodness, I find no parallel as 
 statesman, scholar, citizen or friend. In my judgment, he 
 combined the wisdom, and especially the fidelity, of Lycur- 
 gus, the pre-eminent political genius of Solon, the oratori- 
 cal powers of both Demosthenes and Cicero, with the dignity 
 and patriotism of Washington. 
 
 I now call upon a member of the class of 1858, an orator 
 who has recently served with acceptance in the Senate of 
 Massachusetts, — the Hon. Albert Palmer. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 217 
 
 SPEECH OF HOK. ALBERT PALMER. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: 
 
 As a son of New Hampshire and of Dartmouth, I am 
 proud to be here to join with you this evening in honoring 
 the majestic memory of New Hampshire's and Dartmouth's 
 most illustrious son. It is a no less graceful than grateful 
 custom, — one which is always honored by every observance, 
 and one which should never be neglected, — that finds an 
 illustration in this gathering. We cannot too devoutly or 
 too constantly revere the memories of those illustrious patri- 
 ots and statesmen Avhose names and fames form the richest 
 heritage of the Republic, and of whom we may indeed say, 
 that, though dead, "their spirits rule us from their urns." 
 
 There is an element in the wealth of nations which Adam 
 Smith wrote not of, and of which the frigid and prosaic 
 science of political economy takes no account. The wealth 
 of nations, gentlemen, is largely made up of monumental 
 manhoods, like that to which we pay homage this night. In 
 mediaeval days, it was the custom, as one brave knight after 
 another passed away, to hang his banner and his shield above 
 his torn!) ; and whenever his descendants were summoned to 
 arms, they prepared themselves for the field by visiting these 
 proud memorials of their valiant sires. Thus did the chiv- 
 alry of those rude times draw inspiration from the fathers. 
 The example of feudalism may be improved upon by free 
 peoples. This Republic has in truth a glorious knighthood, 
 whose banners and shields, resting above their ashes, are 
 emblems of inspiration for evermore, to be gazed upon with 
 reverent eyes and appealed to Avith grateful hearts whenever 
 in the long hereafter supreme emergencies shall summon 
 their posterity to supreme efforts. Whenever and wherever 
 we raise a statue or build a shrine to one of the long line of 
 American worthies, — an Adams, a Franklin, a Jefferson, a 
 
218 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Jackson, a Lincoln or a Garfield, — we build better than 
 perhaps we know. Such memories are the hostages which 
 the great Past gives to the greater Future. And every mar- 
 ble column that we raise to give them perpetual remembrance 
 is a silent sentinel posted on the ramparts of republican gov- 
 ernment, which shall challenge our children and our children's 
 children to remember the countersign of freedom. It is not. 
 for the dead only, or chiefly, that we erect these monuments, 
 but for ourselves and those who shall come after us ; that 
 these effigies in stone and bronze may, looking down upon 
 us in the calm serenity of their mute grandeur, pledge to us 
 the fulfilment of the poet's prophecy, — 
 
 " And often from that other world on this 
 
 Some gleams from great souls gone before may shine. 
 To shed on struggling hearts a clearer bliss. 
 And clothe the right with lustre more divine."" 
 
 Anions those "srreat souls o;one before," that of Daniel 
 Webster is most assuredly one of the greatest. Nor can it 
 be at this late date at all doubtful what manner of message 
 his immortal voice will carry down to the coming genera- 
 tions. The fierce passions of the conflict on whose threshold 
 his Titanic form looms up, overshadowing all the lesser 
 actors in the prologue to the drama of Secession, have at 
 length happily passed away. The murky atmosphere of 
 partisan fury and malice which enveloped the figures of the 
 contestants in that long and bitter war of ideas which pre- 
 ceded the war of swords, no longer obscures them from our 
 view. Now that we have reached the time when we can 
 survey the field of carnage itself with calmness and candor, 
 we may certainly examine the field of controversy which 
 antedated it, with dispassionate eyes ; and on that memorable 
 field of controversy I take it that no man at these tables 
 doubts what place and what part belong to Daniel Webster. ' 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 219 
 
 It was a field in which giants strove with giants, and the 
 stake was proportionally haary. In those eventful years 
 durinar which Webster represented Massachusetts in the 
 Senate, the pleadings were being made up upon which final 
 issue was to be taken ten years after he had "joined the great 
 majority." I think — I know I am sustained by history in 
 saying that this was the master-mind that shaped the case, 
 not for the North, not for the South, but for the Constitution 
 and the Union ; and shaped it so clearly, so conclusively, 
 that, from the moment when he sat down after his historic 
 reply to Hayne, to the moment when arms took the place of 
 arguments, no material word Avas added thereto. The argu- 
 ment was all in then, and the case was as ready then for the 
 jury as it was in 1861. There is not a single line of defence 
 for the right of secession which is not broken by that speech ; 
 nor is there a single line of defence for the indestructibility 
 of the Union which is not advanced and maintained within 
 its comprehensive limits. It was the prophetic anticipation, 
 by a span of full thirty years, of every constitutional conten- 
 tion that was submitted to a bloody settlement three decades 
 after its delivery. The whole range of parliamentary records 
 may be searched in vain for a parallel exhibition of prescient 
 statesmanship. 
 
 I believe, gentlemen, that the time is ripe for a new read- 
 ing and a truer interpretation of this great man. He has 
 been, if not misunderstood, very imperfectly understood. 
 So long as the war and the issues growing out of the war 
 occupied the national mind, the popular judgment was in no 
 condition to consider with patience or assign with accuracy 
 the place of Daniel Webster in our history. We have all 
 felt that it must be a great place, but how great we have, I 
 believe, yet to realize. It has been well remarked by Mr. 
 Whipple, that the names of Edmund Burke and Daniel 
 Webster hold equal and lonely rank among the parliamentary 
 
220 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 orators of their respective countries. Their distinction is 
 that their utterances have survived the occasions of their 
 delivery, and are incorporated into the enduring body of our 
 standard literature. The reason of this is not obscure. 
 Other party leaders spoke for their party and for the passing 
 party exigency, and for them only. Burke spoke to all Eng- 
 land, and Webster to all America, for all time to come. No 
 party can claim them as exclusively its own : their genius 
 was essentially national in its grasp and devotion. We may 
 as well attempt to distort the patriotic teachings of Wash- 
 ington's farewell address into the dogmas of a party, as to 
 construct the narrow platform of a faction with the broad 
 timbers of Webster's superb deliverances. No reflecting man 
 can peruse his voluminous utterances on the public themes 
 of his time, beginning with his argument in behalf of his be- 
 loved Alma Mater before the Supreme Cour of the United 
 States in 1818, and ending with his address on the laying of 
 the corner-stone of the addition to the nation's capitol in 
 1851, without being impressed, above all other impressions, 
 with the breadth, the comprehensiveness, the universality, 
 and the untainted and unfaltering patriotism of Webster's 
 mind. An intelligent perusal of these masterpieces of ora- 
 tory is of itself a complete education in all the essential 
 branches of political science. As time goes on we cannot 
 doubt that they will become more and more prized as a 
 grand portion of the inspired scriptures of American states- 
 manship. If the political economist of this or some future 
 day shall seek for a clear and convincing exposition of the 
 philosophy of protection and free trade, he will find it here ; 
 if he shall seek to know and understand the exact relations 
 of the States to the nation, the precise nature of the sover- 
 eignty of the former and of the supremacy of the latter, he 
 will find it here ; if he shall seek to know, as many of us are 
 seeking to know at this time, the true relations of the Execu- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 221 
 
 five to public patronage, and the proper limitations to the 
 exercise of the appointing and removing power, then he will 
 find all that here too. But above all, sir, he will find in 
 Webster's public addresses that masterly elucidation of the 
 fundamental principles on which this government rests, and 
 on which alone it can be perpetuated, which have given to 
 their illustrious author his right to that grand title, "The 
 Expounder and Defender of the Constitution." 
 
 I do not for one moment exempt from this sincere judg- 
 ment and this inadequate praise that memorable speech of 
 the 7th of March, 1850, to which, many years after its de- 
 livery, the term " infamous " was freely applied. I believe I 
 am not lacking in admiration for that Spartan band of politi- 
 cal pioneers who, at the time that famous speech was deliv- 
 ered, were the extreme vanguard of the noble army of mar- 
 tyrs who eleven years later were to make the soil of the 
 Eepublic free from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from 
 Maine to the Gulf; but, sir, I cannot conscientiously sub- 
 scribe — and never did — to the characterization of that 7th 
 of March speech as infamous. It was not the speech of an 
 Abolitionist or a Free Soiler ; it was not a radical speech as 
 the term " radical " is commonly used : it was a speech that 
 breathed the spirit of compromise and conciliation. It was 
 denounced then and for many years afterwards as "a sur- 
 render to the slave power." I doubt if that description of 
 it will find anything like unanimous assent to-day ; and ere 
 another decade has passed, I believe it will be rejected as a 
 wholly unjust estimate of its real character. In the final 
 judgment of history, I am confident, it will be regarded as 
 the honest appeal of a great mind, patriotically zealous for 
 the preservation of the Union above all things, and for the 
 sacred observance of the Constitution, which he regarded 
 as the Ark of the Covenant to that conservative body of 
 opinion, which, as he then sinoerely believed, must rescue 
 
222 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 them from the extremists of both sections, if they were to be 
 rescued at all. It was not given to him to see that there 
 was an irrepressible conflict that could not be compromised. 
 He shrank from any such conclusion. "I hear," said he, in 
 that too little appreciated speech, — "I hear with distress 
 and anguish the word secession ! secession ! peaceable seces- 
 sion ! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see 
 that miracle." And then followed that splendid figure, bor- 
 rowed from the imagery of the universe : " He who sees 
 these States now revolving in harmony around a common 
 centre, and expects to see them quit their places and fly off 
 without convulsion, may look the next hour to see the heav- 
 enly bodies rush from their spheres and jostle against each 
 other in the realms of space without causing the wreck of the 
 universe. There can be no such thing as peaceable secession. 
 Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility." I cannot* think 
 of that speech in which these solemn and prophetic words 
 occur, and many more of like import and power, and write 
 it down as infamous, or as a surrender to the slave power. 
 Whenever that accusation is made, I call to mind a passage in 
 that speech which nobly resents and repels a Southern Senator's 
 conceited criticisms and arraignment of Northern labor and 
 the Northern laborer, in comparison with the slave and the 
 slave labor of the South. What particle of subserviency can 
 be detected in these Websterian words ? " Why, who are the 
 laboring people of the North ? They are the whole North. 
 They are the people who till their own farms with their OA\ T n 
 hands, — freeholders, educated men, independent men. Let 
 me say, sir, that five sixths of the whole property of the 
 North is in the hands of the laborers of the North ; they cul- 
 tivate their farms, they educate their children, they provide 
 the means of independence. If they are not freeholders, 
 they earn wages ; these wages accumulate, are turned into 
 capital, into new freeholds, and small capitalists are created. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 223 
 
 Such is the case and such the course of things among the in- 
 dustrious and frugal. And what can these people think, 
 when so respectable and worthy a gentleman as the member 
 from Louisiana undertakes to prove that the absolute ignor- 
 ance and the abject slavery of the South are more in con- 
 formity with the high purposes and destiny of immortal 
 rational human beings than the educated, the independent, 
 free labor of the North?" When that accusation is made, I 
 recall again those warning Avords to Southern gentlemen who 
 were preparing to hold a convention in Nashville. This is 
 the message which the 7th of March speech delivered to 
 them • "If they meet for any purpose hostile to the Union, 
 they have been singularly inappropriate in their selection of 
 a place. I remember, sir, when the treaty of Amiens was 
 concluded between France and England, a sturdy English- 
 man and a distinguished orator, who regarded the conditions 
 of the peace as ignominious to England, said in the House of 
 Commons, that if King William could know the terms of that 
 treaty he would turn in his coffin ! Let me commend this 
 saying of Mr. Windham in all its force to any persons who 
 shall meet at Nashville for the purpose of concerting meas- 
 ures for the overthrow of this Union over the bones of An- 
 drew Jackson." How much does Webster stoop or bend in 
 that passage ! Or will his opponents charge that it is a 
 fragment of the " first brief," about which they pretend to 
 know so much? 
 
 To all the reckless and ignorant defamation of that speech, 
 I present the lofty patriotism which inspires it through and 
 through. Its closing sentences rise to the full height of that 
 earlier eloquence of 1830, and link themselves with it in fit 
 and immortal companionship. Who can forget the picture 
 of the Republic which Webster paints in the three sentences 
 with which he ends the famous speech? "This Republic 
 now extends with a vast breadth across the whole continent. 
 
224 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The two 2freat seas of the world wash the one and the other 
 
 o 
 
 shore. We realize on a mighty scale the beautiful descrip- 
 tion of the ornamental border of the buckler of Achilles : 
 
 1 Now. the broad shield complete the artist crowned 
 With his last hand, and poured the ocean round; 
 In living silver seemed the waves to roll, 
 And beat the buckler's verge and bound the whole.' ' 1 
 
 Webster lifted the Republic to the gaze of his countrymen 
 as if full sure that no other argument or exhortation could 
 be needed to inspire all hearts for its defence, and wither 
 any hand raised to divide and destroy it. Bacon appealed 
 from the passions and prejudices of his time, and bequeathed 
 his name and memory "to men's charitable speeches and to 
 foreign nations and the next ages." Our own idolized war 
 governor, great and brave as Sam Adams, keenly felt that 
 he had confronted and offended public sentiment, and dedi- 
 cated the greatest speech of his life to the future of Massa- 
 chusetts. Webster met the 7th of March, 1850, and neither 
 supplicated the present nor implored the future. He was 
 serenely satisfied and proud to speak, "not as a Massachu- 
 setts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American, and 
 a member of the Senate of the United States." With una- 
 bated and undisturbed self-respect he wrote upon the title- 
 page of his speech, " With the highest respect and the deep- 
 est sense of obligation, I dedicate this speech to the people 
 of Massachusetts." And then he added the great words of 
 the great Roman statesman : 
 
 "I know there are other things more agreeable to be spoken than 
 these things,* but necessity compels me to speak true things instead of 
 pleasing things, although my inclination might not prompt it. I could 
 wish, indeed, to please you ; but I much prefer that you should be saved, 
 however you may be disposed in mind towards me.'' 
 
 It is idle, as we all agree, to speculate on what might have 
 
 been. 
 
 " Not Heaven itself upon the Past hath power." 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 225 
 
 And yet there is a temptation that rises unbidden, and urges 
 the imagination to picture what might have been the course 
 of history if to the voice of Webster pleading for a pacific 
 adjustment there had been added other voices, from North 
 and' South alike, until the chorus of the peacemakers had 
 drowned the clamors of the extremists of both sections ! 
 Webster, at least, saw the end from the beginning. lie had 
 discerned the precipice of civil war in 1830, as clearly 
 appears in his reply to Hayne ; and in 1850 he saw its yawn- 
 ing mouth still nearer. The height and depth of his offend- 
 ing was this, — that he could not bring himself to do aught 
 but struggle against the inevitable. To me, at least, and I 
 doubt not to many others, the attitude of this majestic man, 
 this monarch among men, in view of the storm whose first 
 mighty mutterings greeted his dying ears, is full of pathetic 
 grandeur. He saw only the gulf towards which his fellow- 
 countrymen were rushing ; he beheld in advance the deluge 
 of blood and tears which was to follow, — and in an agony 
 of spirit he pleaded that the bitter cup might pass from the 
 lips of the people he had loved and served so well. Well, 
 sir, that cup was destined to be drained to its last bitter 
 dregs ; and it is our good fortune to live to see what Web- 
 ster despaired of, — the Constitution and the Union surviving 
 the shock of civil war, with a new guarantee of perpetuity, 
 because no slave treads the soil or breathes the air of the 
 Republic. 
 
 And Webster still lives, and will live in all the future of 
 Uiese United States. His far-seeing statesmanship and all- 
 rmbracing patriotism is the lesson and the wisdom for this 
 day and hour, as it was for his own day and hour. Only his 
 devoted loyalty to the Constitution and the Union, become 
 once more and for evermore the common creed of all our 
 people, North, South, East and West, can bind and keep us 
 one, and make it impossible for this "government of the 
 
226 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 people to perish from the earth." The danger which threat- 
 ened the Union in his day is not now, nor is it ever again 
 likely to become formidable. "Nullification" and " seces- 
 sion" are obsolete words, having only an historical interest. 
 That centrifugal madness is spent ; that dance of death has 
 stopped, and the lights are out. But it is fatal to rush head- 
 long into the central sun as well as from it into outer dark- 
 ness. In this Republic, so long as it shall endure, and if it 
 endures, it will be the task and test of statesmanship to keep 
 these revolving States ill the middle course around their cen- 
 tral government. "Medio tutissimus ibis" are the warning 
 words of an ancient poet : they must be the divine command- 
 ment of American statesmanship. This middle way, and this 
 alone, leads up to perfect safety, the best liberty, and ever- 
 increasing renown. On this radiant pathway of the Consti- 
 tution and the Union the towering form of Webster will 
 never fade from the vision of America. 
 
 . Gentlemen, — the memory of Webster : it will live for- 
 ever in the glory of his country and in the reverence of man- 
 kind. The statesmanship of Webster : it can never lose its 
 power, for only in its spirit can the Republic have hope of 
 immortal life. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. HENRY NT. HUDSON, LL.D. 
 The following extracts from the address of the Rev. Henry 
 N. Hudson, LL.D., an honorary member of the Webster 
 Historical Society, delivered January 18, 1882, have been 
 selected by permission of the author : — 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, — One hundred years ago to-day, 
 a very quiet but vastly fruitful event took place up in New 
 Hampshire : it was the birth of Daniel Webster. The city 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 227 
 
 of Boston and the State of Massachusetts had this great man 
 in the counsels of the nation nearly twenty-eight years ; and 
 I think I may safely say that, from his presence and services 
 there, they have reaped more of honor and of solid benefit 
 than from all the other men they have had in that place dur- 
 ing the last two generations put together. Such being the 
 case, I had hoped that Boston would remember her illustri- 
 ous citizen, her peerless statesman, and make some fitting 
 commemoration of the day. She has not seen fit to do so ; 
 and this is one reason why I have undertaken to do what I 
 can, to manifest a becoming respect for the hundredth anni- 
 versary of Daniel Webster's birth. I fear, indeed, that 
 Boston has not yet fully recovered from that old disease 
 under which she turned away from her greatest and loveliest 
 man, this too in his gray-haired age, and even "struck him 
 with her tongue, most serpent-like, upon the very heart." In 
 earlier days, she seems indeed to have understood and appre- 
 ciated Webster pretty well ; yet I was much taken, some 
 years ago, with a remark made to me by the late Judge 
 Redfield, that " Boston never could get water enough together 
 to float him." 
 
 Webster was not only a great lawyer, a great orator, 
 a great statesman, a great author, a mighty discourser : he 
 was emphatically a great man, — great in intellect, great in 
 eloquence, great in soul, great in character, and in all the 
 proper correspondences of greatness. Mr. Whipple, in 
 the admirable essay prefixed to his selection of Webster's 
 speeches, aptly and felicitously applies to him the phrase, 
 "colossal manhood." I really do not know of any other 
 single phrase that fits the subject so well. Those who often 
 heard Webster in familiar conversation, if any such survive, 
 will probably tell us they never heard any one else who 
 approacn^d him in that respect. On such occasions he 
 
228 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 not seldom had the Bible for his theme ; and those who 
 listened to his talk thereon could hardly choose but believe 
 that either the Bible was inspired or else the speaker was. 
 But, in "the talk that man holds with week-day man," his 
 greatness was so tempered with sweetness and amiability, 
 and with the finer and softer graces of eloquence, that one 
 naturally lost the sense of it. For he had no airs of supe- 
 riority ; would chat with the humblest as with a brother or 
 a friend. And I have it from those who knew him long and 
 well, that intimacy never wore off the impression of his great- 
 ness ; on the contrary, none could get so near him, or stay 
 near him so long, but that he still kept growing upon them. 
 A test that few men indeed can stand ! But he had some- 
 thing better than all this : he was as lovely in disposition as 
 he was great in mind. A larger, warmer, manlier heart, a 
 heart more alive with tenderness and all the gentle affections, 
 was never lodged in a human breast. Of this I could give 
 many telling and touching proofs from his private history, 
 if time would permit. It has been worthily noted how a 
 little child, on entering a room where Webster was seated, 
 and looking up into his great eyes, as these grew soft and 
 mellow and sweet at the vision, would run instinctively 
 into his arms and nestle in his bosom, as if yearning to get 
 as near as possible to that great tender heart. So that I 
 make no scruple of regarding Daniel Webster as the crown- 
 ing illustration of our American manhood. 
 
 As it is now nearly thirty years since Webster died, I may 
 safely presume that many of you, perhaps most of you, 
 never heard or saw him. I will therefore endeavor to give 
 some personal description of the man. I saw him a great 
 many times, and heard him repeatedly ; and you may be 
 sure my eyes and ears were seldom idle or wandering when 
 they had him in view. He was indeed incomparably the 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 229 
 
 finest-looking — rather say the grandest-looking — man I ever 
 set eyes on. I doubt whether, in personal appearance, his 
 peer was to be found anywhere on the planet during his 
 time ; and I can well accept as authentic the remark said to 
 have been made by some one, that Daniel Webster must be 
 a humbug, for no man could possibly be so great as he 
 looked to be. In stature he was of medium height, about 
 five feet and ten or eleven inches, I should say ; his form 
 well-proportioned, robust and vigorous ; his frame close-knit 
 and firm-set ; his step resolute and fearless ; his carriage 
 erect and manly ; his presence dignified and impressive in 
 the highest degree. His complexion was dark, insomuch 
 that he is said in his early years to have been familiarly 
 called " black Dan ; " his hair a pure raven black, till time 
 sprinkled it with snows. I am little booked in physiology, 
 but I should say his temperament was bilious sanguineous, 
 as Burke's appears to have been nervous sanguineous. His 
 features were large and strong, but finely chiselled ; his neck 
 thick and sinewy, — a fitting support for the magnificent 
 dome poised upon it ; his chin prominent just to the point 
 where firmness stops short of obstinacy; his mouth calm 
 and muscular; his eyes big, dark and blazing, — in his 
 excited moments they literally seemed two globes of fire ; 
 his forehead high, broad, projecting and massive, — a very 
 cathedral indeed of thought; and the whole suffused and 
 harmonized with an air of majestic grace. 
 
 So that the predominant expression of his face and head 
 was that of immense power, but of power held perfectly in 
 hand, and therefore sure to know its time. Hawthorne, in 
 his " Marble Faun," has an expression so fine in itself and so 
 apposite to Webster, that ever since my first reading of th« 
 book, it has stuck to my memory in connection with him. 
 Speaking of the celebrated bronze statue of Marcus Aurclius 
 the Emperor, he says, "Its very look is at once a command 
 
230 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 and a benediction." In his later years Webster was often 
 spoken of as "the godlike Daniel;" and, sure enough, the 
 heads that I have seen of old god Jupiter do not show an 
 ampler dome or a more commanding outlook of intellectual 
 majesty. Doubtless it was greatly owing to this expression 
 of innate power which radiated from him, that even in his 
 old age, when many minds were full of devouring thoughts 
 about him, wherever he was present in person he was like 
 Daniel in the lions' den : the lions might indeed growl be- 
 hind their teeth, but they swallowed their rage, and dared 
 not open their mouths to bite him. Webster was a modest 
 man ; everything about him was unaffected, genuine ; no 
 assumption, no arrogance, no conceit ; his dignity of manner, 
 his greatness of look, were native to him ; and the impres- 
 sion his speaking always made upon me was such that I can- 
 not better describe it than as follows : — 
 
 With grave 
 Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd 
 A pillar of State ; deep on his front engraven 
 Deliberation sat, and public care ; , 
 
 And princely counsel in his face did shine 
 
 Majestic : sage he stood, 
 
 With Atlantean shoulders tit to bear 
 The weight of mightiest monarchies ; his look 
 Drew audience and attention still as night, 
 Or Summer's noontide air. 
 
 Webster's vast power of intellect is admitted by all ; but 
 it is not so generally known that he was as sweet as he was 
 powerful, and nowhere more powerful than in his sweetness. 
 When thoroughly aroused in public speech, there was indeed 
 something terrible about him ; his huge burning eye seemed 
 to bore a man through and through : but in his social hours, 
 when his massive brow and features were lighted up with 
 a characteristic smile, it was like a gleam of Paradise ; no 
 person who once saw that full-souled smile of his could ever 
 
HE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 231 
 
 forget it. His goodly person, his gracious bearing, and his 
 benignant courtesy made him the delight of every circle he 
 entered. In the presence of ladies, especially, his great 
 powers seemed to robe themselves spontaneously in beauty ; 
 and his attentions were so delicate and so respectful that 
 they could net but be charmed. 
 
 In the summer of 1839, Webster, with several members 
 of his family, made a private visit to England ; and it is both 
 pleasant and edifying to learn how he impressed the people 
 there. Hallam, we are told, was "extremely struck by his 
 appearance, deportment and conversation." Carlyle pro- 
 nounced him "a magnificent specimen;" adding, withal, 
 that, "as a parliamentary Hercules, one would incline to 
 back him at first sight against all the extant world." Mr. 
 John Kenyon travelled with him four days. Writing, in 
 1853, to Mr. George Ticknor, of Boston, he says that the 
 acquaintance thus formed " enabled me to know and to love 
 not only the great-brained, but large-hearted, genial man ; 
 and this love I have held for him ever since, through good 
 report and evil report ; and I shall retain this love for him to 
 the day of my own departure." Again, referring to some of 
 Webster's playful sallies : " Fancy how delightful and how 
 attaching I found all this genial bearing from so famous a 
 man; so affectionate, so little of a humbug. His greatness 
 sat so easy and calm upon him ; he never had occasion to 
 whip himself into a froth." 
 
 Webster's service to the country was fully commensurate 
 with his greatness as a man. It may well be questioned, 
 indeed, whether even Washington himself did the nation 
 greater service than he ; for without our American Union 
 the achievement of our American independence could hardly 
 have proved a blessing. And so 1 think the history shows 
 us that, during the interval from the Re volution to the Con- 
 
232 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 stitution, the States were not nearly so well off as they had 
 been under the British rule. That rule was of course im- 
 perial ; and such, in substance and effect, is the rule of our 
 national government now. And, surely, some such para- 
 mount and inclusive authority was and ever must be needful 
 in order to keep peace between the States ; otherwise it were 
 hardly possible to prevent a chronic antagonism and bloody 
 quarrels from springing up amongst them. There'seems to 
 be, indeed, for the American people, no middle or tenable 
 ground between the government of our. present national 
 Union and that state of things, at once horrible and con- 
 temptible, which we call Mexicanism; and, rather than the 
 nation should become Mexicanized, it were far better that 
 the whole land, with all the people on it, should be sunk in 
 the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 Be this as it may with Webster, love of that Union m- 
 generate in his nature, and cherished by his education, had 
 grown with his growth, and strengthened with his strength. 
 He was elected to the national Senate in 1827. Early in 
 his senatorial career he saw that certain causes or forces 
 were working deeply and silently, and therefore the more 
 dangerously, to bring about a rupture of that Union. He 
 also saw that, if the structure of our national State were 
 once demolished, it could never be rebuilt. He also saw 
 that, for preventing this, two things were needful : first, that 
 the people needed to have their minds rightly and thoroughly 
 informed in the nature and principles of our Constitution ; 
 second, that they needed to have their hearts inspired witli a 
 deep, earnest, heroic passion of nationality, with an ardent, 
 self-sacrificing devotion to the Union as it was. 
 
 Thus his eye took in the whole situation, his mighty grasp 
 of thought surrounded 1ahe entire question. He therefore set 
 himself, with all his powers of mind and body, to the work, 
 and never ceased till the work was done. For more than 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 233 
 
 twenty years, it was the main burden of all his thought and 
 all his diseourse. He was a great lawyer, and knew the 
 law ; he was a great orator, and could speak what he knew ; 
 he was a great statesman, with his mind thoroughly at home 
 in the creative and controlling forces of social, civil and 
 political well-being : therewithal he had that indispensable 
 element of all high statesmanship, a large, warm, tender 
 heart; and in the strength of this combination he saw and 
 felt that the preservation of our national Union was the one 
 thins; needful above all others to the welfare of the American 
 people. So, in due time, he just educated and kindled the 
 people up to his own height, filling their minds with his 
 thoughts, their hearts with his fervor, their mouths with 
 his words. In doing this, he won the title of the great Ex- 
 pounder and the great Defender of the American Constitu- 
 tion, and surely no title w T as ever better deserved. I think 
 I may safely affirm that this reply to Hayne produced a 
 greater elfect than any other speech ever delivered in the 
 world ; excepting, of course, those recorded in the Bible. 
 Speeches greater in themselves have indeed been made : 
 Webster himself has several that are greater ; and some of 
 Burke's, I suspect, are greater than any of his ; but no one 
 of Burke's, nor any other of Webster's, came up to that in 
 effectiveness. This Avas greatly owing to the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of the time, and the state of the public mind. 
 The tide of disunion sentiment was then setting in fast and 
 strong ; men's minds were becoming deeply excited and agi- 
 tated with doubts and misgivings ; on all hands, the worth 
 and stability of the Union were drawn in question ; Webster 
 turned that tide completely, and it has gone on ebbing ever 
 since. In short, that speech made, and marks, the beginning 
 of a new era in our national life ; from that time forward, 
 other thoughts and other feelings took fast roothold in the 
 minds and hearts of the people. 
 
234 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Webster hated slavery ; his whole life proves it ; but he 
 loved the Union more, yes, a good deal more, than he hated 
 slavery. He believed slavery to be bad ; he believed the 
 Union to be good. That love was, indeed, all through his 
 public life, a passion with him ; nay, more, it was the mas- 
 ter-passion of his soul : it had penetrated every fibre of his 
 being. To his eye, "Earth had not any thing to show more 
 fair " than the august and beautiful fabric of our national 
 State. That this mighty structure, this masterpiece of polit- 
 ical architecture, should be laid in the dust, was too much 
 for him : the very thought of it literally wrung his heart 
 with anguish. His supreme desire was to have the Union 
 so strengthened, so established in the minds and hearts of 
 the people, so bound up, so interwoven with their dearest 
 household ties and affections, that neither slavery nor any 
 other power should be able to prevail against it. 
 
 As for the speech of the 7th of March, for which Webster 
 was so bitterly, so atrociously maligned, I have read that 
 speech a great many times, and I do not know of a single 
 word in it that I would have otherwise than as it is. I think 
 it every way just such a speech as should have been made at 
 that time by a great man who had a great Union to save 
 and a great civil war to avert. Nor could AVebster have con- 
 sistently taken any other course ; he Avould have belied his 
 whole record, he would have been recreant to the sovereign 
 aim of his life, if, in that great national crisis, he had not 
 thrown all other regards to the winds, and made the Union 
 his paramount, nay, his exclusive concern. So, there again, 
 though, to be sure, with his great heart quivering and bleed- 
 ing at the defection of friends, and the cruel, cruel aspersions 
 of those whom he had loved so deeply and served so de- 
 votedly, he stood firm as a rock against the surging and 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 235 
 
 dashing waves of unpopularity in his own cherished home. 
 Seeing the peril as he saw it, he must needs have braved 
 popular clamor as he braved it, else he would have ceased 
 to be Daniel Webster. So that Massachusetts went back on 
 him, or froze off from him, just at the very time when he was 
 worthiest of her love and honor. But then we all ought to 
 know that, in such cases, the blind or the blear-eyed many 
 are pretty sure to denounce and defame the one who sees. 
 When, in 1830 and 1833, Webster encountered Nullification 
 in debate, and strangled it in the crushing anaconda folds of 
 his logic and eloquence, he appeared great indeed, and was 
 great ; though he then had all New England and most of the 
 entire North backing him up and cheering him on. But a 
 great man never appears so great as Avhen he stands true to 
 himself and his cause, with all the world against him. And 
 so, to my thinking, at no other time of his life did Webster's 
 stubborn greatness of soul, his "colossal manhood," tower 
 up in such monumental grandeur as when, in 1850, he stood 
 true to himself, " unshaken, unseduced, unterrined," with all 
 New England and most of the entire North banded together 
 to pelt him off and hiss him down. 
 
 The fineness of such metal is not found 
 In Fortune's love ; for then the bold and eoward, 
 The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin ; 
 But, in the wind and tempest of her frown, 
 Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan, 
 Puffing at all, winnows the light away ; 
 And what hath mass and matter, by itself 
 Lies rich in virtue and unmingled. 
 
236 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 VII. 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE EXERCISES AT FRANKLIN, 
 # N.H.* 
 
 Franklin, N.H., Oct. 24, 1882. 
 
 THE one hundredth anniversary. of Daniel Webster's birth 
 has recently been celebrated at Marshfield, where he 
 died. And now the thirtieth anniversary of his death is com- 
 memorated here, where he was born. The exercises of to-day 
 were as touching as they were simple. Mr. Allen, of the 
 Webster Historical Society, Secretary Cummings, Treas- 
 urer Bout well, and other officers and members of the Society, 
 came up from Boston on the morning train, and were hand- 
 somely entertained by Hon. George W. Nesmith, who is 
 an enthusiastic admirer of Mr. Webster, having made his 
 acquaintance in 1825. It has been a beautiful autumn day 
 in Franklin, or Salisbury, as it was in Mr. Webster's birth 
 time, and a goodly company gathered at the spot where the 
 great statesman was born cne hundred years ago. It has 
 not been a celebration in any sense ; it has been a commem- 
 oration, and the services were beautiful. The party pro- 
 ceeded in carriages nearly four miles from the Franklin 
 station, through strikingly beautiful scenery, to the birth- 
 place. It is genuine New Hampshire scenery, where every 
 environment ministers to strength of character. The vistas 
 are alluring, and every prospect pleases. One half of the 
 house in which Mr. Webster was born is still standing, for- 
 tunately that half, the parlor, in which he actually saw the 
 light for the first time, and where the good dame midwife 
 
 ♦Special despatch to the Boston Herald by Mr. Frank II. Buffum. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 237 
 
 — the doctor was five miles away — declared that the lusty 
 twelve-pound boy, with his great head and wonderful cav- 
 ernous eyes, was a remarkable child and would certainly be 
 a great man. The famous well, the old elm, still vigorous, 
 and all the points of interest, were fully examined. Then, 
 with uncovered heads, the party entered the house, and the 
 scene and the exercises were most impressive. 
 
 Hon. Stephen M. Allen, the Corresponding Secretary of 
 the Society, made an address in which he said, — 
 
 As the birthplace of the immortal Webster, the hallowed 
 associations of this spot hang in deep folds about us to-day, 
 and for the moment almost exclude the sublimely beautiful 
 but saddening ones at his tomb at Marshfield a few days 
 since. We are reminded, from blending the two occasions 
 with their respective teachings, that " it is but a step from the 
 cradle to the grave," and that "the lives of great men prove 
 that to learn how to live is but to knoAv how to die." 
 Webster learned these lessons well, only failing in not living 
 more for himself and less for others. From birth to death 
 his life was a preparation for a higher sphere, and as son, 
 brother or friend, parent or husband, Christian statesman, 
 lawyer or citizen, his life was a reverent and chaste one, 
 vindicating his claim to a blest immortality beyond the 
 grave, whsn he exchanged the life given here for the higher 
 one taken on at his last mortal resting-place. The sublimity 
 attending the last moments of Mr. Webster was beyond 
 description. Neither the artist nor historian has yet shown 
 it. From the first moment of his supposed change he was 
 resigned and happy, making his will, preparing his epitaph 
 or declaration of faith, then bidding each member of his 
 family adieu, from the lowest to the highest, and passing to 
 the last evening, when his example was worthy of the high- 
 est Christian heart. He motioned to his son Fletcher, and 
 
238 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 asked him to read, calling for Gray's w Elegy," which was 
 read to him. He listened with <n*eat attention and seeming 
 satisfaction. Raising his eyes upward in perfect peace, and 
 then around upon those at his bedside, speaking his- last 
 words in an interrogative voice — " I still live ! " — then sank 
 into the quiet repose of death, — could there be a more sub- 
 lime picture of a death-scene than this ? 
 
 We can hardly realize that we now stand in the room 
 where he was born, any more than we could feel the other 
 day, while at his tomb at Marshfield, that the enclosure be- 
 fore us held all that was mortal of the great statesman we 
 loved so much. It seemed then that the whole country was 
 his resting-place, and that the people still held him in their 
 broad national embrace, and that each* hamlet and fireside 
 had an electric chain of patriotism running from him to their 
 own special hearthstone. There is a fitting contrast between 
 the two spots of his birth and death. Here rugged Nature 
 unsoftened, though heavily chastened by the storms of time, 
 still stands out her natural self, and is epitomized in the 
 mountain before us as rough and sturdy as when the first 
 Webster built his log hut on this spot, then the most north- 
 erly of the colony. At Marshfield there is another primitive 
 monument still the same, though around [all has been 
 changed : the forests have become plains, the hills have been 
 carpeted with green. Old Ocean, however, is there still, 
 gathering waves from the Atlantic coast, and rolling them 
 up upon the sandy beach just the same as when they bore 
 the " Mayflower " so fortunately to Plymouth Bay. It was a 
 noble spirit which found birth here in this rugged mountain 
 glen, where every lesson must have been a fruitful one, and 
 a higher still, after the struggles of a fitful life that took its 
 flight at last on the shore of the sea. There is a calm sub- 
 limity here which must have had a sublimating effect on the 
 child born here, universally reputed so good, so kind, so 
 
The Ride to Boscawen. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENMA 
 
 loving, so gentle, and yet with a mind so strong and compre- 
 hensive as to attract even then marked attention. The pecu- 
 liarities of that boyhood have come down to us to respect 
 and venerate, as well as the powers of the maturer life, and 
 we find in them the seeds of the man fully ripened. With a 
 brain and mental capacity almost too strong for his physical 
 constitution, we see him inspired with a thirst for knowledge 
 beyond his years. When in that ride with his father to 
 Boscawen,, where upon the snowy highway his father first 
 told him of his intention to send him to college, the news 
 was too much for him, and, laying his head upon his father's 
 shoulder, he wept like a child. • His affection almost 
 amounted to adoration, and this trait lasted through life. 
 He was a loving, obedient child, and a most true and de- 
 voted friend. The religious training and naturally devout 
 character as a young man seemed never forgotten in after 
 years, and through all the vicissitudes which followed his 
 marked career he never for a moment forgot his duty to man 
 or to his God, and lived and died a consistent Christian. 
 Through his whole career he was never, so far as I could 
 ever learn, heard to utter an irreverent word. 
 
 In the early evening a short time since I again visited his 
 tomb. The little church to be dedicated to-day, lately built 
 by Mrs. Fletcher Webster with the assistance of a few 
 friends, rose upon the distant shore, where the waves from 
 the Irish coast were surging, singing a sad requiem upon the 
 sandy beach. The farm hands were just returning from the 
 field and the cattle were coming from the pasture. The 
 lines from Gray's " Elegy " which Mr. Webster desired read 
 to him in his last hours, came quickly to mind. There was 
 no curfew from the distant church tower, or the simile would 
 have been complete. Old Atlantic supplied its place, and 
 paraphrased its own name as a substitute in my mind : 
 
240 THE WEBSTER CEXTENNIA 
 
 u The Ocean tolls the knell of parting clay. 
 The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, 
 The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 
 And leaves the world to darkness and to me." 
 
 The impress was so deep and saddening upon my mind, 
 that I turned away towards the mansion where the widowed 
 wife and childless mother awaited my return. She had, one 
 by one, followed all her family to the tomb, and now with 
 Christian resignation in all her bereavement, with a cheerful 
 spirit awaited her own last summons. As I approached the 
 glass-panelled door from the veranda, I saw her sitting 
 within, by an open wood fire, in her loneliness, perhaps 
 thinking of the loved ones which she had laid away ; and 
 again l verse of the " Elegy " came up : 
 
 " For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
 Or busy housewife ply her evening care ; 
 No children run to lisp their sire's return. 
 Or climb his knees, the envied kiss to share." 
 
 The scene was too much for my feelings for the moment, 
 and I turned back through that long shaded avenue of trees 
 planted by Webster's own hand, not ashamed to drop unbid- 
 den tea~s in the moonlit pathway that she could not see 
 within by the hearthside. The reveries of the next few 
 moments brought up the lines of the yearning soul : 
 
 " On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 
 Some pious drops the closing eye requires ; 
 E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 
 E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires." 
 
 A half-hour later, while sitting by the fireside and listen- 
 ing to the many unpublished anecdotes of Mr. Webster, 
 comparative cheerfulness took possession of the little family 
 circle, and a pleasant evening w T as enjoyed, though the mem- 
 ories of the past were too vividly pressing to stay the flood 
 of coming thought. 
 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 241 
 
 " Can storied urn or animated bust 
 
 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 
 Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, 
 Or Flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of Death?*' 
 
 Reminiscences of the distinguished dead are always profit- 
 able, and the parallels of thought and action in others are 
 valuable to society and the world. It is in this sense that 
 the Webster Historical Society takes life, and hopes to thrive 
 in the future from its teachings to the young. We believe 
 that the example of Webster's life may have a good and last- 
 ing effect upon future generations, and therefore unlike the 
 poet, who says : 
 
 "No farther seek his merits to disclose, 
 
 Or draw his frailties from their dread abode 
 (There they alike in trembling hope repose,) 
 The bosom of his Father and his God." 
 
 We shall study his life, repeat his fame, and keep alive the 
 memory of his great deeds and principles. 
 
 The following are the remarks of Secretary T. H. Cum- 
 mings : — 
 
 It was of Daniel Webster, I think, they said that, bar- 
 ring nullification and slavery, there was nothing he dis- 
 liked more than an apology instead of a speech. Accord- 
 ingly, lest there may be found among you some Daniel 
 Websters — in this particular — I will not begin by treating 
 you to an apology ; and yet I cannot but feel how ill it be- 
 comes me to stand up here in the presence of our honorable 
 President and these other distinguished persons, to speak as 
 a member of the Webster Historical Society. Both he and 
 they were contemporaries of Webster — they walked and 
 
242 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 talked with the great statesman in e very-day life, while I 
 belong, in the order of time, to the generation which has 
 succeeded him. Between his day and mine there is indeed 
 a wide gulf, an almost impassable chasm. And yet, beyond 
 that gulf, says Mr. Curtis, the majestic figure of Webster 
 stands out to view as the most important statesman in an age 
 fruitful in great men. lie belongs, therefore, and is em- 
 balmed in the history of this country. There is no particu- 
 lar a«*e or veneration of Americans who can claim him as 
 their own exclusive property and right. The memory of 
 Webster must be equally shared with the past, present and 
 future of this great American nation. Standing, therefore, 
 as I do, among the younger element of this Society, with my 
 birthright in one hand and my rights of American citizen- 
 ship in the other, it is not without reason that I am here to- 
 day. I am come to venerate in a grateful spirit the birth- 
 place of him the fruits of whose genius and the benefits of 
 whose great achievement is my good fortune now to enjoy. 
 Furthermore, this, sir, is to my mind the full significance 
 of this occasion — this is the purpose of this day's pilgrim- 
 age — and this, sir, is the thought that flitted through my 
 mind when I first caught sight this morning of the granite 
 hills of New Hampshire. We had come from Massachusetts, 
 the land of Webster's adoption, not out of an idle curiosity, 
 but in a spirit of grateful reverence, to visit the spot that 
 saw the birth of Webster to whom we owe so much ; to tread 
 the ground whereon he trod and grew ; to climb the hills he 
 loved to climb ; and to catch, perchance, some of the inspi- 
 ration and courage he caught from his native air for serving 
 the cause of truth and justice so loyally and so well. 
 
 But while I dwell upon the tender recollections suggested 
 by this spot, I am not unmindful of the lessons to be learned 
 from the great life begun here in so much simplicity, and 
 finished in the halls of State with so much dignity and 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 243 
 
 grandeur. Webster loved this spot as he did his own life, 
 and lie brought his children here annually, that they too 
 might learn to love and cherish it. In 1840, he said at Sar-. 
 atoga, in reply to an imputation cast upon General Harrison, 
 that he was born in a log cabin, "Gentlemen, it did not 
 happen to me to be born in a log cabin, but my elder broth- 
 ers and sisters were born there and raised amid the snow- 
 drifts of New Hampshire at a period so early that when the 
 smoke first rose from its rude chimney and curled over the 
 frozen hills there was no similar evidence of a white man's 
 habitation between it and the settlements of Canada. Its 
 remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my 
 children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the 
 generations £one before them. I love to dwell on the tender 
 recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections which 
 mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode. I 
 weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now 
 among the living ; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if I 
 ever fail in affectionate veneration for him who raised and 
 defended it against savage violence and destruction, cher- 
 ished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and through 
 the fire and blood of a seven years' Revolution shrank from 
 no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his country and raise 
 his children to a condition better than his own, may my 
 name and my posterity be blotted from the memory of man- 
 kind." Noble sentiment of a still more noble man ! From 
 this eloquent burst of feeling, let the young men of to-day 
 learn a respect for the past, for their ancestors, and for their 
 teachings. There is a tendency among us, alas, too pro- 
 nounced, perhaps, to neglect the past, and to prefer novelties 
 to the teachings of those who have gone before. It is aptly 
 expressed in the homely proverb which says, "The son 
 thinks his father a fool, but the father knows his son to be 
 one." But this, sir, is unnatural •, it is not in the eternal 
 
244 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 fitness of things wherein justice abides ; and, therefore, I 
 say, from Webster's living example, let us learn to have a 
 regard for the sound sense of the past and a love for the 
 solid wisdom of experience. Like him, let us, learn our great 
 responsibility, not to the mere opinions, hollow cant or pre- 
 vailing sentiment of the times, but to our God and to our 
 country. And let those who are in high places help the 
 young men of to-day to know this great man better. Let 
 them help us to imbibe his fondness for truth and the princi- 
 ples of justice and patriotism eternal and immutable to the 
 end, that, like Webster, we may learn to serve the country, 
 and the whole country, and to hold the heritage of Liberty 
 and Union we have from him dearer than life itself. 
 
 Judge Nesmith was the next speaker, and he gave many 
 interesting reminiscences of Mr. Webster. His acquaintance 
 with him, he said, extended over a period of nearly twenty- 
 five years, and was of an intimate character. Pie refuted 
 many of the calumnies so industriously circulated by Web- 
 ster's enemies. " And as for his debts," continued the speaker, 
 "he paid up all his New Hampshire indebtedness, and the 
 property he left behind him was more than sufficient to can- 
 cel his debts elsewhere." The speaker also gave incidents 
 connected with the nominating convention of 1852 at Balti- 
 more, where he cast fifty consecutive ballots for Daniel Web- 
 ster, the candidate of his choice. Speaking of the dangers 
 that attended the Union in 1850, he declared that Mr. Web- 
 ster's prescience was most remarkable. Mr. Webster said 
 then that the North did not at all understand the secret but 
 determined preparations of the South for the coming event. 
 He continued, W I shall not live to see the attempt to break 
 up the Union, but you may." And the event justified his 
 predictions only too well. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 245 
 
 Treasurer Boutwell gave an interesting anecdote of Mr. 
 Webster, and Rev. M. T. Runnells, the historian of Sanborn- 
 ton, speaking of his attendance at Mr. Webster's funeral, 
 referred to the sunlight suddenly appearing as his remains 
 lay in state upon the lawn at Marshfield. "This," continued 
 the reverend speaker, " reminds me of a similar coincidence 
 which occurred when Webster was making his famous reply 
 to Ilayne, and just as he uttered that famous sentence, 
 'When mine eyes shall be turned for the last time to behold 
 the sun in heaven,' &c, the sun burst forth in all its radiant 
 glory, filling the Senate chamber and bathing the form of 
 the great statesman with its golden effulgence." 
 
 At the conclusion of these services, the carriages were re- 
 entered, and the tour was made to Elms Farm, where Webster 
 lived so long, and where, until 1847, he intended to be buried. 
 In the neat and attractive family cemetery his father and 
 mother lie buried, the former dying in 1806, aged 67, the 
 latter in 1816, aged 76. This is one of the loveliest rural 
 spots in New Hampshire, and is now owned by the New 
 Hampshire Orphans' Home. The birthplace of Mr. Web- 
 ster, with two hundred acres of the ancestral property, is 
 now owned by Judge Nesmith ; and the Webster Historical 
 Society, it is to be hoped, will soon take steps to sustain this 
 estate. 
 
246 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL, 
 
 yin. 
 
 BY-LAWS AND ROLL OF MEMBERSHIP OF THE 
 WEBSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 T 
 
 BY-LAWS. 
 
 OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 HE objects of the Webster Historical Society shall be to col- 
 lect and publish from time to time, so far as practicable, 
 such original and other interesting matter as can be conveniently 
 obtained, illustrating the high character and statesmanship of 
 Daniel Webster, and other distinguished statesmen. 
 
 To keep before the public by publications, meetings or other- 
 wise, such matter as may serve as proper texts for political reform 
 or improvement, or to impress or educate young men in the im- 
 portance of a patriotic service of the true interests of their com- 
 mon country, under constitutional aims and principles. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 The Officers of the Society shall be a President, five Vice-Presi- 
 dents, a Recording and Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer, 
 and an Executive Committee of five, together with such other Com- 
 mittees as the Board may designate, to be chosen annually by the 
 members, unless vacancies occur during the year, in which case 
 they may be filled by the Executive Committee, who shall with 
 the Officers constitute a Board for doing business. 
 
 MEMBERS. 
 
 There shall be resident members and honorary members, the 
 latter to be exempt from admission fee or assessment. Resident 
 members shall pay an admission fee of three dollars, and an an- 
 nual fee thereafter of one dollar. 
 
 Admission fee may be remitted for cause. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 247 
 
 MEETINGS. 
 
 Annual and other meetings of the Society may be called by the 
 President after proper notice, or by two of the Vice-Presidents in 
 the absence of the President. Until a regular meeting of the So- 
 ciety is called, the Executive Committee may hold elections for 
 officers to serve until such full meeting is held. 
 
 FELLOWSHIP. 
 
 Honorary members who have contributed one hundred dollars 
 to the permanent fund of the Society, may be made Fellows by a 
 vote of the Executive Committee. 
 
 COMMITTEE OF FINANCE. 
 
 There shall be a Committee of five on Finance, whose duty it 
 shall be to confer with and advise the Treasurer as to financial 
 matters, and who shall take charge of all permanent funds of the 
 Society, to be invested safely by them as soon as practicable after 
 being paid over to them by the Treasurer. 
 
 HISTORIOGRAPHERS . 
 
 There shall be three Historiographers chosen annually, whose 
 duty it shall be to keep the necrology of members, and report to 
 the Society. 
 
248 
 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE WEBSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Allen, Stephen M. 
 Allen, William. 
 Alden, Ebenezer. 
 Anthony, Henry B. 
 Allen, Stillman B. 
 Aspinwall, William. 
 Arthur, Chester A. 
 Andrews, Charles H. 
 Abbott, Josiah G. 
 Allen, Frank A. 
 Ames, P. Adams. 
 Atkinson, Hervey. 
 Allen, William. 
 Ames, Oliver. 
 Appleton, Samuel. 
 Armistead, W. Keith. 
 Ames, Fisher. 
 Alexander, James. 
 Amory, Thomas C. 
 Albee, Sumner. 
 Alden, Amherst A. 
 Apollonio, Nicholas A. 
 Allen, Edward E. 
 Aspinwall, Thomas. 
 Aspinwall, William H. 
 Allen, Willis B. 
 Ames, Azel, Jr. 
 Appleton, William S. 
 Abbott, George H. 
 Adams, Joseph H. 
 Allen, Frank D. 
 Abbott, Edward T. 
 Ajnes, Frank M. 
 Adams, Melvin O. 
 Andrews, Augustus. 
 Aldrich, Samuel N. 
 Andrews, Morton D. 
 Allen, Horace G. 
 
 Banks, Nathaniel P. 
 Baker, William H. 
 
 Boutwell, Francis M. 
 Bartlett, Samuel C. 
 Bell, Charles H. 
 Boutwell, George S. 
 Bartlett, Sidney. 
 Bell, Theodore H. 
 Bonaparte, Jerome N". 
 Burnham, Gordon W. 
 Butler, Peter. 
 Bowman, Selwyn Z. 
 Bremer, John L. 
 Bennett, Edmund H. 
 Bassett, William G. 
 Brooks, George M. 
 Butler, Benjamin F. 
 Blaine, James G. 
 Burbank, Robert I. < 
 Bates, William C. 
 Browne, Causten. 
 Bayard, Thomas F. 
 Barnard, Daniel. 
 Balch, Joseph W. 
 Barrett, James. 
 Boynton, Eleazer. 
 Billings, Frederick. 
 Barrows, George B. 
 Bliss, Cornelius X. 
 Butler, John H. 
 Brewster, Augustus O. 
 Beal, Leander. 
 Barnard, Henry. 
 Beal, 'Joseph S. 
 Bailey, Andrew J. 
 Blunt, William E, 
 Brayton, John S. 
 Batchelder, John M. 
 Bennett, Joseph. 
 Baker, Joseph K. 
 Beals, Henry M. 
 Babson, Thomas M. 
 Boynton, E. Moody. 
 Breck, Charles H. B. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 249 
 
 Belden, Charles D. 
 Butler, Horace B. 
 Barstow, John L. 
 Brown, Alpheus R. 
 Bradlee, Nathaniel J. 
 Burnham, Gershom T. 
 Brainard, Amos H. 
 Braekett, Jeffrey R. 
 Brown, Seth E. 
 Bancroft, William A. 
 Brooks, Charles J 
 Boardman, Waldo E. 
 
 Chamberlain, Mellen. 
 Chamberlain. Joshua C. 
 Clarke, Dorus. 
 Clement, Edward II. 
 Clapp, William W. 
 Capen, Nahum. 
 Candler, John W. 
 Collins, Patrick A. 
 Choate, Charles F. 
 Crapo, William W. 
 Conant, Chester C. 
 Coffin, Abraham B. 
 Colburn, W^aldo. 
 Clarke, John J. 
 Chadbourne, Paul A. 
 Choate, George F. 
 Crane, Samuel D. 
 Crosby, Nathan. 
 Clark, Augustus N. 
 Gushing, Matthew H. 
 Chase, Hezekiah S. 
 Churchill, Joseph M. 
 Campbell, James H. 
 Cooper, W. N. 
 Chandler, William E. 
 Claflin, William. 
 Converse, Elisha S. 
 Cummings, Thomas II. 
 Carter, C. Willard. 
 Cilley, Orran G. 
 Gushing, Benjamin. 
 Coe, Henry F. 
 Clark, John M. 
 
 Cogswell, William. 
 Cook, Benjamin F. 
 Clarke, Julius L. 
 Canterbury. Nathan D. 
 Conness. John. 
 Chapin, Nahum. 
 Cowles, Edward. 
 Cate, George W. 
 Colby, John F. 
 Coit, Henry A. 
 Connolly, William T. 
 Cummings, John A. 
 Crosby, Stephen M. 
 Candage, Rufus G. F. 
 Cross. William W. 
 Conant, Luther. 
 Cullen, James B. 
 Crane, Edward. 
 Cundy, William H. 
 Cutter, Benjamin F. 
 Chamberlain, Henry P. 
 Codman, Robert. 
 Crane, Horatio N. 
 Coffin, Charles C. 
 
 Deane, Charles. 
 D wight, Thomas. 
 Dawes, Henry L. 
 Devens, Charles. 
 Dana, Thomas. 
 Dewey, Francis IT. 
 Davis, J. G. 
 Devereux, Francis B. 
 Dearborn, Charles E. 
 Doane, Thomas. 
 Deblois, Stephen G. 
 Dewson, Francis A. 
 Drake, Lincoln S. 
 Drinkwater, A. C. 
 Dacey, Timothy J. 
 Davis, George L. 
 Denny, James H. 
 Dwyer, Wm. Whitton. 
 Dana, James. 
 Dunham, Charles W. 
 Dodge, John W. 
 
250 
 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Davis, Joseph. 
 Dickinson. John W. 
 Dean, Benjamin. 
 Dennis, Henry. 
 Davis, S. M. 
 Druiy, Koger. 
 
 Evarts, William M. 
 Emery, George F. 
 Edwards, John H. 
 Emerson, Horatio B. 
 Eastman, Edmund T. 
 Edgerly, Martin V. B. 
 Endicott, Charles. 
 Ernst, George A. O. 
 Edmunds, George F. 
 
 Fuller, Henry W r eld. 
 Fuller, Henry W. 
 Farns worth, Ezra. 
 Fox, James A. 
 Fitch, Robert G. 
 Flatley, P. J. 
 Farnham, Roswell. 
 French, Jonas H. 
 Fay, Joseph S. 
 Fisher, Horace K. 
 Freeman, James G. 
 Forristall, George W. 
 Follett, John A. 
 Field, Walbridge A. 
 Farquhar, David W. 
 Fuller. Benjamin A. G. 
 Frink, Alden. 
 Flagg, John G-, Jr. 
 Fitz, Eustace C. 
 Felt, J. Augustus. 
 French, Asa. 
 Fallon, Joseph D. 
 Fowler, George R. 
 Fiske, William O. 
 Foster, William L. 
 Fisher, H. G. B. 
 
 Green, Samuel A. 
 Grant, Ulysses S. 
 Greene, Charles G. 
 Getchell, Addison C. 
 Gridley, G. Fred. 
 Getchell, Jeremiah. 
 Gerry, Charles F. 
 George, John H. 
 Grinnell, Charles A. 
 Gallagher, Charles T. 
 Gunn, Levi J. 
 Gleason, Daniel A. 
 Gordon, William, Jr. 
 Gage, Isaac K. 
 
 Harris, Charles. 
 Hall, Andrew J. 
 Haven, Franklin, Jr. 
 Haile, William H. 
 Hill, Henry B. 
 Haddock, Charles. 
 Herrick, William A. 
 Haldeman, Cj^rus S. 
 Hyde, George B. 
 Hoadley, John C. 
 Ham, Joseph. 
 Higginson, Louis. 
 Hob art, Francis A. 
 Hyde, Henry D. 
 He wins, Edmund H. 
 Houghton, H. O. 
 Hall, Daniel. 
 Hitchcock, Hiram. 
 Hutchins, Stilson. 
 Hatton, Frank. 
 Hazen, Henry A. 
 Holmes, Frank H. 
 Hardy, William A. 
 Hall, Harmon. 
 Hathaway, John G. 
 Heywood, George. 
 Hall, Elisha W. 
 Harrison, Samuel J. 
 Hitchcock, Loranus E. 
 Hosmer, Alfred. 
 Hoar, J. Emery. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 251 
 
 Holman, George II. 
 Harmon, Nathan W 
 Hicks, Samuel D. 
 Hubbard, Charles T. 
 Holmes, Frank M. 
 Hildreth, John L. 
 Hill, Jotham F. 
 Henry, John J. 
 Haskins. David G., Jr 
 Hoxie, Eduard W. 
 Hapgood, Lyman S. 
 Hesseltine. Francis S. 
 Harwood. Herbert J. 
 Haven, Franklin. 
 Holmes, Lucius. 
 Harwood, Joseph A 
 Hale, Edward E. 
 Haskell, Edwin B. 
 Hayes, Francis B. 
 Hague, William. 
 
 Ingalls, E. Herbert. 
 
 Kneil, Thomas. 
 
 Loring, George B. 
 Lincoln, Frederick W 
 Lewis. Alonzo F. 
 Long, John D. 
 Lunt, George. 
 Lord, Otis P. 
 Lodge, Henry C. 
 Lambert, Thomas K. 
 Lincoln, Robert T. 
 Ladd, Nathaniel W. 
 Little, Samuel. 
 Ladd, John S. 
 Locke, Warren E. 
 Longley, Henry W. 
 Lester, John E. 
 Ladd, Charles R. 
 Lockwood, Thomas S. 
 Lewis, Calvin W. 
 Loring, Edward P. 
 Lambert, Thomas E. 
 Ladd, William S. 
 
 Jewell, Marshall. 
 Jordan, William H. S. 
 Joslin, James T. 
 Jenks, Thomas L. 
 Joy, Charles H. 
 Jar vis. John F. 
 Johnson. Samuel. 
 Johnson, George W. 
 
 King, George A. 
 King, William S. 
 Kidder, Henry P. 
 Kennard, Martin P. 
 Keith, James M. 
 Kittredge, Francis W. 
 Kimball, Richard B. 
 Kittredge, Charles F. 
 Kelley, Webster. 
 Keith, Ziber C. 
 Kinsley. Edward W. 
 Kingman, Bradford. 
 
 Miner, Alonzo A. 
 Marston, George. 
 Morse, Leopold. 
 Motley, Thomas. 
 McKim, John W. 
 Morton, Marcus. 
 Monroe, George H. 
 Morgan, Edwin D. 
 McNeill, George E. 
 Miller, C. E. 
 Morse, Nathan. 
 McCollom, John H. 
 Morse, Godfrey. 
 Moore, Ira L. 
 McFarlin, Peleg. 
 Morse, George W. 
 Mason, Samuel W. 
 May, John J. 
 Merritt, Nehemiah T. 
 Morse. Asa P. 
 Morse, William. 
 
252 
 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Martin, Augustus P. 
 Montague, Samuel L. 
 Maynard, Elisha B. 
 Morris, Bobert. 
 Martin, J. L. 
 
 Nelson, Henry W. 
 Noyes, Francis V 
 Norcross, Araasa. 
 Nesmith, George W. 
 Noyes, Horace. 
 Norwood, Francis. 
 Noble, Reuben. 
 Nichols, George H. 
 Nourse, Henry S. 
 
 Oliver, Henry K. 
 O'Riordon, Patrick. 
 Olmstead, John W. 
 Otis, Albert B. 
 
 Palmer, Albert, 
 Pillsbury, A. E. 
 Porter, Noah. 
 Pulsif er, R. M. 
 Palmer, Benjamin P. 
 Poore, Ben. Perley. 
 Pierce, Henry L. 
 Parmenter, William E. 
 Patterson, J. W. 
 Pingree, Samuel E. 
 Perry, Arthur L. 
 Phillips, Fred J. 
 Pettee, Benjamin. 
 Parker, Horatio G. 
 Phillipps, Alfred. 
 Perkins, Frank H. 
 Peabody, Dean. 
 Parker, Henry L. 
 Pettengill, John W. 
 Pratt, Charles E. 
 Pope. Charles. 
 Preston, James W. 
 Prince, C. Albert. 
 
 Pitman, Benjamin. 
 Proctor, Thomas E. 
 Powers, Charles E. 
 Parsons. Thomas. 
 Perry. Francis A. 
 Parker, Charles W. 
 Plympton, N. A. 
 Perkins, David. 
 Prang, Louis. 
 Pearson, George W. 
 Pike, John N. 
 Plunkett, William C. 
 Paine, Robert Treat, Jr. 
 Pearson, Thomas. 
 Pope, Charles G. 
 Paige, John C. 
 Pratt, Edward E. 
 Puffer, Loring W. 
 Peabody, Francis, Jr. 
 Powers, Charles. 
 Paul, Joseph F. 
 Pollard, M. S. P. 
 Potter, Burton W. 
 Pierce, Samuel B. 
 Parks, Clarence A. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah. 
 
 Richardson, George C. 
 Russell, Chas. Theodore. 
 Russell, Thomas. 
 Rice, Alexander H. 
 Russell, William A. 
 Robinson, George D. 
 Rice, William W. 
 Rolfe, Henry P. 
 Rollins, E. A. 
 Rollins, Daniel G. 
 Rodocanachi, John M. 
 Ranney, Ambrose A. 
 Russell, Alfred. 
 Rowe, George H. M. 
 Russell, John E. 
 Russell, Samuel H. 
 Reynolds, Rice M. 
 
THE WEBSTEIi CENTENNIAL. 
 
 253 
 
 Riley, Thomas. 
 Russell, Daniel Webster. 
 Russell, Daniel. 
 Rollins. Charles. 
 Rollins, James W. 
 Ritehie, Edward 8. 
 Robinson, Henry W. 
 Roberts, James A. 
 Richardson. William A. 
 Runnels, Moses T. 
 
 Seelye, Julius H. 
 Sargent, Horace B. 
 Stockbridge, Levi. 
 Stearns, William B. 
 Slafter, Edmund F. 
 Stickney, J. Henry. 
 Shurtleff, William S. 
 Safford, Nathaniel F. 
 Swift, John L. 
 Standish, Miles. 
 Smalley, Bradley B. 
 Smith, George O. 
 Simmons, George A. 
 Spalding. Edward. 
 Smith, John Edwin. 
 Sargent, J. E. 
 Slafter, Carlos. 
 Sanborn, Edwin D. 
 Stevens. Edward G. 
 Sawyer, Joseph. 
 Swan, William E. C. 
 Sawyer, Edward. 
 Sturgis, John H. 
 Salisbury, Daniel W. 
 Smith, Baxter P. 
 Smyth, Frederick. 
 Smith, Wellington. 
 Stockwell, James W. 
 Sullivan, John C. 
 Skillings, David N., Jr 
 Swallow, Calvin. 
 Stanley, Clinton W. 
 Swift, Lindsay. 
 Slade, Lucius. 
 Sumner, Charles W. 
 
 Story, Isaac. 
 Standish, L. Miles. 
 Sanger, Chester F. 
 Savage, Thomas. 
 Story, Augustus. 
 Shepard, Luther E. 
 Saltonstall, Leverett. 
 Smith, James. 
 Stevens, Charles W. 
 Stevens, George. 
 Sears, Philip H. 
 Sawyer, Timothy T. 
 Smith, Elizur. 
 Saville, Leonard A. 
 Smith, Charles. 
 Smith, George E. 
 Sanford, Baalis. 
 
 Tobey, Edward S. 
 Talbot, Thomas. 
 Taylor, Charles H. 
 Thompson. Francis. 
 Thompson, Ai B. 
 Temple, Thomas F. 
 Thornton, Charles C. G. 
 Thayer, Edward F. 
 Townsend, Luther T. 
 Tobey, James W. 
 Tompkins, Dexter A. 
 Tobey, Edward S., Jr. 
 Tarbox, John K. 
 Towle, Henry C. 
 Taylor. Simeon P. 
 Thompson, Abijah. 
 Trask, William Blake. 
 Tyler, Henry M. 
 Tarbox, Increase N. 
 Tuttle, Julius H. 
 
 Upham, J. Baxter. 
 
 Viaux, Frederick H. 
 Veazy, Wheelock S. 
 
254 
 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Winsor, Justin. 
 White, Charles Austin. 
 White, Charles A. 
 Worthington, Roland. 
 Walker, Francis A. 
 Wilder, Marshall P. 
 Webster, Ashburton. 
 Webster. Caroline S. 
 Warren. G. Washington. 
 Wood, William B. 
 Wood, William H. 
 Wheelock, Peter S. 
 Walker, Joseph B. 
 Warren, Lucius H. 
 Woods, Henry F. 
 Webster. Nathaniel S. 
 Welling, James C. 
 Wyman, Edward. 
 Wilkinson, Win. C. 
 Winkley, Daniel. 
 Wood, Horatio. 
 Webster, Charles W. 
 Webber, Charles F. 
 Williams, G. Fred. 
 Warren, George W. 
 Winslow, William C. 
 Webber, Cushing. 
 Wright, William Burnett. 
 Wellman, J. W. 
 Wightman, Joseph M. 
 Wright, Isaac H. 
 Waldo, C. Sidney. 
 W r arren, Samuel D. 
 
 Whitney, Henry M. 
 Warren, Joseph H. 
 Warren, Cyrus M. 
 Wright, Carroll D. 
 Wood, Rufus D. 
 Wallace, Rodney. 
 Whitney, Milton B. 
 Wyman, Morrill. 
 Willis, George D. 
 Waldo. John A. 
 Whipple, John Jay. 
 Warren, Nathan. 
 Woodworth, Albert C. 
 Weston, Byron. 
 White, Joseph. 
 Wyman, Stanley C. 
 Whipple, George A. 
 Wright. William J. 
 Wright, George W. 
 Whitcomb, B. D. 
 Williams, George F. 
 White. Hubbard Winslow. 
 Wilson, Charles B. 
 Watson, Robert S. 
 Wliiton, David. 
 Wales, Nathaniel. 
 Warren, G. F. 
 Williams, John Howard. 
 Williams, Fred H. 
 Wells, William. 
 Warren, Moses C. 
 
 Yale, Rufus M. 
 
 Clark, Isaiah R. 
 Hunnewell, Francis. 
 Hudson, Henry N. 
 
 Parker. Harvey D. 
 W T akeneld, Cyrus. 
 Willson, E. B. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 255 
 
 LETTERS OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 The following letters and extracts from letters, received in 
 response to notification of membership, are quoted to show 
 the high esteem in which the objects of the Society are 
 held : — 
 
 Executive Mansion. 
 Washington, August 5, 1882. 
 
 My dear sir, — The President has received your letter of the 
 3d instant, and desires me to express his appreciation of the com- 
 pliment of the proposed action of the Webster Historical Society 
 in electing him an honorary member. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Fred. J. Phillips, 
 Stephen M. Allen, Esq., Private Secretary. 
 
 President, &c, 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 [From Governor Chas. PI. Bell, of New Hampshire.] 
 
 Please to make my warmest acknowledgment to the Committee 
 for the honor they do me, and inform them that if admitted I shall 
 esteem it a high distinction to be connected with the Society. 
 
 [From Rev. N. Porter, President of Yale College.] 
 I shall be happy to do anything in my power which will bring 
 honor to the name and memory of the distinguished statesman and 
 orator whom all Americans should be taught to venerate. 
 
 Augusta, Me., Sept. 2G, 1882. 
 
 Dear sir, — I beg to present my thanks for the aonor conferred 
 
 upon me in my election as an honorary member of the Webster 
 
 Historical Society. I yield to no one in admiration of that great 
 
 statesman, and in appreciation of the inestimable work he did for 
 
 the union of the States. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Stephen M. Allen, Esq., James G. Blaine. 
 
 President, &c. 
 
256 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 [From Chas. Austin White.] 
 I am honored by your announcement that I have been nominated 
 for admission as an honorary member of the Webster Historical 
 Society, and I desire to express the satisfaction which it will give 
 me, as one who enjoyed a share of Mr. Webster's friendship in his 
 lifetime, who was present in his house at Marshfield on the morn- 
 ing of his death, and who will continue to revere his memory while 
 life lasts, to have this nomination confirmed. If the state of my 
 health permits, I shall hope to be present at the coming celebration 
 at Marshfield, to mark, however feebty, by my presence, my 
 veneration for one whose patriotic sentiments and deeds will live 
 forever in the annals of his country and the world. 
 
 [From Hon. Levi Stockbridge.] 
 I assure you that I highly appreciate the work your organiza- 
 tion is performing, and should be pleased with the right of actual 
 membership. 
 
 [From Hon. George W. Warren, of New York.] 
 I have been a Webster man since I was thirteen years old, hear- 
 ing him then at Quincy Hall, my first caucus attendance. From 
 that time I have never missed improving eveiy possible oppor- 
 tunity of hearing him. I was privileged with a personal acquaint- 
 ance with him, heard his 7th of March speech at Washington, 
 1850 — next in importance to his reply to Hayne, his most pat- 
 riotic effort, if it does not even stand above that in its risking his 
 own sacrifice. As President of the Webster Club of 1852, at the 
 head of a committee, I had three interviews with him to obtain his 
 consent to a call for an u Independent Convention of Webster 
 men at Philadelphia, without distinction of party," believing, as 
 we did early, that the " Scott delegates" would have a majority 
 in the Whig Convention. Those interviews were interesting, and 
 though our plans were negatived by him, we loved the man the 
 more for the way and the why he did it. A member of the city 
 government, I was present at his grand and solemn funeral ; re- 
 turning in the same carriage with Franklin Pierce, he told me that 
 "Webster's nomination by the Whigs was the only one he had 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 257 
 
 feared. The Whig managers never realized the immense popu- 
 larity of Webster with the people." 
 
 [From Gen. U. S. Grant.] 
 In reply I would say that it would afford me great pleasure to 
 become a member of your Society. 
 
 [From Hon. Thomas Russell.] 
 I acknowledge with pleasure your favor of this date, and should 
 be happy to accept the honor of admission to the Webster Histor- 
 ical Society as proposed. 
 
 [From Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner.] 
 I should certainly deem it a high honor to be admitted a member 
 of your Society. 
 
 [From Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, President New England Historic, 
 Genealogical Society.] 
 
 I shall feel honored by being made a member of the Webster 
 Historical Society. 
 
 [From Hon. Marshall Jewell, ex-Governor of Connecticut.] 
 Many thanks for your polite communication of the 2d inst. I 
 am a born Whig and Webster man, and am therefore not a little 
 pleased at the prospect of being a member of the Webster Histori- 
 cal Society. 
 
 The publication of everything pertaining to Mr. Webster can- 
 not fail to be beneficial to the present generation. 
 
 [From General Horace Binney Sargent, President Standish Monument 
 
 Association.] 
 
 I accept with great pleasure the honor that your Society confers 
 by nomination, and proposes to confirm ; and I venture to express 
 a hope that no one more reverently than myself has made a care- 
 ful study of this opinion of the very great American Whom your 
 Society is instituted to honor. His works are an armory of every 
 weapon that patriotism can use for loyalty to the Republic. 
 
258 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 [From Ex-Gov. Alexander H. Rice.] 
 I have had the honor to receive your favor of the 2d inst., 
 apprising me of the fact of my nomination by the Executive Com- 
 mittee as an honorary member of the Webster Historical Society ; 
 for which distinguished recognition, I return my thanks, and will 
 accept such membership if conferred. 
 
 [From Hon. Josiah Quincy.] 
 I feel highly honored by my nomination as an honorary member 
 of your Society, and if confirmed will accept with great pleasure. 
 
 [From Hon. Mellen Chamberlain.] 
 
 I find your official communication informing me that I have been 
 nominated an honorary member of the Webster Historical Society. 
 
 For this nomination I am obliged, and if elected, I shall esteem 
 it a great honor to be connected with a society whose objects are 
 specially interesting to me. 
 
 [From Hon. II. B. Anthony.] 
 I have yours of the 2d, informing me of my nomination as an 
 honorary member of the Webster Historical Society, an honor 
 which gives me much gratification. 
 
 [From Hon. Nahum Capen.] 
 It was my great privilege to become acquainted with Mr. Web- 
 ster in 1826, and my intercourse with him during the balance of 
 his life, from that period, was most agreeable and instructive. 
 
 [From Ex-Gov. Thomas Talbot.] 
 Yours notifying me that I have been nominated as an honorary 
 member of the Webster Historical Society is received. I shall 
 feel honored by such a membership. 
 
 [From Hon. Sidney Bartlett.] 
 All efforts to perpetuate the feme and principles of one whom 
 I knew so long and honored so much, have my most earnest 
 sympathy. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 259 
 
 [From Mr. Justice Otis P. Lord.] 
 It is always gratifying to me to be associated with any whose 
 purpose is to perpetuate the memory of Daniel Webster, and to 
 present, " for the instruction of the rising generation of young 
 men," the principles which he advocated, and the many illustrious 
 acts and incidents " pertaining to his life and services." 
 
 [From Thomas Motley, Esq.] 
 I enjoj'ed the friendship of Mr. Webster for many years, and 
 considered it one of the great privileges of my life. I need hardly 
 say that the confirmation of my membership will be a great pleas- 
 ure to me. 
 
 [From Hon. G. Washington Warren.] 
 It will give me great pleasure to become an honorary member 
 of the Webster Historical Society, as indicated by your letter this 
 day received. Having had an intimate and somewhat confidential 
 acquaintance with Mr. Webster, I will gladly do anything in my 
 power to promote the stated objects of the Society. 
 
 [From Hon. Samuel A. Green, Mayor of Boston.] 
 I appreciate highly the compliment" your Society has paid me in 
 nominating me for admission as one of its honorary members. It 
 gives me great pleasure to signify my willingness, if subsequently 
 confirmed, to avail myself of its advantages. 
 
 [From Francis A. Walker, Esq., President Institute of Technology.] 
 It would afford me peculiar gratification to be elected to the 
 
 membership of the Webster Historical Society, for which the 
 
 Executive Committee have nominated me. 
 
 [From Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, ex-Governor of Maine.] 
 I may not be able to render much service, but if the Committee 
 
 will take me as I am, I shall be glad to accept. 
 
 Great men are fountains and sources from which we ought 
 
 always to draw inspiration and strength, and I cordially approve 
 
 your movement in this matter. 
 
260 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 [From Hon. Ben. Perley Poore.] 
 
 It was my privilege to enjoy Mr. Webster's friendship during 
 the later years of his life, and I consider it a high honor to be as- 
 sociated with any organization of respectable gentlemen for honor- 
 ing his memory. 
 
 [From Hon. Chester C. Conant.] 
 
 As a native of New Hampshire, as an alumnus of Dartmouth, 
 and as a descendant of the old Puritan founder of Salem, Roger 
 Conant, I claim a special interest in the good name and enduring 
 fame of the " godlike Daniel." 
 
 [From Rev. S. C. Bartlett, President of Dartmouth College.] 
 
 I have received your letter announcing my nomination as an 
 honorary member of the Webster Historical Society, with assur- 
 ance of " confirmation, if agreeable to my expressed wish." 
 
 I should esteem it a privilege to become a member, and tender 
 my thanks for the compliment. 
 
 [From Hon. F. W. Lincoln.] 
 
 Sympathizing most fully in the patriotic efforts to keep Web- 
 ster's memory green, and believing that the war for the Union was 
 fought in a great measure by the ammunition which was furnished 
 by his great speeches. 
 
 [From Hon. Henry Weld Fuller.] 
 
 Nothing could be more agreeable to my wishes than the per- 
 petuation of the memory and lessons of our greatest of statesmen, 
 Daniel Webster. 
 
 His ponderous intellect and prophetic vision, his great heart 
 and wonderful magnetism, are acknowledged by all ; but they who 
 knew him in his youth, and who had his friendship in college da} T s, 
 spoke of him with an admiration and affection altogether beyond 
 our own. 
 
 I have heard my father extol him, and hold him up to us as one 
 who never betrayed a trust or forgot a friend. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 20 1 
 
 [From Ex-Gov. Geo. S. Boutwell.] 
 It will be a pleasure to me to be recognized as an honorary 
 member of the Webster Historical Society, and with thanks for 
 the consideration accorded me. 
 
 [From Eev. Ebenezer Alden.] 
 Please receive my acknowledgment of your personal kindness 
 as President of the Webster Historical Society, and express to the 
 Society my thanks for the honor conferred upon me in my election 
 as an honorary member of that body. 
 
 [From Hon. Geo. Marston, Attorney General of Massachusetts.] 
 I accept the honor, with a sense of sincere trust that your Society 
 may do much to make more clear to the American people how 
 much they owe to the transcendent ability and patriotism of Daniel 
 Webster. 
 
 [From Hon. Geo. B. Loring.] 
 I shall be most happy to be admitted as an honorary member 
 of the Webster Historical Society, and am much obliged to you 
 for considering my name in this connection. 
 
 [From Rev. Dorus Clarke.] 
 I accept with pleasure the honor which the Executive Committee 
 propose to confer upon me, and will gladly do anything in my 
 power to perpetuate the fame of Mr. Webster, who belongs to the 
 brightest constellation of distinguished men who have adorned 
 the history of our country. 
 
 [From Hon. Franklin Haven, a warm personal friend of Mr. Webster.] 
 The avowed objects of the Webster Historical Society are pat- 
 riotic and commendable. The name by which the Society is isd- 
 tinguished is precious in the memory of Americans, and consecrated 
 in the annals of the country. 
 
 [From Hon. Joseph M. Wightman.] 
 As long as he lived, Daniel Webster was the guide of my polit- 
 ical life, and I have always revered his memory. In my heart he 
 "still lives." 
 
262 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 [From Prof. E. D. Sanborn.] 
 I shall esteem it an honor to be associated with the "Webster 
 Historical Society in the duties they have prescribed for themselves, 
 if they should confirm my election. 
 
 [From G. Bradley Barrows, Esq.] 
 I accept the nomination with pleasure, as I am in hearty sym- 
 pathy with the objects of your Society. I shall endeavor hereafter 
 to add to your collection some facts relating to Mr. # Webster's 
 former residence in this town. 
 
 [From Hon. Samuel E. Pingree.] 
 I would say that the confirmation of the nomination by your 
 honorable board would be very acceptable to me, as I regard the 
 objects for which that Society is constituted something alike honor- 
 able and dutiful on our part. 
 
 [From J. W. Preston, Esq.] 
 I do not hesitate to say that I shall esteem it an honor and 
 privilege to be a member of a society that has for its object the 
 collection and publication of matter pertaining to the life and 
 services of Daniel Webster, and other eminent men who have 
 adorned the history of our country and illustrated its institutions. 
 There can be no better way, it would seem, of inculcating the 
 great principles which form the basis of our government, and in- 
 spiring the coming generations of our people with a genuine and 
 intelligent love for them, than the method proposed by the Webster 
 Historical Society. 
 
 [From Kev. A. L. Perry.] 
 As a native of New Hampshire, as having often seen and heard 
 Mr. Webster in my boyhood at Dartmouth College and elsewhere, 
 as being locally and historically interested in the Battle of Ben- 
 nington, in which Mr. Webster's father was a captain, as a long- 
 time student and teacher of the Constitution of the United States, 
 of which he was a master, and as a believer in the large utility of 
 keeping ever fresh the precepts and example of such a patriotic 
 citizen and consummate orator as Mr. Webster was, I am thank- 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 263 
 
 ful for my election as an honorary member of the Webster His- 
 torical Society, and will do all I can to further its objects. 
 
 [From R. M. Yale, Esq.] 
 I am one of the old admirers of Daniel Webster — one who 
 voted for him after he was dead, feeling that his dead body was 
 worth more than an}- live one that was in the field against him. 
 
 [From Rev. Moses T. Runnels.] 
 I thank you for this undeserved honor, would signify my accep- 
 tance, and would be glad to co-operate with you in my feeble way 
 for the carrying out of the design of the Webster Historical 
 Society. Let the fame and the influence of the great statesman 
 be perpetuated as widely as possible. 
 
 [From Hon. Peter S. Wheeloek.] 
 I assure you that I shall feel highly honored if I am made a 
 member of that Society. Daniel Webster was always greatly ad- 
 mired by me as a man, jurist and statesman. I sincerely hope my 
 nomination will be confirmed. 
 
 [From X. S. Webster, Esq., of Boscaw r en, N.H.] 
 Many things connected w T ith the first professional efforts of 
 Daniel Webster in this quiet town, his intimate relations with my 
 father's family, his elastic step, and pleasant voice, are among my 
 earliest recollections. His friendship was firm and life-long. 
 
 [From Henry X. Hudson, Esq.] 
 Among all the public men of our country during my time, Daniel 
 Webster is the supreme object of my regard and reverence ; and 
 nothing pertaining to this world lies nearer my heart than that the 
 name and memory of him may be duly honored and cherished as 
 our great teacher and apostle of American citizenship. 
 
 [From Gen. John L. Swift.] 
 It would be very gratifying to me to become a member of the 
 Webster Historical Society, in honor of the great citizen whose 
 fame increases as time enlarges the vision by which we view the 
 magnitude of his ability and service to the country. 
 
264 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 [From Henry Dennis, Esq.] 
 
 From early boyhood, or at least as soon as I was old enough to 
 read and in some degree appreciate the published speeehes of Mr. 
 Webster, I eagerly sought them for study and information, a foun- 
 tain of knowledge, from which the humble, like myself, could drink 
 in some degree the truths sought to be inculcated by the great ora- 
 tor ; indeed, so strong an impression was made upon my mind by 
 his allusion to the slave trade in his Plymouth oration of 1820, 
 that on arriving at my majority in 1848 my first vote was cast for 
 the liberty party candidate for the Presidency. It was never my 
 good fortune to hear Mr. Webster speak in public but once (and 
 then only for a few moments), and this at Plymouth, at the open- 
 ing of the Old Colony Railroad in 1845. The appearance of Mr. 
 Webster at that time is still fresh in my mind, noble and godlike. 
 
 [From II. Xoyes. Esq.] 
 I do not know the full extent to which your wishes may extend 
 in collecting and publishing incidents, anecdotes and letters relat- 
 ing to Mr. Webster. I had many private letters of his, but by 
 entreaty of friends the number has been much reduced ; yet some 
 remain which it would be no violation of friendship, now that he is 
 gone, to publish. Living very near him at Elms Farm, and fre- 
 quently attending to little matters for him, I may be able to give 
 some incidents of his private life not heretofore published ; and 
 should confirmation follow my nomination as a member of your 
 Society, I shall ever feel it a high privilege to be thus associated. 
 
 [From Rev. William Hague.] 
 I highly appreciate the aims and the spirit of the Webster His- 
 torical Society, and the honor of a recognized connection with it ; 
 believing in its great possibilities as an educational power. 
 
 [From Hon. Henry P. Kolfe.] 
 
 I believe Daniel Webster to be the most distinguished American, 
 
 living or dead ; but because he was a neighbor and schoolmate of 
 
 my mother, and was baptized by my grandfather, Rev. Jonathan 
 
 Searle aid was a member of his church, as was his father 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 265 
 
 before him, I may be the only person living whose parent attended 
 the district school with Daniel Webster. I am in feeble health at 
 the present time, but hope to be able to attend the Centennial 
 Celebration at Marshfield on the 12th inst. I was present in 1852 
 as a representative of Concord, N.H., to attend the funeral obse- 
 quies, when Mr. Ilillard delivered his eulogy in Faneuil Hall, and 
 when Governor Boutwell in his reception speech to us from New 
 Hampshire said, ;i New Hampshire has furnished no other such 
 son, and Massachusetts no other such statesman, as Daniel 
 Webster." 
 
 [From Prof. J. C. Welling, President of Columbia College.] 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your com- 
 munication under date of the 25th inst., informing me that the 
 Executive Committee of the Webster Historical Society have 
 nominated me for admission as an honorary member of that 
 Association. 
 
 As alike by my political training and my political convictions 
 I belong to those who hold the name of Daniel Webster a highest 
 honor, I beg leave to say that it will give me pleasure to accept 
 the designation with which I have been honored, if it shall be con- 
 firmed by your board. A serious illness has prevented the earlier 
 acknowledgment of your communication. 
 
 [From James T. Joslin. Esq.] 
 Please accept my thanks for this unsolicited, not to say un- 
 merited, recognition of the estimation in which I was early taught 
 to regard the name and character of Webster. A somewhat care- 
 ful study of Webster's matchless literary works in maturer life 
 has ripened a youthful estimate of his greatness into a profound 
 veneration for the genius and exalted abilities of the historic states- 
 man of America. I shall deem it an honor to be enrolled as an 
 honorary member of the Webster Historical Society. 
 
 [From Eev. Luther Farnham.] 
 I have received your cordial invitation to attend the Centen- 
 nial Celebration of the year of the birth of Daniel Webster at 
 
266 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 Marshfield, on Thursday next, and it gives me much pleasure to 
 accept of the invitation which was entirely unexpected, and which 
 has been so politely extended. As early as last winter, I called 
 on several distinguished friends of Mr. Webster, and suggested 
 the special fitness of Marshfield as the place for just such a cele- 
 bration, and October as the month for it, since it was the home 
 that the great statesman most loved, and since he was buried 
 there by the sea just a generation ago. I am very glad, therefore, 
 as no other society was ready to enter upon the work, that the 
 Webster Historical Society has so enthusiastically engaged in 
 it. More than thirty years ago, just as I entered upon the work 
 of the Christian ministiy, I was for a considerable time the min- 
 ister of the First Congregational Church in Marshfield, and Mr. 
 Webster was by far my most distinguished parishioner, and in 
 many respects the best. His sons, Col. Fletcher Webster and 
 Major Edward Webster, were also valued members of the con- 
 gregation. 
 
 [From Henry Barnard, Esq.] 
 
 It was my good fortune to have read, in the formation period 
 of my taste and opinions, his grand discourses at Plymouth 
 (1820), at Bunker Hill (1825) and at Faneuil Hall (1826) ; and 
 to have listened to his Washington Centennial address (1833), his 
 elaborate exposition of the Constitution (in 1833) in his own series 
 of resolutions in the Senate of the United States in antagonism to 
 those of John C. Calhoun, and to mairy utterances from that time 
 on, from the political platform and in friendly intercourse ; and I 
 am happy and proud to owe my inspiration and standard of public 
 duty, of appreciation of the singular greatness of George Wash- 
 ington, of the national character of our Constitution, to his teach- 
 ing, written and oral. This teaching, in my judgment, fixed 
 the Union in the hearts of the American people, and carried us 
 triumphantly through the war of secession. 
 
 [From Justin Winsor, Esq.] 
 I appreciate the honor of the election, and shall be glad to be 
 reckoned one of the circle thus associated to do honor to the fame 
 and memory of Webster. 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 267 
 
 [From Cornelius X. Bliss, Esq.] 
 My early political education in old Boston was that of a 
 Webster Whig ; and it is gratifying to see that the principles 
 instilled into our }'oung minds years ago are to-day recognized 
 as true and just. As Senator Dawes well said, "When right, one 
 can afford to wait even thirt}' years for justification." 
 
 [From lion. James Barrett.] 
 My knowledge of Mr. Webster, and my estimate of him as a 
 man, a citizen, a jurist, a statesman, render any token of apprecia- 
 tion of him interesting to me — and especially such a token as is 
 your Society. 
 
 [From A. X. Clark, Esq.] 
 Fully concurring in the objects of the Society, I shall regard it 
 as a great honor to be enrolled with its distinguished members 
 under its great historic name. 
 
 [From Rev. Julius H. Seelye.] 
 
 I do not know that, in the pressure of other duties, I shall be 
 able to render the Society any service ; but its objects meet my 
 approval, and to have the relation to it which the Executive Com- 
 mittee propose, will be agreeable to me, if I do not thereby incur 
 responsibilities beyond my power to fulfil. 
 
268 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL, 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE OX PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 
 
 83 Equitable Building, 
 
 Boston, October 18, 1882. 
 To the. President and Officers of the Webster Historical Society : 
 
 The committee on permanent organization, appointed by the 
 Webster Historical Society at its meeting on the 12th inst., beg 
 leave to suggest that the great success of the Webster Centennial 
 celebration at Mars.hneld, and the union .of so many of the large 
 number of members who had not personally met before, have given 
 rise to the universal opinion and desire that the purposes of the 
 Society should be carried out on a much larger scale than was at 
 first contemplated. 
 
 Many have supposed that the object was simply to perpetuate 
 the works of Webster, as the Society took his name ; but its pur- 
 pose is to include the principles taught by all other distinguished 
 statesmen who have taken part in the legislation of the Republic, 
 without distinction of party. It is proposed to publish a volume 
 every year for judicious distribution, which shall contain well- 
 digested principles of government in such form as to interest 
 statesmen of the present generation, but whose object shall be 
 more particularly for the use of the rising generation, and espe- 
 cially young statesmen coming forward to carry on the government 
 in future. It has been thought that a permanent endowment fund 
 of at least $100,000 should be raised, the income of which should 
 be annually expended in promoting the general work of the Society. 
 Each volume published will, in such case, contain proper selec- 
 tions from the speeches really made, touching constitutional prin- 
 ciples, by statesmen in the past, as well as the select papers read 
 monthly by distinguished constitutionalists, who shall be chosen 
 for the purpose. Thus a statesman's library will be formed for 
 the use of all. The plan for raising the funds has not yet been 
 determined upon ; but as the sum cannot be raised from the annual 
 assessment of members at one dollar each per year, it is thought 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 269 
 
 that it might be practicable to open a Founders' subscription list 
 
 of 100 at $500 each $50,000 00 
 
 An Endowment Membership of 100 at $250 each . 25,000 00 
 
 And a Life Membership of 250 at $100 each . 25,000 00 
 
 Total $100,000 00 
 
 Which would make the sum required. This, with an accumulative 
 donative library, would soon enable the Society to meet the needs 
 and demands of the public in the proper direction. 
 
 We regard this as one of the most important subjects which can 
 claim the attention of the American public. In the eloquent lan- 
 guage of Gov. Long in his oration on the fourth of July last, 
 " Who shall determine how far the maintenance of the integrity 
 of our Union will depend on the memory of Webster? " 
 
 It is not expected nor desired that any person shall feel obliged 
 to subscribe to this fund ; for we do not desire the subscriptions 
 of any save those who feel that it will be a pleasure and a satisfac- 
 tion thus to become identified with this Society, and lend substan- 
 tial aid to the work that is about to be undertaken. 
 
 N. W. Ladd. 
 Albert Palmer. 
 Stillman B. Allen. 
 E. S. Tobey. 
 Edward Wyman. 
 B. P. Smith. 
 
270 
 
 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IT was an auspicious beginning for the Webster Historical 
 Society to celebrate the centenary of Daniel Webster's 
 birth as well as to take its own immediate rise on his farm, and 
 at his old home, in the town of Marshfield. It was peculiarly 
 fitting that the Society which was the whilom offspring of 
 his own patriotic heart, and which was destined to gather up 
 and perpetuate his memory and influence, should begin its 
 work at the very threshold of Webster's tomb. Thirty years 
 ago, all that was mortal of the great statesman w^as laid there 
 beside the dust of the early Pilgrim fathers, and his friends 
 turned away in speechless sorrow when the last sad funeral 
 rites had been pronounced. They knew he had passed away 
 amid great misunderstandings ; that the passions of the hour 
 had clouded the minds of his countrymen, to his great and 
 valued services ; that misapprehensions had arisen, and that 
 prejudices had sprung up which time alone could remove. 
 But, with an abounding faith in the future and in the abid- 
 ing force of truth, they separated in silence to aw T ait that day 
 when his justification was sure to come. That justification 
 did come at last. It came through the fire and bloodshed of 
 a four years' civil war. It came through a terrible martyr- 
 dom that cost the country the lives of more than a million of 
 her best citizens. It came indeed at a fearful cost, but it 
 came none the less surely for that. The morning of that 
 long lookecl-for day has now dawned. January 18, 1882, 
 saw its first gray light. October 12, 1882, was the noon- 
 day of its glory, and saw the sun of Webster's vindication at 
 the zenith of its brilliancy. It was not the presence at 
 Marshfield of so many distinguished persons from all parts 
 
THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 271 
 
 of the country that did the work, nor yet the brief though 
 primitive religious exercises at the tomb, nor was it the 
 genuine feeling that sought and found expression in the 
 after-dinner speeches in the tent. What served most to re- 
 suscitate his memory, and to clear up the integrity of his 
 fame and work, was the reading of that important state docu- 
 ment called the Cabinet Circular, written ten years before 
 our great civil conflict, and conceived in the same disinter- 
 ested spirit that animated his famous 7th of March speech in 
 1850. In it Mr. Webster has fully asserted "the nullity of 
 secession ordinances, and the right of coercion, sketching 
 briefly but forcibly his well-known views of the true inter- 
 pretation of the Constitution, and declaring the duty of the 
 government of the United States to be prepared to resist the 
 first overt act which should be intended to bring about the 
 dissolution of the Union." This document is now published 
 for the first time, and the Webster Historical Society has 
 inaugurated its work under most favorable auspices. By 
 giving it to the public at such a moment, and by a timely 
 visit to Webster's grave, it has acted happily ; for the act 
 was doubly appropriate both because of the time as well as 
 because of the occasion. At no time since his death could 
 this have been done with so much cdat and honor to him 
 without stirring up unpleasant prejudices. And it was 
 eminently befitting that, at the portals of the tomb where his 
 friends had bade him a last fond adieu, they should gather 
 together again to street each other and renew their homage 
 to that " grand life of public service commemorated in this 
 tardy awakening to benefits forgot." 
 
 It cannot therefore but be useful to direct attention here 
 particularly to the publication of this document. " It stamps 
 Webster anew," says a contemporary, "as a patriot to whom 
 the unity of his country was the first of patriotic aims. It 
 exhibits him in a new light as an interpreter of the Constitu- 
 tion and as a far-seeing statesman. The view which he took 
 
272 THE WEBSTER CENTENNIAL. 
 
 is that now generally adopted ; but it was his merit that he 
 took it earlier than others, and that he had the courage lack- 
 ing in the government of his day to announce it. Its effect 
 will be to add still further to a reputation which is second to 
 none other in the later period of our national life." 
 
 This publication, so remarkable in itself, and bearing so 
 directly upon Webster's reputation as a patriot, was a worthy 
 beginning of the special work undertaken by this Society. 
 Every thought and expression, every opinion it contains, 
 serves to set forth more brightly and clearly the power Wcb- 
 ster represents to-day for the maintenance of the Union. 
 He is now a recognized force among the higher influences 
 that hold the Union together ; and it has been very truly 
 said that, in the growing expression of this power, does the 
 inherent virtue of the Webster Historical Society lie. Daniel 
 Webster is not only the defender, but he must likewise be 
 regarded as the conservator, of the Union. In this light 
 he must now appear, not so much on account of what this 
 paper contains, as because of the heretofore meaning of 
 Webster's life and thought which that document now reveals. 
 Things that in his day were magnified into undue propor- 
 tions by the passions of man, have since shrunk back into 
 their true size, while the grandeur of his statesmanship and 
 the patriotism of his views now loom up in all their relative 
 greatness and importance. We know to-day that Webster 
 truly had the courage of his opinions ; and it behooves us 
 now to build a worthy monument to the prophet whom our 
 fathers stoned. This Society, begun in a quiet, unambitious 
 maimer four years ago, has arisen to its present grand pro- 
 portions through the logic of events, and from a spon- 
 taneous and widely spread enthusiasm to Webster's memory. 
 Truth must prevail. And with such a beginning behind it, 
 the Webster Historical Society may well look forward to the 
 future with an amount of confidence and trust measured only 
 by time and the zeal and wisdom of its members. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Alden,Rev. Ebenezer, Address, 119, 120; Extract from letter, 261 ; Prayer. 
 
 56-38. 
 Allen, Hon. Stephen M., Addresses. 68-91, 211-216, 238-241. 
 Allen, lion. Stillinan B., Reading of unpublished manuscript, 102. 
 Ancient and Bonorable's reception to the President. 0(5. 07; Poster of the 
 
 corps. 4(5. -17. 
 Anthony, Hon. II. B., Extract from letter, 268. 
 Arthur, President. Address. 100-102: Letter. 205. 2(H). 
 
 Barnard, Henry. Esq., Extract from letter, 200. 
 
 Barrett, Hon. James. Extract from letter. 267. 
 
 Harrows. G. Bradley, Esq., Extract from letter. 2(52. 
 
 Bartlett, Rev. Samuel ('.. Address. 120-124; Extract from letter. 200. 
 
 Bartlett, Hon. Sidney. Extract from letter, 258. 
 
 Hell. Hon. Charles II.. Addresses, 112-117, 174-170; Extract from letter. 
 
 255. 
 Bishop, Hon. Robert P., Letter, 140. 
 
 Blaine, Hon. James (;., Letter. 20(5; Extract from letter. 255. 
 Bliss, Cornelius X.. Esq., Extract from letter. 267. 
 Hunt well. Hon. George S.. Address. 138-141; Extract from letter. 261. 
 Bradbury, Hon. James \\'.. Address, 108. 199. 
 Brown, Prof. s. <;.. Letter. 146. 
 Brunswick Hotel. List of invited guests. 32-35 ; Reception, 30-32 ; Ushers. 
 
 32. 
 Bullock, Hon. Alexander IL. Letter. 155. 
 
 Cabinet circular. 102-109. 
 
 Capen, Hon. Nahum, Extract from letter. 258. 
 
 ( entennial. see Webster. 
 
 Chamberlain. (Jen. Joshua L.. Extract from letter. 250. 
 
 Chamberlain. Hon. Mellen, Extract from letter. 258. 
 
 (handler. Secretary. Remarks at Eaneuil Hall. 28. 
 
 Clark, A. X.. Esq., Extract from letter, 2(57. 
 
 Clarke. Rev. Dorus. Extract from letter, 261. 
 
 ( Committees, 7. 8. 
 
 Conant, Hon. Chester ('.. Extract from letter. 2(50. 
 
 Concord, X.IL. Celebration. 207. 
 
 Conkling, Hon. Roscoe, Letter. 142. 
 
 Cummings, Thomas EL, Remarks, 241-244: Resolution of thanks. 147. 
 
 148.' 
 Curtis. Hon. Georffe Tieknor, Address. 193-198: Letter. 143-145. 
 
11 INDEX. 
 
 Curtis, Mrs., Letter from Daniel Webster describing his home at Marsh- 
 field. 43-45. 
 
 Dartmouth, Webster Centennial dinner in Boston, 208-210. 
 Dawes. Hon. Henry L.. Address. 109-112. 
 Dennis, Henry, Esq.. Extract from letter. 264. 
 
 Evarts. Hon. William M.. Letter. 142. 
 Exeter. N.1L. Celebration at. 208. 
 
 Faneuil Ball, Public reception. 25-28. 
 Farnham. Rev. Luther. Extract from letter. 265. 
 Franklin, X.IL. Commemorative exercises, 236. 
 Fuller. Hon. Henry Weld. Extract from letter, 260. 
 
 Grant, Gen. Ulysses S., Extract from letter, 257. 
 
 Green, Hon. Samuel A., Addresses. 118, 173; Extract from letter, 259; 
 
 Remarks at Faneuil Hall, 27. 
 Guests. Arrangement of. at Marshfield dinner, 95. 96. 
 
 Hague, Rev. William. Extract from letter. 264. 
 
 Haven. Hon. Franklin. Address. 199; Extract from letter, 261. 
 
 Hudson, Rev. Henry X.. LL. D., Address. 226-235; Extract from letter, 
 
 263. 
 Huntington, Judge, of Indiana, 5. 
 Hymn, Original. 56. 
 
 Invited guests at the Brunswick reception. 32-35. 
 Invited guests of the Webster Historical Society, 50, 51. 
 
 Jewell. Hon. Marshall, Extract from letter. 257. 
 
 Jones, C. W., Address. 179-189. 
 
 Joslin. James T.. Esq., Extract from letter. 265. 
 
 Lincoln. Hon. F. W.. Extract from letter. 260. 
 
 Lincoln, Secretary. Remarks at Faneuil Hall. 27. 
 
 Line of inarch at Marshfield, 49. 50. 
 
 Long. Hon. John D., Address. 97-100; Remarks at Centennial dinner, 
 
 1 62-1 66. 
 Lord. lion. Otis P., Extract from letter. 259. 
 
 Loring. Hon. George B., Address. 124-133; Extract from letter. 261. 
 Lunt. Hon. George, Remarks, 201, 202. 
 
 Marshfield. Description of. 36-38. 
 
 Marshfield Club. Dinner of. 154-157. 
 
 Marston. Hon. George, Extract from letter, 261. 
 
 Membership. 248-257. 
 
 Military review. 24, 25. 
 
 Miner, Rev. Dr. A. A.. Extract from letter. 257. 
 
 Morton. Hon. Marcus. Chief Justice. Letter. 146. 147. 
 
index. iii 
 
 Motley. Thomas. Esq., Ext met from letter, 259. 
 
 Xesmith. Judge Geo. W.. Remarks, 2-14. 
 Noyes, II.. Esq.. Extract from letter. 264. 
 
 Observance at Washington. 204. 205. 
 Officers of the Society. 8. 
 
 rainier, Hon. Albert. Reading of Address of Hon. M. P. Wilder. 133- 
 
 136; Speech. 217-226. 
 Perry. Rev. A. L., Extract from letter. 262. 
 Phillips, Fred. J., Extract from letter. 255. 
 Pingree, Hon. Samuel E., Extract from letter. 262. 
 Poore. Hon. Ben. Perley, Extract from letter. 260. 
 Porter, Rev. X.. Extract from letter, 255. 
 Portsmouth. X.IL. Celebration, 208. 
 Presidential Party. Arrival in Boston. 12; Departure from Boston, 183; 
 
 Departure from New York, 11. 12; List of, 10. 
 Preston. J. W., Esq., Extract from letter, 262. 
 Prince. Hon. Frederick O., Address. 158-162. 
 Procession, Order of. 14-22; Route of. 20. 21. 
 Programmes. 8. 9. 
 
 Quincy, Hon. Josiah, Extract from letter. 258. 
 
 Read. Thomas Buchanan, of Cincinnati. 5. 
 
 Reception at Webster Mansion. 52-54. 
 
 Resolution of thanks. 147. 148. 
 
 Return from Marshfield, 149-151. 
 
 Rice. Hon. Alexander EL, ex-Gov.. Extract from letter. 258. 
 
 Rolfe. Hon. Henry P.. Extract from letter. 264. 
 
 Runnels. Rev. Moses T.. Extract from letter, 263. 
 
 Russell. Hon. Thomas. Address. 135-138; Extract from letter. 257. 
 
 Salisbury. X. II.. Exercises at. 206. 207. 
 Saltonstall, Hon. Leverett. Remarks, 203. 
 Sanborn, Prof. E. D.. Extract from letter. 262. 
 Sargent, Gen. Horace Binney, Extract from letter. 257 
 Seelye, Rev. Julius II.. Extract from letter. 267. 
 Smith. Hamilton, of Kentucky. 5. 
 Stockbridge, Hon. Levi, Extract from letter. 256. 
 Swift. (Jen. John L., Extract from letter. 263. 
 
 Talbot. Hon. Thomas. ex-Gov.. Extract from letter. 258. 
 Thompson. Hon. Charles P.. Remarks. 203. 204. 
 Tomb. Exercises at. 54-58. 
 
 Walker. Hon. Francis A.. Extract from letter. 259. 
 Warren. Hon. George W .. Extract from letter. 256. 
 Warren. Hon. G. Washington. Extract from letter. 259. 
 
IV INDEX. 
 
 Webster, D., Description of his home at Marshlield. 41-43. 
 
 Webster. I).. Description in a letter from his own pen. 43-45. 
 
 Webster. X. 8., Extract from letter. 263. 
 
 Webster Centennial Celebration. Preparations, 7. 
 
 Webster Historical Society. Organization, 6; Origin. 5. 6. 
 
 Webster, .Mrs. Fletcher. Eeeeption of President by. 52. 
 
 Welling, Prof. J. C. Extract from letter. 2(55. 
 
 Wheelock, Hon. Peter S., Extract from letter. 203. 
 
 White. Charles Austin, Extract from letter. 256. 
 
 Wightman, Hon. Joseph M., Extract from letter, 261. 
 
 Wilder. Hon. Marshall P.. Addresses. 133-135. 190-192; Extract from 
 
 letter. 257. 
 Wilkinson. Prof.. Poem. 02-94. 
 Williamson. Gen.. Address. 200. 201. 
 Winsor. Hon. .Justin. Esq., Extract from letter. 2(5(5. 
 Winthrop, Hon. Robert C. Address. 167-173. 
 Woodbury. Hon. Charles Levi. Remarks, 202. 203. 
 
 Yale. R. M., Esq., Extract from letter. 2(53. 
 
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