DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 AND HIS 
 
 CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 CHAELES W. MAEOH. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER, 124 GRAND STREET. 
 1859. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1350, by 
 
 BAKER AND SCRIBNER, 
 
 111 tho Clcrk a Office of the District Court of the United; States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 ON publishing a fourth edition of this work, it has been 
 deemed advisable to change its title. " REMINISCENCES OP 
 CONGRESS" has been considered a misnomer. Such a title is 
 no true index of the contents of the work, and is not of itself 
 attractive. This, let us hope, is one of the many reasons why a 
 discriminating public has called but for three, instead of nume 
 rous editions of the book. 
 
 As Mr. WEBSTER is the principal figure of the work, and no 
 one else is spoken of, save in connection with him, it has been 
 supposed that "DANIEL WEBSTER AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES" 
 would be a more proper designation of the volume. The name 
 of DANIEL WEBSTER, known and honoured for so many years 
 throughout the world, has gained new lustre from recent events, 
 and the public mind has become more eager to grasp at and 
 appreciate whatever has been written of his life and deeds. 
 
 C. W. MARCH. 
 N. Y., July 1st, 1852. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IT was the original design of the author to have given a 
 . iries of descriptive sketches of scenes and persons in 
 Congress, unconnected with any antecedents or relations v 
 the individuals introduced ; but, finding on examination 0* 
 what had been written that Mr. Webster formed the prin 
 cipal figure in each effort of his pen, he concluded to give 
 the book a more personal character, and make it an 
 approximation to a biography. This change of design will 
 be detected in any, the most cursory, glance at the book; 
 there being a want of congruity or unity too easily dis 
 cernible throughout. 
 
 The writer need not say that he has not attempted a 
 complete biography. It is difficult, if not absolutely im 
 possible, to write the life of the living. It is not merely 
 that friendship would be too partial, or enmity too censorious, 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 to present a true estimate of the character and conduct of 
 the person illustrated the difficulty in obtaining correct 
 information is greater during the life of a person, para 
 doxical as it may seem, than after his decease. When one 
 eminent in life has gone down to the grave, numbers come 
 forward with ambitious haste, some with letters, some with 
 anecdotes, some with facts illustrative of the character 
 and pursuits of the deceased, and of their relationship t<> 
 him. The grief we feel at the departure of a distinguished 
 friend is greatly mitigated by the public sympathy with our 
 loss, and we hasten to give that sympathy a proper direction. 
 
 Besides, of what we gain as authentic, we are obliged 
 to suppress a part ; if not from regard to the feelings of 
 the person, who is the subject of our memoir, yet from 
 regard to the feelings of others whose relations with him 
 might be affected unfavorably through our indiscreetness. 
 There are many things told, in the intimacy of friendship, 
 m the abandon of social intercourse, that it would be grossly 
 reprehensible as well as indelicate to give publicity to. 
 
 The earlier part of Mr. Webster s life, rapidly sketched, 
 it was thought, would lend new interest to his public career ; 
 we like to trace greatness, if possible, to its seminal 
 principle, and dwell upon its gradual development The 
 writer of these pages might have given a fuller account of 
 this part of Mr. Webster s life, had he not been restrained 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 by the fear of subjecting himself to a suspicion of having 
 made too liberal use of the opportunities of private friend 
 ship. What has been given he hopes will prove not un 
 interesting. 
 
 NEW YORK, July 18M, 1850 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PASS 
 
 Birthplace of Daniel Webster His Early Studies Admission to 
 the Bar, and Practice. ..... 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Entrance into Congress Maiden Speech His Associates Mr. 
 Clay, Mr. Calhoun His Argument in the Dartmouth College 
 Case. . . "7~~" ~~T~ . ~~7~ 31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Removal to Boston Return to Congress Speeches on the Greek 
 and Panama Questions. ..... 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 introduction to the " Hayne Controversy" Description of Parties 
 thereto. ....... 84 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 First Speech in Reply to Hayne Col. Hayne s Retort. . 107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Second Speech in Reply to Hayne Descriptive Narrative thereof 129 
 
Vlll CONTENTS 
 
 PACK 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Continuation of the Hayne Debate The General Opinion of Mr. 
 Webster s Effort Its Merit as Contrasted with other Speeches. 15* 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Murder of Joseph White in Salem, Mass. Mr. Webster s Argument. 170 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Nullification Controversy. .... 181 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Various Speeches upon the Subject. . . . .201 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Speech of Mr Calhoun Reply of Mr. Webster. . . 224 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Mr. Webster s Visit to the West His Speeches on the Occasion 244 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Removal of the Deposites Gen. Jackson s Protest Mr. Webster s 
 Reply 264 
 
722- 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTEIU 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER was born on the 18th day of January, 
 1782, in the town of Salisbury, New Hampshire. His earliest 
 ancestor, of whom the family has any certain knowledge, was 
 Thomas Webster. He was settled in Hampton as early as 
 1636. The descent from him to Daniel Webster can be 
 found recorded in the Church and Town Records of Hamp 
 ton, Kingston, (now East Kingston) and Salisbury. 
 
 The family came originally from Scotland, two centuries 
 ago and more. It is probable, however, from certain circuiu 
 stances, that they tarried in England awhile, before emigrat 
 ing to a new world. They did not bring over with them all 
 the distinguishing peculiarities of their countrymen ; the 
 Scottish accent had become a mere tradition, in the time of 
 Mr. Webster s father s father. The personal characteristics 
 of the family are strongly marked : light complexions, sandy- 
 hair in great profusion, bushy eyebrows, and slender rather 
 than broad frames attest the Teutonic and common origin of 
 
 the race. Dr. Noah Webster, the compiler of the Diction- 
 1 
 
V CHAPTER I. 
 
 ary, was, in personal appearance, the vera effigies of tho 
 family. 
 
 The uncles of Daniel Webster had the same characteristics 
 They were fair-liair^d.; tfnc? of rather slender form. His father 
 however, was of a different physical organization. No two per 
 sons could look like each other less than Ezekiel Webster 
 the father of Daniel and cither of his brothers. They re 
 sembled their father, who had the hereditary features and 
 form ; but Ezekiel Webster had the black hair, eyes, and 
 complexion of his mother, whose maiden name was Bacheldcr. 
 She was a descendant of the Rev. STEPHEN BACHELDER, a 
 man famous in his time, in the County of Rockingham, and 
 towns circumjacent. There are many persons now alive in 
 Kingston, who will tell you they have heard their fathers say, 
 she was a woman of uncommon strength of character, and 
 sterling sense. Daniel and his only brother of the whole 
 blood, Ezekiel, alone of the five sons of Ezekiel Webster, had 
 the Bachelder complexion ; the others ran off into the general 
 characteristics of the race. v 
 
 Many persons in Kingston and Salisbury still live who re 
 collect Ebenezer Webster well. They say his personal ap 
 pearance was striking. He was tall and erect ; six feet in 
 height ; of a stalwart form, broad and full in the chest. His 
 complexion was swarthy, features large and prominent : with 
 a Roman nose, and eyes of a remarkable brilliancy. He had 
 a military air and carriage, the result, perhaps, of his service 
 in the army. -He enlisted, early in life, as a common soldier 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 3 
 
 in the Provincial troops, and during the war of 56 served 
 under Gen. Amherst, on the north-western frontier ; ac 
 companying that commander in the invasion of Canada. He 
 attracted the attention and secured the good-will of his su 
 perior officers, by his faithful and gallant conduct ; and before 
 the close of the war, rose from the ranks to a captaincy. 
 Peace between England and France soon following the capture 
 of Quebec and conquest of Canada, the Provincial troops were 
 disbanded, and returned to their homes. 
 
 Previous to the year 1763, the settlements in New Hamp 
 shire had made little or no progress towards the interior of the 
 State, for more than half a century. The fitful irruptions of 
 the French from Canada and the more constant if not more 
 cruel assaults of their subsidized allies the Indians repressed 
 any movement inward, into the country. To defend what 
 they held, by a kind of cordon militaire of block-houses, was 
 all the frontier-men hoped. 
 
 The session of Canada, however, to England, by the Treaty 
 of Paris in 1763, removing the great obstacle to farther pro 
 gress into the interior, the royal Governor of New Hampshire, 
 BENNING WENTWORTH, began to make grants of townships 
 in the central part of the State. Col. Stevens with some other 
 persons about Kingston, mostly retired soldiers, obtained a 
 grant of the township of Salisbury, then called, from the prin 
 cipal grantee, Stevens -town. This town is situated exactly 
 at the head-waters of the Merrimac River : which river is 
 formed by the confluence of the Pemigiwasset and Winni- 
 
4 CHAPTER I. 
 
 piseogee. Under this grant, Ebenezer Webster obtained a lot 
 situate in the north part of the town. More adventurous than 
 others of the company who obtained grants, he cut his way 
 deeper into the wilderness, making the road he could not find. 
 Here, in 1764, he built a log-cabin and lighted his fire. 
 " The smoke of which," his son has since said on some public 
 occasion, " ascended nearer the North Star than that of any 
 of his majesty s New England subjects." His nearest civi 
 lized neighbor in the North was at Montreal, hundreds of 
 miles off. 
 
 His first wife dying soon after his settlement at Salisbury, 
 Ebenezer Webster married Abigail Eastman of Salisbury, 
 a lady of Welsh extraction. She was the mother of 
 Daniel and Ezekiel ; and, like the mother of George Canning, 
 was a woman of far more than ordinary intellect. She was 
 proud of, and ambitious for her sons ; and the distinction 
 they both afterwards achieved, may have been, in part, 
 at least, the result of her promptings. The mother knows 
 better than any one the mollia tempora fandi. She knows 
 what are words in season ; when the mind is most ductile, 
 and most capable of impressions intended to be permanent. 
 If from our fathers we gain hardihood, mental or physical, 
 and worldly wisdom, in all its variety, it is our mother, with 
 her earnest, devoted, life-long love, that stimulates into healthy 
 activity, whatever of good lies dormant in the heart ; in 
 spiring us to seek, if not for our own sake, for hers, honor 
 able position, and an unequalled name. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. O 
 
 Ebenezer Webster commemorated his second marriage, by 
 the erection of a frame-house, hard by the log cabin. He dug 
 a well near it, and planted an elm sapling. In this house, the 
 subject of our memoir was born. The house has long since 
 disappeared, from roof to foundation-stone. Nothing indi 
 cates its sometime existence but a cellar mostly filled up by 
 stone and earth. But the well still remains, with water as 
 pure, as cool, as limpid, as when first turned to the light : and 
 will remain, in all probability, for ages, to refresh hereafter 
 the votaries of genius, who make their pilgrimage hither to 
 visit the cradle of one of her greatest sons. The elm that 
 shaded the boy still flourishes in vigorous leaf, and may have 
 an existence beyond its perishable nature. Like " the witch- 
 elm that guards St. Fillan s Spring," it may live in story, long 
 after leaf, and branch, and root have disappeared for ever. 
 
 It is a belief, I suspect almost universal, that natural 
 scenery has great power over the development of character, 
 moral and intellectual. That upon the impressionable mind 
 of infancy, scenes, whether remarkable for traditionary inte 
 rest, sublimity, ruggedness, or loveliness, stamp sensations 
 of an indelible character ; awaken, if they do not create, 
 the poetic faculty. Burns, Byron, Burke, and Scott, are 
 claimed by their several biographers as conclusive illustrations 
 of the influence, picturesque nature exercises over the imagi 
 nation and heart. The countless treasures of fancy and 
 beauty, the high and solemn thoughts, the poetic fervor and 
 luxuriant imagination which characterise, in a greater or less 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 degree, the productions of these extraordinary men may 
 have been suggested, or at least fully developed, by the 
 striking features of the scenery, in the midst of which their 
 earlier days were passed. The romantic localities of Ayr, 
 the wild and picturesque scenery of the Highlands near Balla 
 trech, the rich, deep, and gorgeous views near by the old 
 castle of Kilcolman once the favorite residence of the poet 
 Spenser and the vicinity of Sandy Knowe, with its crags 
 and cliffs, its ruined towers, and " mountains lone," severally 
 the residences in early youth of Burns, Byron, Burke and 
 Scott, may have given rise to feelings, which, increasing with 
 earnest nourishment, till they became irrepressible from indul 
 gence, found suitable expression afterwards in beautiful and 
 nervous diction ; in heroic verse, or glowing prose. 
 
 There is little softness or subdued expression in the features 
 of the landscape round about Mr. Webster s birth-place. 
 The bleak, harsh, stern hills, among which his cradle hung 
 high in the air, like the eyrie of an eagle, are all untamed, 
 untam cable. But in their sadness, and deep but not voice 
 less solemnity, they are suggestive of lonely musings and 
 thoughts original and lofty as themselves. They feed the 
 hungry mind with images noble, elevated, and partaking of 
 their own immortality. The laboring clouds in their vague 
 career, often rested on the summits of these hills, covering 
 them over as with a garment, so that they presented at times 
 to the belated traveller of the valleys, the appearance of tur- 
 baned giants. Their scarred fac<\s attested the violence of 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 the tempests that ranged around them, and beat upon them. 
 In winter, which lasted half the year, snows of a prodigious 
 and dangerous depth covered the ground, obliterating every 
 landmark, and giving to all nature an aspect of desolate sub 
 limity. While, sometimes, in spring, a sudden and vast thaw 
 would unloosen the embrace with which the snows held on to 
 the mountains, and precipitate them in fearful volume, with 
 the force and rush of the avalanche, into the valleys below ; 
 making of quiet streams mighty rivers, dangerous to ford or 
 even approach ; the crash of the pines in the woods, as they 
 were borne to the earth by the superincumbent mass of snow, 
 performing fit accompaniment to the scene. 
 
 In Mr. Webster s earliest youth an occurrence of such a na 
 ture took place, which affected him deeply at the time, and 
 has dwelt in his memory ever since. There was a sudden and 
 extraordinary rise in the Merimac River, in a spring thaw. A 
 deluge of rain for two whole days poured down upon the houses. 
 A mass of mingled water and snow rushed madly from the hills, 
 inundating the fields far and wide. The highways were broken 
 up, and rendered undistinguishable. There was no way for 
 neighbors to interchange visits of condolence or necessity, 
 save by boats, which came up to the very door-steps of the 
 houses. 
 
 Many things of value were swept away, even things of bulk. 
 A large barn, full fifty feet by twenty, crowded with hay and 
 grain, sheep, chickens and turkeys, sailed majestically down the 
 river, before the eyes of the astonished inhabitants ; who, no 
 
8 CHAPTER I. 
 
 little frightened, got ready to fly to the mountains, or construct 
 another Ark. 
 
 The roar of waters, as they rushed over precipices, casting 
 the foam and spray far above, the crashing of the forest-trees 
 as the storm broke through them, the immense sea everywhere 
 in range of the eye, the sublimity, even danger of the scene, 
 made an indelible impression upon the mind of the youthful 
 observer. 
 
 Occurrences and scenes like these excite the imaginative 
 faculty, furnish material for proper thought, call into existence 
 new emotions, give decision to character, and a purpose to ac 
 tion. 
 
 It was the great desire of Ebenezer Webster to give his 
 children an education. A man of strong powers of mind 
 and much practical knowledge himself, he still had felt deeply 
 and often the want of early education, and wished to spare his 
 sons the mortification he had experienced. The schoolmaster 
 then was not abroad, at least had not visited Salisbury in his 
 travels. Small town-schools there were, it is true, and persons 
 superintending them called teachers lucus a nan luccndo. 
 But these schools were not open half the year, and the school 
 masters had no claim to the position but their incapacity for 
 anything else. Their qualification was their want of qualifica 
 tion. Reading and writing were all they professed, and more 
 than they were able, to teach. 
 
 The school was migratory. When it was in the neighbor 
 hood of the Webster residence, it was easy to attend ; but 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER I 
 
 when it was removed into another part of the town, or another 
 town, as was often the case, it was somewhat difficult. While 
 Mr. Webster was quite young, he was daily sent two miles and 
 a half or three miles to school, and, in the midst of winter, on 
 foot. For carriages or carriage-roads then " were not ;" and, 
 with the exception of an occasional ride on horseback, he 
 walked daily to school and back. If the school moved yet 
 farther off, into a town not contiguous, his father boarded him 
 out in a neighboring family. He was better provided with op 
 portunities for obtaining whatever of instruction these schools 
 could impart than his elder brothers, partly because he evinced 
 early an irrepressible thirst for study and information, and 
 partly because his father thought that his constitution was 
 slender and somewhat frail too much so for any robust occu 
 pation. But Joe, his elder half-brother, who was somewhat 
 of a wag, used to say that " Dan was sent to school, in order 
 that he might know as much as the other boys." 
 
 Mr. Webster had no sooner learnt to read, than he showed 
 great eagerness for books. He devoured all he could lay hands 
 upon. When he was unable to obtain new ones, he read the 
 old ones over and over, till he had committed most of their 
 contents to memory. Books were then (as Dr. Johnson said 
 on some occasion) " like bread in a besieged town ; every man 
 might get a mouthful, but none a full meal." What were ob 
 tained, were husbanded with care. Owing chiefly to the exer 
 tions of Mr. Thompson, (the lawyer of the place,) of the cler 
 gyman, and Mr. Webster s father, a very small circulating li- 
 
10 CHAPTER I 
 
 brary was purchased. These institutions about this time re 
 ceived an impetus from the zeal and labors of Dr. Belknap 
 the celebrated historian of New Hampshire. 
 
 Among the few books of the library, I have heard Mr. 
 Webster say, he found the Spectator, and that he remembers 
 turning over the leaves of Addison s Criticism upon Chevj? 
 Chase, for the sake of reading, connectedly, the ballad, the 
 verses of which Addison quotes from time to time, as subjects 
 of remark. " As Dr. Johnson said, in another case, the poet 
 was read, and the critic neglected. I could not understand 
 why it was necessary that the author of the Spectator should 
 take so great pains to prove that Chevy Chase was a good 
 story." 
 
 The simple, but sublime story of Chevy Chase, would be no 
 indifferent test for the discovery of how much or how little of 
 the poetic faculty there might be in an individual. None but 
 those who had some poetic fervor could appreciate or even un 
 derstand it : while those who felt its pathos, its beauty and 
 grandeur most, needs must have the deepest sensibilities. A 
 distinguished literary character has said that he would have 
 been prouder to have been its author than of all the productions 
 from which he derived his fame. Sir Philip Sydney said he 
 never read it but his heart was stirred within him as at the 
 sound of a trumpet. 
 
 Mr. Webster was early very fond of poetry. He was not 
 satisfied with reading it merely, but committed a great deal to 
 memory. The whole Essay on Man he could recite verbatim 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 11 
 
 before he was fourteen years old. A habit of attentive exclusive 
 devotion to the subject before him, aided by a wonderful 
 memory, fixed everything deeply in his mind. It is this art, 
 or talent, or genius, that works the miracles we read and be 
 hold He had a great taste, too, for devotional poetry : Watts 
 Psalms and Hymns he committed to memory, not as a re 
 ligious task, but as a pleasure. Nor was he less fond of, or 
 less acquainted with, the sublime poetry of the Bible. Evi 
 dence of this is found everywhere in his works : for there is 
 scarcely a speech or production of his that does not contain 
 ideas or expressions, the types of which may be found in that 
 book. 
 
 When he had attained his fourteenth year, his father took 
 an important and decisive step with him. On the 25th day 
 of May, 1796, Ebenezer Webster mounted his horse, put his 
 son on another and proceeded with him to Exeter. He there 
 placed him in Phillip s academy, then under the care of Dr. 
 Benjamin Abbot, its well-known and respected President. 
 The change was very great to a boy, who had never been from 
 home before, and who now found himself among some ninety 
 other boys, a stranger among strangers, all of whom had 
 probably seen more of the world, and assumed to know so 
 much more of it, than himself. But he was not long in re 
 conciling himself to the change, and to his new duties. He 
 was immediately put to English grammar, writing and arith 
 metic. A class-mate of his has informed me that he mastered 
 the principles and philosophy of the first, between May and 
 
12 CHAPTER I. 
 
 October of that year 5 and that in the other studies he made 
 respectable progress ; in the autumn he commenced the study 
 of the Latin language ; his first exercises in which were re 
 cited to JOSEPH STEVENS BUCKMINSTER, who was acting (in 
 some college vacation, I think) as assistant to Dr. Abbott. 
 
 It may appear somewhat singular that the greatest orator 
 of modern times should have evinced in his boyhood the 
 strongest antipathy to public declamation. This fact, however, 
 is established by his own words, which have recently appeared 
 in print. " I believe," says Mr. Webster, " I made tolerable 
 progress in most branches, which I attended to, while in this 
 school ; but there was one thing I could not do. I could not 
 make a declamation. I could not speak before the school. 
 The kind and excellent Buckminster sought especially to per 
 suade me to perform the exercise of declamation, like other 
 boys, but I could not do it. Many a piece did I commit to 
 memory, and recite and rehearse in my own room, over and 
 over again ; yet when the day came, when the school collected 
 to hear declamations, when my name was called, and I saw 
 all eyes turned to my seat, I could not raise myself from it. 
 Sometimes the instructors frowned, sometimes they smiled. 
 Mr. Buckminster always pressed and entreated, most winning- 
 ly, that I would venture. But I never could command suf 
 ficient resolution." Such diffidence of its own powers may be 
 natural to genius, nervously fearful of being unable to reach 
 that ideal which it proposes as the only full consummation of 
 its wishes. It is fortunate, however, for the age, fortunate for 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 13 
 
 all ages, that Mr. Webster by determined will and frequent 
 trial overcame this moral incapacity as his great prototype, 
 the Grecian orator, subdued his physical defect. 
 
 He remained at the Exeter academy but a few months 
 accomplishing in these few months, however, the work of years 
 *o some. In February, 1797, his father placed him under 
 the tuition of the Rev. Samuel Woods, in Boscawen ; of whom 
 his pupil always speaks in terms of affection and respect. He 
 boarded in his family ; and I have heard him say that Mr. 
 Woods whole charge for instruction, board, &c., was but one 
 dollar per week. We pay much dearer now for much less. 
 
 It was on their way to the house of Mr. Woods that his 
 father first opened to him his design of sending him to college 
 a purpose that seemed to him impossible to be fulfilled. .It 
 was so much more extravagant than his most extravagant 
 hopes. It had never entertained his mind a moment. A col 
 legiate education in those days was something of far greater 
 importance than in these, when the ability to command it is 
 so general. It made a marked man of thousands. It gave 
 the fortunate graduate at once position and influence ; and, if 
 not genius, or eminent ability, supplied or concealed the want 
 thereof. The alumnus surveyed life from an eminence, and 
 could aspire to its chiefest honors by a kind of prescriptive 
 right. 
 
 Most grateful to his father for the prospect held out through 
 his self-sacrificing devotion, Mr. Webster applied himself to 
 his studies with even increased ardor. All that Mr. Woods 
 
14 CHAPTER I. 
 
 could teach he learnt. Among other books, he read Virgil 
 and Cicero, both of whom he faithfully studied, the latter ho 
 
 warmly admired. Of the Latin classics, I presume, there is 
 
 / 
 
 not one so familiarly known to Mr. "Webster as Cicero. It 
 may seem a little strange, indeed, that with all his early, eager 
 and constant study of Rome s greatest orator, he should not 
 have imitated unconsciously his manner of expression or 
 thought. He much more resembles Demosthenes, in vigor 
 and terseness of expression, and in copious vehemence ; whose 
 works, in the meanwhile, he never so completely mastered. 
 
 At Boscawen, Mr. Webster was fortunate to find another 
 circulating library, the volumes of which he fully appreciated 
 It was in this library, he met, for the first time, Don Quixote 
 in English. " I began to read it," (I have heard him say,) 
 " and it is literally true that I never closed my eyes till I had 
 finished it ; nor did I lay it down any time for five minutes , 
 so great was the power of this extraordinary book on my 
 imagination." 
 
 In the summer of this year, August, 1797, he entered 
 Dartmouth College, as a freshman. 
 
 His college life, it can be easily believed, was not an idle 
 one. With such a desire for the acquisition of all kinds of 
 knowledge, the danger to be apprehended was, he would un 
 dertake too much rather than too little ; that his reading 
 would be too miscellaneous, and that he would acquire, there 
 from, habits of mental carelessness. From the testimony of 
 his intimates in college, it is known that he read constantly. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 15 
 
 Besides a regular attention to the prescribed studies of his 
 class, he devoted himself to the acquisition of whatever was 
 useful in English history, or graceful and becoming in English 
 literature. He superintended also the publication of a little 
 weekly newspaper, making selections for it from books and 
 periodicals, and contributing, occasionally, an editorial of his 
 own. These were, perhaps, the first of his productions ever 
 published. I know not if they are to be met with now. He 
 delivered some addresses while in college, before literary so 
 cieties, which also were published. 
 
 Ezekiel Webster the sole brother of Daniel of the whole 
 blood was destined by his father to remain at home and 
 carry on the farm. But he had aspirations beyond this, and 
 so had his brother for him. Accordingly, when Daniel re 
 turned home on a visit in his sophomore year, in the spring of 
 99, he held serious consultation with his brother Ezekiel, in 
 relation to his wishes. It was resolved between them, that 
 Ezekiel too should go to college, and that Daniel should be 
 the organ of communication with their father on the subject. 
 He lost no time in opening the negotiation, and experienced 
 no great difficulty iu obtaining the consent of his father, who 
 lived only for his children, to their design. The result was 
 that in about ten days, Mr. "Webster had gone back to college, 
 having first seen his brother bid adieu to the farm, and place 
 himself in school under a teacher in Latin. Soon afterwards 
 Ezekiel went to Mr. Woods, and remained with him till he 
 
16 CHAPTER I. 
 
 was fitted for college. In March, 1801, his father carried 
 him to college, where he joined the Freshman class. 
 
 He had not great quickness of apprehension nor vivacity of 
 intellect and was not therefore early estimated at his full 
 value. But he had a strong mind, great powers of observa 
 tion, and memory. He acquired slowly but safely. Not 
 fluent of speech, he was correct always in language and 
 thought. Few excelled him in clearness or vigor of style, 
 none in argumentative ability. He wanted but opportunity to 
 have been a great man. 
 
 He fell dead, while arguing a cause in Concord, New Hamp 
 shire, in 1829. A handsome monument was erected to his 
 memory in Boscawen, where he was buried. 
 
 Mr. Webster, while in college, during the winter vacations, 
 kept school, to pay the collegiate expenses of his brother as 
 well as his own. Being graduated in August, 1801, he 
 immediately entered Mr. Thompson s office in Salisbury, as a 
 student of law, and remained there till January following. 
 The res angusta domi seemed then to require that he should 
 go somewhere and do something to earn a little money. An ap 
 plication was at this time made to him from Fryeburg, Maine, to 
 take charge of a school there. He accepted the offer, mount 
 ed his horse, and commenced his labors on reaching Fryeburg. 
 His salary was $350 per annum, all of which he saved ; as he 
 made besides a sum sufficient to pay his board and other 
 necessary expenses, by acting as assistant to the Register of 
 Deeds for the County, to whose chirography there was the one 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 17 
 
 objection of illegibility. The ache is not yet out of his fingers 
 I have heard Mr. Webster say which so much writing 
 caused them. 
 
 In Fryeburg, he found also a circulating library, which he 
 ran through. Here he borrowed and read for the first time 
 JBlackstone s Commentaries. Among other mental exercises, 
 he committed to memory Mr. Ames celebrated speech on the 
 British Treaty. 
 
 In September, 1802, he returned to Mr. Thompson s office, 
 in which he remained till February, 1804. Mr. Thompson 
 was an excellent man and a respectable lawyer ; but he did 
 not understand how to make the study of the law either agree 
 able or instructive. He put his students to study after the 
 old fashion, that is, the hardest books first. Coke s Littleton 
 was the book in those days upon which pupils were broken in, 
 which is like teaching arithmetic, by beginning with difer- 
 ential calculus. "A boy of twenty," says Mr. Webster, 
 " with no previous knowledge on such subjects cannot under 
 stand Coke. It is folly to set him upon such an author. 
 There are propositions in Coke so abstract, and distinctions 
 so nice, and doctrines embracing so many conditions and 
 qualifications, that it requires an effort not only of a mature 
 mind, but of a mind both strong and mature, to understand 
 him. Why disgust and discourage a boy by telling him he 
 must break through into his profession through such a wall 
 as this r" 
 
 Mr. Webster soon laid aside Coke till " a more convenient 
 2 
 
18 CHAPTER I. 
 
 season," and, in the meanwhile, took up other more plain, 
 easy, and intelligible authors. 
 
 While not engaged in the study of the law, he occupied 
 himself with the Latin classics. He added greatly to what 
 acquisitions he had made in the language, while in college 
 reading Sallust, Cossar, and Horace. Some odes of the latter 
 which he translated into English, were published. 
 
 But books were not at this time of his life, as they never 
 have been, Mr. "Webster s sole study. He then was fond, and 
 has been through life, of the manly field sports, fishing, 
 shooting and riding. These brought him into near communion 
 with Nature and himself; supplied him with the material and 
 opportunity for thought; made him contemplative, logical 
 and earnest. At a subsequent period of his life, he found 
 that the solitary rides he was wont to indulge in afforded him 
 many an edifying day. The great argument in the Dartmouth 
 College case was principally arranged in a tour he made from 
 Boston to Barnstable and back. John Adams speech before 
 the Philadelphia Convention in 76, was composed by Mr. 
 Webster, while taking a drive in a New England chaise. His 
 favorite sport of angling gave him many a favorable opportunity 
 for composition. The address for Bunker Hill (for instance) 
 was all planned out even to many of its best passages, in 
 Marskpee Brook ;* the orator catching trout and elaborating 
 sentences, at the same time. 
 
 * It is said I know not upon what authority that as the orator 
 drew in some /rout particularly large, he was heard to exclaim : " Ven- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. . 19 
 
 A like fondness for solitary rambles and sequestered spots, 
 is said to have characterized Canning and Burke ; who found 
 their fancies brighten and their philosophy invigorated by this 
 self-communion. With them, as with the Roman Lawgiver. 
 Egeria, avoiding crowds and bustling life, was to be met with 
 only in solitude. So true is it that the intellectual man is 
 never less alone than when alone ; that to him his mind a 
 kingdom is, and his own thoughts his most agreeable and in 
 structive companions. 
 
 In July, 1804, Mr. Webster went to Boston, and, afte A - 
 some unsuccessful applications elsewhere, obtained admission 
 as a student in the office of the Hon. Christopher Gore, who 
 had then just returned from England, and resumed the prac 
 tice of law. It was a most fortunate event for Mr. Web 
 ster. Mr. G-ore was no less distinguished as a lawyer, than as 
 a statesman and publicist, eminent in each character, and 
 was besides one of the rare examples of the highest intellectual 
 qualities united with sound, practical, keen common sense. 
 He knew mankind no less than books ; and the wisdom he de 
 rived from the study of both, he could impart, in most impres 
 sive language. With him Mr. Webster enjoyed the best op 
 erable men! you have come down to us from a former gereration. 
 Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold 
 his joyous day." As these identical sentences appeared afterwards in 
 he Bunker- Hill Address, it would seem as if there was some plausibility 
 fc>r the story. At least, one can say with the Italian, Si non 
 bene trovato. 
 
20 CHAPTER I 
 
 portunity thus far of his life for studying books, and men, and 
 things ; and he made the Lest use of the opportunity. He 
 attended the session of the Supreme Court which sat in August 
 of this year, constantly, and reported all its decisions. He 
 also reported the decisions of the Circuit Court of the United 
 States. He read diligently and carefully the books, generally, 
 of the Common and Municipal Law, and the best authorities 
 on the Law of Nations, some of them for the third time, ac 
 companying these studies with a vast variety of miscellaneous 
 reading. His chief study, however, was the Common Law, 
 and more especially that part of it which relates to the science 
 of Special Pleading. This, one of the most ingenious and re 
 fined, and at the same time instructive and useful branches of 
 the law, he pursued with constant devotion. Besides appro 
 priating whatever he could of this part of the science from 
 Viner, Bacon, and other books then in common study, he 
 waded through Saunder s Reports the old folio edition and 
 abstracted and put into English, out of the Latin and Norman- 
 French, the pleadings, in all the reports. This undertaking, 
 both as an exercise of the mind, and as an acquisition of useful 
 learning, was of great advantage to him in his succeeding pro 
 fessional career. 
 
 An anecdote I have heard Mr. Webster tell in relation to 
 his first interview with a gentleman, then and afterwards dis 
 tinguished in the history of the country, it may not be improper 
 to relate here. " I remember one day," says Mr. "Webster, 
 " as I was alone in the office, a man came in and asked for 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 21 
 
 Mr. Gore. Mr, Gore was out, and he sat down to wait for 
 him. He was dressed in plain grey clothes. I went on with 
 my book, till he . asked me what I was reading, and, coming 
 along up to the table, took the book and looked at it. l Roc- 
 cus, said he, f de navibus et nandoS "Well, I read that book 
 too when I was a boy ; and proceeded to talk not only about 
 c ships and freights, but insurance, prize, and other matters of 
 maritime law, in a manner c to put me up to all I knew, and a 
 good deal more. The grey-coated stranger turned out to be 
 Mr. Rufus King. 
 
 In March, 1805, Mr. Webster was admitted to practice, in 
 the Suffolk Court of Common Pleas. The custom then pre 
 vailed for the patron to accompany his pupil into Court, intro 
 duce him to the Judges, make a brief speech in commendation 
 of his studious conduct and attainments, and then move for his 
 admission to the Bar. A person present on the occasion of 
 Mr. "Webster s admission, informs me that he remembers al 
 most every word of Mr. Gore s speech, and that it contained, 
 among other things, a prediction of his pupil s future profes 
 sional distinction. In all probability the prediction, as is 
 generally the case, aided its own accomplishment Certainly, 
 the favorable opinion of such a man as Mr. Gore must have 
 been an additional incentive to Mr. Webster s ambitious hopes 
 and efforts. 
 
 How much, after all, are the great men and events of his 
 tory, apparently, the sport of accidents ! The destiny of in 
 dividuals, and no less of nations, seems not so much the re- 
 
22 CHAPTER I 
 
 suit of foresight or determination, as of casual opinion or 
 caprice ; or of circumstances, more uncertain than either. An 
 adverse wind, neither to be anticipated nor overcome, kept the 
 brewer s son within the shores of England, as he sought in a 
 foreign clime the liberty of conscience refused him at home, 
 and made him absolute master of his country s fortunes. An 
 unsuccessful application for the Professorship of Logic ir. 
 Glasgow University precipitated Edmund Burke upon his owr. 
 energies, and gave to England its greatest philosophical orator 
 The offer of the clerkship of a county court, unexpected bu ; 
 not ungrateful, might, but for the earnest interposition of one 
 man, have deprived America and the world of an intellect, of 
 which neither America nor the world knows now the equal. 
 
 The clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of 
 Hillsborough, New Hampshire, resigned his office in January, 
 1805. Mr. Webster s father was one of the judges of this 
 court ; and his colleagues, from regard for him, tendered his 
 son the vacant clerkship. It was what Judge Webster had 
 long desired. The office was worth $1500 per annum, which 
 was in those days, and in that neighborhood, a competency ; 
 or rather absolute wealth. Mr, Webster himself considered 
 it a great prize, and was eager to accept it. He weighed the 
 question in his mind. On the one side he saw immediate 
 comfort ; on the other, at the best, a doubtful struggle. By 
 its acceptance, he made sure his own good condition, and, 
 what was nearer to his heart, that of his family. By its re 
 fusal, he condemned both himself and them to an uncertain, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 23 
 
 and probably, harrassing future. Whatever aspirations he 
 might have cherished of professional distinction/he was will 
 ing cheerfully to relinquish, to promote the immediate wel 
 fare of those he held most dear. 
 
 But Mr. G-ore peremptorily and vehemently interposed his 
 dissent. He urged every argument against the purpose. He 
 exposed its absurdity and its inconsequence. He appealed to 
 the ambition of his pupil ; once a clerk, he said, he always 
 would be a clerk there would be no step upwards. He at 
 tacked him, too, on the side of his family affection ; telling 
 him that he would be far more able to gratify his friends from 
 his professional labors than in the clerkship. " Go on," he 
 said, " and finish your studies ; you are poor enough, but 
 there are greater evils than poverty ; live on no man s favor ; 
 what bread you do eat, let it be the bread of independence ; 
 pursue your profession ; make yourself useful to your friends, 
 and a little formidable to your enemies, and you have nothing 
 to fear." 
 
 Diverted from his design by arguments like these, it still 
 remained to Mr. Webster to acquaint his father with his de 
 termination, and satisfy him of its propriety. He felt this 
 Would be no easy task, as his father had set his heart so much 
 \ipon the office ; but he determined to go home immediately, 
 and give him, in full, the reasons of his conduct. 
 
 It was mid-winter, and he looked round for a country 
 sleigh for stage-coaches, at that time, were things unknown 
 in the centre of New Hampshire and finding one that had 
 
24 CHAPTER I. 
 
 come down to market, he took passage therein, and in two 01 
 three days was set down at his father s door. (The same 
 journey is made now in four hours by steam.) It was evening 
 when he arrived. I have heard him tell the story of the inter 
 view. His father was sitting before the fire, and received him 
 with manifest joy. He looked feebler than he had ever ap 
 peared, but his countenance lighted up on seeing his clerk 
 stand before him in good health and spirits. He lost no time 
 in alluding to the great appointment said how spontaneously 
 it had been made how kindly the chief justice proposed it, 
 with what unanimity all assented, &c., &c. During this 
 speech, it can be well imagined how embarrassed Mr. Web 
 ster felt, compelled, as he thought, from a conviction of duty 
 to disappoint his father s sanguine expectations. Neverthe 
 less, he commanded his countenance and voice, so as to reply 
 in a sufficiently assured manner. He spoke gaily about the 
 office ; expressed his great obligation to their Honors, and 
 his intention to write them a most respectful letter ; if he 
 could have consented to record anybody s judgments, he 
 should have been proud to have recorded their Honors , &c., 
 &c. He proceeded in this strain, till his father exhibited 
 signs of amazement, it having occurred to him, finally, that 
 his son might all the while be serious " Do you intend to 
 decline this office r" he said at length. " Most certainly," 
 replied his son ;"I cannot think of doing otherwise. I mean 
 to use my tongue in the courts, not my pen ; to be an actor, 
 not a register of other men s actions." 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 25 
 
 For a moment Judge Webster seemed angry. He rocked 
 his chair slightly, a flash went over his eye, softened by age, 
 but even then black as jet, but it immediately disappeared, 
 and his countenance regained its usual serenity. Parental 
 love and partiality could not after all but have been gratifie 
 with the son s devotion to an honorable and distinguished pro 
 fession, and seeming confidence of success in it. " Well, my 
 son," said Judge Webster finally, " your mother has always 
 said that you would come to something or nothing, she was 
 not sure which. I think you are now about settling that 
 doubt for her." The judge never afterwards spoke to his son 
 on the subject. 
 
 Mr. Webster having thus reconciled, his father to his views 
 returned to Boston. In March, following, having been ad 
 mitted to the bar, as before stated, he went to Amherst, New 
 Hampshire, where his father s court was then in session ; from 
 Amherst he went home with his father. His design had been 
 to settle in the practice at Portsmouth ; but unwilliug to leave 
 his father, who had become infirm, and had no sons at home, 
 he opened an office in Boscawen, near his father s residence, 
 and commenced the practice of his profession. 
 
 Judge Webster lived but a year after his son s commence 
 ment of practice ; long enough, however, to hear his first ar 
 gument in court, and to be gratified with confident predictions 
 of his future success. Then, like Simeon of old, he gathered 
 up his garments and died. 
 
 He died in April, 1806. Exposure to the hardships of a 
 
 2* 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 frontier life, more severe than we can now entertain any idea 
 of, the privations and labors he suffered ^nd underwent in the 
 Indian wars, and the war of the Revolution, had broken in 
 upon a constitution naturally robust, and hastened his decease. 
 He was of a manly and generous character, and of a deport 
 ment and manner to gain him great consideration among all 
 that knew him. In civil and military life, he obtained deserved 
 distinction. Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for twelve 
 or fourteen years, he made good, by the integrity of his pur 
 pose, the clearness of his judgment, and the strength of his 
 character, the want of early education ; and gained for his 
 opinions and decisions a confidence and concurrence not 
 always accorded to persons professionally more learned. He 
 was distinguished also in his military career. Entering the 
 army a private, he retired a major ; and won his commission 
 by faithful and gallant service, as well in the Revolutionary, 
 as in the French and Indian wars. He acted as major under 
 Stark, at Bennington, and contributed no little to the fortunate 
 result of that day. 
 
 In May, 1807, Mr. Webster was admitted as attorney and 
 counsellor of the Superior Court in New Hampshire, and in 
 September of that year relinquished his office in Boscawen to 
 his brother Ezckiel, who had then obtained admission to the 
 bar, and moved to Portsmouth, according to his original inten 
 tion. 
 
 He married in June, 1808, Grace Fletcher, the daughter of 
 the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Hopkinton, N. H. By her he 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 27 
 
 had four children ; Grace, Fletcher, Julia and Edward ; but 
 one of whom, Fletcher, survives. Edward died with the 
 army in Mexico, 1847, Major of the Massachusetts Regiment 
 of Yolunteers. He was one of the most gentlemanly, amia 
 ble, and honorable young men of the age. 
 
 Mr. Webster lived in Portsmouth nine years, wanting one 
 month. The counsel most eminent at the bar of the county 
 at that time, were Jeremiah Mason, Edward St. Loe Liver- 
 more, Jeremiah Smith, Judge of the Superior Court and 
 Governor of the State ; William King Atkinson, Attorney- 
 G-eneral of the State ; George Sullivan, also Attorney-General ; 
 Samuel Dexter and Joseph Story, of Massachusetts, all law 
 yers of much more than ordinary ability, and some of surpass 
 ing excellence. No bar, at that time, probably, in the coun 
 try, presented such an array of various talents. Mr. Webster s 
 estimate of Judge Story and Mr. Mason, expressed in public, 
 will form not the least important nor least enduring monument 
 to their fame. It will out last the sculptured marble. For 
 Mr. Mason, his professional rival sometimes, his friend always, 
 he entertained a warm regard as well as respect. Mr. Mason 
 was of infinite advantage to him, Mr. Webster has said, in 
 Portsmouth, not only by his unvarying friendship, but by the 
 many good lessons he taught him, and the good example he 
 set him in the commencement of his career. " If there be 
 in the country a stronger intellect," Mr. Webster once said, 
 " if there be a mind of more native resources, if there be a 
 vision that sees quicker cr sees deeper into whatever is intri- 
 
28 CHAPTER I. 
 
 cate, or whatever is profound, I must confess I have not 
 known it." 
 
 Mr. Webster s practice, while he lived in Portsmouth, was 
 very much a circuit practice. He followed the Superior 
 Court in most of the counties of the State, and was retained 
 in nearly all the important causes. It is a fact somewhat sin 
 gular of his professional life, that with the exception of in 
 stances in which he has been associated with the attorney- 
 general of the United States for the time being, he has hardly 
 appeared ten times as junior counsel. Once or twice with 
 Mr. Mason, once or twice with Mr. Prescott, and with Mr. 
 Hopkinson, are the only exceptions within recollection. 
 
 Mr. Webster s practice in New Hampshire was never lucra 
 tive. Clients then and there were not rich, and fees, conse 
 quently, were not large ; nor were persons so litigious as in 
 places less civilized by intelligence. Though his time was 
 exclusively devoted to his profession, his practice never gave 
 him more than a livelihood, 
 
 He never held office, popular or other, in the government 
 of New Hampshire. He occasionally took part in political 
 affairs, and was then not unfelt in his action. His vote was 
 always given, his voice and pen sometimes exercised, in favor 
 of the party whose principles he espoused. Even in that 
 eirly period of his life, however, when something perhaps, 
 could be pardoned to the vehemence of youth, he used no 
 acrimonious language of lus political opponent?, nor suggested 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 29 
 
 or participated in any act indicative of personal animosity 
 towards them. 
 
 At thirty years of age, he had become well known and re 
 spected throughout the State ; so much so, that he was elect 
 ed a Representative of the State in Congress, after an animat 
 ed contest, in November, 1812, and took his seat at the extra 
 session in May, 1813. 
 
 What has been written thus far, relates rather to the pri 
 vate life of Mr. Webster ; what follows concerns, mostly, his 
 public ; as gathered from the records and contemporaneous 
 testimony. 
 
 But the ingenuous youth of the country should understand, 
 that Mr. Webster, great as he is, has not become so, without 
 great study. Greatness has not been thrust upon him. He 
 has studied books, he has studied mankind, he has studied 
 himself, (which is the very fountain of all true wisdom,) 
 deeply and conscientiously, from his earliest youth. There 
 has been no unappropriated time with him ; none trifled away 
 Even in the hours of relaxation, he has thought of, and me 
 thodized the gleanings of the Past, or prepared results for 
 the Future. 
 
 He laid early and solid the foundation of his fame. While 
 the rnind was eager and facile to receive earnest impressions, 
 he sought after everything in the way of learning, that was 
 sincere, elevated, and ennobling, to fill and satisfy it. He pur 
 sued no study he did not comprehend ; undertook no task tc 
 
30 CHAPTER I. 
 
 which he did not devote his whole mind. Whatever he strove 
 after, he acquired, and whatever he acquired, he retained. 
 
 It was this early and constant seeking after knowledge 
 this desire unsatisfied with acquisition this all-embracing 
 pursuit, that determined his intellectual character, and pre 
 pared him for any encounter with the world. What he has 
 said of Adams and Jefferson might be applied with equal 
 truth to himself. "If we could now ascertain all the causes 
 which gave them eminence and distinction, in the midst of 
 the great men with whom they acted, we should find not 
 among the least, their early acquisition in literature, the re 
 sources which it furnished, the promptitude and facility which 
 it communicated, and the wide field it opened, for analogy and 
 illustration ; giving them, thus, on every sulject, a larger 
 view, and a broader range, as well for discus- ion, as for the 
 government of their own conduct." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE hall of debate is certainly not so dangerous as the 
 battle-field. Life is not involved in its struggles ; but still 
 there can be perilled in it, no less, all that renders life de 
 sirable ; character, position, influence. These all may be 
 staked upon the decision of the moment : 
 
 "Concurritur: 
 
 r Jlut cita mors, aut victoria lata." 
 
 Moral and physical courage too are equally required in the one 
 as in the other ; there are many, indeed, who would prefer to 
 lead a storming party or a forlorn hope, to undergoing the 
 hazards of a forensic contest. 
 
 To Mr. Webster, a deliberative assembly was a scene o. 
 action entirely new. He had undergone, before his entrance 
 into Congress, no preliminary training. The common schools 
 of our orators State Legislatures he knew nothing of : all 
 that he now saw resembled nothing he had ever seen. Yet he 
 was neither perplexed, nor discouraged ; he had subdued to a 
 great degree his early diffidence, and became self-reliant. It 
 may be said of him as it has been said of the younger Pitt ; 
 
32 CHAPTER II. 
 
 the same composure, earnestness, and imposing manner, thfc 
 same nervous, sinewy, accurate diction, the same variety, 
 nicety and fullness of knowledge distinguished him on his 
 first rising as in his later senatorial career. 
 
 Bat at Eton or Oxford, the future orators and statesmen 
 of England are as regularly taught and drilled for the stations 
 they are intended to fill, as pupils of the Polytechnic school. 
 They have their mimic Parliament, where they acquire all the 
 formula, the routine, and official etiquette the jus et norma 
 loquendi which aid so much the success of their earliest 
 efforts in the House. And when they enter Parliament, they 
 but exchange the scene of their contests and their triumphs. 
 
 Mr. Webster was not like them " swaddled and rocked and 
 dandled" into a Legislator. All he acquired was by dint of 
 hard, unassisted labor. He had no models upon which to 
 fashion himself. He had no example to encourage or warn. 
 No one can read a speech of his, and not perceive the frequent 
 and abundant evidence of obstacles encountered and over 
 come : of independent, manly thought ; of early and close self- 
 discipline ; earnest introspection ; great moral and intellectual 
 hardihood. 
 
 He no sooner entered Congress than he obtained a command 
 ing influence there ; without hereditary name, official influence, 
 or party ascendancy. His success was the result of a mind 
 remarkably constituted for public effort ; a mind that weighed 
 and matured; that rejected nothing from prejudice, and em 
 braced nothing without examination ; that was full, sincere?, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 33 
 
 logical, profound. It was, too, the result of an active, perti 
 nacious diligence that has controlled his whole life. 
 
 He came into Congress in a period of great excitement 
 The insolent indifference of Great Britain to our maritime 
 rights had provoked the country into a declaration of war, and 
 hostilities were at this time at their height. It is true the 
 measures of doubtful policy, which preceded the war, and its 
 early injudicious management, had weakened in the minds of 
 the people in various sections of the country the conviction of 
 its justice or necessity. But in Congress, however, all the 
 belligerent propositions of the administration were supported 
 by decisive majorities. HENRY CLAY, who had urged the 
 declaration of war with almost as much vehemence and perti 
 nacity, as Cato the destruction of Carthage, was elected 
 Speaker of the Lower House, by a triumphant vote, receiving 
 eighty-nine out of one hundred and forty-eight ballots ; and 
 lent his position and great personal influence, in their whole 
 extent, to the support of the policy of the administration. 
 
 Mr. Webster was placed on the Committee of Foreign Af 
 fairs. Though his reputation hitherto had been almost wholly 
 provincial, whether from his personal deportment and appear 
 ance, some foreshadowings of his ability, or from some one o. 
 the many inexplicable causes that give to the judgment of man 
 the certainty of intuition, this position was at once conceded 
 to him. He was placed upon the most important Committee 
 of the House, though one of the youngest (if not the youngest) 
 Member in it, and wholly new to public affairs. 
 
34 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Besides the distinguished name of Clay, this Congress 
 boasted others of a national character. CALHOUN, FORSYTH, 
 GRUNDY, NATHANIEL MACON, WM. GASTON, of N. C., no 
 less a jurist than a statesman, TIMOTHY PICKERING, of 
 Mass., JOHN W. TAYLOR, of New York, C. J. INGERSOLL, 
 and WM. R. KING, then representing North Carolina, were all 
 members of the House : most of them just starting, with 
 generous rivalry, upon their race of distinction. 
 
 It was on Thursday, June 10th, 1813, that Mr. Webster 
 made his maiden speech to the House. It was upon certain 
 resolutions which he introduced in relation to the repeal of the 
 Berlin and Milan Decrees, the first of which was in these 
 words : " Resolved, That the President of the United States 
 be requested to inform this House, unless the public interest 
 should in his opinion forbid such communication, when and by 
 whom, and in what manner, the first intelligence was given to 
 this Government of the decree of the Government of France, 
 bearing date the 28th of April, 1811, and purporting to be a 
 definitive repeal of the Decrees of Berlin and Milan." 
 
 These resolutions were not introduced to embarrass the 
 Administration, but to elicit information that might throw 
 some light upon the proximate causes of the war, and enable 
 members to best judge the most proper manner of conducting 
 it. 
 
 Mr. Webster, in his speech on these resolutions displayed a 
 cautious regard for facts, a philosophical moderation of tone, 
 a fulness of knowledge, and an amplitude of historical illustra 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 35 
 
 tion which astonished the House. There was no exaggeration 
 of statement or argument, no sophistry nor uncalled-for rhetoric 
 in his speech ; the oldest Parliamentarian could not have ex 
 hibited more propriety and decency of manner or language, 
 nor the most able, a logic more perspicacious or more con 
 vincing. There was a harmony between his thought and its 
 expression, that won attention and compelled admiration. 
 The opening of his speech was simple, unaffected, without pre 
 tension, gradually gaining the confidence of his audience by its 
 transparent sincerity and freedom from aught resembling dis 
 play. As the orator continued and grew animated, his words 
 became more fluent, and his language more nervous ; a crowd 
 of thoughts seemed rushing upon him, all eager for utterance. 
 He held them, however, under the command of his mind, as 
 greyhounds with a leash, till he neared the close of his speech, 
 when, warmed by the previous restraint, he poured them all 
 forth, one after another, in glowing language. 
 
 The speech took the House by surprise, not so much from 
 its eloquence as from the vast amount of historical knowledge 
 and illustrative ability displayed in it. How a person, un 
 trained to forensic contests and unused to public affairs, could 
 exhibit so much Parliamentary tact, such nice appreciation of 
 the difficulties of a difficult question, and such quiet facility in 
 surmounting them, puzzled the mind. The age and inexpe 
 rience of the speaker had prepared the House foi no such dis 
 play, and astonishment for a time subdued the expression of 
 its admiration. 
 
36 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " No member before," says a person then in the House ; 
 " ever rivetted the attention of the House so closely, in his 
 first speech. Members left their seats where they could not 
 see the speaker, face to face, and sat down, or stood on the 
 floor, fronting him. All listened attentively and silently, during 
 the whole speech ; and when it was over, many went up and 
 warmly congratulated the orator ; among whom, were some, 
 not the most niggard of their compliments, who most dissent 
 ed from the views he had expressed." 
 
 Chief Justice Marshall, writing to a friend sometime after 
 this speech, says : " at the time when this speech was delivered, 
 I did not know Mr. Webster, but I was so much struck with 
 jt, that I did not hesitate then to state, that Mr. Webster was 
 3 very able man, and would become one of the very first 
 statesmen in America, and perhaps the very first." 
 
 The speech immediately raised its author to the first con 
 sideration in the House,, and gained him great reputation 
 throughout the country. The object it proposed was merely 
 information respecting the time and manner in which the re 
 vocation of the Berlin and Milan Decrees reached the Presi 
 dent. Certain opponents, however, of the administration used 
 the introduction of the resolutions as an opportunity for as 
 sault upon it, particularly as related to its conduct of the war. 
 The National Intelligencer, the organ of the dominant party, 
 says in the paper of June 18th : " This debate has now 
 assumed such a character, that, although there is but little 
 opposition to Mr. Webster s motion, it has become necessary 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 37 
 
 for the advocates of the present war, for the friends of the ad 
 ministration, the defenders of their country s reputation, to 
 repel the violence of their opponents, and in turn pursue to 
 the inmost recesses of their coverts, and drag them forth into 
 the light of day." 
 
 But Mr. Webster took no part in the debate after it had 
 assumed a factious character ; his object being, not to foment 
 party quarrels, but to carry out a national purpose. 
 
 His resolutions were carried by a large majority ; the first, 
 by a vote of 137 to 26 ; and President Madison, in obedience 
 to the call of the House, communicated full and satisfactory 
 information upon the subject. 
 
 Mr. Webster was not in Congress when the war with Great 
 Britain was commenced, nor in public life. As a private 
 citizen, he entertained opinions adverse to the policy of the 
 restrictive system and the embargo, considering them more in 
 jurious in their operation to our own country than to England ; 
 and in this opinion, Mr. Calhoun and other prominent mem 
 bers of the Republican party concurred. 
 
 When lie entered Congress, war was raging. He did not 
 always approve either in his speeches or by his votes the man 
 ner in which it was carried on ; but he never refused his vote 
 to any measure for defending the country, repelling invasion, 
 or giving greater force and vitality to the laws. He was not 
 unmindful that his father had fought the same enemy in our 
 revolutionary struggle ; nor would he himself have hesitated 
 V> take the field, had the country needed his arm. Ports- 
 
38 CHAPTER II 
 
 mouth the town of his residence being threatened with at 
 tack from a fleet of the enemy, hovering over the coast, he 
 was placed, on the nomination of JOHN LANGDON, a man of 
 odorous patriotism, at the head of the committee raised for its 
 defence. 
 
 The best way of annoying England, and crippling its ener 
 gies was, he thought, by attacking her on the sea. Before he 
 was elected to Congress, and before war, though threatening, 
 had been declared, he put forth some vigorous articles in favor 
 of the navy ; and he had no sooner entered the House, than 
 he raised his voice to urge a greater attention to the character 
 and equipment of this gallant service. ii We were at war," 
 he said afterwards, " with the greatest maritime power on 
 earth. England had gained an ascendancy on the seas over 
 the whole combined force of Europe. She had been at war 
 twenty years. She had tried her fortunes on the Continent, 
 but generally with no success. At one time, the whole Con 
 tinent had been closed against her. A long line of armed ex 
 terior, an unbroken hostile array, frowned upon her from the 
 Gulf of Archangel, round the promontory of Spain and Por 
 tugal, to the foot of the boot of Italy. There was not a port 
 which an English ship could enter. Everywhere on the land 
 the genius of her great enemy had triumphed. He had de 
 feated armies, crushed coalitions, and overturned thrones ; but 
 like the fabled giant, he was unconquerable only when he 
 touched the land. On the ocean he was powerless. That 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 39 
 
 field of fame was his adversary s, and her meteor flag was 
 streaming in triumph all over it. 
 
 " To her maritime ascendancy England owed everything, 
 and we were at war with her. One of the most charming of 
 er poets has said of her, that 
 
 Her march is o er the mountain wave, 
 Her home is on the deep. 
 
 " Now since we were at war with her, I was for intercept 
 ing this march ; I was for calling upon her, and paying our 
 respects to her at home ; I was for giving her to know that 
 we, too, had a right of way over the seas, and that our 
 marine officers and our sailors were not entire strangers on the 
 bosom of the deep ; I was for doing something more with our 
 navy than to keep it on our shores for the protection of our 
 own coasts and our own harbors ; I was for giving play to itL 
 gallant and burning spirit ; for allowing it to go forth upon the 
 seas, and encounter, on an open and equal field, whatever the 
 proudest and the bravest of the enemy could bring against it 
 I knew the character of its officers, and the spirit of its sea 
 men ; and I knew that, in their hands, though the flag of the 
 country might go down to the bottom, while they went with it, 
 yet that it could never be dishonored or disgraced." 
 
 The speech he delivered in favor of putting the navy in 
 proper condition, and sending it forth to gain laurels on a free, 
 open field, was one of the best he made during the session. 
 
 A quarter of a century after the war, Mr. Calhoun, in the 
 Senate of the United States, in some reply to Mr Webster, 
 
40 CHAPTER II. 
 
 made a general allusion to his votes and speeches during the 
 war, and insinuated that they might not all bear scrutiny. 
 Mr. Webster, after indignantly repelling the charge, and prov 
 ing its groundlessness, concluded in these words : "As I do 
 not mean to recur to this subject often, or ever, unless indis 
 pensably necessary, I repeat the demand for any charge, any 
 accusation, any allegation whatever, that throws me behind the 
 honorable gentleman, or behind any other man, in honor, in 
 fidelity, in devoted love to that country in which I was born, 
 which has honored me, and which I serve. I who seldom deal 
 in defiance, now, here, in my place, boldly defy the honorable 
 member to put his insinuation in the form of a charge, and to 
 support that charge by any proof whatever." 
 
 The challenge thus thrown out, Mr. Calhoun never accept 
 ed, nor, is it probable, any other man ever will. 
 
 The principal speeches made by Mr. Webster during this 
 
 Congress, were upon his own resolutions upon the increase 
 
 of the Navy upon the rescinding of the Embargo, and upon 
 
 " the Previous Question ; all indicative of various as well as 
 
 eminent talent. 
 
 In January, 1814, while Mr. Webster was in Washington 
 attending to his duties as a member of Congress, a great fire 
 took place in Portsmouth in which he lost house, furniture 
 books, everything a loss to him, at that time of no incon 
 siderable magnitude.* 
 
 * This was the " Great Fire" of Portsmouth. I have heard Mr 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 41 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1814, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 
 then minister to Russia, JAMES A. BAYARD, of Delaware, 
 JONATHAN RUSSELL, of R. I., and HENRY CLAY, were ap 
 pointed Commissioners to Gottenburg, to meet the Commis 
 sioners of Great Britain under an overture proposed by the 
 government of that country and accepted by ours, for concert 
 ing the conditions of peace between the two countries. 
 
 Webster tell an anecdote relating to the burning of his house, which it 
 may be worth while to repeat. 
 
 The house was the first to catch on fire. It took fire on the roof as 
 was supposed, from a neighboring stable. No one was at home but Mrs. 
 Webster, her daughter Grace, and the servants Fletcher being out at 
 nurse. A man by the name of Parry an acquaintance rushed into the 
 house, and seizing Mrs. Webster by the hands exclaimed : " Mrs. Web 
 ster, don t be agitated don t be alarmed, Mrs. Webster." " I am not 
 alarmed. Mr. Parry. Why should I be ? What s the matter ?" " Don t 
 be alarmed, Mrs. Webster for Heaven s sake, don t be alarmed," cried 
 he " there is no danger." " Danger of what ?" said Mrs. Webster 
 What is the matter, Mr. Parry ?" " My dear madam don t be alarmed, 
 but your house is all on fire, and the roof must befalling in by this time." 
 
 Mrs. Webster, with great presence of mind, gave directions for saving 
 whatever of the furniture, &c., was easy of access and removal ; some 
 of the neighbors hastening in to aid her. But they, however, were 
 obliged to leave her to take care of their own houses, which were soon 
 likewise in a blaze many houses, and property to a large amount, were 
 destroyed. 
 
 Mr. Webster had been diverted from his purpose of insuring house 
 and furniture, and suffered in consequence a total loss, with the excep- 
 tioe of the few articles preserved by his wife, cf both in all, perhapSj 
 $7,000. 
 
 3 
 
42 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The acceptance of this mission by Mr. Clay necessarily va 
 cated the Speakership. On January 19th, he resigned the 
 office, with these remarks : 
 
 " Gentlemen, I have attended you to-day, to announce 
 my resignation of the distinguished station in this House, with 
 which I have been honored by your kindness. In taking leave 
 of you, gentlemen, I shall be excused for embracing this last 
 occasion, to express to you personally my thanks for the frank 
 and liberal support, the chair has experienced at your hands. 
 Wherever I may go, in whatever situation I may be placed, I 
 can never cease to cherish, with the fondest remembrance, 
 the sentiments of esteem and respect with which you have in 
 spired inc." 
 
 Certainly, no one ever presided over any deliberative body, 
 in this country, with more personal popularity and influence 
 than Mr. Clay. He governed the House with more absolute 
 ness than any Speaker that preceded or followed him. It was 
 a power founded upon character and manners. Fearless, 
 energetic, decided, he swayed the timid by superior will, and 
 governed the bold, through sympathy. A chivalric bearing, 
 easy address, and a warm manner that seemed to imply a 
 warm heart, drew around him crowds of admirers. He culti 
 vated what our great men too much neglect the philosophy 
 of manners. None knew better than he the wondrous power 
 in seeming trifles ; how much a word, a tone, a look can ac 
 complish ; what direction give to the whole character of 
 opinion and conduct. There seemed nothing constrained in 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 4? 
 
 his courtesy, nothing simulated ; all his manner was simple 
 unaffected, ardent ; if it were not genuine, he had early arrived 
 at the perfection of art, and concealed the art. 
 
 As an orator, he was unequalled ; even in an assembly thai 
 boasted of Cheves, of Lowndes, of Forsyth, and others no lesf 
 distinguished. His voice was sonorous and musical, falling 
 with proper cadence from the highest to the lowest tones ; ai 
 times, when in narrative or description, modulated, smooth 
 and pleasing, like sounds of running water ; but when raised 
 to animate and cheer, it was as clear and spirit-stirring as the 
 notes of a clarion, the House all the while ringing with its 
 melody. 
 
 Oftentimes he left his chair to address the House. A call 
 of the House would not have brought members in more eagerly. 
 Few, indeed, could have indulged in such frequency of speech, 
 and retained personal ascendency. But his influence seemed 
 to increase in strength, the oftener it was exerted. He had a 
 wonderful tact, by which he judged, as by intuition, when the 
 subject, or the patience of his audience, threatened to be ex 
 hausted ; and took care always to leave the curiosity of his 
 hearers unsatisfied. 
 
 " I was a member of the House during the war," writes 
 a gentleman to the editor of these papers, u and was pre 
 sent when Mr. Clay made his farewell speech on resigning the 
 Speakership. It was an impressive occasion. Not only were 
 all the seats of members occupied, but many senators attend 
 ed, and a large miscellaneous crowd. The war which he had 
 
44 CHAPTER II. 
 
 been most active in hastening, and most energetic in prose 
 euting, he was now commissioned with others to close. He 
 was the youngest of the Commissioners, but sagacious far be 
 yond his years. The hopes of the country tired of a protract 
 ed struggle, grew brighter from his appointment. 
 
 " Undoubtedly, at this time, even in his youthful age, he had 
 no rival in popularity. His name was everywhere familiar as 
 " household words." His own bearing evinced a conscious 
 ness of his favor in the country. I was struck with his ap 
 pearance on this occasion. There was a fire in his eye, an 
 elation in his countenance, a buoyancy in his whole action, 
 that seemed the self-consciousness of coming greatness. Hope 
 brightened, and joy elevated his crest. As full of confidence, 
 gallant bearing, and gratified look, he took his seat in the 
 Speaker s chair, his towering height even more conspicuous 
 than usual, I could not but call to mind Yernon s descrip 
 tion of Henry, Prince of Wales, in Shakspeare : 
 
 " I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, 
 His cuisses on his thigh, gallantly armed, 
 Rise from the ground, like feather d Mercury, 
 And vaulted with such ease into his seat, 
 As if an angel dropp d down from the clouds, 
 To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, 
 And. witch the world with noble horsemanship. 
 
 c Age at this time had not withered, nor custom staled the 
 infinite variety of his genius. The defects of his character 
 had not been developed ; prosperity had not sunned them ; 
 
DANIEL WEBSTEJ 45 
 
 and they lie unsprouted in his heart ; nor had he committed 
 any of the blunders of his later life, which, in a political view, 
 have been pronounced worse than crimes. 
 
 " After he had resigned the chair, in a neat and appropri 
 ate speech, he came down to the floor ; and members sur 
 rounded him, to express their great grief at his withdrawal, 
 mingled, however, with congratulations upon his appointment, 
 and with the expression of sanguine anticipations of the sue- 
 cess of his mission." 
 
 Mr Clay having resigned his seat, with the remarks already 
 quoted, Mr. Findley, of Pennsylvania, moved the following 
 resolution : 
 
 " Resolved, That the thanks of this House be presented to 
 Henry Clay, in testimony of their approbation of his conduct, 
 in the arduous and important duties assigned to him as Speaker 
 of the House." 
 
 This resolution was carried by a vote of 144 to 9. " The 
 minority on this occasion," says the National Intelligencer, 
 " was composed of those whose approbation, we may venture 
 to say, Henry Clay never courted, if he desired it." 
 
 On the retirement of Mr. Clay, Langdon Cheves, of South 
 Carolina, was elected Speaker, and performed the duties of the 
 office with great ability. 
 
 Much intellectual sparring took place this session between 
 Calhoun, Lowndcs, Forsyth and Cheves, on one side, and 
 Webster, Pickering and Oakley on the other. The almost 
 life-long contest between Calhoun and Webster had its origin 
 
 \ . fau^ C^^ 
 
 jj&*^ A 
 
46 CHAPTER II. 
 
 then. They have differed on measures and principles, "but 
 chiefly upon the construction of the Constitution, at least in 
 later years. Earlier in life, Mr. Calhoun contended with as 
 much force and eloquence for a liberal construction of this in 
 strument, as, later, for a narrow one. 
 
 But Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Webster never infused into their 
 political controversies the bitterness of personal feeling. Each 
 was too great to feel envious of the other s ability, too mag 
 nanimous to withhold admiration of the other s extraordinary 
 endowments. Never, during their whole Parliamentary career, 
 did cither of these distinguished gentlemen, on any occasion, 
 impugn the other s motives, or address him in words of unkind- 
 ness. They respected each other, and they respected them 
 selves. 
 
 The eminence Mr. Webster rose to, even in this his first 
 parliamentary term, was generally acknowledged even by his 
 political opponents. Mr. Lowndes, who was one of the very 
 few who could have disputed his rank, said of him : " The 
 North had not his equal, nor the South his superior." 
 
 Mr. Web ster was re-elected to Congress from New Hamp 
 shire, in August, 1814, after a warm political canvass. 
 
 Early in January, 1815, Mr. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, in 
 troduced into the House a bill for the charter of an United 
 States Bank. This measure Mr. Welster opposed in a speech 
 of great force, displaying an amount 0f knowledge of the his 
 tory and philosophy of finance, which astonished even those 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 4 
 
 who thought most highly of his abilities. He denounced it aa 
 a mere paper bank a mere machine for fabricating irredeem 
 able paper a plan for using the sanction of the Government 
 to defraud the people.* Mr. Calhoun also opposed it, and Mr 
 
 * " What sort of an institution, Mr. Speaker," said he, " is this ? I 
 looks less like a bank than a department of Government. It will be 
 properly the paper-money department. Its capital is Government debts 
 the amount of its issues will depend on Government necessities 5 Gov 
 ernment, in effect, absolves itself from its own debts to the bank, and 
 by way of compensation, absolves the bank from its own contracts witl 
 others. This is, indeed, a wonderful scheme of finance. The Govern 
 ment is to grow rich, because it is to borrow without the obligation of 
 repaying, and is to borrow of a bank which issues paper without liability 
 to redeem it. If this bank, like other institutions which dull and plod 
 ding sense has erected, were to pay its debts, it must have some limits to 
 its issues of paper, and, therefore, there would be a point beyond which 
 it could not make loans to Government. This would fall short of the 
 wishes of the contrivers of this system. They provide for an unlimited 
 issue of paper, in an entire exemption from payment. They found their 
 bank, in the first place, on the discredit of Government, and then hope 
 to enrich Government out of the insolvency of their bank. With them, 
 poverty itself is the main source of supply, and bankruptcy a mine of in 
 exhaustible treasure. They rely, not in the ability of the bank, but in 
 its beggary ; not in gold and silver collected in its vaults, to pay its debts 
 and fulfil its promises, but in its locks and bars, provided by statute, to 
 fasten its doors against the solicitations and clamors of unfortunate credi 
 tors. Such an institution, they flatter themselves, will not only be able 
 to sustain itself, but to buoy up the sinking credit of the Government. A 
 bank which does not pay, is to guaranty the engagements of a Govern- 
 ment which does net pay ! Thus the empty vaults of the treasu.-y are 
 
48 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Lowndes, in able speeches, and led off against the measure 
 some twenty members of the Republican party. It was losl, 
 after a severe struggle, by the casting vote of the Speaker, Mi. 
 Cheves, of S. C. 
 
 It was, however, reconsidered, and amended in several im 
 portant particulars. The bill, as amended, passed the Houso 
 by a large majority, Mr. Webster voting in its favor. I, 
 passed the Senate, but not without much difficulty, and was 
 sent to the President, who returned it to the House where i1 
 originated, with his reasons for refusing to sign it, the principal 
 of which was its inexpediency. An attempt to pass it the 
 veto notwithstanding failed entirely. 
 
 On the 8th day of January, of this year, was fought the 
 ever-memorable battle of New Orleans, the result of which 
 spread joy and exultation throughout the nation. The heroic 
 conduct of Gen. Jackson was the praise of every tongue ; no 
 encomium seemed equal to his merits. Congress, responding 
 to the grateful feeling of the nation, voted him thanks and 
 medals, in commemoration of his gallant services.* The vic 
 tory was fit copestone to the war. 
 
 to be filled from the equally empty vaults of the bank, and the ingenious 
 invention of a partnership between insolvents is to restore and establish 
 the credit of both." 
 
 * Henry Clay said, in his speech to the House, in March, 1816: " Whilst 
 the Mississippi continues to bear the tributes of the Iron Mountains and 
 the Alleghany to her Delta and to her Gulf of Mexico, the 8th of 
 January shall be remembered, and the glory of that day shall stimulate 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 49 
 
 The thirteenth Congress adjourned or. the 4th of March, 
 1815, the date of its constitutional existence. Mr. "Webster 
 returned to New Hampshire, and his professional avocations, 
 keeping company with judges, sheriffs and witnesses, plaintiffs 
 and defendants. He began at this time to agitate the question 
 of change of residence, his practice in New Hampshire ceasing 
 to afford him a proper livelihood. His mind hesitated between 
 Albany and Boston ; till, finally, being unable to make an im 
 mediate election between the two places, he postponed, for a 
 later period, the determination of the question. 
 
 On the re-assembling of Congress in December, 1815, Henry 
 Clay was again elected Speaker, no one of his party contesting 
 his candidatecy. He was welcomed back to the seat in which 
 he had gained such eminent distinction. His popularity 
 in the country had nearly reached its culminating point. 
 Peace with Great Britain, which the heart of the people longed 
 for now, as before for the declaration of war, had been satis 
 factorily arranged, and partly through his agency ; and the 
 multitude, ever seeking some tangible object of worship, lav 
 ished upon him every expression of grateful feeling and per 
 sonal devotion. He was associated in their minds with the 
 national glory and national prosperity. All the Government 
 had proposed by waging war against Great Britain the free 
 dom of our commerce, the safety of our seamen, and the honor 
 of oui- flag, had been secured, if not by express condition in 
 
 future patriots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen in driving the 
 presumptuous inrader from our country s soil." 
 
 3* 
 
60 CHAPTER II. 
 
 the Treaty of Peace, yet by the readiness with which the wai 
 had been entered upon, the earnestness with which it had been 
 carried on, and its ultimate success. Those, therefore, who 
 had been most warm for the declaration of war, and most ac 
 tive in its vigorous prosecution, were now most endeared to th 
 hearts of the nation. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun appeared in this session as the great champion 
 of a National Bank, a Protective Tariff, and Internal Improve 
 ments. In relation to the Tariff, he said in his well-considered 
 speech of April, 1816: u In regard to the question how far 
 manufactures ought to be encouraged, it was the duty of this 
 Government, as a means of defence, to encourage domestic in 
 dustry, more especially that part of it which provides the ne 
 cessary materials for clothing and defence. 
 
 " The question relating to manufactures, must not depend 
 on the abstract principle, that industry left to pursue its 
 own course, will find in its own interest all the encouragement 
 that is necessary. I lay the claims of the manufacturer en 
 tirely out of view ; but on general principles, without regard 
 to their interest, a certain encouragement should be extended, 
 at least to our woollen and cotton manufactures." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was the architect of the tariff of 1816. But 
 for his exertions and South Carolina votes, it had never passed. 
 Even the minimum, the object afterwards of so much reviling 
 and wrathful rhetoric on the part of the South, was established 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 51 
 
 by Southern votes ; and the principle of protection advocated, 
 urged, and secured. >" r 
 
 Mr. "Webster disagreed with Mr. Calhoun, and opposed the 
 high tariff policy. The bill that finally passed was amended, 
 on his motion, in certain important particulars ; on its passage, 
 however, he voted against it, as being crude in its character, 
 and certain to be injurious in its operation tc his constituents. 
 It has been said that at one time Mr. Webster denied the 
 constitutional power of Congress to impose a tariff for protec 
 tion. Such is not the case. It is true, however, that in a 
 speech at Faneuil Hall, sometime in 1820, he contended that 
 if the power of protection be inferred only from the revenue 
 power, the protection could only be incidental ; that duties 
 ought not be laid for the mere object of protection. 
 
 But Mr. Madison s published opinion, after this period, and 
 his declaration that the Convention which framed the Consti 
 tution did intend to grant the power of protection, under the 
 commercial clause, were conclusive, in Mr. Webster s judgment, 
 of the power. And the policy of the tariff having become the 
 settled and established policy of the country, he acquiesced in 
 and supported it. 
 
 In his speech against chartering the Bank of the United 
 States, which he delive^ in February, 16, Mr. Webster 
 displayed an amount of financial knowledge, which surprised the 
 House no less than his acquaintance with the history and 
 policy of other countries, as made known to Congress in his 
 speech two years before. His mind grasped all the details, as 
 
52 CHAPTER II. 
 
 * 
 
 well as the more prominent principles of the financial system, 
 and defined them clearly to his. audience. He introduced 
 amendments restrictive of the powers and privileges of the 
 bank, which he carried through by his earnest argument of 
 their necessity ; among others, one which made it compulsory 
 and penal on the bank to pay its deposits in specie, as well as 
 its notes and bills ; and another, limiting the right of the in 
 stitution to sue, in State Courts alone, instead of " all courts 
 whatsoever," as provided for in the original bill. 
 
 He disliked, and protested against, the participations of the 
 government in the direction and management of the bank, 
 contending it would be alike injurious to both parties ; and 
 urged, with much vehemence of argument, other fatal objec 
 tions to the bill. 
 
 But it passed the House by a vote of 82 to 61. John 
 Randolph, with other republicans, less distinguished, voting in 
 the negative. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun too, was the father of the system of National 
 Improvements. Early in the next session of Congress in 
 December, 1816 a committee was raised on his motion, of 
 which he was appointed chairman, to consider the propriety 
 of setting apart the bonus, which the Bank of the United 
 States paid for its charter, amounting to one million five hun 
 dred thousand dollars, and also the dividends in the stock of 
 tne Bank belonging to the United States, as a permanent fund 
 for internal improvements ; and, soon after, reported a bill for 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 53 
 
 carrying out the objects for which the committee had been ap 
 pointed. 
 
 In the Committee of the Whole House on this bill, he 
 made a very able, argumentative speech on the general policy 
 of national improvements, and the power of Congress over 
 the subject. 
 
 " Let us make," says he, " permanent roads, not like the 
 Romans, with the view of subjecting and ruling provinces, but 
 for the more honorable purposes of defence, and connecting 
 more closely the interests of various sections of this great 
 country. 
 
 u Let us bind the Republic together, with a perfect system 
 of roads and canals. Let us conquer space. It is thus the 
 most distant parts of the Republic will be brought within a 
 few days travel of the centre ; it is thus that a citizen of the 
 West will read, the news of Boston still moist from the press." 
 
 In truth, no one member of this celebrated fourteenth Con 
 gress, acquired more national reputation than Mr. Calhoun. 
 His early parliamentary career gave promise of permanent 
 utility to the whole country. The liberality of his views, the 
 earnestness and ability with which they were expressed, and the 
 sympathy and co-operation with which they were met, gave 
 assurance to the country of a prosperous Future. 
 
 Men watched his star rising in the clear unclouded sky, and 
 rejoiced, for they thought to see it bring in its train national 
 health, happiness and greatness. A Southerner by birth, he 
 expressed and advocated no local views ; but, with a mind as 
 
54 CHAPTER II. 
 
 vast as its interests, embraced in his language and his action, 
 the whole country. His popularity was, as his views, national ; 
 in Massachusetts he was no less regarded than in South 
 Carolina ; his name was familiarized everywhere. 
 
 He soon after became a member of Mr. Munroe s cabinet 
 and, in that position, lent new force to the policy he had so 
 warmly advocated while in Congress. In fact, by this time, 
 his congressional and ministerial services had determined the 
 minds of many influential politicians in various sections of the 
 country, to bring him out as the most proper candidate for 
 the presidency. In the North, he was especially a favorite. 
 His efficient advocacy of internal improvements, sound cur 
 rency, and protection of domestic manufactures, had gained 
 him a strong alliance there. Mr. Webster, among others, 
 was not insensible either to his services, or to the popularity 
 they had justly given him ; and he advised a young friend of 
 his, then editing a paper in one of the New England States, 
 and who had sought his views in regard to the proper candi 
 date of the North for the presidency in the approaching cam 
 paign, (1824,) to support Mr. Calhoun for the position ; un 
 fortunately, a short-sighted, narrow, sectional pride of feeling 
 induced New England to give its vote to John Quincy Adams, 
 whose elevation, by a seeming retributive justice, did more to 
 render New England men, measures and views unpopular, than 
 any other political event could possibly have done. New 
 England has never recovered from this untoward event. 
 
 At the closa of the fourteenth Congress, thf three names 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 55 
 
 most distinguished m it WEBSTER, CLAY, CALHOUN occu 
 pied, almost exclusively, the minds of all men. There was 
 nothing, seemingly, beyond the scope of their ambition or at 
 tainment. They had but to form a triumvirate, and divide 
 the world between them ; not in contemporaneous but alter 
 nate fruition. Had they done so, the historian of the twenty- 
 four years in which they should have filled the presidential 
 chair would have described an era of national honor, national 
 prosperity, and national greatness, the like of wnich, in no 
 country, have the records of ancient or modern times afforded. 
 The imagination halts in the vain attempt to reach the com 
 prehension of such an ideal, and turns unsatisfied away. 
 
 The devoted friends of these eminent men might be equally 
 unwilling and unable to say, whose hot ambition of the three 
 prevented such a glorious consummation ; in after times, how 
 ever, the impartial historian, reviewing carefully their cha 
 racter and conduct, may discover, and demonstrate to the 
 world, the one most faithless to the present, and all future 
 
 After the adjournment of Congress, in August, 1816, Mr. 
 Webster left Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and established his 
 residence in Boston. His professional practice in New 
 Hampshire had ceased to afford him and his family a liveli 
 hood, broken in upon, as it was, by his duties at Washington. 
 In Boston, his name as an advocate and orator was, by this 
 time well known ; and influential friends there succeeded 
 
56 CHAPTER II. 
 
 in prevailing upon him to select that city for his future 
 home. 
 
 He never has since gone into a New Hampshire court, ex 
 cept on one occasion, when he went down from Boston in 
 September, 1817, in the Dartmouth College case. 
 
 The question in this case was whether certain acts of the 
 New Hampshire Legislature, purporting to enlarge, and im 
 prove the Corporation of Darmouth College, and amend its 
 charter, were binding upon the Corporation, without their 
 acceptance or assent ; and not repugnant to the Constitution of 
 the United States ? Mr. Webster argued the case as counsel 
 for the Corporation. The opinion of the Superior Court of 
 the State, before which it was argued, as delivered by Chief 
 Justice Richardson, was in favor of the validity and constitu 
 tionality of the acts ; and judgment was entered accordingly. 
 
 Whereupon a writ of error was sued out by the Corpora 
 tion of the College to remove the cause to the Supreme Court 
 of the United States. It came on for argument there in March, 
 1818, and before all the judges. It was argued by Mr. Webster 
 and Mr. Hopkinson for the plaintiffs in error, and by Mr 
 Holmes and the Attorney-General, for the other side. 
 
 The question involved in this case was quite new to oui 
 jurisprudence ; and when the case had been called up for ar 
 gument, and Mr. Justice Story had run his eye over it, he 
 said he did not see how anything could be made out of it. 
 
 He changed his opinion on the hearing of Mr. Webster s 
 argument, and coincided with his colleagues in declaring the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 57 
 
 acts of the Legislature unconstitutional and invalid, and in re 
 versing the judgment of the State Court.* 
 
 This may be called Mr. Webster s first constitutional argu 
 ment ; and in this view alone would be sufficient to provoke its 
 careful study ; even if it did not embrace the clearest, yet 
 most succinct account of eleemosynary corporations, of their 
 character and purposes, their privileges, property and immu 
 nities, ever expressed in words. No case, however remotely 
 connected with it in principle, has since been argued, or ever 
 will be, but with liberal quotations of its language and 
 opinions. 
 
 When Mr. Webster removed to Boston, he had still one 
 session to serve as member of Congress from New Hampshire. 
 It was a session of no great importance to Mr. Webster s per- 
 
 * From the security gained to the chartered privileges of this corpo 
 ration by Mr. Webster, through this final decision of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, he is entitled to be considered the second founder of 
 the institution. He far more than repaid by his success all he obtained 
 from his collegiate education. His name should be held in grateful com 
 memoration there, in all coming ages, no less than that of Henry VI. 
 
 at Eton : 
 
 " Where grateful science still adores 
 
 Her holy Henry s shade." 
 
 It is no little creditable in the mean time, to the character of New 
 Hampshire, that its Legislature and citizens generally, rendered an im 
 mediate if not cheerful obedience to the decision of the highest tribunal 
 known to the constitution. But New Hampshire ever was a law-abid 
 ing and authority-regarding State. 
 
58 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 sonal history, or to the country. No agitating questions were 
 brought before it, either of domestic or foreign character; 
 and legislation was moderate and unimpeded. 
 
 A domestic affliction fell upon Mr. Webster this winter 
 while at Washington. His daughter, Grace his only 
 daughter at that time died, on the 23d of January, 1817. 
 Her sickness and subsequent death, detained him from his 
 seat in Congress during the month of January. 
 
 On the rising of Congress, Mr. Webster returned to Bos 
 ton, and entered with diligence on the labors of his profession. 
 
 And these labors were both arduous and incessant ; they 
 were also lucrative. Clients crowded numerously upon him, 
 bringing copious fees. He had not been two years in Boston, 
 before his income from his professional practice was greater 
 than that of any lawyer of his time, or any that had preceded 
 him. His reputation grew with his means ; and no one of his 
 profession had before him such a brilliant and remunerating, 
 if laborious, prospect. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the engrossing nature of Mr. Web 
 ster s professional pursuits, he found occasional time, " vacare 
 Musis" to gratify that love of reading and general acqui 
 sition, which has grown with his growth and strengthened with 
 his strength. He also found time to comply with the earnest 
 wishes of friends, who sought his contribution to the cause of 
 history and literature. Belonging to such, is the Discourse he 
 delivered at Plymouth, in December, 1820. It is not pro 
 posed to analyse this celebrated production here. Every one 
 has read it who knows how to read, or what to read. But it 
 may not be inopportune to introduce a remarkable prediction 
 contained in it. Speaking of the energy, the enterprise and 
 success of the natives of New England, the orator says : " It 
 may be safely asserted, that there are now more than a million 
 of people, descendants of New England ancestry, living free 
 and happy, in regions, which hardly sixty years ago were 
 tracts of unpenetrated forest. Nor do rivers, or mountains 
 or seas resist the progress of industry and enterprise. Ert 
 long, the sons of the Pilgrims will be on the shores of the 
 Pacific." 
 
60 CHAPTER III. 
 
 It is but one of the many instances of far-reaching vision, 
 amounting, indeed, to what the Scotch call second-sight , Mr. 
 Webster has, on various occasions, exhibited. The compre 
 hension of the Future from the study of the Past distinguishes, 
 in truth, the man of intellect from the crowd : in ancient 
 times it made the prophet ; in modern, it forms the statesman. 
 
 Mr. Webster was not permitted to remain long undisturbed 
 in the enjoyment of professional eminence and domestic com 
 fort. Private friendship and State pride alike sought gratifi 
 cation in his return to the National councils. He had not 
 been two years in his adopted State before he was urged, ve 
 hemently, by repeated application of friends to be a candidate 
 for the House. On his refusal, an election to the Senate of 
 the United States was offered him on the part of his friends in 
 the Legislature. The present Chief Justice Shaw and late 
 Judge Hubbard, both then distinguished members of the 
 Legislature, called upon him at Dorchester, where he then 
 was passing the summer, with this invitation. These various 
 applications he entirely declined, seeking to devote himself 
 exclusively to the practice of the Law. Attaining to the 
 highest professional distinction, and emoluments, not only ade 
 quate to, but beyond his wants, he had enough for ambition, 
 and could not look elsewhere safely for happiness. He fol 
 lowed his profession with a devotion that knew no interruption 
 save from necessary relaxation. What time he could spare 
 from the throng of clients, he resorted to field sports and 
 rural sxcrcise ; nor did they profit less than himself from such 
 
DANIEL WEBSTEK. 61 
 
 occasional diversion. This, in truth, might Ibe pronounced 
 the most equable, and, perhaps, the most contented period of 
 us life 
 
 He was not insensible, however, to the calls of public duty. 
 Jesides serving a few weeks as member of the Legislature, he 
 uras an elector of President and Vice-President, at Mr. Mun- 
 roe s second election in 1820, and also a delegate to the con 
 vention chosen to revise the Constitution of Massachusetts, in 
 1821. 
 
 In this convention he acted no unimportant part. In 
 truth, it may be said, that there were few if any measures of 
 much consequence adopted by it, which did not bear the im 
 press of his mind. He encountered in this convention men 
 of the Commonwealth, most eminent for their knowledge of 
 the history and philosophy of legislation and jurisprudence, 
 among whom it certainly cannot be invidious to mention the 
 venerated name of JOHN ADAMS. This renowned patriot, 
 sage, and statesman was drawing fatally near the close of life, 
 but his last, as his earliest, thought was his country s. He 
 had rocked the cradle of the Nation, and protected its infancy ; 
 and now that it had gained firmness of limb and muscular 
 vigor, and could go alone, he still held over it an affectionate, 
 and paternal care. Greatness and goodness attended upon him 
 and ministered to his happiness. "Possessing," says Mr. 
 Webster of him, " all his faculties to the end of his long life, 
 with an unabated love of reading and contemplation, in the 
 centre of interesting circles of friendship and affection, he was 
 
62 CHAPTER III. 
 
 blessed in his retirement, with whatever of repose and felicity 
 the condition of man allows."* 
 
 The Convention was indeed distinguished for the great array 
 of intellect and public experience contained in it. 
 
 Mr. Webster took an active part in its proceedings, and 
 made a number of energetic speeches in it ; one upon a reso 
 lution relative to oaths of office ; another upon a resolution to 
 divide the State into districts, for the choice of Senators ac 
 cording to population ; and a third upon the removal of judi 
 cial- officers by the Governor and Council. These speeches, as 
 their subjects would seem to require, were almost wholly ar 
 gumentative. There was no need of rhetoric, and no oppor- 
 
 =* In conversation once with Mr. Webster, he spoke to me of his last 
 interview with Mr. Adams, which I give in as much as I recollect of 
 his words : " I remember," he said, " the last time I ever saw Mr. 
 Adams. It was the day I delivered the Discourse on the laying of the 
 corner stone on Bunker Hill. I called to see him, to pay my respects to 
 him, on my way home. 
 
 " It was a hot, sultry day in June. I found him lying on a sofa, ap 
 parently fatigued, and breathing not without difficulty. He had become 
 fat, heavy, and unwieldy ; his flesh hung down his face, full and flabby. 
 
 " He had an original nervous way of expressing himself, even in ordi 
 nary conversation. He always said something which you could after 
 wards recollect. 
 
 " While I was with him, and conversing on the common topics of the 
 day, some one a friend of his came in and made particular enquiry 
 of his health. I am not well, he replied. I inhabit a weak, frail, 
 decayed tenement ; battered by the winds, and broken in upon by the 
 storms ; and from all I ran learn, the landlord dors not intend to repair} " 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 63 
 
 tunity for the display of eloquence. On one occasion, how 
 ever, Mr. Webster was provoked into something more impas 
 sioned and agitating than simple argument. It was in reply 
 to a member, who had said that classifying towns for the choice 
 of representatives, instead of giving every town a represents 
 tive, however small its population, was forging chains and fet 
 ters for the people of Massachusetts. " Chains and fetters !" 
 said Mr. Webster. " This convention of delegates, chosen by 
 the people within this month, and going back to the people 
 divested of all power within another month, yet occupying their 
 space of time here in forging chains and fetters for themselves 
 and their constituents! Chains and fetters! A popular 
 assembly, of four hundred men, combining to fabricate these 
 manacles for the people and nobody but the honorable mem 
 ber from Worcester with sagacity enough to detect, the horrible 
 conspiracy, or honesty enough to disclose it ! Chains and 
 fetters ! An assembly most variously composed men of all 
 professions and all parties of different ages, habits, and asso 
 ciations all freely and recently chosen by their towns and 
 districts ; yet this assembly in one short month contriving to 
 fetter and enslave itself and its constituents ! Sir, there are 
 some things too extravagant for the ornament and decoration 
 of oratory ; some things too excessive even for the fictions of 
 poetry ; and I am persuaded that a little reflection would have 
 persuaded the honorable member, that when he speaks of this 
 assembly as committing outrages on the rights of the people, 
 and as forging chains and fetters for their subjugation, he does 
 
64 CHAPTER III. 
 
 as great injustice to his own character as a correct and manly 
 debater, as he does to the motives and intelligence of this body." 
 
 These remarks, and especially the manner and countenance 
 with which they were pronounced, somewhat excited the usually 
 phlegmatic assembly ; many persons, then members, yet lik 
 to speak of the effect which they produced. 
 
 Mr. Webster s reputation daily augmenting as an orator and 
 statesman, the desire on the part of his political friends to re 
 turn him to Congress grew stronger and stronger ; till at length, 
 in the fall of 1822, a Committee, consisting of Col. Thos. H 
 Perkins, Wni. Sturgis, Win, Sullivan, John T. Apthorp and 
 Daniel Messinger, called on him, with the information that he 
 had been agreed upon as candidate for Representative to Con 
 gress. Col. Perkins read to him the vote by which he was 
 nominated in the Convention, and the letter which was drawn 
 up to accompany the vote ; and, saying that he had been in 
 structed by the Convention to bring back no answer, retired 
 with the rest of the Committee. 
 
 This severe and continued pressure finally overcame Mr. 
 Webster s objections. He had declined with no Richard-like 
 reluctance, eager to grasp what he seemed desirous to refuse, 
 but from an honest, sincere, heart-felt reluctance. He knew, 
 on entering public life again, he must abandon professional 
 emoluments and domestic comfort. What honors he had al 
 ready attained to in National Councils were sufficient to fill his 
 ambition ; and he saw nothing in any prospect, however bril- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 65 
 
 liant, of political life, to compensate for the sacrifice he needs 
 must make to secure it. 
 
 Others would enjoy his labors. It seems the destiny of 
 Genius to pursue unrequited toil, at least of that genius that 
 labors in public affairs. There are services, too, that money 
 cannot inspire nor compensate. The statesman may originate 
 and digest a commercial code that gives competency and wealth 
 to thousands enhancing an hundred-fold the prosperity of his 
 country. He may declare and conduct a necessary war, to 
 secure its rights and extend its dominion ; or establish a per 
 manent and honorable peace, with countless attendant blessings. 
 He may open new marts for native industry, suggest new 
 channels for enterprising labor, foster new inventions, and per 
 fect new arts, in the plentitude of his power and capacity. 
 Under him, a new spirit of enterprise may spring up ; new 
 sources of wealth, hitherto unexplored, be revealed ; and all 
 the great interests of society receive an impulse that can com 
 prise no definition nor limit. But the prosperity of his country 
 is his own martyrdom For her greatness he sacrifices per 
 sonal independence, domestic charities, health, and, too often, 
 life itself. Pitt died at the age of forty-seven, overwhelmed 
 with debt. He gave his country a position far above the 
 powers of Europe and the world, and she gave him a funeral. 
 Fox went down to the tomb, overtasked and worn-out, in mind 
 and body. While the wounded sensibilities of Canning, ex 
 cited almost to phrenzy by the proud man s contumely and the 
 
 base man s ingratitude, could find no solace but in the grave. 
 ^ 
 
66 CHAPTER III 
 
 Yet grateful England showers upon ner well-deserving se - 
 vants places, and pensions, and titles ; compensating, in tl e 
 eyes of the unthinking multitude, perhaps, for broken health 
 and shortened life. All England can do, at least she does with 
 no niggard hand, but with a generosity becoming her history 
 and greatness; All may not bring satisfaction to the bruise 1 
 spirit, but it averts the charge of ingratitude from her 
 
 In this country the statesman, who, by thought, word, or 
 action, gains ascendancy for a policy or party, may add vast 
 augmentation to the wealth of the country, and enable cool, 
 plodding, enterprising individuals, by the accumulation of largo, 
 fortunes, to obtain a seat in Congress, in the Cabinet, or even 
 a Foreign Mission. But what does he gain for himself, for al . 
 his transcendant ability and service ? Injurious accusations, 
 while living ; and in death, at best, a doubtful eulogy. 
 
 But Mr. Webster yielded to the importunate solicitations of 
 friends, and was elected Representative to Congress from the 
 city of Boston, in the fall of 22, by 1000 majority over Jesse 
 Putnam. 
 
 Returning to the House, he found the Chair occupied, as ho 
 had left it, by Henry Clay. Other familiar faces he also met, 
 and felt quite at home. Early in the session the question of 
 the Greek Revolution was agitated ; and on the 8th of Decem 
 ber, 1823, Mr. "Webster presented the following resolution, in 
 the House of Representatives : " Resolved, That provision 
 ought to be made, by law, for defraying the expense incident 
 to the appointment of an Agent or Commissioner to Greece. 
 
l.ANIEL WEBSTER. 67 
 
 whenever the President shall deem it expedient to make such 
 appointment." In introducing this resolution, Mr. Webster 
 made an appropriate speech, in the beginning of which he 
 said : " We must, indeed, fly beyond the civilized world ; we 
 must pass the dominion of law, and the boundaries of knowledge ; 
 we must, more especially, withdraw ourselves from this place, 
 and the scenes and objects which here surround us, if we would 
 separate ourselves entirely from all those memorials of herself 
 which ancient Greece has transmitted for the admiration and 
 the benefit of mankind. This free form of government, this 
 popular assembly, the common council held for the common 
 good, where have we contemplated its earliest models ? This 
 practice of free debate and public discussion, the contest of 
 mind with mind, and that popular eloquence, which, if it were 
 now here, on a subject like this, would move the stones of the 
 Capitol, whose was the language in which all these were first 
 exhibited ? Even the edifice in which we assemble, these pro 
 portioned columns, this ornamental architecture, all remind us 
 that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of mankind, 
 are greatly her debtors But I have not introduced this motion 
 in the vain hope of discharging any of this accumulated debt 
 of centuries. I have not acted upon the expectation that we, 
 who have inherited this obligation from our ancestors, should 
 now attempt to pay it to those who may seem to have inherited, 
 from their ancestors, a right to receive payment. What I have 
 to say of Greece concerns the modern, not the ancient ; the 
 living, and not the dead. It regards her, not as she exists in 
 
68 CHAPTER III. 
 
 history, triumphant over time, and tyranny, and ignorance, 
 but as she now is, contending, against fearful odds, for being, 
 and for the common privilege of human nature." 
 
 In the course of his remarks he alluded in terms of severe, 
 but just reprobation, to the character of the Treaty concluded 
 at Paris in 1815, between Russia, Prussia, and Austria, com 
 monly known under the title (assumed, one might suppose, in 
 bitter mockery,) of " The Holy Alliance." Mr. "Webster said, 
 he wanted words to express his abhorrence of the abominable 
 principles proclaimed in the preamble to this Alliance, the 
 establishment of which was menaced by a million and a half 
 of bayonets. " Human liberty may yet, perhaps," said he, 
 " be obliged to repose its principal hopes on the intelligence 
 and the vigor of the Saxon race. So far as depends on us, at 
 least, I trust those hopes will not be disappointed." 
 
 To the question as to what this nation should do ; whether 
 we should declare war for the sake of Greece, and if not, if we 
 would neither furnish armies nor navies, what we should do ; 
 what was in our power ? he replied, in some of the happiest 
 language even he ever commanded : " Sir, this reasoning mis 
 takes the age. The time has been, indeed, when fleets, and 
 armies, and subsidies were the principal reliances even in the 
 best cause. But, happily for mankind, there has arrived a 
 great change in this respect. Moral causes come into consi 
 deration, in proportion as the progress of knowledge is ad 
 vanced ; and the public opinion of the civilized world is rapidly 
 gaining an ascendancy over mere brutal force. It may be si- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 69 
 
 lenced by military power, but it cannot be conquered. It is 
 elastic, irrepressille, and invulnerable to the weapons of ordi 
 nary warfare. It is that impassable, inextinguishable enemy 
 of mere violence and arbitrary rule, which, like Milton s angels, 
 
 Vital in every part, 
 Cannot, but by annihilating, die. 
 
 Unless this be propitiated or satisfied, it is in vain for power 
 to talk either of triumphs or repose. No matter what fields 
 are desolated, what fortresses surrendered, what armies sub 
 dued, or what provinces overrun, there is an enemy that still 
 exists to check the glory of these triumphs. It follows the 
 conqueror back to the very scene of his ovations ; it calls upon 
 him to take notice that the world, though silent, is yet indig 
 nant ; it shows him that the sceptre of his victory is a barren 
 sceptre ; that it shall confer neither joy nor honor, but shall 
 moulder to dry ashes in his grasp. In the midst of his exul 
 tation, it pierces his ear with the cry of injured justice ; it de 
 nounces against him the indignation of an enlightened and 
 civilized age ; it turns to bitterness the cup of his rejoicing, 
 and wounds him with the sting which belongs to the con 
 sciousness of having outraged the opinion of mankind. 7 
 
 President Monroe in his annual message to Congress, at the 
 commencement of the session, had expressed a warm sym 
 pathy for the Greeks, in their struggle for independence ; and 
 Mr. Webster s motive and action contemplated some recipro 
 cation of his sentiments, on the part of the House* so far as it 
 should approve them. His resolution was designed to have 
 
70 CHAPTER III 
 
 this effect, and no more. It failed, however, of favorable ac 
 tion. It took the House too much by surprise, accustomed 
 rather to propositions of a temporary and local character. . 
 
 Mr. Webster made one other great speech, during this Con 
 gress, upon a question of more domestic nature. It was 
 upon the Tariff of 1824 which he opposed on the ground of 
 expediency solely. The philosophic or economical character 
 of this speech may be, in part, judged of from one quotation : 
 " There is a broad and marked distinction," he said, " be 
 tween entire prohibition, and reasonable encouragement. It is 
 one thing by duties or taxes on foreign articles, to awaken a 
 home competition in the production of the same articles ; it is 
 another thing to remove all competition by a total exclusion 
 of the foreign article ; and it is quite another thing still, by 
 total prohibition, to raise at home manufactures not suited to 
 the climate, the nature of the country, or the state of the 
 population. These are substantial distinctions, and although 
 it may not be easy in every case, to determine which of them 
 applies to a given article, yet the distinctions themselves 
 exist, and, in most cases, will be sufficiently clear to indicate 
 the true course of policy." 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the opposition of Mr. Webster, 
 and the Massachusetts Representatives generally, the bill 
 passed into a law, and New England was obliged to conform 
 her temper and business to its operation. 
 
 In the fall of this year, 1824, Mr. Webster was re-elected to 
 Congress, receiving 4,990 votes of the 5,000 thrown an en- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 71 
 
 dorsement by popular favor probably without precedent in the 
 annals of our political contests. 
 
 In the fall of this year, too, canae off the election of Presi 
 dent. ANDREW JACKSON, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, WM. H 
 CRAWFORD and HENRY CLAY, were all candidates, and all re 
 ceived electoral votes for the Presidential office. The three 
 first were returned to the House of Kepresentatives, as being 
 the three highest candidates ; G-eneral Jackson, by an em 
 phatic plurality of votes that indicated, beyond the enter 
 tainment of a doubt, his superior popularity. The potent in 
 fluence, however, of Mr. Clay in the House was exerted in 
 favor of Mr. Adams ; and secured for him, in that body, a 
 constitutional election. No intelligent man in the country be 
 lieves that Mr. Adams success was the consequence of any 
 previous arrangement between himself and Mr. Clay, by which 
 the latter, in such event, should become Secretary of State. 
 Every candid man, on the contrary, will coincide in the 
 opinion, expressed by Mr. Webster in relation to the subject, 
 soon after the in-coming of the administration, in a speech at 
 Fanueil Hall : " He would take this occasion to say, if his 
 opinion could be of any value in such a case, that he thought 
 nothing more unfounded than that that gentleman (Mr. Clay) 
 owed his present position to any unworthy compromise or ar 
 rangement whatever. He owed it to his talent, to his promi 
 nent standing in the community, to his course of public service, 
 not now a short one, and the high estimation in which he 
 stands with that part of the country to which he belongs." 
 
72 CHAPTER III. 
 
 It is not to be denied, however, that many of Mr. Clay s 
 friends regretted his acceptance of the highest office in Mr. 
 Adams administration, -^because such acceptance involved 
 the awkward necessity of an explanation. A suspicion, they 
 thought, would attach to his motives, and always attend his 
 position ; and suspicion, they knew, often produced results as 
 fatal to character as proven criminality. Like a reckless 
 spendthrift, some held he had secured a temporary gratifica 
 tion by the sacrifice of a certain, brilliant, and not distant, 
 Future. 
 
 The question that roost agitated the politics of the country 
 during Mr. Adams administration, was the PANAMA MIS 
 SION ; a succinct historical account of which may not be im 
 pertinent here. 
 
 In the month of December, 1823, a formal invitation was 
 addressed by Spain to the Courts of St. Petersburg!!, Vienna, 
 Berlin, and Paris, proposing to hold a conference at Paris, in 
 order that the plenipotentiaries there convened, might assist 
 Spain in adjusting the affairs of her revolted colonies in South 
 America. 
 
 The proposed meeting, however, did not take place per 
 haps in consequence of the decided course adopted by Mr. 
 Canning on the part of England who, in a conference with 
 the French minister in London, declared distinctly and em 
 phatically, that England would consider any foreign inter 
 ference, whether by arms or intimidation, in the contest be- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 73 
 
 tween Spain and hei revolted colonies, as a conclusive reason 
 for immediately recognising the independence of the Utter. 
 
 It was under these circumstances, and at this crisis, that 
 Mr. Monroe s justly celebrated declaration was made ; that 
 our government would consider any combination of European 
 Powers to effect objects, whether of colonization or otherwise, 
 in America, as affecting ourselves ; that we should regard such 
 combination as dangerous to ourselves, and should be prepared 
 to meet it accordingly. This declaration had been agreed upon 
 unanimously in Mr. Monroe s Cabinet after great deliberation, 
 Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Crawford concurring in it with Mr. 
 Adams. It met, too, with the entire concurrence of the 
 country, as wise, seasonable, and patriotic. In England, 
 also, it was received with no little enthusiasm. In the House 
 of Commons, the leading minister expressed his full concur 
 rence in the sentiments and opinions of the President, while 
 his distinguished competitor in that body, of an opposite poli 
 tical party, declared that" no event had ever created greater 
 joy, exultation, and gratitude, among the free men of Europe ; 
 that he felt a pride in being connected, by blood and language, 
 with the people of the United States ; that the policy dis 
 closed by the message, became a great, a free, and an inde 
 pendent nation ; and that he hoped his own country would be 
 prevented by no mean pride or paltry jealousy, from following 
 so noble and glorious an example." 
 
 " I look on the message of December, 1823," said Mi 
 
 Webster, in the House of Representatives, "as forming a 
 4* 
 
74 CHAPTER III. 
 
 bright page in our history. I will neither help to erase it, or 
 tear it out ; nor shall it be, by any act of mine, blurred or 
 blotted. It does honor to the sagacity of the government, and 
 I will not diminish that honor. It elevated the hopes, and 
 gratified the patriotism of the people. Over those hopes I will 
 not bring a mildew ; nor will I put that gratified patriotism to 
 shame." 
 
 The allies were deterred from taking any measures in con 
 cert with Spain for the subjugation of her colonies ; but their 
 menacing attitude for a time had alarmed the colonies them 
 selves, and awakened the suspicions of our Government. 
 
 The Panama Mission seemed to be a corollary of President 
 Monroe s message, to follow as a proper inference from the 
 postulate, that American governments should have sole con 
 trol of American interests. It proposed no belligerent mea 
 sures ; no departure from the neutral policy of the United 
 States. It contemplated only a negotiation with the ministers 
 of other American Kepublics, assembled in Congress at 
 Panama, upon commercial and international relations. What 
 ever should be agreed upon in the Congress, was to be of no 
 obligatory force whatever, or anywhere, unless afterwards duly 
 ratified by their. respective governments. 
 
 Mr. Webster, who had warmly approved the message of 
 President Monroe, thought himself called upon to support a 
 mission which seemed the legitimate result of its reasoning ; 
 and, in April, 1826, made an able speech upon the character 
 and purposes of the mission. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 75 
 
 It was unpopular, however, in the country ; less, doubtless, 
 from the nature of the objects it proposed to accomplish, than 
 from the construction of the Administration which recom 
 mended it. 
 
 At the present day there is, probably, not a sentiment of 
 the speech Mr. Webster made on the subject which would not 
 meet the entire and hearty concurrence of four-fifths of the 
 nation. The policy of Mr. Adams Administration, in this 
 respect, has outlived its general unpopularity. 
 
 It was in the summer of this year that Mr. Webster de 
 livered his discourse in commemoration of the lives and ser 
 vices of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. It would be in 
 vain to look elsewhere for eulogies, expressed in more glowing 
 and elevated language, or more appropriate to their subjects. 
 The funeral orations of Bossuet, deservedly so celebrated, 
 have not the repose, the dignity, nor sublimity of this. It 
 sounds like a solemn anthem throughout. " Although no 
 sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved 
 stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance 
 be as lasting as the land they honored. Marble columns may, 
 indeed, moulder into dust, time may erase all impress from 
 the crumbling stone, but their fame remains ; for with 
 AMERICAN LIBERTY ONLY can it perish. It was the last 
 Dwelling peal of yonder choir, THEIR BODIES ARE BURIED 
 
 IN PEACE, BUT THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE. I Catch 
 
 that solemn song, I echo that lofty strain of funeral triumph, 
 THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE. " 
 
76 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The speech Mr. Webster has put into the moulh of John 
 Adams in this funeral oration, as having been delivered by 
 him in the Philadelphia Convention, in 1776, commencing, 
 " Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand 
 and my heart to this vote," has been often mistaken for the 
 production of Mr. Adams himself: it follows so inimitably 
 Mr. Adams style and forcible expression, Mr. Webster has 
 been applied to, on several occasions, and by persons of liter 
 ary pretensions, to know where and when Mr. Adams delivered 
 the speech. 
 
 The address on laying the corner-stone of Bunker-Hill 
 monument was made a year before, in 1825. It is too 
 familiar to every one, to require even allusion to it. 
 
 In November, 1826, Mr. Webster was again re-elected to 
 Congress, and by a vote of almost entire unanimity ; but be 
 fore he took his seat, under this canvass, he was chosen Sena 
 tor of the United States, in place of the ever-lamented Elijah 
 H. Mills, retired from ill health.* 
 
 The lives of literary characters or statesmen seem to be but, 
 after all, an account of their productions and speeches. They 
 appear to have no domestic life ; or none, which is not ab 
 sorbed in the engrossing nature of their pursuits. Mr. Web 
 ster s political life, however, has been varied by his professional 
 
 * According to the records, the vote of the Legislature stood thus : in 
 the Senate, Daniel Webster had 20 votes; John Mills. 11; Edward 
 Everett, 1; Levi Lincoln, 1. Tn the House, Daniel Wehster had 202 
 ohu Mills, 82: scattering, 44. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 77 
 
 avocations, and mitigated as before mentioned by his addic 
 tion to agricultural and rural occupations. In this latter re 
 spect, it has resembled Edmund Burke sj who was distin 
 guished hardly less as an agriculturist than as a statesman and 
 orator. 
 
 Mr. "Webster had been obliged to relinquish a large por 
 tion of his practice some of the most lucrative by his re- 
 entrance into public life. But in most important cases, he 
 was still retained, particularly in such as were to receive final 
 disposition in the Supreme Court of the United States. Of 
 such, among others, was the famous case of Gibbons vs. Ogdcn, 
 argued in the Supreme Court, in 1824, when the constitutional 
 power of Congress to regulate commerce, as a sole and ex 
 clusive power , was insisted upon and triumphantly established 
 by Mr. Webster the judgment of the Court, as pronounced 
 by Chief Justice Marshal, following closely the line of his 
 argument. In this argument, he made use of the expression, 
 unit, as applicable to the commerce of the United States, 
 which General Jackson afterwards borrowed to describe the 
 character of his Cabinet. Speaking of the relinquishment by 
 States, of their former powers over commerce, to the general 
 government, he said : " Henceforth, the commerce of the 
 States was to be an unit ; and the system by which it was to 
 exist and be governed must necessarily be complete, entire, 
 and uniform. Its character was to be described in the flag 
 which waved over it, E PLURIEUS UNUM." 
 
 Other cases of moment Mr. Webster conducted in the 
 
78 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Supreme Court, which added to his reputation and income. It 
 is not necessary to particularize them here. 
 
 Nor was Mr. "Webster s public life unvaried by domestic 
 calamities ; which visit, without respect to persons, the families 
 of the high as well as humble. The death of his daughter 
 some years previous has already been alluded to : towards the 
 close of this year, 1827, a still greater affliction fell upon him, 
 in the loss of his wife. He was on his woy to Washington, 
 when she died. Her illness and subsequent decease prevented 
 him from taking his seat in the Senate till January, 28. 
 
 In that august body, ther were already men of national 
 eminence. Besides Mr. Calb in, who occupied the chair, and 
 Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, bot of whom Mr. Webster had left 
 the year before in the House, and with whom, in equal en 
 counter he had measured swords, and Mr. Van Buren, more 
 distinguished afterwards ; there were Benton and Barton, of 
 Missouri, colleagues, but hostile, of great but opposite 
 qualities Woodbury and Bell, of New Hampshire, worthy 
 Senators, Tazewell and Tyler, of Yirginia, ever in pursuit of 
 abstractions, till they almost became such themselves^ Clay 
 ton of Delaware, Burnet of Ohio, and HAYNE, whose name 
 needs no local designation. There were others, if not all 
 of equal position in the country, all worthy of commemora 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Webster s first encounter in the Senate was with Mr. 
 Tazewell, upon the Process Bill, for regulating the proceedings 
 of the United States Courts. The speeches were rather of n 
 
DA> IEL WEBSTER. 79 
 
 professional character, and there is little in them, or any in 
 cident connected with their delivery, to interest the general 
 reader. 
 
 Mr. Webster exerted himself warmly in getting through a 
 bill for the relief of the surviving officers of the Revolution ; 
 and, in April of this year, made an earnest and effective speech 
 in its favor. Speaking of the conduct and services of the 
 Revolutionary army, he said: " It had faithfully served and 
 saved the country ; and to that country it now referred, with 
 unhesitating confidence, its claim and its complaints. It laid 
 down its arms with alacrity ; it mingled itself with the mass 
 of the community ; and it waited, till in better times, and 
 under a new government, its services might be rewarded, and 
 the promises made to it fulfilled. Sir, this example is worth 
 more, far more, to the cause of civil liberty, than this bill will 
 cost us. We can hardly recur to it too often, or dwell on it 
 too much, for the honor of our country, and of its defenders. 
 Meritorious service in civil war is worthy of peculiar consider 
 ation ; not only because there is, in such war, usually less 
 power to restrain irregularities, but because, also, they expose 
 all prominent actors in them to different kinds of danger. It 
 is rebellion, as well as war. Those who engage in it must 
 look not only to the dangers of the field, but to confiscation 
 also, and ignominious death. With no efficient and settled 
 government, either to sustain or to control them, and with 
 every sort of danger before them, it is great merit to have 
 conducted with fidelity to the country, under every discourage- 
 
80 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ment on the one hand, and with unconquerable bravery to 
 wards the common enemy on the other. So, sir, the officers 
 and soldiers of the Revolutionary army did conduct." 
 
 Owing to the exertions of Mr. Webster, of Mr. Van Buren, 
 and some other influential members, this bill of great remedial 
 justice finally passed ; his aid in the success of which, Mr, 
 "Webster has said, on some occasion since, is one of the most 
 grateful of his Congressional recollections. 
 
 At this session, a new Tariff bill passed : " the bill of 
 abominations," as it was sometimes called. For the four 
 years previous, New England had from mere necessity turned 
 its attention to manufactures ; and large investments had been 
 made in that direction. There seemed to the people of that 
 section no alternative, but to consider the cause and policy of 
 the government as determined and fixed, and to govern them 
 selves accordingly. 
 
 This new bill contained provisions, which seemed of a vindic 
 tive character ; as if intended to punish such persons as had 
 derived benefit from the Tariff of 24, though compelled to 
 adopt it against their wishes. 
 
 " Sir," said Mr. Webster, in his speech on the passage of 
 the bill " I am sure there is nobody here, envious of the 
 prosperity of New England, or who would wish to see it de 
 gtroyed. But if there be such anywhere, I cannot chee? 
 them by holding out the hope of a speedy accomplishment o! 
 their wishes. The prosperity of New England, like that of 
 other parts of the country, may, doubtless, be affected inju- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 8) 
 
 riously by unwise or unjust laws. It may be impaired, espe 
 cially, by an unsteady and shifting policy, which fosters particu 
 lar objects to-day, and abandons them to-morrow. She may 
 advance faster or slower; but the propelling principle, be 
 ssured, is in her ; deep, fixed, and active. Her course is on 
 ward and forward. The great powers of free labor, of moral 
 habits, of general education, of good institutions, of skill, en 
 terprise, and perseverance are all working with her, and 
 for her ; and on the small surface, which her population 
 covers, she is destined, I think, to exhibit striking results of 
 the operation of these potent causes, in whatever constitutes 
 the happiness, or belongs to the ornament of human society." 
 
 Notwithstanding the serious objections to the bill, Mr. 
 Webster considered it his duty to vote for it, as the best alter 
 native. Its defeat, he thought, would have a much more 
 calamitous effect upon the interests of the country generally 
 than its adoption. 
 
 He voted for it on the ground of expediency ; and, it is 
 upon that alone, his argument in favor of its passage rests. 
 In vain should we look in this speech for that philosophical 
 research, that entire mastery of the principles of political 
 economy, and that intimate acquaintance with commercial and 
 financial affairs which distinguished his speech against the 
 Tariff of 1824. The present occasion, however, and the sub 
 ject required less range of thought ; action seemed rather de 
 manded than argument ; canvassing than eloquence. 
 
 Returning home at the end of the session, and meeting 
 
82 CHAPTER III. 
 
 some portion of his constituents in Faneuil Hall, Mr. Web 
 ster made allusion to the necessity under which he had found 
 himself placed, by a most strange and unprecedented manner of 
 legislation, of taking the evil of a public measure for the sake of 
 its good. " The candid interpretation," said he, " which had 
 been given to that vote, by those who disapproved it, and the 
 assembling together here, for the purpose of this occasion, of 
 those who felt pain, as well as those who felt pleasure, at the 
 success of the measure for which the vote was given, afford 
 ample proof, how far unsuspected uprightness of intention, and 
 the exercise of an independent judgment, may be respected, 
 even by those who differ from the results to which that exer 
 cise of judgment has arrived." 
 
 Another presidential canvass took place in the autumn of 
 this year, the competitors in which were ANDREW JACKSON 
 and JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. The popular voice, which had 
 not invited Mr. Adams to the chair of state, precipitated him 
 from it with emphatic utterance. On the 4th of March, 1829, 
 General Jackson took possession of the vacated seat, with a 
 temper not at all softened by the unnecessary delay of four 
 years. 
 
 "We approach now the most important era of Mr. Webster s 
 intellectual life ; in which he gained, at once and for ever, the 
 highest rank as a debater and orator No previous production 
 of his, of whatever eminent ability, had prepared the minds of 
 men for the display of such a vast variety of genius as he ex- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 83 
 
 hibited in this greatest intellectual contest of the age. He 
 had always been equal to the occasion, it is true, but he had 
 never hitherto encountered an occasion that demanded such 
 infinite resources. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 To understand fully the character and importance of tin 
 GREAT DEBATE, as it was called in the newspapers of the 
 day, something should be known of the circumstances that 
 immediately preceded and accompanied it, and of the more 
 distinguished persons who participated in it. 
 
 It commenced, in the Senate of the United States, in the 
 month of January, 1830, during the first session of the 21st 
 Congress, and in the first year of the administration of 
 Andrew Jackson ; and lasted, with occasional but brief inter 
 ruptions, four months. 
 
 Few persons ever attained to eminent position in this or any 
 other country, under more auspicious circumstances, than 
 Andrew Jackson. The idol of a party comprising much the 
 larger portion of the constituency of the country, respected 
 for the many liberal qualities of his head and heart, even by 
 those who on conviction, or from interest, had opposed his 
 elevation, this distinguished soldier in the earlier portion of 
 his official career, gave assurance of an administration, equally 
 brilliant and popular. In the presidential campaign of 1828, 
 his competitor and immediate predecessor, JOHN QUINCY 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 85 
 
 ADAMS, whether from geographical position, or from a want of 
 confidence among the masses in the policy of his measures, or 
 purity of his intentions, or, more probable yet, from personal 
 unpopularity, arising from a cold temperament and repulsive 
 manners, had been signally and disgracefully defeated. No 
 where, save in New England, and even there, perhaps, rather 
 from local pride, than attachment to his person, or respect for 
 his public character, had his canvass for re-election been 
 honestly sustained. Elsewhere his efforts and those of his par 
 tisans had been vehemently rebuked. General Jackson re 
 ceived a majority in the electoral colleges unprecedented in 
 the previous annals of party contention. 
 
 Undoubtedly one great reason of Mr Adams unpopularity, 
 was his cold, antipathetic manner, and the suspicion of selfish 
 ness it suggested, or at least aided greatly to confirm. None 
 approached Mr. Adams but to recede. He never succeeded, 
 he never tried to conciliate. He seemed one of those persons 
 not rare on earth whose enjoyment stops in themselves ; 
 who find no pleasure in the indulgence of social feelings, and 
 cherish no hope but of self gratification. Friendship which 
 receives and repays mutual benefit s, which responds alike to 
 good or adverse fortune, which removes us from entire isola 
 tion, expands the heart, lends new force to genius, and a nobler 
 expression to thought, he never seemed capable of compre 
 hending. 
 
 His mind, wonderfully precocious, was developed at the ex 
 pense of his heart. Undue exercise of the one, as happens 
 
86 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 with the limbs of the body, dwarfed or weakened the other. 
 He could elaborate vast schemes of political aggrandizement, 
 construct stupendous tomes of incontrovertible logic, establish 
 or demolish theories of perplexing ingenuity ; but he was ig~ 
 norant of an unselfish emotion, incapable of an ennobling ex 
 pression, and constitutionally insensible to other than personal 
 hopes arid purposes. 
 
 All political dogmas, creeds and parties, were held by him 
 in like consideration. He found them all equally fallacious and 
 equally useful. He sacrificed no principle in espousing or re 
 pudiating either or all, for he had no principles to sacrifice. 
 Without violence to his feelings or judgment, he admitted or 
 rejected propositions and measures. He knew but one test of 
 their soundness ; how far they were useful, so far and so long 
 they were right. In whatever other respect he resembled Cato 
 Uticaensis, in one he differed from him materially. The victa 
 causa never pleased him. The theory that failed was to him 
 illogical ; the party that fell, unprincipled. 
 
 This intense concentration of self upon self gave character 
 to his countenance, manners, and habits. He seemed as cold, 
 passionless and inscrutable as the Egyptian Sphynx, whose fate, 
 too, his own resembled. He was successful while his secret 
 was undiscovered, but that once exposed, he sunk for ever. 
 
 A disposition like his was its own Nemesis. Ever graspinp 
 at honors, success rather exasperated than satisfied him. While 
 there was a step still higher, he was restless, discontented, 
 morose, till he reached it ; and when reached, the fear of its 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 87 
 
 loss was greater than the pleasure of its enjoyment, and kept 
 his mind in a constant turbulence. A want of sympathy for 
 others, deadened his own sense of his elevation ; he knew not 
 the increase of gratification from reflection. His merit, he 
 thought, provoked service, which, like virtue, was its own re 
 ward. He therefore felt no gratitude, and acknowledged in 
 his favors no distinction between friend and enemy. Success 
 made him ungrateful, and defeat vindictive ; the one he easily 
 forgot, the other he never forgave. 
 
 This harshness of character developed itself in his writings. 
 Future ages no less than the present will suffer from its ex 
 pression. A severe and unyielding logic pervades and oppresses 
 all his productions. There is nothing to move the affections, 
 to rouse the fancy, or open the heart, in any. In all the 
 mighty volumes of lectures, essays, correspondence, state-papers 
 and speeches with which he has terrified mankind, not a glo 
 rious sentiment, magnanimous idea, or soul-stirring expression 
 occurs. They are all lava-like, destroying everything like 
 fertilization. 
 
 Such a character could secure no permanent popularity. It 
 was only to be appreciated, to be hated ; and the historian will 
 be compelled to record, among the most prominent causes of 
 Mr. Adams ultimate defeat, his selfish, cold, unsympathetic 
 heart, characterizing manner and action. 
 
 His successful competitor was cast in a different mould. 
 Some virtues he had, and others he assumed. He was frank, 
 affable, and impressionable ; and if not always sincere, always 
 
88 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 had the appearance of sincerity. It was easier to pardon his 
 vices, than to acknowledge the virtues of his rival ; the arro 
 gance of the latter offending self-love, more than the former 
 the moral sense. 
 
 It is not to be denied, however, that he had one element o 
 popularity which his opponent needed. This was his brilliant 
 military reputation. His courage and conduct in several severe 
 emergencies, and more particularly in one crisis of our public 
 affairs, during the last war with Great Britain, had gained 
 him the confidence and gratitude of his countrymen. This 
 element of strength had been sensibly felt in the preceding 
 canvass, and was perhaps the best solution of the almost in 
 credible popularity which he enjoyed. 
 
 Still his military achievements, dazzling as they were, did 
 not constitute his sole claim to popular favor. He had filled 
 high stations in civil life, in National as well as in State Gov 
 ernment ; in all of which he had given evidence of a deter 
 mined will, an honest purpose, and sagacious judgment, that 
 commanded the good-will of all classes. His character for 
 moral, physical, and intellectual energy was known everywhere. 
 He was thought to possess, too, qualities of mind rare in their 
 independent excellence, and only less than miraculous in their 
 combination. And hence there was a conviction, no more 
 earnest than general, with the well-informed no less than with 
 the vulgar, that he could cultivate with equal success the some 
 what hostile arts of war and peace. 
 
 Everything, therefore, on his accession to power, seemed to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 89 
 
 promise its safe and long continuance. The aspect of the 
 political sky was unclouded. The almost unanimity of the 
 popular vote by which this hero-statesman was borne into the 
 Presidency, ridiculed the very idea of opposition. Hardly a 
 latent inclination remained to combat the measures of his ad 
 ministration : the ability to do so with success seemed gone 
 for ever. 
 
 Yet though the Administration had no cause of apprehension 
 from outward assault, persons boasting more than ordinary 
 sagacity foresaw, or professed to foresee, the inevitable cause 
 of future and even early perplexity, to its councils. They 
 discovered it in the character of the political alliance that ob 
 tained Gen. Jackson the Presidency ; in the original forma 
 tion of this alliance ; its incongruous materials ; its compulsory 
 cohesion ; and in the different ends proposed by its several 
 constituent members. 
 
 It is to be admitted, that two divisions of the Democratic 
 party, professing and advocating doctrines diametrically oppo 
 site, had leagued together to consummate, in the election of 
 Gen. Jackson, their own political ascendancy one contending 
 for such a construction of the Constitution as authorized Con 
 gress to protect domestic manufactures, appropriate money for 
 works of internal improvement, and, generally, to regulate and 
 control all interests strictly national ; the other, insisting upon 
 a close, precise, narrow construction, which gave none but 
 express powers, left nothing to inference or analogy. Of this 
 
 latter division, the acknowledged head was Mr. Crawford, who 
 5 
 
90 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 had himself been a candidate for the Presidency in 1824, but 
 in 1828 had withdrawn his former pretensions, and gone in, 
 with all his friends, personal and political, the most distin 
 guished of whom was Mr. Yan Buren, in unqualified support 
 of Gen. Jackson. This powerful and opportune accession had 
 contributed in a great degree to the singularly rapid augmen 
 tation of the General s strength in the latter part of the canvass. 
 
 The division or section that urged a liberal construction of 
 the Constitution, was at least as strong, from the position and 
 ability of its leaders, and probably more so in the number of 
 its rank and file. It had, beside, all the weight of precedent 
 in its favor. It was a historical party. Its principles and 
 policy had become firmly rooted in the public mind, from the 
 countenance and furtherance they had met with from the two 
 immediately preceding Administrations. Works of internal 
 improvement, especially, had been recommended and carried 
 out by the Administration of Mr. Monroe ; and his policy in 
 this respect, as in most others, had not only been warmly sup 
 ported, but even extended by his immediate successor. 
 
 Between these conflicting opinions it was contended, Gen. 
 Jackson would be compelled to decide ; and it was predicted 
 that his decision, which way soever it leaned, would neces 
 sarily disturb, if it did not completely destroy, the harmony 
 of the party. 
 
 The necessity, however, for an election between these two 
 principles had not yet arrived. Gen. Jackson was at this 
 time sustained by a united, devoted and victorious party j and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 91 
 
 nothing had occurred thus far in his administration to dimmish 
 the attachment or weaken the confidence of the people, in life 
 person and character. 
 
 On his accession, it seemed to be generally conceded tha< 
 he would not be a candidate for re-election ; and, in conse 
 quence, the party was about equally divided between the rival 
 pretensions of Messrs. Calhoun and Van fiuren. But how 
 ever ardent the jealousy, and unremitting the watchfulness 
 each of these eminent statesmen maintained towards the other, 
 no open demonstration of hostility affected their own relations, 
 or disturbed the intimacy of their mutual friends. Whatever 
 there was of dislike, distrust, and growing alienation between 
 them was studiously concealed, on either part, from the public. 
 Their bearing towards each other seemed candid, even cordial ; 
 and from no outward indications could a suspicion of an ap 
 proaching rupture be conjectured. 
 
 From the commencemeut of the administration up to the 
 time of this debate, the most perfect understanding seemed to 
 subsist between its distinguished chief, and the second officer 
 of the Government, Mr. Calhoun. The latter had done the 
 former some service, and was supposed at this time to have 
 done him more. In the Presidential sweepstakes of 1824, he 
 had postponed his own candidatecy, and had aided, by his per 
 sonal and official influence, to secure for the General the 
 nomination of Pennsylvania and its subsequent vote. In 
 JS2G, he had continued and redoubled his exertions. He also 
 claimed, through } s friends, to have defended, in Mr. Mon- 
 
92 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 roe s cabinet, Gen. Jackson s conduct in the Seminole war, 
 and such at this time was the conviction of Gen. Jackson 
 himself; who thus felt called upon from gratitude as well as 
 from policy, to cultivate a close intimacy with the Vice Presi 
 dent. 
 
 In consequence of this entente cnrdiale, Mr. Calhoun s parti 
 sans were appointed to some of the most lucrative and respon 
 sible positions in the Government. Mr. Ingham, one of the 
 most. devoted to his" person and political fortunes, was placed 
 at the head of the Treasury, the most influential office in the 
 appointment of the President. While no persons were re 
 ceived at the White House with warmer cordiality than his 
 nearest friends. Col. Hayne, of South Carolina, deservedly 
 one of the most cherished of them, was a frequent attendant 
 and particular favorite there. In truth, so strict and confi 
 dential an intimacy prevailed between the two highest officers 
 of the Government at this time, that persons supposed to be 
 in the possession of Gen. Jackson s confidence have not hesi 
 tated since to declare, that but for the quarrel Van Buren 
 and Forsyth contrived soon after to get up between them, 
 Gen. Jackson would have embraced the political principles 
 and furthered the aspirations of the Vice President. Such 
 indeed was then the common expectation. It was fated 
 however that the same disturbing element, by means of which 
 Harley and St. John ejected Godolphin and Maryborough 
 from the councils and confidence of Queen Anne, should be 
 in the hands of men equally astute, the pn miniate cause of tho 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 93 
 
 rupture between Callioun and Gen. Jackson. Dux famina 
 facti. 
 
 Notwithstanding the immense majority of the suffrage, with 
 which the administration had come into power, and the com 
 plete rout its opponents had sustained, it entertained towards 
 the more prominent supporters of the late administration a 
 mingled sentiment of vindictiveness and fear. There was no 
 thing in its conduct towards them of the forbearance becom 
 ing a victorious and magnanimous party ; on the contrary, 
 their total annihilation seemed its dearest wish and only safe 
 assurance of permanent establishment. The friends of the 
 administration thought to pursue towards their chief oppo 
 nents the same policy Tarquinius Superbus dictated to his 
 son, who had gained possession by unworthy arts of an impor 
 tant city : to cut off the heads of the most noted men of the 
 
 
 
 place, that there might be no rallying names for the multitude. 
 Suppressing, therefore, for the time all inimical purposes to 
 wards each other, Calhoun-men and Van Buren-men, radicals 
 and conservatives, nourished a common dislike, and united in 
 acts of common hostility, against the chiefs of the late admin 
 istration. 
 
 Their rancor and purpose were particularly directed against 
 Mr. Webster, the acknowledged leader of the Anti-Jackson 
 party in the Senate, whom they equally feared and hated. 
 He had sustained the measures of the late administration with 
 zeal, energy, and efficiency ; had been its bulwark against all 
 foes ; and it had leaned upon him for support. During tkp 
 
94 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 recent canvass, too, he had been most active in Mr. Adams 
 cause j and by the warmth and vigor of his political action had 
 controlled the nearly unanimous vote of New England against 
 Gen. Jackson. The friends of the administration therefore 
 could gratify, in his prostration, at once their animosity and 
 their policy. 
 
 Contemporaneous authority gives encouragement to a sus 
 picion that previous to the introduction of Foot s resolutions 
 respecting the public lands, it had been determined by the 
 leaders of the Jackson party to organize a crusade against Mr. 
 Webster. The subsidized presses of the party were most 
 violent in their abuse of his character, his history, and con 
 duct. Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay having been driven into re 
 tirement, there remained, in the ranks of the opposition, no 
 one but Mr. "Webster of sufficient position, to embarrass to any 
 great extent the new dynasty. To revolutionize New Eng 
 land, too, was a purpose they meditated and avowed ; and, 
 preparatory to its accomplishment, the overthrow of Mr. 
 Webster seemed necessary. 
 
 Whether such a conspiracy was ever matured or not, one 
 fact is incontestible ; that the nearest and most powerful 
 friends of both the Vice President and Secretary of State 
 simultaneously attacked Mr. Webster, giving by the act to the 
 world all the ordinary evidence of preconcerted purpose. 
 Grundy and Livingston, Woodbury and Benton, Hayne, 
 Rowan, and Forsyth, all participated in the onslaught. 
 
 It was a combination of great power, from the character and 
 
> DANIEL WEBSTER. 95 
 
 position of the parties who composed it. They were all men 
 of ability and reputation. Forsyth, it is true, took no open 
 part in the discussion. He was none the less felt in the advice 
 he gave, the information he afforded, and in the general direc 
 tion of the strategy of debate. He was quick, cool, and o 
 infinite resources. 
 
 Grrundy and Livingston leave other reputation than what 
 they achieved in this debate. It is fortunate for their fame it 
 is so. For though the part they performed therein was not 
 discreditable, nor even undistinguished, their names gained 
 from it no additional lustre. They were no ordinary antagonists 
 in a dialectic contest. Their talents were of a high order. 
 Both had gone through an earnest intellectual training, which, 
 with their natural capacity for affairs, made them alike admir 
 able in speech or action. Grundy was, of all the Seriate, 
 nearest the President ; and the moral prestige of this relation 
 gave a direction, a weight, a conclusion to his words, not 
 rashly to be overlooked. He was prudent of speech, and gave 
 no offence, either by inconsiderate language or monotonous 
 frequency, in his Parliamentary efforts. It is true, he was 
 rather a debater than an orator, and more specious than pro 
 found. But he knew how to detect and expose the weak 
 points of an adverse argument, and by the refutation of an 
 other s sophisms, divert attention from his own. There was 
 an earnestness, withal, in his manner and countenance that 
 invited attention and encouraged belief. 
 
 Livingston had a double claim to the respect of the Senate 
 
96 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 from the past as well as the present. In earlier days, he had 
 been the representative the sole representative of the first 
 commercial city in the Union, and was now a Senator from 
 one of its most flourishing, though youngest States. In both 
 capacities known and respected as an honorable man, intelli 
 gent and candid, polished in language and manner, and of un 
 exceptionable character. He had seen a great diversity oi 
 character, of age, and institutions, and knew how to make his 
 experience available, whether in the conduct of an argument, 
 or in the establishment of a policy. Few Senators were held 
 in greater esteem. He attacked no one ; he indulged in no vitu 
 perative language. He opposed or defended measures, but he 
 never questioned motives, nor calumniated persons. In his 
 political career, while he never was guilty of a partisan 
 meanness, he had on more than one occasion, displayed a libe 
 rality of opinion and conduct seldom recorded of politicians. 
 He had advocated the Panama Mission, though opposed to the 
 administration of Mr. Adams ; an exhibition of moral courage 
 that found few to praise and none to imitate it among his poli 
 tical associates. His reputation as a man of honorable bear 
 ing, cultivated intellect, and full experience in public life, 
 preceding him to the Senate, gained him an influence there, 
 which, from the day of his entrance, had daily increased. 
 
 Nothing but merit, and merit of the highest order, could 
 have raised Mr. Woodbury to the positions he has occupied in 
 the country. Successively, Judge of the Superior Court of 
 his native State, Senator in Congress, Secretary of two Depart- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 97 
 
 ments, and Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States ; 
 he has discharged the responsible duties of all these offices, if 
 not with unequalled ability, most certainly with far more than 
 ordinary capacity. He has better than realized the promise 
 of his earlier days, and is in truth one of the rare examples o 
 precocious talent confirmed and even strengthened in maturcr 
 age. But still he has not he nwer had the gift of elo 
 quence. It is not his it never was to rouse, to agitate, to 
 control the passions. Never on any one occasion of his 
 various and eminent- life, at the bar, the hustings, or senate- 
 chamber, has he gained full mastery of the heart ; ever pre 
 vailed upon his hearer to forget for one moment the speaker 
 in his subject. His mind has rather a logical than imaginative 
 character ; has been more employed in analysing than creat 
 ing. His sensibility has ever been subject to his reasoning 
 faculties ; and he has been compelled by the absoluteness of 
 his mental organisation, to prefer serious argumentation, and 
 unfertilising facts to fancy, taste, or eloquence. 
 
 Bent on discharged all sorts of missiles at the head of an 
 adversary, like a catapulta. Tropes, metaphors, similes, unsa 
 vory allusions, vituperative epithets, damnatory personalities, 
 he hurled upon the victim of his temporary anger. He 
 neither sought nor gave quarter; one of the regular Black 
 Hussars of debate. His manner, if possible, was yet more 
 excited than his language; and his voice more belligerent tha a 
 either. His whole attitude was defiance, and each gesture a 
 
 / O 
 
 provocation. An indifferent auditor might suppose from the 
 
98 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 extravagance of his manner and language occasionally, that 
 he -was "running a muck." Habet fccnum in cornu, was at 
 such times the proper solution of his conduct. 
 
 His speech was as often extraordinary, as his manner. He 
 brought together such a mass of crude^ undigested, indigcsti 
 ble compilations, overwhelming the subject-matter in its acci 
 dents, so much useless accumulation, disjointed and inconse 
 quent facts, impertinent allusions, and loose though labored 
 analogies, one could not but imagine that he had made a foray 
 into the territory of history, and seized upon booty, of which 
 he neither knew the value, nor cared for the destination. 
 
 Too often, whatever there was of invincible logic in his de 
 clamation, was lost in diffusive speech, in useless generalities, 
 unconnected episodes, and uncalled-for personalities. His 
 egotism at this time was almost ferocious ; it interpenetrated 
 every part of his speech, and made it sometimes absurd, some 
 times farcical, and always offensive. But whenever for a time 
 he forgot himself in his subject, and became wholly absorbed 
 in its consideration, he was an antagonist not to be despised. 
 He had read much, he had observed much, he had hoarded 
 much ; and all he had read, observed, or hoarded he held at a 
 moment s command. If he could but bring his facts and il 
 lustrations into line, so as to bear down in compact array upon 
 the enemy s centre, he pierced it and secured victory. But it 
 was unfortunate for him that his facts, undisciplined and irre 
 gular, hung back upon the very point of engagement, and re 
 coiled, like elephants in Indian armies, upon their v wn friends 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 99 
 
 I speak of him as lie was, Twenty years have passed since 
 ttus debate took place. The closer study of mankind, of 
 books, and himself, has liberalized his temper, chastened his 
 style, and subdued his manner. He commits no such sole 
 cisms of thought or conduct as formerly. He arrogates less 
 for his own position now, concedes more to his opponents . 
 His speech is less discursive and more argumentative ; it neg 
 lects persons and embraces propositions ; is more suggestive, 
 logical, and final. Still, though his deportment has more 
 suavity, his manner more amenity, and his speech less person 
 ality than of old, he does not roar you now as gently an twere 
 any nightingale. He is Boanerges still. 
 
 On this occasion he headed the assault upon Mr. Webster, 
 or, at least, upon New England. And it is not improbable 
 that Mr. Webster had him in view, when in his second speech 
 he spoke of " casting the characters of the drama, assigning to 
 each his part : to one the attack, to another the cry of onset." 
 A supposition the more likely, as Mr. Benton, in his speech, 
 justified the suspicion that an onslaught upon New England 
 and New England men, had been premeditated before the in 
 troduction of this debate. 
 
 Rowan had some knowledge of Constitutional law, and 
 boasted more. His distinctions, however, were too nice, too 
 refined, too sublimated for comprehension. It is doubtful if 
 he understood his own propositions ; it is certain none others 
 could. His language was all esoteric : yet if he foiled in con 
 vincing his audience, he succeeded in puzzling them ; which 
 
100 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 was a half-victory, like the battle of Fontenoy. It is besides 
 impossible to answer what it is impossible to understand ; so 
 that, like the cuttle-fish, he often escaped detection in a dark 
 ness of his own creation. 
 
 His argument on this occasion was long and elaborate. Su- 
 damt et alsit, to make it impregnable. It was mostly, how 
 ever, tedious, illogical, inconsequent. Still there were fitful 
 passages in it of indubitable merit, revealing some talent, and 
 suggestive of more. 
 
 Hayne dashed into debate, like the Mameluke cavalry upon 
 a charge. There was a gallant air about him, that could not 
 but win admiration. He never provided for retreat ; he never 
 imagined it. He had an invincible confidence in himself, which 
 arose partly from constitutional temperament, partly from pre 
 vious success. His was the Napoleonic warfare ; to strike at 
 once for the capitol of the enemy, heedless of danger or cost 
 to his own forces. Not doubting to overcome all odds, he 
 feared none, however seemingly superior. Of great fluency 
 and no little force of expression, his speech never halted, and 
 seldom fatigued. 
 
 His oratory was graceful and persuasive. An impassioned 
 manner, somewhat vehement as times, but rarely if ever ex 
 travagant ; a voice well-modulated and clear ; a distinct, 
 though rapid enunciation 5 a confident, but not often offensive 
 address ; these, accompanying and illustrating language well 
 selected, and periods well turned, made him a popular and 
 effective speaker. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. lUl 
 
 His forte was, still, rather declamation than argument : of 
 close, severe ratiocination, which rejects everything but what 
 leads to conviction, he knew but little. He had never mas 
 tered the science of dialectics ; but he was not without a cer 
 tain kind of specious logic, which, witt.tjie- "rjujilti^iide of I>s> 
 teners, would pass for current coia. It Jjuui; $kA*4o^,^hfl. 
 impress, and superficial appearance of the pure metal : but it 
 wanted weight on examination, and had no genuine ring in its 
 sound. 
 
 Col. Hayne was, incontestibly, the most formidable of Mr. 
 "Webster s opponents. He had more native and acquired 
 ability than any of them. Such is the concurrent opinion of 
 all who witnessed this great forensic contest ; among others, of 
 the Hon. Mr. Everett, of Massachusetts ; who is himself no 
 less distinguished as an orator, than for diplomatic ability and 
 general acquirements. " It is unnecessary to state," says he, 
 " except to those who have come forward quite recently, that Col. 
 Hayne was a gentleman of ability very far above the average, 
 a highly accomplished debater, an experienced politician, a 
 person possessing the full confidence of his friends, and en 
 tirely familiar with the argument on which the theory con 
 troverted in Mr. "Webster s speech rests." 
 
 The Senate was prepared to receive him favorably. He had 
 been distinguished in the politics of his own State, and sanguine 
 anticipations were indulged in by his friends of his great suc 
 cess when transferred to a larger sphere of action. Before his 
 speeches in this great controversy, he had occasionally addressed 
 
102 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 the Senate, and displayed qualities of mind which seemed to 
 justify all previous encomiums. He was, too, personally 
 popular ; an advantage of no inconsiderable nature in whatever 
 contest or undertaking a man is engaged with his fellows. His 
 consciousness . the^favor with which everything he says or 
 doev is, re eehred, gives him a confidence and an energy which 
 stimulate to great words or deeds. 
 
 Col. Hayne deserved his popularity. He had a courteous 
 and frank address, conciliatory manners and deportment. He 
 was high-minded and sincere ; easy and agreeable in conver 
 sation ; of great vivacity of intellect, and mercurial talent. 
 
 Such was the formidable character of the combination Mr. 
 Webster found himself compelled by circumstances to meet. 
 Never before, in Parliaiiientary annals, did one man encounter 
 such fearful odds. The instance most like it, when Pulteney, 
 and Pitt, and Littleton and Chesterfield, with others less dis 
 tinguished, united in a simultaneous attack upon Walpole, 
 differs in one important respect : Walpole had official position, 
 the king s name, and a majority of the Commons in his favor 
 advantages that held him up even against intellectual supe 
 riority. Mr. Webster had nothing but himself to rely upon, 
 with an equally powerful array against him. But both were 
 intellectual combats, which, from the character of the actors 
 and the various and momentous interests involved therein, 
 have never been surpassed in any country or age. 
 
 To publish all the speeches of this great debate would re 
 quire volumes. Still the debate itself would be hardly appre- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 103 
 
 elated but from reference to the actors in it. The drama 
 could not be complete, with even the subordinate parts left 
 out : there was no such insignificant character in it but aided 
 in some way the denouement. 
 
 The debate itself is a complete epic ; only instead of wars 
 and combatants, we have argument and orators It is not a 
 vulgar exhibition of brute strength a gladiatorial or pugilistic 
 encounter ; but an intellectual struggle the collison of mind 
 with mind the development of all the highest intelligence in 
 man. The principles and truths evolved from its consider 
 ation will endure with the country for which they were intended, 
 exalting its character and ennobling its destiny. 
 
 There were others of the Senate, less prominent before 
 the public, of the dominant party, equally active in their 
 exertions on this occasion : some of whom served as videttes, 
 being thrown out in advance to gain and supply information 
 respecting the enemy, and falling back upon the main body 
 *b<?n battle joined If the parts they performed were less 
 distinguished than those of the persons enumerated, they 
 seemed as necessary to success. Hardly a Senator of the 
 dominant party but performed some duty on the occasion. 
 
 It is besides to be considered that the whole moral influence 
 of the administration was directed against Mr. Webster. This 1 , 
 powerful at all times, was doubly so now. The iron will of 
 Gen. Jackson subdued all minds to his : it penetrated and 
 controlled every member of his administration or party, from 
 
104 CHAPTER IV. * 
 
 the highest to the lowest. There is a species of fascination in 
 a severe, inflexible will, that few have the moral energy to re 
 sist. It seems to partake of the character of destiny, in the 
 certain accomplishment of its purpose. It paralyses weaker 
 minds, and makes them the puppets of its action. 
 
 The one idea of Gen. Jackson s administration was devotion 
 to himself. He allowed every variety of opinion and all free 
 dom of conduct consistent with this. He forgave all moral 
 obliquities with plenary absolution. There was with him but 
 one unpardonable sin : it was resistance to his will. 
 
 He united in himself the whole force of his party He was 
 the Democratic party, as Louis XIY. was " the State." 
 When he came into power, Democracy had local significa 
 tions ; in one place it meant tariff, in another free trade ; 
 sometimes, " internal improvement," and sometimes, " strict 
 construction." He gave it a definite name and character, 
 which was not one in Georgia and another in Maine, but the 
 same everywhere, of equal meaning and potency. The 
 u Democratic" was lost in the JACKSON party. 
 
 He gave it unity, consistency, and rigor of action. Ho 
 could concentrate it upon one point, with one will. No one 
 ever had round him more devoted followers for though harsh 
 to his enemies, he was always true to his friends. He would 
 exert his whole power, outstrip all constitutional restrictions 
 to gratify a friend. And this was the great secret of his 
 power. His fidelity to friendship passed into proverb, and 
 gained him the great heart of the nation. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 105 
 
 What could not such a man at the head of such a party 
 accomplish of good or evil ? It is true, that so early in his 
 administration, as the time now written of, he had not ob 
 tained the fearful ascendancy in the country or in Congress, 
 as at a later period. But even now the influence of hig 
 character was deeply felt ; and had he chosen to put forth 
 his whole strength in any one direction, the result at least 
 might long have remained doubtful. 
 
 But it is due the memory of this distinguished patriot, sol 
 dier, and statesman to say, that he never entertained towards 
 Mr. "Webster any of that vehemence of personal bitterness, 
 which he sometimes exhibited towards his opponents. He 
 was of too magnanimous character to hate a magnanimous 
 foe. Mr. Webster never flattered, deceived, or abused him ; 
 never opposed his measures, but in an honorable manner, and 
 with respectful language. In the campaign that had just 
 terminated, Mr. Webster, in warmly supporting the cause of 
 his rival, was careful to use no harsh language of him, or his 
 pretensions : on the contrary, upon more than one occasion, 
 when circumstances seemed to require the mention of his name, 
 had spoken, in terms of fit encomium, of his distinguished mili 
 tary services. The General, who never forgot a favor or an 
 injury, and who was as ready to acknowledge courtesy as to 
 avenge insult, nursed, therefore, no feeling of personal unkind- 
 ness for Mr. Webster ; and the intercourse between these two 
 eminent men at this time though not intimate nor cordial 
 
106 CHAPTER IV 
 
 was not unfriendly. Ge 1 " 1 Jackson tolerated, it may be, but 
 did not second the attack up^a Mr. Webster. 
 
 Still the Alliance used his name ; which was " a tower of 
 strength" to them. It whipped in the refractory, confirmed 
 the wavering, and terrified the timid. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 On the 29th day of December, 1829, Mr Foote of Conn. 
 offered, in the Senate of the United States, the following reso 
 lution : 
 
 " Resolved, that the Committee onTublic Lands be instructed 
 to enquire into the expediency of limiting for a certain period 
 the sales of the public lands to such lands only, as have been 
 heretofore offered for sale, and are subject to entry at the 
 minimum price. Also, whether the office of Surveyor General 
 may not be abolished without detriment to the public interest." 
 
 Some skirmishing immediately occurred on the introduction 
 of the resolution between Benton, Noble, Woodbury, Holmes, 
 and Foote ; but no one imagined it was soon to be followed by 
 a regular engagement. A motion being made and carried to 
 postpone the consideration of the resolution till the next Mon 
 day, the excitement for the time subsided. 
 
 When the resolution on the day specified came up for dis 
 cussion, Mr-. Foote remarked that in twelve years experience 
 in legislative assemblies, it was not within his recollection that 
 a resolution merely for enquiry had been made a special order. 
 As he could not discover any benefit which could possibly 
 
108 CHAPTER V. 
 
 arise from introducing this practice, he should decline giving 
 it his sanction, by taking the lead in the debate. 
 
 Some insignificant discussion hereupon having taken place 
 among Senators, the resolution passed over for the day. 
 
 When it next came up for consideration on Monday the 
 38th, Mr. Benton took the floor and made a speech bearing 
 evident indications of study and preparation. In the course 
 of his remarks, he made a violent a. tack upon New England, 
 its men and institutions. H> denounced the policy of New 
 England towards the West as illiberal and unjust but ex 
 tolled the generosity of the South. " The West must still 
 look," he said, " to the solid phalanx of the South for 
 succor." 
 
 The whole character of the speech revealed a previous in 
 tention to attack New England ; and, in one he made subse 
 quent to this, he asserted that he had been informed, during 
 the vacation, of a design to introduce such a resolution, and 
 declared his determination to meet it. It was brought in, 
 he said, to forestall his own purpose. " It was introduced to 
 check-mate my graduation bill ! It was an offer of battle to 
 the West ! / accepted the offer ; J am fighting the battle ; 
 some are crying out and hauling off ; but / am standing to it, 
 and mean to stand to it. I call upon the adversary to come 
 on and lay on, and I tell him 
 
 "Damned be he ; that first cries hold, enough ! ; 
 Thi sentiment and the style of its utterance, arc severely 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 109 
 
 Bentonian. A harmless resolution of inquiry respecting a 
 measure of public policy was converted, in the alembic of his 
 egotism, into a studied attack upon himself, or, it may be, he 
 sought to make another seem the aggressor, in order to cover 
 his own hostile intent. 
 
 He was followed by Col. Hayne, who, after returning his 
 complimentary salute, u The South would always sympathize 
 with the West," poured also a broadside into New England. 
 
 He placed in unpleasant contrast to the conduct of the 
 South, the action of the Eastern States upon the question of 
 the public lands, which he characterized as selfish and unprin 
 cipled. The East was unwilling he said that the public 
 lands should be thrown open on easy terms to settlers, for fear 
 of its being drained of population. It sought to retain its 
 population at home for manufacturing purposes " To create 
 a manufactory of paupers, who should supply the manufacto 
 ries of rich proprietors, and enable them to amass great 
 wealth." 
 
 The suddenness of this attack upon New England, its 
 warmth, and evident malice, took Mr. Webster by surprise. 
 He could not but feel that the onslaught upon the East was 
 intended as a personal attack. Yet he was conscious of hav 
 ing given no provocation to either of the aggressors. He had 
 neither sought nor accepted an opportunity to annoy them 
 
 He was not even aware of Mr. Foote s intention to introduce 
 any such resolution ; but yet he could see no harm in its 
 terms or purpose, nor impropriety in its introduction. His 
 
110 CHAPTER V. 
 
 relations with the two Senators, though not intimate, were no* 
 hostile. He had neither given nor taken offence. It has in 
 deed been said, that at the close of the preceding session. 
 Colonel Hayne had made a wanton and somewhat intemperate 
 ttack upon his opinions and conduct, which would have 
 elicited a suitable reply, but for the interposition and entrea 
 ties of the Hon. John Reed and other members from Massa 
 chusetts, who feared a controversy between them at that time 
 would endanger the satisfactory adjustment of some Massa 
 chusetts claim then on its passage though the Senate. Yield 
 ing to their solicitations, Mr. Webster discarded all resentful 
 feeling and withheld a reply. To this, or some similar circum 
 stance, he may be supposed to allude in the earlier part of his 
 great speech, when speaking of Colonel Hayne s assault upon 
 him. " Some passages, it is true, had occurred since our ac 
 quaintance in this body, which I could have wished might 
 have been otherwise ; but I had used philosophy and forgotten 
 them." With Mr. Benton he .had never been on terms of 
 social or personal intimacy, yet bore towards him a relation of 
 senatorial courtesy. 
 
 As soon as Colonel Hayne concluded his speech, Mr. 
 Webster took the floor in reply. It was late, however, in the 
 day, and he gave way on a motion from Mr. Benton to adjourn. 
 In making the motion, Mr. Benton said he was unwilling that 
 the harmony of the sounds which had just pervaded the 
 Senate-chamber, and which still lingered upon the delighted 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. Ill 
 
 tympanum of Senators, should be broken in upon by aught 
 discordant. 
 
 \J The next day Mr. "Webster replied to the speech of Colonel 
 Hayne. The growing interest of the controversy attracted a 
 more than usual crowd to the Senate. It appeared evident 
 to every one, a drama of some importance was going on. 
 
 Mr. Webster defended the conduct of the Eastern States 
 towards the West as regarded the question of the public 
 lands, and disproved, by historical analysis, the accusation of 
 neglect or hostility on their part. All that he said in this 
 speech on the public lands, forms an admirable state paper 
 He had evidently carried the subject before in his mind. Al 
 luding to the beneficial influence of the action of the general 
 government upon the settlement of Ohio, and in the develop 
 ment of its vast natural resources, an action which he showed had 
 been stimulated and directed by New England votes he said, 
 comparing the Ohio of 1794 with the Ohio of 1830: "And 
 here, sir, at the epoch of ] 794, let us pause and survey the 
 scene. It is now thirty-five years since that scene actually ex 
 isted. Let us, sir, look back and behold it. Over all that is 
 now Ohio,, there then stretched one vast wilderness, unbroken, 
 except by two small spots of civilized culture, the one at Ma 
 rietta, the other at Cincinnati. At these little openings, 
 hardly a pin s point upon the map, the arm of the frontiers 
 man had levelled the forest and let in the sun. These little 
 patches of earth, themselves almost shadowed by the over 
 hanging boughs of that wilderness, which had stood and per- 
 
112 CHAPTER V. 
 
 petuated itself, from century to century, ever since the Crea 
 tion, were all that had been rendered verdant by the hand cf 
 man. In an extent of hundreds and thousands of square milef , 
 no other surface of smiling green attested the presence cf 
 civilization. The hunter s path crossed mighty rivers, flowing 
 in solitary grandeur, whose sources lay in remote and unknown 
 regions of the wilderness. It struck upon the North, on ;i 
 vast inland sea, over which the wintry tempests raged as on 
 the ocean ; all around was bare creation. It was a fresh, un 
 touched, unbounded, magnificent wilderness ! And, sir, wha:; 
 is it now? Is it imagination only, or can it possibly be fact, 
 that presents such a change as surprises and astonishes us, 
 when we turn our eyes to what Ohio now is ? Is it reality or 
 a dream, that in so short a period as even thirty-five years, 
 there has sprung up on the same surface an independent 
 State, with a million of people ? A million of inhabitants ! 
 Ah amount of population greater than all the Cantons of 
 Switzerland ; equal to one-third of all the people of the United 
 States when they undertook to accomplish their independence. 
 If, sir, we may judge of measures by their results, what 
 lessons do these facts read us upon the policy of the govern 
 ment ? what inferences do they not authorise upon the general 
 question of kindness or unkindness? what convictions do 
 they enforce, as to the wisdom and ability, on the one hand, 
 or the folly and incapacity on the other, of our general 
 management of Western affairs ? For my own part, while I 
 am struck with wonder at the success, I also look with admi- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 113 
 
 ration at the wisdom and foresight which originally arranged 
 and prescribed the system for the settlement of the public 
 domain." 
 
 In relation to the comparative aid -afforded by the East and 
 South to the settlement of the West, Mr. Webster said : ** I 
 undertake to say, sir, that if you look to the votes on any one 
 of these measures, and strike out from the list of ayes the 
 names of New England members, it will be found that in every 
 case the South would then have voted down the West, and the 
 measure would have failed." 
 
 In conclusion Mr. Webster said : " The Senate will bear 
 me witness that I am not accustomed to allude to local opin 
 ions, nor to compare nor contrast different portions of the coun 
 try. I have often suffered things to pass which I might pro 
 perly enough have considered as deserving a remark, without 
 any observation. But I have felt it my duty on this occasion, 
 to vindicate the State which I represent from charges and im 
 putations on her public character and conduct, which I know 
 to be undeserved and unfounded. If advanced elsewhere, they 
 might be passed, perhaps, without notice. But whatever is 
 said here is supposed to be entitled to public regard, and to 
 deserve public attention ; it derives importance and dignity 
 from the place where it is uttered. As a true representative 
 of the State which has sent me here, it is my duty, and a duty 
 which I shall fulfil, to place her history and her conduct, her 
 honor and her character, in thsir just and proper light. 
 
 " While I stand here as representative of Massachusetts, I 
 
114 CHAPTER V. 
 
 will be her true representative, and by the blessing of God, I 
 will vindicate her character, motives, and history, from every 
 imputation, coming from a respectable source. 
 
 If Mr. Webster betrayed in this speech an unusual warmth 
 of manner and language, his sufficient apology is the provoca 
 tion he had received. New England, and more particularly 
 Massachusetts, his foster-mother, had been gratuitously as 
 sailed, and, as he could not but believe, with direct reference 
 to himself. He had been struck at where his sensibilities were 
 deepest and keenest in his love of home ; and had he re 
 mained silent or even contented himself with simply repelling 
 the attack, his constituency and the world would have pro 
 nounced him craven. This was not besides the sole provoca 
 tion he had received ; this was not the solitary occasion on 
 which his temper had been sorely tried. The dominant party 
 in the Senate, mad with its excessive victory, had previously 
 teazed and goaded him. He had borne much, some thought 
 too much, with "a patient shrug." The time had come 
 when, in more than his own opinion, he should take the field in 
 earnest. 
 
 On Tuesday, January Ust, the day after Mr. Webster s 
 speech, the Senate resumed again the consideration of Mr. 
 Foote s resolution. 
 
 Before the debate recommenced, Mr. Chambers, of Md., 
 rose and expressed a hope that the Senate would consent to 
 postpone further consideration of the resolution till the Mon 
 day following, as Mr. Webster who had taken part in it anil 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 115 
 
 wished to be present at its continued discussion had unavoida 
 ble engagements elsewhere. 
 
 There was a case of some importance on argument before 
 the Supreme Court in which Mr. Webster was retained a: 
 counsel. Compelled to watch its progress, for he knew not at 
 what moment he might be called upon to address the Bench 
 he had not been able to command more than an occasional 
 presence in the Senate. He was not present when the resolu 
 tion was introduced, nor more than a fractional portion of the 
 tune while Mr. Benton spoke. 
 
 The request was denied him. Col. Hayne rose in evident 
 agitation, and insisted that the debate should go on without 
 postponement. He said with some superciliousness of man 
 ner and with an angry intonation of voice, that he saw the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts in his seat ; and presumed, if 
 he really desired it, he could make an arrangement which 
 would enable him to be present at the discussion that day. 
 He would not consent that the subject should be postponed, 
 until he had had an opportunity of replying to some of the ob 
 servations which had fallen from the gentleman the day before. 
 Putting his hand to his heart, he said, " he had something 
 there, which he wished to get rid of. The gentleman had dis 
 charged his fire in the face of the Senate ; and he demanded an 
 opportunity of returning the shot." 
 
 " Then it was" to use the words of a distinguished mem 
 ber of Congress from a Southern State who was present on 
 the occasion u that Mr. Webster s person seemed tc become 
 
116 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 taller and larger. His chest expanded, and his eyeballs dilat 
 ed. Folding his arms in a composed, firm, and most expres 
 sive manner, he exclaimed : l Let the discussion proceed. I 
 am ready. I am ready now to receive the gentleman s fire. 
 Oh, my dear sir, I wish I could convey to you even some faint 
 idea of the true grandeur that then marked his manner and 
 countenance." 
 
 Mr. Benton, who had gained the floor the day previous on 
 the conclusion of Mr. Webster s remarks, then rose and ad 
 dressed the Senate for an hour. In the earlier part of the 
 speech, he undertook to remove all pretension of Nathan Dane 
 to the authorship of the Ordinance of 87, which he claimed 
 for Thomas Jefferson. Speaking as if he had accomplished 
 the undertaking, beyond the possibility of denial, he said: 
 " But yesterday the name of Nathan Dane, of Beverly, Massa 
 chusetts, hung in equipoise against half the names of the sages 
 of Greece and Rome. Poetry and eloquence were at work to 
 blazon his fame ; marble and brass, and history and song, were 
 waiting to perform their oifice. The celestial honors of the 
 apotheosis seemed to be only deferred for the melancholy 
 event of the sepulchre. To-day, all this superstructure of 
 honors, human and divine, disappears from the earth. The 
 foundation of the edifice is sapped ; and the superhuman 
 glories of him, who, twenty-four hours ago, was taking his sta 
 tion among the demi-gods of antiquity, have dispersed and 
 dissipated into thin air vanishing like the baseless fabric of a 
 vision, which leaves not a wreck behind." 
 
DANIEL VVEBSTFCK. 117 
 
 Apart from the egotism, somewhat atrocious of the speech, 
 there was a good deal of merit in it. It displayed no little in 
 genuity of argument, and much power of invective, with some 
 considerable amount of political and miscellaneous learning ; 
 the latter all poured out, however, in one turbid gush. 
 
 The debate had by this time assumed a character that left 
 no doubt of the intention of its promoters. To disinterested 
 persons who had been thus far present in the discussion, no 
 thing seemed now more evident than a determined purpose on 
 the part of the majority to crush Mr. Webster. Out of the 
 Senate, his approaching and inevitable discomfiture was among 
 the friends of the Administration the prominent and most 
 agreeable topic of conversation ; in their opinion his doom was 
 certain ; for he was not only to be assailed by the ordinary 
 force of the party, but was fated to encounter the irresistible 
 attack of the great statesman and orator, Gen. HAYNE, of 
 South Carolina the very Achilles of the South ; unlike Ho 
 mer s hero, however, vulnerable nowhere ! Benton complain 
 ed in the open Senate that there would be nothing left for him 
 to do ; while Howan and those near him congratulated them 
 selves that they too at least would be " in at the death." 
 
 The warm blood of Col. Hayne could not brook the post 
 ponement of vengeance. He besought his friend from Mis 
 souri to yield the floor, while he replied to the Senator from 
 Massachusetts. Mr. Benton gave a cheerful assent ; but be 
 fore Col. Hayne commenced, Mr Bell, of New Hampshire, 
 
118 CHAPTER V. 
 
 made another motion to adjourn till the Monday following. 
 This motion was lost Iby a strict party vote. 
 
 Col Hayne then rose and entered upon his speech. His 
 exordium was respectable in point of ability, and gave assu 
 rance of a well -prepared speech. Every one must judge of it for 
 himself. The high estimate that had previously been formed 
 of his talents and character disposed the Senate and audience 
 to listen attentively ; and there was much in the earlier part 
 of the speech particularly to confirm the common opinion 
 of his abilities and to command attention. 
 
 .As he proceeded, his tone and language became more ve 
 hement : his allusions more personal. There was an angry 
 inflection in his voice, indicative of loss of temper. His bear 
 ing betrayed a good deal of self-confidence, at times almost 
 arrogance. He seemed certain of victory, and only doubtful 
 how much of his strength he should put forth. Violent as were 
 his personalities, and bitter his invective, they were less in 
 tolerable yet than the insolence of his charity ; for he seemed 
 to arrest ever and anon " the thunder in mid volley," not to 
 annihilate all at once his inevitable victim. 
 
 Sympathizing and exulting friends surrounded him, from 
 whose countenances he read the apparent success of his 
 philippic. They urged him on with looks and encouraging 
 words. The eye of the Vice-President, which, alone of his 
 features, ever indicated an emotion, shone approvingly. Nor 
 did he confine his assistance to a glance of approbation. Con 
 stantly during the progress of the discussion, he sent notes, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 119 
 
 suggestive, illustrative and advisatory to the orator, by one of 
 the pages of the Senate. 
 
 Col. Hayne had other advisers and other contributors in and 
 out of the Senate, who supplied him with all the damnatory 
 paragraphs the press had ever thrown out, in its moments o* 
 greatest excitement against New England, Mr. "Webster, or 
 his friends. They lie piled upon the orator s desk Pelion 
 upon Ossa " an ass s load." 
 
 In speaking afterwards of such attempts to injure him, Mr. 
 Webster said : " The journals were all pored over, and the 
 reports ransacked, and scraps of paragraphs and half sentences 
 were collected, put together in the falsest manner, and then 
 made to flare out as if there had been some discovery. But 
 all this failed. The next resort was to supposed correspond 
 ence. My letters were sought for, to learn, if, in the confidence 
 of private friendship, I had never said anything which an 
 enemy could make use of. With this view, the vicinity of my 
 former residence was searched, as with a lighted candle. New 
 Hampshire was explored from the mouth of the Merrimack 
 to the White Hills." 
 
 Who of Mr. Webster s political opponents in or out of the 
 Senate acted as " scavengers" on this occasion, it were" un 
 necessary, if it were possible, to mention. They were fully 
 punished in the failure of their unmanly efforts. The greatest, 
 perhaps the only punishment, the unprincipled inachinator 
 feels, is a sense of useless rascality. 
 
 Col. Hayne spoke this day, Thursday, January 21st, a little 
 
120 CHAPTER V. 
 
 more than an hour. The Senate then adjourned over til] 
 Monday following. To give the Senator from Massachusetts 
 fair warning of the fate that awaited him, Col. Hayne, on the 
 conclusion of this day s remarks, spoke as follows : " Sir, the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts has thought proper for pur 
 poses best known to himself, to strike the South through me ; 
 the most unworthy of her servants. He has crossed the bor 
 der, he has invaded the State of South Carolina, is making 
 war upon her citizens, and endeavoring to overthrow her prin 
 ciples and her institutions. Sir, when the gentleman provokes 
 me to such a conflict, I meet him at the threshold I will 
 struggle, while I have life, for our altars and our firesides, and 
 if God gives me strength, I will drive ba^k the invader dis 
 comfited. Nor shall I stop there. If the gentleman provokes 
 war, he shall have war. Sir, I will not stop at the border ; I 
 will carry the war into the enemy s territory, and not consent 
 to lay down my arms, until I shall have obtained c indemnity 
 for the past, and security for the future. It is with unfeigned 
 reluctance that I enter upon the performance of this part of 
 my duty : I shrink, almost instinctively, from a course, how 
 ever necessary, which may have a tendency to excite sectional 
 feelings, and sectional jealousies. But, sir, the task has been 
 forced upon me, and I proceed right onward to the perform 
 ance of my duty ; be the consequences what they may, the 
 responsibility is with those who have imposed upon me the 
 necessity. The Senator from Massachusetts has thought 
 proper to cast the first stone, and if he shall find, according to 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 2 
 
 a homely adage, that he lives in a glass-house, on his head 
 be the consequences." 
 
 This language is minatory : it is also somewhat arrogant. 
 As if the consummation necessarily followed the menace. The 
 Senator from South Carolina spoke ex cathedrA. He was 
 buoyed up by the applause of friends and his own sanguine 
 temperament. 
 
 The Senate adjourned over to the following Monday. The 
 town was full of excitement. The severe nature of Col. 
 Hayne s attack, the ability with which it was conducted, his 
 great reputation, the eminence of the combatants, and the 
 doubtful issue of the contest afforded ample scope for various 
 discussion. The friends of Col. Hayne were much elated at 
 what they considered his brilliant debut, and confidently pre 
 dicted his ultimate triumph. Mr. "Webster s friends doubted, 
 and hoped. 
 
 A simultaneous and seemingly preconcerted attack upon 
 New England from the leaders of Southern and Western 
 Democracy raised among the Eastern men, of whatever politi 
 cal opinions, a common feeling. Party-spirit was wholly 
 merged in wounded national (or local) pride. Sympathy for 
 the cause, and for Mr. "Webster in the isolated position he 
 held against such a powerful array, overrode for the time all 
 prejudice against his person or political principles The Yan 
 kee predominated over the Democrat. 
 
 When the Senate convened again on Monday, the agitation 
 
 ill men s minds, growing daily stronger from the previous 
 6* 
 
122 CHAPTER V. 
 
 adjournment, had gained a feverish character. The long time 
 afforded Col. Hayne for additional preparation, his rumored 
 consultations with the Vice-President, and the confident man 
 ner both of himself and friends added new force to the excite 
 ment, and promised richer entertainment from the discussion 
 so the Senate-chamber was more filled and earlier than usual. 
 
 Col. Hayne commenced this day with a- history of the 
 Hartford Convention, illustrated by the documentary evidence 
 his " scavengers" had hunted up. The whole affair is a 
 tedious farrago, which not even his name could elevate into 
 importance. Four columns and a half of the Intelligencer 
 were crowded with such matter quotations from newspapers, 
 pamphlets and sermons read to the Senate " with good ac 
 cent and good discretion." His elocution was fluent and 
 melodious ; this alone reconciled Senate and audience to what 
 would in itself have been absurdly tedious. 
 
 Passages will be found in the speech of real eloquence, 
 sparsely scattered, however. There is no sustained power 
 throughout, but acting only at fitful intervals. The best hit 
 perhaps the speaker made was his charge against Mr. Webster 
 of inconsistency upon the subject of the Tariff. It is conveyed, 
 too, in language better selected and more expressive than his 
 usual style. Speaking of Mr. Webster s anti-tariff speech in 
 24, Col. Hayne said : " On that occasion he, the gentlemen, 
 assumed a position which commanded the respect and admi 
 ration of his country. He stood forth the powerful and fear 
 less champion of free-trade. He met in that conflict the ad- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 123 
 
 vocates of restriction and monopoly, and they l fled from 
 before his face. With a profound sagacity, a fulness of 
 knowledge, and a richness of illustration that has never been 
 surpassed, he maintained and established the principles of 
 commercial freedom on a foundation never to be shaken 
 Great indeed was the victory achieved by the gentleman on 
 that occasion ; most striking the contrast between the clear, for 
 cible and convincing arguments by which he carried away the 
 understanding of his hearers, and the Harrow views and 
 wretched sophistry of another distinguished orator, who may 
 be truly said to have held up his farthing candle to the sun. 
 Sir, the Senator from Massachusetts on that (the proudest 
 day of his life) like a mighty giant, bore away upon his shoul 
 ders the pillars of the temple of error and delusion, escaping 
 himself unhurt, and leaving his adversaries overwhelmed in its 
 ruins. Then it was that he erected to free-trade a beautiful 
 and enduring monument, and inscribed the marble with his 
 name. " 
 
 The vehemence of the orator s language and the earnestness 
 of his manner, produced no little effect upon his audience. 
 They naturally begat sympathy. No one had time to deliber 
 ate upon his words, or canvass his statements. The dashing 
 nature of the attack ; the assurance, almost insolence, of its 
 tone ; the severity and apparent truth of the accusations, con* 
 founded almost every hearer. The immediate impression 
 from the speech was most assuredly disheartening to the cause 
 Mr. Webster upheld. The friends of the Administration 
 
124 CHAPTER V. 
 
 qualified by no regard for person or place the extent of their 
 exultation. Congratulations from almost every quarter were 
 showered upon the speaker. Mr. Benton said, in the full 
 Senate, that much as Col. Hayne had done before to establish 
 his reputation as an orator, a statesman, a patriot, and a gal 
 lant son of the South, the efforts of that day would eclipse and 
 surpass the whole. It would be an era in his senatorial career 
 which his friends and his country would mark and remember, 
 and look back upon with pride and exultation. 
 
 Nor was lavish praise of the speech confined to Mr. Benton 
 or the Senate. Abroad, it gained equal commendation. The 
 press of the Administration extolled it as the greatest effort of 
 the time, or of other times. Chatham, nor Burke, nor Fox, 
 had surpassed it, in their palmiest days. Immense exer 
 tions were made to throw it into general circulation, that 
 public opinion might be forestalled in regard to the great 
 question of the constitutional power of the General Government. 
 
 Satisfaction, however, with the speech even among the 
 friends of the orator was not unanimous. Among others, Mr. 
 Calhoun, and Mr. Iredell, a Senator from North Carolina, 
 doubted. These gentlemen knew, for they had felt Mr. Web 
 ster s power. They knew the great resources of his mind ; 
 the immense range of his intellect ; the fertility of his imagi 
 nation ; his copious and fatal logic ; the scathing severity of 
 his sarcasm, and his full and electrifying eloquence. To a 
 friend of ITayne s, who was pvnising the speech, Mr. IredoU 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 125 
 
 said : " Pie has started the lion but wait till we hear his 
 roar, or feel his claws." 
 
 Gloomy fears , in the meantime, for the most part, oppressed 
 Mr. Webster s friends. The savageness of the attack, its 
 seeming premeditation and powerful support gave them no en 
 couragement of a successful resistance. They felt for Mr. 
 Webster ; they also felt for themselves. Their local pride, their 
 love of fame, the first to spring up in the heart of man, the last 
 to leave it, was deeply mortified. 
 
 Everywhere during the evening and night following, the 
 merits of the speech were canvassed. The town was divided 
 into geographical opinions. One s home could be distinguish 
 ed from his countenance, or manner ; a Southerner s by his 
 buoyant, joyous expression, and confident air ; a Yankee s, by 
 his timid, anxious eye, and depressed bearing. One walked 
 with a bold, determined step, that courted observation ; the 
 other, with a hesitating, shuffling gait, that seemed to long for 
 some dark corner, some place to hear and see, and be unseen. 
 
 Immediately upon the conclusion of Colonel Hayne s | 
 speech, Mr. Webster took the floor in reply; but, it being 
 near four o clock in the afternoon, gave way to a motion for 
 adjournment. Mr. Everett has kindly furnished the writer 
 with some notes of a conversation he had with Mr. Webster 
 the evening before his speech. 
 
 " Mr. Webster conversed with me freely and at length upon 
 the subject of the reply, which he felt it necessary to make to 
 Colonel Hayne s speech. He regarded that speech as an en- 
 
126 CHAPTER V. 
 
 tirely unprovoked attack upon the Eastern States, which it 
 was scarcely possible for him, as a New England Senator, to 
 leave unnoticed. He thought Colonel Hayne s speech, how 
 ever, much more important in another point of view, that is 
 as an exposition of a system of politics, which, in Mr. W. s 
 opinion, went far to change the form of government from that 
 which was established by the Constitution, into that (if it could 
 be called a government) which existed under the confedera 
 tion. He expressed his intention of putting that theory to 
 rest for ever, as far as it could be done by an argument in the 
 
 Senate Chamber. 
 
 ********* 
 
 " I never saw him more calm and self-possessed, nor in 
 better spirits ; and in fact the dry business tone in which he 
 partly talked and partly read over his points to me, gave me 
 some uneasiness, for fear he was not sufficiently aware how 
 much was expected of him the next day." 
 
 An anecdote of Mr. Webster s equanimity under the inflic 
 tion of Hayne is told by another friend, who called on Mr. 
 Webster the same evening. While he was present, Mr. Web 
 ster laid down on the sofa for a nap " his custom sometimes of 
 an afternoon" and after a while was overheard laughing to 
 himself. On being questioned as to what amused him so, he 
 replied : " I have been thinking of what Col. Hayne said to 
 day about Banquo s ghost ; and I am gcing to get up and 
 make a note of it." 
 
 Col. Hayne, it will be remembered, had in his second 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 127 
 
 speech accused Mr. Webster of sleeping upon his first. c The 
 mere matter of fact," said Mr. W. in his reply, is undoubt 
 edly true. I did sleep on the gentleman s speech and slept 
 soundly ; and I slept equally well on his speech of yesterday 
 to which I am now replying." In truth, Col. Hayne s attack, 
 furious as it was, had cost him neither loss of appetite, temper 
 or sleep." 
 
 It is not to be disguised, however, that his friends, even 
 his most intimate, entertained fearful apprehensions. Mr. 
 Webster s adversaries had selected their own time for attack, 
 and made every preparation they thought necessary to ensure 
 success. They were confident in their numbers, confident 
 from their position and individual importance, and confident 
 in the strength of their cause. There is always something, too, 
 of advantage in assuming the aggressive ; courage suggests, 
 and virtuous anticipations await an attack : while a defensive 
 position is seemingly an acknowledgment of weakness. 
 
 The momentous interests involved in the discussion stag 
 gered the minds of many. The pernicious heresy of nullifica 
 tion, tolerated if not encouraged in the high places of the Ad 
 ministration, threatened the constitution and the union of the 
 States. It had already gained in different sections of the coun 
 try too great a prevalence ; and if now successfully advocated 
 in the Senate of the United States, little hope could be enter 
 tained of safety or of more than brief duration for our national 
 institutions. 
 
 The friends, therefore, of the Union, no less than Mr. Web- 
 
128 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ster s personal friends, could not but feel the deepest solicitude 
 in the result of the controversy ; a solicitude amounting at 
 times almost to despondency. They could hardly believe that 
 it was in the power of one man, no matter how great his en 
 dowments, to roll back the strong current that seemed likely 
 to overwhelm the ancient landmarks. All portents looked 
 gloomy, they thought ; darkness and danger were everywhere 
 around them, and they saw no means of emerging from their 
 great peril but with great loss and discomfiture. 
 
 The night, therefore, came down gloomily and heavily upon 
 them. They had no pastimes and little sleep that night, and 
 rose in the early morning, unrefreshed and anxious ; deter 
 mined, however, with one mind, to resort in gcod season to 
 the Capitol. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WHEN Cineas returned from his mission to Rome, he was 
 asked by his master Pyrrhus, how the Roman Senate ap 
 peared. " Like an assembly of kings," he replied. 
 
 The Senate of the United States twenty years ago may not 
 have presented the grave and majestic character of the Ro 
 man Senate. Our Senators wore not the flowing robes, nor 
 still more flowing beards of the CONSCRIPT FATHERS. But it 
 was composed of men who could have understood Cicero as 
 well as the audience he addressed, and replied to him better ; 
 of men, too, not inferior, in physical organization, or intel 
 lectual expression, to any Senate Rome ever boasted. 
 
 "Where, among the most Patrician blood of Rome, could 
 have been found more intellectual majesty than in the counte 
 nances of Webster and Calhoun, more dignity than in their 
 bearing, more honor than in their character, or more grandeur 
 than in their eloquence ? In whatever assembly placed, they 
 would have given to it unrivalled distinction. 
 
 Nor were they the sole persons of eminent ability, or dis 
 tinguished mien, in the Senate. There were others only less 
 remarkable for both. The thoughtful eye and expansH* 
 
130 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 trow of Woodbury, the refined, gentlemanly, and expressive 
 countenance of Forsyth, the gallant air and intellectual fea 
 tures of Hayne, the somewhat supercilious but determined 
 bearing of Benton, the tall form and marked expression of 
 Bell, the well-defined and rather majestic lineaments of Clay 
 ton these characteristics, with those of other Senators no less 
 distinguished, could not fail to convey to the spectator the im 
 pression of great intellectual and moral superiority. It was an 
 assembly to be a member of which might have satisfied the 
 most high-reaching ambition. It was an assembly the aggre 
 gate ability of which, for the number of its members, has pro 
 bably never been surpassed, if equalled, in any representative 
 body of the world. 
 
 The very character of the Senate made its members more 
 eager to distinguish themselves in it. "Alexander fights 
 when he has kings for his competitors." Rivalry, always 
 natural to the heart, became more emulous, more earnest, 
 more intense, with such a field for its encouragement and ex 
 hibition ; when men were judges of the intellectual strife, who 
 could themselves have taken an equal part in it, had occasion 
 demanded. 
 
 It was not alone the combined strength of the administra 
 tion party in the Senate Mr. Webster had to fear. He could 
 not but be in doubt respecting his political allies. The char 
 acter of the minority at this time was somewhat anomalous. 
 It was composed of Federalists of the old school, who had ad- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 131 
 
 hered to the younger Adams, notwithstanding his gross ter 
 giversations ; of those Republicans, who, in the preceding 
 canvass, from personal or local rather than from political con 
 siderations, had preferred Mr. Adams to his competitor ; and 
 of " National Republicans" so called a party formed indiffer 
 ently of the two others. To make an argument which should 
 satisfy all without offending either of these classes seemed a 
 task difficult to be accomplished. 
 
 Fortunately for the country and his own fame, his doubts, 
 on the subject, were removed. His warmest friends urged 
 with great eagerness upon him an unequivocal, unreserved 
 declaration of his views. None were more trusted, nor es 
 teemed by him, than SAMUEL BELL, then a Senator from 
 New Hampshire. Originally a Federalist, he had gone over 
 to the Republican party, early on the accession of Jefferson, 
 and had supported his administration zealously and efficiently. 
 He had advocated and defended the war with Great Britain, 
 and all other measures of the Republican party up to the 
 Presidential canvass of 1824. On that occasion, as well as 
 four years later, without any violence, as he supposed, to his 
 political principles or antecedents, he had favored the preten 
 sions of Mr. Adams. From his history, character, and gen 
 eral knowledge of persons and measures, he was perhaps the 
 best exponent of the intentions and sentiments of the some 
 what mottled party, opposed to the administration of General 
 Jackson. 
 
 So at least Mr. Webster thought ; and on the morning of 
 
132 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 the speech, after he had gone to the Capitol, he called Mr. 
 into the robing-room of the Senate, and told him his difficulty. 
 " You know, Mr. Bell," said he, " my constitutional opinions. 
 There are, among my friends in the Senate, some who may 
 not concur in them. What is expedient to be done ?" Mr 
 Bell, with great emphasis of manner, advised him to speak out, 
 boldly and fully, his thoughts upon the subject. " It is a 
 critical moment," said he, " and it is time, it is high time the 
 people of this country should know what this Constitution is." 
 " Then," replied Mr. Webster, " by the blessing of heaven, 
 they shall learn, this day, before the sun goes down, what I 
 understand it to be." 
 
 It was on Tuesday, January the 26th, 1830, a day to be 
 hereafter forever memorable in Senatorial annals, that the 
 Senate resumed the consideration of Foote s Resolution. 
 There never was before, in the city, an occasion of so much 
 excitement. To witness this great intellectual contest, multi 
 tudes of strangers had for two or three days previous been 
 rushing into the city, and the hotels overflowed. As early as 
 9 o clock of this morning, crowds poured into the Capitol, in 
 hot haste ; at 12 o clock, the hour of meeting, the Senate- 
 Chamber, its galleries, floor and even lobbies, was filled to 
 its utmost capacity. The very stairways were dark with men, 
 who hung on to one another, like bees in a swarm. 
 
 The House of Representatives was early deserted. An 
 adjournment would have hardly made it emptier. The 
 Speaker, it is true, retained his chair, but no business of mo- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 133 
 
 me-dt *as, <<*. coald be, attended to.. Members all rushed in 
 to hear Mr Wobs cr, and no call of the House or other Par 
 liamentary proceedings could compel them back. The floor 
 of the Senate was so densely crowded, that persons once in 
 could not get out, nor change their position ; in the rear of 
 the Vice-Presidential chair, the crowd was particularly in 
 tense. Dixon H. Lewis, then a Representative from Ala 
 bama, became wedged in here. From his enormous size, it 
 was impossible for him to move without displacing a vast 
 portion of the multitude. Unfortunately too, for him, he was 
 jammed in directly behind the chair of the Vice-President, 
 where he could not see, and hardly hear, the speaker. By 
 slow and laborious effort pausing occasionally to breathe he 
 gained one of the windows, which, constructed of painted glass, 
 flank the chair of the Vice-President on either side. Here 
 he paused, unable to make more headway. But determined 
 to see Mr. "Webster as he spoke, with his knife he made a 
 large hole in one of the panes of the glass ; which is still 
 visible as he made it. Many were so placed, as not to be 
 able to see the speaker at all. 
 
 The courtesy of Senators accorded to the fairer sex room 
 on the floor the most gallant of them, their own seats. The 
 gay bonnets and brilliant dresses threw a varied and pictur 
 esque beauty over the scene, softening and embellishing it. 
 
 Seldom, if ever, has speaker in this or any other country 
 had more powerful incentives to exertion ; a subject, the de 
 termination of which involved the most important interests. 
 
134 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 and eveii duration, of the republic ; competitors, unequalled 
 in reputation, ability, or position ; a name to make still more 
 glorious, or lose forever ; and an audience, comprising not only 
 persons of this country most eminent in intellectual greatness, 
 but representatives of other nations, where the art of elo 
 quence had flourished for ages. All the soldier seeks in op 
 portunity was here. 
 
 Mr. Webster perceived, arid felt equal to, the destinies ol 
 the moment. The very greatness of the hazard exhilarated 
 hmi. His spirits rose with the occasion. He awaited the 
 time of onset with a stern and impatient joy. He felt, like the 
 war-horse of the Scriptures, who " paweth in the valley, and 
 rejoiceth in his strength : who goeth on to meet the armed men, 
 who sayeth among the trumpets, Ha, ha ! and who smell- 
 eth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the 
 shouting." 
 
 A confidence in his own resources, springing from no vain 
 estimate of his power, but the legitimate offspring of previous 
 severe mental discipline sustained and excited him. He had 
 guaged his opponents, his subject and himself, 
 
 He was too, at this period, in the very prime of manhood. 
 He had reached middle age an era in the life of man, when 
 the faculties, physical or intellectual, may be supposed to 
 attain their fullest organization, and most perfect develop 
 ment. Whatever there was in him of intellectual energy and 
 vitality, the occasion, his full life and high ambition, might 
 well bring forth 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 13D 
 
 He never rose on an ordinary occasion to address an ordi 
 nary audience more self-possessed. There was no tremulous- 
 ness in his voice nor manner ; nothing hurried, nothing simu 
 lated. The calmness of superior strength was visible every 
 where ; in countenance, voice and bearing. A deep-seated 
 conviction of the extraordinary character of the emergency, and 
 of his ability to control it, seemed to possess him wholly. If 
 an observer, more than ordinarily keen-sighted, detected at 
 times something like exultation in his eye, he presumed it 
 sprang from the excitement of the moment, and the anticipa 
 tion of victory. 
 
 The anxiety to hear the speech was so intense, irrepressible, 
 and universal, that no sooner had the Yice-President assumed 
 the chair, than a motion was made and unanimously carried, 
 to postpone the ordinary preliminaries of Senatorial action, 
 and to take up immediately the consideration of the resolu 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Webster rose and addressed the Senate. His exordium 
 is known by heart, everywhere : " Mr. President, when the 
 mariner has been tossed, for many days, in thick weather, 
 and on an unknown sea, he naturally avails himself of the 
 first pause in the storm, the earliest glance of the sun, to 
 take his latitude, and ascertain how far the elements have 
 driven him from his true course. Let us imitate this pru 
 dence ; and before we float further, on the waves of this de 
 bate, refer to the point from which we departed, that we may 3 
 
136 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 at least, be able to form some conjecture where we now are, 
 I ask for the reading of the resolution." 
 
 There wanted no more to enchain the attention. There 
 was a spontaneous, though silent, expression of eager appro 
 bation, as the orator concluded these opening remarks. And 
 while the clerk read the resolution, many attempted the im 
 possibility of getting nearer the speaker. Every head wag 
 inclined closer towards him, every ear turned in the direction 
 of his voice and that deep, sudden, mysterious silence fol 
 lowed, which always attends fulness of emotion. From the 
 sea of upturned faces before him, the orator beheld his 
 thoughts reflected as from a mirror. The varying counte 
 nance, the suffused eye, the earnest smile, and ever-attentive 
 look assured him of his audience s entire sympathy. If among 
 his hearers there were those who affected at first an indiffer 
 ence to his glowing thoughts and fervent periods, the difficult 
 mask was soon laid aside, and profound, undisguised, devoted 
 attention followed. In the earlier part of his speech, one of 
 his principal opponents seemed deeply engrossed in the care 
 ful perusal of a newspaper he held before his face ; but this, 
 on nearer approach, proved to be upside, down. In truth, all, 
 sooner or later, voluntarily, or in spite of themselves, were 
 wholly carried away by the eloquence of the orator. 
 
 One of the happiest retorts ever made in a forensic contro 
 versy was his application of Ilayne s comparison of the ghost 
 ^f the " murdered coalition" to the ghost of Banquo : 
 
 " Sir, the honorable member was not, for other reasons, en- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 137 
 
 tirely happy in his allusions to the story of Bauquo s murder, 
 and Banquo s ghost. It was not, I think, the friends, but 
 the enemies of the murdered Banquo, at whose bidding his 
 spirit would not down. The honorable gentleman is fresh in 
 his reading of the English classics, and can put me right if I 
 am wrong ; but, according to my poor recollection, it was at 
 those who had begun with caresses, and ended with foul and 
 treacherous murder, that the gory locks were shaken ! The 
 ghost of Banquo, like that of Hamlet was, an honest ghost. It 
 disturbed no innocent man. It knew where its appearance 
 would strike terror, and who would cry out, a ghost ! It 
 made itself visible in the right quarter, and compelled the 
 guilty, and the conscience-smitten, and none others, to start, 
 with, 
 
 " Pr ythee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo, 
 If I stand here, I saw him ! 
 
 THEIR eyeballs were seared (was it not so, sir?) who had 
 thought to shield themselves, by concealing their own hand, 
 and laying the imputation of the crime on a low and hireling 
 agency in wickedness ; who had vainly attempted to stifle the 
 workings of their own coward consciences, by ejaculating, 
 through white lips and chattering teeth, " Thou canst not say 
 I did it !" I have misread the great poet if those who had no 
 way partaken in the deed of death, either found that they were, 
 or feared that they should be, pushed from their stools by the 
 
 ghost of the slain, or exclaimed, to a spectre created by their 
 
 7 
 
138 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 own fears, and their own remorse, "Avaunt! and quit our 
 sight !" 
 
 There was a smile of appreciation upon the faces all around, 
 at this most felicitous use of another s illustration this turn^ 
 ing one s own witness against him in which Col. Hayne good 
 humoredly joined. 
 
 As the orator carried out the moral of Macbeth, and proved 
 by the example of that deep-thinking, intellectual, but insane 
 ly-ambitious character, how little of substantial good or perma 
 nent power was to be secured by a devious and unblessed 
 policy, he turned his eye with a significance of expression, full 
 of prophetic revelation upon the Vice-President, reminding 
 him that those who had foully removed Banquo had placed 
 
 " A barren sceptre in their gripe, 
 Thence to be wrenched by an unlincal hand, 
 No son of theirs succeeding." 
 
 Every eye of the whole audience followed the direction of his 
 own and witnessed the changing countenance and visible 
 agitation of Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 Surely, no prediction ever met a more rapid or fuller con 
 firmation, even to the very manner in which the disaster was 
 accomplished. Within a few brief months, the political for 
 tunes of the Vice-President, at this moment seemingly on the 
 very point of culmination, had sunk so low, there were none 
 so poor to do him reverence. 
 
 Whether for a moment a presentiment of the approaching 
 crisis in his fate, forced upon his mind by the manner and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 181 
 
 language of the speaker, cast a gloom over his countenance 
 or some other cause, it is impossible to say ; but his brow gre^ 
 dark, nor for some time did his features recover their usual 
 impassibility. 
 
 The allusion nettled him, the more as he could not bui 
 witness the effect it produced upon others and made him 
 restless. He seemed to seek an opportunity to break in upon 
 the speaker ; and later in the day, as Mr. Webster was expos 
 ing the gross and ludicrous inconsistencies of South Carolina 
 politicians, upon the subject of Internal Improvements, he 
 interrupted him with some eagerness : " Does the chair under 
 stand the gentleman from Massachusetts to say that the per 
 son now occupying the chair of the Senate has changed his 
 opinions on this subject ?" To this, Mr. Webster replied 
 immediately, and good-naturedly : " From nothing ever said 
 to me, sir, have I had reason to know of any change in the 
 opinions of the person filling the chair of the Senate. If such 
 change has taken place, I regret it."* 
 
 * Mr. Calhoun s interruption was un-Parliamentary, or rather, un- 
 Senatorial. The Vice-President is not a member of the Senate, and has 
 no voice in it save for the preservation of order and enforcement of the 
 rules. He cannot participate otherwise either in the debates or proceed 
 ings. He is simply the presiding officer of the Senate having no vote 
 in its affairs save on a tie. Had Mr. Webster made a direct, unmistake- 
 able allusion to him, Mr. Calhoun still could have replied through a 
 friendly Senator, or the press. On this occasion he was too much ex 
 cited to attend to the etiquette of his position. His feelings and his in 
 terest in the question male him forgetful of his duty. 
 
140 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Those who had doubted Mr. Webster s ability to cope with 
 and overcome his opponents were fully satisfied of their error 
 before he had proceeded far in his speech. Their fears soon 
 took another direction. When they heard his sentences of 
 powerful thought, towering in accumulative grandeur, one 
 above the other, as if the orator strove, Titan-like, to reach 
 the very heavens themselves, they were giddy with an appre 
 hension that he would break down in his flight. They dared 
 not believe, that genius, learning, any intellectual endow 
 ment however uncommon, that was simply mortal, could sus 
 tain itself long in a career seemingly so perilous. They 
 feared an Icarian fall. 
 
 Ah ! who can ever forget, that was present to hear, the 
 tremendous, the awful burst of eloquence with which the 
 orator spoke of the Old Bay State ! or the tones of deep 
 pathos in which the words were pronounced : 
 
 " Mr. President, I shall enter on no encomium upon 
 Massachusetts. There she is behold her, and judge for 
 yourselves. There is her history : the world knows it by 
 heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, and 
 
 Sometime later than this, after a rupture had taken place between 
 Gen. Jackson and himself, Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, on being interrupted 
 by some (as he thought) uncalled for question or remark, rebuked him 
 in an emphatic manner foj violation of official etiquette. Mr. Van Buren, 
 who ousted and succeeded him, always remained silent, placid, imper 
 turbable in his seat, however personal or severe the attack upon him ; 
 and no Vice-President since his day has ever attempted to interfere witfc 
 the discussions of the Senate. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 141 
 
 Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker Hill and there they 
 will remain forever. The bones of her sons, falling in the 
 great struggle for independence, now lie mingled with the 
 soil of every State, from New England to Georgia ; and there 
 they will lie forever. And, sir, where American Liberty 
 raised its first voice ; and where its youth was nurtured and 
 sustained, there it still lives, in the strength of its manhood 
 and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion shall 
 wound it if party strife and blind ambition shall hawk at and 
 tear it if folly and madness if uneasiness, under salutary 
 and necessary restraint shall succeed to separate it from 
 that Union, by which alone its existence is made sure, it will 
 stand, in the end, by the side of that cradle in which its 
 infancy was rocked : it will stretch forth its arm with what 
 ever of vigor it may still retain, over the friends who gather 
 round it ; and it will fall at last, if fall it must, amidst the 
 proudest monuments of its own glory, and on the very spot of 
 its origin." 
 
 What New England heart was there but throbbed with 
 vehement, tumultuous, irrepressible emotion, as he dwelt 
 upon New England sufferings, New England struggles, and 
 New England triumphs during the war of the Revolution ? 
 There was scarcely a dry eye in the Senate ; all hearts were 
 overcome ; grave judges and men grown old in dignified life 
 turned aside their heads, to conceal the evidences of their 
 emotion.* 
 
 * Gen. Washington said that the New England troops came bettfj 
 
142 CHAPTER VI 
 
 In one corner of the gallery was clustered a group of 
 Massachusetts men. They had hung from the first moment 
 upon the words of the speaker, with feelings variously but 
 always warmly excited, deepening in intensity as he proceeded. 
 &t first, while the orator was going through his exordium, 
 they held their breath and hid their faces, mindful of the 
 Bavage attack upon him and New England, and the fearful 
 odds against him, her champion ; as he went deeper into his 
 speech, they felt easier ; when he turned Hayne s flank on 
 Banquo s ghost, they breathed freer and deeper. But now, 
 as he alluded to Massachusetts, their feelings were strained to 
 the highest tension ; and when the orator, concluding his 
 encomium upon the land of their birth, turned, intentionally, 
 or otherwise, his burning eye full upon them they shed tears 
 like girls ! 
 
 No one who was not present can understand the excitement 
 of the scene. No one, who was, can give an adequate de 
 scription of it. No word-painting can convey the deep, 
 intense enthusiasm, the reverential attention, of that yast 
 assembly nor limner transfer to canvass their earnest, eager, 
 awe-struck countenances. Though language were as subtile 
 and ilcxible as thought, it still would be impossible to repre 
 sent the full idea of the scene. There is something intangible 
 in an emotion, which cannot be transferred. The nicer 
 shades of feeling elude pursuit. Every description, therefore, 
 
 clothed into the field, were as orderly there, and Bought as well, if not 
 better, than any troops on the continent. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 143 
 
 of the occasion, seems to the narrator himself most tame, 
 spiritless, unjust. 
 
 Much of the instantaneous effect of the speech arose, of 
 course, from the orator s delivery the tones of his voice, his 
 countenance, and manner.* These die mostly with the 
 occasion that calls them forth the impression is lost in the 
 attempt at transmission from one mind to another. They can 
 only be described in general terms. " Of the effectiveness of 
 Mr. Webster s manner, in many parts," says Mr. Everett, 
 " it would be in vain to attempt to give any one not present 
 the faintest idea. It has been my fortune to hear some of the 
 ablest speeches of the greatest living orators on both sides of 
 the water, but I must confess, I never heard anything which 
 
 * The personal appearance of Mr. Webster has been a theme ol 
 frequent discussion. He was at the time this speech was delivered 
 twenty years younger than now. Time had not thinned nor bleached 
 his hair : it was as dark as the raven s plumage, surmounting his mas 
 sive brow in ample folds. His eye, always dark and deep-set, enkindled 
 by some glowing thought, shone from beneath his sombre, overhanging 
 brow like lights, in the blackness of night, from a sepulchre. It was 
 such a countenance as Salvator Rosa delighted to paint. 
 
 No one understood, or understands, better than Mr. Webster the 
 philosophy of dress : what a powerful auxiliary it is to speech and 
 manner, when harmonizing with them. On this occasion he appeareu 
 in a blue coat and buff vest, the Revolutionary colors of buff and 
 jlue ; with a white cravat ; a costume, than which none is more 
 Becoming to his face and expression. This courtly particularity ot 
 Iress adds no little to the influence of his manner and apr. earance. 
 
144 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 so completely realized my conception of what Demosthenea 
 was when he delivered the Oration for the Crown." 
 
 Assuredly, Kean nor Kemble, nor any other, masterly 
 delineator of the human passions ever produced a more 
 powerful impression upon an audience, or swayed so completely 
 their hearts. This was acting, not to the life, but life 
 itself. 
 
 No one ever looked the orator, as he did " os humerosque 
 deo similis," in form and feature how like a god. His 
 countenance spake no less audibly than his words. His 
 manner gave new force to his language. As he stood swaying 
 his right arm, like a huge tilt-hammer, up and down, his 
 swarthy countenance lighted up with excitement, he appeared 
 amid the smoke, the fire, the thunder of his eloquence, like 
 Vulcan in his armory forging thoughts for the Gods ! 
 
 The human face never wore an expression of more wither 
 ing, relentless scorn, than when the orator replied to Hayne s 
 allusion to the " murdered coalition." " It is," said Mr. 
 W., "the very cast-off slough of a polluted and shameless 
 press. Incapable of further mischief, it lies in the sewer, 
 lifeless and despised. It is not now, sir, in the power of the 
 honorable member to give it dignity or decency, by attempt 
 ing to elevate it, and introduce it into the Senate. He cannot 
 change it from what it is an object of general disgust and 
 gcorn. On the contrary, the contact, if he choose to touch 
 it, is more likely to drag him down, down to the place where 
 it lies itself." He looked, as he spoke these words, as if the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 145 
 
 thing lie alluded to was too mean for scorn itself and the 
 sharp, stinging enunciation made the words still more wither 
 ing. The audience seemed relieved, so crushing was the 
 expression of his face which they held on to, as twere, spell 
 bound, when he turned to other topics. 
 
 The good-natured yet provoking irony with which he 
 described the imaginary though life-like scene of direct 
 collision between the marshalled array of South Carolina 
 under Gen. Hayne on the one side, and the officers of the 
 United States on the other, nettled his opponent even more 
 than his severer satire ; it seemed so ridiculously true. Col. 
 Hayne enquired, with some degree of emotion, if the gentle 
 man from Massachusetts intended any personal imputation by 
 such remarks ? To which Mr. Webster replied, with perfect 
 good humor : " Assuredly not just the reverse." 
 
 The variety of incident during the speech, and the rapid 
 fluctuation of passions, kept the audience in continual expect 
 ation, and ceaseless agitation. There was no chord of the 
 heart the orator did not strike, as with a master-hand. The 
 speech was a complete drama of comic and pathetic scenes ; 
 one varied excitement ; laughter and tears gaining alternate 
 victory. 
 
 A great portion of the speech is strictly argumentative ; an 
 exposition of constitutional law. But grave as such portion 
 necessarily is, severely logical, abounding in no fancy or 
 episode, it engrossed throughout the undivided attention of 
 every intelligent hearer. Abstractions, under the glowing 
 
146 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 genius of the orator, acquired a beauty, a vitality, a power to 
 thrill the blood and enkindle the affections, awakening into 
 earnest activity many a dormant faculty. His 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. For 
 power, whether intellectual or physical, produces in its earnest 
 development a feeling closely allied to awe. It was never 
 more felt than on this occasion. It had entire mastery. The 
 sex, which is said to love it best and abuse it most, seemed as 
 much or more carried away than the sterner one. Many who 
 had entered the hall with light, gay thoughts, anticipating at 
 most a pleasurable excitement, soon became deeply interested 
 in the speaker and his subject surrendered him their entire 
 heart ; and, when the speech was over, and they left the hall, 
 it was with sadder perhaps, but, surely, with far more elevated 
 and ennobling emotions. 
 
 The exulting rush of feeling with which he went through 
 the peroration threw a glow over his countenance, like inspi 
 ration. Eye, brow, each feature, every line of the face 
 seemed touched, as with a celestial fire. All gazed as at 
 something more than human. So Moses might have appeared 
 to the awe-struck Israelites as he emerged from the dark 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 147 
 
 clouds and thick smoke of Sinai, his face all radiant -with the 
 breath of divinity ! 
 
 The swell and roll of his voice struck upon the ears of the 
 spell-bound audience, in deep and melodious cadence, as 
 waves upon the shore of the " far-resounding" sea. The 
 Miltonic grandeur of his words was the fit expression of his 
 thought and raised his hearers up to his theme. His voice, 
 exerted to its utmost power, penetrated every recess or corner 
 of the Senate penetrated even the ante-rooms and stairways, 
 as he pronounced in deepest tones of pathos these words of 
 solemn significance : " When my eyes shall be turned to 
 behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see 
 hini shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once 
 glorious Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent ! 
 on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in 
 fraternal blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
 rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known 
 and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced,* 
 
 * Mr. Webster may have had in his mind, when speaking of th 
 gorgeous ensign of the Republic, Milton s description of the imperia 
 banner Vi the lower regions, floating across the immensity of space : 
 
 * Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurl d 
 The imperial ensign ; which, full high advanced 
 Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, 
 With gems and golden lustre rich imblaz d, 
 Seraphic arms and trophies ; all ti.e while 
 Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds :" 
 
148 CHAPTER VI 
 
 its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a 
 stripe erased nor polluted, not a single star obscured, bearing 
 for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, f What is all 
 this worth ?" ] Nor those other words of delusion and folly, 
 Liberty first and Union afterwards ; but everywhere, spread 
 all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample 
 folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in 
 every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, 
 dear to every American heart, LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND 
 
 FOREVER, ONE AND INSEPARABLE !" 
 
 The speech was over, but the tones of the orator still 
 lingered upon the ear, and the audience, unconscious of the 
 close, retained their positions. The agitated countenance, the 
 heaving breast, the suffused eye attested the continued influ 
 ence of the spell upon them. Hands that in the excitement 
 of the moment had sought each other, still remained closed 
 in an unconscious grasp. Eye still turned to eye, to receive 
 and repay mutual sympathy ; and everywhere around seemed 
 forgctfulness of all but the orator s presence and words. 
 
 When the Vice-President, hastening to dissolve the spell, 
 angrily called to order ! order ! There never was a deeper 
 stillness not a movement, not a gesture had been made, 
 not a whisper uttered order ! Silence could almost have 
 
 And this in its turn is borrowed from, or suggested by, Tasso s description 
 of the banner of the Crusades, when first unfolded in Palestine which 
 the inquisitive reader may find, if he choose, in " Jerusalem Delivered. 7 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 149 
 
 heard itself, it was so supernaturally still. The feeling was 
 too overpowering, to allow expression, by voice or hand. It 
 was as if one was in a trance, all motion paralyzed. 
 
 But the descending hammer of the Chair awoke them, with 
 a start and with one universal, long-drawn, deep breath, 
 with which the overcharged heart seeks, relief, the crowded 
 assembly broke up and departed. 
 
 The New-England men walked down Pennsylvania avenue 
 that day, after the speech, with a firmer step and bolder air 
 " pride in their port, defiance in their eye." You would have 
 sworn they had grown some inches taller in a few hours 
 time. They devoured the way, in their stride. They looked 
 every one in the face they met, fearing no contradiction. 
 They swarmed in the streets, having become miraculously 
 multitudinous. They clustered in parties, and fought the 
 scene over one hundred times that night. Their elation was 
 the greater, by reaction. It knew no limits, or choice of 
 expression. Not one of them but felt he had gained a 
 personal victory. Not one, who was not ready to exclaim, 
 with gushing eyes, in the fulness of gratitude, " Thank God, 
 I too am a Yankee !" 
 
 In the evening General Jackson held a levee at the White 
 House. It was known, in advance, that Mr. Webster would 
 attend it, and hardly had the hospitable dcors of the house 
 been thrown open, when the crowd that had filled the Senate- 
 chamber in the morning rushed in and occupied the rooms. 
 
150 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Persons a little more tardy in arriving found it almost impos 
 sible to get in, such a crowd oppressed the entrance. 
 
 Before this evening, the General had been the observed of 
 all observers. His military and personal reputation, official 
 position, gallant bearing, and courteous manners, had secured 
 him great and merited popularity. His receptions were 
 always gladly attended by large numbers to whom he was 
 himself the object of attraction. 
 
 But on this occasion, the room in which he received his 
 company was deserted, as soon as courtesy to the President 
 permitted. Mr. Webster, it was whispered, was in the East 
 Room, and thither the whole mass hurried. 
 
 He stood almost in the centre of the room, hemmed in by 
 eager crowds, from whom there was no escape, all pressing to 
 get nearer to him. He seemed but little exhausted by the 
 intellectual exertion of the day, severe as it had been. The 
 flush of excitement still lingered and played upon his counte 
 nance, gilding and beautifying it, like the setting sun its 
 accompanying clouds. 
 
 All were eager to get a sight at him. Some stood on tip 
 toe, and some even mounted the chairs of the room. Many 
 were presented to him. The dense crowd, entering and 
 retiring, moved round him, renewing the order of their 
 ingrcssion and egression, continually. One would ask his 
 neighbor : " Where, which is Webster ?" " There, don t 
 you see him that dark, swarthy man, with a great deep eye 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 151 
 
 and heavy brow that s Webster." No one was obliged to 
 make a second inquiry. 
 
 In another part of the room was Col. Hayne. He, too, 
 had had his day of triumph, and received congratulations. 
 His friends even now contended that the contest was but a 
 drawn-battle, no full victory having been achieved on either 
 side. There was nothing in his own appearance this evening 
 to indicate the mortification of defeat. With others, he went 
 up and complimented Mr. Webster on his brilliant effort ;* and 
 no one, ignorant of the past struggle, could have supposed 
 that they had late been engaged in such fierce rivalry. 
 
 * It was said at the time, that, as Col. Hayne approached Mr. 
 Webster to tender his congratulations, the latter accosted him with the 
 usual courtesy, " How are you, this evening, Col. Hayne ?" and that 
 Col. Hay replied, good-humoredly, None the better for yot*, >/" 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COLONEL HAYNE occupied himself diligently in taking 
 notes while Mr. Webster spoke, and replied, in a speech of 
 about half an hour, to Mr. Webster s constitutional opinions. 
 The speech reported contained a great deal more than the one 
 delivered ; the great importance of the question making it de 
 sirable, in Colonel Hayne s opinion, that arguments should 
 be supplied, which he had been obliged, from want of time, to 
 omit in the debate. 
 
 Mr. Webster immediately replied in a summary re-state 
 ment of his argument ; " of which the parallel, says Mr. 
 Everett, " as a compact piece of reasoning, will not readily be 
 found." Mr. Adams pronounced it even superior to the one 
 that preceded it. It fills less than three pages of the Con 
 gressional Debates, while Hayne s, to which it was a reply, 
 occupies nineteen. 
 
 The manner in which the GREAT SPEECH, as the second in 
 point of time is called, to distinguish it from the one thai 
 preceded and the one that followed it, came before the public 
 it may not be uninteresting to know. Mr. Clayton, of Dola 
 ware, and Judge Burnett, of Ohio, then Senators, callot 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 153 
 
 the morning of the speech upon Mr. Gales, the senior editor 
 of the National Intelligencer , and at that time Mayor of the 
 city of Washington, and requested him to undertake the re 
 porting of the speech. Mr. Gales was known to be one of the 
 best writers of the English language connected with our na 
 tional literature, and more capable than almost any one else, 
 of understanding and recording the peculiar merits of Mr. 
 Webster s style. Notwithstanding the engrossing nature of 
 his avocations, he assented to the request. He made a steno 
 graphic report of the speech, which Mrs. Gales wrote out at 
 large. Her copy was sent to Mr. Webster, and by him re 
 vised the same evening. 
 
 The demand for the speech was immense. The National 
 Intelligencer of May, 1830, said " The demand for copies of 
 Mr. Webster s speech in what has been called the Great De 
 bate in the Senate, has been unprecedented. We are just 
 completing an edition of 20,000 copies, which, added to 
 former editions, will make an aggregate of nearly 40,000 copies 
 that have been printed at this office alone." 
 
 Pamphlet editions too were struck off in thousands ; not in 
 Washington alone, but elsewhere. A very large edition was 
 printed in Boston, containing Colonel Hayne s speech also. 
 A proposal was made to the friends of Colonel Hayne to pub 
 lish a joint edition for distribution throughout the country ; 
 this liberal offer was however declined on their part. 
 
 Never before, in this or any other country, did any speech 
 gain such rapid and general circulation. 
 
154 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The debate still continued after the conclusion of the con 
 test between Mr. Webster and Colonel Hayne, for weeks and 
 even months. Commencing early in January, it dragged on, 
 with fitful interruptions, till the 21st of May, on which day 
 Colonel Benton, who had in truth provoked it, brought it to a 
 close. The excitement gradually subsided, till, towards the 
 end of the debate, the speakers addressed " empty boxes." 
 Benton, Woodbury, Grrundy, Rowan and Livingston, each 
 attempted, more or less creditably, a reply to Mr. Webster s 
 positions. But their eloquence seemed cold, their arguments 
 ineffective, after Mr. Webster s ; spectators became indif 
 ferent 
 
 " As in a theatre, the eyes of men, 
 After a well -graced actor leaves the stage, 
 Are idly bent on him that enters next, 
 Thinking his prattle to be tedious." 
 
 The United States Telegraph^ Mr. Calhoun s putative 
 organ, in speaking of " the Great Debate in the Senate, said 
 in the paper of the 8th of February " The importance of 
 this debate must be apparent to all. It is deeply felt here. 
 The Senators who have spoken, and those who will speak, dis 
 charge a great and sacred duty to their country. It is not a 
 holiday debate, but a real and eventful contest for the 
 safety of the States, and the counteraction of the most 
 daring schemes for the recovery of lost power, that our coun 
 try has ever witnessed. Mr. Webster has brought it forward, 
 but he lacks courage to breast the storm which he has ex- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 155 
 
 cited. He has not been seen in the Senate since, except to 
 vote for his party. He depends upon his speech, which is to 
 go forth, North and West, to rally all that can be collected in 
 the crusade against the States, against the South, and against 
 the present administration. It must not go forth unanswered, 
 and it will not." 
 
 The answers came, " thick as autumnal leaves that strew 
 the brooks in Yallambrosa ;" and as rapidly disappeared. Few 
 even of well-informed politicians have read them ; while, to 
 the general student, they are mostly wholly unknown. Not 
 that they were without talent ; some possessed far more than 
 ordinary ability, but they have all been forgotten in the supe 
 rior interest excited by Mr. Webster s effort. 
 
 Mr. Woodbury s speech, as an argument, perhaps, followed 
 Colonel Hayne s in ability. He took care to avoid, with the 
 sagacity that distinguishes his character, the extreme doctrine 
 of his southern ally. He would not acknowledge the consti 
 tutional right of a State to prevent the execution of a law of 
 the United States believed by such State to be unconstitu 
 tional, but referred opposition to the inalienable right of re 
 sistance to oppression. In truth, he diverged but little from 
 the line of argument adopted by Mr. Webster. 
 
 His speech was grateful to the juste milieu of the Demo 
 cratic party in the Senate and the country. It also particu 
 larly pleased the distinguished Senator from Missouri. When 
 Mr. Woodbury had concluded, Colonel Benton rose, and ex 
 tending his right hand over the head of the Granite Senator, 
 
156 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 much like a pope or cardinal pronouncing benediction, ex 
 claimed in a loud voice " Yes, this is Peter, and this Peter 
 is the rock on which the church of New-England democracy 
 shall be built ;" and then added in a low tone, not supposed 
 to be intended for the hearing of the Senate " and the gates 
 of Hell shall not prevail against him." 
 
 Such things as this give a relief to the grave and solemn 
 proceedings of the august Senate. 
 
 Col. Benton himself spoke four days. He did not go into 
 an elaborate argument upon the relative powers of the States 
 and the Federal Government* in which his success pro- 
 
 * Col. Benton, however, gave the Senate his opinion upon the sub 
 ject which coincided too nearly with Mr. Hayne s ; the best answer to 
 it is to be found in his own words, as spoken in the Senate of the United 
 States, on the third day of January last. Speaking of his constituents, 
 he says: "They abide the law when it comes, be it what it may, sub 
 ject to the decision of the ballot-box and the judiciary. 
 
 " I concur with the people of Missouri in this view of their duty, and 
 believe it to be the only course consistent with the terms and intentions 
 of our Constitution, and the only one which can save this Union from 
 the fate of all the confederacies which have successively appeared and 
 disappeared in the history of nations. Anarchy among the members 
 and not tyranny in the head, has been the rock on which all such con 
 federacies have split. The authors of our present form of government 
 knew the danger of this rock, and they endeavored to provide against it. 
 They formed a union not a league a Federal Legislature to act upon 
 persons, not upon States ; and they provided peaceful remedies for all 
 the questions which could arise between the people and the government. 
 They provided a federal judiciary to execute the federal laws when 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 157 
 
 bably would have been fully equal to that of Col. Hayne or 
 Mr. Woodbury but rather indulged the Senate with a his 
 tory of parties during the late war with Great Britain, and 
 also with a review of the action of Congress upon the subject 
 of the public lands. His speech for one so long and various 
 was not uninteresting. 
 
 Something perhaps should be said of the person who, igno 
 rant of its explosive qualities, threw this bomb into the Senate. 
 
 No man assuredly ever achieved immortality easier than 
 Mr. Foote, of Conn. As the author of the Resolution, he will 
 go down to the latest posterity, while the names of many who 
 shared in the debate will be lost in the early part of the 
 journey ; are indeed even now almost forgotten. 
 
 He was a man no otherwise distinguished, and perhaps in- 
 found to be constitutional, and popular elections to repeal them when 
 found to be bad. They formed a government in which the law and 
 popular will, and not the sword, was to decide questions ; and they 
 looked upon the first resort to the sword for the decision of such ques 
 tions as the death of the Union. The old confederation was a league, 
 with a legislature acting upon sovereignties, without power to enforce 
 its decrees, and without union except at the will of the parties. It 
 was powerless for government and a rope of sand for union. It was to 
 escape from that helpless and tottering government that the present 
 Constitution was formed." 
 
 Such a full recantation of political heresy required a degree of magna 
 nimity and moral courage seldom found. Any man may commit errors 
 but few, like the distinguished Senator from Missouri, have the hardi 
 hood to acknowledge and the manliness to correct them. 
 
58 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 capable of any particular distinction. Amiable in private lift., 
 respectable but never eminent in public, of no ill-regulated 
 ambition, nor eccentric vanity, he was one of the last to have 
 been suspected of designing to give character or intellectual 
 vitality to thought or action. And surely no man was more 
 surprised than himself at the formidable consequences of his 
 innocent act. What he had proposed as a harmless enquiry 
 became through the agency of others the immediate cause of 
 an animated, fiery discussion ; in which personalities were 
 given and retorted ; provocations maliciously put forth, and 
 indignantly thrown back ; and argument the most profound, 
 eloquence the most impassioned, embodied in language the 
 most chaste and sublime, involved in the discussion of the most 
 momentous interests. He was the most confounded at his 
 own importance. To use the language of Sir Walter Scott, he 
 felt " the terrors of a child, who has, in heedless sport, put 
 in motion some powerful piece of machinery ; and while he 
 beholds wheels revolving, chains clashing, cylinders rolling 
 around him, is equally astonished at the tremendous powers 
 which his weak agency has called into action, and terrified for 
 the consequences which he is compelled to await without the 
 possibility of averting them." But it must not be inferred 
 from the mention of no other name, that Mr. Webster alone 
 of the -Opposition Senators participated in this debate. Such 
 an opinion would do injustice to the history of the affair. 
 Messrs. Sprague and Holmes, of Maine, Barton, of Missouri, 
 Johnston, of La., Clayton of Delaware, and Bobbins, of Rhode 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 159 
 
 Island, with others, made speeches, and good speeches. Mr. 
 Clayton made a most able argument, full of historical research, 
 upon the various duties and powers of the co-ordinate branches 
 of the Government. 
 
 Barton, of Missouri, severely castigated his colleague, fill 
 ing the part in the drama declined by Mr. Webster. He was 
 a man, like Swift, of coarse invective, and coarser humor. 
 Equal to Randolph in bitterness, he excelled even that dreaded 
 satirist in personal vituperation. Of an original and eccentric 
 mind, a rapid though not profound thinker, his speeches often 
 produced an effect, more than proportioned, perhaps, to their 
 intrinsic merit. 
 
 While he was speaking on this occasion, the Yice-President 
 called him to order, for using " expressions inadmissible in a 
 deliberative body." Circumstances, it is said, alter cases. 
 When John Randolph, a few years previous, was transgress 
 ing not merely the rules of debate but of courtesy, in calling 
 the President a Puritan, and the Secretary of State a black 
 leg, Mr. Calhoun refused to call him. to order, on the ground 
 that it was his sole office to preside over the deliberations of 
 the Senate, and not to keep order in it. Mr. Barton, how 
 ever, could now be reprimanded though much less guilty. 
 
 Mr. Sprague, of Maine, made an excellent speech in de 
 fence of New England, temperate and conclusive. Other 
 Senators of the anti-Jackson party distinguished themselves 
 more or less in the debate. Some, who did not speak, re 
 frained, not through lack of ability, but from a conviction that 
 
1GQ CHAPTER VII. 
 
 the occasion did not need their voices. Chambers, of Maryland, 
 Burnett, of Ohio, Seymour, of Vt., and Kuggles, of Ohio, 
 were equal to any forensic combat. These and others formed 
 a corps du reserve, which could have been brought up, when 
 ever the nature of the contest seemed to require their aid. 
 
 In speaking of the political and personal friends of Mr. 
 Webster on this occasion, it would be injustice to make no al 
 lusion to Mr. Silsbee, of Mass. His position as colleague of Mr. 
 Webster, the intimacy that subsisted between them, his cha 
 racter, ability, and influence in the Senate provoke and justify 
 the mention of his name. In this important crisis, he stood 
 manfully by his colleague, gave him advice, aid and sympathy, 
 wholly and devotedly. "What the sympathy of an earnest, ar 
 dent., capable and experienced friend is worth they can only 
 tell, who have been in exigencies to require it. 
 
 Mr. Webster and Mr. Silsbee were colleagues other than in 
 position. They did not represent Massachusetts merely, but 
 the same liberal ideas and principles. Harmonious in senti 
 ment as in action, they consulted together under no restriction 
 of official etiquette, but freely, frankly, fraternally. It was of 
 much advantage to Mr. Webster, to be able to lean upon such 
 a man, in such an emergency ; to feel sure of warm sympathy, 
 unbounded friendship, and untiring zeal, while he battled 
 against such odds, for reputation and political existence. 
 
 There was no envy in Mr. Silsbee ; no malice ; no jealous 
 repining at another s superiority. His colleague, he knew, 
 towered above him, and overshadowed him. But he was not 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 161 
 
 one of the sickly plants that languish in the shade. He had 
 inherent vitality enough, constitutional vigor enough, to live, 
 and grow strong and vigorous, without incessant sunshine. 
 
 The profession to which he was educated did not insist upon his 
 being an orator. And yet few, trained to forensic pursuits, knew 
 better to express their meaning ; or could reach, by shorter 
 path, the understanding of their auditors, and gain so entirely 
 their convictions. The sincerity of his purpose gave force and 
 transparency to his language. No man in the Senate enjoyed, 
 or deserved, more respect. 
 
 Mr. Webster was not only assailed in the Senate by the chiefs 
 of the administration party, but by the democratic press, gener 
 ally throughout the country. The metropolitan newspaper, 
 the Z7. *S. Telegraph, whose editor was printer to the Senate, 
 attacked him with relentless malice. This kind of assault 
 troubled him most, as he had no means of meeting or repelling 
 it. Some action in the matter, however, he thought demand 
 ed by his position as Senator, and that of the editor as an offi 
 cer of the Senate. Accordingly, on the 28th of January he 
 rose in his seat in the Senate and said : " A newspaper has 
 been put into my hands this morning, purporting to be print 
 ed and published in this city by Duff Green, who is printer to 
 the Senate. In this, I find an article referring to the debate 
 in the Senate yesterday ; and in that article, among other 
 statements equally false, it is said, that Mr. Webster contend 
 ed that c the National Government was established by the peo- 
 8 
 
162 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 pie, who had imparted to it unlimited powers over the States 
 and Constitution. 
 
 " I am of opinion that we ought to leave our seats alto 
 gether, or protect ourselves from atrocious and wilful calum 
 nies, committed by persons who are admitted on this floor, and 
 receive from our hands large disbursements of public money. 
 It becomes us to yield our places here to men of better spiri/ 
 and go home, or show that we are not to be bullied or slander 
 ed out of a free and full exercise of our functions." 
 
 He then gave notice that on a similar occurrence of a simi 
 lar offence, he should make a specific motion. 
 
 His opponents finding where they could assail him with the 
 most injury to him and impunity to themselves reiterated the 
 charges against him, in the Telegraph, with additional viru 
 lence. Mr. Webster, in consequence, submitted the following 
 resolution to the Senate : " Resolved , That the Senate will on 
 the fourth day of February next proceed to the choice of a 
 printer to the Senate." This resolution, however, he consent 
 ed soon after, on the advice of friends, to withdraw ; and no 
 farther action was had on the matter. 
 
 If Mr. Webster needed aught else to satisfy his ambitioi. 
 than the proud consciousness of having ably discharged his 
 duty to his country, the warm testimonials of grateful admira 
 tion that poured in upon him from the most distinguished in 
 dividuals, in every part of the Union, might have been consid 
 ered fully sufficient. Massachusetts, to whose name he has 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 163 
 
 erected a monument no more perishable than her soil, came 
 eagerly forward to evince her earnest gratitude. The most 
 eminent in the State, for piety, learning, or public worth, sent 
 him letters of thanks for the great service he had rendered the 
 State and the Union " their children s children" they wrote 
 "would bless him, as they did, to the latest posterity. 
 Resolutions of a majority of both branches of the Legislature, 
 and of numerous assemblies throughout the State and New 
 England, all expressive of the deepest gratitude for his success 
 ful vindication of the name and character of the State and 
 New England from undeserved reproach, were forwarded to 
 him, in due time. 
 
 Nor was praise of his effort confined to his State or New 
 England. It was general, as the service he had performed to 
 his country. His exposition and defence of the Constitution 
 drew forth the expression of thanks from every quarter. 
 " The ability with which the great argument is treated" 
 writes the Ron. William Gaston, formerly a distinguished mem 
 ber of Congress from North Carolina " the patriotic fervor 
 with which the Union is asserted, give you claim to the gratitude 
 of every one who loves his country and regards the Constitu 
 tion as its best hope and surest stay. My engrossing occupa 
 tions leave me little leisure for any correspondence except on 
 business, but I have resolved to seize a moment to let you 
 know that with us there is scarcely a division of opinion among 
 the intelligent portion of the community. All of them, whose 
 understanding or whose conscience are not surrendered to the 
 
164 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 servitude of faction greet your eloquent efforts with unmixed 
 approbation." 
 
 " I congratulate you," writes Mr. Clay, " on the very great 
 addition which you have made, during the session, to your 
 previous high reputation. Your speeches, and particularly in 
 reply to Mr. Hayne, are the theme of praise from every tongue 
 and I have shared in the delight which all have felt." 
 
 O 
 
 Commendation of the speech from persons almost equally 
 distinguished, reached Mr. Webster ; from one, still more so. 
 JAMES MADISON, one of the principal framers of the Consti 
 tution, and, in safest opinion, its best interpreter, wrote to a 
 friend soon after reading this speech, in warm terms of its 
 ability, its constitutional character, and its " tremendous effect 
 upon the doctrines of nullification." 
 
 There is no such thing as extemporaneous speaking, strictly 
 considered. No man can address an assembly in language 
 worthy to be remembered, without some previous study of his 
 subject. The command of a whole vocabulary will not supply 
 ideas ; verbal fluency is even dangerous to their proper expres 
 sion. We lose the substance in the shadow. 
 
 Certainly, therefore, it will not be contended, that Mr. 
 Webster s entire reply to Col. Hayne was the inspiration of 
 the moment that he took no thought, before speech, of what 
 he should say. Most undoubtedly, some of the important 
 questions which he discussed on this celebrated occasion had 
 received, previously, his attention and careful consideration. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 165 
 
 The Tariff, the Public Lands, and the Constitution, were 
 matters of a too important character not to demand the recog 
 nition and deep study of any statesman. 
 
 But of what is generally understood by preparation, Mr. 
 Webster had made little : less, perhaps, for an occasion of 
 equal importance, than any orator of ancient or modern times. 
 The orators of antiquity, it is well known, elaborated their 
 sentences no less than their thoughts ; were as anxious about 
 a phrase as a sentiment ; while those most celebrated of modern 
 days have been also most distinguished for previous study. 
 Burke and Canning, more especially, polished and amended, 
 revised and re-revised, till the original thought was hardly 
 recognizable in its last dress. 
 
 Mr. Webster s brief on this occasion did not cover one side 
 of a sheet of paper, the major part of it being in relation to the 
 Public Lands ; while the most important topic of the speech, 
 that which related to the history and interpretation of the 
 Constitution, was discussed without a single note. A fact that 
 seems the more remarkable, when it is recollected that Mr. 
 Webster had never been engaged in the discussion of a Con 
 stitutional question at any time in his previous Parliamentary 
 career. It is true, however, that in his professional life he 
 had had occasion to examine and argue some important points 
 of Constitutional Law, as in the Dartmouth College case, and 
 in the steamboat case of Gibbons vs. Ogden, already alluded 
 to. But these cases, important as they were to the proper 
 settlement of vexed questions, and involving as they do higK 
 
166 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 principles of Constitutional law, did not agitate the delicately, 
 adjusted political relations between the States and the Federal 
 Government. This question was first examined in full in this 
 debate. Undoubtedly, however, Mr. Webster had dwelt upoi. 
 it before in his mind ; the whole force and capacity of it were 
 not opened to him at the moment, like a revelation. He wa>. 
 full of it, and required no promptings and no guides. The 
 mind, contend the metaphysicians, always thinks; and Mr. 
 Webster s, more than other men s, may have been exercised 
 upon such loftythemes as these. 
 
 No one can read this speech of his in reply to Hayne, or 
 any or either of his most celebrated productions, without being 
 reminded of scriptural passages. In truth, no writer or speaker 
 of any reputation, of the age, is more imbued with the spirit of 
 Hebrew poetry than Mr. Webster. Those nearest admitted 
 to his intimacy wonld be the readiest to bear testimony to his 
 familiar acquaintance with the literature of the Old Bible. 
 " The hidden treasure of poetry," (I quote from recollection 
 merely J " is the Hebrew books. Few persons remount to the 
 source, to l Siloa s brook, that flowed fast by the oracle of God. 
 There is no writer in any language, ancient or modern, more 
 poetical than Habakkuk. In the translation, even, he appears 
 to greater advantage than the heroic poets than Homer, or 
 those that followed him. In the vernacular, besides the energy 
 of the words there is a rythm, a metre, as much as in the Iliad 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 167 
 
 <jr Eneid. The translation has not always destroyed it ; as 
 take, for instance, the following lines : 
 
 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, 
 Neither shall fruit be in the vines ; 
 The labor of the olive shall fail, 
 And the fields shall yield no meat ; 
 The flock shall be cut off from the fold, 
 And there shall be no herd in the stalls : 
 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 7 
 
 Here now is a regular equiponderance of sentences till you 
 get to the last line, which is double. Then what beautiful and 
 expressive language ! i The labor of the olive ! In what 
 Other book will you find an expression of like energy and 
 beauty ? The tree itself is, by a bold metaphor, made to 
 contribute, spontaneously, to the wants of man, as if it had 
 thews and muscles, and was capable of action. The field 
 shall yield no meat. What a stronger impression the word 
 * meat conveys, than product, or fruit, or any common term. 
 It is true poetical. It at once gives you the idea of all that 
 maketh glad the heart of man ; and the failure of the fields, 
 therefore, falls upon the mind with a heavier gloom. 
 
 The whole chapter is sublime. I read it often, and each 
 time with still greater admiration i The prayer of Habakkuk, 
 as it is called." 
 
 It would be unfair to Mr. "Webster to attempt to give hig 
 language from remembrance. No author, of another tongue, 
 would suffer more from translation. Some of the strongest 
 
168 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 expressions, no less than nicer shades of sentiment, would bo 
 lost in the transmission. He must be heard to be appreciated. 
 
 Those admitted to the intimacy of his conversation, can tell 
 of the eloquent fervor with which he speaks of the inspired 
 writings how much light he can throw upon a difficult text 
 how much beauty lend to expressions that would escape all 
 but the eye of genius what new vigor he can give to the most 
 earnest thoughts and what elevation to even sublimity. " It 
 would be impossible," says a distinguished orator from another 
 section of the country, " for any one to listen half an hour to 
 Mr. Webster on the Scriptures, and not believe in their inspi 
 ration or his." 
 
 But while Mr. Webster s public productions and private 
 conversations attest how deeply he is imbued with the spirit 
 of the Scriptures, neither the one nor the other ever contained 
 the slightest irreverent allusion to any passage in them any 
 thing in the way of illustration, analogy or quotation, that 
 could seem to question their sanctity. He has been scrupu 
 lously delicate in this regard ; and therein differs widely from 
 most of his contemporaries in public life on this continent : for 
 it is made matter of reproach to us, as a nation, that our public 
 speakers, in Congress particularly, take the grossest liberties 
 with the most sacred texts of the Scriptures use them to 
 garnish the most ordinary topics, or illustrate their own ignoble 
 pursuits and histories ; and, in fact, pay them no more regard 
 than profane books. 
 
 It is not so in England. Good taste, if not a religious 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 169 
 
 sense, avoids any such irreverence. When Lord Plunkctt 
 once, in the House of Commons, in speaking of the great an 
 ticipations that were entertained of George IV. s accession to 
 the throne, alluded to it as THE GREAT COMING, the members 
 
 of the House were shocked, and the speaker felt the rebuke. 
 8* 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE same year in which Mr. "Webster gained his forensic 
 laaivls in the Senate of the United States, secured him 
 also a great professional triumph. All of New England, 
 at that time of sufficient age and capacity to have compre 
 hended it, will recollect the deep, intense sensation produced 
 throughout the community that year by the extraordinary mur 
 der of Joseph White, in Salem, Massachusetts, on the night 
 of the 6th of April. The respectability, wealth, and ad 
 vanced age of the murdered man, the mysterious nature of 
 the midnight murder, the strange and romantic details con 
 nected with its perpetration, the relationship of one of the 
 assassins to the victim, and other circumstances of almost 
 equal interest, produced an excitement at the time, which was 
 as deep as it was general, and which has dwelt upon the mind 
 ever since with nearly all the distinctness of its first impres 
 sion. 
 
 A few weeks after the murder, Richard Crowningshield, 
 G-eorge Crowningshield, brothers, Joseph J. Knapp, who had 
 married a daughter of the neice of the murdered man, and 
 John Francis Knapp, also brothers, were arrested, on a charge 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 171 
 
 of having perpetrated the murder, and committed for trial. 
 Joseph J. Knapp, soon after his arrest, under promise of 
 favor from the government, was induced to make a full con 
 fession of the crime, and of the circumstances attending it. 
 A few days after his disclosure had been made and become 
 known, Richard Crowningshield, who was supposed to have been 
 the principal assassin, committed suicide. 
 
 By act of the Legislature, a special session of the Supreme 
 Court was holden at Salem, in July, for the trial of the pri 
 soners. In the ordinary arrangement of the courts, but one 
 week in a year, was allotted for the whole court to sit in that 
 county ; and, as in the trial of all capital offences, a majority 
 of the court were required to be present, and as weeks would 
 in all probability be consumed in this trial, but for such inter 
 position of the Legislature, three years would not have been 
 sufficient for the purpose. It was for this reason and not on 
 account of the excitement in the community, and the interest 
 felt in the result, that the special session was ordered. 
 
 Before this court, John Francis Knapp was arraigned as 
 principal in the murder, and Greorge Crowningshield and Jo 
 seph J. Knapp, accessories. 
 
 If the suicide of Richard Crowningshield before the com 
 mencement of the trial, added to the already excited state of the 
 public feeling, the unexpected withdrawal of his confession by 
 Joseph J Knapp, and his refusal, on being called upon, to 
 testify, had no tendency to allay it. 
 
 Mr. Webster, upon the request of the prosecuting officers 
 
172 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 of the government, appeared as counsel and assisted in the 
 trial. 
 
 In the earlier part of his argument to the jury, Mr. Webster 
 said " G-entlemen, this is a most extraordinary case. ID 
 some respects, it has hardly a precedent anywhere ; certainly 
 none in our New England history. This bloody drama exhi 
 bited no suddenly excited ungovernable rage. The actors in 
 it were not surprised by any lion-like temptation springing 
 upon their virtue and overcoming it, before resistance could 
 begin. Nor did they do the deed, to glut savage vengeance, 
 or satiate long settled and deadly hate. It was a cool, calcu 
 lating, money-making murder. It was all hire and salary, 
 not revenge. It was the weighing of money against life 
 the counting out of so many pieces of silver, against so many 
 ounces of blood." 
 
 In speaking of the supposed self-congratulation of the mur 
 derer, as he escapes, unseen by human eye, after the perpe 
 tration of the deed, Mr. "Webster describes the danger of a 
 fatal secret in language that makes the reader almost feel the 
 consciousness of guilt himself. " It is accomplished. The 
 deed is done. The assassin retreats ; retraces his steps to the 
 window, passes out through it as he came in, and escapes. 
 He has done the murder. No eye has seen him, no ear has 
 heard him. The secret is his ownj and it is safe 
 
 " Ah ! gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. Such a 
 pecret cnn be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has 
 neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 173 
 
 flay it is safe. Not to speak of that eye which glances through 
 all disguises, and beholds everything as in the splendor ot 
 noon, such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection, even 
 by men. True it is, generally speaking, that c murder wil] 
 out. True it is, that Providence hath so ordained, and doth 
 so govern things, that those who break the law of heaven, by 
 shedding man s blood, seldom succeed in avoiding discovery 
 A thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man, every thing, 
 every circumstance, connected with the time and place ; a 
 thousand ears catch every whisper ; a thousand excited minds 
 intensely dwell on the scene, shedding all their light, and 
 ready to kindle the slightest circumstance into a blaze of dis 
 covery Meanwhile the guilty soul cannot keep its own 
 secret. It is false to itself ; or rather, it feels an irresistible 
 impulse of conscience to be true to itself. It labors under its 
 guilty possession, and knows not what to do with it. The 
 human heart was not made for the residence of such an in 
 habitant. It finds itself preyed upon by a torment which iu 
 does not acknowledge to Grod nor man. A vulture is devour 
 ing it, and it can ask no sympathy or assistance, either from 
 heaven or earth. The secret which the murderer possesses 
 soon comes to possess him ; and, like the evil spirits of which 
 we read, it overcomes him, and leads him whithersoever it 
 vill. He feels it beating at his heart, rising to his throat, and 
 iemanding disclosure. He thinks the whole world sees it in 
 his face, reads it in his eyes, and almost hears its workings in 
 the very silence of his thoughts. It has become his master. 
 
174 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 It betrays his discretion, it breaks down his courage, it con 
 quers Iris prudence. When suspicions, from without, begin to 
 embarrass him, and the net of circumstance to entangle him, 
 the fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst 
 forth. It must be confessed ; it will be confessed ; there is no 
 refuge from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession." 
 
 The great difficulty Mr. Webster had to surmount in the 
 case was, the doubt in the minds of the jury, that John Fran 
 cis Knapp was present in the vicinity at the time of the mur 
 der, for the purpose of aiding and abetting it. Richard 
 Crowningshield was the actual perpetrator of the murder ; he 
 alone entered the house, and gave the old man his death- 
 wounds. But, by his own act, he was placed beyond the 
 reach of an earthly tribunal ; and, unless it was demonstrated 
 to the satisfaction of the jury, that, on the night of the mur 
 der, John Francis Knapp was aiding, in constructive presence, 
 the accomplishment of the deed, and thus proved a principal 
 to it, the three prisoners, however guilty in public opinion and 
 in fact, must have been discharged, since the one indicted as 
 principal being pronounced innocent, the accessories could not 
 of course have been convicted. 
 
 The admirable ingenuity of argument by which Mr. Web 
 ster led the minds of the jury to this conclusion, is equal to 
 anything of the kind in the annals of the profession. The in 
 terpretation he gave to the various and somewhat contradic 
 tory evidence upon the subject ; the manner in which he com 
 bined circumstances at first seemingly independent, dove-tail- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 175 
 
 ing them together so that their separation appeared impossible, 
 and the full solution which he returned to the suggested doubts 
 of opposite counsel, in regard to identity of person, &c., 
 rendered Knapp s guilt, in the opinion of the jury, a matter 
 not merely of vehement probability, but absolute necessity. 
 
 He was convicted, and his associates also. 
 
 The history of the murder is a singular one ; and, were it 
 not that truth is stranger than fiction, would hardly be credit 
 ed in all of its details. 
 
 The first conception of the murder arose, it is said, from 
 the conversation and character of the victim. The idea of 
 murder was not native to those who plotted it ; but from their 
 education, position, and associations, was abhorrent to their 
 minds. They had led somewhat extravagant and reckless 
 lives, it is true, but nothing had been imputed to them indica 
 tive of cruel dispositions or hardened consciences. Their 
 victim, in his familiar conversation, to which of course they 
 were admitted the Knapps at least was accustomed to 
 speak, with some carelessness of expression, of things worthy 
 of reverence ; to profess a doubt of eternal life, and a reckless 
 impatience of this tedious existence. J. J. Knapp, and 
 others, often listening to such talk, began to think of indulg 
 ing the wishes of the speaker, and finally came to the conclu 
 sion, that, as he stood shivering on the brink, seemingly desi 
 rous, yet fearing to plunge, it would be no unkindness in them 
 to afford him a little aid. 
 
 The murier was committed through a mistake of law 
 
176 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Some weeks previous to it, Joseph. Knapp applied to a lawyer 
 to ascertain the law as to the distribution of the estate of the 
 old gentleman, in case he should die intestate. The lawyer 
 advised him, that the estate would descend to his nephews and 
 neices, his next of kin, per stirpes, and noiper capita ; Knapp 
 thence concluded that his mother-in-law, who was a neice of 
 the old gentleman, and sole representative of one of the two 
 branches, would inherit half the estate, which was very large, 
 and that in consequence, it was a matter of great moment that 
 he (Mr. White) should die and leave no will. 
 
 The murder was committed too, through a mistake of fact, 
 for though the murderers got a will, it was not the will. The 
 one destroyed was made sometime before the murder ; another 
 was found after the murder, bequeathing the mass of the pro 
 perty to the other branch of the family. This circumstance, 
 of Knapp s not being benefited by the murder, for some 
 time averted the suspicion of his being engaged in it. But 
 when it had been ascertained that he was a party to it, his ig 
 norance of the existence of the second will solved the whole 
 mystery, revealed the motive of the act. 
 
 The actual murderer, Richard Crowningshield, was indicted, 
 arrested and committed to close confinement in prison, on the 
 testimony of one who was wholly ignorant of the truth or 
 falsehood of what he testified. Hatch, the witness against 
 him, was a felon imprisoned at New Bedford, at the time tho 
 murder was committed ; he falsely pretended to be able to 
 testify to material facts. Attorney-General Morton, at the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 177 
 
 Supreme Judicial Court which sat in Essex, a few weeks after 
 the murder, moved for a Habeas Corpus ad Testificandum, 
 and Hatch was carried in chains to Ipswich, and on his testi 
 mony, wholly false, a bill of indictment was found against 
 Richard Crowningsheld and three other persons, who were ar 
 rested and committed for trial. 
 
 Richard Crowningshielddid not despond at first in his impri 
 sonment, because he knew he was charged with the crime on 
 false testimony ; but a month after, when he heard that some 
 of his accomplices had turned States evidence, and disclosed 
 the truth, his heart failed him, as he contemplated the seem 
 ing desperateness of his condition, and soon abandoning all for 
 lost, he committed suicide, to escape a public ignominious 
 death ; while if he had boldly stood the chances of a trial be 
 fore a jury, he needs must have been acquitted, notwith 
 standing all the disclosures, for want of sufficient legal testi 
 mony the disclosures, so far as he was concerned, having 
 been mere hearsay, which is not, technically, evidence. But, 
 from want of moral courage, he committed suicide, and sui 
 cide was confession. 
 
 Joseph J. Knapp, it will be recollected, consented at one 
 time to be States evidence, and to make a full confession of 
 the whole truth ; had he remained steadfast to this compact 
 with the government, he would thereby have saved his own 
 life, and, by his testimony, acquitted his brother Francis. 
 His testimony would have proved that Francis was in Brown- 
 street the locale of the murder without the knowledge and 
 
178 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 against the wishes of Kichard Crowningshield, and that his sole 
 purpose in going there was to ascertain from him, historically, 
 whether the deed had been done. It was proved at the trial 
 that Francis was in Brown-street at the time of the murder, 
 and the jury from all the evidence, and in the absence of any 
 proof that he was there for any other purpose than to aid 
 Hichard Crowningshield, came to the conclusion, that he was 
 there expressly for that purpose ; and, consequently, found 
 him guilty as PRINCIPAL. He was thus convicted for want of 
 his brother s testimony. But this very confession of Joseph 
 Knapp, though withdrawn before trial, and thus, technically, 
 ruled out of court, must have produced some influence upon 
 the minds of the jury disastrous to the defendants. A rule of 
 law could prevent the admission of the testimony into court, 
 but not into the minds of men. This confession revealed 
 certain facts admitted as evidence through the person to 
 whom they were made known such as the concealment of 
 the club by which Crowningshield perpetrated the murder, and 
 other auxiliary circumstances, without which it might have 
 been difficult to have obtained conviction. Thus, by his 
 double weakness first in confessing, and then retracting 
 Joseph Knapp accomplished his brother s conviction of a 
 crime which was perpetrated for his own benefit. 
 
 Some censure at the time was passed upon the conduct of 
 the defence. The eminent counsel, it was thought, committed 
 the fatal error of bringing forward no plan, hypothesis or 
 theory which could admit of the innocence of the accused, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 179 
 
 but contented himself rather with a kind of guerilla warfare, 
 attacking the positions or witnesses of the other side, in a 
 series of flying skirmishes. A kind of defence, which, in 
 criminal cases, never has succeeded, and probably never will. 
 
 It was thought also at the time, that the learned counsel for 
 the defence betrayed a want of professional equanimity, if not 
 courtesy, that they made too many and too lachrymose com 
 plaints of the professional aid the prosecuting officer retained 
 on the trial, compelling Mr. "Webster to say to the jury, that, 
 " In the course of his whole life, he had never before heard 
 so much said about the particular counsel who happen to be 
 employed ; as if it were extraordinary that other counsel than 
 the usual officers of the government should be assisting in the 
 conducting of a case on the part of the government." And 
 that they exhibited, in fine, indications of too captious a 
 spirit, and too irascible temperament. 
 
 The opinion in regard to the management of the prosecu 
 tion was warmly approbatory. It was, indeed, generally ad 
 mitted that, but for Mr. Webster s masterly argument, a con 
 viction would never have been procured against the prisoners. 
 The earnest and resistless logic, by which he demonstrated the 
 necessity of their guilt, dispelled the doubts which had hung 
 over the case from complicated and contradictory evidence. 
 Their moral guilt might have been suspected, their legal guilt, 
 without him, could not have been established. 
 
 The closing words of his argument, in which he reminds the 
 jury of the obligation they were under to discharge their duty, 
 
180 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 have been quoted before, but may not be unworthy of repeti 
 tion here : " A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omni 
 present, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of 
 the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, duty 
 performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our happiness 
 or our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the 
 darkness as in the light, our obligations are yet with us. We 
 cannot escape their power, nor fly from their presence. They 
 are with us in this life, will be with us at its close ; and, in that 
 scene of inconceivable solemnity, which lies yet farther on 
 ward, we shall still find ourselves surrounded by the conscious 
 ness of duty, to pain us wherever it has been violated, and to 
 console us, so far as God may have given us grace to perform 
 it." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SOON after the reply to Hayne, the principles of constitu 
 tional law evolved therefrom, were put to the severest test. 
 The fatal doctrine of nullification, brought boldly forward in 
 Colonel Hayne s argument, for the first time, gained, during 
 the two years that followed, a strength, and following in a cer 
 tain section, sufficient to create a feeling of sincere apprehen 
 sion on the part of the friends of the Union. 
 
 The motives of actors we can judge of solely from their 
 revelation in deeds. There is no process, moral or legal, to 
 reach the conscience. As does a man, so, to all possible un 
 derstanding, he thinks. The reasons assigned, so liberally and 
 authoritatively at times, for the conduct of public men, by the 
 historian or biographer, are those rather of the writer than 
 actor, in a generality of cases. 
 
 The narrator can give facts, from which each intelligent 
 reader for himself is able to draw satisfactory conclusions. 
 
 "Within a year of the famous controversy between Mr. Web 
 ster and Colonel Hayne, Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Forsyth, 
 availing themselves of the fortuitous circumstance of a femi- 
 
182 
 
 nine quarrel in General Jackson s cabinet, to ensure a long- 
 premeditated intention, produced a rupture between General 
 Jackson and Mr. Calhoun ; a rupture not only of political but 
 personal relations, and of extremer virulence from the pre 
 ceding intimacy. General Jackson, alike violent in enmity 
 and friendship, began now to cherish and express feelings of 
 deadly hatred towards his associate in the government. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was necessarily precipitated into opposition to 
 his former political friends. He could not remain in the De- 
 mpcratic party against General Jackson. There was no 
 catholicity unrecognized by the head of the faith. Himself 
 and friends, therefore, found themselves in compulsory hostil 
 ity to the administration. This hostility, originally personal, 
 became soon, by the operation of natural causes, one of mea 
 sures and principle. To those who are not accustomed to 
 dwell upon the evolutions of politicians, and notice with what 
 a strange rapidity they are performed, it might appear no 
 little surprising that these two eminent individuals, on taking 
 their latitude after the somewhat long duration of their personal 
 conflict, discovered that each had wandered very far from the 
 course in which he had been moving, and in entirely oppo 
 site direction the one to the other. Up to the accession of 
 Mr. Adams to the Presidency, in 1825, Mr. Calhoun had been 
 known as an ardent, sincere and efficient advocate of the 
 liberal powers of the general government, especially as re 
 garded the institution of a protective tariff; while General 
 Jackson, except in Pennsylvania, had been considered as 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 183 
 
 favoring, at least in heart, the theory and policy of Mr. Craw 
 ford, the leader of the strict constructionists. But now % 
 their positions were wholly reversed ; Mr. Calhoun contending 
 for the right of each State to oppose the measures of the 
 general government, even to nullification General Jackson 
 insisting upon a large and liberal interpretation of the Consti 
 tution, and the putting down of resistance to the exercise of 
 the powers it grants, by the force of the general government. 
 
 The controversy, as is ever the case, became more bitter and 
 violent, from the former friendship between the two most dis 
 tinguished parties to it. Notwithstanding their endeavors to 
 give it an exclusive character of principle, it could not but be 
 felt there was in it great personal vindictiveuess. No terms of 
 reproach, accusation or denunciation were spared on either 
 hand, by the friends of either party towards their opponents ; 
 Calhoun-men and Jackson-men hated each other with a hatred 
 far more unsparing than either felt towards their late political 
 opponents. 
 
 In spite of the defection of Mr. Calhoun and hin friends, 
 General Jackson was re-elected President, in the fall of 1832, 
 by a large majority over Mr. Clay, the candidate of the Op 
 position or, " National Republicans," as they then styled 
 themselves and Mr. Yan Buren, Vice-President ; South 
 Carolina alone of the Southern Democratic States, withholding 
 its vote from the candidates of the Democratic party. 
 
 Immediately upon the result of the canvass, the people of 
 that State, urged to temporary phrenzy by their political 
 
184 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 leaders in and out of Congress, met by delegates in conven 
 tion, and passed what they called an ordinance, establishing 
 new and fundamental principles. This convention overthrew 
 the whole revenue system. It did not limit itself to the acts 
 of 1828 or 1832, but adopted a solemn declaration that, in 
 their State, no taxes should be collected. In this declaration 
 they stated that South Carolina had thrown herself into the 
 breach, and would stand foremost in resistance to the laws of 
 the Union ; and they solemnly called upon the citizens of the 
 State to stand by the principles of the ORDINANCE. The 
 Legislature of the State, meeting soon after, ratified this ordi 
 nance, and declared the tariff acts unconstitutional, and 
 utterly null and void. It passed an act besides, directing the 
 enlisting and enrollment of volunteers, and advised all the 
 citizens to put themselves in military array. 
 
 The excitement in the State became intense. The whole 
 State was in arms, or ready to be so at a moment s warning. 
 A military spirit everywhere prevailed. The blue cockade 
 with the Palmetto button, was almost universally worn, and 
 musters were held every day. The city of Charleston wore 
 the appearance of a military depot ; and it was generally sup 
 posed, that the first attempt to enforce the revenue laws of 
 the United States, would produce instantaneous collision be 
 tween the forces of the general government and of the State. 
 
 General Hayne resigned his seat in the Senate of the 
 United States, and was elected Governor of the State, to 
 meet the emergency ; and Mr. Calhoun, resigning his office as 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 185 
 
 Vice-Presideut three months before its constitutional expira 
 tion succeeded General Hayne in the Senate. 
 
 The state of public affairs threatened a fatal crisis. Gene 
 ral Jackson, unterrified by the belligerent appearance of South 
 Carolina, determined to enforce the law, at every hazard. 
 His cabinet, indeed, maintained a profound silence in regard 
 to his intentions ; but some of his most intimate friends an 
 nounced that he would immediately employ the naval force of 
 the country, and blockade Charleston. Everywhere, throughout 
 the country, an anxious feverish apprehension of some immediate 
 catastrophe agitated the minds of men. 
 
 Early in December Congress met. The vacant chair was 
 filled by the election of Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, as 
 President of the Senate, on the fifth ballot, by a vote of seven 
 teen to fourteen for John Tyler, of Virginia. The Senate 
 was composed as follows : 
 
 Maine John Holmes, Peleg Sprague. 
 
 New Hampshire Samuel Bell, Isaac Hill. 
 
 Massachusetts Nathaniel Silsbee, Daniel Webster. 
 
 Rhode Island N. R. Knight, Asher Robbins. 
 
 Connecticut Samuel A. Foot, Gid. Tomlinson. 
 
 New York Charles E. Dudley, Silas Wright. 
 
 New Jersey Mahlon Dickerson, Theo. Frelinghuysen. 
 
 Pennsylvania -Q-eo. M. Dallas, Wm. Wilkins. 
 
 Delaware-^- John M. Clayton, Arnold Naudain. 
 
 Maryland Ezekiel F. Chambers, Samuel Smith. 
 
 Virginia John Tyler, William C. Rives. 
 9 
 
186 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 North Carolina Bedford Brown, Willie P. Mangum. 
 
 South Carolina Stephen D. Miller, John C. Oalhoun 
 
 Georgia Geo. M. Troup, John Forsyth. 
 
 Kentucky G-eo. M. Bibb, Henry Clay. 
 
 Tennessee Felix Grundy, Hugh L. White. 
 
 Ohio Thomas Ewing, Benjamin Buggies. 
 
 Louisiana Josiah S. Johnston, G-eo. A. Waggaman. 
 
 Indiana William Hendricks, John Tipton. 
 
 Mississippi Greo. Poindexter, John Black. 
 
 Illinois Elias K. Kane, John M. Robinson. 
 
 Alabama William R. King, Gabriel Moore. 
 
 Missouri Thos H. Benton, Alexander Buckner. 
 
 Many of these names have an " odor of nationality" about 
 them ; and all of them are transcribed here, in order that 
 those not great in themselves may afford relief to the others 
 greatness. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun did not arrive in time to be present at the 
 opening of the Senate. His arrival was awaited with no 
 little impatience. Some apprehension was entertained that 
 he would be arrested on his way, on a charge of treason against 
 the government. General Jackson had indulged in a threat 
 of that kind ; and those, who knew he seldom threatened but 
 he meant to do, were in momentary expectation of such an 
 event. 
 
 On the 10th of December, appeared General Jackson s 
 celebrated proclamation against nullification Probably, no 
 document ever issued from the Executive Department which 
 
DAM EL WEBSTER. 187 
 
 gave rise to a more profound sensation. It confounded alike 
 friend and foe of the administration. This State paper was 
 the production of Mr. Livingston, then Secretary of State, 
 though it bears in many pages marks of General Jackson ? 
 dictation. His will penetrates every sentence of it. Mr. 
 Webster, in the preceding October, in a speech at Worcester. 
 Massachusetts, had reproached the administration for having 
 done nothing and said nothing, to arrest the revolutionary 
 doctrines of nullification. In this speech we had recapitulated 
 the powers and duties of the general government, as pre 
 viously defined in his reply to Hayne, and urged the necessity 
 of their exercise. But at the same time, and in equally forci 
 ble language, he took ground against the employment of mili 
 tary force. " For one" he said " I raise my voice before 
 hand against the unauthorized employment of military power, 
 and against superseding the authority of the laws, by an 
 armed force, under the pretence of putting down nullification. 
 The ^resident has no authority to blockade Charleston ; the 
 President has no authority to employ military force till he 
 shall be duly required so to do by law and by the civil autho 
 rities. His duty is to cause the laws to be executed. His 
 duty is to support the civil authority. His duty is, if the laws 
 be resisted, to employ the military force of the country, if ne- 
 sessary, for their support and execution ; but to do all this in 
 compliance only with law, and with decisions of the tribunals. 
 Mr. Webster, on his way to Washington in December, first 
 heard of the proclamation in New Jersey, from a traveller, 
 
188 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 unknown to him, and to whom he also was unknown, who had 
 just left the metropolis. This person told him, as news, that 
 General Jackson v had just issued a proclamation against nulli 
 fication, " taken altogether from Webster s speech at Wor 
 cester." 
 
 There certainly is a resemblance strange indeed, if unin 
 tentional between, not the sentiments alone, but the very 
 language of these two productions. 
 
 To G-eneral Jackson s proclamation, Governor Hayne issued 
 a counter-proclamation, denouncing the attitude of the gene 
 ral government towards the State of South Carolina, anc. 
 threatening to resist to the last extremity, the enforcement of 
 its jurisdiction over the citizens of the State. 
 
 The " crisis" evidently approached. The United States 
 troops were concentrated, in some force, at Augusta and 
 Charleston, seemingly for the purpose of repressing any in 
 surrectionary or rebellious movement in the State ; while on 
 the other side, equal preparation was made. The militia in 
 certain sections of the State were called out and drilled, 
 muskets were put in order, swords cleaned and sharpened, and 
 depots of provisions and supplies established. Officers, na 
 tives of the State, in the army and navy of the United States 
 contemplated resigning their commissions, and flying to the 
 defence of the State. While some "foreign officers, then in 
 the country, actually tendered their services to the governor, 
 against the forces of the general government. 
 
 Such, in December, was the aspect of affairs in South Caro- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 189 
 
 lina. Civil war had not indeed commenced, and yet all that 
 seemed wanting to bring it on, was but a forcible demonstration 
 from either party. At a great assembly of Nullifiers in Charles 
 ton, Mr. Preston, one of the most influential among them, 
 said, among other things equally portentous " There are 
 sixteen thousand back-countrymen with arms in their hands 
 and cockades in their hats, ready to march to our city at a 
 moment s warning, to defend us ; and the moment Congress 
 shall pass the laws recommended to the President in relation 
 to our port, I will pour down a torrent of volunteers that 
 shall sweep the myrmidons of the tyrant from the soil of Caro 
 lina." There was somewhat of bombast in this language, but, 
 unfortunately too, somewhat of truth. There were many in 
 South Carolina ready and even eager for collision with the 
 United States authorities. 
 
 This state of things lasted through December, keeping the 
 entire country in constant agitation. In the meantime, Mr. 
 Calhoun did not make his appearance at Washington ; his 
 friends said that he remained to prevent an outbreak in South 
 Carolina ; his enemies that he feared to encounter the pre 
 sence of General Jackson. 
 
 At length, the news of his departure from South Carolina, 
 and of his progress towards the metropc lis, reached Washing 
 ton, the latter part of December. At .Raleigh, North Caro 
 lina, he passed, it was said, New Year s day, waited upon by 
 large crowds of people. A public dinner, on the part of the 
 citizens, was offered to, and urged upon him, which he de- 
 
190 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 clined on the ground of his public engagements. Travellirg 
 more slowly, than in these days of steam, his approach \vi.s 
 heralded from one place to another, and preparation made for 
 his reception. Everywhere he was met with respect, even in 
 places where his principles were obnoxious and his course cor. - 
 demned : for it was thought he was honest in his intentions. 
 The story of his progress through North Carolina and Virginia 
 reaching the capital before him, mitigated to a degree thj 
 harshness of the general feeling in that place towards hin , 
 and prevented any hostile demonstration, if such had been in 
 tended, against him. 
 
 It was on the fourth day of January, 1833, he took his 
 seat, for the first time, as Senator of the United States. II 3 
 had presided, as Vice-President, over the deliberations of th 3 
 Senate for nearly four years, but had never been otherwis* a 
 member of that body. 
 
 It was an impressive occasion. The Senate was crowded, 
 to witness the ceremony of his taking the oath of office. Ho 
 walked in, slowly and deliberately, to his seat. Some went 
 up to him and tendered their congratulations ; but many of 
 the Senators held back. With his State almost in open re 
 bellion, and himself, in general opinion, its most turbulent 
 agitator, there were many who entertained towards him any 
 but kind feelings. The idea of disunion was then a monstrous 
 and unnatural idea ; it had not become familiarized, and all 
 whose language, even by implication, seemed to advocate or 
 tolerate that project, were held in abhorrence. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 191 
 
 More than one Senator present, to whom Mr. Cal- 
 houn s assured but not presumptuous manner seemed .ike a 
 bold defiance of opinion, was ready to exclaim, in the words 
 of Cicero, when he addressed the audacious Cataline 
 " Quousque tandem abutere Catalina patientiti, nostrd ? quam- 
 din etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet ? quern ad finem sese 
 effrenata jactabit audadaV Certainly the presence of Mr. 
 Calhoun in the Senate " abused their patience," for they held 
 their seats under the Constitution, which they thought he me 
 ditated to overthrow ; and his " unbridled audacity" in thrust 
 ing himself into a body, whose action, as a co-ordinate branch 
 of the government, his measures threatened to destroy, ex 
 cited their indignation. 
 
 Still, when with reverential manner, and in a serious, sol 
 emn, and audible voice he took the oath to support the CON 
 STITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, opinion softened towards 
 him ; and many who had foreborne to accost him earlier now 
 came forward, and with great sincerity, welcomed him to the 
 Senate. He took all in good part ; reciprocated the compli 
 ments he received, and concurred with others in the hope of 
 harmonious legislation. 
 
 But all who had the fear or love of Gen. Jackson before 
 their eyes, hated or professed to hate the southern chieftain. 
 The thunders of the White House terrified as much in these 
 days, as ever the thunders of the Vatican ; no man would en 
 counter them, unless for a purpose most safely and selfishly 
 advantageous. The Jackson-men proper, were the most vio- 
 
192 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 lent of the anti-Calhoun men. The Jackson press denounced 
 him with less measured invective, than even his most preju 
 diced political opponents ; and the high-way to the old 
 General s heart was supposed to be abuse of Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 But all moved him not ; neither foreign defiance, " malice 
 domestic," nor executive denunciation. The certainty of an 
 overwhelming opposition to his cause, the clamor of an abusive 
 press, the menace even of personal outrage none frightened 
 him from his propriety of word or action. He looked and 
 bore himself " every inch" A MAN. They who disapproved 
 most his theories or his acts, could not but admire his noble 
 and undaunted bearing, or refuse him honesty of intention. 
 His friends would have applied the eloquent language of the 
 Roman poet to his conduct. 
 
 " Justum et tenacem propositi virum, 
 Non civium ardor prava jubentium 
 Non vultus instantis Tyranni 
 Mente quatit solida." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, still new to his seat in the Senate, entered 
 upon action in relation to the affairs of his State ; a few days 
 after his appearance, he introduced a resolution, calling upon 
 the President for copies of his Proclamation of the 10th De 
 cember, and Governor Hayne s counter-proclamation. These 
 being communicated to the Senate on the 16th of January, 
 Mr. Calhoun took the floor, and attacked with no little warmth 
 of language the principles of the President s proclamation. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 193 
 
 " The cry had been raised," he said, " that the Union was in 
 danger. I know of no other danger than that of military des 
 potism I will proclaim it on this floor, that this is the 
 greatest danger with which the Union is menaced a danger 
 the greatest which any country has to apprehend." 
 
 Mr. Forsyth rose to interrupt him. He said that on a 
 motion to refer (Mr. Grundy having made a motion to that 
 effect) all observations on the merits of the President s message 
 were irrelevant and irregular. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun replied that he had so stated in the outset of 
 his remarks, but, in the peculiar circumstances of his situation, 
 had hoped and requested for a few minutes the indulgence of 
 the Senate. 
 
 After the interchange of some explanatory remarks between 
 these two gentlemen, the motion to refer was carried, and 
 thereupon the Senate adjourned. 
 
 On Monday the 21st of January, Mr. "Wilkins a Senator 
 from Pennsylvania, introduced from the committee on the ju 
 diciary, of which he was chairman, a bill further to provide for 
 the collection of duties on imports. This was the famous 
 "Force Bill." 
 
 It seemed to partake somewhat of the character of the decree 
 passed by the Senate of Rome, in political emergencies, " vi- 
 deant cotisules, ne quid res publica detriments capiat^ the con 
 suls should take care that the republic sustained no injury ; 
 investing them with powers unknown to peaceable times. It 
 
 empowered the President to employ the naval or land forces 
 9* 
 
194 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 or militia of the United States to put down any armed or 
 riotous assemblage of persons resisting- the custom-house offi 
 cers in the discharge of their duty, or in any manner opposing 
 the execution of the revenue laws of the United States ; limit 
 ing him to no expenditure of money for the purpose, but in- 
 resting him, the opponents of the bill contended, with full 
 and unquestionable power over the purse and sword. Mr. 
 Poindexter, one of the most able as well as the most deter 
 mined enemies to the measure, declared, that if the title of 
 the bill corresponded to its provisions, it might be designated 
 as "A bill to repeal the Constitution of the United States, 
 and to vest in the President despotic powers." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun on the day succeeding, to repel the assault of 
 the Executive as he considered this recommendation of the 
 judiciary, brought forward in the Senate his celebrated resolu 
 tions, defining the powers of the general government, of which 
 the most important was the following : "Resolved, That the 
 people of the several States, thus united by the constitutional 
 compact, in forming that instrument, and in creating a gene 
 ral government to carry into effect the objects for which it was 
 formed, delegated to that government, for that purpose, cer 
 tain definite powers, to be exercised jointly, reserving at the 
 same time, each State to itself, the residuary mass of powers, 
 to be exercised by its own separate government, and that when 
 ever the jreneral government assumes the exercise of powers 
 not delegated by the compact, its acts are unauthorized, and 
 are of no effect ; and that the same government is not made 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 195 
 
 the final judge of the powers delegated to it, since that could 
 make its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of 
 its powers ; but that, as in all other cases of compact among 
 sovereign parties, without any common judge, each has an 
 equal right to judge for itself, as well of the infraction as of 
 the mode and measure of redress." 
 
 He introduced these resolutions with some prefatory remarks, 
 in terse, condensed, emphatic language the beautiful struc 
 ture of which, a word interpolated or withdrawn would deface 
 if not destroy. The speech was not long in duration, not 
 more than half an hour ; but it produced a greater impression 
 
 
 
 than volumes of ordinary argument. It revealed to the friends 
 of the administration the character of the enemy with whom 
 they would be compelled to contend ; it gave them to under 
 stand that in the conflict which was hastily approaching, there 
 could be, on their part, no reserved strength ; that all was 
 to be exerted, and all, but with great dexterity and energy, in 
 vain. 
 
 Mr. G-rundy, the " next friend" to the President in the 
 Senate, undertook the conduct of the bill through that body. 
 Passing between the President and his principal adherents in 
 the two Houses, he matured, in frequent consultation with 
 both parties, his plan of operations. Canvassing the Senate, 
 he found, among his political associates there, some unchange 
 ably opposed to the principles and recommendations of the 
 bill. Mangtim and Brown of North Carolina, Poindexter of 
 Mississippi, Tyler of Virginia, Bibb of Kentucky, all able 
 
196 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 debaters and hitherto most prominent of the Democratic 
 party, threatened to oppose the passage of the bill, with 
 all the strength of argument and skill in strategy they could 
 command. Executive blandishments and executive menace 
 availed naught against their purpose. They entrenched them 
 selves within their State Eights principles, as Wellington at 
 Torres Vedras. 
 
 Nor among all not hostile to the bill was there great warmth 
 of sentiment, or much promise of earnest co-operation, in its 
 favor. Colonel Benton even, yielding to no one in devotion 
 to the person and fortunes of the President, seemed to doubt 
 the policy of dragooning a measure through the two Houses, 
 upon the merits of which the party was so irreconcileably 
 divided ; an internecine war, he knew full well, would spring 
 up between friends upon the issue, and rage with fiercer inten 
 sity than between hereditary or natural foes. He was at this 
 time, besides, on terms of even intimacy with Mr. Calhoun, 
 whose ingenuous character and transcendent ability he omitted 
 no occasion to dwell upon in enthusiastic terms. He was re 
 luctant to be brought into personal conflict with one, against 
 whom he had no ground of individual complaint ; but with 
 whom, on the contrary, he entertained sentiments in regard to 
 political action and theories, so nearly homogeneous. His vote 
 was safe for the bill, but he was not prepared to take an active 
 or leading part in securing its success. 
 
 Others promised votes and all the influence, personal and 
 political, they could exert in support of the measure ; some 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 197 
 
 from a conviction of its necessity, and some from devotion tc 
 the party or to General Jackson which they considered 
 identical ideas. 
 
 But a numerical majority barely, though assured beyond a 
 doubt, was not all the administration sought. To be success 
 ful in the vote, and yet worsted in the argument, would be a 
 barren victory ; a victory, more humiliating and even more 
 fatal, than an honorable defeat. Before the great tribunal of 
 PUBLIC OPINION, the cause was to be argued ; and upon its 
 decision, and not upon the votes of complying Congressmen, 
 were the merits of the question, and the honesty, and ability, 
 and future destiny of the actors to be determined. From 
 such decision, there was no appeal ; and the friends of the ad 
 ministration, nervously sensitive of the importance of the con 
 test, determined to spare no exertion to gain a favorable ver 
 dict. It was, in truth, to them, a life-and-death struggle. 
 Not even the overwhelming popularity of General Jackson 
 conld long have upholdeu his administration against the stun 
 ning effects of hostile OPINION, on this momentous question. 
 
 Yet there were of the Democratic party in the Senate, who 
 favored the bill, some of distinguished capacity, of whom was 
 Rives of Virginia, deeply versed in Constitutional law ; a 
 logician of much astuteness, an earnest and fluent debater, 
 and of a mind too liberal and too comprehensive, to be re 
 stricted to the contemplation solely of isolated abstractions ; 
 Dallas of Pennsylvania, whom forensic training and natural 
 talent admirably qualified for controversial argument ; Wilkins, 
 
198 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 also of Pennsylvania, less eminent than his colleague as a 
 lawyer and statesman, but of no inferior parts ; Forsyth of 
 Georgia, possessing qualities of mind as extraordinary in their 
 variety as their several excellence a wit, ready and polished, 
 that loved to play not wound an imagination ardent but well 
 regulated a fancy, expressive, glowing, and chaste a me 
 mory tenacious and reliable and a judgment discriminating, 
 profound and correct ; GRUNDY himself, a persuasive speaker, 
 of an imposing presence and conciliatory manner, an admira 
 ble tactitian withal, that understood and could regulate the 
 springs of action. 
 
 But all the combination of such various talents, powerful as 
 it was, the administration felt deeply would not avail against 
 Mr. Calhoun. He was in himself equal to the whole strength 
 the administration could put forth. He had all his antagonists 
 had, and more ; more vigor of thought and energy of expres 
 sion, a greater variety and depth of acquisition, and more 
 knowledge of the science of government ; and, above all these, 
 a power of analysis and combination, which could resolve the 
 most complex ideas into their original elements, and, by the 
 process of generalization, from materials thus reduced to his 
 will, construct one harmonious system of lofty and impregna 
 ble truths. He had in fine, genius, while the rest had but 
 talent, ]^owcver eminent. 
 
 In this great crisis of the party and the country, Mr 
 Grundy folt that it was necessary to seek elsewhere than from 
 his political associates. His eyes were turned where all other 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 199 
 
 eyes were turned. There was but one man, the friends of the 
 administration felt, who could rescue the government and the 
 country from the dangers that encompassed and threatened to 
 overwhelm them. And he of all men was the person they had 
 sought most to injure. 
 
 From imperative engagements elsewhere, Mr. Webster had 
 been but little time in the Senate during the earlier discussion 
 of the bill, and had taken no part in it. His apparent indif 
 ference to its fate added to the apprehensions of the friends of 
 the measure, made them still more anxious to gain his sup 
 port. Democratic members of both houses hung round his 
 friends, seeking by every argument, promise or entreaty their 
 favorable influence with him a member of General Jackson s 
 cabinet came to him at his lodgings, and earnestly besought 
 him to take the lead in defence of the measure to assume 
 the controlling management of it, and to suggest whatever 
 amendments he deemed necessary. It was indeed full time 
 for his appearance. The South Carolinian Hector was pur 
 suing his enemies to their very last entrenchments, threatening 
 to involve in one common ruin the administration, the Consti 
 tution and the country, while Achilles was absent from the 
 battle. 
 
 Mr. Webster, like the hero of the Grecian epic, might have 
 listened to his enemies and turned an unheeding ear to the 
 supplications of his late assailants. He might have " fretted 
 his great heart" in silence, safe in his haughty isolation, and 
 left his enemies to perish. 
 
200 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 But private griefs, nor any considerations of a private cha 
 racter ever controlled his regard for the public interest ; the 
 one has been with him at all times postponed to the other. 
 In the present case, he held the cause of the administration, 
 the cause of the constitution, and of the country if the for 
 mer went down on this issue, the constitution and the 
 country would go down with it. He forgot, therefore, the 
 contumelious treatment he had received, forgot the injuries 
 done and intended him, and rallied his whole strength in sup 
 port of the persons to whom, for the time, the interests of his 
 country were intrusted. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 MR. WILKINS of Pennsylvania, who introduced the bill, 
 commenced the debate upon it. He opened the case for the 
 government. His introductory remarks were well conceived 
 and expressed, moderate iir tone, and pertinent. He was not 
 allowed to proceed, however, without interruption. Messrs. 
 Calhoun and Miller of South Carolina, and Poindexter of 
 Mississippi, broke in upon him with interrogatories, explanations, 
 and denials, continually, during the first day of his speech. 
 The second day he got along with less difficulty, though not 
 uninterruptedly ; Mr. Calhoun watching every word that fell 
 from him, and gainsaying many. " The moment," said Mr. 
 Wilkins, " we fail to counteract the nullification proceedings of 
 South Carolina, the Union is dissolved ; for, in this govern 
 ment of laws, union is obedience, and obedience is union. The 
 moment South Carolina 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, interposing " Who relies upon force in this 
 controversy ? I have insisted upon it, that South Carolina re 
 lied altogether on civil process, and that, if the general go 
 vernment resorts to force, then only will South Carolina rely 
 
202 CHAPTER .\ 
 
 upon force. If force Ibe introduced by either party, upon thai 
 party will fall the responsibility." 
 
 Mr. "VVilkins " The general government will not appeal, in 
 the first instance, to force. It will appeal to the patriotism ci 
 South Carolina to that magnanimity of which she boasts so 
 much" 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, with some asperity "I am sorry that South 
 Carolina cannot appeal to the sense of justice of the general 
 government" and hereupon, two or three Senators called him 
 to order. So far from being considered laudable, it was holdcn 
 censurable then for any Senator to speak in objurgatory terms 
 of the general government. To have spoken of the advan 
 tages of separation or secession, would have provoked for the 
 offender, the indignation or contemptuous pity of the House, 
 in which such sentiments were proposed. Twenty years before 
 this, in 1811, when a distinguished member from Massachu 
 setts, in a debate on the bill for the admission of Louisiana, 
 in the House of Representatives, used these expressions 
 " If this bill passes, the Union is virtually dissolved ; and it 
 will be the right of all, and the indispensable duty of some of 
 the States, to prepare definitely for a separation amicably, 
 if they can, forcibly, if they must," the Speaker, Joseph 
 B. Varnum, of Massachusetts, formerly a soldier of the Re 
 volution, decided that it was not in order to use words in de 
 bate which threatened the stability of the Union. But parlia 
 mentary manners have changed since, and members of Con 
 gress now threaten disunion, not only without attracting cen- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 203 
 
 sure, but even attention. The idea no less than the word 
 seems to have become endurable. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins continued and concluded his speech the second 
 day, when Mr. Bibb of Kentucky, took the floor. His ap 
 pearance gave a character to his words. He retained some 
 what of the old school in his manner and dress. His words, 
 too, were selected and enunciated with great particularity. 
 But though formal, his manner was not cold ; nor was his lan 
 guage, though precise, without force. " I have witnessed." 
 he said, in his exordium " the ragings of the natural ele 
 ments, when the blackening clouds gathered. I have seen the 
 forked flashes blaze u^ r ,u the mountain, and yet the rock that 
 decked the mountain s brow, and defied the storm, remained 
 unscathed by the lightnings of heaven. I have heard the 
 clamoring of the winds, and seen the proud forest bend before 
 the majesty of nature. In the fury of the storm, I have seen 
 the fond mother press her infant to her bosom, and sigh, with 
 fearful apprehension that her husband might be exposed, house 
 less, to bide the peltings of the pitiless storm. But, in the 
 darkest gloom of elemental strife, there was a consolation ; for 
 there was an assurance that the storm would cease ; that the 
 sun would again shed his gladdening rays, on herb, tree, fruit, 
 and flower, displaying the charms of nature in renovated 
 health and refreshened verdure. But when, in the storm now 
 gathering in the political horizon, I shall hear the blast of a 
 trumpet, the neighing of the steeds, the noisy drum, the re- 
 soundings of the heavy-toned, fiery-mouthed cannon ; when I 
 
204 CHAPTER X. 
 
 shall see the glittering of small arms ; when I shall read the> 
 proclamation preparatory to mortal strife between State and 
 State, and know that the strife is in fact begun in all the 
 pride, and pomp, and circumstance of war, I shall then des 
 pair. There will be no assurance that the Constitution will 
 erect its proud crest above the struggling hosts, and come out 
 unscathed from the contest. I have no assurance that the 
 Union will survive the carnage and embittered feelings en 
 gendered in the impious war of child against parent, brother 
 against brother." This, after all, seems a kind of speech 
 that occupies the debateable ground between eloquence and 
 bathos ; a decided lurch either way would conclude its destiny 
 A man without ability could not use such language ; a man of 
 great abilities would not. 
 
 The whole of his first day, Mr. Bibb used for an historical 
 introduction to his speech. He gave, in great detail, the pro 
 ceedings of States antecedent to the adoption of the Constitu 
 tion. The second day he devoted to a consideration of the 
 powers of the general government under the Constitution , 
 and, before the close of the senatorial day, he exhausted, if 
 not the subject, his audience and himself. 
 
 He gave way about two o clock in the afternoon to Mr. 
 Poindexter, who moved an adjournment ; but the Senate re 
 fused to adjourn. Wherefore Mr. Buckner of Missouri, 
 moved to postpone the further consideration of the bill, and to 
 make it the special order for the next day. 
 
 Mr. Webster rose to a point of order. The gentleman from 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 205 
 
 Kentucky had given way, in the usual manner, to a motion to 
 adjourn. Such was the practice of the Senate. But if a 
 gentleman yielded the floor for any other motion, he yielded 
 the right to resume it. 
 
 Whereupon Mr. Poindexter rose, and said, with some 
 warmth of manner " It must be apparent to the Senate, 
 that the question now before the Senate is one of the greatest 
 importance. I have never before seen a disposition manifest 
 ed by this body to refuse to a member an opportunity for 
 rest and research, in order to enable himself to close his argu 
 ment in a manner which would be satisfactory to himself and 
 the country. If the Senator from Massachusetts is disposed 
 to speak to the Senate for a week, I will always vote for ad 
 journment when requested." 
 
 The Chair having decided that if a Senator yield the floor 
 for any other motion than a motion to adjourn, he lost the 
 right of the floor, Mr. Poindexter made another unsuccessful 
 motion to adjourn. 
 
 Thereupon Mr. Bibb rallied, and spoke with accustomed 
 fluency for a few minutes, when the Senate, giving way to a 
 sense of weariness, consented to adjourn. 
 
 There are few men, of however eminent ability, who can 
 command listening senates three entire days in succession, 
 upon one subject. Our logomachies astound our trans-Atlan 
 tic cotemporaries, who cannot comprehend, from their own 
 experience, our protracted debates. The discussion of a bill 
 in the British Parliament occasionally outlasts a day s or 
 
206 CHAPTER X. 
 
 night s session ; an individual speech, never. The commence 
 ment and conclusion must be of one day ; the unities being 
 as strictly observed as in the Greek drama. 
 
 The experiment with us of long, tedious speeches is fatal to 
 the ill-advised perpetrator. The attention wearies, the mind 
 revolts, at such atrocious outrage against the fitness of things. 
 He who talks much performs little. 
 
 Mr. Bibb s third day speech was listened to but from cour 
 tesy. He seemed himself finally to become affected by the 
 atmosphere of dullness he had called around him, and hasten 
 ed to a close. His speech evinced much judgment ; and it 
 was to be regretted no less for his sake than for others, that 
 he had not exhibited more and spoken less. 
 
 Mr. Frelinghuysen of New Jersey appropriated all the rem 
 nant that was left of Mr. Bibb s third day, and a portion of 
 the day following. His argument was respectable, not bril 
 liant. " We rely," said he, " upon the peaceful energies of 
 our institutions ; Europe, on the thunder of her cannon and 
 the clangor of her arms. Poor Holland is about to pay 
 dearly for this balance of power. For two hundred years it 
 has deluged Europe with blood. Here we have it in a peace 
 ful tribunal, by which the tranquillity of the country and the 
 safety of our institutions may be preserved for years to come. 
 Just and certain retribution will come upon those who destroy 
 this peaceful arbiter, and set up the sword in its stead. Here 
 is the system, sir, as I understand it, as I honor it, and as I, 
 with my latest breath, will maintain it. I regard this system 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 207 
 
 as by far the greatest political blessing ever given by Provi 
 dence to any people. To it I trace all our happiness and pros 
 perity. In this day of our highest prosperity, when our foun 
 tains are all full, and our streams running over, do not let a 
 sister State rashly overturn the institutions which are the 
 sources of our happiness. How painful is the crisis which 
 seeks disunion, and which would split us up into disgraced and 
 bleeding fragments. This nullification, if it prevail, will yet 
 meet a tremendous retribution, in the execrations of all future 
 times." This is all proper, decent, and senatorial; it is also 
 just to the character of its author, who gained as much in 
 fluence in the Senate from his estimable moral qualities, as 
 from his intellectual endowments. 
 
 Mr. Brown of North Carolina, followed Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
 and took his stand, he said, on the reserved rights of States. 
 " I repudiate the doctine of nullification. I repudiate also the 
 high-toned doctrine of the Federal party. I believe it is to 
 that high-toned doctrine that we are to attribute nullification." 
 He contended that it was by an improper pressure of the 
 federal government on the rights of the States, and by its 
 exercise of doubtful powers, that South Carolina hacf been 
 compelled to take the defiant position she had assumed ; 
 which, if not justifiable, was susceptible of great palliation. 
 " Proud as I am" he said in conclusion " of the achieve 
 ments which have been performed under the star-spangled 
 banner ; proud as I am of the stars and stripes which have 
 fluttered in every sea and every clime ; anxious as I am for 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 the glory of the country ; yet God forbid that these stars and 
 stripes, which have been heretofore the rallying point of hero 
 ism, should now float over the mangled corses of our bleeding 
 countrymen. God forbid that our country should undergo 
 this sad and disastrous revolution ; for he believed, whenever 
 that should take place, not only the liberties of this country, 
 but the best and brightest hopes of the civilized world, would 
 be destroyed for ever." 
 
 Mr. Holmes, of Maine, then took the floor. Mr. Holmes 
 would have been considered well qualified for the Senate, had 
 he never been Senator ; but what he gained in position, he lost 
 in reputation. His bearing, manner, and speech, all wanted 
 dignity. His wit, of which he had no inconsiderable portion, 
 was coarse, and even vulgar ; and his manner too often de 
 generated into buffoonery. But he had quickness of parts, 
 and, what does not always accompany them, a retentive 
 memory. If he did not originate much, he easily apprehended 
 the merit of another s speech, and, from recollection and 
 power of combination, was able to fashion one of his own. He 
 was good, too, at repartee, and made himself formidable to 
 those who feared his ridicule. 
 
 There was little he said in the course of his speech on this 
 occasion worthy to be translated. As an example of his ar 
 gumentative manner, the following passage may be given: 
 " This is a Constitutional Government, and, therefore, it is 
 sovereign as far as to all powers delegated to it. This is the 
 general understanding of the people ; and the idea of nullifi- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 203 
 
 cation and reserved rights is almost everywhere ridiculed by 
 them. I saw a story in a Tennessee newspaper which I will 
 relate, as apposite. A law of that State respecting marriage 
 required the publication of the banns some time previous to 
 marriage. The time appeared too long to one individual, and 
 he determined to oppose the law and set himself down on his 
 reserved rights. The law did not prohibit marriage, which 
 would be flatly unconstitutional, but it delayed it, and was 
 therefore injurious. He accordingly nullified the law." 
 
 The great merit of Mr. Holmes argum-ent on this occasion 
 was its brevity ; some of the other speeches wanted even that. 
 
 Mr. Tyler followed Mr. Holmes, on the opposite side of the 
 question. " The pernicious doctrine," said he, " that this is 
 a National and not a Federal Government, has received coun 
 tenance from the late proclamation and message of the Presi 
 dent. The People are regarded as one mass, and the States 
 as constituting one nation. I desire to know when this 
 chemical process occurred ? "When were the States welded 
 together in one mass ? Was it before or since the Revolution ? 
 At what time was Virginia fused into an integral mass with 
 
 the other States ? 
 
 * * * * * * # 
 
 This amalgamating doctrine is followed out into most sin 
 gular consequences Sir, it is said that I do not represent on 
 this floor the State of Virginia, but the United States. Strange 
 Hallucination ! This I must consider as vital in its conse 
 quences. It brings into question the great right of instructions ; 
 10 
 
210 CHAPTER X. 
 
 for if it be true, the State of Delaware has as full and absolutj 
 control over my actions as the State of Virginia. No, sir, [ 
 repudiate this doctrine ; I owe no responsibility, politically 
 speaking, elsewhere than to my State And if any Senator 
 from that State should dare oppose her instructions, I might 
 say, with perfect confidence, to quote the remarks of one of 
 her most gifted sons, that "if he would not be instructed ia 
 his seat, he would very soon be instructed out of it." The 
 doctrine is founded in a gross misconception of the nature and 
 character of our institutions." 
 
 This speech reflects the style and character of Mr. Tyler 
 the defects and merits alike of both. Occasionally, there will 
 be found a fitful energy of expression and purpose, but close 
 beside, an obscurity of phrase, and a seeming hesitation, that 
 throw an air of insincerity upon the sentiments uttered. Great 
 fluency of speech, to the frequent detriment of ideas an over 
 flowing of historical illustration, to the partial submersion of 
 the subject-matter forgetfulness of general interests in the 
 intense contemplation of personal objects arguments often 
 without conclusion, and conduct often without motive such 
 seem to have been the distinguishing characteristics of Mr. 
 Tyler s speech and public life. 
 
 His argument and course, on this eventful occasion, neither 
 great in themselves, were the causes of great results. They 
 revealed a half-formed inclination to secede from the embodied 
 idea of Democracy ; an inclination that grew into a purpose, 
 and thence into action, within a brief period, to such a (level- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 211 
 
 opement, that the Whigs, a few years after, used his name as 
 leaven, to produce fermentation among the State Rights con 
 stituency of the South. The fermentation ensued, and the 
 Whigs gained their less than Phyrrus-victory* of 1840. 
 
 " I would," said Mr. Tyler, in his peroration, " that I had 
 but moral influence enough to save my country in this hour oi 
 peril. If I know myself, I would peril all, everything that I 
 hold most dear, if I could be the means of stilling the agitated 
 billows. I have no such power ; I stand here, manacled in a 
 minority, whose efforts can avail but little. You, who arc the 
 majority, have the destinies of the country in your hand. If 
 war shall grow out of this measure, you alone are responsible. 
 I will wash my hands of the business. Rather than give my 
 aid, I would surrender my station here, for I aspire not to 
 imitate the rash boy who sat fire to the Ephesian dome. No, 
 sir, I will lend no aid to the passage of this bill. I had almost 
 said that I had rather be a dog and bay the moon than such 
 a Roman. I will not yet despair. Rome had her Curtius ; 
 Sparta her Leonidas ; and Athens her band of devoted pa 
 triots ; and shall it be said that the American Senate contains 
 not one man who will step forward to rescue his country in 
 this her moment of peril ? Although that man may never 
 wear an earthly crown, or sway an earthly sceptre, eternal fame 
 shall wreathe an evergreen around his brow, and his name 
 
 * " Another such victory, and we are ruined," Phyrrus said, of his 
 triumph over the Romans. 
 
212 CHAPTER X. 
 
 shall rank with those of the proudest patriots of the proude; t 
 climes." 
 
 Mr. Tyler makes a liberal use of Plutarch in his speed 
 There are, indeed, more Greeks and Romans in it thai 
 Americans. It is a fault (or virtue) common to his State.* 
 
 Mr. Clayton followed, and ably refuted, Mr. Tyler. Ii 
 answer to Mr. Tyler s declaration that he was a Senator cf 
 Virginia, and not of the United States, Mr. Clayton said : 
 " Sir, were it not for sheer compassion towards some of thos3 
 gentlemen, who indulge us so often with extravagant declama 
 tion about State power and State supremacy, it would be well 
 to ring the truth daily in their ears, until they are cured of 
 these diseased imaginations, that neither the " Old Dominion," 
 nor even the " Empire State" herself, could singly, and sue- 
 
 * Gen Harrison was a native of Virginia and received his education 
 there. To his last day, he never recovered from Plutarch. His Inau 
 gural Message proves the duration of his attachment. Plutarch s heroes 
 would have appeared therein in still greater number, but for an untimely 
 fate that kept them out. 
 
 It was said at the time, that the morning before the Message was de 
 livered, the Secretary of State elect was met, by a friend, walking in the 
 vicinity of the White House, in no little apparent perturbation. " What 
 is the matter with you, this morning, Mr. Webster ?" inquired his friend ; 
 "you seem agitated." "Agitated, sir! and who would not feel agitated, 
 that had committed the murder I have this morning ? 3) " Murder ! Mr. 
 Webster ?" " Aye, sir, murder ; murder, with malice aforethought, of 
 I know not how many Greeks and Romans." 
 
 There is no authority, however, but rumor for this story. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 213 
 
 eessfully, measure strength with one of the second-rate powers 
 of Europe. The gentleman from Virginia, who has filled his 
 present station with so much honor to himself and usefulness 
 to his country, denies that he is a Senator of the United States, 
 and asserts that he is only a Senator of Virginia. He denies 
 the very existence of such a character as that of a Senator of 
 the United States. JEach member here, in his view, is bound 
 to legislate for his own State, and can represent no other. 
 But where is the clause in the Constitution which recognizes a 
 Senator of Virginia, of Delaware, or of any other single State, 
 in this hall ? This is not the Senate of Virginia, but of the 
 United States. The honorable member says he acts here only 
 in obedience to the wishes of Virginia ; that he yields obedience 
 to this Government only because Virginia wills it. The Con 
 stitution and laws of the United States have no binding force 
 with him from any other cause than this, that Virginia com 
 mands him to obey them. The result of all this doctrine is, 
 that whenever Virginia wills it, he will violate this Constitution, 
 and set these laws at defiance. In opposition to all this, hear 
 the creed of a national republican : I obey this Constitution, 
 and act as Senator of the United States under it, because I 
 have sworn to support that Constitution. I hold myself bound, 
 while acting in my station here to legislate for the benefit of 
 the whole country, not merely for that of any section of it ; 
 and, in the discharge of my duty, I will look abroad throughout 
 this wide Republic, never sacrificing the interests of any one 
 part of it merely to gratify another, but always dealing out 
 
214 CHAPTER X. 
 
 and distributing equal justice to all my countrymen, wherev3r 
 they may be located, or by whatever title they may be distin 
 guished from each other." 
 
 The eloquent patriotism of these and kindred remarks 
 gained Mr. Clayton deserved consideration, among all parties. 
 The liberality of his views was no greater, in the meantim3, 
 than the force of his argument. Oftentimes, during his specc .i, 
 he was interrupted by Mr. Calhoun, who sought to obviate the 
 effect of his logic, by the interposition of ingenious objections. 
 
 On Mr. Clayton s conclusion, Mr. Mangum obtained tl e 
 floor, and moved to postpone the farther consideration of tl e 
 bill till the next day. He wished to speak upon the bill, but 
 was too unwell this day. 
 
 The Senate, however, did not wish to postpone the discus 
 sion of the bill. The majority thought its immediate passage 
 necessary. The threatening attitude of South Carolina was to 
 be met by an immediate preparation on the part of the gene 
 ral government, for all emergencies. The President s particu 
 lar friends in the Senate urged action. Forsyth, Grundy, and 
 Wilkins contended that the debate should go on. Mr. Cal 
 houn said that the Senator from North Carolina was the only 
 member of the Committee on the Judiciary who had objected 
 to the bill. He would appeal to the Senate, therefore, whe 
 ther, on the score of justice, the gentleman was not entitled 
 to such indulgence as he might require to enable him to give a 
 satisfactory exposition of the reasons by which he was actuated, 
 the more especially as he appeared so unwell. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 215 
 
 Mr. Wilkins replied that he would be the last man to force 
 the gentleman from North Carolina, for whom he had a great 
 respect, into the discussion without mature preparation. But 
 he thought the gentleman was fully prepared to debate the 
 question at this time. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun said that the Senator from Pennsylvania could 
 not have heard the Senator from North Carolina ask the post 
 ponement on account of his indisposition. 
 
 Mr. King, of Alabama, made the same suggestion ; but Mr 
 Wilkins replied to neither. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins, in truth, displayed great eagerness to get the 
 bill through ; and some said at the time, from interested 
 motives. " He votes for this great measure," said a Senator 
 in this debate, " because it confers power on one, c who never 
 abused power. He goes for the man, and sustains the prin 
 ciple for the sake of the man." He afterwards went for the 
 mission to Russia, and got it ; as the opponents of this bill 
 contended, for his ready services on this occasion. But de 
 traction is as inseparable from distinguished merit, as the 
 shadow from the substance. 
 
 The intellectual sparring continued, and afforded relief to 
 the graver discussion of the bill. Mr. Webster said there 
 was no occasion for postponement. The bill could make pro 
 gress, and the gentleman from North Carolina could be heard 
 on any other day as well as this. But few days remained of 
 the session, and if the bill was to be definitely acted upon, it- 
 could only be done by a determination to sit out the discus- 
 
216 CHAPTER X. 
 
 sion. The Senate should sit till late in tLe evening, for at 
 the rate of a speech a day, the bill would never be got through. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun replied, that if any other Senator, on either 
 side of the house, was ready to go on with the debate, he 
 Would make no objection to sit out the day. But he thought 
 -i he gentleman from North Carolina was, in justice, entitled to 
 the indulgence of the Senate. 
 
 Mr. King said, that if the gentleman from Massachusetts 
 wished to deliver his sentiments on the bill, he hoped the 
 motion would be withdrawn for that purpose, and he would be 
 happy to listen to the gentleman to as great length as he might 
 desire. 
 
 Mr. Webster " The gentleman from Alabama is ex 
 tremely kind ; and his kindness is justly appreciated. The 
 gentleman from Massachusetts fully understands the gentle 
 man from Alabama ; but he has no disposition to address the 
 Senate at present, nor, under existing circumstances, at any 
 other time, on the subject of this bill." 
 
 The argument, thus far, Mr. Webster thought pre 
 ponderated in favor of the bill. His aid, therefore, was not 
 called for ; and he reserved it till it should be needed. But 
 the friends of the President, ic the Senate, who watched every 
 word and movement of friend and foe, were alarmed, fearing 
 lukewarmness on his part; ind some left their seats, and 
 crossed over to consult with him. 
 
 The motion to postpone was lost ; and Mr. Manguni took 
 the floor on the bill. But after proceeding for fifteen minutes, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 2\\ 
 
 or thereabouts, he yielded the floor to Mr. Pjiindexter, whe 
 moved that the Senate adjourn, as the gentleman from 
 North Carolina was evidently too much indisposed to proceed. 
 The Senate, however, refused to adjourn, and Mr. Mangum 
 resumed his argument. 
 
 He drew a parallel between the course pursued by the 
 British Government previous to the war of the Revolution, and 
 that which was now pursued by the General Government 
 against South Carolina ; a parallel, however, that like parallel 
 Jines, might run on forever without meeting. After continuing 
 in this strain for some time, Mr. Mangum again gave way to 
 Mr. Sprague, of Maine, who moved an adjournment, which 
 was lost by one vote. 
 
 Mr. Mangum recommenced his argument, and continued it 
 till 4 o clock, when Mr. Tyler, premising that the Senate had 
 by this time sufficiently indicated its intention to sit till a late 
 hour every afternoon, for the purpose of bringing the debate 
 to a close, moved that the Senate adjourn. 
 
 Mr. Webster would not oppose the motion, but rose to give 
 notice that, for one, he should vote hereafter against any mo 
 tion to adjourn before six o clock, till the bill was disposed of. 
 
 The main action of the drama was relieved by occasional 
 episodes, as in the Grecian Epic, where, while the armies 
 pause, valiant spirits on either side get up a single combat. 
 Of such nature was the passage-at-arms between Grundy of 
 Tennessee, and Poindextcr of Mississippi, upon the subject of 
 
 the military orders of the President. The most intense cu- 
 10* 
 
218 CHAPTER X. 
 
 riosity and deepest silence prevailed in relation to the Presi 
 dent s intentions of a forcible demonstration against South 
 Carolina. It was currently reported that the General had 
 ordered a portion of the fleet to occupy Charleston harbor, and 
 had given instructions of a belligerent character to the com 
 mander of the military forces at and near Charleston. Pom- 
 dexter, who affected to assume a certain kind of leadership in 
 the debate against the bill, introduced a resolution, calling 
 upon the President for information of his action or intentions 
 He had been an early Jackson-man, but had ratted, since his 
 election to the Senate. He never was constant to a man or 
 principle long. He embraced a friendship or measure witl 
 vehemence and gave them up with precipitancy. He hated 
 cordially, and enjoyed the faculty, to a greater extent than 
 almost any other man, of inspiring cordial hatred. All he 
 aimed at seemed to be notoriety ; or, if he sought it not, it 
 came to him, gratuitously. 
 
 Partly to indulge this passion, and partly to exasperate 
 Gen. Jackson between whom and himself there raged a per 
 sonal warfare, bellum plusquam civile, as Lucan has it he 
 threw this resolution into the Senate, and provoked a discus 
 sion with Mr. G-rundy, against whom, as the nearest friend of 
 the President, his remarks were mostly directed. 
 
 He said, that when the day before he introduced the resolu 
 tion, he thought he had placed the gentleman from Tennessee 
 in an awkward predicament, and now he was sure of it. The 
 gentleman and his friends, after havir^r consulted their pillows. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 219 
 
 had come to the Senate with a determination to destroy his 
 resolution, if in their power to do so. He was sorry to see 
 this opposition to his motion ; it seemed to be indicative of a 
 disposition to shroud in secrecy the movements of the Execu 
 tive authority. " Sir," said he, " there was a drawing-room 
 last night, and great anxiety was manifested on the part of 
 some gentlemen, to get the ear of the President." 
 
 Mr. Grundy did not pretend to understand what the gentle 
 man from Mississippi meant by his -allusion to the drawing- 
 room. He could approach the President as one of his consti 
 tutional advisers, and was not obliged to take advantage of the 
 social character of the drawing-room, to reach his ear. 
 
 In regard to the information the Senator from Mississippi 
 sought, he would suppose some most respectable citizens of 
 South Carolina had communicated intelligence to the Execu 
 tive, upon which secret orders had been issued ; does the 
 Senator ask the names of these citizens, and all the circum 
 stances of their disclosures ? 
 
 " All, all !" said Mr. Poindexter ; " the whole of them." 
 
 " But would not such disclosure," asked Mr. Grrundy, " lead 
 to the immediate shedding of blood ?" 
 
 " I care not if it does," replied Mr. Poindexter. " Let us 
 have the information, no matter what are the consequences." 
 
 But Mr. Grrundy was not disposed to gratify the truculent 
 curiosity of the Senator from Mississippi, and after some good- 
 natured bantering on his part, and the expression of some more 
 indignation on the part of the Mississippian, the discussion wa.s 
 
220 CHAPTER X. 
 
 cut short by the action of the Senate, in taking up the special 
 order of the day. 
 
 Of the nature of an episode, too, was the scene that occurred 
 when Mr. Webster undertook to prove that the bill and the 
 message of the President contained the same identical recom 
 mendations ; and that, consequently, anathemas instead of 
 being confined to the first, should be directed equally against 
 the latter. 
 
 A warm controversy had risen on the measure, he said, 
 and it was but proper to understand between what parties it 
 existed. 
 
 Soon after the declaration of war by the United States 
 against England, an American vessel fell in at sea with one of 
 England, and gave information of the declaration. The En 
 glish master inquired, with no little warmth of manner and 
 expression, why the United States had gone to war with En 
 gland ? The American answered him, that difficulties had 
 existed, for a good while, between the two Governments, and 
 that it was at length thought, in America, to be high time for 
 the parties to come to a better understanding. 
 
 " I incline to think, Mr. President," continued Mr. "Web 
 ster, " that a war has broken out here, which is very likely, 
 before it closes, to bring the parties to a better understanding. 
 * * * Now, sir, let it be known, once for all, that this is 
 an Administration measure ; that it is the President s own 
 measure ; and I pray gentlemen to have the goodness, if they 
 call it hard names, and talk boldly against its friends, not tc 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 221 
 
 overlook its source. Let them attack it, if they choose to at 
 tack it, in its origin." 
 
 Messrs. Tyler, Bibb, and Brown, of North Carolina, an 
 swered with some heat the latter particularly the sugges 
 tion that they hesitated to denounce the message, from fear of 
 its author. Mr. Tyler said it was not the first time he had 
 been placed in opposition to measures of which the President 
 was the source, or of which the President approved. If the 
 President has sent a Botany Bill, he would call it so, and as 
 such oppose it. Mr. Bibb said, if the President desired that 
 any such power should be given him, as the bill before them 
 gave, he could find no expression of such desire in the mes 
 sage. He could not imagine that any President would have 
 the daring effrontery to ask of Congress to give him such 
 powers. Mr. Brown said, he had never looked to any quarter 
 for instructions in regard to his vote on this bill, neither to 
 the President nor Judiciary Committee and he should not. 
 
 These interludes if thus they may be called added much 
 to the interest of the main piece. They gave time, too, to 
 the actors in the drama to better prepare their parts, to study 
 their speeches, arrange their dresses, and a thing not unat 
 tended to even by Senators prepare good houses. For 
 Senators, no more than professional actors, love not to appear 
 to " empty boxes." 
 
 When the curtain again rose, in the regular piece, Mr. 
 Dallas, of Pennsylvania, appeared, and spoke his speech 
 >c trippingly on the tongue." His personal appearance aided 
 
222 CHAPTER X 
 
 him no little. It was, punctually, that of a gentleman. His 
 rubicund countenance, surmounted by hair white as the snow- 
 flakes, bleached, but not thinned ; his elaborate and improving 
 manner, self-respecting yot not presumptuous ; his scrupulous 
 dress, subdued voice, and harmonious gesture, all bespoke the 
 man of cultivated intellect and habits ; and, in an assembly 
 like the Senate of those days, could not fail to produce an 
 earnest impression. 
 
 His language was consonant with his manner and bearing ; 
 it illustrated both. "Let us," said he, "inquire into the 
 nature of our political structure. "What is this political be 
 ing the Union, commonly styled c the United States ? A 
 consolidated multitude ? Certainly not a federation merely of 
 totally distinct masses of people ? Certainly not. It is some 
 thing then of a complicated character between these two, or 
 combining them both. To be justly appreciated, it must be 
 well understood, and not flimsily considered. Generalization 
 and vague abstractions delude us, and necessarily lead to false 
 conclusions. No one denies or doubts that the Constitution 
 was formed by the people of the United States ; and no one 
 denies or doubts that it acts directly upon the people. Its 
 origin and action are therefore popular or national. But was 
 it not formed by the people as distinct aggregates called States 
 in their sovereign capacities ? Clearly it was. And is it not 
 carried on, through some of its essential processes, by the 
 separate States as sovereigns ? Clearly it is. Its origin and 
 action are then federative. Thus it is both popular and fcdo- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 226 
 
 rative ; or, in other words, it is an entire national government, 
 of which both the union and the distinctiveness of the sove 
 reign States are fundamental and inherent qualities." 
 
 Mr. Miller, of South Carolina, followed Mr. Dallas, in a 
 speech of some power, against the bill ; and Mr. Rives, of 
 Virginia, followed Mr. Miller, in favor of the bill. It was 
 Mr. Hives maiden speech, and a very creditable effort. He 
 came out from the shadowy, spectral region of abstractions, 
 where no life is visible, into the world of sense and action. 
 There was a meaning and warmth in his language that gained 
 sympathy and response in the breasts, no less than in the un 
 derstandings, of his hearers. He nationalized Virginia, giving 
 it more than " a local habitation and a name." 
 
 It was late in the evening of the fourteenth day of Feb 
 ruary, that Mr. Rives concluded his speech. On his resuming 
 his seat, Mr. Calhoun said he had waited to see if any other 
 member of the committee desired to speak on the bill. Wish 
 ing to be heard himself on its merits, he would move that the 
 Senate adjourn and the Senate adjourned. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 IT was on the fifteenth day of February, 1833, that Mr. 
 Calhoun addressed the Senate against the Force Bill. All 
 were silent as he rose, and, intent upon every word he uttered, 
 directed their eyes and ears towards him. There was no one 
 in the country at the time whose every act was watched with 
 so much care. He was, indeed, an object of fearful curiosity. 
 What he meditated was unknown in those days, and may 
 never be revealed. But the current and specious voice at 
 tributed to him no less than treason against the government, 
 It was known he was ambitious ; and, in the pursuit of his 
 ambitious projects, it was believed he was unscrupulous. 
 " What thou would st highly? that would st thou holily," way 
 the confession by Lady Macbeth of her husband s character 
 But opinion at this time conceded no such doubtful com 
 pliment to Mr Calhoun. It was generally credited that 
 no consideration of private or public morality, no restriction of 
 personal or constitutional obligation, no recollections of the 
 past, or fears of the future could control his rno.d ambition. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 225 
 
 Prejudice amounted to a passion against him. The invectives 
 hurled against him by General Jackson, and the accusations 
 which followed them, in every multiplied form, rendered him 
 an object of equal apprehension and hatred. He was denomi 
 nated a Catiline by the organ of the administration, and by 
 the people generally was feared as such. 
 
 The vulgar are disposed to confound moral with per 
 sonal attributes ; to judge of character or intention from 
 physical developments ; to believe what seems must be the 
 logical and inevitable cause of what is. It is a conclusion, 
 however, not confined to the vulgar, the illiterate, the unin 
 formed but shared, in a degree at least, by intelligent and 
 observant men. Mr. Calhoun s appearance had answered well 
 the preconceived idea of a conspirator. Tall, gaunt, and of a 
 somewhat stoop in figure, with a brow full, well formed, but 
 receding ; hair, not reposing on the head, but starting from it 
 like the Gorgon s ; a countenance, expressive of unqualified 
 intellect, the lines of which seemed deeply gullied by intense 
 thought ; an eye that watched everything and revealed 
 nothing, ever inquisitive, restless, and penetrating ; and a 
 manner emphatic, yet restrained, determined but cautious ; 
 persons who knew not his antecedents nor his actual position, 
 would have pointed him out as one that might meditate great 
 and dangerous pursuits. To an audience, already embittered, 
 he seemed to realize the full idea of a conspirator. 
 
 Yet the purity of his private life, his high integrity, and 
 
 scorn of meanness in man or thing, gained him a warmth of 
 9* 
 
226 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 personal regard that nearly overrode the indignation felt for 
 his contemplated or suspected plans. Opinion, at times, hesi 
 tated between hatred and admiration ; a turbulent condition 
 of the mind not suited to a dispassionate view of the object of 
 its contemplation, but calculated, nevertheless, to increase the 
 interest and anxiety felt for it. 
 
 The isolation and even danger of his position were not in 
 jurious to the influence of his eloquence. Those who hated 
 him most, and could feel no sympathy in his cause, yet 
 pardoned those who felt. A great man struggling with adver 
 sity, was a spectacle the gods loved to contemplate, and which 
 painters of every age have been always eager to express. 
 There is in it so much of moral sublimity, so much of soul- 
 subduing grandeur, so much of more than mere mortal mag 
 nanimity, that the heart is carried away, as by a kind of 
 surprise. Our sympathies are too strong for our convictions. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun rose and addressed the Senate. " Mr. Presi 
 dent, I know not which is most objectionable, the provisions of 
 this bill, or the temper in which its adoption has been urged. 
 If the extraordinary powers with which the bill proposes to 
 clothe the Executive, to the utter prostration of the Constitu 
 tion and the rights of the States, be calculated to impress our 
 minds with alarm at the rapid progress of despotism in our 
 country, the zeal with which every circumstance calculated 
 to misrepresent or exaggerate the conduct of Carolina in the 
 controversy is seized on, with a view to excite hostility against 
 her, but too plainly indicates the deep decay of that brotherly 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 227 
 
 feeling which once existed between these States, and to which 
 we are indebted for our beautiful federal system." 
 
 A more ingenious, yet seemingly less studied exordium will 
 scarcely be found recorded in parliamentary annals. The 
 orator, in simple but artful words, transposes entirely the re 
 lations of parties ; and, with an assurance that an auditor 
 would not dare to suppose aught but conscious innocence 
 could command, demands sympathy for himself and Carolina, 
 as suffering wrong. The earnest manner of the speaker, the 
 sincerity of his countenance and his voice, and his well-known 
 candor avoided the suspicion of intended imposition on his 
 part. It was evident to all that he sought to produce belief 
 from what himself believed. He could not change facts, but 
 he could interpret them. He was not an impostor but 
 fanatic. 
 
 His whole argument assumes the innocence of South Caro 
 lina. Nothing could be more erroneous, he said, than that 
 South Carolina claimed the right to violate any provision of 
 the Constitution. Her object was not to resist laws made in 
 pursuance of the Constitution, but those made without its 
 authority, and which encroach on her reserved powers. She 
 did not claim even the right of judging of the delegated 
 powers, but of those that were reserved ; and to resist the 
 former when they encroach upon the latter. 
 
 He illustrated his position with infinite ability, and with 
 great beauty of language. In truth, the curious felicity of 
 his diction threw such a dazzling lustre upon his sentiments 
 
228 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 as to conceal their real character. Forms of beauty gained 
 the senses, to the exclusion of sober reflection ; just as the 
 appearance of Helen, in her immortal loveliness, overcame the 
 matured convictions of Priam s counsellors. 
 
 In an earlier part of this book, some allusion was made to 
 Mr. Calhoun s warm advocacy of the protective Tariff of 1816, 
 and of the speech he made on the passage of that measure. 
 It is but fair to admit his explanation of his conduct on that 
 occasion, as expressed in his speech at this time. His speech 
 then, he said, was an impromptu. It was delivered at the 
 request of a friend, when he had not previously the least in 
 tention of addressing the House. " He came to me," said Mr. 
 Calhoun, " when I was sitting at my desk writing, and said 
 that the House was falling into some confusion, accompanying 
 it with a remark that I knew how difficult it was to rally so 
 large a body when once broken on a tax-bill, as had been ex 
 perienced during the late war. Having a higher opinion of 
 my influence than it deserved, he requested me to say some 
 thing to prevent the confusion. I replied that I was at a loss 
 what to say ; that I had been busily engaged on the currency, 
 which was then in great confusion, and which, as I stated, had 
 been particularly under my charge, as chairman. He repeated 
 his request, and the speech which the Senator from Pennsyl 
 vania, Mr. Dallas, has complimented so highly was the result." 
 
 The bill of 1816 being a revenue bill was, of course, con 
 stitutional ; in urging it, did he commit himself to that system 
 of oppression since grown up, and which has for its object the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 229 
 
 enriching of one portion of the country at the expense of the 
 other ? 
 
 Mr. Calhoun contended that it was as a friend to the re 
 served powers of the States, Gen. Jackson was so warmly 
 supported at the South in the canvass of 1828. His election 
 was hailed as their security. But the very event on which 
 they had built their hopes had been turned against them ; and 
 the very person to whom they had looked as a deliverer, and 
 whom, under that impression, South Carolina had striven for 
 so many years to elevate to power, had become the most 
 powerful instrument in the hands of his and their bitterest op 
 ponents, to put down them and their cause. 
 
 " Scarcely had he been elected," said Mr. Calhoun, " when 
 it became apparent, from the organization of his Cabinet, and 
 other indications, that all our hopes of relief through him were 
 blasted. The admission of a single individual into the Cabinet, 
 under the circumstances which accompanied the admission, 
 threw all into confusion. The mischievous influence over the 
 President through which this individual was admitted into the 
 Cabinet, soon became apparent. Instead of turning his eyes 
 forward to the period of the payment of the public debt, which 
 was then near at hand, and to the present dangerous political 
 crisis, which was inevitable, unless averted by a timely and 
 wise system of measures, the attention of the President was 
 absorbed by mere party arrangements, and circumstances too 
 disreputable to be mentioned here, except by the most distant 
 allusion." 
 
230 CHAPTKK XI. 
 
 Few persons, among our public men, have been so careful 
 to avoid personalities in debate as Mr. Calhoun. Notwith 
 standing the wrongs, fancied or real, he had suffered, or sup 
 posed himself to have suffered, from Mr. Van Buren, I recollect 
 now no other occasion in which he made, in public debate, 
 any hostile allusion to that gentleman, or indulged, indeed, in 
 language of abuse towards any personal or political adversary. 
 This, in a country and age where personal criminations and 
 recriminations, if not defended on principle, are tolerated and 
 even encouraged by general practice, is no ordinary praise. 
 
 Of the accusation against him in the President s Proclama 
 tion, that he had been governed in his late course by feelings 
 of disappointed ambition, he spoke in terms more of sorrow 
 than anger. It ill became the Chief Magistrate, he said, to 
 make such a charge. His whole career refuted it. The doc 
 trine which he now sustained he had advocated from the 
 passage of the Act of 1828, " the bill of abominations." When 
 that bill came from the other House to the Senate, the almost 
 universal impression was, that its fate would depend upon his 
 casting vote. It was known, as the bill then stood, that the 
 Senate was nearly equally divided ; and as it was a combined 
 measure, originating with the politicians and manufacturers, 
 and intended as much to bear upon the Presidential election 
 as to protect manufacturers, it was believed that, as a stroke 
 of political policy, its fate would be made to depend upon his 
 vote, in order to defeat G-en. Jackson s election as well as his 
 own. The friends of Gen. Jackson were alarmed, and lu> 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 231 
 
 (Mr. Calhoun) was earnestly entreated to leave the chair, in 
 order to avoid the responsibility, under the plausible argument, 
 that if the Senate should be equally divided, the bill would be 
 lost without the aid of his casting vote. The reply to this 
 entreaty was, that no consideration, personal to himself, could 
 induce him to take such a course ; that he considered the 
 measure as of the most dangerous character, calculated to 
 produce the most fearful crisis ; that the payment of the public 
 debt was just at hand, and that the great increase of revenue 
 which it would pour into the treasury would accelerate the 
 approach of that period ; and that the country would be placed 
 in the most trying of all situations, with an immense revenue, 
 without the means of absorption upon any legitimate or con 
 stitutional object of appropriation, and would be compelled to 
 submit to all the corrupting consequences of a large surplus, 
 or to make a sudden reduction of the rates of duties, which 
 would prove ruinous to the very interests which were then 
 forcing the passage of the bill. Under these views he deter 
 mined to remain in the chair, and, if the bill came to him, to 
 give his casting vote against it, and, in so doing, to give his 
 reasons at large ; but, at the same time, he informed his 
 friends that he would retire from the ticket, so that the elec 
 tion of Gen. Jackson might not be embarrassed by any act of 
 his. " Sir," said Mr. Calhoun, " I was amazed at the folly 
 and infatuation of that period. So completely was Congress 
 absorbed in the game of ambition and avarice, from the double 
 impulse of the manufacturers and politicans, that none but a 
 
232 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 few appeared to anticipate the present crisis at which now all 
 are alarmed, but which is the inevitable result of what was 
 then done." As to himself, he had clearly foreseen what had 
 since followed. The road of ambition lay open before him ; 
 he had but to follow the corrupt tendency of tne times, but he 
 
 had chosen to tread the rugged path of duty: 
 
 > 
 The character of this extraordinary man has been the theme 
 
 alike of extravagant praise and^pbloquy, as zealous friendship 
 or earnest enmity have held the pen. His sun has lately sunk 
 below the horizon ; it went down in all the splendor of noon 
 tide, and the effulgence of its setting yet dazzles the mind too 
 much, to justify an impartial opinion. But whatever may be 
 the diversity of opinion as regards his patriotism, or the integ 
 rity of his purpose, no one who respects himself will deny him 
 the possession of rare intellectual faculties ; of a mind capa 
 cious and enlightened ; of powers of reasoning almost miracu 
 lous ; of unequalled prescience ; and of a judgment, when 
 unwarped by prejudice, most express and admirable. 
 
 On this, the greatest occasion of his intellectual and political 
 life, he bore himself proudly and gloriously. He appeared to 
 hold victory at his command, and yet determined, withal, to 
 show that he deserved it. There was a strength in his argu 
 ment that seemed the exhaustion of thought, and a frequency 
 of nervous diction most appropriate for its expression. The 
 extreme mobility of his mind was felt everywhere and imme 
 diate. It passed from declamation to invective, and from in- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 233 
 
 yective to argument, rapidly, but not confusedly, exciting and 
 filling the imagination of all. 
 
 In his tempestuous eloquence, he tore to pieces the argu 
 ments of his opponents, as the hurricane rends the sails. 
 Nothing withstood the ardor of his mind ; ns sophistry, how 
 ever ingenious, puzzled him ; no rhetorical ruse escaped his 
 detection. He overthrew logic that seemed impregnable, and 
 demolished the most compact theory, in a breath. 
 
 No little portion of the speech was directed to the conside 
 ration of the philosophy of government, and the history of 
 free institutions, subjects which the orator had studied to 
 complete mastery, and was amply capable to illustrate. He 
 defended himself against the charge of " metaphysical rea 
 soning." As he understood the proper use of the term, it 
 meant the power of analysis and combination. " It is the 
 power," he said, " which raises man above the brute ; which 
 distinguishes his faculties from mere sagacity, which he holds 
 in common with inferior animals. It is this power which has 
 raised the astronomer from being a mere gazer at the stars to 
 the high, intellectual eminence of a Newton or La Place, and 
 astronomy itself, from a mere observation of insulated facts, 
 into that noble science which displays to our admiration the 
 system of the Universe. And shall this high power of the 
 mind, which has effected such wonders when directed to the 
 laws which control the material world, be forever prohibited, 
 under a senseless cry of metaphysics, from being applied to 
 
 :he mighty purpose of political science and legislation ? I 
 11 
 
234 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 hold them to be subject to laws as fixed as matter itself, and 
 to be as fit a subject for the application of the highest intel 
 lectual power. Denunciation may indeed fall upon the phi 
 losophical inquirer into these first principles as it did upon 
 Galileo and Bacon, when they first unfolded the great discov 
 eries which have immortalized their names ; but the time will 
 come when truth will prevail in spite of prejudice and denun 
 ciation, and when politics and legislation will be considered as 
 much a science as astronomy and chemistry." 
 
 The crowd was great in the Senate chamber during Mr. 
 Calhoun s speech ; in the galleries more particularly. While 
 he was uttering some of his brilliant periods, in the very tor 
 rent, tempest, and whirlwind of his eloquence, a man in the 
 gallery suddenly confounded the audience by exclaiming, in a 
 shriek-like voice, "Mr. President!" and before the presiding 
 officer could take measures to repress the outrage, he con 
 tinued, " Mr. President, something must be done, or I shall 
 be squeezed to death !" It was sometime before order could 
 be restored, or the dignity of the Senate re-established. The 
 ludicrous natuije of the interruption affected the gravity of 
 almost every person present, even of grave Senators ; of all, 
 perhaps, but the orator, upon whose countenance there passed 
 not the shade of an emotion. The rigid muscles showed no relax 
 ation, but every feature remained unmoved and inflexible. Ho 
 proceeded as if naught had occurred of singularity, and his 
 deep and earnest tones soon recalled the minds of the audi 
 ence to the subject they had for a moment forgotten. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 235 
 
 He spoke parts of two days concluding at two o clock of 
 the second day, as soon as he finished his speech, Mr. "Web 
 ster took the floor in reply ; universal opinion assuming that 
 he alone was qualified to follow Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 Before Mr. Webster consented to address the Senate on the 
 bill, he had demanded the incorporation into it of certain 
 amendatory provisions. Everything he asked was conceded 
 by its friends. He prepared, therefore, or redrafted seve 
 ral of the most useful sections of the bill ; not those which 
 looked to the application of military force, but such as pro 
 vided for the full exercise of the judicial power of the United 
 States, notwithstanding the State laws which had been passed 
 to defeat the exercise of that jurisdiction 
 
 The high and equal rank of these two rivals, the greatest 
 intellects, it is not invidious to say, of the whole country, 
 and the momentous nature of the contest between them drew, 
 of course, a much greater than ordinary crowd to the Capitol. 
 Mr. Webster s reply to Hayne had made curiosity more eager 
 to hear him again ; while the singular position of Mr. Cal 
 houn, the doubt of his purposes, and his unrivalled abilities, 
 served equally to attract multitudes. 
 
 The Executive Department of the Government was repre 
 sented daily in the Senate during the discussion of this mea. 
 sure by one or more of its members. The Chief Magistrate 
 it is true, conceded to precedence, and withheld his presence 
 from the open debate. But members of his Cabinet gratified 
 their own curiosity an J his wishes, and apucared among the 
 
236 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 audience ; no one of whom watched the proceedings and the 
 various speeches with more anxiety than the Secretary of War, 
 LEWIS CASS. He occupied a somewhat hazardous position 
 An aspirant after greater honors, he saw no certain way to 
 preserve the present and secure the future. On the one side 
 the fatal anger of Gen. Jackson threatened to pursue the 
 slightest defection from his will ; on the other, outraged State 
 Rights would seek plenary vengeance against the person who 
 wantonly or weakly assailed them. The first intimidated him 
 with the loss of present position ; the latter, with the loss of 
 future pre-eminence. The organ through which the inten 
 tions of the President, if hostile to the pretended rights of 
 States, must yet find expression in voice and act, the Secre 
 tary of War felt, that any measure of force, whether aggres 
 sive or merely defensive, would excite against his name great 
 obloquy at the South. From a due regard to his own inter 
 ests, therefore, as well as, undoubtedly, from a warm attach 
 ment to the Union, he labored with great earnestness to har 
 monize the conflicting elements ; in which laudable endeavor, 
 he was zealously seconded, generally, by the rest of the Cabi 
 net. 
 
 After Mr. Webster s reply to Col. Hayne, in which the 
 general opinion at the time held that the latter was worsted, 
 Mr. Calhoun, in conversation with a friend, attributed the re 
 sult to Mr. Hayne s want of previous training, and of proper 
 constitutional knowledge ; and intimated that with anothei 
 competitor, Mr. Webster might not have borne off the honors 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 237 
 
 of the contest so easily. That Mr. Calhoun was superior to 
 Mr. Hayne, alike in natural capacity and acquired knowledge, 
 will be generally and readily conceded ; but that he obtained 
 over Mr. Webster, in the dialectic contest now commemorated, 
 more of a victory than Col. Hayne, there would be many to 
 dispute. It needs a poet, it is said, to judge of poetry, and, 
 reasoning upon the same principle, a constitutional lawyer 
 alone could safely pronounce upon the merits of a constitu 
 tional argument. To estimate with nicety the relative ability 
 of such profound arguments as those of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. 
 Webster, must presuppose the power of making an equal one. 
 Still, if the common judgment may be holden as arbiter and 
 to what more certain or more accurate have we to look there 
 would be no hesitation in the adjustment of the relative merits 
 of the two efforts. 
 
 Mr. Webster, in his speech, confined himself closely to the 
 argument. Unlike Mr. Calhoun, he indulged neither in per 
 sonal explanations nor philosophical observations, which, 
 however profound and brilliant in themselves, had no perti 
 nency to the issue. 
 
 His statement of Mr. Calhoun s theory sounds like its refu 
 tation. " Beginning," he said, " with the original error, that 
 the Constitution of the United States is nothing but a compact 
 between sovereign States ; asserting, in the next step, that 
 each State has a right to be its own sole judge of the extent 
 of its own obligations, and, consequently, of the constitu 
 tionality of laws of Congress ; and, in the next, that it may 
 
238 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 oppose whatever it sees fit to declare unconstitutional, artl tha; 
 it decides for itself on the mode and measure of redress, tho 
 argument arrives at once at the conclusion, that what a State 
 dissents from, it may nullify ; what it opposes, it may oppose; 
 by force ; what it decides for itself, it may execute by its owi, 
 power ; and that, in short, it is itself supreme over the legis 
 lation of Congress, and supreme over the decisions of the na 
 tional judicature supreme over the Constitution of the country 
 supreme over the supreme law of the land. However i ; 
 seeks to protect itself against these plain inferences, by saying 
 that an unconstitutional law is no law, and that it only opposes 
 such laws as are unconstitutional, yet this does not, in the 
 slightest degree, vary the result, since it insists on deciding 
 this question for itself ; and, in opposition to reason and argu 
 ment, in opposition to practice and experience, in opposition 
 to the judgment of others having an equal right to judge, it 
 says only : Such is my opinion, and my opinion shall be my 
 law, and I will support it by my own strong hand. I denounce 
 the law. I declare it unconstitutional ; that is enough ; it 
 shall not be executed. Men in arms are ready to resist its 
 execution. An attempt to enforce it shall cover the land with 
 blood. Elsewhere, it may be binding ; but here, it is trampled 
 under foot. This, sir, is practical nullification." 
 
 Against all such theories, opinions, or heresies, Mr. Webster 
 maintained, 
 
 I. That the Constitution of the United States is not a 
 league, confederacy, or compact, between the people of the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 239 
 
 several States in their sovereign capacities ; but a Government 
 proper, founded on the adoption of the people, and creating 
 direct relations between itself and individuals. 
 
 II. That no State authority has power to dissolve those re 
 lations ; that nothing can dissolve them but revolution ; and 
 that, consequently, there can be no such thing as secession 
 without revolution. 
 
 III. That there is a supreme law, consisting of the Consti 
 tution of the United States, acts of Congress passed in pur 
 suance of it, and treaties ; and that, in cases not capable of 
 assuming the character of a suit in law or equity, Congress 
 must judge of, and finally interpret, this supreme law, so often 
 as it has occasion to pass acts of legislation ; and, in cases 
 capable of assuming, and actually assuming, the character of a 
 suit, the Supreme Court of the United States is the final in 
 terpreter. 
 
 IY. That an attempt by a State to abrogate, annul, or nul 
 lify an Act of Congress, or to arrest its operation within her 
 limits, on the ground that, in her opinion, such law is uncon 
 stitutional, is a direct usurpation on the just powers of the 
 General Government, and on the equal rights of other States ; 
 a plain violation of the Constitution, and a proceeding essen 
 tially revolutionary in its character and tendency. 
 
 These four propositions Mr. Webster maintained with a 
 variety of illustration and power of argument that surprised 
 even those who estimated his abilities most highly. The oc 
 casion certainly demanded all the intellect with which he had 
 
240 CHAPTER XI 
 
 been endowed. His opponent had given to his argument such 
 an air of plausibility as to deceive many. If he had not suc 
 ceeded wholly in making the worse appear the better reason, 
 he had staggered former convictions, and unsettled the most 
 deliberate belief. All objections to his theory he had refuted 
 and exposed to ridicule, and no one of his opponents had been 
 able to recover from his vigorous and well-directed blows. 
 
 "Within the scope of this work, it would be impossible to 
 adduce sufficient of Mr. Webster s argument to justify a be 
 lief in his positions ; a circumstance, the less to be regretted, 
 perhaps, since to the general reader his propositions will appear 
 self-evident truths. Still, no one in pursuit of examples of the 
 most masterly logic ; no one who seeks to acquire a certain 
 knowledge of the theory and practice of CONSTITUTIONAL 
 LAW ; no one, in fine, who would behold the dignity of human 
 reason in its loftiest expression, can safely pretermit the perusal 
 and study of this great effort. 
 
 There was not the opportunity in this speech, as in the 
 reply to Hayne, for the exhibition of the various powers of the 
 speaker. Here no sarcasm was required, no humor, no wit, 
 and no impassioned eloquence. The mind was to be convinced, 
 not the -passions excited. The effect was to be permanent, 
 rather than immediate ; and it was the cause of his country, 
 not personal gratification, that the orator was to strive to 
 establish. 
 
 In the earlier part of his speech, Mr. Webster made an 
 allusion to his reply to Hayne. " Mr. President," he said, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 241 
 
 " if I considered the constitutional question now before us as 
 doubtful as it is important, and if I supposed this decision, 
 either in the Senate or by the country, was likely to be in 
 fluenced in any degree by the manner in which I might now 
 discuss it, this would be to me a moment of deep solicitude 
 Such a moment has once existed. There has been a time, 
 when, rising in this place, on the same question, I felt, I must 
 confess, that something for good or evil to the Constitution of 
 the country might depend on an effort of mine. But circum 
 stances are changed. Since that day, sir, the public opinion 
 has become awakened to this great question ; it has grasped 
 it ; it has reasoned upon it, as becomes an intelligent and 
 patriotic community ; and has settled it, or now seems in the 
 progress of settling it, by an authority which none can disobey 
 the authority of the people themselves." 
 
 Still it was well, that Mr. Webster put forth unreserved the 
 energies of his mind on this occasion. Nullification had in 
 part recovered from the severity of his first blow, and, foster 
 ed by Mr. Calhoun, was again rearing its horrid front against 
 the Union. It might have been successful, but for Mr. Web 
 ster s gigantic argument, in theory ; it may be successful 
 hereafter, but can only be so, since such argument, by force 
 No reason but ultima ratio r eg urn " the last reason of kings" 
 or republics can justify it now 
 
 The words of solemn warning with which he concluded his 
 argument, cannot be too often heard and repeated ; and could 
 
 not be more fitly introduced than now, when the idea of dis- 
 11* 
 
242 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 union seems once more to occupy the weak imagination o ? 
 fanatics, at either extremity of the Union. " Mr. President, i 
 the friends of nullification should be able to propagate their 
 opinions, and give them practical effect, they would, in ni} 
 judgment, prove themselves the most skilful architects of 
 ruin, the most effectual extinguishers of high-raised expect 
 ation, the greatest blasters of human hopes, which any age 
 has produced. They would stand up to proclaim, in tones 
 which would pierce the ears of half the human race, that the 
 last great experiment of representative government had failed. 
 They would send forth sounds, at the hearing of which, the 
 doctrine of the divine right of kings would feel, even in its 
 grave, a returning sensation of vitality and resuscitation. 
 Millions of eyes, of those who now feed their inherent love of 
 liberty on the success of the American example, would turn 
 away from beholding our dismemberment, and find no place on 
 earth whereon to rest their gratified sight. Amidst the incan 
 tations and orgies of nullification, secession, disunion, and 
 revolution, would be celebrated the funereal rites of constitu 
 tional and republican liberty." 
 
 The thronged Senate-chamber, while it listened to the duep 
 tones of the speaker, as in his most impressive manner he 
 pronounced this eloquent admonition, surged like the sea. 
 You saw the undulating motion of the crowd, leaning forward 
 to catch each word as it fell, and forced back to its original 
 position. It was late in the evening when the orator got 
 through his speech. The emotions of the multitude, which 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 243 
 
 had been repressed during the day did not hesitate to find ar 
 ticulate and forcible expression tinder the protecting shadows 
 of night ; and hardly had the speaker concluded his remarks, 
 before the galleries, rising to a man, gave a hearty, vociferous 
 cheer, for " Daniel Webster, the defender of the Constitu 
 tion." 
 
 Mr. Poindexter immediately started to his feet and moved 
 an adjournment. But the presiding officer ordered the galle 
 ries to be cleared, refusing to put the motion to adjourn till 
 after order had been restored ; and then the Senate adjourned. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE debate languished after the conclusion of Mr. Calhoun s 
 and Mr. Webster s speeches. The crowd that had filled the 
 Senate Chamber daily to hear them, gradually thinned. The 
 public curiosity to listen to the debate, which had grown 
 stronger from its first opening to the GREAT ARGUMENT, 
 reached its highest point at the conclusion thereof, and thence 
 subsided into its ordinary character of indifference. There 
 were some good speeches on the subject, however, made later. 
 Mr. Forsyth made an able argument for the bill, and refuted, 
 with brief but emphatic logic, the objections urged against it. 
 He had not prepared himself fully for the discussion, but he 
 spoke enough to convince his audience of his ability to say 
 more, equally well. Mr. Miller, of South Carolina, followed 
 him on the other side, as briefly if not as ably. Speaking of 
 Mr. Webster s position towards the administration as com 
 pared with his position in the Hayne controversy, he said : 
 " The Senator from Massachusetts is now the alpha with the 
 powers that be ; it is not long since he was the omega." Mi\ 
 Poindexter also made a speech. How much or little of other 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 245 
 
 merit it possessed, it wanted one sadly the merit of brevity. 
 There was but little in his constitutional argument not better 
 expressed by Mr. Calhoun or Mr. Tyler : in personal invective, 
 however, he borrowed from neither of those gentlemen. He 
 drew his inspiration therein from his disposition. Mr. Grundj 
 epoke with a good deal of plausibility and ingenuity of argu 
 ment, particularly against the assumed right of any State to 
 secede from the Union, at its option. Mr. Ewing of Ohio 
 followed, and closed the debate. He rose to speak about six 
 o clock in the evening, spoke half an hour, and then gave way 
 to a motion for adjournment. The motion was lost. It was 
 the determination of the managers of the bill to take a vote 
 upon it before adjournment. Against such intention, Mr. 
 Calhoun protested. He said that as the debate was closed on 
 the part of the opponents of the bill, and as there was no dis 
 position on their part to delay its passage, he hoped that the 
 gentlemen on the other side would consent to postpone the 
 final question until the morning, as the Senate was thin, and a 
 bill of such importance ought to pass in a full Senate. Several 
 gentlemen, he said, had retired from indisposition. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins rendered a tribute to the liberality of the gen 
 tleman from South Carolina, who had postponed his intention 
 of addressing the Senate, and had thus facilitated the termina 
 tion of the debate. But as the Senate had been notified that, 
 the bill would be urged through this evening, and as it was 
 therefore to be presumed that every Senator was prepared tc 
 
246 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 vote, and as the public mind was desirous that this question 
 should be disposed of, he could not consent to delay. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun then moved that the Senate adjourn, but, 
 after some interlocution with members near him, withdrew the 
 motion. 
 
 Mr. Ewing then resumed, and continued his remarks till 
 naif-past nine o clock, when he yielded the floor to Mr 
 Holmes, who moved an adjournment. 
 
 By this time, Senators exhibited conclusive indications of 
 exhaustion. Some nodded in their scats ; others were strown 
 upon the sofas behind the bar ; a few had loft the Senate, and 
 gone to their lodgings. There were none who felt not fatigued, 
 and almost overborne by the protracted and ardent contest. 
 But the confidential friends of the President, Messrs. Wilkins 
 and Grundy, would listen to no entreaty for adjournment. 
 This was the day, this the hour, to determine the fate of the 
 bill. Senators had suffered, perhaps, but they could suffer a 
 little more, for their country. Their merit would be the 
 greater from their present sacrifice. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins demanded the yeas and nays on Mr. Holmes 
 motion to adjourn ; which, being taken, stood, thirteen for 
 adjournment, twenty-three against it. 
 
 Mr. Ewing again took the floor, and spoke an hour longer. 
 
 In the meanwhile, several Senators, some favorable and somo 
 adverse to the bill, left the Senate, unwilling or unable to 
 await the termination of the debate ; the two Senators from 
 Missouri among othors, thereby avoiding a record of their vote" 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 247 
 
 As soon as Mr. Ewing concluded his speech, Mr. Webster 
 demanded the ayes and noes on the passage of the bill 
 Whereupon Mr. Tyler rose, and moved that the Senate ad 
 journ. He stated that he had been induced to make the 
 motion because he saw that several Senators who were opposed 
 to the bill were absent from their seats, and he thought that 
 the bill had better receive its final action early in the morning. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins replied that the gentlemen whose seats were 
 empty, had but a few minutes before withdrawn from the 
 Senate, and he presumed that, as they must be in the imme 
 diate vicinity, they would return in time to vote on the bill. 
 
 The motion to adjourn was then lost by the decisive vote of 
 twenty-seven noes to five ayes. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun and some of his friends, who had waited in or 
 near the Senat-e till the last hope of delaying action on the 
 bill was lost, now, with some parade, left the Senate and the 
 Capitol, having first endeavored to persuade Mr. Tyler to ac 
 company them. He replied, he would remain to the crack of 
 doom, but he would record his vote against this tyrannical 
 measure though his vote should be the only one against it. 
 
 Finally, all efforts to postpone a vote having failed, the 
 question on the passage of the bill was taken at half-past eleven 
 o clock, and decided as follows : 
 
 Yeas. Bell, Chambers, Clayton, Dallas, Dickers on, Dudley, 
 Ewing, Foot, Forsyth, Frelinghuysen, Grundy, Hendricks. 
 Hill, Holmes, Johnston, Kane, Knight, Nandain, Prentiss, 
 Rives, Robbins, Kobbinson, Ruggles. Silsbee, Sprague, Tipton, 
 
248 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Tomlinson, Waggaman, Webster, White, Wilkins, Wright. 
 32. 
 
 Nay. JOHN TYLER. 
 
 And the Senate adjourned at midnight. 
 
 In this list will be found the great name neither of BENTOIS, 
 CLAY, nor CALHOUN. It is not known that Mr. Benton ever 
 assigned a reason for not voting ; but those who are acquainted 
 with the public and private career of the distinguished Senator, 
 can well believe that it was from no want of moral courage that 
 he did not record his name. Mr. Clay stated to the Senate, 
 the day after the vote, that he found it impossible to breathe 
 the impure air of the Senate-chamber after dinner. He had 
 been twice compelled to absent himself from the Senate in the 
 evening ; and the night before, he was prevented from giving 
 the vote which he would have given with pleasure in favor of 
 the bill which had then passed. Mr. Calhoun said, that he 
 had been anxious the night before, the vote should be post 
 poned till to-day, that it might be taken in the full Senate. 
 
 With this object in view, he had then moved an adjournment, 
 but the majority of the Senate was inexorable. The only 
 course that then remained for himself and his friends was, to 
 vote in a minority which would not contain the strength of the 
 opposition to the bill, or to leave the Senate ; and they had 
 determined on the latter as the most correct course, and as 
 the best calculated to convey an accurate expression of the 
 feeling of the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Clay made no speech upon the bill. There may bo 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 249 
 
 those who think his silence distinguished him more than his 
 participation in the debate could have done ; as the image of 
 Brutus omitted in the pageant of the conqueror, was considered 
 more honorable to him than its presence could have been. 
 And there may be those who think that it indicated faint 
 heartedness, or lukewarmness at least, to have been so passive 
 
 * 
 
 when such momentous interests were in discussion. Leaving 
 such persons, if there be such, to the enjoyment of their va 
 rious opinion, it may be well to suggest the probable solution 
 of his taciturnity. It is well known that during the whole 
 discussion, the eminent Senator was devoted, with an incessant 
 and intense application, to the maturing and bringing forward 
 of his COMPROMISE a measure which, from its importance, of 
 principle no less than detail, demanded the entire absorption 
 of even his intellectual energies. This measure he succeeded 
 to introduce before the passage of the Force Bill. Its healing 
 character doubtless tempered the acrimony of debate upon that 
 bill, and avoided any disastrous results from its passage. 
 Many will contend that the principle and policy of this famous 
 COMPROMISE were alike wrong, but none will deny to its dis 
 tinguished author a magnanimous intention, nor to the measure 
 itself a conciliatory result. It afforded to both of the two dis 
 tinguished parties to this fierce controversy the opportunity of 
 withdrawal, without personal dishonor or civil war an oppor 
 tunity neither was reluctant to embrace. 
 
 General Jackson took an early opportunity to express in 
 
250 CHAPTER xrr. 
 
 person to Mr. "Webster, his sincere gratitude for the eminent 
 services rendered by that gentleman, in such perilous moment, 
 to his administration ; and Mr. Livingston, the Secretary of 
 State, repeatedly, and in warm terms, made his own acknow 
 ledgments besides. In truth, it was conceded everywhere that, 
 but for the efforts of Mr. Webster, and of the friends who 
 rallied under him, the administration would have fallen into a 
 powerless and pitiable condition ; an object of opprobrium to 
 its friends, and of safe insult to its foes. 
 
 A community of sentiment and action, in this fearful crisis 
 of our national history, brought General Jackson and Mr. 
 Webster into stricter intimacy, social and political, than had 
 previously ever subsisted between them. Some of the Gene 
 ral s friends hoped, and more feared, a closer official relation 
 ship. In May of this year, Mr. Webster journeyed West ; 
 returning in June, he met Mr. Livingston in New York, then 
 preparing to depart on his mission to France. It was under 
 stood at this time, in private and confidential circles, that, be 
 fore leaving Washington, Mr. Livingston had had frequent and 
 earnest conversations with General Jackson in relation to Mr. 
 Webster s position ; and that he had urged upon him the abso 
 lute necessity of securing Mr. Webster s continued support of 
 his administration. To his suggestions General Jackson gave 
 a favorable ear and acquiescence ; and authorized Mr. Living 
 ston to approach Mr. Webster upon the subject. These 
 conversations and their result, Mr. Livingston, in his inter 
 view with him in New York, communicated to Mr. Webster. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 251 
 
 That a seat in the cabinet was at the same time proposed to 
 Mr. Webster, on the part of the President, through the same 
 medium of communication, was a belief warmly entertained 
 by some of the nearest friends of both parties. One fact it is 
 allowable to mention ; a distinguished Senator, a political and 
 personal friend of General Jackson, brought Mr. Webster a 
 list of the intended nominees for offices in the Eastern States, 
 and asked him to erase therefrom the names of any, personally 
 objectionable to him. This Mr. Webster declined to do, not 
 wishing to place himself under any obligations to the adminis 
 tration, that might qualify the freedom of his action, either in 
 support or repudiation of its measures. 
 
 On many points of what was then the proposed policy of the 
 administration, there was no marked difference of opinion be 
 tween these two eminent men ; in its foreign policy, particu 
 larly, they almost entirely concurred ; but there was a radical 
 and fatal difference on the great question of the currency. 
 The measures General Jackson thought it necessary to take 
 to prevent pecuniary loss to to the country from the unchecked 
 operations of the United States Bank, did not meet Mr. 
 Webster s concurrence. Indeed, the removal of the govern 
 ment deposits from that institution, however justifiable on the 
 ground of expediency or even necessity, was a measure of 
 such formidable energy, as to confound some of the general s 
 longest tried and not most timid supporters. It encountered 
 Mr. Webster s opposition, and even denunciation. And this 
 honest difference of opinion, in regard to a matter of tempo- 
 
252 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 rary importance, prevented the union of the two master 
 spirits of the age, and blasted the patriotic hopes of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 How much of party animosity might have been assuaged, how 
 much of public good promoted, and national honor how greatly 
 advanced, by the consummation of such an union ! How high 
 the tide of public prosperity had risen, with such luminaries 
 
 in conjunction ! 
 
 The moral and intellectual attributes of one were the 
 complement of the other. Not that both did not possess 
 mental and moral characteristics of the same nature ; but 
 some one quality would appear more predominant in one, and 
 some other quality, equally distinguished, in the other ; both 
 more brilliant from contrast. 
 
 History records few instances of more adamantine will and 
 inflexibility of purpose, than characterized Andrew Jackson. 
 Napoleon himself had not greater, nor more intuitive know 
 ledge of men, or far-reaching sagacity. What he willed he 
 accomplished ; his mind never faltered, and his purpose never 
 changed. 
 
 He was got up on the statuesque model of a hero of Plu 
 tarch. His qualities were all clearly and boldly defined ; but 
 without extravagance or deformity. There was nothing com 
 mon-place in his character or thought. He acted and spoke 
 with the freshness and power of genius. He dared every 
 thing ; yet to his dauntless nature there was added a haughti 
 ness of spirit that withheld him from vulgar strife. He 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 253 
 
 rushed to his purpose like a torrent from the mountain ; no 
 obstacle could retard his course, nor opposition restrain hig 
 impetuosity. The fiery vehemence of his will swept every 
 thing before it. Men gazed at its resistless career, and gave 
 way, overcome with apprehension. To oppose him was to 
 encounter destiny. 
 
 Such a determined will and fearless nature, with attendant 
 power, wanted but direction to accomplish miracles of good. 
 
 Such direction could have been found in Mr. Webster, 
 whose comprehensiveness of view, calmness of deliberation, 
 sagacity, and singleness of purpose had admirably qualified 
 him for a controlling adviser. His intellectual majesty would 
 have secured the admiration of his great ally, and tempered 
 the vehemence of his action. He would have had the mind 
 to plan what the other would have had the heart to execute. 
 He would have been the engineer to give direction and speed 
 to the locomotive ; regulating its power, according to the ob 
 stacles to be overcome, or the thing to be accomplished. 
 
 But no such happiness was reserved for the country. A 
 strong schism supervened within a year after Mr. Webster s 
 defence of the administration, between him and the Presi 
 dent ; and the country went on in a career of intermittent 
 disaster. 
 
 After the adjournment of Congress in the spring of this 
 year (1833,) Mr. Webster visited the West. No conqueror 
 flushed with recent victories could have had a more triumphal 
 
i >4 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 reception. His progress was one ovation. Cities poured out 
 their crowds on his approach, tendering hospitality ; and mu 
 nicipal authorities entertained him while he tarried. Invitations 
 soliciting a visit were sent to him from every State of the 
 West, expressed in warm and urgent language. At Buffalo, 
 a public dinner and other courtesies were extended to him. 
 His brief visit compelled him to decline the dinner ; but he 
 addressed the citizens of the place, and was responded to with 
 enthusiasm. At Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, he was re 
 ceived with even more marked distinction. The citizens 
 turned out en masse, and waited for his arrival at a spacious 
 grove, where a handsome entertainment was prepared for him. 
 The mayor of the city, in presenting him to the crowd, ad 
 dressed to them these, among other words : " Gentlemen, we 
 are this day citizens of the United States. The Union is 
 safe. Not a star has fallen from that proud banner around 
 which our affections have so long rallied. And when, with 
 this delightful assurance, we cast our eyes back upon the 
 eventful history of the last year when we recall the gloomy 
 apprehensions, and perhaps hopeless despondency, which came 
 over us, who, gentlemen, can learn, without a glow of enthu 
 siasm, that the great champion of the Constitution that 
 DANIEL WEBSTER, is now in the midst of us. To his mighty 
 intellect, the nation, with one voise, confided its cause of life 
 or death. Ours is a government not of force, but of opinion 
 The reason of the people must be satisfied before a call to 
 arms This consideration is it that imparts to intellectual 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 255 
 
 pre-eminence in the service of truth its incalculable value. 
 And hence the preciousness of that admirable and unanswer 
 able exposition, which has put down, once and forever, the 
 artful sophisms of nullification." 
 
 In reply, Mr. Webster said, in allusion to General Jackson s 
 conduct during the perilous crisis of nullification : " Gentle 
 men, the President of the United States was, as it seemed to 
 me, at this eventful crisis, true to his duty. He comprehend 
 ed and understood the case, and met it as it was proper to 
 meet it. While I am as willing as others to admit that the 
 President has, on other occasions, rendered important services 
 to the country, and especially on that occasion which has given 
 him so much military renown, I yet think the ability and de 
 cision with which he resisted the disorganizing doctrines of 
 nullification, created a claim, than which he has none higher, 
 
 * * O 7 
 
 to the gratitude of the country, and the respect of posterity. 
 The issuing of the proclamation of the 10th of December, 
 inspired me, I confess, with new hopes for the duration of the 
 Piepublic. I would not be understood to speak of ^particular 
 clauses and phrases in the proclamation : but its great and 
 leading doctrines, I regard as the true and only true doctrines 
 of the Constitution. They constitute the sole ground on 
 which dismemberment can be resisted. Nothing else, in my 
 opinion, can hold us together. While those opinions are en 
 tertained, the Union will last ; when they shall be generally 
 rejected and abandoned, that Union will be at the mercy of a 
 temporary majority in any one of the States." 
 
256 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 At other places which he visited he was received with no 
 Jess consideration. His engagements at home prevented him 
 from accepting the greater part of the invitations extended 
 him, and compelled him, reluctantly, to return. 
 
 All this was the grateful response of the people to a meri 
 torious servant. It was the expression of their opinion of the 
 value and extent of his services the voluntary homage of their 
 heart. These, however, were not the first testimonials of pub 
 lic gratitude for great constitutional services Mr. Webster had 
 received. For his previous effort in defence of the Constitution, 
 ho had been honored with the grateful thanks of some of the 
 wisest and best men of the country. The year following his 
 reply to Mr. Hayne, he was invited by a large number of the 
 most respectable citizens of New York and its vicinity, among 
 whom were many distinguished gentlemen of both political 
 parties, to meet them at a festival, offered to him as an ex 
 pression of their great gratification at the course he had pur 
 sued in that memorable Constitutional contest. Chancellor 
 Kent, who presided on the occasion, on addressing their guest, 
 alluded in this felicitous manner to his speech : " It turned the 
 attention of the public to the great doctrines of natural rights 
 and national union. Constitutional law ceased to remain 
 wrapped up in the breasts, and taught only by the responses, 
 of the living oracles of the law. Socrates was said to have 
 drawn philosophy from the skies, and scattered it among the 
 schools. It may, with equal truth, be said, that Constitutional 
 law, by means of these Senatorial discussions, and the master- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 257 
 
 genius that guided them, was rescued from the archives of our 
 tribunals and the libraries of lawyers, and placed under the 
 eye, and submitted to the judgment, of the American people. 
 Their verdict is with us, and from it there lies no appeal." 
 
 And another writer, hardly less eminent, Mr. Everett, has 
 said of his arguments on the same, and later occasions : " The 
 student of Constitutional law will ever resort to the speeches 
 of Mr. Webster with the same deference that he pays to the 
 numbers of the Federalist, and the opinions of Chief Justice 
 Marshall. * * * The speech in reply to Mr. Calhoun 
 and the speech on the Protest, are like leaves of the Consti 
 tution. They are authorities rather than illustrations. While 
 we are engaged in perusing them, everything like mere dis 
 course, however ingenious, forcible, or ornate, seems compara 
 tively insipid." 
 
 With such demonstrations of public gratitude, and such ex 
 pressions of warm encomium, were Mr. Webster s conduct and 
 speeches on these two momentous occasions received through 
 out the country. All conceded to him ardent patriotism, in 
 corruptible integrity, and unequalled ability. An emergency 
 never arises without its accompanying and controlling spirit ; 
 and DANIEL WEBSTER seems to have been alone, of all the 
 country, the man for each perilous crisis. But for him, Nulli 
 fication, decorated and recommended by its two most ingenious 
 and accomplished champions, might have seduced the affec 
 tions of the people, and gained a permanent existence, to the 
 
 inevitable disruption of the Union. But. for him, our fathers 
 12 
 
258 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 legacy, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES the 
 great charter of political and social right might have become 
 a dishonored and worthless parchment And but for him, 
 constitutional and republican liberty as it exists with us, 
 the last hope of nations, might have become a hissing and a 
 reproach throughout the world. It was not without cause, 
 then, that the country, with an almost univocal expression of 
 its sentiment, greeted him with the title prouder than mon 
 arch ever bestowed of " Defender of the Constitution." 
 
 The wonderful interest felt in all of Mr. Webster s speeches 
 springs from the language as well as the sentiment. A 
 phrase often suggests abundant copiousness of thought ; a 
 word gives rise to feelings inexpressibly sweet or profound, 
 like tunes in music ; which recall times when freshness of 
 heart was ours, ere bitter experience had belied the trusting- 
 ness of earlier days. He borrows from no author, ancienf 
 or modern, either style or sentiment ; and yet there is no 
 speech of his not impregnated with the afflatus divinus of 
 classical antiquity. The choicest productions of antiquity 
 are fragrant of no flower which does not perfume his works ; 
 because his thought, like those of the antique world, is 
 fresh, original, earnest, and finds correspondent articula 
 tion. 
 
 The encomium, which Quinctilian bestowed upon the philo 
 sophical writings of Brutus, " Scias eum sentire qua dicit," 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 259 
 
 you know that he feels what he says applies with greater truth 
 to Mr. Webster s works. He has felt himself what he make* 
 us feel. His whole heart is in his language, and warms his 
 page. This is the secret of its wonderful effect. The sacretf 
 historian informs us that " G-od gave Solomon largeness oi 
 heart ;" and we need no other solution of the popularity oi 
 his writings, in every clime, from generation to generation. 
 It requires a great heart to express a great truth. The learn 
 ing of the schools cannot supply the want thereof; the wis 
 dom of the wisest would strive in vain to make good its loss. 
 To enrich the understanding, to stimulate or satisfy the ar 
 dent mind, is far easier than to gain the heart ; one faculty 
 can be acquired, the other is innate. You must be born an 
 orator no less than a poet; for all of poetry is not rhythm, 
 nor all of oratory language. There is something in both that 
 eludes the most diligent and pertinacious analysis. 
 
 Compared with the productions of the most eminent orators 
 of ancient or modern times, in what respect is the reply to 
 Hayne inferior ? In what production of ancient or modern 
 times, shall we look for such a variety of genius ? Where 
 shall we find such majestic simplicity of expression, such 
 beauty of illustration, such appropriateness of diction, where 
 such ideal beauty of thought, embodied in such pleasing forms, 
 where such gigantic power of reasoning, such depth of pas 
 sion, such elevation of soul 
 
 In tempestuous eloquence, which carries away in its uu- 
 governed force, speaker no less than hearer, Demosthenes un- 
 
260 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 doubtedly surpassed him ; it carefully-elaborated periods, in 
 equi-ponderance of sentences, in studied bursts of passion, as 
 well as in general philosophy, Cicero excelled him. But what 
 one work of either of those great masters of eloquence presents 
 such a combination of various excellencies as the reply to 
 Hayne ? In what phillipic of either, or other immortal pro 
 duction, shall we look for its equal ? 
 
 Of Modern Eloquence, we know nothing comparable. 
 Much of Chatham depends upon tradition ; more, perhaps, 
 upon partial reporters ; but, conceding to him all his most ar 
 dent admirers ever claimed, we still should deny him much 
 reach of thought, or even well-sustained eloquence. Yoice, 
 manner, gesture, majesty of presence all these he had 
 but all these produce but a temporary effect. His elo 
 quence electrified rather than convinced ; astonished more 
 than it confuted ; and mastered the passions rather than 
 the judgment of men. It flashed like the lightning, which 
 men gazed at with a fearful interest, ignorant of its direction ; 
 but once gone, the mind soon returned to its previous thought. 
 His fame as an orator is the greater, that he left so little to 
 sustain it. Contemporaneous opinion has been more favorable 
 to him than faithful record might have been. No entire speech 
 of his is extant ; the fragmentary parts which we have, it is 
 true, like the celebrated Torso of antiquity, reveal the posses 
 sion of great genius, and forbid the hope of their completion 
 "by another hand. Still they afford no sufficient indication o* 
 what the merits of tjie whole would have been. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 26 
 
 The philosophical orator of England EDMUND BURKE 
 whose magnificent imagery, power of illustration, and vigoi 
 of thought have ne?er been surpassed, was yet so warped by 
 prejudice, was such a self-deluding sophist, as to leave no one 
 production, not as much marred by great defects, as charac 
 terized by inimitable excellencies. In style, too, almost every 
 work of his is as objectionable as in sentiment. He scatters, 
 with a lavish hand, such a wasteful profusion of imagery, as 
 to almost drown the sense of his meaning. The mind is 
 puzzled, wearied by the accumulation of illustrations, and 
 loses all command of the subject-matter. No one speech of 
 this great writer, not the speech against Hastings, can hold 
 the unwearied attention throughout. 
 
 There can be found in the speeches neither of Fox nor of 
 his more distinguished rival great Chatham s greater son 
 one, the equal to this of Mr. Webster s, in various merit. 
 Fox exhibited at tunes more fiery declamation and more fervid 
 eloquence ; Pitt, more severity of invective and a wider 
 range of argument ; but neither, on any occasion, ever 
 made a speech so complete in every point. 
 
 Brougham s speech on the Reform Bill, a masterly produc 
 tion doubtless, wants compactness of expression, and fidelity 
 to the main question of debate, comparatively. But there 
 are many passages of great eloquence in it, and its peroration 
 is only inferior to Webster s. 
 
 The great charm of this speech, of all speeches of Mr. 
 Webster, is the ardent patriotism and devotion to liberty that 
 
2Q2 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 pervade them ; a patriotism, not of a fanatical but universal 
 character ; not hating other countries from love of natal soil ; 
 but radiating from home a feeling of charity and good will 
 upon all mankind ; a devotion to liberty, as far removed from 
 licentiousness as tyranny liberty inseparable from virtue, 
 from public and private morals that imposes checks upon 
 itself, and guards against the abuse of its own power. 
 
 It is this, which gives to his works their wide-spread popu 
 larity. It is this which has acclimated them everywhere. It is 
 this which has carried the English language further than 
 English arms have ever done ; to regions of thick-ribbed ice, 
 where day and night make one sad division of the year ; to the 
 utmost isles of the sea, and lands beyond the solar road. 
 
 He has spoken, and enslaved nations have started from the 
 torpor of centuries. The down-trodden Greek has heard his 
 voice, and risen upon his oppressors. The Turkish hordes 
 have fallen where the Persian fell ; and Marathon and Salamis 
 shine with a newer glory, and a wider emblasonry. 
 
 As his words of cheering encouragement have crossed the 
 equator and penetrated the southern seas, whole nations have 
 thrown off the yoke of bondage, and achieved an independent 
 existence. SOUTH AMERICA, emerging from beneath the hori 
 zon with its constellation of republics, has given light and 
 gladness to the nations. His voice has called a New World 
 into existence, to compensate for the decline of the old.* 
 
 * Englishmen give this praise to Cuming, but hardly with as much 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 263 
 
 It is not yet hushed ; his words have lost none of their 
 vital force. The throes of Europe are their response. Sub 
 terranean fires are burning there with fatal activity ; which 
 burst out, ever and anon, in volcanic eruptions, overwhelming 
 thrones, and destroying oppressors. It may not be long, ere 
 one universal conflagration shall devour every vestige of 
 tyranny, and liberated Europe spring up from the ruin, to re 
 commence a more glorious career, and accomplish a surer 
 destiny. 
 
 justice ; for our country recognized the independence of the South Ameri 
 can Republics before Englani. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IT was the fortune of General Jackson s administration to 
 have provoked or undergone more public excitement, spring 
 ing from causes of a domestic character, than that of either 
 of his predecessors. A constant agitation pursued it through 
 out. The Hayne controversy roused the public mind from its 
 apathetic state under the preceding administration, and stimu 
 lated it to apprehension and entertainment of elevated yet 
 fearful themes. The war of nullification followed, ere the 
 public pulse had recovered its accustomed tone, and gave a 
 more turbulent motion to opinion. The passions excited by 
 this quarrel had not subsided, but swayed the minds of men 
 to and fro, as if tempest-tossed, when the REMOVAL OF THE 
 DEPOSITES supervened, and raised the whole country. 
 
 The later history of the Bank of the United States may 
 have reflected the necessity of this measure. Its subsequent 
 mismanagement and "explosion should, perhaps, be holden a 
 retrospective justification of the decisive proceeding. But. 
 at the time the removal of the deposites took place, the policy 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 265 
 
 ot the measure was not generally understood, while the imme 
 diate consequences thereof were everywhere felt, and felt dis 
 astrously. 
 
 It was no time for argument, however cogent ; because no 
 argument is listened to, when interest or passion speaks. 
 That the powers of the Bank were too extensive, its immuni 
 ties and privileges too unrestricted, few could now gainsay. 
 Among the many dangerous powers enjoyed by this institu 
 tion, the control over the contraction and expansion of 
 the currency was not the least so. By the exercise of this 
 power it could affect, to a most calamitous extent, the busi 
 ness of the whole nation. It was a power that existed not 
 merely in theory, but had been felt in practice. In 1818-19, 
 the directors of the institution availed themselves of its fatal 
 character, to enrich themselves and friends, to the great 
 calamity of the country ; and, in 1831-32, to effect a political 
 purpose, nearly thirty millions of loans were made in a few 
 months, and called in again within as brief a time ; great 
 individual and national distress following the experiment. A 
 power liable to such dangerous abuse should be checked, 
 though at the hazard of temporary inconvenience. 
 
 The immediate consequence of General Jackson s decisive 
 act was, undoubtedly, disastrous. The country was in a state 
 of seeming prosperity, commercial and agricultural ; but it 
 was rather the hectic flush of consumption, than the color of 
 robust health. 
 
 All kinds of operations had been stimulated by easy credits. 
 
266 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Every branch of business was pushed to its utmost extent, 
 and stocks of every kind inflated, to near the limits of ro 
 mance. 
 
 The withdrawal of eight millions from the bank, and the 
 vindictive contraction of its issues by the bank, broke the 
 bubble of speculation, and a collapse ensued. A severe 
 pressure in the money market, the consequent high rate of 
 interest, the depression of every kind of stock, and the low 
 price of commodities, were the immediate results of these 
 measures ; and, no less, a strong, almost fierce agitation of the 
 community. 
 
 The removal of the deposites took place in September, 1833 ; 
 about two months afterwards, in the greatest heat of the pub 
 lic feeling upon the subject, Congress met. The debates in 
 that body are not only the safety valves of public excitement, 
 but to an almost exclusive degree, the record of its existence. 
 What might be otherwise as frail in memory as evanescent in 
 feeling becomes, by incorporation in the proceedings of Con 
 gress, a permanent fact. Parliamentary action, with a free 
 people, is a history of their sentiments, their wishes, and, too 
 often, of their follies. 
 
 In the earliest of this session, Mr. Clay introduced a reso 
 lution into the Senate, calling upon the President for a copy 
 of a paper said to have been read by him to the cabinet, in 
 relation to the removal of the deposites, on the 18th of Sep 
 tember preceding ; which resolution he supported in an 
 animated speech. It was carried, by a vote of twenty-three 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 267 
 
 to eighteen. The State Rights men, who had not forgotten 
 or forgiven General Jackson s decided course in the South 
 Carolina controversy left the " Treasury Benches" in a body, 
 and went over to the opposition , thereby reducing the 
 strength of the administration in the Senate to a minority. 
 
 The answer of General Jackson to the resolution of the 
 Senate was characteristic : " The Executive" he said, in 
 his communication to the Senate, " is a co-ordinate and 
 independent branch of the Government equally with the 
 Senate ; and I have yet to learn under what constituted au 
 thority that branch of the legislature has a right to require of 
 me an account of any communication, either verbally or iu 
 writing, made to the heads of departments acting as a cabinet- 
 council. As well might I be required to detail to the Senate 
 the free and private conversation I have held with those 
 officers on any subjects relating to their duties and my own." 
 
 With this implied, if not direct, rebuke of the Senate for 
 its unconstitutional interference in matters strictly executive, 
 General Jackson declined compliance with the resolution. 
 
 His answer was received by the Senate with no demonstra 
 tion of disrespectful anger ; but in calmness and necessary 
 acquiescence. 
 
 In the document which General Jackson submitted to his 
 cabinet previous to the removal of the deposites an official 
 copy of which Mr. Clay had been unable to obtain for the 
 Senate he said : u The President deems it his duty to com 
 municate in this manner to his cabinet, the final conclusions 
 
268 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 of his own mind, and the reasons on which they are founded ;" 
 and, in concluding his address to them, he said : " The Pre 
 sident again repeats that he begs his cabinet to consider the 
 proposed measure as his own^ in support of which he shall re 
 quire no one of them to make a sacrifice of opinion or princi 
 ple. Its responsibility has been assumed, after the most 
 
 
 mature deliberation and reflection, as necessary to preserve 
 
 the morals of the people, the freedom of the press, and the 
 purity of the elective franchise ; without which, all will unite 
 in saying that the blood and treasure expended by our fore 
 fathers, in the establishment of our happy system of govern 
 ment, will have been vain and fruitless." A fierce clamor 
 was raised against the President for the communication of 
 these sentiments, by the less moderate of the Opposition, in 
 and out of Congress. They denounced him as an usurper of 
 powers unrecognized by the Constitution ; and charged upon 
 him the intention of overthrowing the liberties of the country. 
 Heated faction poured forth against him its choicest language 
 of abuse, likening him to every variety of tyrant, lands 
 most fertile in such products, ever nourished ; so that many 
 honest, though most credulous people, in different parts of 
 the country, were sadly imposed upon. The fanaticism of 
 party never achieved a more decided victory over sober 
 truth. 
 
 But truth has this advantage over error ; its conquests, if 
 not so rapid, are permanent. And now that the delusion of 
 Mhe moment has passed away, with the excitement of which it 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 269 
 
 was engendered, and reason has regained her sometime usurped 
 authority, the conduct of General Jackson, in this menacing 
 exigency of affairs, stands out boldly in the historical picture, 
 reflecting courage, capacity, and marvellous foresight. 
 
 He was the man for a crisis. He feared nothing, he doubt 
 ed nothing ; he dared everything. He sought no evasion, he 
 shunned no risk. He interposed no screen, no defence 
 between himself and his enemies ; but advancing to the 
 very front of the battle, he defied them all : " I am here, 
 who have done this thing ; against me. against me, turn your 
 weapons." He courted danger like a mistress. 
 
 He thought the deposites unsafe in the vaults of the bank, 
 and removed them. He found the Secretary of the Treasury 
 too timid to incur his share of the responsibility, and removed 
 him. He knew what denunciation awaited him from rancorous 
 opponents ; what lukewarm support from timorous friends. 
 He knew too his duty, and, heedless alike of fierce enmity or 
 half-faced fellowship, dared perform it. 
 
 Not discouraged, though defeated in his first attack, Mr. 
 Clay renewed his assaults upon the administration for its con 
 duct in the matter of the public funds, with increased vigor. 
 His indomitable courage and towering intellect, with his great 
 Parliamentary tact, admirably qualified him for the post of 
 leader, and made him no unworthy competitor of General 
 Jackson himself. Foiled in one attack, he fell back, to as 
 sume a better position, and make defeat itself the handmaid of 
 victory 
 
270 CHAPTER XJH. 
 
 On the 26th of December, he offered in the Senate the fol, 
 lowing resolutions : 
 
 1. Resolved, That by dismissing the late Secretary of the 
 Treasury, because he would not, contrary to his sense of his 
 own duty, remove the money of the United States in deposit 
 with the Bank of the United States and its branches, in con 
 formity with the President s opinion, and by appointing his 
 successor to effect such removal, which has been done, the 
 President has assumed the exercise of a power over the Trea 
 sury of the United States, not granted to him by the Consti 
 tution and laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the reasons assigned by the Secretary of 
 the Treasury for the removal of the money of the United 
 States, deposited in the Bank of the United States, and its 
 branches, communicated to Congress on the third day of 
 December, 1833, are unsatisfactory and insufficient. 
 
 These resolutions Mr. Clay enforced in one of the strongest 
 arguments of his life. He gave his whole heart to the speech. 
 His burning eloquence carried away his audience, and loud 
 plaudits from the gallery accompanied and interrupted him. 
 These demonstrations of sympathy were of course immediately 
 suppressed by the chair, who could not, however, prevent en 
 tirely their recurrence. 
 
 He passed from wit to argument, from satire to denunciation, 
 " from lively to severe," with such rapidity that extremes 
 seemed to touch, and laughter and indignation almost com- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 271 
 
 mingled. He put forth the whole variety of his intellect, 
 omitting nothing, stinting nothing, exaggerating nothing. 
 
 His illustrations were peculiarly felicitous. The civil and 
 loving expressions with which General Jackson ejected Mr. 
 Duane his recusant Secretary of the Treasury reminded 
 him. he said, of one of the most remarkable characters which 
 our species has produced : " When Oliver Cromwell was con 
 tending for the mastery in Great Britain or Ireland, (I do not 
 remember which,) he besieged a certain Catholic town. The 
 place made a brave and stout resistance ; but, at length, be 
 ing likely to be taken, the poor Catholics proposed terms of 
 capitulation, among which was one stipulating for the tolera 
 tion of their religion. The paper containing the conditions 
 being presented to Oliver, he put on his spectacles, and, after 
 deliberately examining them, cried out, Oh, yes, granted, 
 granted, certainly ; but," he added with stern determination, 
 " if one of them shall dare be found attending mass, he shall 
 be instantly hanged." 
 
 There were many not less apposite than this, and some 
 more illustrative of the points he made in his argument. He 
 was listened to throughout with profound attention. 
 
 His speech was more argumentative than usual, less rhetori 
 cal. He seemed conscious that the importance of the con 
 troversy required all the skill in dialectics he could boast; 
 ind, with that admirable tact in the election of the proper 
 rtyle of oration which distinguishes him, he made a sound, 
 Laical, perspicuous argument ; relieved, occasionally, it is 
 
272 CHAPTER xin. 
 
 true, with some ardent declamation, pungent satire, or bril 
 liant fancy. 
 
 But, after all, Mr. Clay s style, whether of thought or 
 manner, is not senatorial. It lacks dignity, elevation, gravity 
 His speech is often too colloquial, and even in some of its most 
 effective passages, disfigured by provincialisms. He was 
 never a scholar ; has never studied those chaste models of 
 style, the ancient classics, and, consequently knows, but im 
 perfectly, how grandly to express a grand idea. The House 
 of Representatives was the theatre of his greatness and his 
 glory : there, his emphatic manner, his fervid eloquence, his 
 earnest, though unchastened thought, gained him an admiration 
 amounting almost to enthusiasm. Polish of style or accuracy 
 of expression, was unnoticed or forgiven, in the abandon of 
 feeling which his bold imagery, his vehement denunciation, 
 and passionate appeals produced. As a popular speaker, he 
 has had hardly an equal, certainly, no superior. 
 
 How different in manner, in thought, and in diction, Mr 
 Calhoun appeared ! The fertile brevity of his expression, his 
 power of thought, and the severe simplicity of his manner 
 placed him in violent contrast to his sometime rival. His 
 speech had all the terseness of Tacitus, without his obscurity. 
 It was illustrated more by axioms than imagery. Yet his 
 language was so well-selected, so appropriate, so full of deco 
 rous words, that it required no other ornament. 
 
 He made a great argument on this occasion, saying more in 
 two ho-irs than almost anv other Senator in two davs. In the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 273 
 
 beginning, he defined his position : " I stand wholly discon 
 nected with the two great political parties now contending for 
 ascendancy. My political connections are with that small 
 and denounced party, which has voluntarily wholly retired 
 from the party strifes of the day, with a view of saving, if 
 possible, the liberty and the Constitution of the country, in 
 this great crisis of our affairs." 
 
 Alluding to the claim put forward by the friends of the ad 
 ministration, that in the removal of the deposites, it undertook 
 to defend and guard the rights of States against the encroach 
 ments of the Federal Government, Mr. Calhoun spoke with 
 unwonted energy. " The administration the guardians and 
 defenders of the rights of the States ! What shall I call it 
 audacity or hypocrisy ? The authors of the proclamation, 
 the guardians and defenders of the rights of the States ! The 
 authors of the war message against a member of this con 
 federacy the authors of the c bloody bill the guardians and 
 defenders of the rights of the States ! This a struggle for 
 State Rights ! No, sir ; State Eights are no more. The 
 struggle is over for the present. The bill of the last session," 
 which vested in the government the right of judging of the 
 extent of its powers, finally and conclusively, and gave it the 
 right of enforcing its judgment by the sword ; destroyed all 
 distinction between delegated and reserved rights ; concen 
 trated in the government the entire power of the system, and 
 prostrated the States, as poor and helpless corporations, at tha 
 foot of this sovereignty." 
 
274 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 His argument on this occasion was not disfigured by the 
 painful abstractions of his usual speech. He held close to 
 his subject, which he illustrated with great power. The mind 
 of the audience followed him throughout. 
 
 O 
 
 Four times the space that measures day and night, did Mr. 
 Benton address the Senate. The speech was an able one ; so 
 much so, that his audience almost forgave him the want of 
 ability to condense it. He left little of financial history or 
 operations untouched ; and he commented upon little that he 
 did not strengthen. Nor was it, to all minds, the least con 
 siderable merit of the speech that it allowed resting places 
 to the attention. The distinguished orator would sometimes 
 recapitulate repeat in a variety of forms his argument 
 during which times the mind could recruit its somewhat ex 
 hausted force, and renew its capacity to apprehend. With 
 Mr. Calhoun, on the contrary, there is no respite to the at 
 tention. The mind that would comprehend his argument, 
 must listen to each word of his speech. Each sentence is so 
 much dependent upon the preceding, that the loss of ono 
 link breaks the continuity of the argument, and mars the 
 whole effect. 
 
 The great excitement prevailing in the country upon the 
 removal of the deposites, was no where more intense than in 
 the metropolis. Hither resorted persons from all sections of 
 the country, most of whom, at this period, were violent par 
 tisans. The Senate-chamber was not saved from the ebulition 
 of angry feeling, which exhibited itself sometimes in boiste- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 275 
 
 rous applause of one speaker, and sometimes m nerce con 
 demnation of another. A tumultuous spirit threatened to 
 overawe the Senate. 
 
 This spirit, so derogatory to the character of the Senate, 
 and so revolutionary in its tendencies, the Yice-President, 
 Mr. Van Buren, determined to put down. He warned the 
 galleries to forbear all expression of opinion concerning matters 
 in debate, or persons participating therein. Another viola 
 tion of the respect due the Senate, he said, should be follow 
 ed by the instant clearing of the galleries. To this end, he 
 had instructed the officers of the Senate, who would take 
 good care his orders were carried out. His determination of 
 tone and manner quieted the crowd, who afterwards offered no 
 interruption to the proceedings or debates of the Senate. 
 
 A model presiding officer was Mr. Yan Buren. The at 
 tentive manner in which he listened, or seemed to listen, 
 to each successive speaker, no matter how dull the sub 
 ject, or how stupid the orator, the placidity of his coun 
 tenance, unruffled in the midst of excitement, the modest 
 dignity of his deportment, the gentlemanly ease of his address, 
 his well-modulated voice and sympathetic smile, extorted ad 
 miration from even an opposing Senate ; while the proper 
 firmness he displayed on all occasions, the readiness with which 
 he met and repulsed any attack upon privileges or dignity of 
 the Chair, the more conspicuous in contrast with the quiet in 
 difference with which he entertained any merely personal 
 assault, gained him tho good will of all beholders. 
 
276 CHAPTER XIU. 
 
 He had served an apprenticeship to his high office by a 
 senatorial career of six years, and qualified himself by the 
 proper discharge of the duties of one position for the more re 
 sponsible duties of the other. The peculiar delicacy and 
 decorum which he had manifested during that term of service 
 in times of high party excitement, and in a decided minority, 
 had won him great renown, and seemed to justify the general 
 belief that he was intended for a larger sphere of action. 
 Always self-controlled, he never uttered a word, direct or by 
 inuendo, either from premeditation or in the heat of excite 
 ment, which need have wounded the feelings of a political 
 opponent, in open or in secret session. Master of his own 
 passions, he soon learnt to command those of other men. 
 By study of himself, he acquired a knowledge of mankind. 
 With a countenance always open, and thought always conceal 
 ed, he invited without returning, confidence. Indeed, the 
 character the great modern poet gives to one of his heroes 
 will serve as an epitome, mutatis mutandis, of Mr. Van 
 Buren s : 
 
 " He was the mildest-mannered man, 
 That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat ; 
 With such true feelings of the gentleman, 
 You rarely could divine his real thought." 
 
 Virginia divided on this question of the removal of the d- 
 posites, as she had done on the Force Bill. Rives, now. as 
 then, stood by the administration. Tyler contended both 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 277 
 
 times, he said, for the Constitution. Rives made, perhaps, 
 the strongest argument in defence of the President s policy, 
 of the whole party. He was logical, candid, profound ; and 
 divided opinion even with Mr Calhoun. As a constitutional 
 argument, his effort deserved great praise. No one ever bet 
 ter explained the theory of executive power ; strengthening 
 his opinion, as he did, with the dicta of Madison, and other 
 earliest and most eminent commentators of the Constitu 
 tion. He denied that General Jackson had transcended 
 the constitutional limits of his office, in the removal of the 
 deposites, and compelled the Opposition to fall back upon the 
 impolicy and abruptness of that proceeding. His speech on 
 the Force Bill had given a promise of excellence which this 
 more than confirmed. 
 
 Nor did his colleague, Mr. Tyler, make an indifferent 
 speech. He hauled closer to the wind than usual, and lost 
 less time and less power in unnecessary diversions. He spoke 
 with much animation and earnestness of manner. " We are 
 told," he said, " of the great power of the Bank, sir ; is there 
 QO danger from power in any other direction ? Are gentlemen 
 blind to the power of the President ? In its mildest form it is 
 immense ; look into the Blue Book ; count up the number of 
 his retainers of those who live only by his smile, and perish 
 by his frown here are forty thousand public officers of the 
 government. The Dukes of Burgundy, who agitated Europe 
 in the time of the Henrys of England and the Philips and 
 Louises of France, could not count so many. The Earl of 
 
278 CHAPTER XIIT. 
 
 Warwick, the king-maker of England, had not one fourth so 
 many." Power, it is said, corrupts its possessor. Of this, 
 the Syrian, who, yet unused to it, replied incredulously and 
 indignantly to the prophet, as he predicted the enormities of 
 his coming reign " Is thy servant a dog, that he should do 
 these things ?" is not the sole historical illustration. Little 
 did the orator think, on this occasion, while he fulminated 
 against the abuse of power by Greneral Jackson, how soon he 
 should be subjected to its dangerous exercise. If he went 
 through the ordeal, with less of self-reproach or public op 
 probrium than ho whose conduct he so strongly reprobated, 
 history will mitigate its damnatory records of gross abuse of 
 power with one instance^of glorious self-control. 
 
 Mr. Rives speech on this occasion cost him his seat in 
 the Senate. The Legislature of Virginia, with the petty in 
 tolerance that distinguishes the ignorant, " instructed" him 
 out of it the only kind of instruction, perhaps, it was in its 
 power to render him. His rebound, however, was greater 
 than his fall ; for, soon after, he was called upon by the Presi 
 dent, to exert, for the benefit of his country, in an eminent 
 position abroad, those rare qualities which the ingratitude of 
 his State would not suffer him to display in a subordinate posi 
 tion at home. He avenged himself upon his State, which 
 refused his service, by enhancing the glory of her nani^ and 
 promoting the prosperity of the country, which, on her ostra 
 cism, had adopted him 
 
 Much agitation, all the while the debate was goinx on. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 279 
 
 excited the mind of GeneralJackson. As reports of speeches 
 were daily made to him, he betrayed more or less emotion 
 according to their character. He spoke in terms somewhat 
 objurgatory of Mr. Clay s speech ; of Mr. Calhoun s, in terms 
 decidedly so. In truth, a reservation of his sentiments was 
 not a common fault with General Jackson. It might rather 
 have been complained, that the language in which he gave 
 th ^m utterance was sometimes too strong, too vehement, too 
 personal. It was illustrated with expressions that had been 
 better omitted. " Our army swore terribly in Flanders ;" 
 and it is not to be disguised, that G-eneral Jackson transferred 
 to civil life the habit he acquired in camps, of too energetic 
 epithets. It was, however, only in moments of great excite 
 ment, when reason is, as it were, for a time in abeyance, that 
 he indulged in a habit so reprehensible in a gentleman, so un 
 becoming, and, from example, so pernicious, in the highest 
 officer of the government. 
 
 But for Mr. Calhoun, General Jackson, at this time, en 
 tertained a theological hatred. Ordinary language, he feared, 
 could not give it adequate revelation. It must be character 
 ized, he thought, by language no less decided than itself. It 
 could not find vent in hostile action, or he would have gratified 
 it otherwise than in words. Words were the only outlet to 
 his anger, and he selected the most expressive. 
 
 General Jackson felt a stronger personal interest in this 
 debate than in the debate upon the Fcrce Bill. In that more 
 important interests were agitated, but none to affect him per- 
 
280 CHAPTER xrrr. 
 
 sonally so near. The defeat of bis recommendations on that 
 occasion, would, undoubtedly, very materially, have weakened 
 the moral force of bis administration, if it had not destroyed 
 it wholly ; but the personal consequences might not have been 
 so disastrous as they threatened to be in this. The responsi 
 bility of his action, on that occasion, was shared by his cabi 
 net, by the larger portion of his own party, and by the almost 
 unanimous strength of the Opposition, and applauded by tho 
 country generally. Had he failed of success, the sympathy in 
 his favor would, in a very short period, have even added to 
 his already formidable popularity, and temporary discomfiture 
 been succeeded by permanent and almost illimitable power. 
 
 But the removal of the deposites he had assumed as his 
 own act. He had relieved, by open proclamation, his cabinet 
 from any participation in it. It was an act, he well knew, 
 which many of his friends hesitated to defend, while it ren 
 dered a fierce opposition still fiercer. Nor was the country 
 generally, he could not but feel, as on the former occasion, 
 disposed to warmly concur in his action. A panic seized the 
 financial and commercial interests, and affected, indeed, more 
 or less disastrously, every class of the community ; a panic 
 encouraged and exaggerated by the retaliatory measures of 
 the Bank, so that an entire stagnation of all trade and opera 
 tions seemed inevitable. 
 
 The passage of these resolutions by the Senate of the United 
 States, a majority of whom were his former political friends, 
 could not, he thought, but prove injurious to his administration. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 281 
 
 It wiuld be the first check, of any important character, it had 
 ever encountered, since its commencement. The act would 
 go forth to the world as a grave, authoritative, official condem 
 nation of his conduct. It would lessen the magic influence 
 of his name, in destroying the belief in its invincibility, and 
 might draw after it consequences alike disastrous to his ad 
 ministration and the party. To prevent the passage of the 
 resolutions, therefore, was his first hope ; and, failing in that, 
 tke next was, to give them such a character and intent, as to 
 render them incapable of injury to himself, with the country. 
 
 From the Nullifiers, or State Rights party, in the Senate, 
 General Jackson looked for no support. He knew there were 
 no harsher enemies than warm friends alienated ; and his for 
 mer intimacy with that party prepared him for its vindictive 
 opposition now. But there were in the Senate three or four 
 of no determined purpose, whose action awaited the superior 
 argument, or most conclusive reasons, of one side or the other. 
 With as much integrity as the rest of the Senate, they had 
 not been able to come to so early conclusion in regard to the 
 policy of censuring General Jackson s proceedings. Their 
 votes would decide the contest, and consequently there was 
 an eager struggle on both sides to obtain them. 
 
 Mr. Clay s resolution of censure originally read : Resolved, 
 Tbat by dismissing the late Secretary of the Treasury, be 
 cause he would not, contrary to his sense of his own duty, 
 remove the money of the United States, in deposit with the 
 
 Bank of the United States and its branches, in conformity 
 13 
 
282 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 with the President s opinion ; and by appointing his SUCCGSROI 
 to effect such removal, which has been done, the President 
 has assumed the exercise of a power over the Treasury of the 
 United States not granted to him by the Constitution and 
 laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people." 
 
 This resolution specified certain acts of the President, 
 which it denounced as a violation of the Constitution and 
 laws. The particular conclusion of fact or law, which in 
 duced any Senator to vote for it, would appear from the very 
 terms of the resolution. 
 
 The mover of the resolution, discovered during the debate, 
 ana particularly after the arguments of Mr. Rives and Mr. 
 Forsyth, that, unless modified, it would probably fail the 
 moderates declining to vote for it. He therefore modified it, 
 as follows : 
 
 " Resolved That in taking upon himself the responsibility 
 of removing the deposites of the public money from the IBank 
 of the United States, the President of the United States has 
 assumed the exercise of a power over the Treasury of tho 
 United States, not granted to him by the Constitution and 
 laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people." 
 
 This resolution, thus amended, he offered to the Senate to 
 wards the close of the debate. It still did not satisfy the 
 (scrupulous party, who held the balance of power between the 
 two extremes. The able and legal argument of Mr 
 Wright, of New York, the last that was made on the pide ol 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 283 
 
 the friends of the administration, threatened to secure tae re 
 jection of the resolution, even in its amended form. 
 
 The politic leader of the opposition, always full of re 
 sources, and always ready to concede to tender consciences 
 whatever would not interfere with the prospect of triumph 
 again modified his resolution, making it read thus : 
 
 " Resolved That the President, in the late executive pro 
 ceedings in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon 
 himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution 
 and laws, but in derogation of both." 
 
 The character of these changes was important. The first 
 omitted the specification on which the general charge against 
 the President of having violated the Constitution and laws 
 depended, but still retained the clause that accused him of 
 conduct " dangerous to the liberties of the people." The 
 second change not only omitted the specification, but the im 
 peaching clause " dangerous to the liberties of the people" 
 besides. These changes were decisive of the vote. The re 
 solution of censure finally passed on the 28th of March, 1834, 
 by a vote of twenty-six to twenty ; eight of the twenty-six 
 having been original Jackson-men. 
 
 The other resolution of Mr. Clay, declaring the reasons as^ 
 signed by the Secretary of the Treasury for the removal of 
 the deposites insufficient, passed by a vote of twenty-eight to 
 eighteen. 
 
 In the acrimonious debate upon this occasion, Mr. Webster 
 took no part. He could not approve the act of the President 
 
284 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ID removing the dcposites, yet would not join those who seized 
 this opportunity of making a personal attack upon him. He 
 could not but recollect that a few short months before, the 
 President and himself were upon terms of cordiality that 
 they had reciprocated mutual kindnesses ; and he was not pre 
 pared so early to forego such grateful reminiscences, and 
 adopt, instead of friendly courtesies, the language of denunci 
 ation and menace. To others, he left the invidious task of 
 impunging the motives and arraigning the character of General 
 Jackson ; for himself, he was content to record a silent and 
 respectful dissent to this measure of his administration. 
 
 But the passage of Mr. Clay s resolutions exasperated 
 rather than allayed the division between the Executive and 
 Senate. To the vote of censure passed upon his act by the 
 Senate, Gen. Jackson sent to that body, on the 17th April, 
 1834, his memorable PROTEST. The resolution of the Senate, 
 he said, was in substance an impeachment of the President ; 
 and, in its passage, amounted to a declaration, by the ma 
 jority of the Senate, that he was guilty of an impeachable 
 offence. As such it was spread upon the journals of the 
 Senate published to the nation and the world, made part 
 of our enduring archives and incorporated in the history of 
 the age. 
 
 The Constitution makes the House of Representatives the 
 exclusive judges, in the first instance, of the question, whether 
 the President has committed an impeachable offence. But, 
 according to the argument of the President, a majority of the 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 285 
 
 Senate, whose interference with this preliminary question 
 had been studiously excluded, anticipated the action of the 
 House of Representatives, and not only assumed the function 
 that belongs exclusively to that body, but converted them 
 selves into accusers, witnesses, counsel and judges. 
 
 The argument of the Protest was most ingenious, and highly 
 creditable to its distinguished author. He defended, with 
 great force of logic, two positions: 1st. That the Executive, 
 under the constitution and the laws, was the sole custodian of 
 the public funds ; and 2dly, that even on the supposition the 
 President had assumed an illegal power in the removal of the 
 deposites, the Senate had no right, by resolution, in that or 
 any other case, to express disapprobation of the President s- 
 conduct. He was amenable to the action of neither House 
 of Congress, unless by the constitutional method of impeach 
 ment. 
 
 The introduction of the Protest into the Senate opened wide 
 again the flood-gates of debate. All who had spoken before 
 plunged in now, and some with greater vehemence. The ex 
 citement in the Senate was intense, and occasionally irrepres 
 sible. Mr. Leigh, of Va., concluding a speech, with a glow 
 ing encomium upon Mr. Clay for his services in getting 
 through the tariff compromise act of 1833, " brought down 1 
 the galleries. The cheering and mingled hisses were so" vio 
 lent, that the Vice-President ordered the galleries to be 
 cleared; and while the sergeant-at-arms was proceeding in 
 the execution of the order, the noise and disturbance became 
 
286 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 yet more outrageous. Some names were vociferated, with 
 tumultuous approbation others, with as vehement vitupera 
 tion ; and, among the latter, the name of the President. This 
 excited the indignation of Col. Benton, who moved that " the 
 Bank-ruffians" that had committed the outrage should be 
 taken into custody, accompanying his motion with remarks 
 emphatically condemnatory of the rioters. Mr. Moore, of 
 Ala., thought the motion unnecessary, as it could not fee 
 carried out. The whole gallery must be arrested, or no one 
 for it was impossible to distinguish, amid so much confusion, 
 the innocent from the guilty. But Mr. Benton, with some 
 warmth, insisted on his motion, upon which he demanded the 
 ayes and noes ; and they were ordered accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Clayton, as soon as he could make himself heard be 
 yond the noise on the floor as well as in the galleries, regretted 
 the motion had been made, but since it had been, he should 
 vote against it. He did not regard the disturbance as an in 
 tended contempt of the Senate, but only as an indiscreet ex 
 pression of public opinion. 
 
 Mr. Benton replied, that the terms in which he expressed 
 his motion were so distinct as not to be misunderstood. He 
 would not be misunderstood. He did not move to take into 
 custody those, who, in an unguarded moment, had applauded 
 the sentiments of the Senator from Virginia, but those, who, 
 long after the gentleman had taken his seat, had continued to 
 outrage and insult the Senate. 
 
 While motions were made to adjourn, and to lay Col 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 287 
 
 Benton s motion on the table, the chair pronouncing them 
 severally out of order, the galleries became cleared. The 
 Senate then assumed a more pacific aspect, and order was 
 recovered. Mr. Benton withdrew his motion, because the 
 galleries being all cleared, he said, there was no one upon whom 
 it could operate. 
 
 While the debate maintained a personal character, and 
 seemed used but as an opportunity for the display of angry 
 feeling on either side, Mr. Webster continued silent. His 
 object was to discourage, not to foment, prejudices to miti 
 gate and not to exasperate passions already dangerously ex 
 cited ; and it was not till men s minds had been brought, 
 mostly by his example and remonstrance, to a temperature 
 susceptible of dispassionate argument, that he arose to address 
 the Senate. 
 
 In his exordium, he spoke of the President in the language 
 of respect from which he did not deviate in any part of his 
 argument : " Unhappily, sir, the Senate finds itaelf involved 
 in a controversy with the President of the United States; 
 a man who has rendered most distinguished services to his 
 country, has hitherto possessed a degree of popular favor per 
 haps never excelled, and whose honesty of motive and integrity 
 of purpose are still maintained by those who admit that his 
 administration has fallen into lamentable errors," 
 
 Thus, while persons, once his friends, were assailing Gen 
 Jackson s motives and ferociously denouncing his policy, Mr 
 >Vesbster, never other than his political opponent, always 
 
2S8 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 conceded the honesty of his intentions even when compelled 
 by his convictions to oppose his measures. 
 
 The Senate he said in this speech regarded the direct 
 interposition of the President in the removal of the deposites, 
 as an interference with the legislative disposition of the public 
 treasure. Every encroachment, great or small, was important 
 enough to awaken the attention of those who were intrusted 
 with the preservation of a Constitutional Government. It 
 was in this relation that he expressed his thoughts in sentences 
 that have been pronounced some of the most beautiful and 
 energetic, in any of his works. Speaking of the resistance 
 made by our ancestors to the assertion of the right of Parlia 
 ment to tax them, he said : "It was against the recital of an 
 act of Parliament, rather than any suffering under its enact 
 ments, that they took up arms. They went to war against a 
 preamble. They fought seven years against a declaration. 
 They poured out their treasures and their blood like water, in 
 a contest in opposition to an assertion which those less sa 
 gacious, and not so well schooled in the principles of civil 
 liberty, would have regarded as barren phraseology, or mere 
 parade of words. They saw in the claim of the British Par 
 liament a seminal principle of mischief, the germ of unjust 
 power ; they detected it, dragged it forth from underneath its 
 plausible disguises, struck at it ; nor did it elude their steady 
 eye, or their well directed blow, till they had extirpated and 
 destroyed it to the smallest fibre. On this question of prin 
 ciple, while actual suffering was yet afar off, they raised their 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 289 
 
 flag against a power, to which, for purposes of foreign con 
 quest and subjugation, Rome, in the height of her glory, is 
 not to be compared a power which has dotted over the sur 
 face of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts, 
 whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping 
 company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one con 
 tinuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." 
 In reply to the claim of the President, that the Executive 
 had the sole control of the public funds, Mr. "Webster said in 
 his argument : " Mr. President, the Executive claim of power 
 is exactly this, that the President may keep the money of the 
 public in whatever banks he chooses, on whatever terms he 
 chooses, and to apply the sums which those banks are willing 
 to pay for its use to whatever purposes he chooses. These 
 sums are not to come into the general treasury. They are to 
 be appropriated before they get there ; they are never to be 
 brought under the control of Congress ; they are to be paid 
 to officers and agents not known to the law, not nominated to 
 the Senate, and responsible to nobody but the Executive itself. 
 I ask gentlemen if all this be lawful ? Are they prepared to 
 defend it ? "Will they stand up and justify it ? In my opin 
 ion, sir, it is a clear and most dangerous assumption of power. 
 It is the creation of office without law ; the appointment to 
 office without consulting the Senate ; the establishment of a 
 salary without law ; and the payment of that salary out of a 
 fund which itself is derived from the use of the public 
 
 treasures " 
 
 13* 
 
290 CHAPTER Xllf. 
 
 In truth, the argument of Mr. Webster on this point con 
 cludes the question ; and leaves the act of the President to 
 the defensive plea of necessity a necessity clear, cogent, and 
 imperative ; that admitted of no delay, and tolerated no alter 
 native. It was upon this ground alone that his friends finally 
 defended it ; and upon this alone will it generally be held 
 defensible by posterity. 
 
 The other argument of the Protest that the Senate had no 
 right to express disapprobation of the President s conduct, 
 Mr. "Webster combatted, with brief but emphatic logic. " We 
 need not look far," he said, "nor look deep, for the founda 
 tion of this right in the Senate. It is clearly visible and 
 close at hand. In the first place, it is the right of self- 
 defence. In the second place, it is a right founded on the 
 duty of representative bodies, in a free government, to defend 
 the public liberty against encroachment. We must presume 
 that the Senate honestly entertained the opinion expressed in 
 the resolution of the 28th of March ; and, entertaining that 
 opinion, its right to express it is but a necessary consequence 
 of its right to defend its own constitutional authority, as one 
 branch of the Government. This is its clear right, and this, 
 
 too, is its imperative duty. 
 
 #*;&##* 
 
 The Senate has acted not in its judicial, but in its legisla 
 tive capacity. As a legislative body, it has defended its own 
 just authority, and the authority of the other branch of the 
 Legislature. Whatever attacks our own rights or privileges, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 291 
 
 o* whatever encroaches on the power of both Houses, we may 
 oppose and resist, by declaration, resolution, or other similar 
 proceedings. If we look to the books of precedents, if we 
 examine the journals .of legislative bodies, we find everywhere 
 instances of such proceedings." 
 
 Tho speech on the Protest, received a no less distinguished 
 and ardent reception in the country generally, than the 
 speeches in reply to Hayne, and on the Force Bill. Equally 
 with these, it responded to the dominant sentiment of the 
 people. Persons of all political opinions, and of various pur 
 suits, addressed Mr. "Webster thanks for the effort. Some of 
 the most eminent jurists and statesmen of the nation preferred 
 him their warmest approbation ; among whom were Chan 
 cellor Kent of New York, and Littleton "W. Tazewell of 
 Virginia ; differing on most subjects of constitutional law, 
 they agreed fully upon this. " I had just finished," writes 
 Chancellor Kent to Mr. Webster some days after the speech 
 was delivered, " the rapturous perusal of your speech on the 
 Protest as appearing in the Intelligencer of Saturday, when I 
 had the pleasure of receiving it from you in a pamphlet form. 
 I never had a greater treat than the reading of that speech 
 this morning. You never equalled this effort. It surpasses 
 everything in logic in simplicity and beauty and energy of 
 diction in clearness in rebuke in sarcasm in patriotic 
 and glowing feelings in just and profound constitutional 
 views in critical severity and matchless strength. It is worth 
 millions to our liberties." 
 
292 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 And Gov. Tazewell, writing to Mr. Tyler says : " Toll 
 Webster from me that I have real his speech in the National 
 Intelligencer, with more pleasure than any I have lately seen. 
 If the approbation of it by one who has not been used to 
 coincide with him in opinion can be grateful to him, he has 
 mine in extenso. I agree with him perfectly, and thank him 
 cordially for his many excellent illustrations of what I always 
 thought. If it is published in pamplet form, beg him to 
 send me one. I will have it bound in good Russia leather, 
 and will leave it as a special legacy to my children." 
 
 That the merits of this speech as a constitutional argument 
 should have been so earnestly impressed upon two persons of 
 euch distinguished and yet diverse opinions in relation to con 
 stitutional questions, is no ordinary proof of its profound 
 truthfulness. For while sophistry presents many phases, and 
 is viewed in various and changeful light, truth, to the thought 
 ful and sagacious, has but one aspect, and is immutable. The 
 argument on the Protest, as the exposition of sound, patent, 
 constitutional doctrine, has its equal nowhere not even in 
 any previous or subsequent effort of Mr. Webster himself. 
 
 These three great speeches of Mr. Webster, the Reply to 
 Hayne, the speech on the Force Bill, and upon the Protest 
 are, mo&t undoubtedly, the best exposition of constitutional 
 law ever given to the country. They constitute a chart of 
 government. And, as in the ancient days of Rome, the 
 magistrates, whenever danger pressed the eternal eitj, con 
 sulted the Sybilline Books, to know what measures of safety 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 293 
 
 ko pursue, so, under our government, with us, and with 
 posterity, these inspired productions of his great mind, in 
 time of peril to the Constitution and the Union, will ever be 
 resorted to as the only hope or means of preservation. By 
 their saving guidance, THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNION, 
 " one and inseparable," may survive every storm, and ride 
 victorious through every gale. 
 
 Attachment to the Union of the States has amounted with 
 Mr. Webster to a passion. It was his earliest love and will 
 endure to his latest breath. In whatever situation he has. 
 been placed, it has filled his heart and controlled his conduct. 
 He was made everything, in public life, subsidiary to this. 
 It has grown with his growth, and strengthened with his 
 strength, till it has become a part of his moral being. 
 
 The past is security for the future no matter how much 
 his motives may be arraigned, his conduct vilified, or his per 
 sonal feelings outraged, he will maintain, steadfast and un 
 shaken, his devotion to the Constitution and the Union. He 
 will neither forego nor qualify that ardent devotion, at the 
 instigation of angry clamor, or be diverted a hair s-breadth 
 from his consistent course, by the frowns or smiles of power, 
 whether centered in one man or the million. He knows no 
 change. He takes no step backwards, whatever denunciation 
 or whatever blandishments surround him, he will be true, 
 whoever else is faithless. As well might we expect the 
 NORTH STAR, in all time, that unsubsidized guide to the 
 mariner, to withhold his light and refuse to shine, because 
 
294 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 the needle, with fickle polarity, inclines to some other 
 luminary. 
 
 "I am," he says now as he said before, " where I have 
 ever been, and ever mean to be. Standing on the platform 
 of the general Constitution a platform, broad enough, and 
 firm enough, to uphold every interest of the whole country 
 I shall still be found. Intrusted with some part in the ad 
 ministration of that Constitution, I intend to act in its spirit 
 and in the spirit of those who framed it. I would act as if 
 our fathers who formed it for us, and who bequeathed it to 
 us, were looking on me as if I could see their venerable 
 forms bending down to behold us from the abodes above. 
 I would act too as if the eye of posterity was gazing on me. 
 "Standing thus, as in the full gaze of our ancestors and our 
 posterity, having received this inheritance from the former, to 
 be transmitted to the latter, and feeling that, if I am formed 
 for any good, in my day and generation, it is for the good of 
 the whole country, no local policy or local feeling, no tempo 
 rary impulse, shall induce me to yield my foothold on the 
 Constitution and the Union. 
 
 " I came into public life in the service of the United States 
 On that broad altar, my earliest, and all my public vows, 
 have been made. I propose to serve no other master. So 
 far as depends on any agency of mine, they shall continue 
 United States ; united in interest and affection ; united in 
 everything in regard to which the Constitution has decreed 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER. 295 
 
 their union ; united in war, for the common defence, the 
 common renown, and the common glory ; and united, com 
 pacted, knit firmly together in peace, for the common pros 
 perity and happiness of ourselves and our children." 
 
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