CHARACTER OF WEBSTER. 63 pressure of a throne, and never saw a sceptre. And in the heart of the city that was his capital, in old historic halls, still stands the bell that first, in the name of the doctrines he taught his colonists, proclaimed liberty throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants thereof. This is his monument, and every noble charity gracing this State is his epitaph. 66 CHARACTER OF WEBSTER. THOMAS F. BAYARD. In a humble farm-house in the town of Salisbury, N. H., Daniel Webster was born. It was an American homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, that quarter section," so well known to the land laws of the United States. There this great typical American first saw the light. There first he learned, from a pious mother's lips, the letters of the language that in later days, by speech and writing, he was destined to adorn. From that mother's teachings he imbibed in tender infancy those vital truths of religion and morality which formed the basis of his character, and to-day give strength and permanence to the immortal part that survives. He was born in New Hampshire, and he died in Massachusetts, but he lived and died with a love for his whole country that never knew State lines, nor paused upon the imaginary boundaries of sections. Nature had gifted him with great powers of mind, coupled with warm and generous feelings. His intellect enabled him to comprehend the mighty and manifold interests of humanity, contained within the Federal Union, and his heart was large enough to embrace them all. Before or since, New England has had no such champion or representative, but he gained no victory for her at the cost of other portions of his country; and in all the loving praise and manly defence of his own home, in no speech or letter, wherever uttered or written, not a thought or expression, belittling or derogatory to reputation, or wounding to the self-love of any other portion of his fellow-countrymen, have I found. Mr. Webster was a statesman living under a written constitution of government, and his creed may neither be stated in a breath, nor condensed into a phrase. It would be as delusive as it is unjust to try such a man by phrases torn from their context, and by chance expressions, without interpreting them by the general meaning which surrounds them. But as to some meanings there is no doubt; and that Mr. Webster was the soldier of the constitution, because it created and continued the government of " a more perfect Union," is as fixed as the everlasting hills of his native State. With a vision that was prophetic, he witnessed the growing alienation of his countrymen, and the dangers to the Union which it threatened. These apprehensions clouded his anticipations, and the recorded and reiterated warnings and deprecations against sectional animosities, that burst from his very heart, are almost countless. They form part of his history, and read now and hereafter they will ever attest the sagacity of his mental vision, and the depth and sincerity of his patriotism. He was a marvellous production, the very fruit and flower of our Republican institutions; and he trod with majestic step, the avenues so freely open to all, which lead, in this free land, from poverty and obscurity to the topmost heights of power and distinction. A kingly intellect throbbed beneath his SPIRIT OF HUMAN LIBERTY. 65 republican brow, and proclaimed its strength and dignity throughout his life; and now, "He is gathered to the kings of thought, The veil which hides from our eyes the future, no doubt conceals, in mercy, many an assault upon the peace, law, and liberty of the land we love; and in the misty foreground of the future, I fear there are dimly to be discerned forms and shapes of evil. But we must stand as the father of Webster stood, “a minute-man," ready for their defence, fortified, enlarged, and refreshed by the memories and the counsel of our great countryman, Daniel Webster. "Though world on world in myriad myriads roll And other forms of life than ours, - SPIRIT OF HUMAN LIBERTY. DANIEL WEBSTER. SIR, at the period of the birth of Washington, there existed in Europe no political liberty in large communities, except the Provinces of Holland, and except that England herself had set a great example, so far as it went, by her glorious revolution of 1688. Everywhere else despotic power was predominant, and the feudal or military principle held the mass of mankind in hopeless bondage. One half of Europe was crushed by the Bourbon sceptre, and no conception of political liberty, no hope even of religious toleration, existed among that nation which was America's first ally. The king was the state, the king was the country, the king was all. There was one king with power not derived from his people, and too high to be questioned, and the rest were all subjects, with no political right but obedience. Ali above was intangible power; all below, quiet subjec tion. A recent occurrence in the French Chambers shows us how human sentiments on these subjects have changed. A minister had spoken of the "king's subjects." "There are no subjects!" exclaimed hundreds of voices at once, "in a country where the people make the king!" Sir, the spirit of human liberty and of free government, nurtured and grown into strength and beauty in America, has stretched its course into the midst of the nations. Like an emanation from heaven it has gone forth, and it will not return void. It must change, it is fast changing the earth. Our great, our high duty is to show, in our example, that this spirit is a spirit of health as well as a spirit of power, that its benignity is as great as its strength, that its efficiency to secure individual rights, social relations, and moral order is equal to the irresistible force with which it prostrates principalities and powers. The world, at this moment, is regarding us with a willing, but something of a fearful admiration. Its deep and awful anxiety is to learn. whether free states may be stable as well as free; whether popular power may be trusted as well as feared; in short, whether wise, regular, and virtuous self-government is a vision for the contemplation of theorists, or a truth established, illustrated, and brought into practice in the country of Washington. Sir, for the earth which we inhabit, and the whole circle of the sun, for all the unborn races of mankind, we seem to hold in our hands, for their weal or THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1850. 67 woe, the fate of this experiment. If we fail, who shall venture the repetition? If our example shall prove to be one, not of encouragement but of terror, not to be imitated but fit only to be shunned, where else shall the world look for free models? If this great "Western Sun" be struck out of the firmament, at what other fountain shall the lamp of liberty hereafter be lighted? What other orb shall emit a ray to glimmer, even, on the darkness of the world? Sir, there is no danger of our overrating or overstating the important part which we are now acting in human affairs. It should not flatter our personal self-respect, but it should reanimate our patriotic virtues, and inspire us with a deeper and more solemn sense both of our privileges and of our duties. We cannot wish better for our country, nor for the world, than that the same spirit which influenced Washington may influence all who succeed him; and that that same blessing from above which attended his efforts may also attend theirs. THE COMPROMISE BILL OF 1850. DANIEL WEBSTER. WHAT are we to do? How are we to bring this emergent and pressing question to an issue and an end? Here have we been seven and a half months disputing about points which, in my judgment, are of no practical importance to one or the other part of the country. Are we to dwell forever upon a single topic, a single idea? Are we to forget all the purposes for which governments are instituted, and continue everlastingly to dispute about that which is |