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 desirable, 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-statement 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 Congressional 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 that preceded and the one that followed it, came before the public, it may not be uninteresting to know. Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, and Judge Burnett. of Ohio,-then Senators,—called

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 reporting of the speech. Mr. Gales was known to be one of the best writers of the English language connected with our national 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 stenographic report of the speech, which Mrs. Gales wrote out at large. Her copy was sent to Mr. Webster, and by him revised 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 Debate 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 publish 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.

**

The debate still continued after the conclusion of the contest 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, Grundy, 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, discharge 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 country has ever witnessed. Mr. Webster has brought it forward, but he lacks courage to breast the storm which he has ex

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 Vallambrosa ;" 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 superior 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 constitutional right of a State to prevent the execution of a law of the United States believed by such State to be unconstitutional, but referred opposition to the inalienable right of resistance 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 Democratic party in the Senate and the country. It also particularly pleased the distinguished Senator from Missouri. When Mr. Woodbury had concluded, Colonel Benton rose, and extending his right hand over the head of the Granite Senator,

much like a pope or cardinal pronouncing benediction, exclaimed 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 subject 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, subject to the decision of the ballot-box and the judiciary.

66 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 cf nations, Anarchy among the members and not tyranny in the head, has been the rock on which all such confederacies 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