Part 5 (1/2)
The consideration of Mr Foot's resolution was not resumed till Wednesday, the 13th of January, when it was opposed by several Western gentlemen It was next taken up on Monday, the 18th, when Mr Benton of Missouri spoke at length against it On Tuesday, the 19th, Mr Holth to Mr Benton Other members took some part in the debate, and then Mr Hayne of South Carolina commenced a speech, which occupied the rest of the day Mr Hayne was one of the younger members of the Senate He cae, with great _eclat_, filled in rapid succession responsible offices, and came to the Senate of the United States in 1823, with a reputation already brilliant, and rapidly increasing He was active and diligent in business, fluent, graceful, and persuasive as a debater; of a sanguine and self-relying teonist, and disposed to take the part of a champion
Mr Webster, up to this time, had not participated in the debate, which had in fact been rather a pointless affair, and was dragging its slow length through the Senate, no one knew exactly to what purpose It had as yet assumed no character in which it invited or required his attention He was ed at the time in the Supreme Court of the United States The important case of John Jacob Astor and the State of New York, in which he was of counsel, was to couu the court-room when the court adjourned on Tuesday, the 19th, Mr Webster careater part of Mr Hayne's speech; and it was suggested to hi others by Mr Bell of New Haue, Mr Silsbee, that an immediate answer to Mr Hayne was due from him The line of discussion pursued by the Senator from South Carolina was such as to require, if not to provoke, an ily rose when Mr Hayne took his seat, but gave way to a motion for adjournment from Mr Benton These circumstances will sufficiently sho entirely without premeditation, and hat preoccupation by other trains of thought, Mr Webster was led into this great intellectual conflict
He appeared in the Senate the next , Wednesday, January 20th, and Mr Foot's resolution, being called up, was ue of Maine and Woodbury of New Ha clause:--
”Or whether it be expedient to adopt measures to hasten the sales and extend more rapidly the surveys of the public lands”
Mr Webster immediately proceeded with the debate No elaborate preparation, of course, could have been made by him, as the speech of Mr Hayne, to which his reply was mainly directed, was delivered the day before He vindicated the governeneral charge of having ed the public lands in a spirit of hostility to the Western States He particularly defended New England against the accusation of hostility to the West
A passage in this part of his speech, contrasting Ohio as she was in 1794 with the Ohio of 1830, will co in these volu of the settlement of the West, Mr Webster introduced with just commendation the honored name of Nathan Dane, as the author of the Ordinance of 1787, for the organization and government of the territory northwest of the Ohio He islation beneficial to the West had been carried in Congress by the aid of New England votes, and he closed by an allusion to his own course as uniformly friendly to that part of the Union Mr Benton followed Mr Webster, and commenced a speech in reply
The next day, Thursday, the 21st, the subject again came up, and it was now evident that the debate had put on a new character Its real interest and i Mr Chambers expressed the hope that the Senate would consent to postpone the further consideration of the resolution till the next Monday, as Mr Webster, who had engaged in the discussion and wished to be present when it should be resueive his attendance in the Senate before Monday[13]
Mr Hayne said ”he saw the gentleman from Massachusetts in his seat, and presue the discussion to-day He was unwilling that this subject should be postponed before he had an opportunity of replying to soentles had fallen fro his breast), froentleed his fire in the presence of the Senate He hoped he would now afford hi the shot”
The manner in which this was said was not such as to soften the harshness of the senti to Mr
Webster's speech, to find either in its substance or spirit any adequate grounds for the feeling manifested by Mr Hayne Nor would it probably be easy in the history of Congress to find another case in which a si a subject has been refused, at least on such a ground Mr Webster, in reply to Mr Hayne's remark, that he wished without delay to return his shot, said, ”Let the discussion proceed; I aentleman's fire”
Mr Benton then addressed the Senate for about an hour, in conclusion of the speech which he had coument, Mr Bell of New Hampshi+re moved that the further consideration of the subject should be postponed till Monday, but the atived Mr Hayne then took the floor, and spoke for about an hour in reply to Mr Webster's reument, the Senate adjourned till Monday On that day, January the 25th, he spoke for two hours and a half, and completed his speech Mr Webster immediately rose to reply, but the day was far advanced, and he yielded to a motion for adjournment
The second speech of Mr Hayne, to which Mr Webster was now called upon to reply, was still ly characterized than the first with severity, not to say bitterness, towards the Eastern States The tone toward Mr Webster personally was not courteous It bordered on the offensive It was difficult not to find in both of the speeches of the Senator from South Carolina the indication of a preconceived purpose to hold up New England, and Mr Webster as her uished representative, to public odiued those constitutional opinions which are usually known as the doctrines of Nullification; that is to say, the assuht of a State, when she deeress, to declare by State ordinance the act of Congress null and void, and discharge the citizens of the State fro the character of Mr Hayne's speech, Mr Webster had three objects to accomplish in his answer The first was to repel the personalities toward himself, which formed one of the most prominent features of Mr Hayne's speech This object was accomplished by a few retaliatory strokes, in which the severest sarcasood humor and manly expostulation, as to carry captive the sympathy of the audience The vindication of the Eastern States generally, and of Massachusetts in particular, was the second object, and was pursued in a still higher strain When it was finished, no one probably regretted onist the easy credence which he had lent to the purveyors of forgotten scandal, sorateful for their obscurity
The third and far the more iument, in which he asserted the character of our political systeovernment established by the people of the United States, in contradistinction to a compact between the separate States; and exposed the fallacy of atteovernht reserved under the Constitution to overturn the govern work of Mr March, already referred to,[15] are devoted to the subject of this debate; and we have thought that we could in no way convey to the reader so just and distinct an impression of the effect of Mr Webster's speech at the tiely froes
”It was on Tuesday, January the 26th, 1830,--a day to be hereafter for ever memorable in Senatorial annals,--that the Senate resumed the consideration of Foot's resolution There never was before, in the city, an occasion of so reat intellectual contest, ers had for two or three days previous been rushi+ng into the city, and the hotels overflowed As early as 9 o'clock of this , crowds poured into the Capitol, in hot haste; at 12 o'clock, the hour of alleries, floor, and even lobbies--was filled to its utmost capacity The very stairere dark withto 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 moment was, or could be, attended to Members all rushed in to hear Mr Webster, and no call of the House or other parlias 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 croas particularly intense Dixon H Lewis, then a Representative froed in here From his enormous size, it was i 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 hich, 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 lass; 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 rooallant of theay bonnets and brilliant dresses threw a varied and picturesque beauty over the scene, softening and e it
”Seldom, if ever, has speaker in this or any other country had more powerful incentives to exertion; a subject, the determination of which involved the most important interests, and even duration, of the republic; competitors, unequalled in reputation, ability, or position; a nalorious, or lose for ever; and an audience, co not only persons of this country reatness, but representatives of other nations, where the art of eloquence had flourished for ages All the soldier seeks in opportunity was here
”Mr Webster perceived, and felt equal to, the destinies of the reatness of the hazard exhilarated him 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 tothe trumpets, Ha, ha! and who smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting'
”A confidence in his own resources, springing fro of previous severe ed his opponents, his subject, and _himself_
”He was, too, at this period, in the very prie,--an era in the life of man when the faculties, physical or intellectual, anization and most perfect developy and vitality, the occasion, his full life, and high a forth
”He never rose on an ordinary occasion to address an ordinary audience more self-possessed There was no tre sith was visible everywhere; in countenance, voice, and bearing A deep-seated conviction of the extraordinary character of the eency, and of his ability to control it, seemed to possess hihted, detected at ti like exultation in his eye, he presu from the excitement of the moment, and the anticipation of victory