Part 21 (1/2)

Remarks, Mr Webster proceeded to say, had been made from the chair, very kind and partial, as to the ed the duties which he owed to his constituents in the House of Representatives He wished to say, that if he had been able to render any, the humblest services, either to the public or his constituents, in that place, it holly to the liberal manner in which his efforts there had been received

Having alluded to the Inaugural Address, he did not ree to detract from its merits, when he now said, that, in his opinion, if either of the other candidates had succeeded in the election, he also would have adopted a liberal course of policy He had no reason to believe that the sentientlemen were, in this respect, narrow or contracted He fully believed the contrary, in regard to both of theht still that expediency or necessity would have controlled their inclinations

I forbear, said Mr Webster, fro these remarks farther I repeat, that I do not coht, or who still think, that party organization is necessary to the public good I do not question their motives; and I wish to be tolerant even to those who think that toleration ought not to be indulged

It is said, Sir, that prosperity sometimes hardens the heart

Perhaps, also, it may sometimes have a contrary effect, and elevate and liberalize the feelings If this can ever be the result of such a cause, there is certainly in the present condition of the country enough to inspire the s We have a common stock both of happiness and of distinction, of which we are all entitled, as citizens of the country, to partake We eneral prosperity, in the peace and security which we enjoy, and in the brilliant success which has thus far attended our republican institutions These are circumstances which may well excite in us all a noble pride Our civil and political institutions, while they answer for us all the great ends designed by them, furnish at the sas beyond our own li for political liberty, they look to the United States with a feeling of brotherhood, and put forth a claim of kindred The South A spectacle Let the great overnment, who still survive, and let the children of those who have gone to their graves, console themselves with the reflection, that, whether they have risen or fallen in the little contests of party, they have not only established the liberty and happiness of their own native land, but have conferred blessings beyond their own country, and beyond their own thoughts, on enerations Under the influence of these institutions, received and adopted in principle from our example, the whole southern continent has shaken off its colonial subjection A neorld, filled with fresh and interesting nations, has risen to our sight Araphy, but to coence, to civilization, and to liberty Fifty years ago, some of those who now hear me, and the fathers of hty leaders, Otis and Ada sounds of Independence and Liberty, there was not a foot of land on the continent, inhabited by civilized e the dominion of European power Thank God, at this moment, from this place to the south pole, and from sea to sea, there is hardly a foot of land that does

And, Sir, when these states, thus newly disenthralled and emancipated, assue and what ideas do we find associated with their newly acquired liberty? They speak, Sir, of constitutions, of declarations of rights, of the liberty of the press, of a congress, and of representative government Where, Sir, did they learn these? And when they have applied to their great leader, and the founder of their states, the language of praise and coratitude can express itself no otherwise, do they not call him their WAshi+NGTON? Sir, the Spirit of Continental Independence, the Genius of American Liberty, which in earlier times tried her infant voice in the halls and on the hills of New England, utters it noith power that see the sides of the Andes

”Her path, where'er the Goddess roves, Glory pursues, and generous shame, The unconquerable mind, and Freedom's holy flaard to which I will say a feords, though perhaps at some hazard of misinterpretation

In the wonderful spirit of improvement and enterprise which animates the country, we may be assured that each quarter will naturally exert its power in favor of objects in which it is interested This is natural and unavoidable Each portion, therefore, will use its bestthe navigation of its h its vast forests, if the South is equally zealous to push the production and augreat staples, it is reasonable to expect that these objects will be pursued by the best means which offer themselves And it may therefore well deserve consideration, whether the co interests of the North do not call on us to aid and support them, by united counsels and united efforts But I abstain froard to the whole country a new era has arisen In a tie society with a degree of enterprise and an intenseness of application heretofore unknown New objects are opening, and new resources developed, on every side We tread on a broader theatre; and if, instead of acting our parts according to the novelty and ith inthe past, we shall rese escaped from some crooked and narrow river to the sea, now that the whole ocean is before them, should, nevertheless, occupy themselves with the differences which happened as they passed along a their eyes to the wide horizon around theale that woos it, raising their quadrant to the sun, and grasping the helm with the conscious hand of a master

FOOTNOTES

[83] Speech delivered at a Meeting of Citizens of Boston, held in Fati of April 3d, 1825, preparatory to the General Election in Massachusetts

[84] That of President Monroe, which commenced on the 4th of March, 1817, and continued for two terms, till the 4th of March, 1825

DINNER AT FANEUIL HALL

At a public dinner given him on the 5th of June, 1828, by the citizens of Boston (Hon T H Perkins in the chair), as a mark of respect for his services as Senator of the United States, and late their Representative in Congress, after the annunciation of the following toast, ”Our distinguished guest,--worthy the noblest hoe of their hearts,” Mr Webster rose and spoke as follows:--

MR CHAIRMAN,--The honor conferred by this occasion, as well as thehas been pleased to receive the toast which has now been proposed to them froment and a feords of honest and sincere thanks

I should, indeed, be lost to all just feeling, or guilty of a weak and puerile affectation, if I should fail to manifest the eard, fro whom I live, who see ood men be an object fit to be pursued, it is fit to be enjoyed; if it be, as it doubtless is, one of thethe richest rewards which console and gratify the heart

I confess myself particularly touched and affected, Mr President and Gentle which you hbor, and your friend Respect and confidence, in these relations of life, lie at the foundation of all valuable character; they are as essential to solid and permanent reputation as to durable and social happiness I assure you, Sir, with the ut which could flow froh or alluring, no object of aht within the horizon of ree, justly to forfeit the attachment of my private friends, or surrender hbor, on the confidence of the community in which I live; a community to which I owe so much, in the bosom of which I have enjoyed so e of ood offices, for the residue of life

The co upon my attempts at public service, I am conscious, is measured rather by their own kindness, than by any other standard Of those attempts, no one can think overnn and domestic, are vast and various and complicated They require fro part in them an amount, a variety, and an accuracy of infor, are not easily attained by one whose attention is of necessity mainly devoted to the duties of an active and laborious profession For this as well as edtheree of favor which has now been ard is the more especially to be referred to the candor and kindness of the , on this occasion, since it is well known, that in a recent instance, and in regard to an iive a vote, in respect to the expediency and propriety of which considerable difference of opinion exists between persons equally entitled to ard and confidence[85]

The candid interpretation which has been given to that vote by those who disapproved it, and the asseether here, for the purposes of this occasion, of those who felt pain, as well as those who felt pleasure, at the success of the iven, afford ahtness of intention and the exercise of an independent judgment may be respected, even by those who differ froment has arrived

There is no class of the community for whose interests I have ever cherished a ard, than that on whose pursuits soreat severity They are satisfied, I hope, that, in supporting a overned by other paramount reasons, satisfactory to my own conscience; and that the blow inflicted on their interests was felt by me almost as painfully and heavily as it could be by those on whom it immediately fell I am not now about to enter into the reason of that vote, or to explain the necessity under which I found e and unprecedentedthe evil of a public ood and the bad provisions relating to different subjects, having not the slightest connection with each other, yet yoked together, and kept together, for reasons and purposes which I need not state, as they have been boldly avowed, and are now before the public

It was my misfortune, Sir, on that occasion, to differ froue;[86] and yet probably our difference was not so broad as itto approve, and so to disapprove If it could have been left to us to ood of the country required, there would have been no diversity of judgment between us, as to what should have been retained and what rejected The only difference hen the ood it contained so far preponderated over its acknowledged evil, as to justify the reception and support of the whole together On a point of this sort, and under circumstances such as those in which ere placed, it is not strange that different reat pleasure to bear testience, and the conscious fidelity hich ed his public duty in reference to this subject I a, that, if the bill had been presented to ative vote froressional District, my own opinion of it would have entirely concurred with his, and I should have voted in the saefroestion, that in the place I occupied I was one of the representatives of the whole Commonwealth I was not at liberty to look exclusively to the interests of the district in which I live, and which I have heretofore had the high honor of representing I was to extend my view from Barnstable to Berkshi+re; to coard for all interests, and a proper respect for all opinions Looking to the aggregate of all the interests of the Coeneral current of opinion, so far as that was properly to be respected, I saw, at least I thought I saw, my duty to lie in the path which I pursued The ood or evil, must be left to the results of experience In the ave, with entire subood people of the Commonwealth

On soood fortune to act in perfect unison with ue, and with every representative of the State On one, especially, the success of which, I aratified every one who hears me I could not, Sir, have met this assembly, I could not have raised my voice in Faneuil Hall,--you would have awed me down; if you had not, the portraits of patriots which adorn these walls would have frowned me into silence,--if I had refused either my vote or my voice to the cause of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army That measure, mixed up of justice, and charity, and mercy, is at last accoht our Revolutionary battles, under an engageth provided for, not suantly, but in a e, beyond the reach of absolute want Solace, also, has been ads, as well as to their necessities They are not left to count their scars, or to experience the pain of wounds, inflicted half a century ago, in their country's service, without soratifying proof of respect for the services of their youth and manhood quickens the pulsations of patriotism in veteran bosoms; and as they may now live beyond the reach of absolute want, so they will have the pleasure of closing life, when that ti it shall come which must come to all, with the happy consciousness of ratefully recoly interesting, was, in various forard to which, I believe, there is, substantially, a general union of opinion a the members from this Commonwealth; I reat and growing importance of this subject may, I hope, justify a few remarks relative to it on the present occasion

It was evident to all persons of much observation, at the close of the late war, that the condition and prospects of the United States had becoreat interests of the country Alovernment, till near the commencement of that war, the United States had occupied a position of singular and extraordinary advantage They had been at peace, while the powers of Europe had been at war The harvest of neutrality had been to theence

Their agriculture and co fro state of the world Bread was raised for those whose hands were otherwise employed than in the cultivation of the field, and the seas were navigated, for account of such as, being belligerents, could not safely navigate them for themselves These opportunities for useful employment were all seized and enjoyed, by the enterprise of the country; and a high degree of prosperity was the natural result