Part 1 (2/2)
Webster sketched rapidly and exultingly the course of the Revolution, threw in a little Federal politics, and eulogized the happy system of the new Constitution Of this and his other early orations he always spoke with a good deal of contempt, as exaotten Accordingly his wholesale ad about him, and who always sneezed when Mr
Webster took snuff, have echoed his opinions about these youthful productions, and beyond allowing to the Websterian has for the ardent worshi+pper, have been disposed to hurry them over as of no moment Compared to the reply to Hayne or the Plymouth oration, the Hanover speech is, of course, a poor and trivial thing
Considered, as it ought to be, by itself and in itself, it is not only of great interest as Mr Webster's first utterance on public questions, but it is so of which he had no cause to feel ashamed The sentiments are honest, elevated, and manly, and the political doctrine is sound Mr
Webster was then a boy of eighteen, and he therefore took his politics from his father and his father's friends For the saht All boys of that age, whether geniuses or not, are iinal in thought, was no exception to the rule He used the style of the eighteenth century, then in its decadence, and very florid, inflated, and heavy it was Yet his as far better and his style simpler and ed in a good deal of patriotic glorification We sasconading pilgriypt,” and Columbia as ”seated in the foruht effulgence of her glory” These sentences are the ac, very boyish and very poor; but they are not fair examples of the whole, which is ht have been expected Moreover, the thought is the really is to the new era and the new generation of national measures and nationally-minded men There is no colonialistonian policy of independence in our foreign relations and of complete separation fro spirit of this oration are most important of all
The boy Webster preached love of country, the grandeur of American nationality, fidelity to the Constitution as the bulwark of nationality, and the necessity and the nobility of the union of the States; and that was the e which thehich Mr Webster did in the world, and hisand influence in American history, are all summed up in the principles enunciated in that boyish speech at Hanover The statereat principles was improved and developed until it towered above this first expression as Mont Blanc does above the village nestled at its foot, but the essential substance never altered in the least
Two other college orations have been preserved One is a eulogy on a class his course, the other is a discourse on ”Opinion,” delivered before the society of the ”United Fraternity” There is nothing of especial ht of either, and the ih noticeable, is not very marked In the letters of that period, however, amid the jokes and fun, we see that Mr Webster was already following his natural bent, and turning his attention to politics He manifests the same spirit as in his oration, and shows occasionally an unusual ment His criticism of Ha instance, is both keen and sound
After taking his degree in due course in 1801, Mr Webster returned to his native village, and entered the office of a lawyer next door to his father's house, where he began the study of the law in co inclination of his own Here he read soood deal of ti Before the year was out, however, he was obliged to drop his legal studies and accept the post of schoole was due to an important event in the Webster family which had occurred so between Daniel and his elder brother Ezekiel was peculiarly strong and deep The younger andthe desire of his elder brother for the saht in vacation, after Daniel had been two years at Dartth the all-important question The next day, Daniel broached the e was taken by surprise
He was laboring already under heavy pecuniary burdens caused by the expenses of Daniel's education The fared, and Ebenezer Webster knew that he was old before his time and not destined tocourage which he always showed, he did not shrink froh Ezekiel was the prop and mainstay of the house He did not think for a ave his consent, he hters whom he felt he was soon to leave But Mrs Webster had the saive up everything for the boys, provided they would promise to care in the future for her and their sisters More utter self-abnegation and more cheerful and devoted self-sacrifice have rarely been exhibited, and it was all done with a simplicity which commands our reverence It was more than should have been asked, and a boy less accustomed than Daniel Webster to the devotion of others, even with the incentive of brotherly love,the request The promise of future support was easily made, but the hard pinch of immediate sacrifice had to be borne at once The devoted fale to secure an education for the two boys, and for years they did battle with debt and the pressure of poverty Ezekiel began his studies and entered college the year Daniel graduated; but the resources were running low, so low that the law had to be abandoned and money earned without delay; and hence the schoolmastershi+p
At no time in his life does Mr Webster's character appear in a fairer orHe took his own share in the sacrifices he had done so much to entail, and he carried it cheerfully Out of school hours he copied endless deeds, an occupation which he loathed above all others, in order that he ive all his salary to his brother The burden and heat of the day in this struggle for education fell chiefly on the elder brother in the years which followed; but here Daniel did his full part, and deserves the credit for it
He was a successful teacher His perfect dignity, his even temper, and imperturbable equanimity made his pupils like and respect hie, recalled the impression he made upon them, and especially re prayer, extemporaneous exercises which he scrupulously maintained His letters at this tiood hu He had his early love affairs, but was saved from matrimony by the liberality of his affections, which were not confined to a single object He laughs pleasantly and good-naturedly over his fortunes with the fair sex, and talks a good deal about them, but his first loves do not see Wherever he went, he produced an i it was his eyes which people seem to have reure, and he tells us hie as ”All-eyes;” and one of the boys, a friend of later years, refers to Mr
Webster's ”full, steady, large, and searching eyes” There never was a time in his life when those who saw hienerally either of the wonderful eyes or the i library in Fryeburg, and this he read through in his usual rapacious and retentive fashi+on Here, too, he was called on for a Fourth of July oration This speech, which has been recently printed, dwellsto it in its entirety There is a distinct improvement in his style in the direction of siht or power of expression over the Hanover oration Twothis address he returned to Salisbury and resumed the study of the law in Mr
Thoed an to work at the laith zeal, while at the sahly in the best Latin authors In the an to rise within him His horizon was a limited one; the practice of his profession, as he saw it carried on about him, was small and petty; but his mind could not be shackled He saw the lions in the path plainly, but he also perceived the great opportunities which the laas to offer in the United States, and he prophesied that we, too, should soon have our Mansfields and Kenyons The hand of poverty was heavy upon hiainst the iron bars hich circued for a wider field, and eagerly desired to finish his studies in Boston, but saay to get there, except by a ”h Ezekiel, who had been doing more for himself and his fae, was at the end of his resources, and had taken, in his turn, to keeping school
Daniel went to Boston, and there obtained a good private school for his brother The salary thus earned by Ezekiel was not only sufficient for hiratify the cherished wish of his heart, and coland capital to conclude his professional studies
The first thing to be done was to gain adood office Mr
Webster was lucky enough to obtain an introduction to Mr Gore, hom, as with the rest of the world, that wonderful look and h boyishness and rusticity, stood hiood stead Mr
Gore questioned hiin work as clerk at once, and write to New Hampshi+re for his credentials The position thus obtained was one of fortune's best gifts to Mr Webster It not only gave him an opportunity for a wide study of the law under wise supervision, but it brought him into daily contact with a trained barrister and an experienced public man Christopher Gore, one of the uished statesland, whither he had been sent as one of the commissioners appointed under the Jay treaty He was a fine type of the aristocratic Federalist leader, one of the roup which fro controlled the politics of Massachusetts He was a scholar, gentleman, and h-bred face, suggesting a French hteenth century rather than the son of a New England sea-captain A few years later, Mr Gore was chosen governor of Massachusetts, and defeated when a candidate for reelection, largely, it is supposed, because he rode in a coach and four (to which rumor added outriders) whenever he went to his estate at Waltham This mode of travel offended the sensibilities of his de subsequently chosen to the Senate of the United States, where he served a term with much distinction The society of such a ht his which he could have learned in no other way, and appealed to that strong taste for everything dignified and refined which was so marked a trait of his disposition and habits He sa the real possibilities which he had dreae; and while he studied law deeply and helped his brother with his school, he also studied hly and curiously The professional associates and friends of Mr
Gore were the leaders of the Boston bar when it had h places in the history of A them were Theophilus Parsons, Chief Justice of Massachusetts; Samuel Dexter, the ablest of theress and the Senate and as Secretary of the Treasury; Harrison Gray Otis, fluent and graceful as an orator; James Sullivan, and Daniel Davis, the Solicitor-General All these and many more Mr Webster saw and watched, and he has left in his diary discrireatly admired, and of Sullivan, of whom he had a poor opinion professionally
Towards the end of the year 1804, while Mr Webster was thus pleasantly engaged in studying his profession, getting a gli a littlecame to him which seees of his father's court of common pleas offered him the vacant clerkshi+p, worth about fifteen hundred dollars annually This ealth to Mr Webster With this income he could relieve the family from debt, make his father's last years comfortable, and smooth Ezekiel's path to the bar When, however, he announced his good luck to Mr Gore, and his intention of ientleed a contrary course He pointed out the possible reduction of the salary, the fact that the office depended on the favor of the judges, and, above all, that it led to nothing, and destroyed the chances of any really great career This wise mentor said: ”Go on 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 for to fear” Mr Webster, always susceptible to outside influences, saw the wisdom of this advice, and accepted it It would have been well if he had never swerved even by a hair's breadth froh and sound principles which it inculcated He acted then without delay Going at once to Salisbury, he broke the news of his unlooked-for determination to his father, as utterly aled someith disappointment at the prospect of continued hardshi+ps; but the brave old man accepted the decision with the Puritan stoicism which was so marked a trait in his character, and theto Boston, Mr Webster was admitted to the bar in March, 1805
Mr Gore moved his admission, and, in the customary speech, prophesied his student's future ee of the latent pohich had dictated his own advice in the matter of the clerkshi+p Soon after this, Mr Webster returned to New Hampshi+re and opened his office in the little town of Boscawen, in order that he ht be near his father Here he devoted himself assiduously to business and study forat his profession, and occasionally writing articles for the ”Boston Anthology” During this ti on the bench He gathered together a practice worth five or six hundred a year, a very creditable su country practitioner, and won a reputation which made him known in the State
In April, 1806, after a noble, toiling, unselfish life of sixty-seven years, Ebenezer Webster died Daniel assumed his father's debts, waited until Ezekiel was ad his business to his brother, moved, in the autumn of 1807, to Portsmouth This was the principal town of the State, and offered, therefore, the larger field which he felt he needed to give his talents sufficient scope Thus the first period in his life closed, and he started out on the extended and distinguished career which lay before him These early years had been years of hardshi+p, but they were areat difficulties and by the self-sacrifice of his family, he had made his way to the threshold of the career for which he was so richly endowed He had passed an unble life; he was simple, manly, affectionate Poverty had been a misfortune, not because it had warped or soured him, for he smiled at it with cheerful philosophy, nor because it had made him avaricious, for he never either then or at any ti could chill the natural lavishness of his disposition But poverty accusto and to debt, and this was a misfortune to a man of Mr
Webster's temperament In those early days he was anxious to pay his debts; but they did not lie heavy upon him or carry a proper sense of responsibility, as they did to Ezekiel and to his father He was deeply in debt; his books, even, were bought with borrowed money, all which was natural and inevitable; but the trouble was that it never seehed upon him or been felt by hiht into the habit of debt, and was led unconsciously to regard debts and borrowing as he did the sacrifices of others, as the normal modes of existence Such a condition was to be deplored, because it fostered an unfortunate tendency in his moral nature With this exception, Mr
Webster's early years present a bright picture, and one which any ard with pride and affection
CHAPTER II
LAW AND POLITICS IN NEW HAMPshi+RE