Part 3 (2/2)
His two other important speeches in this convention have been preserved in his works, and are purely and wholly conservative in tone and spirit The first related to the basis of representation in the Senate, whoseto the amount of taxable property in the districts This systeht, should be retained, and his speech was a overned the necessity of a basis of representation for the upper House different from that of the lower, in order to make the former fully serve its purpose of a check and balance to the popular branch This important point he handled in the most skilful manner, and there is no escape froislative branches of the government is essential to the full and perfect operation of the systeued, could be obtained only by the introduction of property as a factor in the basis of representation The weight of his speech was directed to defending the principle of a suitable representation of property, which was a subject requiring very adroit treatment The doctrine is one which probably would not be tolerated now in any part of this country, and even in 1820, in Massachusetts, it was a delicate eneral senti established his position that it was all i and effective check, he said that the point in issue was not whether property offered the bestbetween the two Houses, but whether it was not better than no distinction at all This being answered affirmatively, the next question to be considered hether property, not in the sense of personal possessions and personal power, but in a general sense, ought not to have its due influence in overn that our constitutions rest largely on the general equality of property, which, in turn, is due to our laws of distribution This led him into a discussion of the principles of the distribution of property He pointed out the dangers arising in England froe estates, while on the other hand he predicted that the rapid and e the character of the governenerally prophesied, would have a directly opposite effect, by creating a large and united body of small proprietors, ould sooner or later control the country He illustrated, in this way, the value and ieneral equality of property, and of steadiness in legislation affecting it These were the reasons, he contended, forproperty the basis of the check and balance furnished to our systeovern subject to taxation for the purpose of educating the children of both rich and poor, it deserved soovernment It is impossible, in a few lines,[1] to do justice to Mr Webster's arguenuity, especially in the distinction so finely drawn between property as an eleeneral sense, and so distributed as to be a bulwark of liberty The speech is, on this account, an interesting one, for Mr
Webster was rarely ingenious, and hardly ever got over difficulties by fine-spun distinctions In this instance adroitness was very necessary, and he did not hesitate to employ it By his skilful treatland and France, which show the accuracy and range of his mental vision in matters of politics and public economy, both at hoe Story, Mr
Webster carried his point The element of property representation in the Senate was retained, but so wholly by the ability of its advocate, that it was not long afterwards removed
[Footnote 1: My brief statement is merely a further condensation of the excellent abstract of this speech made by Mr Curtis]
Mr Webster's other important speech related to the judiciary The Constitution provided that the judges, who held office during good behavior, should be reislature This was considered to meet cases of incompetency or of personal misconduct, which could not be reached by impeachment Mr Webster desired to amend the clause so as to require a two thirds vote for the passage of the address, and that reasons should be assigned, and a hearing assured to the judge as the subject of the proceedings These changes were all directed to the further protection of the bench, and it was in this connection that Mr Webster made a most admirable and effective speech on the orn but noble theme of judicial independence He failed to carry conviction, however, and his amendments were all lost The perils which he anticipated have never arisen, and the good sense of the people of Massachusetts has prevented the slightest abuse of what Mr Webster rightly esteeerous power
Mr Webster's continual and active exertion throughout the session of this convention brought hireat applause and ade Story, with generous enthusiasm, wrote to Mr Mason, after the convention adjourned:--
”Our friend Webster has gained a noble reputation He was before known as a lawyer; but he has now secured the title of an elorious field for hireat ht out, and, in several speeches, he commanded universal admiration He always led the van, and was ht, as I have told him, in the 'imminent deadly breach;' and all I could do was to skirmish, in aid of him, upon some of the enemy's outposts On the whole, I never was more proud of any display than his in my life, and I am much deceived if the well-earned popularity, so justly and so boldly acquired by him on this occasion, does not carry him, if he lives, to the presidency”
While this convention, so memorable in the career of Mr Webster and so filled with thelabors, was in session, he achieved a still wider renown in a very different field On the 22d of December, 1820, he delivered at Plymouth the oration which co of the Pilgrims The theme was a splendid one, both in the intrinsic interest of the event itself, in the character of the Pilgriinnings, and in the principles of free government, which had spread from the cabins of the exiles over the face of a continent, and had becoreat people We are fortunate in having a description of the orator, written at the time by a careful observer and devoted friend, Mr
Ticknor, who says:--
”_Friday Evening_--I have run away fro in admiration round Mr Webster, to tell you a little word about his oration Yet I do not dare to trust myself about it, and I warn you beforehand that I have not the least confidence in my own opinion His manner carried me away completely; not, I think, that I could have been so carried away if it had been a poor oration, for of that, I apprehend, there can be no fear It _reat perforined when I was under the immediate influence of his presence, of his tones, of his looks, I cannot be sure till I have read it, for it seems to me incredible
”I was never so excited by public speaking before in ht ush of blood; for, after all, you must know that I am aware it is no connected and coave tenfold force When I came out I was almost afraid to come near to hiht not be touched and that burned with fire I was beside myself, and am so still”
”_Saturday_--Mr Webster was in aditated and oppressed, and yesterdayhe had not his natural look at all; but since his entire success he has been as gay and playful as a kitten The party came in one after another, and the spirits of all were kindled brighter and brighter, and we fairly sat up till after two o'clock I think, therefore, we one off ad and scholarshi+p, just returned froed sojourn in Europe, where he had uished land and on the Continent He was not, therefore, disposed by training or recent habits to indulge a facile enthusiasm, and such deep emotion as he experienced must have been due to no ordinary cause He was, in fact, profoundly reat , for the first time, his full powers in a branch of the art uished men of all professions than is the custos to what, for lack of a better name, wean anniversary, a great historical event or character, a celebration, or occasion of any sort as a starting point, perinal text or the widest latitude of treat one That it promises an easy success is shown by the innumerable productions of this kind which, for many years, have been showered upon the country That the pro the countless host of such addresses which survive theis counterbalanced by the difficulty of saying anything worth hearing The teinality is almost always fatal
Mr Webster was better fitted than any man who has ever lived in this country for the perilous task of occasional oratory The freedom of movement which renders most speeches of this class diluted and commonplace was exactly what he needed He required abundant intellectual room for a proper display of his powers, and he had the rare quality of being able to range over vast spaces of ti attenuated in what he said Soaring easily, with a powerful sweep he returned again to earth without jar or shock He had dignity and grandeur of thought, expression, and reat subject never became small by his treatination, and could breathe life and passion into the dead events of the past
Mr Ticknor speaks of the Plyments The impression was perfectly correct Mr Webster touched on the historical event, on the character of the Pilgrirowth and future of the country, on liberty and constitutional principles, on education, and on human slavery This was entirely proper to such an address The difficulty lay in doing it well, and Mr Webster did it as perfectly as it ever has been done The thoughts were fine, and were expressed in sirand and iloith subdued fire There was no straining after mere rhetorical effect, but an artistic treateneral and yet vivid and picturesque fashi+on The emotion produced by the Ply to the strains of an Those who heard it did not seek to gratify their reason or look for conviction to be brought to their understanding It did not appeal to the logical faculties or to the passions, which are roused by the keen contests of parliareatest instru talent, and the joy and pleasure which it brought were those which co upon the picture of a great artist
The Plymouth oration, which was at once printed and published, was received with a universal burst of applause It hadwhich had at that ti The public, without stopping to analyze their own feelings, or the oration itself, recognized at once that a new genius had coift of eloquence, and capable by the exercise of his talents of reat masses of his fellow-low of a great success, both at the moment and when the cooler and , a strongof the oration:--
”The passage at the end, where, spreading his arenerations to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed, was spoken with the most attractive sweetness and that peculiar s The effect of the whole was very great As soon as he got hos, all the principal people then in Plymouth crowded about him He was full of ani about hi at the same time I never saw him at any time when he seemed to me to be more conscious of his oers, or to have a more true and natural enjoylory, there was one letter of congratulation and acknowledgiven Mr Websterelse, It ca by halves
Whether he praised or condemned, he did it heartily and ardently, and such an oration on New England went straight to the heart of the eager, war, for he spoke as one having authority John Adams had been one of the eloquent ress He had listened to the great orators of other lands He had heard Pitt and Fox, Burke and Sheridan, and had been present at the trial of Warren Hastings His unstinted praise reat deal, and it concludes with one of the finest and raceful of coreat mind, richly stored with every species of information If there be an American who can read it without tears, I aenuine spirit of New England than any production I ever read The observations on the Greeks and Roeneral; on the West India islands; on the past, present, and future of Aacious, profound, and affecting in a high degree”
”Mr Burke is no longer entitled to the praise--the most consummate orator of ards isti monumentum aere perennius_”
Many persons consider the Plymouth oration to be the finest of all Mr
Webster's efforts in this field It is certainly one of the very best of his productions, but he showed on the next great occasion a distinct i maintained Five years after the oration at Ply of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monument The superiority to the first oration was not in essentials, but in details, the fruit of a ripening and expanding mind At Bunker Hill, as at Plynity and grandeur of expression, and the range of vision which are all so characteristic of his intellect and which were so much enhanced by his wonderful physical attributes But in the later oration there is a greater finish and smoothness We appreciate the fact that the Plyments; the saer realize it The continuity is, in appearance, unbroken, and the whole work is rounded and polished The style, too, is now perfected It is at once plain, direct, enerally short and always clear, but never lo-Saxon words and the exclusion of Latin derivatives are extrehest attribute of style, the union of simplicity, picturesqueness, and force
In the first Bunker Hill oration Mr Webster touched his highest point in the difficult task of commemorative oratory In that field he not only stands unrivalled, but no one has approached him The innumerable productions of this class by other otten, while those of Webster form part of the education of every American school-boy, are widely read, and have entered into the literature and thought of the country The orations of Plyrouped in Webster's works with a number of other speeches professedly of the same kind But only a very few of these are strictly occasional; the great majority are chiefly, if not wholly, political speeches, containing reat co the subject, however, it will be well to glance for ato the sa
The Bunker Hill oration, after the lapse of only a year, was followed by the celebrated eulogy upon Adams and Jefferson This usually and with justice is ranked in merit with its two immediate predecessors As a whole it is not, perhaps, quite so inary speech of John Adae in any of these orations The opening lines, ”Sink or swiive my hand and my heart to this vote,” since Mr Webster first pronounced thenity of a fae, indeed, is perhaps the best exaination He had somentary sentences, the character of the man, the nature of the debate, and the circumstances of the time to build upon, and from these materials he constructed a speech which was absolutely startling in its lifelike force The revolutionary Congress, on the verge of the treland, rises before us as we read the burning words which the iination of the speaker put into the mouth of John Adams They are not only instinct with life, but with the life of ith of feeling so characteristic of their supposed author It is well known that the general belief at the tie was an extract from a speech actually delivered by John Adarandson, received numerous letters of inquiry on this point, and it is possible that in of the passage Such an effect was not produced byto iination and a strong artistic sense in its ement
In 1828 Mr Webster delivered an address before the Mechanics' Institute in Boston, on ”Science in connection with the Mechanic Arts,” a subject which was outside of his usual lines of thought, and offered no especial attractions to hi, and possesses sufficient and appropriate eloquence It is chiefly interesting, however, from the reserve and self-control, dictated by a nice sense of fitness, which it exhibited Ouilty of Lord Brougha to prove hi an address on science and invention, there was a strong telittering rhetoric for real knowledge; but the address at the Mechanics'
Institute is simply the speech of a very eloquent and a liberally educated eneral acquaintance
The other orations of this class were those on ”The Character of Washi+ngton,” the second Bunker Hill address, ”The Landing at Plyrie Story and of Mr Mason, and finally the speech on laying the corner-stone for the addition to the Capitol, in 1851 These were all comparatively brief speeches, with the exception of that at Bunker Hill, which, although very fine, was perceptibly inferior to his first effort when the corner-stone of the ton, to an Areat and orn topics, is of a high order of eloquence The theht out his best powers, which were peculiarly fitted to do justice to the noble, nified character of the subject The last of these addresses, that on the addition to the Capitol, was in a prophetic vein, and, while it shows but little dith, has a sadness even in its splendid anticipations of the future, which makes it one of the most impressive of its class All those which have been mentioned, however, show the hand of the master and are worthy to be preserved in the voluan in the early flush of genius with the brilliant oration in the Plyton, under the shadow of the Capitol, when the light of life was fading and the end of all things was at hand