Part 6 (2/2)

The hoed first, and then the public career The reply which, as John Quincy Adams said, ”utterly demolished the fabric of Hayne's speech and left scarcely a wreck to be seen,” went straight hoave eloquent expression to the strong but undefined feeling in the popular mind It found its way into every house and was read everywhere; it took its place in the school books, to be repeated by shrill boy voices, and became part of the literature and of the intellectual life of the country In those solemn sentences men read the description of what the United States had come to be under the Constitution, and what A war party in 1812 were the first to arouse the national sentiment, but no one struck the chord with such aand deep vibrations There is no single utterance in our history which has done so then the love of nationality and implant it deeply in the popular heart, as the reply to Hayne

Before the delivery of that speech Mr Webster was a distinguished statesman, but the day after he awoke to a national faht with it, of course, as it always does in this country, talk of the presidency The reply to Hayne made Mr

Webster a presidential candidate, and fro arand prize of American public life There was a new force in his career, and in all the years to come the influence of that force must be reckoned and remembered

Mr Webster was anxious that the party of opposition to General Jackson, which then passed by the nathened, solidified, and placed on a broad platforret the ruin which was threatened by the anti-masonic schism, and it would seee of this to stop the nomination of Mr Clay, as peculiarly objectionable to the opponents of masonry He earnestly desired the nomination himself, but even his own friends in the party told him that this was out of the question, and he acquiesced in their decision Mr

Clay's personal popularity,the National Republicans was, in truth, invincible, and he was unanimously nominated by the convention at Baltimore The action of the anti-masonic element in the country dooh to encounter in any event; but the consolidation of the party so ardently desired by Mr Webster was brought about by acts of the administration, which co its opponents

The session of 1831-1832, when the country was preparing for the co of the fierce struggle with Andrew Jackson which was to give birth to a new and powerful organization known in our history as the Whig party, and destined, after years of conflict, to bring overwhel defeat to the ”Jacksonian democracy” There is no occasion here to enter into a history of the famous bank controversy

Established in 1816, the bank of the United States, after a period of difficulties, had becoanization In 1832 it applied for a continuance of its charter, which then had three years still to run Mr Webster did not enter into the personal contest which had already begun, but in a speech of great ability advocated a renewal of the charter, showing, as he always did on such therasp of the principles and intricacies of public finance unequalled in our history except by Hamilton In a second speech he ainst a proposition to give the States authority to tax the bank, defending the doctrines laid down by Chief Justice Marshall in McCullough vs Maryland, and denying the power of Congress to give the States the right of such taxation, because by so doing they violated the Constitution The amendment was defeated, and the bill for the continuance of the charter passed both Houses by large majorities

Jackson returned the bill with a veto He had the audacity to rest his veto upon the ground that the bill was unconstitutional, and that it was the duty of the President to decide upon the constitutionality of everyin the least bound by the opinion of Congress or of the Suprenorance was so crass that he failed to perceive the distinction between a new bill and one to continue an existing lahile his vanity and his self-assumption were so colossal that he did not hesitate to assert that he had the right and the power to declare an existing law, passed by Congress, approved by Madison, and held to be constitutional by an express decision of the Supreht fit to say so To overthrow such doctrines was not difficult, but Mr Webster refuted them with a completeness and force which were irresistible At the sanified hich was characteristic of hie in invective and telling sarcasnorance and presureat conflict with the bank was begun, and the Whig party was founded

Another event of a different character, which had occurred not long before, helped to widen the breach and to embitter the contest between the parties of the administration and of the opposition When in 1829 Mr McLane had received his instructions as Minister to England, he had been directed by Mr Van Buren to reopen negotiations on the subject of the West Indian trade, and in so doing the Secretary of State had reflected on the previous administration, and had said that the party in poould not support the pretensions of its predecessors Such language was, of course, at variance with all traditions, holly i with a foreign nation In 1831 Mr Van Buren was noland, and came up for confirmation in the Senate some time after he had actually departed on his mission Mr Webster opposed the confirmation in an eloquent speech full of just pride in his country and of vigorous indignation against the slight which Mr Van Buren had put upon her by his instructions to Mr McLane He pronounced a splendid ”rebuke upon the first instance in which an American minister had been sent abroad as the representative of his party and not as the representative of his country” The opposition was successful, and Mr Van Buren's nomination was rejected It is no doubt true that the rejection was a political mistake, and that, as was commonly said at the time, it created sympathy for Mr Van Buren and insured his succession to the presidency Yet no one would now think as well of Mr Webster if, to avoid awakening popular sympathy and party enthusiasentleman's confirmation To do so was to approve the despicable tone adopted in the instructions to McLane As a patriotic As, Mr Webster could not have done otherwise than resist with all the force of his eloquence the confirnified and unworthy exhibition of partisanshi+p Politically he ht, and his rebuke stands in our history as a reproach which Mr Van Buren's subsequent success can neither ate nor impair

There was another measure, however, which had a far different effect from those which tended to build up the opposition to Jackson and his followers

Ato a revision and reduction of the tariff, which finally resulted in a bill reducing duties onthose on cotton and woollen goods and iron unchanged In the debates which occurred during the passage of this bill Mr Webster took but little part, but they caused a furious outbreak on the part of the South Carolinians led by Hayne, and ended in the confirmation of the protective policy When Mr Webster spoke at the New York dinner in 1831, he gave his hearers to understand very clearly that the nullification agitation was not at an end, and after the passage of the new tariff bill he saw close at hand the danger which he had predicted

In November, 1832, South Carolina in convention passed her fa the revenue laws of the United States, and her Legislature, which assembled soon after, enacted laws to carry out the ordinance, and gave an open defiance to the Federal government The country was filled with excite published a letter in defence of nullification, had resigned the vice-presidency, accepted the senatorshi+p of South Carolina, and was co to the capital to advocate his favorite doctrine But the South Carolinians hadblunder They had overlooked the President Jackson was a Southerner and a Democrat, but he was also the head of the nation, and deterress assembled, he issued his faorously the position adopted by Mr Webster in his reply to Hayne, and gave the South Carolinians to understand that he would not endure treason, but would enforce constitutional laws even though he should be coislature of the recalcitrant State replied in an offensive an to say soenerally allant leaders of nullification and other worthy people grew very uneasy There can be no doubt that the outlook was very threatening, and the nullifiers were extremely likely to be the first to suffer fro storm

Mr Webster was in New Jersey, on his way to Washi+ngton, when he first received the proclamation, and at Philadelphia he entleman received a copy of a bill which was to do aith the tariff by gradual reductions, prevent the imposition of any further duties, and which at the saainst protection and in favor of a tariff for revenue only This headlong plunge into concession and compromise was not at all to Mr Webster's taste He was opposed to the scheround that there was open resistance to laws of undoubted constitutionality, and until that resistance was crushed under foot any talk of conity and the national existence which ought not to be tolerated for an instant His own course was plain He proposed to sustain the administration, and when the national honor should be vindicated and all unconstitutional resistance ended, then would co Mr Webster soe was sent to Congress asking that provision ht be made to enable the President to enforce the laws by e was referred to a committee, who at once reported the celebrated ”Force Bill,”

which ee and had the entire approval of the President But Jackson's party broke, despite the attitude of their chief, forthe the ”Force Bill” The moment was critical, and the administration turned to Mr Webster and took him into their councils

On February 8 Mr Webster rose, and, after explaining in a fashi+on which no one was likely to forget, that this holly an administration measure, he announced his intention, as an independent senator, of giving it his hearty and inflexible support The co Mr Calhoun was now thoroughly alar, in which it was ruood deal of practical significance to a gentleman who, as Secretary of War, had been fa the deaths of Arbuthnot and A an intervieith Mr Clay, and the result was, that the latter, on February 11, announced that he should, on the following day, introduce a tariff bill, aalready been started in the House The bill as introduced did not involve such a complete surrender as that which Mr Webster had seen in Philadelphia, but it necessitated ave all that South Carolina could reasonably de his defence on the ground that this was the only way to preserve the tariff, and that it was founded on the great constitutional doctrine of compromise Mr Webster opposed the bill briefly, and then introduced a series of resolutions co the proposed measure on economical principles and on those of justice, and especially assailing the readiness to abandon the rightful powers of Congress and yield them up to any form of resistance Before, however, he could speak in support of his resolutions, the ”Force Bill” caued to answer, and he replied with the great speech known in his works as ”The Constitution not a coeneral way the same criticism is applicable to this debate as to that with Hayne, but there were soument was superior to that of his follower It was dry and hard, but it was a splendid speci, and, as was to be expected, the originator and master surpassed the imitator and pupil Mr

Webster's speech, on the other hand, in respect to eloquence, was decidedly inferior to the masterpiece of 1830 Mr Curtis says, ”Perhaps there is no speech ever , so compact, and so powerful” To the first two qualities we can readily assent, but that it was equally powerfulas Mr

Webster confined hi the Constitution as it actually was and as what it had come to mean in point of fact, he was invincible Just in proportion as he left this ground and atteue on historical premises that it was a fundamental law, he weakened his position, for the historical facts were against hihtly on the historical, legal, and theoretical aspects of the case, and he was overwhelth chiefly to these topics, and, round, he put hie In the actual present and in the steady course of development, the facts holly with Mr

Webster Whatever the people of the United States understood the Constitution to mean in 1789, there can be no question that a arded it as a fundamental law, and not as a compact--an opinion which has now becoue that what the Constitution had come to mean hat itat these two periods was the proposition which Mr Webster undertook to maintain, and he upheld it as well and as plausibly as the nature of the case adorous; but he could not destroy the theory of the Constitution as held by leaders and people in 1789, or reconcile the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions or the Hartford Convention with the fundamental-law doctrines

Nevertheless, it would be an error to suppose that because the facts of history were against Mr Webster in these particulars, this able, ingenious, and elaborate argu supplement and complement to the reply to Hayne It reiterated the national principles, and furnished those who fact could not satisfy, with an i and plausible and effective argunificent expression to the popular feeling, while that to Calhoun supplied the argu into a fixed opinion, and h four years of civil war But in his final speech in this debate Mr

Webster caround, and said, in conclusion, ”Shall we have a general governovernue? This vital and all-important question the people will decide” The vital question went to the great popular jury, and they cast aside all historical preal subtleties and refine facts

The world knohat that verdict was, and will never forget that it was largely due to the splendid eloquence of Daniel Webster when he defended the cause of nationality against the slave-holding separatists of South Carolina

While this great debate was in progress, and Mr Webster and the faithful adherents of Jackson were pushi+ng the ”Force Bill” to a vote, Mr Clay wasevery effort to carry the compromise tariff In spite of his exertions, the Force Bill passed on February 20, but close behind came the tariff, which Mr Webster opposed, on its final passage, in a vigorous speech There is no need to enter into his econoainst the policy of sacrificing great interests to soothe South Carolina Mr Clay replied, but did not then press a vote, for, with that dexterous ain to display in 1850, he had succeeded in getting his tariff bill carried rapidly through the House, in order to obviate the objection that all inate in the lower branch The House bill passed the Senate, Mr Webster voting against it, and became law There was no further need of the Force Bill Clay, Calhoun, even the daring Jackson ultilad to accept the easy escape offered by a coh Mr Clay had saved protection in a ht the United States government to terms, and the doctrines of Calhoun went holory of substantial victory about them, to breed and foster separatism and secession, and prepare the way for armed conflict with the nobler spirit of nationality which Mr

Webster had roused in the North

Speaking of Mr Webster at this period, Mr Benton says:--

”He was the colossal figure on the political stage during that eventful time, and his labors, splendid in their day, survive for the benefit of distant posterity” ”It was a splendid era in his life, both for his intellect and his patriotiser the advocate of classes or interests, he appeared as the great defender of the Union, of the Constitution, of the country, and of the administration to which he was opposed Released from the bonds of party and the narrow confines of class and corporation advocacy, his colossal intellect expanded to its full proportions in the field of patriotise not of party but of country His ues touched Jackson in his deepest-seated and ruling feeling, love of country, and brought forth the response which always came from him when the country was in peril and a defender presented hiht hand of fellowshi+p, treated Mr

Webster with marked distinction, commended him with public praise, and placed him on the roll of patriots And the public ether in future, and that a cabinet appointh mission would be the reward of his patriotic service It was a crisis in the life of Mr Webster He stood in public opposition to Mr Clay and Mr Calhoun With Mr

Clay he had a public outbreak in the Senate He was cordial with Jackson The mass of his party stood by him on the proclaht be taken: one at which he could not stand still; from which there must be either advance or recoil It was a case in which _will_ more than _intellect_ was to rule He was above Mr Clay and Mr Calhoun in intellect, below the with the President Jackson”