Part 8 (1/2)

Thus the negotiation closed The only serious objection to its results was that the interests of Maine were sacrificed perhaps unduly,--as a recent discussion of that point seems to show But such a sacrifice was fully justified by as achieved A as averted, a long standing anddispute was settled, and a treaty was concluded which was creditable and honorable to all concerned By his successful introduction of the extradition clause, Mr Webster rendered a great service to civilization and to the suppression and punishhout--both in his arguments, and in the construction of the treaty itself--by the learned and valuable assistance freely given by Judge Story But he conducted the whole negotiation with great ability and in the spirit of a liberal and enlightened stateshest tact and dexterity in reconciling soso ht the main problenity and an entire sufficiency, which otiation one of the most creditable--so far as its conduct was concerned--in which the United States was ever engaged

While the negotiation was in progress there was a constantin the cabinet, and as soon as the treaty was actually signed a loud cla the politicians and in the newspapers--for his resignation In the midst of this outcry the Senate met and ratified the treaty by a vote of thirty-nine to nine,--a great triuorous opposition, Benton and Buchanan both assailing Mr Webster for neglecting and sacrificing American, and particularly Southern, interests At the same time the controversy which Mr Webster called ”the battle of the an to show itself A map of 1783, which Mr Webster obtained, had been discovered in Paris, sustaining the English viehile another was afterwards found in London, supporting the American claim Neither was of the least consequence, as the new line was conventional and arbitrary; but the discoveries caused a great deal of unreasonable excitement Mr Webster saw very plainly that the treaty was not yet secure It was exposed to attacks both at home and abroad, and had still to pass Parliament Until it was entirely safe, Mr Webster determined to renation, and rose round hione for rest At the sa convention of Massachusetts declared fore of to-day, they ”read Mr Tyler out of the party” There was a variety of motives for this action One was to force Mr Webster out of the cabinet, another to advance the fortunes of Mr Clay, in favor of whose presidential candidacyMr Webster's personal friends, as well as elsewhere Mr Webster had just declined a public dinner, but he now decided to athered to hear hi his course, but after he had spoken a few moments, he had theotiation; he discussed fully the differences in the party; he deplored, and he did not hesitate strongly to condemn these quarrels, because by the policy abandoned With boldness and dignity he denied the right of the convention to declare a separation from the President, and the ientle driven, that is out of the question If I choose to reentle? I am quite ready to put that question to the people of Massachusetts” He ell aware that he was losing party strength by his action; he knew that behind all these resolutions was the intention to raise his great rival to the presidency; but he did not shrink fro what he believed to be right, and what posterity admits to have been so Mr Webster never appeared to better advantage, and he never made a more manly speech than on this occasion, when, without any bravado, he quietly set the influence and the threats of his party at defiance

He was notthat the treaty was not yet in sain attacked in the Senate, and it had a still h in Parliament The opposition, headed by Lord Palmerston, assailed the treaty and Lord Ashburton hi the one as a capitulation, and the other as a grossly unfit appointe led England to believe that we claiht of search had been abandoned Afterdrew forth an able letter froht of search had not been included in the treaty, but that the ”cruising convention” had rendered the question unimportant Finally, all complications were dispersed, and the treaty ratified; and then came an attack from an unexpected quarter General Cass--our ainst the treaty, denounce it, and leave his post on account of it This wholly gratuitous assault led to a public correspondence, in which General Cass, on his own confession, was completely overthrown and broken down by the Secretary of State This was the last difficulty, and the as finally accepted and cootiation, other matters of less moment, but still of considerable consequence, had been met by Mr Webster, and successfully disposed of Heduties on wines; he carried on a long correspondence with our minister to Mexico in relation to certain American prisoners; he vindicated the course of the United States in regard to the independence of Texas, teaching M de Bocanegra, the Mexican Secretary of State, a lesson as to the duties of neutrality, and ad bad faith to the United States; he conducted the correspondence, and directed the policy of the governard to the troubles in Rhode Island; he on boundary; and, finally, he set on foot the Chineseoffered to Mr Everett, was accepted by Mr Cushi+ng with the best results But his real work came to an end with the correspondence with General Cass at the close of 1842, and in May of the following year he resigned the secretaryshi+p In the two years during which he had been at the head of the cabinet, he had done much His work added to his fame by the ability which it exhibited in a new field, and has stood the test of tier, he proved hin affairs,--a department which is most peculiarly and traditionally the ehly-trained statesman It may be fairly said that no one, with the exception of John Quincy Adareater success in the administration of the State Department, than Mr Webster did while in Mr

Tyler's cabinet

On his resignation, he returned at once to private life, and passed the next sue estate,--which was a source of constant interest and delight, and where he was able to have beneath his eyes his beloved sea His private affairs were in disorder, and required his immediate attention He threw himself into his profession, and his practice at once beca To this period of retireument, which made so much noise in its day He kept himself aloof from politics, but could not wholly withdraw froainst him, on account of his continuance in the cabinet, had subsided, and there was a feeble and somewhat fitful movement to drop Clay, and present Mr Webster as a candidate for the presidency Mr Webster, however,Whig principles, and declared that he was not a candidate for office He also refused to allo Ha his name forward When Mr Clay was nominated, in May, 1844, Mr Webster, who had beheld with anxiety the rise of the Liberty party and prophesied the annexation of Texas, decided, although he was dissatisfied with the silence of the Whigs on this subject, to sustain their candidate This was undoubtedly the wisest course; and, having once enlisted, he gave Mr Clay a hearty and vigorous support,a series of powerful speeches, chiefly on the tariff, and second in variety and ability only to those which he had delivered in the Harrison caely by the action of the Liberty party, and the silence of the Whigs about Texas and slavery cost the of the year Mr Webster had declined a reelection to the Senate, but it was impossible for him to remain out of politics, and the pressure to return soon becaned in the winter of 1844-45, Mr Webster was reelected senator, froue, to perfect which Mr Calhoun had accepted the State Department, culminated, and the resolutions for the annexation of Texas passed both branches of Congress Four days later Mr

Polk's aded to the support and continuance of the annexation policy, was in power, and Mr Webster had taken his seat in the Senate for his last term

CHAPTER IX

RETURN TO THE SENATE--THE SEVENTH OF MARCH SPEECH

The principal events of Mr Polk's aditation, then beginning to assume most terrible proportions

So far as Mr Webster is concerned, they form part of the history of his course on the slavery question, which culminated in the fa that subject, however, it will be necessary to touch very briefly on one or two points of importance in Mr

Webster's career, which have no i on the question of slavery, and no relation to the final and decisive stand which Mr Webster took in regard to it

The Ashburton treaty was open to one just criticish It did not settle the northwestern as it did the northeastern boundary Mr Webster, as has been said, made an effort to deal with the fore to retire froard to the northwestern boundary Mr Webster agreed with the opinion of Mr

Monroe's cabinet, that the forty-ninth parallel was a fair and proper line; but the British undertook to claim the line of the Colu claims on our side The Democracy for political purposes became especially warlike and patriotic They declared in their platforon and reoccupy it at once Mr

Polk eether with the assertion that our rights extended to the line of 54 40' north, and a shout of ”fifty-four-forty or fight” went through the land from the enthusiastic De it meant war, inasmuch as our proposal for the forty-ninth parallel, and the free navigation of the Columbia River, land, and then withdrawn by us Under these circumstances Mr Webster felt it his duty to come forward and exert all his influence to maintain peace, and to promote a clear comprehension, both in the United States and in Europe, of the points at issue His speech on this subject and with this aim was delivered in Faneuil Hall He spoke of the necessity of peace, of the fair adjustment offered by an acceptance of the forty-ninth parallel, and derided the idea of casting two great nations into war for such a question as this He closed with a forcible and solemn denunciation of the president or minister who should dare to take the responsibility for kindling the flames of war on such a pretext The speech idely read It was translated into nearly all the languages of Europe, and on the continent had a great effect About athat the British government should offer to accept the forty-ninth parallel, and his letter was shown to Lord Aberdeen, who at once acted upon the advice it contained While this letter, however, was on its way, certain resolutions were introduced in the Senate relating to the national defences, and to give notice of the teron, which would of course have been nearly equivalent to a declaration of war Mr Webster opposed the resolutions, and insisted that, while the Executive, as he believed, had no real wish for war, this talk was kept up about ”all or none,” which left nothing to negotiate about The notice finally passed, but before it could be delivered by our minister in London, Lord Aberdeen's proposition of the forty-ninth parallel, as suggested by Mr Webster, had been received at Washi+ngton, where it was accepted by the truculent adreed to by the Senate, and finally embodied in a treaty Mr Webster's opposition had served its purpose in delaying action and saving bluster fro converted into actual war,--a practical conclusion by no means desired by the dominant party, who had talked so loud that they ca into hostilities merely as a matter of self-justification

The declarations of the Deard to England were really only sound and fury, although they went so far that the final retreat was noticeable and not very graceful The Deland when all they could hope to gain would be glory and hard knocks, but they had a very definite idea of attacking without bluster and in good earnest another nation where there was territory to be obtained for slavery

The Oregon question led, however, to an attack upon Mr Webster which cannot be wholly passed over He had, of course, his personal enemies in both parties, and his effective opposition to ith England greatly angered some of the most warlike of the Deersoll of Pennsylvania, a bitter Anglophobist Mr Ingersoll, in February, otiation, the treaty of Washi+ngton, and upon Mr Webster personally, alleging that as Secretary of State he had been guilty of a variety of gravea corrupt use of the publicto the payoverne of McLeod's defence, and to a threat by Mr Webster that if McLeod were not released New York would be laid in ashes, were repeated in the Senate by Mr dickinson of New York Mr

Webster pereotiation of 1842, and on the sixth and seventh of April (1846), he made the elaborate speech in defence of the Ashburton treaty, which is included in his collected works It is one of the strongest and most virile speeches he ever delivered He was profoundly indignant, and he had the coered by the charges ainst him, that he departed froed in a severe personal denunciation of Ingersoll and dickinson

Although he did not employ personal invective in his oratory, it was a weapon which he was capable of using withforce upon Ingersoll, rithed under the strokes Through soot what he considered proofs, and then introduced resolutions calling for an account of all payments from the secret service fund; for communicationsof the Co to McLeod, and for the n Affairs, to show that Mr Webster had expressed an opinion adverse to our claiersoll closed his speech by a threat of i, and an angry debate followed, in which Mr Webster was attacked and defended with equal violence President Polk replied to the call of the House by saying that he could not feel justified, eitherthe uses of the secret service fund Meantime a similar resolution was defeated in the Senate by a vote of forty-four to one, Mr Webster relad that the President had refused the request of the House; that he should have been sorry to have seen an important principle violated, and that he was not in the least concerned at being thus left without an explanation; he needed no defence, he said, against such attacks

Mr Ingersoll, rebuffed by the President, thenspecifically that Mr Webster had made an unlawful use of the secret service money, that he had employed it to corrupt the press, and that he was a defaulter Mr Ashreat bitterness, and the charges were referred to a coation, that Mr Webster had been extre the vouchers, faults to which he was naturally prone; but it also appeared that the money had been properly spent, that the accounts had ultimately been made up, and that there was no evidence of improper use The coes caersoll was left in a very unpleasant position with regard to the manner in which he had obtained his information from the State Depart how deeply rooted was Mr Webster's habitual carelessness in rave ierous man he was to arouse and put on the defensive

Mr Webster was absent when the intrigue and sche of Mr Polk culiven either for or against it He opposed the volunteer systerel contrivance, and resisted it as he had the conscription bill in the war of 1812, as unconstitutional He also opposed the continued prosecution of the war, and, when it dreard a close, was ainst the acquisition of new territory In the suh the Southern States, and was received there, as he had been in the West, with every expression of interest and admiration

The Mexican war, however, cost Mr Webster far ht to him as a public man His second son, Major Edward Webster, died near the City of Mexico, from disease contracted by exposure on the march This melancholy news reached Mr Webster when i in Congress

Measures to continue the ere before the Senate even after they had ratified the peace These ly resisted, and he also opposed, in a speech of great power, the acquisition of new territories by conquest, as threatening the very existence of the nation, the principles of the Constitution, and the Constitution itself The increase of senators, which was, of course, the object of the South in annexing Texas and in the proposed additions froovernment, and therefore he denounced the plan of acquisition by conquest in the strongest terms The course about to be adopted, he said, will turn the Constitution into a defor; it will rossest inequality, and will i he closed his speech, and ihter, Mrs Appleton, was sinking in consumption

She died on April 28th and was buried on May 1st Three days later, Mr

Webster followed to the grave the body of his son Edward, which had been brought froether, need no comment They tell their own sad story One child only reathered about his knees in the happy days at Portshts of death as he prepared at Marshfield a final resting-place for himself and those he had loved

Whatever successes or defeats were still in store for him, the heavy cloud of domestic sorrow could never be dispersed in the years that reaps which had beenof personal disappointh in coriefs as these, was now added to this heavy burden of domestic affliction The success of General Taylor in Mexico rendered his to nominate

His military services and his personal popularity promised victory, and the fact that no one knew Taylor's political principles, or even whether he was a Whig or a Democrat, seemed rather to increase than diminish his attractions in the eyes of the politicians Aabout this noers planned to make Mr Webster Vice-President on the ticket with the victorious soldier Such an offer was a melancholy commentary on his anity, and, disapproving always of the selection of ive his assent to Taylor's nomination Other trials, however, were still in store for him

Mr Clay was a candidate for the no that his success meant another party defeat, turned to Taylor as the only instruer In February, 1848, a call was issued in New York for a public ned by many of Mr Webster's personal and political friends Mr