Part 11 (1/1)
I give the facts in this way because Mr George T Curtis, in a newspaper interview, referring to an article of ard to the story of the ten thousand dollar check, which story Mr
Lodge gives us to understand he found in the pages of that very credulous writer Dr Von Holst, although I have not looked into his volue, I have only to say that I never heard of such an occurrence before, and that it would require the oath of a very credible witness to the fact to make me believe it” I may add that I have taken the trouble not only to look into Dr Von Holst's voluhly The proof is absolute and indeed it is not necessary to go beyond Mr Webster's own letter of acknowledghtest reason to doubt the substantial correctness of Mr Tayloe's statement The point is a sht always to be sustained or withdrawn]
He showed the same indifference to the source of supplies of money in other ways He took a fee from Wheelock, and then deserted him He ca counsel objected that he was brought there to hurry the jury beyond the law and the evidence, and it was even murmured audibly in the court-room that he had a fee from the relatives of the murdered man in his pocket A fee of that sort he certainly received either then or afterwards Every ugly public attack that was made upon hirapher of such a es to show that his hero was not in the pay ofout the provisions of the treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo
The refutation ht to have been no need of it The reputation of a man like Mr Webster in money matters should have been so far above suspicion that no one would have drea it Debts and subscriptions bred the idea that there h there is no reason to believe that such was the case, these things are of theh
When Mr Webster failed it was a moral failure His moral character was not equal to his intellectual force All the errors he ever committed, whether in public or in private life, in political action or in regard to ations, came from moral weakness He was deficient in that intensity of conviction which carries men beyond and above all triumphs of statesreat moral forces which move the world If Mr Webster's reatness, he would have had no rival in our history But this combination and balance are so rare that they are hardly to be found in perfection areatness erous and unfortunate To be blinded by the splendor of his fame and the lustre of his achievereat man is the falsest philosophy and the , in history as in life, is truth; and we do wrong to our past, to ourselves, and to our posterity if we do not strive to render siive the errors and sorrow for the faults of our great ones gone; we cannot afford to hide or forget their shortcos
But after all has been said, the question of most interest is, what Mr
Webster represented, what he effected, and what he means in our history
The answer is simple He stands to-day as the preeminent champion and exponent of nationality He said once, ”there are no Alleghanies in my politics,” and he spoke the exact truth Mr Webster was thoroughly national There is no taint of sectionalism or narrow local prejudice about him He towers up as an American, a citizen of the United States in the fullest sense of the word He did not invent the Union, or discover the doctrine of nationality But he found the great fact and the great principle ready to his hand, and he lifted thehout the length and breadth of the land In his fidelity to this cause he never wavered nor faltered Frohts at Marshfield, when, waiting for death, he looked through theat the light which showed hiht was of a united country To his large nature the Union appealed powerfully by the nitude which it conveyed The vision of future empire, the dream of the destiny of an unbroken union touched and kindled his iination He could hardly speak in public without an allusion to the grandeur of American nationality, and a fervent appeal to keep it sacred and intact For fifty years, with reiteration ever more frequent, sometimes with rich elaboration, soe into the ears of a listening people His words passed into text-books, and became the first declamations of school-boys
They were in every one's mouth They sank into the hearts of the people, and becahts When the hour came, it was love for the Union and the sentiment of nationality which nerved the are That love had been fostered, and that sentithened and vivified by the life and words of Webster No one had done so e a share in this momentous task Here lies the debt which the A and importance in his own time and to us to-day His career, his intellect, and his achievereat elish oratory is read or studied, so long will his speeches stand high in literature So long as the Union of these States endures, or holds a place in history, will the name of Daniel Webster be honored and remembered, and his stately eloquence find an echo in the hearts of his countrymen