Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-04-06
Mr.. WEBsTER,s SPEECH,
MN w EDJ LII y VI HIt3OffB
1T the Public Dinner girea to him in New Fl

to your patriotic and afectiOnate attachment to
the Constitution Of the Country. For an effort, |
we'll intended, however otherwise OF unpretend-
ing character. made in the discharge OF public
duty and designed to maintain the Constitution,
and vindicate its just powers. you have been pleas
ed to tender me this token of your respect. 1t
would he idle affectation to deny, that 1t gives
me singular qualification. Every public mah
must naturally desire the appreciation OF his tel
low-ctizens; and tho it may be supposed that
should be anxious in the first place. not to dlsap-
point the expections of those whose Immediate
Representative am, 1t is not possible that =!
should not feel, nevertheless, the high value oil
such mark of esteem as is here offered. But,
gentlemen, am conscious that the main purpose
OF this occasion is higher than mere manifestation
of personal regard. 1t is to evince your attach
ment to the Constitution, and your just alarm, at
whatever threatens to weaken its proper authori-
tv, or endanger its existence.
Gentlemen, this could hardly be otherwise. It
would be strange, indeed, if the members OF this
vast commercial community should not be first
and foremost to rally for the constitution. when
ever opinions and doctrines are advanced, hostile
to its principles. Where, sooner than here, where
louder than here, may we expect patriotic voice
TO be raised, when the Union Of the States is
threatened. In this great Commercial Emporl-
um, at this central point of the united commerce
of the United States, of all places we may expect
the warmest, the most determined, aud universal
feeling of attachment to the National Constitu-
lion. Gentlemen, no one can estimate more high
" than lido, the natural adyana ;es Of your city.
No one entertaIns higher opinion than myself,
also, of that spirit Of wise and liberal policy,
which has actuated the government of the State
IN the accomplishment of high objects. important
to the growth and prosperity both OF the State and
of the City. But ell these local advantages $, and
Fall this enlightened state policy could never have
made your City what II now Is, without the aid
and protection ola General Government, extend
ing over all the States. and establishing, for all,
common and uniform system OF commercial re-
pulator. Without national character, without
public credit. without systematic finance. without
uniformity of commercial laws, all other advan-
tages possessed by this city, would have decayed,
and persisted, like unripe fruit. a General Gov
eminent, was, for years before it was instituted,
the great object of desire to the inhabitants of this
CITY. New-York was conscious Of her local ad-
yanta yes for commercc-she saw her destiny, and
was eager to embrace it; but nothing else than
general Government could make free her path
before her, and set her forward on her career
She early saw all this, and to the accomplishment
of this great and Indispensable object she bent up
every faculty, aud exerted every effort She was
not mistaken. She formed no false Judgment
At the moment of the adoption of the Constitu-
ton. New-York was the capital OF the State, and
contained thrty-twO Or three thousand people,
1t now contains more than two hundred thousand
people. and is Justly regarded as the Commercial
CAPITAL, not only Of all the United States, but OF
the whole Continent also from the Pole to the
South Sea. Every page of her history, for the
last forty years, bears high and irresistible testi-
mony TO the benefits and blessings of the General
Government. Her astonishing growth is referred
to. and quoted, all the world over, as one OF the
most striking proofs of the effects of our Federal
Union. To suppose her now to be easy and III
different, when notions are advanced tending to
its dissolution, would be to suppose her equally
forgetfuI of the past, and blind to the present,
alike ignorant of her own history, and her own
interest, metamorphosed, from all that she has
been, into beng tired of its prosperity, sick of
its own growth and greatness, and infatuated for
its own dessruc ton. Every blow aimed at the
Union of the States strikes on the tenderest nerve
of her interest and her happiness.
To bring the Union into debate, is to bring
her own future prosperity into debate also--
To speak of arresting the laws Of the Union, OF
interposing State power in matters OF Commerce
and Revenue, of weakening the full and just au-
thorty of the General Government, would be, In
regard to this city, but another mode of speaking
of commercial ruin, of abandoned wharyeS, of
vacated houses, of diminished and dispensing
population, of bankrupt merchants, of mechanics
without employment, and labOrers without bread.
The growth of this City, and the Constitution
of the United States, are coe,al, and cotempO-
raries. They began together,sthey have flourish
ed together, and if rashness and folly destroy
one, the other will follow it to the tomb.
Gentlemen, it is true, indeed, that the growth
of this city is extraordinary, and almost unexarn
pied. 1t is now, believe, sixteen or seventeen
years since first saw it. Within that cOmpar
atively short period it has added to its number
three times the whole amount of its population
when the Constitution was adopted. OF all things
having power to check this prosperity. of all
things potent to blast and blight it, of all things
capable of compelling this city to recede as fast
as she has advanced, disturbed government,
an enfeebled public authority, broken or weak
ened Union oil the States, would be sovereign
This would be cause efficient enough. Every !
thing else, IN the common fortune of commune