Litchfield enquirer., 1837-08-10

ldisgraceful to the city, and especially to tho ministers of religion engaged in it.
 From Ae s. Louis Republican ofJHne l6
 MIR. WEBSTER'S SPEECH, AT ST. LOU -[ExTRAcTs.J 1 Gentlemen. if is an era in the history ol
 l North America. when an Eastern man may
 stand on tbe Western bank ofthe Mississippi.
 and. receiving the cordiality of which you hove tbouoht proper to make me the reclpl- ent to look around upon the scenes which
 behold. And cheering beyond expression arc the anticipations of futurlty. When we reflect how recent-how very recent has been the day when St. Louis has begun to rank itself among the cities of our land, we arc amazed. How little could have been Ianticipated of all this from the wilderness,
 which but a few short years was bowling
 here. How little could the most sanguine temperament have looked forward to an hour | like this. Where once was a wilderness, l have beheld commerce-intelligenc ence-arts-the comforts, the luxuries, the refnements of polished existence. Who
 shall speak, then, the prospect of glory for the future?
 You are collected from every quarter of our country; and while recognize many from all the States of the Atlantic coast, some there are whom I may hail from my own
 New England. Here too, are those who
 have measured half the globe of waters to find for themselves and their families llber- ty, security and peace and here are the an- cient settlers of the soil, whose duty and alle-
 glance we behold transferred from one na- tion to another. Gentlemen, we have not ap- preciated-never have we appreciated the
 gigantic character of this mighty State. She :., ;oE, o& TJorO,lloC-oO infnnf-Vpf in the cradle. Her wealth, mineral and agricultu- ral, and every other species, surpasses all calculation. Her wealth beneath and above
 the ground, exceeds that ofany other nation 1 on the known world her rivers are the tl- nest which roll their currents upon the globe -her prairies the most extensive and the
 most fertile.
 All this, gentlemen, have come to see-to view with my own eyes, and my own person. What am, my fellow countrymen, you all
 know: am pzain man. never set up for any thing: whatever else they may accuse
 me of, it can never be said have set myself
 up for any thing. am farmer, gentlemen, and on the yellow sands the East, many
 time have titled my fathers fields, and fol-
 lowed my fathers plough. The farmers
 patrimony is the true patrimony of the Amer ican citizen our wives and our children are our dearest stake, yet they only are dearer than the soil. Give me acres. 1 care not whether upon the rich rolling prairie of Mis- souri, or among the red storm-beaten sands of Old Plymouth county there is the warmth of hospitality for both, and each is dear to my heart. You have soil of fertility untold agricultural productions never surpassed every thing in nature to delight the senses and minister to the comfort ot man. On ev- cry side, too, are rising the embellishments of art and the improvements of science; colle- ges in good degree appear throughout the land-and the institutions of benevolence and charity, institutions of every nature for the melioration of the human condition, arc scat tering wide and far. --.-.-.-.--.
 uehtIemen, you have Tn the sentiment, you have upon this occasion been pleased to present to me, considered me as an individu- al regardful for the interests of our whole land. deny it not. You have heard, that in my place at Washington, have been not indifferent to the interests of the West. It has been SO and, gentlemen, if had not a heart noble enough-a soul generous enough "a breast sufficiently comprehensive to take in all my country-ifI I could not clasp you all at once in my arms, then should l be un- fit for my station-unfit for public man. There is but one common tie-OuT country IS -undivided-entire.
 For period of fourteen or fifteen years, have the interests of the West been connect ed with the public relations of our country, and with all the leading movements condu- cive to her prosperity have not been uncon- 1 versant. Internal improvement of every character has been an object of my public life and may assert, that action in impor- tant feature-the clearing of rivers-the building of national thoroughfares-the erec- tion of works of national utility-that action in no one of these particulars has taken place in our national councils, without my hearty concurrence and aid.
 As to opinions upon political measures and party policy, upon an occasion like the pres ent would offer nothing but those, general in their nature, and embracing our country and our achOle country. Political dogmas never obtrude: but will say here and else- where THAT, which will live and die by-in Congress or out of Congress-so long as l may claim an interest in the passage of meas ures for the CoUNTRY-so long as may cast a vote-I own the self-same responsibility to
 Missouri as to Massachusetts. The good cit izens of this State have not thought proper to
 return mo as member, to serve them as
 member of the Legislature of the nation
 am sent from the far East-but never-never can stoop to affect tho narrow, the mean,
 the contemptible policy ofconsulting the pri-
 vate views of any party-any political or sectional prejudice or creed. This honest
 man, God bless him! (exclaimod the orator,
 striking his palm upon the shoulder of a har.
 dy yeoman at his side,) is as truly my friend,
 as though clasped his hand, the descendant
 of John Hancock, in Faneuil Hall! My
 heart feel to be large enough to take in the
 interests of all controlled by the same laws acknowledging the same national obiects-