Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1838-08-30

SPEECH OF GOV. EVERETT,
on presenting Daniel Webster to the company a
FaneaI Hall Boston,


charge the most pleasing part Of my duty
which fear you will think ! have too lolig
postponed; the duty which devolyeS on me
as the organ of your feelings toward our as
tinguished guest, the senior Senator oil inc
Commonwealth. And jet, fellow citizens
appeal TO YOU, that | have approached ms
dutv, through the succession OF ideas which
most naturally conducts our minds and hearts
to the grateful topic. have proposed to you
our country and its prosperity. Who among
the great men, his contemporaries, has more
widely surveyed and comprehended the va
rious interests of all its parts! have pro-
posed the Union of the States. What public
man is there living whose political course has
been more steadily consecrated to its pcrpe-
fuity have proposed to you the constitu-
ton. And who Of our statesmen, from the
time of the trainers, has more profoundly IN
yestigated, more clearly expounded, more
powerfully INDICATED and sustained it But
these topics may pass over. They are mat
tiers which have been long familiar to you !;
thew need not any comment from me.
The events of the last year and Of the last
session of Congress, and the present state Of
the country, invite our attention more partic-
ularly TO the recent efforts of our distinguish
ed guest, on the subject of THE CURRENCY. l
know not but some persons may think, that
undue importance has been attached to the
questions which have divided parties on this
subject; that these questions are not SO vital
to liberty as they have been represented
But such an opinion would be erroneous
Undoubtedly there are countrles-not free
ones-in which money questions, as connect
ed with the government, are of minor conse-
ouence. In China, in Turkey, in Persia, l
presume they are very little discussed. In
these countries the great question is, whether
a mans head at night will be found in the
same pleasing and convenient proximity to
his shoulders, that it was in the morning
and this is kind of previous question, which,
if decided against him, cuts off all others.
Under these arbitrary governments OF Eu'
rope, where the prince takes what ne pleases
and when he pleases, it is of very little mo-
ment where he deposits it, on its way from
the pockets of the people to his own. But II
was remarked by Edmund Burke, more than
seventy years ago, that in England (and a
fortiori in the United States, that is under
constitutional governments) the great strug-
giles for liberty had been almost always mon.
ey questions, and on this ground he excused
the Americans, for the stand they took in OPP
position to paltry tax. But most certainly
the money question, as it had been agltated
among us, is vastly more important, more in
timately connected with constitutional liber.
", than that which brought on the revolu-
ton. The question with our fathers was one
of q small tax, ours of the entire currency
Theirs concerned three pence per pound on
tea Illegally levied, ours the entire currency
Illegally disposed of-the entire medium of
circulation deranged and for period anni-
hilated-the whole business of the country
in all it's great branches, brought under the
control of the Treasury. The noble stand
therefore taken by our distinguished Senator
in this controversy, has been upon points,
which concern tho dearest interests of the
people and the elemental principles Of the
government. I'd 80
In fact know not that policy can be
imagined more at war with the true charac-
ter Of the government than that which he hns
been called 70 combat. The past and the
present Administratio rely ing too confident
" on the popular decisions which brought
them into office, have systematically defeat
ed one Of the great original objects for which
the Union was framed-that of uniform
medium of commerce. Nor has the manner
of their policy been less Objectionable than
its design. They have crowded experiment
upon experiment, with the fatal recklessness
OF the rash engineer who urges his fires in his
furnaces, till some noble steamer bursts in an
awful explosion. Our Senators and Repre-
sentatives,. and their associates, could they
have fogotten that revered Constitution and
a beloved Country were the chief victims,
might well have folded their arms, and left
the authors of the calamity to extricate them
selves, as best they might, from the ruin
But not thus have they understood their du.
" +: and we have seen them with admiration
in The last days of the session, calamity put.
ting out in the life.boat of the Constitution
with an eye Of fire at the top, and an arm Of
iron at the helm, to cruise about on the boil
ing waters, and pick up all that is left unde
stfoyed. When have seen the adherents Of
the Administration rejecting, SO far as they
ventured, the salutary measures proposed OF
supported by our distinguished guest and his
associates, for the restoration of the currency
and the re-establishment Of the public credit
and clinging to all that events have spared
of these discredited measures, they have
seemed to me to resemble the stricken
victims Of moody madness, who, instead o
thankfully embracing the profered relief
would prefer to float about on the welterini
waters, clinging to the broken planks, thu
shiyered splintsrs Of their exploded policy
sure as they are, at the very best if the,
reach solid ground, to do so beneath the over
whelming surge Of popular indignation.
should take up a great deal more tim,
than belongs to me, did I attempt even t
sketch the distinguished services of ou
friend and guest, in this constitutional war
fare. They are impressed on your memo
ries, on your hearts. In the thickest of thu
conflict his plume, like that of Henry tn,
WITH, of France, discerned from afar, ha
pointed out the spot where, to use his owl
language, "the blows fall thickest and hard
est" and there he has been found. with TIL
banner of the Union above his head, and tn
flaming scimitar Of the Constitution in hi
hand. Ifthepublic mind has been thorough
ly awakened to the inconsistency of the 20
vernment policy with the genius of our insti
tutions--ifto the experience we have all ha,