The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-08-28

From The National laishtgeHeT
SKETCHES
or rHr PERSONAL AND public cHARAcrER or
DANIEL WEBSTER.
LETrEa NO. v.
Re-, Mass, August, 1889,
DEAR SIN: In Mr.. Websier's speech In the Senate
Of The United States, upon the Presidents Protest,
he speaks Of Great Britain as "a Power which has
dotted over the surface offhe whole globe with her
possessions and military posts, whose morning drum
beat following The sun and keeping company with
the hours circles !he earth daily with one unbroken
strain OF the martial airs OF England 4
Here Is great thought most happily expressed
yet Il Is NOT the felicity elegance OF The diclion
but the fitness OF The imagery, that strikes the mind
Vast and complex as Is the idea Is clothed In visit
Bile forms, and stands as distinctly az pyramid be-
fore the intellectual eye OF the beholder, command
ing his regard and sinking It's foundations deep In
his memory.
But refer 10 this, not for the purpose Of eulogy,
for the passage Is itself less Interesting than
lis history. ] have been casually told, as coming
from Mr. Webster, that this thought occurred TO him
while, few years since, on visit to Quebec, he
was standing on one Of the ramparts OF that city, A
common mind had been filled with the mighty land
srape that lay unroled at the foot OF the forcalion
had you or been there, We had probably confined
our view 10 the immediate scene, and found words
10 express all We felt and all we saw. But II seems
10 be MIR. Webster's habit 10 gather and store away
his observations for future exigence In the acqui
sition Of IDEAS and In their use, he seems to be an
industrious husbandman and often while others are
amusing themselves with flowers, he is toiling, In
Inc same field. for more substantial harvest. II
such person issometimes thoughtful when others
are gay, shall we accuse bin Of severity and repul-
slveness OF manner1 Ri
II, sir, You had CHANGED to be making passage
win Mr. Webster In one OF the steamboats, that are
poughipg the waters around your city, and you had
seen him gazing at the painting engine, apparently
unconscious OF The presence of those ound gazing
10 less in.enliy on him, you had perhaps thought
pm moody and unsocial. Could you have entered
his mind at the moment Il is probable that you had
iound Il oustly employed In weaving out its wool Of
philosophy, the immediate scene furnishing only a
thread IN the texture. Perhaps, at that very mo-
ment, that splendid conception Ut the steam engine
which appears in bis address before the Society for
the Diffusion OF Useful knowledge, had occupied
his ,hoDghs; and which, for the sake Of illustration
will venture TO qnote: Il Isl" says he, "sn the
rivers, and the boaman may repose on his oars; Il
| Is IN highways and begins to exert itself along the
courses Of land conveyance il is nj the bottom Of
mines thousand feet below The earlh's surface; it
Is IN The mills and in The workshops Of the trades;
rows, pumps Il excavates, IL carries, II draws, Il
ms, u hammers il spins, il weaves, it prints; il
seems TO say TO men, al least TO the class of artisans
Leave of your manual labor give over your bodily
!oii oeslow but your skill and reason to the direct
| ing OF my power, and will bear the toil'-wth no
| to feel taininessn
| Now let me ask, is II fit or proper to designate
man who Is visited by such IDEAS even in the busy
4
al hearth think these epithets are ill., bestowed in
| such case Mr.. Webster is a rejecting man, and
his manner bespeaks Isl he has the habit of his yam
kee countrymen, and turns every thing TO account
do not mean this In the bitter and sneering sense
~ which such language Is applied to the people Of
New England by the Trollopes and the Marryais,
| and which sometimes finds an echo nearer home
The Yankees may be money gelling race, but they
are equally thrifty in the acquisition Of useful truth
and. acknowledge. They are eminenily rejecting peo
and use wisely the ual they acquire
u this Mr. Webster is fair representative of the
New England race. Like them, he Is a hard-work-
ing, industrious man; and, like them, he reaps
/ rather in the field of observation and experience
than in that Of speculation. Even fancy, which Is
SO apt 70 lead others asray is not to him kaleide
scope ever producing new and beautiful combina-
lions OF unreal and delusve schemes but lamp TO
throw light upon, and give prominence To-, truth,
| while deepening shadow is cast over the doubtful
4 and the false. No one can read his speeches, and
i fail to mark the practical character Of his mind.
Every thing seems TO be referred to the standard of
4 common sense. He is eminenily common sense
i man. Even the imagery in which he deals seems
borrowed from experience. Every where we meet
with spriDklings Of scene and incident which have
evidently been realized Hisspeech in reply TO MIR.
/ Hayne Is full OF this. Let us take passage:
Il have not allowed myself, sir, 10 look beyond the
Union to see what might be hidden in the dark re:
cess behind. have not coolly weighed The chances
OF preserving liberty, when the bonds thai unite
together shall be broken asunder. have not accns
/
! to see whether, with my short sight, l can falhom
| the depth OF the abyss below; nor could regard
him as safe counsellor ia the affairs OF the Go
vernment whose thoughts should be mainly bent on
considering not how The Union should be best pre-
served, but how tolerable might be the condition Of
| the people when ii shall be broken up and de-
| Stroyed."
| Will You indulge me in another extract from the
same surprising effort? al shall enter" says Mr.
Webster, in his noble vindicaton of his State from
the aspersions cast upon Il, ION no encomium on
Massachusetts,. She needs none. There she is
behold her, and judge for yourselves There is her
| hisory--lhe world knows il by heart. The past at
least is secure. There is Boston and Concord, and
Lexington and Bunker Hill and there they will
remain forever The bones OF her sons, falling in
the great struggle for independence now lie mingled
with the soil Of every State from New England to
Georgia; and there they will lie ioreve And, sir,
where American Liberty first raised its voice, and
where its youth was nurtnred and sustained there il
still lives in the strength of its manhood and full Of
| It's original spirit IF discard aud disnaion shall
| wonnd H.; If party strife and blind ambition shall
hank and tear III il folly and madness, il uneasiness
under sauary and necessary resirai shall succeed
| TO separate ii from that Union by which alone its
existence is made sure it will stand in the end by
| the side Of that cradle in which its infancy was
rocked; it will stretch forth its arm with whatever
vIgor may still retain over the friends who gather
round ii, and il viii fall al last If fall il mus amidst
the proudest monuments Of It's glory, and the
very spot of its origin"
These extracts are sufficient to illustrate the point
have in view, which is TO show the industry with
which Mr.. Webster is ever toiling in the ample field
of observation. Even his imagination condescends
| 10 CLEAN from experience. have marked one pas
sage in halic, which appears TO indicate that the
sports of the field 10 which he is addicted are made
| tributary to the duties of the Senator.
| will close this letter with an anecdote, which
may enliven its dnlness, while il will exempfy the
general position have maintained, and prove that,
In his hours of relaxation, Mr. Webster is still at
soofk. II is proper TO premise that he is devoted
and skilful angler-a vocation which Is favored by
the streams and bays around his residence at Marsh
| field. On one occasion he was in a boat fishing
for cod or whatever else Neptune might send 10 his
hook i was few days previous TO his famous