New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1843-08-18
MIR. yyebster and the Wings.


Regarding Mr. Websters great talents an'
past services as we do, we have taken no pea
sure in condemning the errors OF his more recent
career and have generally refrancd from speak
nm of him except when called to resist and repel
some very palpab!e demonstration OF hostility to
the principles and success of the Wing party
When his colleagues of the Harrison Cabinet
were compelled to resign, or be guilty OF counte-
nancing and sharing in the treachery of the de-
plorable Accident, and Mr.. Webster saw fit to
hold on, we rather justified than censured ms re-
solution. We condemned nothing but his most
,ncaled for (however urgently soicited) and un
Tustifable proclamation that he had seen no rea-
son for resgnng, thereby clearly rejecting on
the course Of his late colleagues we heartily
sustained and vindicatcd his conduct of the Boun
dary negotiation with Lord Ashburton, and his
attitude in the Rhode Island troubles. Although
we had anticipated asamong the fruits of the con-
summation of the Boundary Treaty the immediate
retirement Of Mr.. Webster from Office and his re-
sumption Of his natural place as leading, trust
ed, uncompromsing advocate of Wing principles
and measures, we did not murmur at his contlnu-
ance in Office. 1t was only when Mr.. Webster
saw fit in Fanuell Hall to take position of un.
Jnistakable position to the Wing party and policy
to ridicule National Bank of which, while
Wing, he had been SO Jealous champion as an
with tacit approval the ,treacherous overthrow
of the Land Distribution by Tyler, and to
claim for that Tyler and the Loco-Focos large
share of the credit of passing the Tariff-a mea
sure once resisted by their nnbroken vote and
crushed by his Veto, and only carried at last by
the bttercst sclf.sacrifce, tn: truest devotion Oh
the part of the Wings, while even those Loco
Focos who voted for it cxecrated and tried to rem
der it od;ous, and Tyler has always avowed him.
self hostile to those features which constitute Its
whole yalue-it was only on this occasion that
we opposed and condemned the conduct and the
language of Mr.. Webster-and was 1t not
high time Again, when Mr. Webster thought
proper ut Baltimore to make papablc attack on
the stability Of the present Tariff-to propose
system of Commercial and Diplomatic dlckerlng
and bargaining with Great Britain to which we
have the strongest aversion on every ground, and
to which the very Speech which proposed #
furnished the most insuperable objections, we
again opposed the whole project. We should
have done SO ii any other man, even Mr.. Clay,
had been the proposer forwe deem such Com.
mcrcial Treaty an unwarrantable invasion of the
Rights of the Peoples Representatives, in Con-
gress an unwise and hazardous hamperng of our
Government, sure to result in disaster. We con-
femned it fom aversion to the measure, and with.
out regard, other than favorable, to the man.
Having thus always spoken with hearty admi-
ration of the talents and Wing services of Mr..
Webster, having INDUCED in no measured eulogy
Of his recent effort at Bunker Hill and elsewhere
wherever they have been untaintcd with Tyler.
ism, and with iorbearance not accorded to other
offenders where he has gone wrong, we are sur
prsed at the receipt of letter from one who pro-
fesses to be g A Working Mechanic" wondering
what we can find to condemn in Mr.. Webster! :.
IF our correspondent had been much ad-
dcted to reading as he processes to be to 'Dork.
ing, he would have seen that we have never in
serted one line of Remuneration of Mr. Websters
course, where we have given ten OF direct and
mt least well considered reasons for it. We have
treated Mr.. Webster with greater consideration
than any man of equally pernicious errors and
lesser ability and historic renown. For Mr. Web
stcr, the Defender of the Constitution, we have
still a profound respect; for Mr. Webster, the
Minister of John Tyler the apologist for if not
the adviser of his evil deeds, we entertain very
different regard Toward Mr.. Webster, the pri-
vatc citizen, our course shall ever be that which
his own course shall Justify and require.
We have for some time been aware of the cir
cnla.ion of paper through the towns of New
Hampshire asking Mr.. Webster to permit his
name to be used in the Wing Convention as a
candidate for President of the United States =
Extraordinary as this movement is we have not
seen any good reason to oppose or notice it. II
Mr.. Webster has Wing friends any where who
wish to place his name thus before the Wing Ma.
tonal Convention, they have a perfect right TO do
it, and we interpose no objection True, we know
very we'll that Mr.. W., if a candidate for Presi-
dent in his palmest days of usefulness and unsul-
he'd fame, would have been beaten worse in n. II.
than any other Wing without exception. He was
more hated and dreaded by the demagogues who
control that State than any other living man his
name was their standing and most effective bug
bear wherewilh TO fright the simple into the sup
port of men and measures condemned by their
calmer judgements.
But we need not assure Mr.. Webster, as the
Loco-Focos do his late chief, that j he should be
nominated for President we should support him.
Neither he nor those who are rendering him this
hollow, reluctant compliment, have the most dis
Electoral District in the Union which could be