Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-09-22
SPEECH or THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER

Giring his rjeics Of ihs three Presidential can
didai's.-DeIirSred September /. 1913.
Reported for the Boston Traveller by DR STONE.
Although tits not nv purpoSr, during tho re-
cess Of Congr 'ss, IN nd lrass public assemblies
on political subjects have felt it my duty to
comply with your request, as neighbors and
townsmen, and 10 meet you to-day. am not
unwilling to avail myself Of this occasion In sig.
nifty to the people Of the United States my opin-
ions upon the present state Of our public offiiIs.
] shall perform that duty certainly with great
frankness-I hope with candor.
ltis not my purpose to-day TO endeavor 10
carry any point-to act as any mans advocate
to put up or put down any body. wish and
| propose to address you in the language and in
the spirit Of conference and consultation.
In the present extraordinary crisis of our pub
lie concerns, desire TO hold no mans con-
science but my own.
Nv own opinions | shall communicate freely
and fearessly with equal disregardt to consequen.
ces, whether they respect myself or respect
others.
We are on the eve Of ahighy important Pres
/, idental election. In two or three months the
people Of this country will be called upon to
elect President of the United States and all
see and all feel that great interests Of the coun-
try are to be affected for good or evil by the re.
suit of this election.
OF the interesting subjects over which the
person who shall be elected must necessarily
exercise more or less control, there are espe-
cially three, vtaly connected, in my Judgment
with the honor and happiness Of the country.
In the first place, the honor and happiness of
tho,t th
be a chief magistrate elected who shall not
plunge US into further wars Of ambition and
conquest.
In my judgment, the interests of the country
AMI the feelings of vast ma orily require that
a President Of these United States should be
elected, who will neither use official influence
TO promote, nor who feels any desire in his heart
to promote, the further extension Of slavery in
this community, [great cheering or the further
Influence of it in the public councils.
In the third place, if have any just estimate
it an experience, mot now a short one,) in
public affairs has enabled me TO know ANYTHING
of what The public prosperity demands-in the
next place say, that the state of the country
does require an essential reform in the system
ofrevenu9 and finance, such as shall restore the
prosperity, by promoting the industry and fos-
tering the labor of the country in its various
branches.
There are other things important. will not
allude 10 them. These three hold to be es-
sentia.
There are three candidates presented 10 the
choice Of the American people.
General Taylor is the Wing candidate, STAN
ding upon the nomination Of the Wing Conven-
ton ] General Cass is the candidate of the op-
posing and now dominant party in the country;
and third candidate is presented in the person
of Mr.. Van Buren,, by q convention of fellow
citizens assembled al Buffalo, whose obiect--or
whose main object-as it appears to me, is con-
tanned in one Of these considerations which |
have mentioned; and that is, the prevention of
the further increase Of slavery. An object in
which you and |, gentlemen, so far as that goes,
entirely concur with them, am sure.
Most of us who are here to-day are Wings
National Whigs-Massachusetts Whgs-Od
Colony Wings, and Marshfed Wings, Tcheers:l
and if the Wing nomination made at Philadel.
phia were entirely satisfactory to the people Of
Massachusetts and TO US, our path Of duty would
be plain.
The nomination of candidate for the Pres.
idency made by the Wing Convention at Pha-
delphia, is not satisfactory TO the Wings of Mas
sachusetts: that is certain; and it will be idle to
attempt 10 conceal the fact.
Itis now more just and more patriotic to take
facts as they are, and things as they are, and
declare our own conviction of duty from what
exists before us.
However respectable and distinguished in the
line OF his own profession, or however eslma-
bic as private citizen, Gen. Taylor is militia
ry man and military man merely. He has
had notraining in civil affairs. lie has perform.
ed no functions of civil nature under the Con.
stitution of his country. He has been known,
and is known only by his brilliant achievements
at The head of an army.
Now the Wings of Massachusetts, and a.
mong them, are of opinion that it was not wise,
nor discreet, to 90 to the army for the selection
of a candidate for the Presidency of the United
States. ltis the first instance in our history in
which any man Of mere military character has
been proposed for that high office.
Gen. Washington was great military char
Ncter; but by far greater civil character. He
had been employed in the councils of his coun-
Try from the earliest dawn of the Revolution
he had been in the Continental Congress-he
had established great character for civil wis.
dom and Judgment.
After the war, you know, he was elected
member Of that Convention which framed the
constitution Of the United States; and it was
one Of the most honorable tributes ever paid TO
him, that, by that assembly Of great and wise
men, he was selected to preside over their de-.
liberatons, aud had his name first attached TO
the Constitution under which we live. Presi-
dent Harrison was bred soldier, and at differ
ent periods of his life rendered important mill
tary services. But President Harrison, never.
iheless, was for, much greater period of his
life, employed in civil, than in military service.
For twenty years he was either Governor of a
5 Territory, member of one or the other Houses
Of Congress, or Minister abroad, and discharged
all these duties to the satisfaction of his coun.
Try.