Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1851-08-04

ser to spend some time at Marshfeld during tine
present summer, addressed an invitation to him.
requesting visit at such time as would be con-
veuient to him. The correspondence appears in
the Barnstable Patriot The following is the
reply of Mr.. Webster:
WASHINGTON, July Il, 1851.
GENTLEMEN: | have received your friendly
letter of the 4th of this month, and am highly
gratified with the patriotic sentiments expressed
therein. Indeed, | should have expected nohiog
else, because such sentiments are worthy of those
pilgrim fathers from whom you are descended,
as we'll as of the general character of your COM.
munity.
1t will give me much satisfaction if circum-
stances should allow. to accept your invitation to
pass day among you.
In the meantime shall be most happy to send
to each of you such productions OF mine as may
fully explain my sentiments in respect to the great
questions of the present time.
With some OF you have the pleasure of being
personally acquainted, as | have often been in
your good town of Dennis. as well as in all the
other towns on tine Cape. / see also attached to
your letter many names not personally known to
me, but belonging to families with which | have
had acquaintance in former times. / have al
ways found the air of your country delightful in
summer, and there are many sea views remarka-
bly, fine; and | suppose l ought to confess, also,
that in these my pleasant visits did not entirely
neglect the streams, so highly estimated by the
anglers who have thrown the fly in them.
Gentlemen, the nature of your population is
somewhat peculiar. I have often been struck by
the very great number of sea captains, as well as
other mariners, which the county of Barnsable
and the neighboring islands furnish. On the cape
and on the islands I have frequently conversed
with persons who seemed as we'll acquainted with
the Galapagos Islands, the Sandwich Islands. and
some parts of New Holland, as with our counties
of Hampshire and Berkshire.
was once engaged in the trial of cause in
your district in which question arose respecting
the entrance into the harbor of Owhyee, between
reefs of coral rock guarding it on either SIDE The
counsel for the opposite party proposed to call wit
nesses to give information to the jury concerning
this entrance. / at once saw smile which [
thought understood; and suggested to the Judge
thai very probably some Of the Jurors had seen the
entrance themselves; upon which seven out the
twelve jurors rose and said that they were quite
familiarity acquainted with it, having seen it Of
ten.
The occurrence, | dare say, is remembered by
that most worthy man and eminent Judge, now
living, as am happy to know, and enjoying in adj
vanced life the affection of his friends, and tho
respect of all who know him; Imean Judge Put
nam. This incident shows the nature of the en-
Payments pursued by your neghbors and your
selves.
With the more elderly gentlemen of your coun-
ty, l have had the pleasure OF frequent CONVERSE
tons concerning early revolutionary times, and
especially respecting that extraordinary man,
James Otis. | have been where be lived, anc ex-
amined such of his papers as could find; but in
the latter part of his life he destroyed most Of his
| correspondence. MIR. Tudor has written very
good histsry Of his life; and you all know the en-
pha,ic eulogy pronounced on him by the elder
a L. +l,o4 s. n +l,o
ball of the Revolution in motion. Warm eloquent,
and highly imprisoned in the cause of liberty,
his brilliant life was terminated by stroke of
| lightning.
None were earlier to begin, none more perse-
veringly maintained, more zealously struggled to
maintain the cause of the Revolution, than the
people on the Cape All the region about James
OTIS and the Thomases, and the other true-hearted
patriots of those times, is to me sort OF classic
grou nd; remote, without large cities, scattered
along an extensive coast there was yet, think, in
no part of the country more fervent devoonto
the pat riotic cause than was manifested by your
ancestors
| Gentlemen, l am quite sure you ascribe too
muchmerit to my efforts in behalf of the Union
and of the Constitution. | can only say, have
done what could and all that | could; and that
shall not slacken my hand. Perhaps it is natural
that you should be attached to free and regular
constitutions OF government, since all know that
the first written constitution in the country was
composed and signed on board Of the Mayfower,
while she was riding at anchor in one Of the har-
bors of the Cape. Your own prosperity, gentle
men, the success of all your leading pursuits, the
prosperity of your county, and o. the whole State
of Massachusetts, are, at tins moment, living mon
unaents of the benefits conferred by the Constitu-
ton of the United States and the administration Of
government under It,
Your soil has always been free soil; as such
YOU and your ancestors have cultivated it for CEN
turies; it needs no new christening; but what the
peope of Massachusetts wanted and your coun-
y among The rest, before the adoption of the pre-
sent Constitution, was FREE sEAs--free seas on
which their industry could be displayed, and their
national rights protected.
Bv The blessing of Providence they have en-
joyed this freedom, and this protection, for long
course of years, and have fourished and prospered
under them beyond all former example.
What if your soil be not of the richest quality,
what if be not fertile like Western New York
and the western States, still hardly know part
of the country in which the people enjoy more
substantial comfort. have traversed the whole
from the ''outsde' in Provincetown to the line of
Plymouth without seeing an instance OF ragged
poverty or of absolute want. Your abors are on
the sea. In more emphatic sense than can be
said of any other people, your home is on the deep.
Nevertheless, the home OF your families; the home
of your affections; the home to which you return
with so much gladness of heart, is in the various
towns on the Cape "where all you treasures be-"
| trust that there is not man among you who
does not feel and see that the prosperity of his la
Dor is mainly connected with the administration of
the Government of the United States; and, there
tore, trust that the political air OF the Cape will
always remain as healthy its natural atmosphere
and that it will be free from faction and fanati-
cism as it is from fogs and vapors.
If your hardy and enterprising young men go
eastward pursuing their employments, to the
Bay of Chaleur, the Straits, or the Grand Bank,
do they not receive positive protection and en-,