The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent., 1851-03-07
mr.. Webster's Letter.

oVbH VA JauutIJ last.
WASHINGTON, JANUARY 81, 1851.
GENTLEMEN: | have to acknowledge the re-
eeipt of your letter of the 18th of this month,
inviting me to attend a meeting proposed to be
holden at Tarrytown on the 30th instant, by
the people of Westchester county, without
any distinction of party, who approve of the
compromise measures of the last session of
Congress.
My public duties do not allow me to accept
this invitation; but you need not doubt that
cordially approve the objects and purposes for
which the people of Westchester propose to
assemble.
hope the spirit of disunion may be consd-
cred as now, in some degree, checked; but that
it has existed, both at the North and the South;
and does still exist to dangerous extent, can
not, as it seems TO me, be denied by any honest
man.
In the South, the separation Of the States is
openly proposed, discussed, and recommended,
absolutely or eondtionally, in legislative halls,
and in conventions called together by the au-
thority of the law.
In the North, the State Governments have
not run into such excess, and the purposes of
oyerturning the Government shows itself more
clearly in resolutions agreed to in voluntary as
-semblieS of individuals denouncing the laws of
the land, and declaring fixed intent to disobey
them.
notice that in one of these meetings, hel-
den lately in the very heart of New England,
and said to have been very numerously atten-
ded the members unanimously resolved "That
as God is cur helper, we viii not suffer any
person charged with being a fugitive from la
Dor to be taken from among us, and TO this re-
solve we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and
our sacred honor
These persons do not seem to have been
aware that the purpose thus aYowed by them is
distinctly reasonable. If any law of the land
be resisted, by force of arms or force of num-
bers, with declared declared intent to resist the app-
cation of this law in all cases, The The Is !eryng
war against the Government, within the mean
ing of the Constitution and is an act of treas
on: drawing after it all the consequence OF that
offence This is the precise case in which con-
victions for treason took place in Pennsylvania,
during Gen. Washington's administration. And
not only does such spirit as this manifest IT.
self in heated and violent public assemblies, but
is also defended, encouraged, and commended
by considerable portion of the public press;
and, what is still worse, the pulpit, in too many
instances, uttered these tones of opposition to
the law, instead of the voice of christian meek
ness, repentance and the fear of God. Indeed
occasions have happened in which men and
women have engaged in sort of rivalry or
contest, to see whether the laws of society, or
the institution of religion, and the authority
of the Divine Revelation, could be treated with
the more contempt.
1t is evident that if this spirit be not check
ed, it will endanger the Government; if it
spread far and wide, it will overthrow the Gov
ernment
There are ample pledges, gentlemen, that
with you and your fellow citizens of Westches-
ter no other feeling will be entertained than.
that of Jealous attachment to the Union and
the Constitution and determination to sup
port both to the last extremity. Among your
committee see the son of great and an Illus
trious man, equally distinguished in the revo-
lutionqry and constitutional period of his
country. ALEXANDER HAMnToN was one of
the twelve commissioners who met at Anna
polls in September 1856, and recommending
to the country the establishment of a Const-
tuition of Government adequate to the exigen-
cies of the Union."' Here was the cradle of
that form of government which has so long
bound us altogether, and made US so prosper
Gus at home, and so much respected abroad.
Where the blood of Alexander Hamilton fills
the veins, or his example or patriotic services
are remembered, the language of separation,
secession, and disunion will find no utterance,
and pun poses of violent resistance to the laws
no appreciation or tolerance.
Gentlemen, the mortal remains of another
great man, yenerated and loved through the
whole course ofa long life, repose in the coun-
ty of Westchester; of course mean JOHN JAY
The public life of this ilIustrious man was al
fal ~ fha nf1
the Union of the States, the establishment of
the Constitution, and the administration of the
powers conferred under it. No man saw more
clearly or felt more deeply the evils arising
from the existence Of States with entire and
distinct sovereigntes. No man appealed to
his countrYmen against such state of things
with more earnestness, eloquence, or power.
He was the beginning of a spirit very much
like that which exists now; he foretold its dam
gers, and did as much as any man to rescue
the public opinion from its pernicious grasp.
In 1885 he wrote to friend sit is my first
wish to see the United States assume and mer-
it the character of one great nation, whose ter
ritorY is divided into different States merely for
more convenient Government" In 1887 he
said:
at has until lately been a received and un-
contradictory opinion, that the prosperity of
America depended on their continuing firmly
united; and the wishes, prayers; and efforts of
our best and wisest citizens have been con-
stantly directed to that object. But politicians
now appear, who insist that this opinion is er-
roneous, and thai instead Of looking for safety
and happiness in union, we ought to seek in
division Of the States into distinct confede-
racies or sovereignties."
sThis country and this people seem to have
been made for each other, and it appears as if
it was the design of Providence that an inher-
itence so proper and conyenientfor band Of
brethren united to each other by the strongest
ties should never be split into number of
unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereigntes.
.They who promote the idea of substituting
a number of distinct confederacies, in the room
of the plan Of the Convention, seem clearly to
foresee that the rejection Of it would put the
continuance of the Union in the utmost jeopar-
dy. That certainly would be the case and I
EsncereIy wish that it may be as clearly fore-.
seen by every good citizen, that whenever the
dissolution of the Union arrives, America will
have reason to- exclaim, in the words of the
poet, Farewell! a long farewell to all my great
ness.
When am speaking Of the ardent attach
ment of John Jay to the Union of the Ameri-
can States / cannot forbear even at the risk of