The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-12-30


will probably be published in the course of the
month of February. For the following extract
from the preliminary memoir by the editor we
have been indebted to the first number of lite
rary journal just established in Boston by Mr..
CHARLES HALE, under the title OF .'To-
Day"
MR.. wEBsTER's BIRTH.
| The interval between the peace of 1863 and the
breaking out Of the of the Revolution was one
of excitement and anxiety throughout the colonies.
The great political questions of the day not
only discussed in the towns and cities, but in the
| villages and hamlets. Captain Webster (Mr.
| Webstcr's iathcr) took deep interest in those
discussions. Like many of the officers and SOL
ders of the former war, he obeyed the fret call to
| arms in the new struggle. He commanded n conn
| pany chiefly composed of his own townspeople,
| friends, and kindred, who followed him through
the greater portion Of the war. lie was at the bat
| tie Of White Plains, and was at West Point when
the treason of Arnold was discovered. He acted as
| a major under Stark, at Remington. and con-
tributed his share to the success of that eventual
| day.
| In the last year of the Revolutionary war, on
the 18th of January, 1852, Daniel Webster was
born, IN the home which his father had established
on the outskirts Of civilization II the character and
situation of the place. and the circumstances under
which he passed the first year of his life, might
seem adverse to the carly cultivation of his extra
ordinary talent it still cannot be doubted that they
| possessed influences favorable to elevation and
strength of character The hardships Of an infant
settlement and border life the traditions of long
series OF Indian wars, and of two mighty national
contests in which an honored parent had borne his
part, the anecdotes Of Fort William Henry of Que
bee, of Remington, Of West Point, of Wolfe and
Stark and Washington, the great Had and Odys
sey of American independence: this was the fire
side entertainment of the long winter evenings of
the secluded village home. Abroad the uninvitng
landscape, the harsh and craggy outlines of the
hills broken and relieved only by the unereal hem
lock and the cloud seeking pine, the lowlands ira
versed in every direction by unbridged streams,
the TALL charred trunks in the cornfelds, that told
how stern had been the struggle with the boundiess
woods and, at tho close of the year, the dismal
scene which presents itself III high attitudes in
thinly settled region, when
"The shows descend; and, foul and fierce,
All winter drives along the darkened air.
these circumstances to leave abiding i'm
precision the mind of thoughtful child, and in
duce an early maturity of character.
HIS FIRST PRACTICE OF HIS PROFESSION.
Immediately on his admission to the bar, Mr..
Webster went TO Amherst, in New Hampshire,
where his fathers court was in session; from that
place he went home with his father. He had in
tended to establish himself at Portsmouth, which,
as the largest town, and the seat of the foreign
commerce of the State. opened the widest field for
practice. But iilial duty kept him nearer home.
His father iniirm from the advance of
years, and had no other at home. Under these
circumstances Mr.. Webster opened an office at
Boscawen, not far from his fathers residence and
commenced the practice of the law in this retired
spot. Judge Webster lived but year after his
sons entrance upon the practice of his profession;
long enough, however, to hear his first argument
in court and to be gratifed with the confident pre-
dctons Of his future success.
In May, 1907, Mr. Webster was admitted as an
attorney and counsellor OF the superior court in
New Hampshire, and in September of that year.
renquishng his office in Boscawen to his brother
Ezekiel, he removed To Portsmouth, in conformity
with his original intention. Here he remained
In the practice OF his profession for nine success
sive years. They were years of assiduous labor
and of unremtted devotion to the study and
practice of the law. He associated with seve-
cral persons of great cmincnce, citizens of New
Hampshire OF Massachusetts occasionally prac-
tising at the Portsmouth bar. Among the latter
were Samuel Dexter and Joseph Story; of-the resi-
dents OF New Hampshire, jeremiah Mason was the
most distin gushed. Often opposed to each other
as lawyers, strong personal friendship grew up
between them, which ended only with the death of
Mr.. Mason. Mr.. Webser's euogy on MIR. Mason
will be found in Of the volumes of this collec-
ton, and will descend TO poscrity enduring
monument of both. Had more active tempera
ment led Mr.. Mason to embark earlier and con-
tinue longer in public life, he would have achieved
a distinction shared by few Of his contemporaries.
Mr. Webster had already been called upon to per-
form the came melancholy Office for Judge Story.
During the greater part of Mr.. Webster's prac
tice of the law in New Hampshire, Jeremiah Smith
chief justice of the State, learned and excel
lent Judge, whose biography has been written by
the Rev. John II. Morrison, and will well repay pc
rusal. Judge Smith was an early and warm
friend of Judge Webster, and this friendship de-
scended to the son, and glowcd in his breast with
fcryor till he went to his grave.
Although dividing with Mr.. Mason the best
Of the business of Portsmouth,, and, indeed of
all the eastern portion of the State, Mr.. Web
stcr's practice mostly on the circuit. He fol-
lowed the superior court through the principal
counties of the State, and was retained in nearly
every important cause IL is mentioned by Mr..
March, as a somewhat singular fact in his profess
slona life, that with the exception of the occasions
on which he has been associated with the Attorney
General of the United States for the time being, he
has hardly appeared ten times as Junior counsel.
Within the sphere in which he was placed, he may
he said to havo risen at once to the head of his pro-
feesion; not however, like Erskine and some other
celebrated British lawyers by and the same
bound, at once to fame and fortune. The Ameri-
bar holds forth such golden prizes, certainly
not in the smaller States. MIR. Webster's practice
in New Hampshire though probably as good as
tive Clients were not very rich, nor the concerns
litigated such as would carry heavy fees. AL
though exclusively devoted to his profession, it af
forded him more than bare livelihood.
But the time for which he practised at the New
Hampshire bar was probably not lost with refer
ence TO his future professional and political emi-
hence. His standard of legal attainment was
high. He associated with professional breth
rem fully competent TO put his powers to their beat
proof, and to prevent him from settling down in
early life into an easy routine of ordinary profes
sonal practice. IL was disadvantage, under
these circumstances, Except in reference TO inn
mediate pccuniary benefit,) to enjoy some portion
of that leisure for general reading, which is almost
wholly denied to the lawyer of commanding tall
ents, who steps Immediately into full practice in
large city
HIS SPEECH ON THE 9TH or MARCH, 1850.
There occurrences and the state of feeling
which they created Indicated appeared TO MIR.
Webster 20 constitute crises in the condition of
the country Of most formidable description.
Opinion nj the North and South had, in his judg
L HI I.....-