The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-11-11
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DANIEL
WEBSTER.


u.~oh 1s4I. he justified the confident expec
,s,;on of the whole country, by giving MIR
Mebster carte blanche for any Department h'
might choose to select in his Cabinet. 1t was
the wish OF the President TO place HIM at the
head of the Treasury Department, the elnbar
rassed condition of the country. and MIR. Web
s,er's thorough knowledge OF Finance, sug
costing such arrangement as the best tina
could possibly be made for the benefit OF the
country. Mr.. Webster, himself, however, de
elined undergoing the drudgery of the Trea
sury, and selected, in preference, the Depart
nent of State, as more congenial to his taste
and as involving labor, equally severe, ii
might be, but of u more agreeable character
In avoiding one difficulty, he threw nm
self, without reserve, into another. Inc com
plexion of our foreign relations was, at the
time, dark and lowering beyond what they had
been at any period subsequent to the war oil
1872
The most formidable difficulties existed
with Observation-Disclosures some OF them, coe'
val with the existence OF nauon-whIch
the ingenuity of the greatest diplomatists had
failed to settle. The boundary question, the
difficulties arising out of the "Carolne" affair,
and the arrest of Mcleod, and the disagree
ments sprnging out ofthe interruption of our
vessels engaged in the African trade. had CIV
en- rise to q crisis, which the American Minis
ter in London considered SO serious, that he
communicated upon the subject directly with
the commander Of the fleet in the Mediter-
ranean Sea. The immense moral weight
which had been given to the government
of General Harrison, by the vast popular
majority ne had received, would doubtless
have been of essential service to MIR. Web
ster in the prosec of the ensuing negotIa-
tions. But he was deprived Of this advantage
by the death of General Harrison, on the 4h
of April, IS41, precisely one month after he
had taken his seat. His successor, Mr.. Tyler,
quarrelling soon after with the Wings, by
whom he had been elected, was not supported
by the Democrats, and continued, through
nearly the whole Of his Administration, to 60
vern without q party. OF course, MIR. Web
ster, who continued in office, had to contend
with the disadvantages which the diplomatic
representative of a popular government in the
minority is always subjected to. 1t is credita-
BILE to Mr.. Tyler that he gave him the entire
management of these several diplomatic ct
fairs.
1t is necessary to give a succinct narrative
Of the diplomatic proceedings connected with
these subjects, previous to the advent OF Mr..
Webster TO the Department Of State.
To commence with the boundary question.
This question had been the subject OF continual
and Intellectual negotiation between the two
countries ever since the peace ofl7S3. At one
time the King ofthe Netherlands had been cho-
sen arbitrator, and Gen. Jackson, who was at
the head ofthe government, was on the point of
acceding to his award land OF issuing his procla-
nation, declaring it the law of the land hen his
purpose was changed by the urgent counsel of
his constitutional advisers, who represented to
him that the States of Maine and Massachu
sets were excited upon the subject 10 degree
of frenzy which might prove dangerous to the
integrity of the Union itself. So troublesome
did the question prove during the rest of his
administration, that he is said to have declared
that the only occasion on which he had suf-
fered himself to be overruled by his friends,
was the very one, of all others, on which he
should have stuck to his own opinion" Dplo-
matte correspondence was still kept up, both
at Washington and London, with no other eff
feet than that of strengthening both sides in
their preconceived opinions. So far as Great
Britain was concerned, the report of MIR. Fea.
upon actual explorations, though he had made
none, was sanctioned by the ministry, and
seemed to extinguish the last hope of an ami
cable adjustment. The arrest of Mcleod, in
consequence of his alleged participation in the
outrage upon the " Caroline" added fuel to
the fame already in progress, and threatened
an immediate rupture. Lord Palmerston wrote
to Mr.. Fox that if Mcleod were condemned, il
would be impossible for any minister to resis
the popular demand for immediate war.
At the same time Lord Palmerston was USING
every means in his power To obtain of Franc,
her signature to the treaty, since known as tn.
Quintupie Treaty, by which the five great DOW
ers, England, France, Russia, Prussia auf
Austria, entered into certain engagements 70,
the suppression of the African slave trade. A.
the United States refused to become partv If
this treaty, she would have been placed in p
situation OF extreme danger, had il taken effec,
On the 9th of August, l84l, only one day
be fore the expiration of the Melbourne Minis
try the Minister for Foreign Affairs addressed
TO Mr. Stevenson 1.-THE American Ambassador,
note IN which he took ground SO high as &c
call forth reply of considerable fairness or
the part OF the latter. Lord Aberdeen, who
succeeded Lord Palmerston, answered ,hi.
note' and MIR. Stevenson rejoined, on the da,
Oh his leaving London, October 10Th, 1871 -
mr. Everett who succeeded Mr.. Stevenson
received The reply of Lord Aberdeen, which
was dated ruth December, the day on which
rue ouintuple Treaty was signed, and con
faEneH a m I'll