The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-10-29
MIR. Webster and the Wing Candidate.

of party which it everlastingly disgraces.
MIR. Webster and the Wing Candidate.
1t was intimated yesterday, on the authority
Of the New York Commercial advertiser, that
during his last illness Mr.. WEBSTER indited,
or specifically sanctioned, letter recommend
ing his personal and political friends to render
support to General ScoTr as the nominee of the
Wing party. The New York Courier of We'd
nesday reiterates the statement as within the
range of its EDITORS knowledge. Admitting
that Mr.. WEBSTER keenly felt the preference
given to the claims of another over his own, the
Courier remarks:
"But whatever the extent of his offerings from
the ingratitude of his countrymen, such was his
devotion to the Constitution and to those great
Wing principles which he deemed essential to its
support that but few days previous to his death
he dictated letter to five of his early friends, of
which we were one, recognising the obligations of
the Wing party to sustain the nominee Of the Bal
timore Convention, even while he deprecated, as
he ever has done, the too frequent practice of ele-
waiting military chieftains to the Presidency-a
practice which, harmless as yet, lie fraught with
danger to the future; and which, therefore, should
| not be perpetuated by presidents which will in
time exercise a dangerous influence upon the sta
bility of republican institutions. That letter, al
| though dictated from what proved to be bed of
DEATH and in full view of his responsibilities in
this world and that upon which he has speedily
entered, was never signed Its binding influence,
however, no one will dispute; while ts wisdom,
with COPS sanction will, we hope, be recognised
in all future time"
"That letter" dissipa the misrepresenta
tions with which Democratic journals have
teemed for weeks past, and removes the only
obstruction that has existed in the Wing ranks
since the nomination of General Scorr.
The Co,nier-one of Mr.. WEBsTER's
staunchest friends, and entitled, therefore, to
hold counsel with all who favored his nomina-
tion-makes this statement the basis of the
following appeal, which we commend to notice
as at once graceful and conclusive:
"There is no danger in the elevation of such
military chieftain as Winfield Scott to the Presi-
dency; and while Mr.. Webster was in this in
stance prepared to recognise the absolute neces.
sity of sustaining the action of the Baltimore Con-
vention in order to secure triumph to the princi-
pies which dear to him, he was equally
uesTouS ol libpTesSlnS upon INC people tnat SUCH
experiments could not be INDUCED in hereafter
without danger to the institutions of country.
"And now we would appeal to those who, like
us, considered MIR. Webster immeasurably the
perior OF all others for the Presidencyto those who
with US mourned over his defeat at Baltimore, and
in the severity of our grief were almost ready to
forget our duty to our principles and to our coun-
try-to those who loved Daniel Webster as he loved
his country, and labored and sacrificed for Wing
principles and Wing supremacy, what is our duty
to his memory' What our duty to that Constitution
whose claims he ever considered paramount: to all
save those to his God? Standing "a it we're by the
mortal remains Of the patriot statesman, while his
immortal spirit is in the presencc Of Him who ere
atrd it, and calmly rehscting upon the past, the
present, and the future-what Wing who loved
the self sacrificing and patriotic virtues ofour great
leader, can refuse to do he most assuredly would
have done under similar circumstances3 To US
and to all true hearted Wings the path of duty is
very plain but however plain it may not be easy
to travel Daniel Websters public life very clear
ly demonstrates that the path of duty is fire.
quently srewn with thorus than with roses; yet he
fearessly and in a self sacrificing spirit travelled
that path, and has now gone TO reap his reward
from Him in whose hands rests the destiny of ma.
tons. And if we would embalm in our hearts his
virtues, and perpctuate the blessings secured by
the principles he sustained we must initiate his
practices, walk in his footsteps, and respect his
counsels.
Fellow Whigs-friends and admirers of the
great departed-you may not in your grief for the
dead forget your duty to the living Men fade
away suddenly, like the grass? In the morning it is
green and groweth up; but in the evening it is
cut down, dried up and withered' But their
principles perish not with them. Daniel Webster
is gone; but his principles those principles in
scribed upon the Wing banner, to which his whole
life was devoted, and by which he declare as
immortal as is the spirit of him who was their great
expounder and supporter. They needed support
from you even when our great leader with us,
nobly battling in their defence; and doubly do they
need it that he longer here to lead to
battle and to victory Shall we shrink from duty
on Tuesday next, and by staying ut home turn our
backs upon the great principles to which Daniel
Webster devoted all the energies Of his mighty intel
cct; shall we ruthessly rample them in the DUST
by voting for franklin Pierce, who by word and
deed stands Pledged to prove them false, and thus
dishonor the faith and the life of our departed friend?
Or shall we, in imitation of the patriotism of Da-
MEL Webster, and mindful alike of our duty to
country, self respect, and the wishes of the
iustrious dead. give TO the nominee OF the Bahi
more Convention that yea lous and unanimous sup.
port to which, the representative of the prn-
ciples of the great Wing par ty, he is go justly
titled,
1--WE cannot doubt what will be the response Of
every IVrbstsr Wing 10 this appeal. He will feel
in the inpermost Of bis soul that il comes
from the grave Of the greatest Of American statcs
men-one of the purest and most devoted patriots;
from who living had no rival in expouuding
dead still gives to the principles upon which 1t lie
based a triumphant victory. Every page of our
history which records the events of the last
thirty years will illustrate the genius, the pa
triotism, and the greatness of Daniel Webster;
but the brightest page in that history-thc one
which will be alike honorable to the living and the
dead-will be that which records that the triumph
Of Wing principles in 1852 was mainly nttributa-
BILE to the universal respect which a whole nation
bore for him who had illustrated thOse principles
with his life and in bis death. Living, he had no
equal-dead, he exercises an influence even greater
than that which he possessed in life backed by the
nower and the natrona ore of Government What