Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853, 1852-12-23


any Of its rights and privileges Of navigation and
commerce.
DO you think he believed that Daniel Web
ster knew better. In 1874, only seven years
before, he had said What when all the civ
ilised world Is opposed TO slavery; when moral
ity denounces il; when Christianity denOunces
| IL; when everything respected, everything good,
bears one united witness against II, is 1t for
1 Amerca.--America, the land Of Washington,
the model Republic Of the worlds It for
America 70 come to its assistance, and TO insist
that the maintenance Of slavery Is necessary 70
the support Of her instiiutionsl'
How do you think the audience answered.
With six and twenty cheers. II was in Fan
er;i Hall. Said Webster: These are wing
principles and with these 'Faneuil Hall may
laugh q siege 10 scorn.' That speech is not
printed in his collection How could it stand
side by side with the speech Of the seventh of
MorchP
What was the motive Of all this 1t was TO
save the Union. Such was the cry. Was the
Union in danger9 Here were few monroe
sistants at the North, who said, we will have mo
union with the shareholders There were e
party of seceders at the South who periodically
clustered about disunion. Could these men bring
the Union into peril? Did Daniel Webster think
SOP shall never insult that giant intellect by
the thought. He knew South Carolina, he
knew Georgia very well. He knew there was
no danger Of the dissolution Of the Union. But
here is proof that he knew it. In 1850, on
the 22d of December, he declared There is no
longer imminent danger of the dissolution of The
United States. We shall live and not die But
soon after, he went about saving the Union
again, and again, and again--saved it at Buffalo,
Albany, Syracuse, and then at Capon Springs.
say there was no real danger, but my opn-
ion is mere opinion, and nothing more. Look
at fact. We have the most delicate test Of public
opinion, the state Of the public funds--the barom-
eter which indicates any change in the political
weather. II the winds blow down the Tiber,
Roman funds fall. Talk Of war between France
and England, the stocks go down at Paris and
London. The foolish talk about the fisheries
last summer, lowered American stocks in the
market, to the great gain of the brokers. But
all this time, when Mr.. Webster was telling us
the Ship of State was going to pieces, wanted
girding by the Fugitive Slave bill, and needed
the kidnapper's hand at the helm-while he was
advising us TO conquer our prejudices-while
he was denouncing the friends of freedom, and
calling on us to throw over to Texas-the mon
ster Of the deep that threatened to devour the
Ship Of State-ffty thousand square miles of
v,
other monster of Secession, to cast over the tri-
al by jury, the dearest principles of the consti-
tuition, of manhood, of justice, and of religion,
those thoughts that wander through eternity
while he himself revoked the noblest words of
his life, throwing over his Interpretation of the
Constitution, his respect for State rights, for
common law, his own morality, his own religion,
and his God-the funds of the United States
! did &c: go down one mill.
You ask the capitalist lis the Union in dam
ger? He answers, oh yes, it is in the great
est peril Then will you sell me your stock
lower than before?' 'Not millp Not the Ten
hundredth part of dollar in a hundred To
ask man to make such sacrifice at such
time for such motive, is as if you should ask
the Captain of the steamer Niagara, in Boston
harbor, to throw over all his cargo, because a
dandy in the cabin was blowing the fire with
his breath. No, my friends, shall not insult
the majesty of that intellect with the thought
that he believed there was danger to the Union.
There was not any danger of storm, not a sim
gle catspaw in the sky, not capful Of bad
weather between Cape Sable and the Lake of
the Woods!
Here is the reason. He wanted to be Presi-
dent. That was all of it. He must conciliate
the South. This was his bid for the Presiden-
and ten millions Of dollars to Texas; four new
Slave States Slavery in California and New
Mexico; the Fugitive Slave Bill; and two hun
bred millions of dollars offered to Virginia to
carry free men Of color TO Africa.
He never so labored before, and he was always
a Woodworking man. What speeches he made
at Boston, New York, Philadel phia, Albany,
Buffalo, Syracuse, Annapolis! What letters he
wrote! His intellect was never so active be-
fore, nor gave such proofs Of such herculeanl
power. The fountains of his great deep were
broken up-he rained forty days and forty
nights, and brought on food of slavery over
this whole land; it covered the market, and the
factory, and the courthouse, and the warehouse
and the college, and rose high over the tops of
the tallest steeples! But the ark of freedom
went on the face Of the waters-above the mar
ket, above the courthouse, above the factory,
over the college, higher than the tops Of the
tallest steeples, it foated secure-for it bore
the religion that is to save the world, and the
Lord God Of Hosts had shut it in.
What flattery was there from Mr.. Webster
What fattery TO the South; what respect for
Southern nullifers, and what scorn against the
fanatics of the North, against the higher law,
and the God thereof How he complimented
the Catholics at New York, and the Methodist
ministers at Boston, and all this for ambition
Oh. what prostration Of what a power Then
what shrinking of great consciences, and hearts
and minds So Milton, failing, sings that an
gels fallen from the first estate, seeking to en-
ter Pandemonium:
"To smallest forms reduced, their shame nsej
$3.50 They who but seemed
In bIgness to SuTpSss Esrth's giant sons,
Now less than smallest dWarfS narrow room
ThTong number less, and were at large,
mbeFB still folnd dat HE aID
OF that nfernal court"
After the 7th of March, Mr.. Webster became