Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-11-06
REMARKS OF MR.. CHOATE ON THE DEATH OF
MR.. WEBSTER.

l. MIX. WEBSTEK.
We copy the following report of the remarks Of
Mr. CHoATE, delivered on Thursday last in the
United States Circuit Court, at Boston, on present
ing to the Court the resolutions of the Members Of
the Suffolk Bar in relation to the death Of Mr..
WEBSTER
Nay please yOy Honors have been requested by the
Members of the Bar of this Court to add few words to
the resolutions just read in which they have embodied
they able their for the death Of their be-
loved and illustrous member and countryman DANIEL
WEBSTER their estimation Of his character lfe and
genius their Of the bereavement the country
as to his friendsncspable Of repair the pride, the
fondness the al and patriotic pride and fondness with
which they cherish, and would consgn to history to
cherish, the memory Of great and good man.
And yet could earnestly have desired to be excused
from this duty He must have known Mr. Webster less
and loved him less than your Honors, or than have
known and loved him, who can quite yet-qute yetbe-
fore comprehend that have lost him forever
before the first paeness with which the of his death
oyerspread cheeks has passed away before have
been down lay him in the Pilgrim soil he loved well,
till the heavens be more, he must have known and
loved him less than have done, who come here
quite yet recount the series of his service to display
with psychological exacness the traits of his nature and
mind to ponder and speculate the secrets, the
we shall see no more in action aught in any degree
resembling it, among These first moments should
be given to grief 1t may employ, it may promote, a
calmer mood to construct elaborate and less I'M
worthy memorial.
For the purposes of this moment and place. indeed no
more is needed What there for this court this bar
to learn from me- learn here and of him The year
and the day Of his birhhat birthplace the frontier
yet bleak and waste the well at which his childhood
drankdug by that father of whom he said that through
he fire. of of
shrank from danger, toll, sacrifice, to his
country and raise his children to condition better
than his own the elm tree that father planted fallen
now, father and have fallen that training OF the
giant infancy catechsm and Bible and Watts version
of the psalms and the traditions of Plymouth and Fort
William and Mary, and the revolution and the age Of
Washington and Frankln-on the banks OF the Merri-
mack, flowing sometimes in flood and anger from his Sc
springs in the crystal hs-the two district school
masters, Chase and Tappanthev village brary-the dawn
ing Of the love and ambition Of lettershe few months
at Exeter and Boscawen, the life of college, the proba
tionary season of oteachng, the cerkship in the
Fryeburg registry of deeds his admission to the bar
presided by Judges like Smith, illustrated by prac
tsers such Mason where by the studies in the con-
tenons Of nine years. he laid the foundations of the
fessiona mind; his irresistible attraction to public life
the Grafton commerce, the Rockingham resolutions his
first term of four years service in Congress- when by one
bound he sprung his place by the side of the foremost
of the rising American statesmen; his removal to this
State and then the double and parallel current in which
his life, studs thoughts cares, have since flowed bear
him to the leadership of the bar by universal acclaim
bearing him to the leadership of public eas of that
surprising triumyirate shall say the greatest most
widely known and admired of athese things to their
minutest Details known and rehearsed familiarity
Happier than the younger Pny happier than Cicero he
has found his historian, unsolicited in his life meand
his countrymen have him all by heart!
There is then, nothing to tell you nothing to bring to
mind. And then, if may borrow the language of
beautiful pathos the uttered itself yester-
day in Faneu HAIL dare not here and dismiss
in few summary paragraphs the character Of who
has filled such space in the history, who holds such
place in the heart Of his country 1t would be disre
specul familiarity to OF his lofty spirit his great
SOUL his rich endowments his long and honorable e to
endeavor thus to weigh and estimate thema half hour
of words handful Of earth for fifty Of great deeds
on hign places
But although the time does not require any thing Ella
boraed and adequate-forbids it rather-some broken
of generation and love may be INDUCED to the
sorrow which Expresses
There presents ITSELF on the first and to any observa-
ton Of Mr.. Websters life and character two-fold emi
nence-eminence of the very highest rank in two-fold
field Of intellectual public dispay-the profession of the
law, and the profession Of craftsmanship, Of which il
would not be easy to recall any parallel in the biography
| Of illustrious men.
Without seeking for parallels and without asserting
that they do not exist consider that he by universal
designation the leader of the general American Bar and
that he ALSO by equally universal designation,
foremost of her statesmen living at his deathnferior to
who has lived and acted since the opening Of his
Il
separately and from opposite sides Of the surprising ee
vatoh Consider that his single ut the bar may
TO have been enough to employ the largest faculties
without repose for lifetime and that if then and thus
the "iafnus, toreun labor should have conduct
cd him to professional rewards Bench Of Chan
Gerry Law, the Of the first Of advocatesjr
rorua etoquentssisusto the pure and mere fame Of
great magistrate that that would be much is aot
ted to the abest in the distribution of fame Even that
half if may say so, Of his illustrious reputatonhow
long the labor to win it how worthy Of all that aber
lie bred first in the severest school Of the
law in which its doctrines expounded by Smith, and
its administration shaped and directed by Mason and its
foundation principles its historical and iustra
ons its connection with the parallel series Of statutory
enacments its modes of reasoning and the evidence Of
its truths, he grasped easily and completely; and have
myself heard him say that for many years. while still ut
that bar he tried causes and argued more questions
of fact to the jury than perhaps any other member Of the
profession any where. / have heard from others how
then he exempfed the direct clear, and for
chile exhibition Of proofs and the reasonngs appropriate
proofs well the marvellous power ofdiscern-
ing instantly what call the decisive points Of the
in law and fact by which he later widely cee
brated This was the first epoch in his professional
| training.
With the commencement Of his public fe or with his
later removal to this State began the second epoch of his
professional training him through the gra-
dalton Of the national tribunals the study and practice
of the flexible elegant and scientific Jurisprudence
of commerce and Of chancery, and the grander and
less ettered Investigations Of international prize and
constitutional awand giving him to breathe the air Of
more famous forum; in more public presence; with
more variety of competition although he met ADLER
men, as have heard him say, than of those who
initiated him in the rugged discipline Of the courts OF
New Hampshire; and thus at length by these studies,