Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-12-25

v
TO his mission, with much Of gentleness and resig
nation marked the last hours Of Danc Webster!
Mr.. PRESTON, of Kentucky. Nj. Speaker, hay,
been requested by of the gentlemen who compos,
the delegation from my State TO make remarks
upon the subject Of the message and resolutions
from the Senate which have been laid upon your table
this morning in relation the death of Mr. Webster
was their opinion peculiarly appropriate that Kentucky
Ia State long associated with Massachusetts, in po-
sympathy well in reciprocal admiration entertained
for two of the most eminent of their day-should
forward and add her testimonial to the esteem in
which she held his life and great public services and the
regret she experienced at the calamity which has been the
country The mind naturally goes back in looking over
the great of Daniel Webster the period of his
BIRTH seventy years ago. In the northern part of the
State of New Hampshire, amid its mountain scenery and
beneath the roof Of his pioneer father the future
man first drew the breath of life, and mbbed amid that
wild scenery and those mountains that freedom thought
that dignity and that intellectual health which left
debe mark upon his oratory and public in after
life. No man has earned greater reputation, in the
present tme in forensic endeavor than Mr. Webster
whose reputation could challenge comparison unless
II be one who also born in similar obscure station
of e amid the marshes of Hanover and whose future
led him TO the summit of the Appalachian range
with the great tide of population which poured from Vr
gina upon the fertile plains of Kentucky Their dest
ny has been useful great and brilliant From that period
to this these celebrated contemporaries have been
conspicuous in the career Of public utility to which they
devoted their lives and by their dgnifed craftsmanship
States, but of the nation and of mankind. For forty
years they swayed the councils of their country and the
year them consigned to the grave The states
of Ashland died in this city, before the foliage Of
summer sere, and sent with the honors of his
country back to the resting place which he occupies
in the home Of his early adoption The winds of
beatupon the stern New England shoreshe shores of
Plymouth where the Pilgrim Fathers landed-and caught
the expiring breath of Daniel Webster he terminated
his life of honorable service The dirge that the night
winds now utter through the prmeya forests of Ashland
lament for one the surges of the wintry ocean, they
beat upon the shores of Marshfed, fitting requiem
TO the other.
There two points particular prominence in the
life of Webster to which will alude. All remember the
celebrated struggle of $780, The greatest minds of the
country, seeing the constitutional questions involved from
different points of view, were embroed in controver-
sy The darkest apprehensons entertained gal
liant and gifted Senator from South Carolina with ge
MUS and fire characteristic of the land of his birth had
expressed the views of his party with great ability and
as thought with irresistible eoquence The eyes of
the country directed to Webster the champion of
the Constitution and the Union. Crowds of beautiful wo
and anxious that day thronged the other wing
Of the Capitol What patriotic heart in the nation has
yet forgotten that noble and memorable reply? deep
and enthusiastic sentiment of admiration and respect
thrilled through the heart Of the people, and yet the
triumph Of that of New England is consecraedn the
memory Of his countrymen Subsequently, the Chief Ma
gstrate of the Union, President Jackson announced
opinions of similar character in his celebrated Procla
nation, and men of all parties felt that rampant had
been erected for the defence of the Constitution
At period more recent, within the remembrance of ALL
Daniel Webster again appeared in another critical
gency that mperlled the safety of the republic 1t was
the 9TH of March, 1850 Excited by the territorial ques-
ton, the spirit of anaticsm broke forth with fearful vo-
lence from the North But it did shake his undaunt
ed soul He gazed with majestic serenity at the Storm
and sublime in his sefreiance Virgil describes Mez
entius, surrounded by his enemies,
"He, like a solid rock by seas enclosed,
To raging winds and roaring exposed
From his proud summit looking down, disdains
remains
great portion of the fame Of Daniel Webster rests
upon the events of that day, and his patriotism having
endured the tempest his reputation shone with fresh
lustre after it had passed Clay and Webster that day
stood linked handnh hand and averted the perils that
menaced their common country In the last great
their lives in the Senate they drew closer the bonds of
union between the North and South like those lofty Cor
dileras that stretching along the Isthmus of Panama
bind ndissoube bonds Northern and Southern America
and alike beat back from their rocky sides the fury Of
either ocean These Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the
House, the memories that make in our Western
homes reverence the names of Clay and Webster.
The gentleman from Massachusetts,, (Nlr. DAyIs) in
his eloquent tribute the genius and fame of Daniel
Webster has chosen apply him the remark by which
Cicero characterizes Brutus@' QHid qtad uul ralde
Uu" II he viii pardon me, think the description APP
piled by the great orator whom he has quoted Grac
chus is striking EogueRd guidena nesco an ha-
buiss parea grandis est rerJ, sapiss ssnteatds gee
toto grari" If however resemblance prevailed in this
respect between Caius Gracious and Webster it did not
in others Gracious we told was the frst Roman
who turned his back the Capitol and his face to
the people, the popular orators Of Rome that
time having always turned their faces to the Senate and
their backs the Forum Webster sought to sub
vert the Judgment OF the people by infamng their pas
sions. His sphere among of intellect His
power in convincing the minds of the cultivated and
Intellectual rather than by ervd harangues sway the
ignorant excite the multitude Cay-bold brilliant
and splendid, rushing at results with that intuition Of
that oustrips all the processes of logic
always commanded the heart and directed the action of
his party. Webster seemed deficient in some Of these
great qualities, as he surpassed him in others He APP
peared his natural auxiliary. Clay, the most brilliant
parliamentary leader, and probably unequaed, by
the Earl Of Chatham, whom he rcsembled, swept with
the velocity Of charge Of cavalry the ranks of his
opponents and often the victory before others were
prepared for the encounter Webster with his array of
facts his power Of statement and logical deductions
moved forward like the disciplined and serried infantry
with the measured tread Of deliberate resolution and m
4 resstible power.
Daniel Webster is dead He died without ever having
been elevated 10 the Presidency Of the nation Camius
the second founder of Rome enjoyed the Consulate
but he not less iusous because be reward
ed by the fasces and the consular purple Before the
ustre OF Websters renown merely presidential reputa-
ton must grow pale. He has not only left reputation
Of unsurpassed splendor in the Senate but he will also
pass down to posterty the abest and most profound
uris OF his day As orator. he had not as has been
correctly observed by Senator from New York the We
hemence Of Demoshenes the splendor Of Cicero but
still Daniel Webster was orator-an orator marked by
the characteristics OF the Teutonic race-bod massive,
and replete with manly force and vigor His writings
marked by deep philosophy which will cause them
be read when the issues that evoked them have passed
away, and the spendor Of imagination almost as rich
that Of Burke will invest them with attractions alike
for the student and the man Of letters
We should not deplore the death Of Webster Il is true
the star has shot from the sphere IL illuminated and is
in ofI pafh huf ho NJ Cal -