The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1852-11-24

the question of the Oregon boundary
had raised degree of national irrita-
tion which threatened war, the bare fact
that he was engaged in its adjustment,
and respect for him, and trust in him,
contributed to an honorable and AMIGA
Bile adjustment Again, when certain
lawless men would peril the integrity of
the nation by an unjust invasion of Gu
ba, his wise counsels were successfully
intcrposed to preserve our peace and
honor.
As scholar, his attainments were
vast and no man of his time was more
deeply penetrated with the classic spirit
of the past. The coliseum, the Roman
Senate, the Villa at Tusculum. the A.
cropolis at Athens, the Vocal Memnon,
and the Gates of Thebcs, were not to
him dim shadows, but realities, as real
as Faneuil Hall or the Capitol at Wash
ington.-In fine, whatever ofinterest the
history or literature of any land or any
age presented, was seized upon and ap-
propriated by his capacious mind, and
his tenacious memory made it his own
forever. The materials thus gathered,
aid combined by powerful imagina-
tion lent an irresistible attraction and
fcrvor to his eloquence.
As a dextrous legislative debater and
constitutional lawyer, he stood pre-emi-
nent The keen forensic conflict be-
tween him and Hayne has still its living
witnesses. Regarded as an encounter
between Northern and Southern intel
lcct, and as a trial of their respective
vigor and eloqucncc, it created such an
interest as never before or since was
felt on any like occasion. The brilliant
aud florid HayDe had spoken, and fear
was entertained, even by those who
knew him best, that Webster could not
answer him He alone was unmoved-
even bis slumber undisturbed. Calm
and collected. firm as the rock of Plym-
outh, before the gaze Of Senators and
crowded galleries he pronounced that
famous and decisive speech, by which
his title of :" first in the Senate was
forever fixed And yet the effort did
not go abroad as Northern, local, but
as American, rejecting glory on the
whole. His speeches and addresses have
become classics. He neglected no in
terest of his country. Agriculture,
Manufactures, Finance, COMMERCIAL
received the guidance of his luminous
mind.
Always in action, the wonder was
where all his varied knowledge could
have been acquired As Paul said of
his freedom, to the Roman Captain, that
he was " free born" so must We say of
him--hc was great-born ; there lies the
sccret--cven in England, among schol-
ars and statesmen trained from the era
die in the most rigid discipline of their
schools and universities giant among
intellectual giants. Go to the English
journals of that time, and you will find
the massive head, the noble countenance
and majestic department of Webster
contrasted with that of the versatile
aud learned Brougham, all in favor of
the great American, forming the por-
traiture of an intellectual monarch to
whom all deferred-just as the noblest
of the canine race shrink instinctively
before the king of the forest And. We
are almost ready to believe in the fabu-
lous birth of the goddess of Wisdom,
springng all armed from the head Of
Jupiter, at the blow of Vulcan
Upon that question which divides the
North and South, his opinions had been
recorded in as severe philippics as slave
ry and the slave trade had ever received
yet, confined by no local views, loving
our whole country with devotion and
forgetfulness of sell worthy the true
Roman in Rome's brightest day, when
danger of disunion threatened, as Cur
thus threw himself into tho frowning gulf
SO was he ready by self-sacr6ce to heal
all strife And when the shafts of ca
lumny pierced him on every side, still
he remained inhexible in duty, like
Sceyola, who proved his constancy and
iirmness, with hand outstretchcd into
the burning flame. The mind so nur
tured with great thoughts could find nc
room for any thing mean, little or un
generous.
Liberty to the world his heartfelt wish
his efforts, through our Minister al
Constantinople, procured the Liberation
of Kossuth from exile. Raised from
the very dust to freedom. and honora-
bly, conducted to our shores, the Mag
var patriot spread wide the knowledge
of his race and of his country's wrongs.
Cities and Senates listened to that
tongue touched with the fire of eloquence
with sympathy which yet may tell up
on the destinies of Europe. For any
one but Webster, tho Hulsemann letter
alone would have made the reputation
of a statesman. That stern rebukc
made tyrants feel that however they
might trample on sacred human rights
within their own dominions, the stain ol
oppression would not be endured in the
land of the Pilgrim
High position is always exposed to
detraction, aud no charge is more com
mon than that of inconsistency. Yet,
venture to predict that when his who'll
career shall be on record before his coun
trymen, the common judgment will pro
nounce that no statesman erer .ltUec
more consistent ,0,th himself than Dan
tei Webster" To deny that he har
faults would be an abnegation of his hu
man nature and our own experience
Yet, who would-who could remembc
them ? And, after all, what were they
Why, +" as the small hills and valley
when we speak of the globe, or the spot
on the sun when we think of his splen
DOR
His lovelicst trait was attachment l.
his carly home. Neither his dazzling
progress in the zenith of his fame, no
the broad radiance of his setting sun