Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1852-08-21
WHAT WE ARE DOING AT HOME.


Convention at Baltimore. was the most fragrant IN
suit ever offered to the public opinion OF CIVILIZED
nation Throuphout the United States, among
all honorable and patriotic wings sentiment OF
profOund regret and modification has been express
ed No intelligent man doubts that the wing party
hos now ceased to exist It's life has been termin-
ated by an act of suicide so contemplate, so I'M
deserving of public commiseratiOn, that the best
friends of the deceased will even rejoice IN witness
ing the funeral obseques. 1t is no doubt true, that
commonplace men, whose vision was not strong
enough to see the eagle in his flight, have tired TO
check the grandeur Of his soaring, and they have
pretended that Webster did not possess the ele-
ments of popularity. Without exception those who
pretended to be his friends have pleaded IN excuse
for the nomination of his peacock rival, that AIR.
Webster was not an available candidate, although
they have lost no occasion of assuring their TRENDS
and the public that they would have infinitely pre-
ferred him to any of his rivals. The sincerity vi
this mode of talking, the public has already hao
sufficient opportunity to Judge OF. Mir. Websters
whole career if it has not drawn out as many
hurrahs as some other mems, has shown that he
has a deeper Judgment in the confidence OF the
nation, than any other man OF his party. When
ever Mr. Webster has come out with his views on
any subject his opinions have controlled the action
and the policy of the nation. We might cite
many instances in proof of this but let me recall
the position of Mr.. Webster at the helm while the
then at the court of London, and both nations
were agitated by the prospect Of war. Meteors
were blazing in the sky. There was suspicion,
alarm, and apprehension everywhere No nego-
citation seemed to advance. No treaty seemed to
promise itself At this crisis Mr.. Webster arose IN
the American Senate, and while the fiery visions
and dark clouds of approaching hOstilities were
garng the eyes of both nations, he uttered those
words-"I see how this thing must end. lie
sketched in his speech the outline of the treaty
that was subsequently, negotiated and ratified The
London Times, which has long been the organ OF
public opinion of enlightened Englishmen; which
sooner or later must prevail in the councils of that
great nation, said, when packet arrived bringing
the news of Mr.. Webster's opinions, eve have
ceased to cherish any alarm. The greatest man IN
the western world has become the exponent of the
opinion of America, and we doubt not that before
noon tomorrow n negotiation will be entered into
in Downing street, which will result in the triumph
of peaceful diplomacy"
No matter how much hurrah has been made
about Mr.. Clay, pure, upright, and splendid as he
was; it was all fustian compared with the deep,
grave sentiment of confidence which the Wing
party and the whole country reposcd in Daniel
Webster, and which even popular sentiment,
convulsed the nation from side to side. There was
an enthusiasm about the confidence which the
Wings and the better portion of the Democrats as
a Darty, placed in Daniel Webstcr's international
judgments which created something more than eX-
citement There was an agitation when he had
spoken and the calm which followed indicated how
deep and profound was the repose of the nation in
the nfallibility of his political forecast. In all
great crises the ideas of Mr.. Webster during his
public life, have absolutely controlled the country.
No man has lived in America, since the time Of
Washington, to whom the nation looked so conft-
ingly for the expression Of his opinion in every try
ing time of the Republic.
If our readers will 90 back to that alarming pc
Rod, when, owing to certain unfortunate misunder
standings, the subject of state rights and confed
erative sovereignty, South Carolina seemed to me
mace her allegiance, they will recall the noble stand
Mr.. Webster took in the United States Senate,
when the frmness and patriotism of Gen. Jackson
drew forth from Webster's lips that sublime eulo-
GUM which he pronounced on the Veteran Hero,
with fervor that he has seldom shown when speak
ing of his contemporaries or rivals. Mr.. Webster
was always too great for his party. If the wings
had possessed that broad universal patriotism that
has distinguished the Democrats from the time
of Jefferson, they would have discovered in Mr..
Wcbster's genius, the star of promise that would
have guided them from conquest to conquest, until
they had absorbed all the nationality OF the nation
and made themselves the inherltors of the future,
as they would have become the dictators of the
present. But the unfortunate great Wing Party
has been wrecked by the fanaticism of some of its
leaders we 90 not speak OF Henry Clay peace
to the ashes of the Sage of Ashland! While the
Titan arms of the steam-press are throwing off
our edition, the yenerated remains of that great
and good man are being borne by funeral process
sion to their lasting repose, more imposing than
Thorwaldsen himself had in his fancy when he
sculptured the Triumph of Alexander the Great.
We do not speak of Taylor, the heroic, the brave,
and good old man. He was not to blame because
he was inundated upon the altar of political fana-
ticsm, by crowd of heartless demagogues-
this old Cincnnatus of our Republic, whose life
was too short to show how we'll he was entitled to
that classic cognomen- Taylor, peace also to his
ashes They rest on the Mississippi, 1t will be
holy spot for the pilgrim of Democracy in future
times to go, and when his tears have fallen over
the ashes of Clay, they will bedew the grave of
Taylor: but ali how mad is the great, enlighten-
ed-the all-piety-the all-inteigent Wing Party,
IN DESERVING their greatest man that Heaven has
in its benefcence given to humanity, to take up
plumes, FUSS and feathers and battles merely to
humbug the American people. God forgive them
for so gross and awful insult to the intelligence
OF their elow-citizens, as to suppose that they do
not know how to appreciate those great civic viz
lures which are upon the lips of all the Wings,
and in the hearts of so few of them
Poor Henry Clay-the great-the gifted-the
noble-the very Cato of our Republic man
who emblazoned to the world more brilliantly than
any OF his contemporaries the mighty signs of hope
for all nations. Henry Clay died with the sad
consciousness that he had over-estmated the INTEL