The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-10-25
Death or p~nael Wchsscr.

ofsthe greatest Of AEcricsn statesmen viii have
fed from the earth. While NO write, circle OF
agonzed friends surrounds the deatt-bed ut Marsh
field. who have just contemplated the last workings
of that prodigious mind whose influence over our
history has been surpassed BY no other states
man, save only the immortal Washington His \
voice has ceased to fAter hisadeux his fadisg pulse
no longer tbrcbs thrit-tbe insuitive perez ption
of the fatal close of the sruggle-has shot through
the hearts of the bystsRders and Daniel Webster is
no more !.
To estimate the loss which has fallen upon the |
country, we shall no. need to invoke the Mandatory
opinions of biographers, or search tho volumes of
the historian. Every child among us is familiar
with the deeds which have raised Mr. Webster to
the first rank among our great men Every citizen
recall, without effort Of memory, those sublime
acts which have earned for him the proud title of
defender of the Constitution. Written on the
most conspicuous page of our annals, they figure
as well in every feature of national greatness
and are revealed in every incident which reminds
that the constitution is intact, and the mighty
Union unmpaired Whenever the statesman shall
proclaim his freedom from sectional bias, he
will but avouch his adherence to those pat
rotc principles which inseparably
nscted with the name Of Webster: the pledge
d the aspiring politician-that che knows no North,
no South, no East, West, but the whole Union
will 20 down to posteity as promise of adherence
to the Webster principle; for he was essentially
the Of the whole country, despite the section
al influences Of his early education, and the atmo-
sphere of narrow prejudice in which he first acquir-
ed his notions Of politics In the teeth Of angry
Monstrances from his constituent State and furi.
GUS attacks from Jealous partsans-from the very
first his views were large and liberal; his heart
sufficiently capacious to embrace the whole Of his
native land That memorable Speech which may
fairly challenge comparison with the highest efforts
ofancent modern oratory the second reply to Col
Hayne, on Mr.. Foote'S resolutions on the public
lands, is less defence Of Massachusetts, than
vindication Of the indivisibilty Of the Union;
and though the men from Boston burst like
children into passionate tears, when their
| Senator told Of the land s. where American
| liberty raised its first voice where its youth
was DuItured and sustainod where it still lives
IN the strength Of its manhood, aud full Of its
original SPIRIT the rush o feeling among his
hearers was still more impetuous, when with flash
ing eye and swelling voice, he uttered those i'm
perishable words: "When my eyes shall be Turned
to behold for the last time the in heaven, may
] not see him shining the broken and dishonored
fragments Of our glorious Union! on States dis
severed, dscordant begerent! Let their last feeble
and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous en-
sign Of the republic, known and honored through
the earth. still full high advanced, its arms and tro
phes streaming in their original lustre not stripe
erased nor polluted, not single star obscured " Nor
does his speech in reply to Mr. Calhoun, the Force
Bill, afford less conclusive evidence of the deep devo
ton with which he regarded the great work of our
forefathes. Less brilliant, less ornate than his
ply to Col. Hayne, it is calculated for close
study in the cabinet than for the hasty perusal which
is usually bestowed political speeches. But it
breathes the same sentiments Of comprehensive pat
rotism as its more popular predecessor. On the
same broad grounds, Mr.. Webster always opposed
the Mexican war, through the fear that new Access
sions of territory might endanger the existing bond
Of union between the several States. In Short from
1890, when he rebuked the assailants of the East,
and raised the banner of the whole country Ia oppo-
sition to that of part, to his last combat with
notification, secession, and disunon--to his ever
memorable speeches on the compromise measures
he has beiied his grand ruling principle:
g Standing the platform Of the general constitu-
ton-a pa form broad enough and firm enough 10
uphold every interest of the whole country shall
still be found" We cannot over esti mate tho value
of this virtue in Mr. Webster, or our debt of graft
tude to his memory. Who knows, il he had not
stood on the floor of the Senate and the platform,
when the Union was assaulted, whether our national
flag would have been spangled with thirty-one
stars to-day!
But his renown as patriot is balanced by his
skill diplomatist and statesman. We need
not alude to his well known share in the isures
adopted by General jackson to countersot the dis
unonist tendencies Of South Carolina nor need We
remind our readers Of his noble co operation with
Clay in the settlement Of the disputes Of 1850 This
Country will ever regard him as one of the
greatest, if not the greatest, foreign ministers she
has ever had No public honors paid to his memory
could adequately discharge obligation for the
settlement Of the yexed question which threatened
war with Great Britain in lSil an achievement
equally credtable to his heart and his head. With
the treaty Of May, 1912, must be classed the al
adjustment Of the Oregon dipute, which, is we'll
Known, was mainly due to his able letter to Sir.
McGregor, d. P. for Glasgow and while we bear
testimony to his strenuous exertions to preserve
peace between this country and England, We must
not forget that the blessing never purchased at
any sacrifice Of principle or honor that, while he
loved peace aud appreciated it's value, he never
shIunk from just war. 1t was in consequence Of
his bold department that we boast tina. He have
exorted from Great Britain what the rest Of the world
might have sued for in vaiu--two unconditional
apologies for afronts offered TO our national flag
Nor he deficient in those noble sentms nts which
teach that cannot look With unconcern on the
fate Of our fellow men: it was to his intervention
that the Sandwich Islanders owed the recognition Of
their independence by the principal maritime powers
As an orator, be will 90 down to posterity side by
sGe with the Chathams, the Burkes, the Vergnieuds,
he Broughams In him, briliancy Of diction and
warmth Of color did not involve want Of proandity
CT logic When you heard him, you pronounced !
him TO be emphatically a Of feeling when you
read his speeches. you were not less struck with the
faultess prenision of the soninO tho uneryi NJ