Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-09-17

mora tradition not for what it has done though that
kindled his gratitude and excited his admiration but for
what il is and hereafter to do when aapted nv =
wise practical philosophy to wider higher area to
larger numbers TO seyerer and glorious probation
Who better than he has graspcd and displayed the ad
yancing tendencies and enlarging duties Of America
Who has caught-whose eloquence whose genius whose
counsels have caught more adequately the genuine in
sPiraton of our destiny Who has better expounded by
what moral and prudential policy by what improved cui-
ture Of heart and reason by what true worship Of God
by what good faith to all other nations the dangers Of
that destiny may be disarmed and its large promise laid
And while the lawyer did not hurt the statesman the
statesmen did not hurt the lawyer More the statesman
did not modify did not unrobe did not tnge the lawyer
would not be to him that the epgram could have APP
phcation, where the old Latin satrist makes the client
complain that his lawsuit sconcernng cgpe, three
sids and that his ADVOCATE with Large dsdain of j.
harangung with loud voice and both hands ab0u the
slaughtcrs Of Canine the OF Aihridates the peru-
ries Of Hannibal Icould never detect that In his dis
OF law he did not just much recognise autho
rtty just as anxously seek for adjudcaous old and
new IN his favor Just closely sft them and collate
them that he might bring them his side if he could
Leave them ambiguous and harmless if he could not that
ne dld not just as vigorously observe the peculiar mode
WHICH that science employs in passing from the known
the unknown, the peculiar logic of the law as if he had
investigated other than legal truth any other
organon than legal logic in his e Pecuiarities oflega
reasoning he certainly had belonging the peculiar
structure and vast power Of his mind original
thought more discourse Of principles less of that
subtety OF analysis which is not restrained by good
sense, and the higher power of duty temperg and
bning one truth in practical science with other truths
from absurdity mischief; but still it all strict and
exact legal reasoning The long habit Of employing the
more popular methods the probable and plausible
lectures, the approximations, the compromises Of debe
rave discussion did not to have left the least trace
on his vocabulary, his reasonngs, his demeanor.
No doubt part of his whole culture it helped give
enlargement and general power and elevation of mind
but the sweet stream passed under the bitter sea- the Bit
ter sea pressed the stream and each flowed
mingled, unchanged in taste or color.
have said that this double cminence is rnre if not un-
precedented We do justice to Mr.. Webster if do
not keep this in mind. How many exempiGcations
of it do you find in British public life? The Earl of Chat
ham, Burke, Fox Sheridan, Windham, Pitt, Grattan,
Canning, Peelwere they also, any one the acknow-
ledged leader in Westminster Hall the crcuit2
And, the other hand would you say that the mere
parliamentary of Mansfield Thurlow, or Dun
ning or Erskine or Camden, Curran would compare
in Duration constancy variety Of effort the range of
pics discussed the funess extent and auencc of the
discussion the influence exerted the space filed the Sc
material character completely realized with his ? In our
own public life it is easier to find parallel Great
crowd on us IN each departments greater, loved,
or more venerable annals show. But how few,
here have gathered the double wreath and the blend
el fame
And now having observed the fact of this combination
Of quality and excellence scarcely compatible inspect for
moment each by itself.
The professional life of Mr. Webster began in the spring
of 1900 1t may not be said to have ended until he died
but do not know that it happened him appear in
court for the trial OF after his argument of the
Goodyear patent for improvements in the preparation Of
There and last heard him. The thirty -four years
which had elapsed since, Of this college, ut
home for health first and heard him in the Supreme
Court or Massachusetts, in the county of Essex
ing Jackmhn accused Of the robbery Of Goodrich had in
almost all things changed him. The hair the vg
full frame AID firm tread the eminent but
beauty Of the countenance yet sealed with the mid
die age of man. the exuberant demonstration Of all
Of power, which marked him first for these
they were explored in vain. Yet how far higher was
the interest that attended him his sixty years.
robed as ii were with honor and with love- With associa-
ons Of great service done to the State and great fame
gathered and safe and then the perfect mastery of the
cause in its legal and scientific principles and in all its
facts the admirable cearness and order in which his
propositions advanced successfully; the power the
occasional high ethical tone, the appropriate eloquence
by which they were made probable and persuasive the
judicial these announced the leader Of the Ameri
can bar with every faculty and every accomplishment by
which he had won that proud title wholly unmpaired;
the eye not dim nor the natural force abated.
cannot here and trace with any minuteness the
Of Mr. Webster at the bar during these orty-eght
years from the opening Of his Office in Boscawen nor
convey any impression whatever Of the aggregate labor
which that course imposed Of the intellectual power
which it exacted indicate the stages Of his rise nor
define the time when his position the summit Of the
profession may be said to have become completely vnd
Gated You know general that he began the practice
OF the law in New Hampshire in the spring 1906 that
he prosecuted it. here in its severest school, with great
diligence and brilliant success, among competitors of
larger experience and Of consummate ability, 1866
that he then removed to Massachusetts, and that there
in the courts Of that State and Of other States and in
tnose OF government, anu especially the
Supreme Court sitting ut Washington, he pursued il as
the calling by which he TO his daily bread until
he died You know indeed that he did not pursue it en-
acy one pursues it who confines himself to an office
and seeks to do the and miscellaneous business Of
single bar. His professional employment as | have
often heard him say was very much the preparation Of
opinions on important questions presented from every
part Of the country and the trial of causes This kind G
professional life allowed him seasonable vacations and
accommodated itself somewhat the exactions Of bs
other and public lfe But it was all one long aud CONT
nued practice Of the law the professional character was
put off nor the professional robe long urworn to
the last.
You know, too, his character ms jurist This topic
has been recently and separately treated with great ab
y by one IN high degree competent to the task the late
earned Chief Justice Of New Hampshire now Professor
= Law at Cambridge, and it needs additional iusra
Ion from me- Yet let say that herein also the first
hing which strikes you the union Of diverse and as
laye said what might have been regarded ncompatble
xcelences. shall submit to the Judgment Of the uni
'ersal American bar, If carefully prepared opinion OF
rNeDster, on any question Of law wbaeverin the whole
ange OF our Jurisprudence would be accepted every
where as OF the most commanding authority and the
highest evidence of legal truth submit il that same
Judgment II for many years before his death they would
1ot have rather chosen to entrust the maintenance
of any important proposition Of law what
sver before legal tribunal of character whatever to
his best exeron OF his faculties than to any other ab
which the whole wealth Of the profession could uppIy9
And this alone completes the description Of a LAWYER
Ind forensic Of the first rate; but il does mot
complete the description of his professional character
By the side Of all this to speak, there was that whole
lass Of qualities which made him for any description ~
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