Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-08-06
VOL. 8
Another EulOgy.

u
Webster, on occasion of the late commence
ment in Dartmouth College. Mr.. Webster
was a graduate of that institution.
Mr.. Choate defends MIR. Webster's 9TH Of
March speech, and his support of the fugitive
law, on the ground thds he had taken the oath
to support the Constitution and to support Il
aH 1t was no paroxysm of fidelity"to the
Constitution which inducedthis consecration
to slavery. II was but deliberately carrying
out his whole lifc's purpose, of consistent
fidelity to the Constitution and the Union.
How strong Mr.. Choate considers that pur-
pose TO have been, our readers may learn
from the annexed extract:
"Under his oath to support it, and to sup
port il all, and with his opinions of that duty
SO long held, proclaimed uniformly, in whose
vindication, on some great days, he had found
the opportunity OF his personal glory, might
he not, in good conscience, support il, aud
all of it, even if he could not, aud if 10 hu-
man intelligence could certainly know, that
the extreme evil would follow, in immediate
consequence, It's violation? Was il so recent
n doctrine Of his, that the Constitution was
obligatory upon the national and individual
cousciences, that you should ascribe it to
sudden and irresistible temptation? Why,
what had he, clear down to the 9TH of March,
that more truly individunlized bim-what
had he more Enthusiastically his own
wherewithol had he to glory more or other
than oil besides, than this very doctrine of
the sacred and permanent obligation to sup
port each and all parts Of that great compact
Of union aud justice? Had not this been his
disiinction his speciality the foibe of
his greatness-the darling ana master passion
ever? Consider that that was a sentiment
which had been part Of his conscious nature
for more than sixty years,--that from the
time he bought his first copy of the Consti-
tuition on the handkerchief, and revered pa
rental lips had commenced it to him, with
oil other holy and beautiful things, alonR
with lessons of reverence to God, and the
belief and love OF His Scriptures, along with
the doctrine of the cotechism, the unequuled
music Of Watts, the great name of WASH
ington,-there had never been an hour that
he had not held it the master work Of man,
just in its ethics, consummate in It's pracii-
cal wisdom, paramount in its iniunc tions,
that every year Of life had deepened the or
iginal impression, that ns his mind opened
aud his associations wideued, he found that
every one for whom he felt respect, nsiruc-
tors, theological aud moral teachers his entire
party connection, the Opposite party, aud the
whole country, so held it,, too, that its fruits
of more than half century of union, of
happiness, of renown, bore constant and
clear witness to il in his mind, and that il
chanced that certain energcnt and rare oc-
casions had dcvolved on him TO stand forth
TO muntain IT,, TO vindicHte its Interpretation,
to vindlcate its authority, TO unfold its work.
ings and uses,-iIat he had so acquitted
himself If that opportunity as to have won
the title of its Expounder and Defender, so
that his proudest memories, his most priced
renown, referred TO il, and were entwined
with il, and say whether, with such antece-
dcnts readiness to execute, or disposition TO
evade, which would have been the hardest to
explain, likeliest to suggest, the surmise OF a
new temptation Tie who knows ANYTHING
OF man, knows that his vote for beginning
the restoration of harmony by keeping the
whole Constitution, was necessiaied by the
great law OF sequences-n great law of cause
aud effect, running back to his mothers arms
as resistless as the law which moves the
system about The sun aud that he must
have given it, although it had been opened
TO him in vision, that within the next natural
day his eyes should he turned to behold for
the last time the sun ia heaven"
IL all this be true, that such be the effect
of consistent devotion to the Constitution and
the Union, what wonder that sluvary is ram
pant with us as it is. We think Mr.. Choate
sright That such devotion to all ofsuch n
Conslituton-so Interpreted could not fail
to produce just the result produced in MIR.
Webster's case, viz, to scar the conscience,
harden the heart, and make the man reckless
of all the claims of justice and all the bless
ings of freedom. 1t seems to us but sorry
compliment that this defence phys to Mr..
Webster's life aud character. 1t is but saving
that he committed the common error of the
world, and preferred institutions before men,
the Constitution before tIlnt liberty il was
professedly established to secure. That NAV
be excused in the common mass, but not in
him who claims an Immortality of greatness.
As We said, Mr.. Choate was right. Mr..
Webster chose to be the champion of the
Constitution and not the champion of man,
and hence his failure.