The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1856-02-08

Washington, Jan. 10, 1886.
Dear Sir: cannot accept your invitation to
meet the friends of Mr.. Webster on the 18th
inst, the anniversary Of his birth day, in order
to interchange recolectonS of the patriot and
orator and statesman, because my public duties
will necessarily detan me here To these and
other high claims. TO distinction in life and
TO fame in death. he added for me the aSsocia-
ton of early youth, and the kindness and friend
ship OF mature age, as we'll as of declining
years. | have read with deep and mournlul
interest the extract from his letter TO you, which
YOU Were good enough to enclose, written at the
termination OF the struggle which attended the
compromise measures of 1850, in which he says
that General CaSs, General RuSk, Mr.. Dick
inSnn, &C., have agreed that since our entrance
upon the Stage of public action no crisis has &C.
Cured franght with 50 much danger to the in
stitutiouS OF the country as that through which
it has Just passed, and that, in all human proba-
bilty, no other of SO great moment will occur
again during the remainder Of our lives, and
therefore we will hereafter be friends let
political differences on minor subjects be what
they may"
This tribute of afec,ouate regard to his CO.
adjntorS in a common struggle against common
peril from him whose services were so pre-emi-
nent will be cherished, am sure, with proud
recollection by all of us, to whom these words
OF kindness now come from the tomb. You say
that this engagement on the part Of our lainen-
ted friend was, to your personal knowledge,
faithfully kept. 1t was So | know II and re-
oce at it-And believe NAV add, with no
less assurance, that the conviction YOU express
of the same fidelity to this bond of union and
esteem on the patt ofthose who cooperate with
him is equally well founded, and that, though
death has dissolved the connection, yet his
name and his fame are dear to then aud will
ever fad in them JEALOUS advocates and drirn-
drrs.
The grave closed upon this great statesman
and American before another crisis, traught with
evil passions and imminent danger, had come to
shake tIS confidence in the permanently of the
wise and healing measures of 1890. What
he did not live 10 see his associates IN that work
Of patriolism-ttc whole country, indeed
now sees THAI we have again fallen upon evil
times, and that the fountains OF agitation are
broken up, aud tue waters are out over the land.
There is no master spirit to say Peace, be still,
and to bp heard and needed. Our trust is in
the people OF this great republican confederation,
and vet more ia the God of their fathers and
their own God, who guided aud guarded us
through the drearv wilderness Of the revolution,
and brought us iu a condition Of freedom and
prosperity Of which the history ofhe world fur
niShts no previous example. Would that the
eloquent accents, which are now mute IN death
would that the burning words of him whose
birth YOU propose to commemorate, and OF iuS
great compeer Of the West, though dead, yet
living in the hearts Of his countrymen, could
now be heard warning the American people OF
the dangers impending over them, and calling
them 10 the support of that Union and constr
tuition which have done so much for them and
their fathers, and are destined TO do so much
more for them and for their children. if not sac
rifced upon the altar Of a new Moocb, whose
victims may be the institutions of our country.
If this sectional agitation goes on, this ever
pressing effort TO create and perpeiuate TO divS-
ions between the North and the South, we shall
find that we cannot live together in peace, and
shall have 10 live together in war. And what
such condition would bring with it, between
independent countries thus situated, once friends,
but become enemies, the impressive narrative OF
the fate of the Grecian Republics teaches us as
plainly as the future can be taught by the les
sons of the past Your own State took gIo-
riouS part in the war of Independence, and II
contributed ably and faithfully to the adoption
Of the constitution. Her great deeds and great
names are inscribed upon the pages OF our his
tory, and upon the hearts of our countrymen.-
How would he who loved and served her so
well and whose love and service We're so honor
able to her how woul,i he deplore the position
she has assumed towards the government OF our
common country, and the solemn provisions oil
its constitution, were he now living TO witness