Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-06-17
by single streak of lightning, while be.
low is yawning gulf filled with flames:
"Yet from those flames,
70 lirht but rather darkness Yisihle

cl:ned to speak, 'sfor why should attempt
said he, "to add perfume to the violet,
strength to the oak, or terror to the thun-
derbolt." Certainly, very felicitous COM
pliment.
There was one passage at arms in Mr..
Webster's life which may not be known to
the younger portion of the community, but
which at the time produced marked SEN
sation. Both he and Gov. Lincoln were
members of the constitutional convention
of 1920. The latter was the champion of
the Democrats; the former, who had re-
Gently migrated from New Hampshire, had
become. the pet of the Boston Federalists.
Both parties were anxious to witness an
encounter between these .riyals; nor was
their desire thwarted. Gov. Lincoln, in
discussing the principle of representation,
had charged that the convention were forg-
ing chains and letters for the people. Mr.
Webster, in reply, after having rung the
changes on the phrase "chains and fetters, !"
and said that an assembly so variously
composed, chosen within a month, and to
return within month, would hardly COM
bine to fabricate manacles for the people,
proceeded:
''Sir, there ale some things too extrava-
CANT for the or nament and decoration of
eratory; some things too excessive even for
the fictions of poetry; and | am persuaded
that littl reflection would have persuad-
ed the honorable member that when he
speaks of this assembly as committing out
RACES on the rights of the people, and as
forging chains and fetters for their subiu-
CATION, he does as great injustice to his
own character, as a just and manly debater,
as he does to the motives and intelligence
of this body"
1t is not Cur purpose to follow him in
his intellectual triumphs. Suffice il to say
that down to 1850 his name was held In
respect and veneration by very large ma
jerity of the people of the North. The
compromise measures were proposed
Massachusetts, the whole North, looked to
him to oppose them. His intimate friends
in Washington were writing home that
such would be his course The 9TH of
March arrived. II was known that MIR.
Webster was to speak. The anxiety to
hear him was intense. Every available
place in the Senate galleries ana lobbies
was occupied. Ladies. were admitted to
the floor, and many Senators surrendered
their own seats. Mr.. Webster's as pect, as
he rose TO speak, might have been COM
pared to that Of Millions fallen angel:
"Wtb grave
Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemd
pillar of state; deep on his front ensraven
DellberaNon sat and public care;
A princely counsel in his fac e vet shone
sissd
Win Atiantean shoulders fit to hear
Ihe weight OF mightiest monarchies.''
That speech fell ike blight upon his |
friends and constituents. To say that they
were ppointed-mortiie
would not represent to the full extent their |
feelings. From that day he lost large
portion of that power over the people of
Massachusetts which he had welded un-
questioned for more than a quarter ef a |
century. Up to that time no public man
had clearer anti-Slavery record; his |
proudest parliamentary triumphs had been
won III his contests with the South But
this one step was fatal. 1t severed old
political ties-it severed old personal friend |
ships. Men met him with averted faces. |
The press attacked him. The doors ofI
taneuil Hall were shut in his face. His
constituents would hardly listen to a de-
tense of his conduct; he had e.tranged |
them by his errors, he had sacrificed in an
evil hour life-acquired popularity.
But truce to this un welcome theme
The style of Mr.. Webster's oratory cannot
be too highly commended. 1t is compre-
hensIve, strong, terse, idiomatic. 1t is no.
bic, majestic English, which will survive /
as long as the language is spoken. Nol
American orator or statesman has approach
ed him in this respect. The Bible, Bacon,
Burke, Shakespeare and Milton were the
originals upon which it was based, and
most wonderfully did he succeed in trans |
hitting their strength and omprehensive-
ness into his own. What Burke said of |
supposed successful imitatot OF Johnson, at |
time when every writer almost affected
the Johnsonian dialect, could not apply to
Mr.. Webster. sHe had all of the notosi-
ties oil the oak, without its strength, all of
the contortions of the sybil, without her
inspiration"
His admiration Of the Hebrew prophets
and poets was profound; and almost every
address of his contains Hebraisns. The
expression employed by him on one occa-
sion, and by nine-tenths of the community
supposed TO be original, "to come home to
mems business and bosoms," is by greater
master of the English language than even
he, Bacon. His quotations from Shaks-
Peare and Milton are alw ays felicitous; and
herein as much tact is required as in the
enunciation of an original thought. In the
gorgeous description of the ensign of the
Republic, which forms the peroraton of
his speech to Hayne, he had in Lis minds
eye Mi!ton's description of the unfurling OF
the imperial banner, when the arch fend
had marshaled his leglons to war on Heav-
en-. The germ of some of his finest thoughts
is to be found in Burke; and yet Mr.. Web
ster was by no means a servi.e imitator.-
He had the faculty Of taking old, defaced
coin, and stamping it with a new image
and superscription, without debasing its
value, or impairing its currency. There is
a general stock of ideas in the. community
an Inheritance from our predecessors
The actual addition TO this stock by sim
gle generation is inconceivably small; but
1t is constantly undergoing new modifica-
tions and re-appearing under new FORMS
Take, Tor example, the fine couplet which
Byron applied to KIrke White, where he is
compared to a struck eagle brought from