St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-11-10
Webster and Massachusetts,.

The mania in Massachusetts, Just
now, and in some other parts of New
England, is denuncation of Daniel
Webster,-bccause of the statue of
that eminent statesman lately set up
in the State House yard, Boston.
Alas ! (says Boston writer to a
Vermont paper) he had grievous vices.
For, IN proportion to the talents given
unto man, SO in that ratio he owes
Manklnd-his Country and his God
the best and noblest use of the talents
which cost him nothing-fOr which,
ages past have been blest, and ages
to come will be grateful for. Let the
good he did livc-but let the white
heat OF Truth melt away the evil,
warning the young of the certain dam.
nation Of evil, done by the mightiest
or littlest of men. Inaugurate Statues
of Daniel Webster, speak ornate Ora
tor of the Golden Tongue proclaim
ing to the sons and daughters of Puri
tan men, that the bronze statue in the
Capitol grounds, represents Daniel
Wcbster-hlm, who scOrned the high.
er law of God-who forsook the cause
of Freedom and advocated the hunt.
ing of men, by the most odious law
in the annals of civilization. Would
Americans erect monuments to Bene-
dict Arnold and Aaron Burr? Great
men they were and bravc,-but they
sacrificed their country and friends,
for their own selfish ambition their
reward was dishonor and disgrace
in all the world they had no friend
Raving and ranting, to be surc,-
but not without large party in Mas
sachusetts and Its surroundings.
1t is not worth while to refute this
species of mania, for as Daniel Web,
ster himself said of Massachusetts, -
" There he is ;" His name, his fame,
cannot be struck out of history. I'm
mortal it is,-to quote him once more
AS if written between Orion and
the Pleiadcs. No man except George
Washington has so embalmed himself
in the political literature of his coun-
try,--and his orations go down to pos.
terity as Demosthenes' came down.
studies for men thousand years hence.
The flies that buzz about his tomb
may be spared, but in the amber of
his eloquence, he will loom up as the
great intellectual giant of his age.
Webster does great deal more
honor to Massachusetts, than Massa-
chusetts can possibly do for him,-
and when Massachusetts is as dead or
forgotten as are the old corrupt States
of Greece,--thc orator, the statesman,
the magnificent writer, will be to Mas
sachusetts what Homer is to the pup
pet soldiers whose names are conse-
Grated in the llliad and Odyssey.
A monument to Webster may be,
or may not be, in Massachusetts, as
her people will,--or if monument Of
stone, or marble, or bronze be there,
with mockeries and insults all about
it,--all this is nothing to the Fame of
Webster,-for that fame not only is,
but is to be as universal as the English
tongue,--thc admiration of the Aus
trallan and the New Zealauder, as
well as of the American. 1t is a mon.
ument of literature. What Burke is,
Webster is, or is to be. His thoughts
that breathe and words that burn will
ever and anon light up the passions
or strengthen the logic of man. Mas
sachusetts can make herself contempt
iblc,--but she cannot damage Daniel
Webster.