The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1862-10-17
From the Pttsbuy Post
DANIEL WEBSTER,
Defender of the Constitution.

luiuiS, ~ ocCupy sotnc space III your Wluei,
read journal, with the mature opinions of Dan
iel Webster on the value Of the constitution, de
livered at the Odean, in Boston, upon the occa
sion Of the presentation Of a Silver Vase in Oc
tober 1886, upon which was nscribed
"To Daniel Webster, Defender Of the Constitu
ton of the United States" In this address lie
says:
Gentlemen, it is to pay respect to this Con
stitution, it is TO manifest your attachment tt
it, your sense of its value, and your devotion
ito its true principles, that you have sought thi:
occasion. 1t Is not to pay an ostentatiouS per.
sonal compliment If it were, il would be un-
worthy of both you and me. 1t is not TO man.
ifest attachment to individuals, independent OF
all considerations of principles; if it were
should feel it my duty to tell you, friends as you
are, that yon are doing that which, at this very
moment, constitutes one of the most threatening
dangers to the Constitution itself. Your gift
would have no value in my eyes, this would be
regarded by me as an idle pageant if did not
know that they are both but modes chosen by
you to signify your attaclmentsio the true prin-
cples OF the Constitution; your fixed purpose,
so far as in you lies, to maintain those pTinci-
pies; and your resolution to support public men,
and stand by them, so long as they shall support
the Constitution of the country and no longer.
'The Constitution of the country" Cen
tlemcn. often as | am called to contemplate this
subject, its Importance always rises and magni-
ties itself more and more before me. cannot
view its preservation as a concern of narrow
extent, or temporary duration. On the contra
ry, see in it vast interest, which is to run
down with the generations of men, and to spread
over great portion of the earth with direct,
and over the rest with an indirect, but most
powerful influence. When / speak of it here,
in this thick crowd of fellow-ctizcns and friends
yet behold, thronging about me, much lar
ger and more imposing crowd. see united
rush of the present and the future. / see all
the patriotic of our own land, and our own
time l see also the many millions of their
postcrity, anu L see, too, the lovers of hui
man liberty from every part of the earth, from
beneath the expressions of thrones, and hierar-
chies, and dynasties, from amidst the darkness
oil Ignorance, degradation, and despotism, into
which any rfy Ur ppIrrEv-sz7.-s5- :
j see all the. countless multitudes gather about
us, and, hear their united and earnest voices,
coniuring us. in whose charge the treasure now
is, to hold on to the last by that which is our
own highest enjoyment and their best hope.
Filled%th these sentiments, gentlemen, and
having through my political life hitherto always
acted under the deepest conviction Of their truth
and Importance, il is natural that should have
regarded the preservation of the Constitution
as the first great political object to be secured.
But claim no exclusive merit | should deem
it, especially, both unbecomng and unjust in
me to separate myself, in this respect from 9TH
er public servants of the people of Massachu-
sets. The distinguished gentlemen who have
preceded and followed me in the representation
of the city, their other associates from other
districts of the State, and my late worthy and
most hghly-esteemed colleague, are entitled,
one and ALL to a full share in the public appro-
baton. If accidental circumstances, or par
ticular position, have sometimes rendered me
more prominent, equal patriotism and equal
zeal have yet made them equally deserving
1t were invidious TO enumerate these tellow-la-
borers or to discriminate among them. Long
may they live and | could hardly express a
better wish for the interest and honor of the
States, than that the public men who may fol-
low them may be as disinterested, as patriotic,
and as able as they have proved themselves.
There have been, gentlemen, it is true, anx-
ious moments. This was an anxious occasion
to which the gentleman who has addressed me
in your behalf has alluded; | mean the debate
in January, 1880 IL seemed to me that the
Constitution was about to be abandoned-
Threatened with most serious dangers, it wasnot
only not defended, but attacked, as l thought,
and weakened and wounded in its vital powers
and faculties, by those to whom the country
naturally looks for its defence and protection.
1t appeared to me that the Union was about to
90 to pieces before the people were at all aware
of the extent of the danger. This occasion was
not sought, but forced upon US; it seemed to
me momentous, and confess that felt that
even the little l could do in such crisis, was
called for by every motive which could be adj
dressed to lover of the Constitution. / took
part in the debate, therefore, with my whole
heart already in the subject and careless for eve
ry thing in the result, except the Judgment which
the people of the United States should form up
on the questions involved in the discussion. /
believe that judgment has been definitely pro-
nounced; but nothing is due to me, beyond the
merit of having made an earnest effort to pre-
sent the true question TO the people, and to in
woke for it that attention from them, which its
high Importance appeared to me to demand.
The Constitution of the United States, gem
tIemen, is of "a peculiar structure. Our whole
system is peculiar 1t is fashioned according to
no existing model, likened to no precedent, and
yet founded on principles which lie at the foun-
dations of all free governments, wherever such
governments exist. 1t is complicated system.
1t is elaborate, and in some sense artificial, in
its composition. We have twenty-four State
sovereignties, all exercising legislative, Judicial,
and executive powers Some OF the sovereign
ties or States, had long existed, and subject on