Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1872-04-03

by d bookseller Of Philadelphi
in q pamphlet form. Ofthest
ten were contributed by hin
self and two by Mr.; after#ard
Chancellor, Kent. AS an evi
dence Of their effect, Mr.. Ruff
King expressed his opinion t,
Mr.; Jay that the essays Of 'Cur
tius' had contributed more thai
any other papers Of the sam
kind to allay the discohten
and opposition to the treaty
assigning as d reason that the,
were peculiarly well adaptec
to the Understanding Of til
people at large.
In 1902 he published a treat
ise full of minute information
and able reasoning respecting
the rights of neutral nations il
time Of war. As the advocat,
of the Federal Constitution
and a strenuous supporter O
Washington's administration
he was brought into habits O
the closest intimacy. with AL.
exander Hamilton, John Jay
Oliver Wolcott, Timothy Pick
ering, and the other great men
on whom ashitgton relied
for counsel and aid in organic
ing the new government. Be.
sides this he repeatedly repre-
sented the Town of New Ha.
ven in the General Assembly
of Connecticut, and the. Town
of Amherst in the General
Court of Massachusetts, TAX
ing a leading part in each Of
those legislatures.
With these facts before our
mind, can there be any doubt
that Mr.. Webster understood
the political institutions of our
and was well qualified
to give correct definitions in
his dictionary of the terms ap.
piled to those institutions2
DE. wEBsTER's STATEMENTS IN THE
PREFACE OF HIS DICTIONARY.
"No person in this country will be
satisfied with the English definition
of the words Congress, Senate and
Assembly, Court, &c,j for although
these are words used in England,
yet they are applied in this country
to express ideas which they do not
express in that country.
"With our present constitution
of government escheat can never
have its feudal sense in the United
States. But this is not all. In many
cases the nature of our governments
and of our civilized Institutions re-
quires an appropriate language in
the definition of words, oven when
the words express the same thing
as in England Thus the dictionary
informs US that a justice is one de-
puted by the King to do right by
way Of judgment-he is a lord by
his Office. Justices Of the peace are
by the Kings commission
language which is inaccurate in
respect to this officer in the United
States. So constitutionally is de.
fined by Chalmers legally; but in
this country the distinction between
and law requires diff
ferent definition"
He gives as authorities for
the definition of his terms
franklin, Washington, Adams,
Jay, Madison, Marshall.
One important reason why
he STYLED his dictionary an
American dictionary OF the
English language was that it
contained the American signi-
fcation of certain terms.
DEFINITIONS OF POLITICAL TERMS
GIVEN BY DIR. WEBSTER AND
CHANGED BY DR.. PORTER IN
HIS EDITION OF wEBsTER's
DICTIONARY.
CoMpAcT-Dr. WebSter's Defni-
ton. ut is more generally applied
to agreements between nations and
estates, as treaties and confedera.
cies. So the Constitution Of the
United States is political contract
between the States--a national CON-
pact"
This definition, giving the
American sense of the word
compact, as applied to the Con-
stitution of the United States
found in the two editions Of
Webster's Dictionary, viz,
1928 and 1S41, prepared by
DR.. Webster himself, and in
the two editions edited by DR..
Goodrich, viz, 1847, and 1859,
is suppressed by DR.. Porter in
his edition of Webster's Die
tionary Of 1864. Why did he
e,,nnroeo II in what ia claimed