The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-11-29
Daniel WafoStcr

| The statue or DANIEL w EBSTER was ill.,
ausurated in Central Park. New York, on
| Saturday last. Ii is interesting to ask our
selves what would the immortal WEBSTER
think OF these times had he been permitted
TO live until now. Happily, possibly, for
him, his ashes rest in the grave, while the
people, who, poorly appreciate his true
character, erect his monument in the public
! place as tribute to bis memory. Again /:
CALHOUN, all lived and been endowed with
health and energy in 1S59-'60, the war
might have been ayertcd. But change
had come over the character OF the people,
and there lived not the men who truly
represented the spiritof &c, and whose God
like power over the public spirit could ena-
bic them to turn back the tide of sectional
hate and conflict.
Mcssrs. EyARTs OF New Yori, and WIN
TuRop Of Boston were the orators of the
occasion. We see that Mr. WINTHROP
devoted himself mainly to WEBsTER's pre-
cmincnt'y religious nature" while Mr..
EyARTs Z" emphasized his ability rs alaw-
yer" His greatest fame was us statesman.
But, naturally enough, it was not conve-
nient for the orators to fully define the
strongest trait of WEBsTER's mind. TO do
that would have been to censure the vast
asSemblage present at the ceremony, which
knows not enough OF the real history of our
institutions to inspire respect for the highest
relation in which WEBSTER stood towards
his country. ..-
WEBSTER was IL prophet amongst civil
ians; and Il great one. His mind was cX-
cellently logical, his love OF republican lib
erty unexceiled. He was unsurpassed as &
constitutional lawyer, and devoted to Con-
stitution and law with an ardor that caused
him to abhor the slightest indication OF a
purpose to infringe either. lie and
CLAY led the crusade against JACKSON for
removing the deposits from the United
States Bank. They charged him with
usurping control OF the purse and Joining
it with the sword pcrilously to the country.
WEBSTER, indeed, was Il worthy descendant
OF those revolutionary fathers who could
sniff tyranny in the wind.
Then, too, Mr. WEBSTER was i man for
observing compacts faithfully. He signal
lied his political loyalty by his course on
the fugitive slave bill, which caused Puri-
tanism to scowl upon him and to forget his
past services. He was opposed to slavery !;
but regarded Interstate and Federal COM
pacts as inviolable. lie considered that a
people who had been permitted in the Con-
stitution to carry on the slave trade upon
the high seas for sixteen years ought to have
faithfully respected the right OF property in
slaves in the South-propegty in the slaves
imported by themselves. He declared at
Capon Springs (rcferring to the peculiar
political alliances, State and Federal, in this
country that a compact broken by one
party relieved the other OF all obligation to
obey it. And ne proclaimed from the south
porch Of the Virginia Capitol that " Con-
"gress had no power to NEEDLE with the
constitution OF slavery at the South" Ht
was a public man, great and tower
ing, with unwaverving devotion to thu
country, and with deep and implicit faltt
+! in the Constitution aud in the durability o.
the republic. His enthusiasm in this re
spect was passionateiy poured out in hi;
celebrated October speech in the soutf
porch OF the Capitol, when he announced
his bright hope that the republic might last
as long as the world itsei-till
! Trapt in flames the realms of ether glow,
And Heavens last trump shall shake the world be
low.
He hoped for the observance OF com
ctshe hoped for the preservation OF tht
lstitution inyfolate -aniso hoping trust
hat the Republic would be enduring
81. craftsmanship OF so great civilian
lot be ventilated at The North witt
atisiaction in this err OF vulgar and
I RadisaIism.