Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-12-15
Daniel Webster.

twenty-five years of our history have shed
a flood Of light upon the past, and emblazoned
anew the records of Mr.. Websters public
life. l shall not rehearse, but say this to
you, and l challenge contradiction, that, from
the beginning to the end, that record is true
to the great principle that presided over
the birth Of the nation, and found voice in
the declaration Of independence; that was
brought into the very future of the consti-
tuition that crrried us with unmutilated
and unde6led constitution and unbroken au-
thority Of the government, through the sac
riices, and terrors, and the woes of the civil
war; that will sustain us through all heats
and agues which attend the steps of the ma
tion to perfect health and strength-the
great principle embossed on enduring granite
on the pedestal, and from the time it was
announced from those eloquent lips firmly
fixed in the conscience and hearts Of the
people--"Liberty and Union, now and for
ever, one and inseparable."
The great names Of our revolutionary
history, the signers Of the declaration of in
dependence, the trainers Of the constitution,
the wise men surviving from that generation,
its constitution, and its new liberties. No
American will allow their fame to be dis
paraged or divided, and of the men that fol-
lowed them up to your time how many do
you owe great obligations TOT How much
to Clay and Adams? How much to jackson
and Wright? How much to Seward and
Chase, and all their contemporaries But,
if were to name two men whose services
were incomparably above those Of all others
in making this new experiment Of free gov
ernment and of paper constitutions living
power to a great aud strenuous nation, two
that could not have been spared though all
others remained, l should say that to the
great Chief Justice Marshall and to the
great, forensic, popular,parl iamentary defend
er and expounder of the constitution, Daniel
Webster, we owe what we now enjoy. Who
shall deny to him the title "of our constitu-
tiOnal liberty-the greatest defender 2"
And now, what shall we say of this great
man in the personal and private traits OF his
character? | should say of Mr.. Webster
that, if there was one SINGLE trait conspc-
uous in him, and preeminent, as compared
with others who have made for themselves
| 6'NNN h"uiSo III hioNOA ~ "OuiN oO puO oOuu-
dant charity of his nature. He never as
sumed for himself, in private intercourse or
public speech, any superiority; he never toll
Grated in his presence and he never practiced
evil speech or evil surmise. His frown fol-
lowed even the casual introduction about the
table and in public discussions of such con-
fusion between intellectual dissection and
inculpation. do not know that one should
question ambition, when it is the public pas
sion by which great public talents are made
useful to people, but l will say of Mr..
Webster that he seemed to me never to have
any ambition, but that which is an unspeak-
able part of the possession Of great powers
of public. usefulness, but which is obtained
by the injunction that great talents are not
to be buried in the earth, and the require
ments that the light which God has given,
that it should shine before men, is to DO
placed on candlestiok. N. Eoarts.