Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-03-02
DANIEL WEBsTER's WAYS.
His Curt Reply to q Delegation
That Had Not Supported

That Had Not Supported
Him.
Stock holder.
An incident unquestiouably anthem
tic which has never before been related
in PRINT may be told Of Mr.. Webster
On their way home from the con'en-
ton, which was held, we believe, at
Philadelphia, the Mississippi delegation
called upon Mr.. Webster at his modest
house on Louisiana avenue, In wash
ington. II was near the close oil q sum-
mer's day, when. ushered into the little
front parlor, and introduced to Mr..
Webster, the chairman, Judge Sharkey
the same il may be who years alter
Yards was conspicuous in the recon
structlon politics OF his State-address'
ed the great orator in terms oil nattering
eulogy, saying, among other thlngs,hoS
pleased he and his fellow delegates
would have been to see Mr.. Wsbsters
great abilities recognized in the nomina'
ton of their party for the presidency;
matter of fact, the delegation had
steadily voted against him in the con-
vention. II was upon this fact that Mr..
Webstpr's curt reply turned. You
have expressed, Mr.. Chairman, said
Re, "the sentiment that your desire
and I must suppose that your action
was in conformity to that desire-in the
recent convention OF the Wing party
for the nomination OF Ia candidate Tor the
Presidency OF the United Staies-your
desire and effort was that the honor
should fall upon me. In response to
which have only to say that the rec
ord. gentlemen, is the other way. Good
night, gentlemen And bowling him.
SELF through the folding doors into the
rear parlor where Mrs. Webster sat IN
deepening twilight, he vanished to Mis-
sissi ppi eyes, leaving his visitors, sternly
rebuked for lip service, to hnd TIER
homeward way as best they might.
II was in the preceding Presidential
canvass, in 1913. when Gen. Taylor was
the Wing candidate, and elected, that
the writer heard Mr.. Webster make, on
his farm at Marshfield, the speech In
which he declared that the selection oil
Gen. Taylor-who in private converse
ton at Washington bad been character.
lied. but uujustly as "only swearing
frontier colonel"-was "a nomination
not tit to be made" The speech, the
only one, we think, he made in the can
vass, was listened to by a large assem-
blage who had come To Marshfeld for
the purpose, many straight" Wings
from Boston and elsewhere being of the
number, with a considerable sprlnkling
of 30 called Conscience Wings" out OF
whose secession from the party grew
the historic coalition which soon alter
put Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson
IN the Senate of the United States.
Many OF these Boston gentlemen, We
remember, wore white or light'colored
kid gloves on the occasion, and their
applause was diverse, as one and an
OF her of the orators utterances affected
the divergent prejudices Of his auditory.
The expression above quoted remained
in the printed speech as Mr.. Webster
made it, but another, still more oten-
sive to the Wings proper, was eliminat.
ed from the verbatim report as 1t stood
in type in the office OF the Boston Atdi
The Wing committee sent q delegation
to Mr.. Webster asking that the obnox-
ious phrase might be cancelled before
the speech went TO press. No, said
Mr.. Webster, "let il stand as | spoke
itw Not to be bsfiied in their solicit
tuue for its expurgatiOn, one OF the
committee renewed the request in
note to Mr.. Webster, enclosing check
for $500. Mr.. Webster's reply to this
was that the expression could as we'll
be left out; that the speech with that
omitted would sufficiently express his
views on the points to which it related.
So the speech went TO press without 1t.
There may be those among our Boston
contemporaries, solicitous for Mr.. Web.
ster's fame, who may be moved to dis
pute the substantial accuracy OF what is
here related. The fact, in its main de-
tails and chief significance, we believe
to be susceptible OF proof, the lapse OF
thirty two years nevertheless.