Evening star., 1900-01-18

| lie opinion and shaped the political thought
| of his nation.
I'VE must look beyond his triumph at
| the bar to find the Webster of history. Be
yond his work as lawmaker also, for
although ne had lions share in the leg
1slauon OF his time, ii is not a con-
structive statesman that he lives for us
today. In the first rank as a lawmaker
| and as lawyer something very great
must remain behind IL We can readily and
! justly set aside such claims as these and
| say the highest remembrance rests on other
grounds Yet such is the case. and the
| first but the lesser of these other grounds
/ is his power of speech Eminent as a ley
islator, still more distinguished as a lawyer
| Webster was supreme as orator.
Such. then. We're the qualities which in
thelr perfect combination put Webster
among the Very few who stand forth as the,
worlds greatest orators. In this age of
ours. when the tendency is to overpraise
commonplace work to mistake notoriety
Tor 1aTne. and advertisement for reputa ton
| 1t is of inestmabie worth to a people to
| have as one of their own possessions such
master of speech, such a standard of dis
! JUNCTION and Of real excellence. as We find
| statue.
Other Ground stated.
But there is yet another ground deeper
and more serious than this. Webster de
| serves a statue for what he represented
ior tne message he delivered, and for that
| for which he still stands and will ALWAYS
stand before his countrymen and in the
cold, clear light of history. He was born
| just at the end of the war of the revolu-
ton, when the country was entering on the
period of disintegratiou and impotence
Known as that of the confederation. He
was too young to understand and to feel
those bitter years of struggle and decline
which eliminated in the adoption of the
Constitution. But the first imuressious of
MS hDEhOOl have of ba
perlty- strength and honor which came
from the new instrument of government
ana from the better union of the states
HIS father followed his old chief in uoli-
tics as he had in the field and Webster
grew up federa!ist, supporter of Wash
lngton. Hamilton and Adams and of the
leaders or their party AS he came to
manhood he saw the first assault upor the
national principle in the Virginia and Ken
lucky resolutions. He had entered public
lie Wnen the second attack came in the
| movement which ended with the Hartford
convention, and with which, New England
| Ieuerallst as he was, he could feel no sym-
pathy. Again fifteen years passed and the
thlrd assault was delivered in the nu,liffca-
ton doctrines of South Carolina Webster
was then at the zenith of his powers and
he came forward the defender of the
Constitution. In the reply to Hayne he
reached the highest point in parliamentary
oratory and left all rivals far behind. He
argued his case with consummate skill
both legally and historical 'ly But he did
1ar more than this. He was not merely
the great orator defending the Constjru-
ton: he was the champion of the national
principle Whether the Constitution was at
!he outset an experiment or not whether
IL was a contract from which each or all
OF the SlgnatOrieS could withdraw at will
was secondary. The great fact was that
the Constitution had done its work II had
made a nation Webster stood forth in
me senate and before the country as the
exponent OF that fact and a the defender
OF the nations life against the attacks of
sePaf2tsm. This was his message to his
time- Ihis was his true mission. In that
cause ne spoke as none had ever spoken
before ana with splendor of eloquence
and force of argument to which no one
else could attain.
His Great Services
IL is not to be supposed for an instant
that Webster discovered the fact that the
constitution had made a nation or that he
hrst and alone proclaimed a new creed to
an minimizing generation. His service was
equally great, but widely different from
TINS. The great mass of the American neo-
pie felt dnmbly, dimly perhaps, but none
the less deeply and surely, that they had
made nation some day to be a great ma
uon, ana they meant to remain such and
not sink into divided and petty republics
rms profound feeling of the popular heart
WEBSTER not only repreSe nted, but nut into
words. No slight service this if rightly
considered; no little marvel this capacity
to change thought into speech, to give ex-
preston to the feelings and homes of a
people and crystalliZe them forever in words
III Tor such use. To this power indeed
We owe large part of the worlds greatest
literature The myths and legends of
NJ ~ @ieece were OF no one mans invention
Iney We're children of the popular imagin-
iiSs-NaSue, VaryinS-foating hither and
thlther like the mists of the mountains
BUT Homer touched than. and they starred
| up into beautiful, immortal life. to delight
ana charm untold genera tfons AescbviuS
! ana SoBhOcieS Tb.no
ana they became types of the sorrows of
humanity and of the struggle of man with
| late- dhe Sagas of the far north. confused
ana dlffuSe, but full of poetry and irnagina- :
ton, siumbered until the Minnesinpars y-o,-,
them into the Niebelungen Lied and again
uhlll great composer set them before our
| essS' 80 tHat all men could see their beauty
ana pathoS and read their <ieeper mean
nass Sir Thomas Mallory rescned tho Ar
thuflan legends from chaos and in our own
f taS great poet has turned them into
~ ~ MS Ii miiien make their beauty clear to
the world Thus popular imaginings. dumb
iof the most part, finding at best only a
rude expression, have been touched bv the
hand OF genius and live forever
Expressed Nations Sentiments.
So in politics jefferson embodied in tho
declaration of Independence the feelings of
the American people and sounded to the
word the first note in the great march of
democracy, which then began The Mar
selllalse IN words and music burned with
the spirit of the French revolution and in
spired the armies which swept over Eu-
rope Thus Webster gave form and express
SION, at once noble and moving to the ma
uonal sentiment of his people. In what he
SAID men saw clearly what they themselves
thought. but which they could not express
Inat sentiment grew and strengthened
with every hour, when men had only to
repeat his words in order to proclaim the
creed In which they believed and after he
was dead Webster was heard again in the
deep roar of Union guns from Sumter to
ApponattoX. His message. delivered as he
alone could deliver it, was potent in inspir-
ing the American people to the terrible
sacrifices by which they saved the nation
when he slept silent in his grave at Marsh
field. Belief in the Union and the Consti-
tutlon because they meant national great
ness and national life. was the great domi-
nant conviction of Websters life. 1t was
part of his temperament. He loved the
outer world, the vast expanses of sea and
sky, all that was large and unfettered IN
nature. So he admired great states and
empires and had little faith in small ones
or in the happiness or worth of nation
which has no history and which fears its
fate too much to put its fortune to the
touch when the accepted time has come.
1t was not merely that as a statesman