Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-18

by the state of New Hampshire of statues
of John Stark and Daniel Webster to the
national gallery in the Capitol at Wash
ington, when, on December 20, 1894 adj
dresses were delivered in the Senate by
Senators Chandler, Hoar, Morgan, Morrill,,
Davis Plat Cullom, Mitchell, Lodge and
Gallinger, and i'll the House by Represent
atives Blair, Everett, Curtis, Morse and
Baker.
The Only Serious Criticism.
Therefore, upon your patience now l will
only trespass by a single thought concern
ing Nj. Webster. Forty-scven years have
passed since his death, and looking upon
his career historic and with all merely
cpheGacral feelings died away, we clearly
see tHat only one serious criticism was
ever made of him by any considerable por-
ton OF his countrymen. That criticism Is
that he inconsistent and unwIse i'll his
Cnan@" of attitude on the question of the
re- erection OF slavery by national law.
shown by has speech on the 9TH of March.
1870. Ills disaftection was keenly fei, by
The Intl-slaVery men. and they tainted him
to the utmost. In thoughts that i've and
words that burn the senior senator from
Massachusetts, Mr.. Hoar, in his remarks
in the Senate on December 20, 1894, on The
reception of the Webster statue, depicted
the Indignation of the north at what they
called Mr. Webster's apostsry. AS an in
teresting illustration OF This feeling | may
be permitted to say that only few days
+. Hale, in his own handwriting. a much
worn extract from Mr.. Webster's speech on
September -, 1911 at the wing state con-
vention at Springfield, Mass, in which he
claimed that the Wimot privoso was his
inl ention. Here it is
We hear much jusl now Of a panacca
for the la!ger and evils of slavery and
slave annexation, which they call the Will
mot proviSu. That certainly Is just
unlent, but it is not sentiment found
any nav party upon. 1t is not sentimen;
on which Massachusetts wings differ. There
l. not Il man III this hail who holds to it
more firmly than l do, nor one who ad-
heres 10 it more than another 1 feel some
little interest in this matter, sir. Did not
commit myself in 1888 TO the whole doc
trine fully. entirely"
- And J must be permitted to say that
| cannot quite consent that more recent
discoveries should claim the merit and take
out a patent. | deny the priority of ihcr
invention. Allow me to say, sir il Is not
''Evidently MIR. Hale carried this eXtracl
about with him during his campaign speech
and made of it for the purpos" of
upbraiding Mr. Webster for abandoning the
thunder which he had claimed to have first
sounded, and for making his 9TH of March
speech against any congressional opposition
TO The march of slavery toward the fertile
plains of Kansas and Nebraska.
Defense of Webster.
Yet it is not now difficult to defend Mr.
Webster, not from the charge of incon-
Sistency, but from any charge that he
urpatriotic in his change of position. Other
motives of minor force may have been
present, but unquestionaby his principal
motive was devotion to the Union of these
states, which was, he thought. to be main
tanned by all reasonable sacrifices and by
every JudiciouS compromise. of conflicting
opinions. He honestly believed that the
measures of 1880 were reasonable and judi
c!ous, important and necessary, as means
for preventing the threatened dissolution
Of the Union. 1t must always be remem-
bered that love for the Union had been the
intense sentiment of Mr.. Webster's whole
lifetime. The great orations upon which
his fame as an orator will ever live had
been composed and uttered under the in
Spiraton of this great love for the Union.
He had been bold and outspoken against
slavery when duty had called him to the
conflict. He was sure in 1870 that the time
had come for compromising with slavery
to the Union. 1t is easy, if we are
determined to do so, to condemn the Union
savers of 1879 for the reason that all their
compromising efforts for peace proved
futile and the Union was only saved by de-
vastating war. with slavery destroyed in
the progress of that war
Integrity of Motive Conceded.
But in all fairness and justice the in
tegrity of their motives should neverthe-
less be conceded. They had grown up in
the years first succeeding the formation
of the national Constitution when its value
was not fully appreciated by the people of
the late colonies and confederation, and
its ties We're weaker than when at the end
of more than century of national growth
under that Constitution have become
the richest country on the globe and stand
confesSedly among the most powerful ma
tons Therefore, with no half-hearted or
qualified praises, but with unbounded adj
miration and unStinted affection, we ought
to express every suitable occasion our
thankfulness for the gift to this country in
the earlier days of its national life, Of the
sageS and the cOunSelorS, the orators and
the statesmen, who however diverse their
views and actions may have been upon the
great and burning question of slavery, yet
on the whole wisely anth periodically in
spired the hearts and guided the footsteps
Among all these founders OF the nation
whom we so gratefully remember and SO
profoundly respect and honor, who was the
superior, who was the equal of Daniel
WeDster?'
Senator Chambers words were loudly APP
plauded. Secretary Long was next intro
duced. In accepting the monument the
Secretary said:
Secretary Longs Response.
ITO George Washington and his associ-
ates, who, in 11S1, framed the federal Con-
stituticn, we owe that great paper 1t
bound the thirteen Independent colonies into
a union and created the United States of
America In 1t they gave us the ample let
ter and frame of government.
ITO the overwhelming arguments, nearly
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