The evening times., 1900-01-18
THURSDAY. JANUARY is, 1900,
Daniel Webster.

II is very meet that Daniel Webster
should be represented by statue in WASH
.ngton adequate to the illustration of his
American greatness. For this country mas
never produced a greater man. Washing
ton. Hamilton. and jefferson were the con-
structors of the fabric OF our grand ana
enduring Constitution. Webster was its
eNpounder-its apostle. To him more than
to any other man in our history We owe
later appreciation OF the splendid politi-
cal system it projected and established,
and our present understanding of its
monumental truths and philosophy 1t Is
well, therefore, that the memory OF such
a giant among our native statesmen should
be kept bright before the eyes of sue
ceeding generations in the form in which
the art of the statuary has in splendid
bronze enshrined it, in the heart of that
Capital City which was the chief scene of
his labors and triumphs.
more imposing figure than that of this
Titan child of English Puritanism has
never moved across the stage of American
history. In his early life and struggles
against the obstacles of remote frontier
environment and conditions. and against
poverty that stern. but often benignant
teacher of youth. Daniel Webster, in the
victory he won over circumstances, must
ever live in the thoughts Of brainful, but
obstructed young Americans, as an exam
pie of the hopeful power Of brains. indus
try. and integrity over adverse fortune.
II was a sturdy stock from which he was
bred and a noble old Commonwealth with
in whose borders he first saw the sun.
Much of his after career was identified,
and gloriously. with the State of Massa-
chusetts; but it is TO New Hampshire with
her rocks and hills. her strong Anglo
Saxon yeomanry. and her atmosphere OF
sober thought of vigorous simple life and
her basic love of liberty that we owe the
great Commoner Indeed. as a national
character, Daniel Webster first became
known as member OF Congress from New
HAMPSHIRE A man Of commanding pres
ence-huge. solemn. leonine-he impress
ed all who looked upon him with sense
of his human leadership and overlordship
He held courts and the Senate spellbound
by the beauty of his oratory, but still more
by the irresistible force of his mind and
logic. Not only the public men of his own
day and nation bowed in the long and
broad shadow of his eminence; but the
statesmen and diplomatists of the Old
World. and its philosophers felt and con-
fessed his princely grandeur
Above all Daniel Webster was patriot.
He was a being Of strong and dominating
political conscience and convictions; but
the generations that have followed him,
have reason to be thankful that he was
American always before he was partisan,
and that his lifework was devoted to the
upbuilding of a great imperial republic,
and not to efforts in arrest of progress and
to the establishment of narrow provincial
ism. When we contrast his career and its
achievements with the day Of small
things in which they had then natality.
it is impossible TO escape the thought that
Daniel Webster was inspired in his mis-
sion, as were his grand predecessors. the
Father of His Country and the Father OF
the Constitution. in theirs. And posterity
will feel this truth as during the coming
ages il looks upon the towering form and
rugged kingly features Of the man. as they
are preserved in Trentanoye's wonderful
concepts ion.