The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-19
ARTICLE yIII.

Daniel Webster, the Expounder of
he Constitution.
IF today a popular vote We're taken on
the question, @'sWho was the most promi-
nent political genius of American MIS-
tory during the nineteenth century," a
large proportion of the people, possibly a
majority, would give their franchise to
Daniel Webster-.stfe godlike Danieit,
Not that he held the highest official posi-
tion-to the great dignity of the presi-
dency he never attained. And Lincoln
may, by some, at first thought seem to
outshine Webster. but Lincoln and Web
ster occupied different spheres. They
performed different work. In no sense
can they be regarded as rivals. Each
in his field was supreme. The fact that
each blazes with matchless splendor in
the armament of our republic in no meas
IRE diminishes the glory of the other
In his own realm Webster was with
out peer. Towering, calm and serene
above his contemporaries, he stands ma.
jestic and sublime the one man of the
second quarter of this century whose
fame increases and grows more distinct
as the years roll by. And yet he did not
live among mediocre men: he was not
surrounded by a race of pigmies. There
were giants in those days Among his
associates and rivals were such men as
Clay and Calhoun. and Benton and Hayne
and Choate and Mason, but in the per-
spective of the years Ire rises above them
alias Mount Washington stands out to
the distant observer above the other
peaks Of New Hampshire.
Porn ON Farm.
Webster was so fortunate as to be
born ON a farm. Yet in his youth he was
not much of farmer. But he had
brains. The story is told that one day
when moving he said to his father: This
scythe doesn't. hang right. His father
fixed it. Still he said TT doesn't hang
right Well, Dan,' said the swarthy
old man. suppose you hang it yourself
Dan hung it on the limb of tree, say
ing: @That is about the kind of a hang
[ like Whether it was this episode that
his brother Zeke had in mind when he
said, Dan was good for nothing else,
so father sent him to college," is uncer-
tain, but it is certain that Dan went to
college. He graduated from old Dart
mouth in 1861 being then nineteen years
old. 1t was while in college that he was
invited to deliver the Fourth of July
Grafton in Hanover, the college town.
This fact is significant as showing that
he had already made a reputation as an
orator. The speech itself is significant,
not for the profundity of thought or the
majestic simplicity of style such as dis
tinguished the utterances of his mature
life, but rather for the theme he treat
ed This showed the characteristic bent
of his mind. In this youthful effusion
he preached love of country, exalted an
American spirit and urged fidelity to the
constitution as the true corner stone and
bulwark of national strength and per-
manence. He urged the necessity and
proclaimed the grandeur of the Union
Thus he sounded the keynote of his po-
litical life, while yet boy in college, for
these We're his great themes in his years
of greatness.
A Varied Career.
We cannot fellow Webster through adj
tie experiences of mis- life after leaving
college The story is too long. A teacher,
a law student il, Boston, a successful
sl5Wyer, a member of congress, a United
States senator, secretary of state these.
covering a period of nale a century. Sucn
is the outline of his career. And yet how
little they reveal of the lifel How little
of his services and sacrifices for his coun-
try! How little of his disappointed ambi-
toni How little of the s,ittes and unjust
criticism which he endured. How little of
his colossal genius!
Mr. Webster's greatest services to his
country were those performed in defend
ing and expeunding the constitution. He
gave practically, so FAR as the people at
large were concerned, new lnterpreta-
ton to that instrument. j. would be foo
much Ito say that he originated that
view, but his elaborate, exhaustive and
profound development of the doctrine
gave currency to an interpretation which
at first had held dominion in :'ut few
minds. @S
Whatever may be the opinion now, it
is undeniable that in the carly days OF
the republic q. yery large proportion CT
the people held the constitution to be a
compact between sovereign states, fro-n