The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-19
Daniel Webster, the Expounder OF
The. Constitutions
ARTICLE VIII.

Daniel Webster, the ExpOunder of
the Constitutions.
If today: a popular vote were taken on
the question, WHO was the most promi-
nent political genius of American MIS-
tory during the nineteenth century,"
large proportion of the people, possibly a
majority, would give their franchise to
Daniel Webster-'the godlike Danielr'
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 a 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
We're giants in those days" Among his
associates and rivals We're 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
L.
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, 1T doesn't hang
right. We'll, 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
I 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 1851, 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
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
buiWark of national strength and per.
Hn ha
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 grea tneSs.
A Varied Career.
We cannot fellow Webster through all
tie experiences of mis- life after leaving
college The story is too long. \ teacher.
a law student III Boston. Il successful
l&Wyer, member of congress a United
States senator, secretary of state these.
covering a period of nalf n century Sucn
is the outline of his career. And yet how
little they reveal of the life How little
of his services and sacrifices for his coun-
tryl How little of his disappointed amb-
toni How little Of the Sittes and unjust
criticism which he cndu?e,i. How little of
his colossal genius!
Mr.. WebSter's greatest services to his
country were those performed IN defend
ing and expounding the constitution He
gave practically, so Far as the people at
large were concerned, 4 new IDterpreta-
ton to that instrum aut. J. would be too
much to 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 aut few
minds. 80
Whatever may be the opinion now, if
is undeniable that in the carly days OF
the republic a veSy large proportion OF
the people held the constitution to be Il
compact between sovereign states, frc:n