New-York tribune., 1903-03-13

On INV sober opdnion. webster olo not P
this speech ON the Conscr4Dtion bill. He WIZ
{, Eseksei, that aftsr his best renec1ion Ae "~u
Asct6ed not to. and Il he even remembered
- go vaarz he must have been thankful
.h.t thts relic Of the petty partisan poncicaan
S,d mt rise to confound the great nanonai
statesman L ,
ernat literary monument. Many plans noa'eu
IN his head, but Mr. Van Tyne says the pnSs-
-, .o--z The tireless patience and the sscr1-
0ce of the world that would have oeen nece0
.arv 70 carry out the details were "antins'
The most Of his letters are esSenuaHS 'oin
noonplsce He needed the spur OF great CRISIS
to nut forth his best powers. His mind mao
uttIe subtIety He seems to have been ever
shsorb,nx and thinking. and then when tne
horr came for tremendous action, his unwilling
,,,rd 9ot under way and we get glimpse OF
htn haruerinR out 4 great speech IN a 1e"
dava or a few hours. only to relax again "nen
the bolt is spent, and to go on In q connion
place way until he is again aroused IN nio
last days he projected O work on the eVloence'
NJ Christianity. and he dictated an Outline ic
history of Washington's administration III
which he hoped to embody and illustrate MS
doctrine OF the constitution. This ouUiine "
included in the present volume
He supported Adams for the Presidency IN
~ ev,,s. and it is interesting to note the less
,o,,+,c EzekieTs remark: "I never did like Jonh
n A5or,a He must have a very ooJectionaole
rival whose election I should not prefer. ANU
an his election Mrs Webster wrote 10 ner nus
L.rd. "rray tell me how Mr. A. received inc
irteylSence? I have wish 10 kno" IL ne Coo
ruorried" When Jackson was CHOSEN III Aoo
Webster 30 little understood MIN as ~ o0'
o-u T hos not character enough to conoucI
his measures by his own strength. ooiieo.
must and VIII lead him." Nowhere IN ms le.t
is anything but the most dignineo trieno0Ip ,1
shown for his great rival Clay; OUT Ine lo'ii'
feeling is clearly enough revealeo oy ...'
Who in 1880. wrote: Mr.. Clay is very ANXIOUS
u+bsr 90 into the Cabinet. This
,.-,, vne-He would not do 1t unless ne
t,o,,.h+ g would dispose Of Mr.. W. out OF MS
av sro afraid of the kisses OF an enemy
Ahor+ This time Webster closed letter DISCUS
.,n1 the Taylor administration: you nave soiii
times very hot Ares at the Astor-4hfo" ms
letter Immediately, into the very hol'e0
them" an Injunction which was no more hep
than similar ones Of many other caretul poh-
ticians II is curious to hear MIN duVlaie
yvhi1s in 1S47 to represent Taylor as a WING
kept down by Mr.. Polk & Co. only 10 o
the General he feared would become an 'huiii.
trat,on hero become his own successrul riVdi'
70 BENJAMIN D. silliman he passed his own ao.
&c. Judgment on his conciliaticn policy OF
1880 saving: While must be care1ul 10
countenance nothing which violates the Consu-
tuition or invades the rights OF Others II Is oui
policy In my opinion, most clearly not 10 Sieio
the substantial truth, for the sake OF concliiaee
those whom we never can concflate' at 'he IA
ra,,a ., the loss of the friendship and support
~ those great masses of good men who are IN
terested in the anti-slavery cause Yet III spl'e
of his complaints on the nomination OF oco'A
that after he had performed his DUTY 10 me
south II had given him no support for the Pres-
dency 1t is impossible to believe that ne was
not disinterested in seeking compromise In the
middle of February 1850, he was writing that
there would be no disunion, things would cool
off but little later, just before the 9Th OF
March speech he wrote to Fletcher: L am
nearly broken down with labor and anxiety
know not how to meet the present emergency
or with what weapons to beat down the North
ern and Southern follies now raging In equal
extremes"
Not the least interesting letters IN this vol
ume are those addressed to Webster. Space
permits reference to only two OF them. one
from Lord Ashburton. in 1S46, says:
This Oregon dispute was mainly invented be-
fore [because?I we settled the Maine boundary,
and when 1t is closed some new grievance VIII
be opened. AS long as we are neighoors on
the great Continent which you begin to think
should wholly belong to you, shall never
really be friends. and have long Wlsned we
could find a decent excuse to let the work OF
annexation be completed
The other is letter from William Writ. after
a visit to New-England in 1929. IN which he
says Of the Yankee stock:
1 know nothing that compare with it but
the upmixed native stock Of Virginia-With
few slight peculiarties, the people OF virginia
are identical with those OF your people "hoIn oIn
7 have seen. , . I wish to heaven 1t were
more perfectly known to those most deeply in
terested to know it. The political elements OF OF
dissension are at work among US, ana II VIII
require all the attraction of cohesion Wnich ,n
character can generate to hold US together-and
most happy should be If could devise any
mode by which could successfully contrlnute
to such result-can you tell me how? Gentle
Shepherd, tell me-how-~
The editor has adopted a curious method OF
arranging these letters. and one OF doubtfui
wisdom. Instead Of putting them in chronology
cal order that the life OF the man as lived from
day to day might be seens he has divided them
according to subjects to illustrate the statesman
the friend and neighbor, the husband and father
and other aspects of Webster. Many of the let
ters do not lend themselves to such classification.
but deal with various topics. The purpose
sought could have been well served by
detailed topical index which is entirely lacking.
so that even with the classification 1t is difficult
to fnd references to specific matters discussed
In the letters. Nor are the letters always well
arranged in their classes. Mr.. Van Tynes an
notations are voluminous, and though not in
variabIy accurate, are on the whole. valuable
IRON ORE HIGHER; 100000 TONS SOLD.
Cleveland. March 1.-THE prices for iron pro-
dueed by the mines OF the Lake Superior district