Reg'd by C. E. Purcell, N.Y. City

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

WE adopt the following sketch of General Webb up to 1858, for two reasons. In the first place, it was published in *Harper's Weekly* and the *Courier and Enquirer*—papers of the widest circulation of that day—and it fearlessly challenged criticism, at a time when from political considerations at least half the press of the Union would, if possible, have questioned its facts. The accuracy of the biography was conceded by all parties, and has become historical. And secondly, we adopt this sketch by the Hon. Geo. H. Andrews, because that gentleman has since served with distinction in the Senate of the State of New York, and is now one of the Commissioners of Taxes in the city of New York, probably the most responsible office in the State.

[From the *Morning Courier and New York Enquirer* of September 16, 1858.]

The following very brief biography of General Webb, who for nearly thirty-one years has been the responsible editor of this paper, was prepared for *Harper's Weekly* by George H. Andrews, Esq., one of the associate editors of the *Courier and Enquirer*, who had been employed upon it, as man and boy, nearly a quarter of a century. Brief as the biography is, it was found to be too long for *Harper's Weekly*, and a very short synopsis of it was made to accompany the wood-cut in that paper.

General Webb is now absent in Massachusetts, and his associates have determined to publish this sketch, because it is more satisfactory than the synopsis of it which appeared in *Harper's Weekly* because it contains certain explanations which we think due to the present generation of our readers, and which we think General

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Webb will permit to be made; and because, having prepared the work to our satisfaction, we do not like to see our labor thrown away. We therefore "assume the responsibility" of publishing it in the *Courier and Enquirer*.

General J. Watson Webb was born in Claverack, Columbia County, New York, on the 8th of February, 1802. His father, General Samuel B. Webb, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, was the sixth lineal descendant from Richard Webb, who was admitted a free man in the town of Boston in 1632, and settled Hartford in 1635, in connection with the Rev. Mr. Hooker, and sixty-three followers. At the battle of Baulker Hill, Lieut. Webb commanded Capt. Chester's company of volunteers; was wounded, thanked in general orders for his gallantry, and appointed aid-de-camp of General Putnam. In June, 1776, he was appointed the aid-de-camp of Washington, and was wounded at the battle of White Plains, and again at Trenton. In 1777, he was promoted to the command of the Third Connecticut Regiment, raised by himself, and almost exclusively at his own expense, and after serving some months on the Hudson, he was taken prisoner in crossing over to Long Island under command of General Parsons. He was not exchanged until 1781, when, upon the retirement of Baron Steuben, he succeeded that officer in the command of the light infantry of the army.

In all the old histories of Connecticut, as also in Lossing's "Picture Historical of the Revolution," there is a representation of what is called the "Webb House," in Wethersfield, which owes its celebrity to the following circumstance. When the Count Rochambeau arrived off our coast with a French fleet in 1780, it was necessary that he and Washington should meet. New York was in possession of the British, and the meeting could only take place somewhere to the eastward. Accordingly, Washington applied to his former aid-de-camp, General Samuel B. Webb, who arranged that Washington and Rochambeau, with their respective staffs, should meet at his father's house in Wethersfield. They went accordingly; and hence the historical character of the old family mansion.

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At the close of the Revolution General Webb settled in New York, and in 1787 married the daughter of Judge Hogeboom, or Columbia County, the great-grand-daughter of the original proprietor of the manor of Claverack, to whom it was granted in 1704. The subject of this memoir, therefore, is equally descended from the English and Dutch settlers of our country; and is what, in the olden time, boys used to denominate a "Yankee Dutchman." He was named James Watson after James Watson, of this city, who was a captain in the Third Connecticut Regiment, subsequently one of our most distinguished merchants, and a Senator of the United States.

At the age of twelve, General Webb went to reside at Coopers town, in Otsego County, with his brother-in-law and guardian, Judge George Morell, where he completed his education under the immediate supervision of the Rev. John Smith, who had the reputation of being one of the best linguists in the State. Judge Morell, then at the head of the bar in Otsego County, and subsequently Chief Justice of Michigan, wished Webb to study law in his office, but this was decidedly objected to. Webb claimed to go in the army or navy, or else to study medicine. To this the guardian objected, instancing that an elder brother had studied medicine and immediately abandoned the profession and entered the army: that he, Morell, had also taken his degree as a physician and then turned to the law, and insisted that no more such experiments should be tried. The army and navy he said were out of the question. Both parties were obstinate, and the difference resulted in a compromise; —young Webb was to try the mercantile profession. He did so in good faith with Colonel Magher, of Cherry Valley; but at the expiration of three months gave notice to his brother-in-law that it would not do. But his guardian insisted that it was too late to change. Webb ceased to remonstrate, but promptly decided upon his course. He was a favorite of the late Jabez D. Hammond and James O. Morse, who took pleasure in placing at his disposal their excellent libraries, and during the six months he was in Cherry Valley he

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did little besides reading with avidity such books as Mr. Hammond recommended to him. All his plans being arranged to dismiss those in authority over him, he made a visit to his brother-in-law at Cooperstown, and upon leaving him, had quietly deposited in the box of an old-fashioned gig his portion, the one-seventh of his father's silver, which had been divided among the children in 1808. In those days families of any position prided themselves upon the quantity of their plate; and young Webb's inheritance in this regard was quite sufficient for all his purposes, although he never ceased to regret that he was thus deprived of family relics which he so greatly prized.

Having thus legitimately "raised the wind" for his intended escape from all control, he gave notice to Colonel Magher of his intention to leave him. The colonel, of course, supposed it to be a family matter, as he (Webb) had just returned from a visit to his brother-in-law, and only requested of him to remain until he could visit New York to make a purchase of goods. This did not suit the views of the boy, as it might lead to a discovery of his intended "runaway" and the defeat of his military aspirations. But the request was reasonable and not to be refused. On the day after Colonel Magher's return, however, Master Webb, then seventeen years of age, bade adieu to Cherry Valley, and gave notice to his brother-in-law that he would in future dispense with his duties as guardian. He came direct to this city, where Governor Clinton then was, having just married Miss Jones. He knew the Governor well; and he knew also, that if he did not put a bold face upon it, detection was more than probable. Accordingly, as the Governor often related the interview, when asked how his family were, young Webb replied that they were all well, and desired to be kindly remembered to the Governor. He stated to the Governor that he was on his way to Washington to get a commission in the army, and wanted a letter from him to Mr. Calhoun, the Secretary of War. The Governor remarked that such a letter would do him an injury instead of service, as he was in bad odor with the administration. Webb

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said that he was aware of that, and simply wished the letter to be a certificate of his being the son of General Samuel B. Webb, and of his desire to enter the army; and with such certificate, President Monroe and his father having been friends during the Revolution, he did not doubt his success. The Governor readily gave the letter, but at the same time cautioned the youth against anticipating any favorable result from his visit to the Federal city. He, however, was more sanguine; and report says, that having ascertained the cost of his trip to Washington, he laid that sum aside, and devoted every dollar of what remained of the proceeds of the family plate, to see the lions in New York! This being accomplished, he repaired to Washington, and presented himself to Mr. Calhoun, who so thoroughly won the heart of the boy, that in after life, and amid all the changes of parties and party politics, he had secured the services of one, of whom it has been truly said, that he never forgot a favor and never forsook a friend; but has proved himself, through a period of thirty years of party strife, faithful to the end, regardless alike of the requirements of party and that political expediency which too often ignores the claims of justice and truth, and repudiates mere personal friendships.

When Mr. Calhoun had read De Witt Clinton's letter, under protest that it was but a certificate of identity, he frankly admitted the boy's claims to consideration; but at the same time said it was absolutely impossible to give him the appointment he solicited, in consequence of the graduating class at West Point being a large one, and more than sufficient to fill all the vacancies; and that their claims were paramount. Now came the struggle: a runaway from home with only three dollars in his pocket, and too proud ever to return home if he failed in his object of getting either in the army or navy, the young gentleman was in what might well be described as "a tight place." But *nil desesperandum* was his motto; and he inquired of the Secretary, whether, if there had been no graduating class from West Point, his claims would have been recognized and he appointed Mr. Calhoun seemed somewhat

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astonished at this business-like mode of viewing the subject, but seemingly disposed to humor the boy, said, "Certainly, but why do you ask?" "Because in that case," was the prompt reply, "I wish permission to address you a letter, examining into the justice of the ground upon which you have made a decision which can not fail to have an influence upon my future life." Mr. Calhoun became interested, and told the boy to write freely whatever he pleased, and his letter should receive a respectful consideration. This was the 12th of August, 1819. The weather was intolerably hot, but the young adventurer, for such he had now become, returned to his lodgings, and went at his work, as he has since so often done at an editorial, and that same evening finished and left at the door of Mr. Calhoun's residence his memoir, intended to demonstrate that the position the Secretary had assumed was not tenable, because it was not just. He contrasted the position of the graduates from West Point with his own—young men selected from different parts of the Union, and mostly from political considerations; who having been educated for four years by the government, and supported and clothed by it during the same period, could not be said to have any claims upon the country other than their peculiar fitness for the army. He, on the contrary, had been educated at his own expense; his father had served from the commencement to the end of the Revolution—freely shedding his blood in defense of his principles—and without any other reward than the privilege of having spent a fortune and the best years of his life in the service of a country, which now argued that those upon whom it had conferred the benefits of an education, had greater claims to a commission in the army than one whose father had aided in the establishment of our independence, and who had been educated at his own expense instead of at the expense of the country. He admitted that, if better qualified for the place, the claim of the cadet to a commission, or rather the right of the country to the cadet's services, allowed of no question; but if, on the contrary, he was as well educated as those about to

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graduate at West Point, there could be no doubt of his greater claim to the appointment. He claimed to be as well qualified in all respects save military tactics; and proposed that a board of officers should be appointed to examine him in all the studies pursued at the Military Academy, except engineering and other purely military studies; and if found competent, then he insisted that it was his right to receive a commission regardless of the graduating cadets and their claims. The letter closed with an intimation, that he should call on the Secretary at his house the following morning at 9 o'clock, to learn his decision in regard to his application. On the following morning he presented himself at Mr. Calhoun's door at the time indicated, and was shown into the reception-room. Mr. Calhoun entered almost immediately, and looking very sternly at him, said—"Young gentleman, I suppose you have come to know our *fate*?" slightly accenting the last word. This had the effect intended; and Webb, believing the decision was adverse, firmly responded that such was his purpose. At this Mr. Calhoun relaxed into one of his blandest smiles, which those familiar with them will never forget, and taking him by the hand, said kindly, "You are mistaken. I have carefully read your letter, and you have demonstrated your claim to be appointed, while the manner in which you have accomplished your purpose, is with me evidence of your fitness for the army."

A long conversation then ensued, in which Mr. Calhoun drew from him an admission that he was a "runaway" from home, and only seventeen years of age; and the interview closed with his being appointed a lieutenant in the Fourth Battalion of Artillery, then commanded by Colonel House, with orders to report at Governor's Island in the harbor of New York;—thus not only giving him a commission, but also conceding the choice of corps and station.

Those who know General Webb, need not be told what even his enemies concede, viz., that his leading characteristic is devoted attachment to those who have done him a kindness. Accordingly,

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we find that during his long political career, he never suffered an
unkind word to be published against Mr. Calhoun, widely as they
differed upon the exciting topics of the day. While the *Courier
and Enquirer* opposed what it deemed Mr. Calhoun's errors, it
always expressed a conviction that he was the very soul of honor,
and a politician of the greatest purity and sincerity, acting upon
a mistaken view of the subjects upon which they differed. This
was so marked that our leading men well knew there existed some
bond of attachment toward Mr. Calhoun which was stronger than
mere party considerations; for never did General Webb visit
Washington without paying his respects to Mr. Calhoun before he
called upon any other person. So well were the relations between
the parties understood, that in the winter of 1845-'6 when Presi-
dent Polk's 54° 40' message, as it was called, had rendered war
with England almost inevitable, and when England had actually
prepared for the conflict, Mr. Webster and the Honorable Willie
P. Mangum wrote to General Webb and requested him to repair to
Washington; where, they stated, his services were wanted. Gen-
eral Webb had written a series of articles in the *Courier and
Enquirer* arguing that the United States had not the shadow of a
claim to any territory north of 49° of north latitude and urging
upon congress a settlement of the Northwestern Boundary ques-
tion upon that basis; and on his reporting himself to Mr. Webster
discovered that it was in connection with this subject that his
presence in Washington was desired. Mr. Webster informed him
that beyond all question a war with England must follow our
government's persisting in its unjust demand; and that it could
only be averted by inducing the immediate friends of Mr. Calhoun,
five in number, to unite with the Whigs in the Senate in the passage
of a resolution disavowing any claim north of latitude 49°. And
knowing the kind personal relations existing between General
Webb and Mr. Calhoun, he had sent for him, with a view of having
the distinguished South Carolinian approached upon the subject of
such a union. General Webb urged that such appeal could be

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

better made by Mr. Webster and Mr. Mangum; and endeavored
to waive the mission as one which really belonged to others. But
all in vain. They claimed that his position toward Mr. Calhoun,
which was well understood, peculiarly fitted him for the duty, and
act he must. He accordingly waited upon Mr. Calhoun, and after
apologizing for presuming to approach him on such a subject,
frankly opened the question by stating precisely what had passed
between him and Mr. Webster and the leading Whigs of the Senate,
and what it was they desired. We quote from General Webb's
report of the interview—which he never lost an occasion to repeat
both before and since the death of Mr. Calhoun, always awarding
to the manly, straightforward patriotism of that distinguished states-
man, the merit of having prevented our country's being involved
in an unjust war with the greatest maritime power of the world.
General Webb says:—

"After listening attentively, Mr. Calhoun complimented me upon
the articles I had written to prove that we had no claim north of
49°; and then proceeded to review and re-argue the whole question
in the most lucid and masterly manner, and concluded by saying:
'Whatever others may think or say, you know that I never per-
mitted my party feelings or party obligations to interfere with my
duty to our country. It is clear to my mind, that we have no just
claim beyond 49°; and I agree with Mr. Webster that to persist in
claiming to 54° 40', can not fail to involve us in an unjust war.
Say to him, therefore, that when the occasion presents, I, and such
of my friends as will be guided by my advice—it is not for me to
say whether they are one or five in number—will most cheerfully
act in concert with Whig senators, in confining our claim to 49°
of north latitude."

Upon this report being made to Messrs. Webster and Mangum,
the defeat of Mr. Polk's war policy was deemed certain. Unlooked-
for delay occurred, however, in the unexpected avowal of Mr. N.
P. Talmadge, of New York,—who had been elected to the Senate
by the Whigs upon his abandonment of the Democratic party, to

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

which he was now desirous of returning—that he intended to vote with the administration in favor of 54° 40'. In like manner, too, Mr. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, apprehensive of being in a minority, much to the astonishment of senators, indicated his determination to abandon his friends and vote for President Polk's untenable claim. During this period General Webb was absolutely compelled by the leading Whig senators to remain in Washington; and there is written testimony from Mr. Webster, and also from Mr. Mangum who is still living, and which we have seen, showing how much the final settlement of this question depended upon the direct action of General Webb, which, in one instance, involved the probabilities of a personal affair—a certain senator having authorized General Webb to report to Mr. Webster that he would vote for 49° and subsequently denying it, and avowing a determination to vote for 54° 40'. The affair was settled by his vote being cast for 49°, and in conformity with his pledge made to Mr. Webster through General Webb. At least three of the Whig senators of that day, who are still living, are cognizant of the fact alluded to, which settled the Northwestern Boundary question with England in favor of justice, peace, and 49°, instead of 54° 40'.

In doing justice to the memory of Mr. Calhoun we have been led astray from the task in hand. Lieutenant Webb reported for duty in New York Harbor in August, 1819; but fond of active life, and desirous of knowing the great West, he exchanged to Detroit in the autumn of the same year.

At the reduction of the army in 1821, Lieutenant Webb was retained in the artillery; and his pride being thus satisfied, he proposed to exchange with a brother officer, formerly of the artillery, but who had been retained in the 3d Infantry, and was dissatisfied at being forced into a corps which he did not like. The exchange was accomplished, and in June, 1821, Lieutenant Webb reported for duty at Chicago, which post was then commanded by Colonel, afterward General John McNeil, who fought so gallantly under

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Scott at Chippewa. Webb was appointed the adjutant of the post; and from his activity of mind, did almost everybody's duty as well as his own, and was looked upon as the commander. On the last of January, 1822, Mr. McKinsey, the sub-agent of Indian affairs, reported to the commandant, that a friendly Pottawatomic chief had brought to him a piece of tobacco sent him by the Sioux Indians, with an invitation to his tribe to participate in cutting off the 5th Regiment of Infantry, then stationed at St. Peters, at the Falls of St. Anthony, and occupying only temporary huts, in full reliance upon the friendly feelings of the Sioux. It was well known that Colonel Snelling and his entire command, including the wives and children of the officers and men of the regiment,— almost every officer in which was married,—were in a very exposed condition, as they had not had time to erect the necessary works for their defense; and of course, as there was no doubt of the accuracy of the intelligence, the greatest anxiety prevailed at Chicago in regard to their fate. The adjutant was accordingly ordered to find some person willing to carry a letter to the commandant of Fort Armstrong, at Rock Island, on the Mississippi, the information to be thence forwarded up to St. Anthony. But there were no inhabitants within 180 miles of the fort, the nearest being at Fort Wayne, in Indiana, with the exception of a few *engagées*, or half-breed fur traders, who wintered about the garrison. These and the friendly Indians peremptorily refused to go from fear of the Winchagoes, then occupying the country between Chicago and the Mississippi. In this dilemma Colonel McNeil expressed his unwillingness to order any party upon such a duty, as the weakness of his command rendered it impossible to detach a force sufficient to protect itself; and yet there existed the most urgent necessity for the information being conveyed to Rock Island, be the hazard what it might. In this emergency Adjutant Webb volunteered his services, which were gladly accepted, and, having resigned his adjutancy, he left the fort on the 4th of February, accompanied by a sergeant and an Indian guide, with one horse to ride and break a path

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through the snow, and one to pack their provisions. It was his intention to make Rock River, where lived an old French fur trader, and there procure a Winnebago to guide him to Fort Armstrong, on the Mississippi, sending back his Pottawatomie guide. On reaching Rock River, however, on the evening of the fourth day, he heard the Winnebagoes actually engaged in their celebrated war-dance, and was told that it was preparatory to their leaving in the morning on a war-path, to surprise and capture Fort Armstrong, the very place to which Lieutenant Webb was seeking a friendly guide. The immediate cause of this outbreak was said to be the arrival on the river, two days previously, of three Indians who had been sentenced to be hung at Kaskaskia for the murder of soldiers at Fort Armstrong some months before; but the real cause for the proceeding was the fact, that the Winnebagoes were in league with the Sioux to cut off the garrison at St. Anthony, and intended taking Fort Armstrong in their way. Lieutenant Webb and his Indian and soldier were secreted by the Frenchman, Lasallier, until all was quiet; and he then commenced an examination into the probabilities and possibilities of getting to Fort Armstrong, without the aid and in defiance of the Winnebagoes. To follow the course of the river was certain destruction, but there was a chance over the great prairie. The thermometer when he left Chicago, marked eight degrees below zero, and it had been growing colder; and Lasallier admitted, that after a day's chase over the great prairie, the Indians would probably return from fear of freezing to death—a fate that he said would certainly overtake the officer if he made the attempt. Lieutenant Webb acquiesced in this reasoning and advice, and agreed to return to the fort, and asked to be roused at two o'clock in the morning with that view. He kept his own counsel; but of course, the idea of returning never for a moment crossed his mind. In the first place, the abandonment of the expedition from apprehension of danger was to be disgraced forever; but even this was trifling in comparison with the reflection, that an entire regiment of soldiers—their wives and children—

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would, by such abandonment, be left to the tender mercy of the savages, who had promised their allies to spare neither age nor sex. Besides, inured to fatigue and exposure, and courting both from habit, Lieutenant Webb, as he has frequently said, believed that he and his sergeant could out-travel the Indians with six hours of start; and in any contingency, could endure more continuous fatigue now that they had had four days' training. And as for the cold, that was only a question of endurance. If they could walk without rest for two days and three nights, they were certain to reach their place of destination; as the cold would not be fatal while in motion, and the Indians would thus be put at defiance.

At two o'clock on the morning of the 8th of February, his twentieth birthday, Lieutenant Webb, his soldier, and Indian commenced their apparently homeward trip,—but he soon apprised his companion that his destination was the Mississippi, and that his Indian must take the necessary provisions and return to the fort at Chicago. But the Pottawatomie's fear of the Winnebagoes could not be overcome; and the Indian would not listen to being left alone in the Winnebago country, even with his face turned toward home. He was fairly warned that almost certain abandonment and death, awaited him in the forced march about to be undertaken; but persuasion and threats and orders were alike disregarded. Return he dared not; and so he braved death in the other direction, well knowing that, if the pursuit were a hot one, he would have but little chance against the endurance of the white man. The Indian will trot off his hundred miles while the best white is doing his seventy-five, but when it comes to endurance day after day and night after night, the white man increases in his capacity to endure and his ability to perform, while the Indian is worn out and rendered absolutely unable to sustain the ordinary amount of physical exertion.

Rock River was crossed about three A. M.; and at eight, as it subsequently appeared, the chase on the part of the Winnebagoes commenced. Fortunately for the pursued, the snow was about

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eight inches deep, and the thermometer that day at Fort Armstrong, forty miles south, was standing twenty-seven degrees below zero, in the woods! How cold it was on the bleak and shelterless prairie must be left to conjecture. Under such circumstances, Lieutenant Webb felt that every thing depended upon his improving his five or six hours' start, and went to work to prove the truth of the sailors' adage that "a stern chase is always a long one." It proved so in this case. After encountering fatigues and hardships, which it is no part of our intention in this brief notice to mention, Providence guided him in safety and unharmed, not only to the banks of the Mississippi, but through the body of hostile Indians by which the fort was surrounded, and into the fort itself. His escape was deemed almost miraculous by Major Larabee (who commanded) and his brother officers; and it is easy to conceive the impression made upon them by the intelligence respecting the purpose of the Sioux Indians toward the regiment at Fort Snelling. On the same day an express was sent up the Mississippi on the ice, with a communication from Lieutenant Webb, which in due time reached Colonel Snelling, one of the most active and efficient officers in the service; and, most fortunately, at a period when the leading chiefs of the Sioux were in or about the garrison. These were quietly seized and confined in the guard-house, and runners dispatched into the interior, inviting all the principal men of the nation to a grand council. They came accordingly; and while in council, the troops surrounded the council-house and Colonel Snelling announced to them his knowledge of their treachery, and the very important fact that their principal chiefs were then in confinement as hostages, and thus most effectually defeated the intended rising; which, but for the energy and perseverance of Lieutenant Webb, must have resulted in the massacre of the entire regiment and its women and children.

In the mean time Lasallier, the old Frenchman at Rock River, sent a friendly Indian to Chicago, to report that Lieutenant Webb had foolishly taken to the prairie and was pursued by a war party of the Winnebagoes, who could not fail to overtake and destroy him.

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In consequence of this intelligence, on the next monthly return of the post, Lieutenant Webb and his sergeant were reported "Killed by the Indians!"

We have given these two anecdotes of Gen. Webb as illustrating his leading characteristics,—entire fearlessness and great energy, combined with untiring perseverance and a reckless disregard of consequences—which have been so conspicuous in his editorial career, and rendered him too frequently an object of assault by his political friends as well as his opponents.

In the summer of 1823, Lieutenant Webb married Helen Lispenard, daughter of Alexander L. Stewart of this city, and grand-daughter of Anthony Lispenard, Esq., one of the oldest Huguenot families of the city and State. In 1825, he was appointed the adjutant of the Third Regiment; and it was universally conceded that he had no superior of his rank in the army. At that day, *Rank*, both in the army and navy, was considered as placing its possessors above the Law; or as Commodore Porter was said to have remarked, there was "no law for post captains." Against this assumption two officers of the army distinguished themselves by their open opposition. These were Major, afterward General Kearney, and Lieutenant Webb; and it was said that while neither of them ever had a word of dispute with a junior, they gave their immediate seniors a straight and narrow path to travel; while by the strictest adherence to the law and the regulations they escaped all consequences which it would have delighted some of their seniors to have inflicted. But quarrels and bitter feelings were the natural consequences; and Lieutenant Webb was twice in the field, besides very frequently on the verge of personal conflicts. Dueling at that period was a practice of every-day occurrence; and those in the army and navy, unfortunately, considered it a necessary part of their duty. Brought up in such a school, and when the recklessness and disregard of life inculcated by the war of 1812 was still exerting its influence, it is not surprising that Lieutenant Webb carried with him into civil life the same principles and feelings;

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and the recollection of this fact is the only apology we can make for the similar difficulties in which he has been involved as an editor.

In September, 1827, General Webb resigned his commission in the army; and entertaining the most devoted personal attachment to General Jackson, in December, 1827, he became the proprietor and principal editor of the *Morning Courier*. That paper had been established in May previous; but was about being stopped in December for want of funds to carry it on, when General Webb became its proprietor and made it a most efficient auxiliary in the election of General Jackson, his old friend and military commander. In 1829, he purchased the New York *Enquirer* from M. M. Noah; and he found laboring upon that paper as a reporter, James Gordon Bennett, whose services he continued in the same capacity—Bennett occasionally assisting in the editorial department. At that period the press of New York had scarcely emerged from the system of colonial dependence which had continued from the period of the Revolution. The old *Gazette*, *Daily Advertiser*, and *Mercantile Advertiser* were the leading papers of the city, and the united editorials of the entire morning press, did not equal in length an ordinary leader of the *Courier and Enquirer* of this day. A row boat collected the ship news and the newspapers from the packet ships as they arrived; and all were content with transferring to their columns such news as was thus possessed by all alike. This did not correspond with the views of General Webb, or the activity of character for which he was conspicuous, and he very soon set up a ship news collecting establishment of his own, headed by the news schooner *Eclipse*, a Baltimore clipper, and a fleet of small boats. This compelled the *Gazette*, *Mercantile Advertiser*, *Daily Advertiser*, *Journal of Commerce*, and several other papers to combine in a similar establishment—both parties keeping a schooner cruising off the Hook, and small boats from time to time connecting with her. Webb then contracted with the late Isaac Webb, father of the present eminent ship-builder, to build

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him a clipper-schooner of one hundred tons burden, which should beat every pilot-boat and schooner in the harbor, or he not be compelled to take her. Under this contract, the schooner *Courier and Enquirer* was built; and unquestionably she was the strongest and fastest craft of her class that had ever been built at that day. With this schooner cruising from 70 to 100 miles at sea, and the *Eclipse* at the Hook, and a fleet of small boats inside, all opposition was very soon put down; and, in consequence, the combined opposition purchased the news from Gen. Webb at its actual cost.

The necessary energy having thus been infused into the ocean news department, General Webb next turned his attention to procuring early and exclusive intelligence from Washington during the sessions of Congress. There were no railroads or telegraphs in those days; and the mails then left Washington in the morning and arrived in New York in the night of the following day. Thus the Congressional proceedings of Monday reached New York on Wednesday night, and appeared in the morning papers of Thursday. Webb determined they should appear in the *Courier and Enquirer* of Wednesday; and with that view made a contract with certain parties to run a daily horse express from Washington to New York during the entire session of the next Congress, for which he agreed to pay seven thousand five hundred dollars per month. Horses were accordingly stationed every six miles from Washington to this city; and many of our merchants still remember how regularly the "Pony Express" gave them the news through the columns of the *Courier and Enquirer*, twenty-four hours in advance the mail.

Under this system of collecting the news, enlarging the paper, employing additional editors and reporters, opening correspondence in different quarters, and devoting whole columns to subjects never before touched upon by the press, the expenses of the daily press were more than quadrupled, and four of the old morning papers died out. But a new impetus was thus given to the newspaper press of the city, which has continued to increase to this day;

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

and for that impetus to an influence upon the public mind and the
character of the press, the community are unquestionably indebted
to General Webb.

In 1838 the first ocean steamer arrived at our wharves; and
from that day all enterprise in collecting ocean news was put an
d end to, as the steamers brought up their news in anticipation of the
news boats. And so with the "Pony Express"—the telegraph
and railway completely disposed of that avenue of enterprise; and
from that time every press has had placed within its reach the
same means of obtaining information, without any other trouble
than the expense of paying for it. The "Associated Press," there-
fore, now does the work for all, and there exists no field for indi-
vidual enterprise.

It is no part of the intention of the writer, who has served nearly
a quarter of a century upon the Courier and Enquirer—from his
boyhood until he has become an associate in its conduct—to enter
into any defense of the political course of General Webb, or to notice
the assaults made from time to time upon him. In furnishing some
of the data for this notice, General Webb stipulated that no such at-
tempt should be made, and that it should be printed without being
submitted to him for review or correction. Inasmuch, however, as
more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since, for temporary
party purposes, Webb was charged with having received improper
facilities from the Bank of the United States, and as on a recent
occasion the charge has been renewed, we give the following facts
as they appear in testimony before a committee of Congress which
examined Webb at his request.

M. M. Noah purchased Daniel E. Tylee's interest in the *Courier and Enquirer* upon his notes indorsed by Webb for $15,000. These notes were discounted by Silas E. Burrows, well known in this city and still living. Webb had no interest in the matter except to substitute Noah for Tylee as his partner, and thus obtain a valuable assistant. Subsequently, Webb and Noah applied to the bank for a loan of $20,000 to be reduced ten per cent. every six

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JAMES WATSON WEBB

15

months, and Walter Bowne, the very head of the Democracy in this
city, and a director in the branch bank here, recommended and
urged this loan to his political opponents; and it was made. Out
of this transaction grew the charge of $52,000 bribery. Webb was
asked by the committee,—What interest had you in the loan to
Noah upon his notes indorsed by you? He answered, None
whatever.—Who discounted those notes? Answer. Silas E. Bur-
rows gave his notes at three and six months for them, which notes
my father-in-law discounted for Col. Tylee.—Where are those
notes now? Answer. In Connecticut. Silas E. Burrows told me
yesterday morning, that they were in his father's iron chest in
Connecticut, and *have never been out of his possession*.

It subsequently appeared that on this same day Nicholas Biddle
had sworn that he discounted for Silas E. Burrows the notes of
Noah, indorsed by Webb, ten days after their date, and that they
were then in bank! This very conclusively proved that there
was no collusion between Biddle and Webb, the latter of whom
had gone from the boat directly to the committee, without seeing
Biddle. When the committee reported, they added together the
discount for $20,000, the renewal (ten per cent. off) $15,000, and
the discount of Noah's notes to Burrows for $15,000, within a
fraction, making a total of nearly $53,000! And out of this
simple transaction, and this loan of $20,000, payable ten per cent.
every six months, arose the terrible cry of $52,725 bribery and
corruption. The original notes are all now in Webb's possession.
Webb had no more to do with the discount to Burrows upon
Noah's notes than the man in the moon, or he would have been
the last man living to swear that the notes were then in Connecti-
cut—Biddle having already sworn that they had long been in his
possession,—of which Webb, of course, knew nothing.

In 1838 General Webb challenged Mr. Cilley, a member of
Congress from Maine, for misrepresenting this bank transaction
on the floor of Congress. Mr. Cilley refused to meet him, on the
ground that he was not responsible for words spoken in debate.

367

20

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

Mr. Graves, of Kentucky, Webb's friend, inquired whether he took any exception to Webb personally, to which Cilley replied—certainly not,—but that he could not and would not be responsible for words spoken in debate. Graves reported the result to Webb, who agreed to consider the affair at an end. Subsequently, Mr. Cilley's friends, including Colonel Benton, censured in no measured language Cilley's ground of refusing the challenge. Graves related to the Hon. Henry A. Wise, the present Governor of Virginia, what had occurred and the final settlement of the affair, when Wise told him that Cilley's friends would compel him to deny the ground of settlement, and urged him to get Cilley's signature to a letter recapitulating what had occurred, in a manner which was calculated to place him in a very equivocal position. Graves adopted his counsel, and told Webb what he intended. Webb begged him to do nothing of the kind, as it was driving Cilley into a corner; insisting that he, Webb, being satisfied, and the matter disposed of, nobody had a right to meddle with or open it, and begged Graves not to heed Mr. Wise's advice, which could not fail, in the then heated state of the public mind, to lead to disastrous results. But Graves said—"No, I am advised to do this for "the protection of my own honor, and I shall compel him to sign "this letter. It is my affair I am attending to and not yours." Webb continued his remonstrances and his entreaties to let the matter rest; but all in vain. Graves had been told by Wise that his own honor required the signature to the letter, and he determined to have it. Never was there given such thoughtless counsel to a highminded and honorable man; and the consequences were just what Webb had predicted. Cilley, who was a brave and well-disposed man, smarting under the censure of his friends for having simply done his duty in refusing to fight a duel for words spoken in debate, most peremptorily refused to sign the letter tendered him or to make any explanation whatever upon the subject—secretly rejoicing, no doubt, at the opportunity of proving that he had not declined the duel from personal fear. Thereupon Graves

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

21

sent a challenge to Cilley by Wise. They fought with rifles and Cilley fell. Webb from that time to the present has never spoken to Wise, and has always held him morally responsible for the sad result, as also did Graves and all who knew the particulars of the affair. In the Presidential contest of 1844 Mr. Wise attempted to make Mr. Clay responsible for the death of Mr. Cilley; but Mr. Clay called forth the statement from Mr. Graves which completely exonerated Mr. Clay; and in which he stated that after the matter had been finally settled, to the entire satisfaction of General Webb and himself, Mr. Wise had induced him to demand from Mr. Cilley the letter that led to the duel, in direct opposition to the entreaties of Webb; and further, that Mr. Clay knew nothing of the matter until after Mr. Cilley had refused to sign the letter, which Mr. Wise had counseled, and when the question of veracity had thus been raised, and a fight became inevitable.

We abstain from any allusion to the steps taken by General Webb to prevent this duel. Suffice it to say, they were such as the circumstances justified and seemed to require; and which met the decided approval of his personal and political friends in Washington —the whole affair having assumed a party character.

Webb's duel with Marshall is of more recent occurrence, but still the circumstances attending it have generally been the subject of misrepresentation. Webb wrote a severe censure upon those members of Congress who sought to repeal the Bankrupt Law before it went into effect; but expressly and in terms excepted the Whig delegation of Kentucky from such censure, because they had all opposed its passage at the previous session when it became a law. On the following morning a New York journal stated that Webb had charged the entire Whig delegation from Kentucky with being bribed to vote for a repeal of the law! Thomas F. Marshall, a member of Congress from Kentucky, and nephew of Chief Justice Marshall, saw this paragraph; and, not knowing that it was an entire misrepresentation of what had appeared in the *Courier and Enquirer*, read it from his place in the House of Representatives.

24

369

22

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

atives, and poured forth a torrent of abuse upon the head of
the supposed offender. When this speech reached Webb he
promptly inclosed to Marshall the article in the *Courier and
Enquirer*, which had been so perverted, and, after reading him a
lecture for putting faith in any thing that appeared in the print
which had misled him (Marshall), requested of him to make
the necessary correction on the floor of the House, in order that it
might follow through the same channels by which his speech had
gone to the public. Webb and Marshall were unknown to each
other personally; but had corresponded on political subjects—both
being prominent Whigs, and friends of Henry Clay. Not doubting
but Marshall would cheerfully correct his error, Webb proceeded in
his letter to furnish full details of the political movements and Mr.
Clay's prospects in this State at the approaching election—1844. It
so happened that when Marshall assailed Webb upon such insuffi-
cient authority, and also when he received Webb's letter calling his
attention to the gross falsehood of the information upon which he
had acted, he was laboring under one of those attacks which irregu-
lar habits at that time rendered of frequent occurrence, and which
ultimately impaired one of the most brilliant intellects of the day.
He took no notice of Webb's letter, and the Washington correspond-
ent of the New York journal referred to announced that he did not
intend to make any correction. This drew from Webb a peremp-
tory demand for retraction, to which no answer was returned; and
a very sharp article in the *Courier and Enquirer* followed. Mar-
shall came to New York to defend Monroe Edwards, the forger, and
devoted a large portion of his speech to an attack upon Webb—first
sending word to Webb that it was his intention so to do, and invit-
ing him to come and hear him. Webb went and took his reporter's
seat, directly in front of Marshall, and within a few feet of him;
and, when he had finished, wrote a description of the speech and
his opinion of the man. A challenge followed; and the parties
fought at ten paces in Delaware, near Wilmington. Webb's first
shot passed under Marshall's foot, and his second just above his foot.

370

23

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

Marshall's first shot was wide of his mark, and his second passed
through Webb's knee. When Webb fell and discovered that the
joint of his knee remained perfect, he expressed his satisfaction at
the result, and appealed to his friends to bear witness that he had
declared his intention not to take Marshall's life, which had led to a
threat on their part not to accompany him to the field if he persist-
ed in his intention. Marshall's friend, who had caught Webb when
falling, heard his declaration; and a few minctes afterwards de-
manded a third shot! This was not permitted, and the parties sep-
arated, never having spoken to each other, and Webb never having
seen his adversary except in Court and on the field. Marshall's
friend wrote to Commodore Ridgely, of the Navy, inquiring whether
Marshall was not entitled to challenge Webb again as soon as he
recovered ? The Commodore replied, "beyond doubt, if he can find
a gentleman willing to become the bearer of the challenge."

This duel created great excitement, and the grand Jury found a
bill of indictment against Webb, under the law which punishes with
imprisonment in the State prison for two years, the crime of leav-
ing the State with the *intention* of fighting a duel, whether such
duel be fought or not. With one voice, and without distinction of
party, the community cried shame upon such persecution under
color of a law virtually obsolete. On being arraigned Webb pleaded
guilty to the indictment, as he could not well avoid doing, being on
crutches at the time, and pleaded the necessity of the case with his
avowed principles—principles which he had imbibed in the army,
and which belonged to his early profession. He urged in extenua-
tion public sentiment, and even the practice of his *Judges*—a ma-
jority of whom had violated the obsolete law under which he was
indicted, and which had been revived for the purpose of gratifying
personal and party hostility. He also showed by a document duly
authenticated, and placed in the hands of a friend before he left for
the meeting, that, having borne the character of one of the best shots
in the army, he considered the life of his adversary at his mercy,
but that under no circumstances would he take it; that he should

371

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

370

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

23

Marshall's first shot was wide of his mark, and his second passed
through Webb's knee. When Webb fell and discovered that the
joint of his knee remained perfect, he expressed his satisfaction at
the result, and appealed to his friends to bear witness that he had
declared his intention not to take Marshall's life, which had led to a
threat on their part not to accompany him to the field if he persist-
ed in his intention. Marshall's friend, who had caught Webb when
falling, heard his declaration; and a few minutes afterwards de-
manded a third shot! This was not permitted, and the parties sep-
arated, never having spoken to each other, and Webb never having
seen his adversary except in Court and on the field. Marshall's
friend wrote to Commodore Ridgely, of the Navy, inquiring whether
Marshall was not entitled to challenge Webb again as soon as he
recovered? The Commodore replied, "beyond doubt, if he can find
a gentleman willing to become the bearer of the challenge."

This duel created great excitement, and the grand Jury found a
bill of indictment against Webb, under the law which punishes with
imprisonment in the State prison for two years, the crime of leav-
ing the State with the intention of fighting a duel, whether such
duel be fought or not. With one voice, and without distinction of
party, the community cried shame upon such persecution under
color of a law virtually obsolete. On being arraigned Webb pleaded
guilty to the indictment, as he could not well avoid doing, being on
cratches at the time, and pleaded the necessity of the case with his
avowed principles—principles which he had imbibed in the army,
and which belonged to his early profession. He urged in extenua-
tion public sentiment, and even the practice of his *Judges*—a ma-
jority of whom had violated the obsolete law under which he was
indicted, and which had been revived for the purpose of gratifying
personal and party hostility. He also showed by a document duly
authenticated, and placed in the hands of a friend before he left for
the meeting, that, having borne the character of one of the best shots
in the army, he considered the life of his adversary at his mercy,
but that under no circumstances would he take it; that he should

371

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

fire at his legs only, and if hit at all it would be below the knee. All this was communicated to the friends who accompanied him to the ground, and who threatened in vain to withdraw from him if he did not change his determination.

The Court, as in duty bound, entered the verdict of Guilty, and remanded him to prison. On the following day he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at hard labor in the State prison. A degree of excitement followed the announcement of this sentence, which has rarely been witnessed in this city. Confined in the spacious Grand Jury room of the "Tombs," awaiting the action of the Executive, his prison from 9 A. M. till lock-up hour at night, was a constant levee, composed of our best citizens, including clergymen of various denominations, who, much as they abhorred the practice of duelling, detested still more the attempt of persecution against the one who, while he freely exposed his own life in obedience to his recognition of a principle, yet had not attempted the life of his adversary, and that adversary calmly occupied his seat in Congress, unharmed, through the forbearance of one whose life he sought without cause, and who was now suffering for that forbearance. All classes were equally excited by this manifest injustice, and a petition with seventeen thousand signatures, embracing all that was estimable in the clergy, the bar, the mercantile community, and the people at large, urged upon the Governor a full and free pardon of the accused. The pardon came in due time, and after two weeks of imprisonment in the city prison, General Webb was once more at large, never again, we hope and believe, to be involved in another affair of honor.

In 1848, General Webb lost his wife, and he has since married Laura Virginia, the youngest daughter of Jacob Cram, Esq., one of our oldest and most respected citizens, who was a contemporary and class-mate of Daniel Webster and Lewis Cass, at Exeter Academy in 1798.

In 1849 General Webb was appointed minister to Austria; but in the following session of the Senate, that body refused to confirm

372

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

him—Mr. Clay taking the lead in opposition to him. After eighteen years of personal devotion to Mr. Clay, General Webb advocated the nomination of General Taylor for the Presidency in preference to his old chief—not from any want of confidence in Mr. Clay, but because he had informed both Mr. Crittenden and General Webb, that he would not be a candidate; and they, in consequence, had come out for General Taylor.

The political career of General Webb is too well known to require any comment. He entered political life from the army in utter ignorance of party men and party requirements, and acting simply from his impulses of right, he soon found himself as much at variance with his political associates as with his political opponents. In two months after General Jackson's inauguration he was warm in his condemnation of him for striking certain officers from the roll of the navy; and being in favor of both a Tariff and a United States Bank when General Jackson advocated them, when the President and his party abandoned those measures and Jackson removed the public deposits from the Bank of the United States General Webb openly abandoned his support. He then aided in consolidating, and gave the name of Whig to the elements of opposition to the Democracy; and no one man has ever exercised more influence in any party than General Webb commanded in the councils of the late Whig party of the country. And yet he has always distinctly avowed that he recognizes no allegiance to party, except just so far as the success of his principles are involved; and in fearlessly carrying out this avowal amidst no ordinary amount of obloquy and censure he has frequently been found in opposition to his party in refusing to support men whose political integrity he doubted. Thus he has, time and again, opposed the gubernatorial, senatorial, congressional, and mayoralty nominations of his party when he could not approve of the selection, and when such opposition involved no principle; while he has as frequently given his support to nominations which he could not heartily approve, simply because grave principles were involved in success.

373

26

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

He has latterly been charged with an abandonment of his opposition to the intermodelling with Southern institutions by Northern Abolitionists. But there is no truth whatever in the charge. He is as earnest an advocate of the constitutional rights of the South now, as he ever was; and as open in his condemnation of all who, under any pretense whatever, presume to assail them. But he is equally opposed to the extension of slavery into free territory; and more especially when the general government, meddling with what does not concern it, and in violation of the Constitution, legislates upon a question which belongs solely to the States, and ventures the attempt to force the institution upon a people who openly avow their abhorrence of it. He has always expressed the conviction that Slavery is a curse to the master and to the soil upon which it exists, rather than to the party enslaved, in the regions where it lawfully exists; and that there the master, more than the slave, is entitled to our sympathy. Even pending the last Presidential contest, and in the very hottest of the fight, when others were frequently led astray by the excitement of the moment, General Webb thus spoke at Tippecanoe in Indiana to the largest assembly of freemen ever congregated in the United States :—

"You have been told that this is a war against the institution of Slavery, and the rights of our fellow-citizens of the Slaveholding States under the Constitution of the Union. But all this is false, and known to be false by those who make the charge. We war not against Slavery, but against its extension into territory now free; and, if I know myself, I would sooner sever this right arm from my body, than stand before you this day, advocating any, the slightest interference with the purely local institution of Slavery where it righteously exists. For twenty-nine consecutive years, I have stood before the public the only responsible editor of one of the leading journals of the United States; and during twenty-seven years of that time, the South have never had a more determined or zealous advocate for all their constitutional rights. And it is my pride, as it is my duty to declare, that, now and hereafter, they will always find

374

27

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

in me, in my press, and in my accomplished associates, the same devotion to their constitutional rights which has heretofore called forth their admiration and applause. But when Slavery becomes *aggressive*—when its advocates cease to be content with its being a local institution and with the protection which the Constitution gives it, and aim to render it *national*; when the slaveocracy openly repudiate the most solemn compacts, and, glorying in their dishonor, demand that it shall be extended into territory now free, by the direct legislation of Congress; when they shamefully boast of their violation of plighted faith, and impudently threaten to "conquer" the freemen of the North and compel their submission; when they proclaim that Slavery is a blessing and not a curse, as they have always admitted in times past; when they repudiate the sentiments of Washington and Jefferson, and ridicule the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and denounce it as a "rhetorical Flourish," and an abstraction; and when they impudently threaten disunion if the North will not坦ely submit to their impudent and arrogant demands—it becomes the duty of every honest citizen to rally in defense of Freedom, and sternly to decree that the institution of Slavery shall not be extended north of the compromise line of 1820. In so doing we shall not lose sight of our duty to our Southern brethren and of the Constitution; and palsied be the tongue that would utter one word in derogation of either."

In conclusion General Webb said: "All—every thing, therefore, depends upon the preservation of Kansas to freedom, and adherence to the compromise of 1820. Abandon that great gate to the South and West to Slavery, and you not only give up the whole North-west to the incubs of slave-labor but you abandon, at once and forever, Utah, New Mexico, California, and Mexico herself, when she comes to us, to the tender mercies of the slaveocracy."

"Are you prepared for such a contingency? Men of Indiana, and you of Illinois and Wisconsin, can you—will you, by a neglect of the most solemn duty which freemen were ever called upon to discharge, become parties to so great a crime against the future of

375

28

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

this vast continent? I hope not, and I trust not. Remember that the institution of Slavery is of man, and has its origin in his vices and his crimes; while Freedom is the child of Heaven, and was the great boon of God to man, whom he created after his own image, and but little lower than the angels, and gave 'him dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth,' but not over the limbs and thews and sinews of his fellow man.

"Be faithful, then, to yourselves, to your posterity, to your country, and to your God, on the 4th of November next. And let your watchword be—*Freedom, Liberty, Union. Freedom and Liberty, one and inseparable, now and forever; and Union—everlasting Union among the States—for our own benefit, and for the benefit of mankind; and for the preservation of Freedom and Liberty.*"

We can not better conclude this sketch, already much longer than we designed, than by some reference to his habits as a writer, and his bearing as an employer. It has been said by good judges, that General Webb will prepare more editorial matter for the press in a given time, and that too when surrounded by people conversing on different topics, than any other journalist; and this is unquestionably true. He writes rapidly and with very little correction. No matter how grave the topic, he rarely looks over a manuscript—never if he is to see a "proof" of his work.

As an employer, few men enjoy such devoted attachment on the part of those by whom he is surrounded. His directions are often communicated with a prompt brevity indicative of his having once worn the epanulet; but it needs only a cheerful compliance to win Webb's lasting regard. He is considerate and indulgent towards those who manifest an interest in his affairs, and exhibits a thoughtful regard for the welfare of those in his employ, which develops the kindness and utter unselfishness of his disposition.

A year or two since, a gentleman celebrated the twenty-first anniversary of his connection with the *Courier and Enquirer* by a fee

376

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

29

tival, to which he invited all who had, in any capacity, been his fel-
low-laborers in the establishment during that long period. *Eleven*
persons met on that occasion, and their aggregate term of service
on the paper amounted to *two hundred and seventy-three years*.
This certainly is testimony of the highest practical value to General
Webb's character as an employer. Every one of the eleven felt
and expressed sentiments toward him which it would be doing in-
justice to denominate by any title less expressive than *affection*. And
when in reply to an invitation which had been extended to General
Webb to be present (he being then absent from the city), a written
reply was read, filled with the kindest expressions of attachment for
what he termed his "Old Guard," there was not a dry eye present.
Such was a tribute which any man might point to with great pride.

In using the foregoing sketch, prepared in 1858, we are admon-
ished by the publishers that our allotted space is nearly con-
sumed, and consequently we can only allude to certain prominent
events in the life of General Webb. We regret this the less, because
we know that the General is preparing, for publication after his
death, an autobiography which will include a complete history of
the country from 1827, when he took charge of the *Courier*, up to
the present time.

Such a history will be invaluable, because it will be generally
conceded that no one individual in the United States was so inti-
mately acquainted with our public men, and so closely connected
with all political events of the day, from 1827 to 1850, as was
General Webb. During that eventful period, he was emphatically
a national politician, and left State politics to Thurlow Weed,
William H. Seward, and other local politicians. Mr. Weed, who
is still living, never meddled much in general politics until the war
of the rebellion; and when he did was sure to be defeated, as in
the nomination of Harrison, Taylor, and Lincoln, all of which he
opposed, while the nomination of General Scott which he accom-
plished in opposition to General Webb, who advocated Mr.
Webster, and Colonel Fremont in opposition to Judge McLean,

377

30

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

who was supported by General Webb, he was disastrously de-
feated. For a period of thirty years, Mr. Weed was all-powerful
in the Whig party, and for a great portion of that time he gov-
erned the State of New York, and governed it well too, and
yet it is a remarkable fact that no gentleman was ever elected
President of the United States, whose nomination he did not
resist and strive to defeat. It can not be denied, however, that
Thurlow Weed with the *Evening Journal*, Horace Greeley with
the New York *Tribune*, and General Webb with the *Courier
and Enquirer* gave to William H. Seward all his prominence
with the American people. The nomination of General Taylor
was due in a large measure to General Webb; who, without
concert with anybody, and without the knowledge of his asso-
ciates, the late Charles King and Henry J. Raymond,—both in
favor of General Scott's nomination—astonished the public by
formally nominating General Taylor in the *Courier and Enquirer*,
as its candidate for the Presidency. He then organized the well-
known Taylor Committee, placing Mr. Hugh Maxwell at its head,
and so conducted the campaign, that although the State of New
York did not send a solitary Taylor delegate to the Convention,
and under General Webb's direction placed on the ticket for Vice-
President Millard Fillmore, who, with his friends, was in active
opposition to General Taylor's nomination. It was a master-stroke
of policy, and secured the triumph of the Whig party.

In 1856 it became manifest to every far-seeing politician that
the approaching Presidential election would exert a momentous
influence for good or evil upon the future of the country, as it
would directly involve the question of slavery extension, and more
or less jeopard the Union itself. The South invited and courted
the contest; and it was doubtless with that view that the out-
rageous personal assault was made upon Senator Sumner in the
Senate Chamber, on the 22d of May, 1856, with the knowledge,
and we might almost say by direction, of the very men who subso-
quently became the leaders in the great rebellion of 1861.

378

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

31

Their treason was among themselves an established and recog-
nized purpose, and at that very time, and even anterior to it,
Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, was intriguing with
officers of the army and punishing by exile from the sea-board
all of any promise whom he could not seduce from their alle-
giance.

General Webb was spending the winter in Washington, and,
when the assault had been made, addressed the leading Southern
gentlemen in a speech before Brown's Hotel, in language which
they would not have tolerated from any other person. But they
bore it from General Webb, because they well knew that while he
was prepared to resist to the death slavery extension, he had ever
opposed any legislative interference with slavery where it constitu-
tionally existed as a local State institution, without any nationality,
and with which the nation—the general Government—could not
rightfully interfere.

The North, which had so long and so patiently submitted to the
arrogance and absurd pretensions of the South, was aroused as
one man by this dastardly outrage upon a Senator in Congress in
his seat in the Senate Chamber, thus violating the sanctity of the
place, at the same time that the Constitution was outraged, and the
right of free speech openly set at defiance. Large public meetings
promptly assembled in the Northern cities and towns; and it was
well known that the few Northern men at Washington who dared
to speak of the outrage as it merited were in hourly danger of their
lives. General Webb's course was well known, and at the great
public meeting at Masonic Hall—the largest that had ever taken
place in the city of New York—the late Charles King, then Presi-
dent of Columbia College, and who for more than ten years had
been an associate of General Webb in the *Courier and Enquirer*,
in a forvid and soul-stirring speech urging resistance to Southern
arrogance and the necessity of the North being represented by
fearless, outspoken men, said, "Thank God we have one New
Yorker in Washington, the editor of the *Courier and Enquirer*,

379

32

JAMES WATSON WEBB.

who fears neither man nor devil; but he should not be left to fight
this battle alone."

Some one of General Webb's associates in the *Courier and Enquirer*, in a brief paragraph of six lines, spoke of the assault upon Sumner, as "a cowardly affair," as did the whole Northern press.

When this reached Washington, it was determined by the chivalry to make capital out of the fact that General Webb, since 1848, was known to be a member of the Episcopal Church, and of course debarred from duelling. It was accordingly arranged that Brooks should challenge him, although their personal relations were of the most friendly character.

General Quitman, a Northern man living at the South, a classmate and personal friend of General Webb, was required to be the bearer of the challenge. He called accordingly and explained his business; at the same time apologizing for being the bearer of such a message to his life-long friend, by declaring that no Northern man could live at the South without being more pro-slavery than the Southerners—that he was called upon to be the bearer of this message as a test of his Southern principles; and that if he refused he would be compelled to abandon the South as a residence. He had stipulated, however, that another should take his place on the field, after he, Quitman, had made all the preparatory arrangements.

General Webb declared that he held himself personally responsible for whatever was published in the *Courier and Enquirer*; but inasmuch as he had written for publication over his own nature an account of Brooks' assault upon Sumner far more offensive than the paragraph upon which the challenge was placed, and as that letter would arrive the next morning, and it was better to fight for what he had written after mature deliberation, instead of a mere passing paragraph written by he did not know whom, and he asked his old friend to do him the favor to withhold the challenge until the next morning, under the assurance that it would be accepted and the meeting take place at five in the afternoon. He

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then added, "It may be that you are astonished at my accepting this challenge, knowing as you do that I am a communicant in the church; but ask yourself whether that fact, in your judgment, would or should prevent either you or me leading an army into battle in defense of our soil or our institutions? Assuredly not. I have no personal difficulty with Colonel Brooks. Our social relations are of the most friendly character, and we dined together at Governor Aiken's only three days ago. This is a public, not a private quarrel. It involves the great and fundamental principles upon which our institutions are based; and the duty of resisting this assault upon those institutions is quite as obligatory as it would be to resist an invading army. Consequently I shall accept the challenge immediately on its presentation to-morrow morning, appointing the meeting for five in the afternoon, and in the mean time I shall prepare my letter of acceptance, so as to render it manifest that this is a public and not a private affair."

General Quitman, as gallant a gentleman as any in the country, admitted the justice of these views. On the following morning, the *Courier and Enquirer* containing General Webb's letter arrived in Washington, and it was far more offensive than the poor little paragraph which was made the pretext for the challenge. A meeting of the South Carolina delegation was called. The letter was read, paragraph by paragraph; and, after a session of two hours, Governor Aiken was sent to General Webb to say that the challenge written but not delivered, on the day previous, was withdrawn.

General Webb was in England when the Crimean war commenced and in daily intercourse with such men as the Duke of Newcastle, Earl Ellesmere, Russell, Grosvenor, and Granville, and Lord Palmerston, the late Marquis of Lansdowne, etc., etc. Indeed, it was truly said that up to that time, he and Mr. Charles Sumner had been more cordially received into English society and English country houses, than any other Americans who had ever visited England. They were fine specimens physically, socially, and mentally, of

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American gentlemen. The *London Times*, always ready to abuse and defame the United States, pretended to have information that Russian privateers were being fitted out in the United States with the sanction of our government. This was exceedingly annoying to the English government, because its tendency was to derange commerce, and seriously affect the money market. And although the ministry had no doubt that it was a mere stock jobbing shanda, for which the "Thunderer" was well paid, Lord Clarendon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Lord Palmerston, urged General Webb to write an article on our neutrality laws, over his own signature, to be published in the *Times*. He consented to do so, provided the *Times* should be made to publish all he wrote without change or omission; and the late Charles Greville, Clerk of the Privy Council, was appointed to secure its insertion. The editor demurred, but Greville, speaking in the name and with the authority of the ministry, insisted; and finally the editor consented to make the publication, reserving to himself the right of abusing General Webb. Greville consented, and the column of abuse with which General Webb's letter was accompanied, only rendered more conspicuous his defense of our neutrality laws. It was a masterly production and produced a great sensation. At a later period of the war General Webb wrote for the *Times*, at the solicitation of the cabinet, another letter on the same subject, and it was introduced with a very favorable notice of the writer.

Although General Webb opposed the nomination of General Fremont for the Presidency, on the ground that he was not available, and advocated the nomination of Judge McLean, who could have carried Pennsylvania and been elected, he entered very warmly into the campaign, and on the battle ground of Tippecanoe, made one of the most eloquent and effective speeches of the campaign; so effective that it was adopted as a "campaign document," of which millions were printed and circulated. It was considered at the time, and has since been alluded to on the floor of Congress, as the ablest argument against slavery-extension that has ever

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

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appeared. It is briefly alluded to in Mr. Andrews' sketch of General Webb.

From 1857 to 1861, the *Courier and Enquirer* never ceased to predict the rebellion and the duty of putting it down by force of arms, and of preserving the Union at all hazards, even if in so doing, it should become necessary to manumit and arm the slave population. The attack and surrender of Fort Sumter opened the war. At the instigation of General Scott, General Webb applied to be appointed one of the new major-generals to conduct it. He had, however, charged Major Anderson with treachery in the hasty and unmealed-for surrender of Fort Sumter, after forty-eight hours bombardment without injury to the garrison. Kentucky was wavering, and Mr. Seward, frightened at the prospect of war, and ready to compromise with the South, and guarantee the protection of slavery where it existed, suggested that to give General Webb a higher grade than had been given to Major Anderson, would be to ignore the policy of the administration, which had caused it to approve the surrender of Fort Sumter. General Webb was accordingly offered the rank of Brigadier-General. To have accepted would have made him the junior of gentlemen whom he had ranked when in the army; and with the approbation of his friend, General Scott, he refused the appointment. Thus Major Anderson was made a Brigadier, never to be employed, and General Webb was ruled out of the service; and all to save Kentucky, which, in fact, was in no way influenced by this condoning of Anderson's unwarrantable surrender of Sumter. And this was the result of Mr. Seward's temperizing policy. Seward owed more to Webb than to any other man living, except Thurlow Weed; but from the day he became Secretary of State he ignored all past obligations, personal and political, and never hesitated to sacrifice his friends, whenever, in his judgment, it was his interest to do so. Colonel Hamilton, in his reminiscences of Van Buren, says, "on one occasion he was suspected of being true to a friend." No such suspicion will ever attach to the late Secretary of State.

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General Webb was then appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, minister to Constantinople, without previously consulting him. Immediately on seeing the fact announced in the press, he declined the appointment by telegraph; and his name was then sent to the Senate, as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Empire of Brazil, and unanimously confirmed. He repaired to Washington and accepted the office, on condition that whatever he did in the discharge of his mission should be at once approved, or disapproved, and not treasured up to be acted upon at a future period. This was cheerfully conceded by President Lincoln, who, when asked for instructions, said, in his peculiar manner, "You, who, more than a third of a century, have been the editor of one of the leading presses of the country, and who from necessity, are familiar with European politics and international affairs generally, ask me, an Illinois lawyer, to give you instructions for your guidance in Brazil under the trying circumstances by which you are sure to be surrounded. I have none to give you. On reflection, yes. I'll give you instructions. Go to your post and do your duty." And these were the only instructions he received, except in special cases, during his eight years service in Brazil.

When Louis Napoleon came to this country an exile, in 1835, the first person with whom he became acquainted, was General Webb; and from the time he left the country until as recently as June last they regularly corresponded. The fact of their friendly relations became known to the public through the General's stanch support of the Prince, President, and Emperor, in the columns of the *Courier and Enquirer*, and from the General's publishing a card vindicating the Emperor from charges made in New York, which in fact had no connection whatever with him, but were based on the conduct of his cousin, also known as Prince Napoleon, and who was an habitué of drinking saloons, and indulged in the amusement of smashing the street lamps, followed by a temporary residence in the Tombs. The Emperor had said, too, at Compeigne

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to Mr Seward, that of all his correspondents there was one only who not only wrote him the truth but the whole truth. Consequently, when General Webb sailed for Brazil, via Europe, President Lincoln requested him to see his friend, the Emperor, and explain to him the cause of the rebellion, our determination to put it down, and our ability to maintain the blockade of the Southern coast if not interfered with. They met at Fountainbleau by appointment; and General Webb's report was entirely satisfactory. The report of our minister in Paris, Mr. Dayton, to the Department of State, shows how important was that interview upon the then state of affairs. It took place on the 31st of July, 1861; and up to that time, Mr. Dayton had never seen the Emperor except on the presentation of his credentials at the end of March; while, as Mr. Dayton said, Slidell and the other rebel commissioners had constant access to him.

From France General Webb repaired to London, and while there, spent a day with Lord John Russell at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond, and posted him up very thoroughly in regard to our affairs. The General was well known to Lord John, who invited him to visit him at the Lodge for the express purpose of discussing American affairs. This proceeding was entirely voluntary on the part of General Webb, but he made a report of his visit and interview to Mr. Seward.

General Webb reached his post, Rio Janeiro, on the 4th of October, 1861; and as we have frequently heard him say, he never labored harder than during the ensuing four years. All the English pirates that sailed from England to prey upon our commerce, visited Brazil, and involved a discussion with the government, which embraced almost every conceivable question of international law. At one time the *Alabama*, *Florida*, and *Georgia* were in the port of Bahia, and their officers feasted and feted by the Brazilian authorities.

When General Webb arrived at Rio, there was no United States minister at the Brazilian capital—Mr. Meade, a notorious and

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open-mouthed traitor, having run away from his mission imme-
ately upon the breaking out of the rebellion; and our consul, Scott,
also a Virginia rebel, having proceeded his departure by sending to
the Confederate authorities a list of American vessels in port and
about sailing, together with the value of their respective cargoes.

The Hon. Richard Parsons had arrived and entered upon the
duties of his consulate before General Webb reached Rio. The
consul reported to the minister, that of the forty-seven American
vessels then in port, seven-eighths of them were Southern and dis-
played from some part of the rigging the secession flag; and he
was utterly without authority to prevent it, as the government and
people, and the whole foreign population, but especially the English,
were in favor of the rebels and openly proclaimed and rejoiced in
the fact that the American Union was destroyed. This was on the
4th; on the 8th General Webb issued an order to the consul, to
take the necessary police force and visit every American vessel in
the harbor of Rio; and if he found a secession flag on board, no
matter whether at the peak, the fore, or in the cabin (they pre-
tended to use them as signals), to displace the captain, break up
the voyage and send her to New York under charge of the mate.
And further, to grant no clearance in future to any American
vessel, without first compelling the captain to take an oath of alle-
giance, the form of which he then prescribed. This was the pre-
cursor of the subsequent regulation on the subject.

The masters of the American shipping in port were accordingly
assembled at the consulate, and Mr. Parsons' description of the
scene that followed is very amusing. Of course they abused him
as well as the minister; when he replied—"I am only a snub-
dinate, and, like yourselves, am bound to obey the minister. Why
abuse me? If you do not like the order, why not go to the min-
ister's hotel and remonstrate?" One of the masters immedi-
ately replied: "Oh! he be d-d, I know him, and you might as
well ask a porpoise to give you a tow as to attempt to change the
old curse."

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The visit was made, no secession flags were found; and ulti-
mately every master, in order to obtain his clearance papers, took
the required oath of allegiance, with very emphatic *blessings* on the
minister.

General Webb had knowingly træuesced the law, and con-
sidered himself justified in so doing. The administration were
well pleased at what he had done, and caused him to be advised of
their satisfaction, while unable officially to approve his act. But
public opinion was daily growing stronger, and demanding the
assumption of extraordinary powers by those in authority, and the
following mail from the United States conveyed to the minister a
formal approval of his conduct.

We have said that public sentiment in Rio Janeiro and through-
out Brazil was altogether in favor of the rebels. Among foreign-
ers the English were the most numerous; and of course, to a man,
were jubilant over the assumed destruction of the Union. His Ex-
cellency, W. Dugald Christie, the English envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary, encouraged and led this feeling. He was
a clever but most disagreeable man, who had at different times quar-
reled with all his colleagues as well as his secretaries and attachés,
and it was predicted that he would, of course, quarrel with General
Webb. He did so. In his own house, not addressed to the United
States Minister, but loud enough to be heard by him, he repeatedly
indulged in the most offensive and irritating language, always
predicting the triumph of the rebels. On one occasion after
predicting the failure of the Union, he added, "the descendants of
the Puritans must necessarily be inferior in courage to the rebels;
because wanting in the chivalry which pertains to the gentle blood
of the Cavaliers."

Shortly after, at a whist-table, Christie and Webb partners, and
the envoys of Russia and Prussia their opponents—other ministers
looking on, Christie was impertinent. General Webb laid down his
cards and told Mr. Christie "he considered his language impertinent,
and it was his custom to punish impertinence. Therefore if he

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ever again indulged in impertinent language or even looked im-
tinently at him, he would horsewhip him within an inch of his life,"
Christie demanded an apology or a meeting. A meeting at sunrise
was the response. Mr. Christie then recollected that he was a mem-
ber of the anti-dueling society, withdrew his demand for satisfaction,
and apologized for his conduct. He was recalled from Brazil in
disgrace and turned out of the English diplomatic corps, never again
to be employed.

The Confederate privateers—pirates in fact—gave General Webb
full employment; and he early proclaimed in Brazil that England
would be required to pay for all the injuries inflicted by the Ala-
bama. We quote from a dispatch dated Rio, May 7, 1863:—

"The English steamer also brought me dispatches from our consuls at Pernambuco and Bahia, copies of which I inclose marked 1 and 2. These came to hand by the second delivery on Monday evening just as I was going to a diplomatic dinner given by the minister of Prussia to the late Intermittency of the Pope, who leaves here in consequence of being promoted to Nuncio at Vienna; and to whom I gave a complimentary dinner, including every member of the diplomatic corps, last week, his leaving here making me senior, and the honor and the expense of such an entertainment having become a duty.

"Naturally at the dinner at M. d'Eichman's, which was a very
splendid affair, the doings of the *Alabama*, at Fernando de Noronha
and in Brazilian waters, were discussed; when I took occasion to say,
that while the disgrace, if disgrace there was, in having our com-
merce thus preyned upon, was all ours, it was somewhat consolatory
to know, that the expense and cost of the *Alabama* piracies would all
fall on England. The English Legation laughed and expressed
surprise at this, which I had said in a pleasant tone, and as if half
in badinage, when I replied more seriously, that I was quite in
carnest and sorry to see such a waste of treasure to be made good
by England for not having prevented the *Alabama* sailing from
the Mersey, after we had furnished satisfactory testimony of her

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

character and intentions long before she sailed. It was remarked
that the English government had tried to stop her, but failed
by reason of the illness of the law officer of the crown and the
delay created by that illness. I said, 'Precisely so; but therein
consists England's responsibility. We discharged our whole duty,
and at so early a day, that there existed no difficulty in arresting
the pirate. The law officers of the crown decided that it was
incumbent upon the government to prevent her sailing, but for
reasons with which we have nothing to do, it was not convenient
to decide upon the arrest until after her sailing. That is Eng-
land's misfortune, and the *Alabama* is at this moment a pirat-
ical vessel, preying upon American commerce, built in an English
port, with English capital, manned by *Englishmen*, and to all
intents and purposes an English pirate (I do not use the word
offensively to England), because she was built and armed by
and belongs to Englishmen; sailed from an English port to which
only she belongs, and has never been in American waters either
North or South.'

Shortly after Mr. Christie had been driven away from Brazil,
English arrogance received a terrible rebuke from the American
minister. Four rebel vessels in the harbor of Rio, sought to escape
condemnation under our laws, by changing their flag in a foreign port.
This could only be legally effected by the United States consul's
being present at, and approving the sale. The vessels were adver-
tised, and the consul was required to give notice that he would not
be present; and, consequently, the sale could not be legally made.
The sale proceeded notwithstanding. Subsequently the English
consignees got up another sale on the plea of indebtedness. General
Webb asked the Brazilian court to prohibit the sale. In the mean
time the British consul gave one of the rebel vessels the English flag
and English papers, in defiance of General Webb's threats of capture
if she went to sea. The consul was obstinate, and the English elated
in the highest degree. They had an English fleet present; and
England had never had her arrogance rebuked in a foreign port.

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JAMES WATSON WEBB

So proclamation was made that the *Alice Gray*, with English papers and under an English flag, would go to sea on a certain Sunday morning. The hills surrounding Rio, and all the shipping in the harbor were alive with human beings anxious to witness the affair, because the American minister had threatened to capture her; and he never failed to keep his word. At the hour fixed, the *Alice Gray*, in tow of a steamer, passed out of the harbor; and shortly after, Captain, now Admiral, Glisson, who knew his duty, and was always ready to discharge it, steamed out in pursuit. He passed close under the sterns of the British and French admirals' ships; and the Frenchman, to show his contempt for the English, stood on deck in full uniform, his band playing Yankee Doodle, and his six hundred seamen in the rigging. The *Alice Gray* never left the Brazilian waters, and after going north some twenty miles with the United States ship *Mohican* on her quarter, she returned to the harbor just before dark. Glisson remained out all night watching the entrance to the harbor; and when he came in the next morning, the old French Admiral was again on deck in his uniform, his band playing "See the Conquering Hero Comes," and his crew in the rigging.

These things continued to produce a most salutary effect upon the public mind; and Americans began to hold up their heads. Then came the entailing out of the pirate *Florida*, from the harbor of Bahia and when lying under the guns of the Brazilian fort. The excitement was intense and the British residents were rejoiced to know that the American minister was to receive his passports. And such was the intention of the cabinet; but instead thereof the government was content with demanding explanations. A rapid in terchange of notes took place; and on the following morning, the correspondence was published, and General Webb and suite at tended the marriage of Count d'En to the Princess Imperial of Brazil. From General Webb's note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs we extract the following:—

"Beyond all peradventure, the object of Great Britian in recognizing as belligerents those in rebellion against the government of

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

the United States, was, if we take her leading press and the speculators of many of her statesmen, in and out of Parliament, as exponents of her purpose, to accomplish by indirect means what she did not deem it prudent to attempt by a more manly course. She had just as much right to declare our government destroyed and the Union broken up by a recognition of the sovereignty and independence of our rebels within two weeks after hearing of the rebellion, as she had to give them, by proclamation, the rights of belligerents. But she wanted the manliness to do this in the face of Europe and the just indignation which she would thereby have brought upon herself; and she therefore, in the exercise of her discretion, resorted to a measure which she well knew was a *casus belli*, but which she foresaw we were not in a position to treat as such; and the consequence of which, she had a right to suppose, as did our rebels, would eventually be a disruption of the great American Republic."

"Entertaining these sentiments and feelings towards Brazil, it will be a source of unfeigned grief, and of very sincere regret to the government of the United States, to learn that a commander in her navy, *without instructions or authority of any kind*, should have taken upon himself the responsibility of capturing one of the piratical cruisers of our rebels while lying in the harbor of Bahia; and the undersigned feels authorized to assure your Excellency, that every reparation which honor and justice demand will be most frankly tendered; more frankly and more promptly than if the same act had been committed by an American cruiser in the waters of the most powerful maritime nations of the world. But in so doing, the government of the United States will undoubtedly make the *amende honorable* under *protest*. She will tell Brazil that she denies *in toto* the right of any nation or nations, immediately upon the breaking out of a rebellion in the dominions of a friendly power—without inquiry or investigation of any kind, and without knowledge of, or even pretending to know, the merits of the quarrel; to declare such rebels a belligerent power—and, by proclamation, make them

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

in the ports of the world, the equals of the nation against which they are in rebellion. She will insist, that until their nationality is recognized, they can not invest their armed vessels with the nationality necessary to set forth a vessel of war, and she will insist that all such vessels too are no more or no less than Pirates. She will proclaim, as heretofore, that a vessel built in an *English* port by *English* artisans and with *English* funds; armed and equipped by *Englishmen*; with *Englishmen* to man and fight her; sailing from an *English port* under *English* colors, with the avowed purpose of preying upon and destroying the commerce of a friendly Power which happens to be her naval and commercial rival, and which does so prey upon and destroy the commerce of the friendly power under the ridiculous plea that she is a vessel of war belonging to the rebels—without ever having visited a rebel port—is a *Pirate*, and that the nation whose commerce she molests, has a right, according to every principle of equity and justice which obtains among civilized and Christian communities, to pursue and destroy her in any port and any harbor of the world.”

For twenty years the claims of the people of the United States upon the government of Brazil had been ignored or treated with contempt. General Webb made a thorough investigation into the merits of these claims, and selected four, the payment of which he should insist upon. They were respectively of thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, and twenty-one years' standing; and they were all paid; but not until on two occasions a suspension of diplomatic intercourse was threatened. In the case of the *Canada*, a claim of thirteen years' standing, General Webb actually suspended diplomatic relations with Brazil and demanded his passports. They were sent; but at the last moment Brazil repented, apologized, and withdrew the offensive dispatch. The claim has since been referred to the British minister in Washington, who has rendered an award for the whole amount claimed; and it has been paid by the Brazilian government.

On two other occasions, General Webb was constrained to threat-

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

45

en to close his mission unless the Brazilian government did its duty. Mr. Washburn, our minister to Paraguay, returning to his mission after a leave of absence, was prohibited by the Brazilian commander-in-chief from returning through the line of blockade on the Paraguay. The American Admiral, Godon, countenanced the proceeding of the Brazilian official. General Webb was absent on furlough; and when he returned to Rio and discovered that Mr. Washburn had been kept away from his post for nearly a year by the impudence of the Brazilian commandant and the subserviency of an American admiral, he gave the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs just four hours to decide, whether he would send him an order for Mr. Washburn to pass their lines or his passports. The order, and not the passports, came. At the expiration of two years Mr. Washburn's position in Paraguay became so dangerous, that our government ordered Admiral Davis to detach a gun-boat from the squadron on the Brazil station, to go to Asuncion and bring Mr. Washburn and family from Paraguay. The Steamer *Wasp* was accordingly sent after him, and it was stopped by the Brazilian commandant at the blockading lines, detained a long time, and finally sent back to Montevideo. Mr. Washburn's position was one of great peril; the Brazilian government was obstinate; and although General Webb had no instructions to guide him, he threatened to close his mission unless the *Wasp* was permitted to go up the Paragnay. The Ministry, a liberal one, thereupon resigned. It was succeeded by a monarchical, pro-slavery, and conservative ministry, who again indorsed the orders of the Marquis of Caxias. General Webb gave them five days to reverse their decision. They did so by recalling their previous dispatch, and allowed the *Wasp* to proceed up the river. She arrived just in time to save Mr. Washburn and his family, who assert, that if the arrival of the *Wasp* had been delayed ten days longer, they would never would have been heard of again. In the mean time Mr. Seward virtually condemned the conduct of General Webb, and said his conduct would be held un-

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

der consideration. But when it resulted in permission for the Wasp to go to Asuncion, and the lives of Mr. Washburn and his family were thus saved by a diplomatic triumph on the part of our minister, his conduct was formally and cordially approved.

But the crowning success of General Webb's mission was an arrangement with the Emperor Napoleon, on the 10th of November, 1865, for his peaceable retirement from Mexico. We will permit the late Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times, to tell the story.

From the *Times* of April 10, 1869.

"WHO NEGOTIATED THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE FRENCH FROM MEXICO."

"We have reason to believe that the withdrawal of the French from Mexico, affords no exception to the general rule; and that while seeming to have been the result of the diplomacy of the two governments, and especially of the threatening note from Mr. Seward already referred to, it was in reality accomplished in a very different manner and by an entirely different agency. Indeed, it is scarcely conceivable, that so sagacious a ruler as the Emperor of France, should have allowed himself to be forced into a step which he must have known from the outset was a political necessity, and which he should have accepted as such, in anticipation of measures on our part which would expose him to reproach and misconstruction at home. Indeed, in view of the attacks which have been made upon him on this very point, it is a little singular that he has not long since set the real facts of the case before the people of France.

"We have read the original papers, correspondence, and memoranda relating to this subject, and may, at some future day, lay them before the public,—contenting ourselves for the present with stating that they show that the real arrangement by which the Emperor agreed to withdraw his troops from Mexico, was made by him with President Lincoln, through the personal agency of General J. Watson Webb, the former editor of the Courier and

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

47

Enquiroirs, who had become personally acquainted with Louis Napoleon when the latter came, as an exile, from France to this country from Brazil, in 1835; for whom he had cherished a warm personal friendship, and with whom he had maintained a constant correspondence. When General Webb was appointed Minister to Brazil in 1861, intending to go to Rio by way of Europe, he was requested, by Mr. Lincoln, to see the Emperor and learn his views in relation to our then blockade of the Southern coast. The interview took place at Fontainebleau on the 29th of July; and General Webb's report to President Lincoln of that interview, and Mr. Dayton's representation of its influence upon his position was so satisfactory, that a great weight of anxiety was removed from the mind of the Executive.

"General Webb next visited Lord John Russell, to whom he was personally well known; and by invitation, spent most of a day with him at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park. Of that interview he also made an official report; which, together with the message intrusted to him from the Emperor Napoleon to President Lincoln, removed all anxiety in regard to any interference with our blockade.

"General Webb then repaired to Rio de Janeiro and took charge of his mission; and in February, 1863, when he learned that the Emperor of France had commenced his Mexican intervention, he not only urged upon our government the enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine, but he wrote to the Emperor, pointing out the grand mistake he had made in recognizing the Priest Party in Mexico, as one to be relied on or capable of giving him support in his hazardous proceeding. He showed how utterly impossible it was, that the United States should ever assent to his proceedings; and announced as absolutely certain, that the people, irrespective of the government, would insist upon the withdrawal of his forces from Mexico; while the people of France could not but disapprove of a proceeding calculated to produce a collision with the United States.

"This letter remained unanswered some two months; when the course of events, and more reliable information in regard to the

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

Priest Party in Mexico, satisfied the Emperor, that his old friend had not deceived him, but had related to him truths, which, most probably, he would not learn from any other source. Finally, on the 22d of May, 1863, the Emperor acknowledged the receipt of General Webb's letter, and with the utmost frankness explained how he was drawn into this Mexican affair, and declared his determination to withdraw the moment he could do so with credit, and without compromising the honor of France. He also gave notice, that while it was his intention to withdraw, he must not be menaced. Any attempt of the kind, would so complicate his relations with his own people, as necessarily to precede his withdrawing.

"The letter, which we have read, is a very extraordinary production; exceedingly friendly, frank, and creditable to the Emperor's sagacity and good judgment. General Webb very properly considered the letter as designed rather for the President of the United States than for himself, and accordingly forwarded to Mr. Lincoln. The written pledge it contained that the Emperor would withdraw his troops from Mexico, whenever he could do so with honor, was accepted by Mr. Lincoln in the same spirit in which it was written; and hence the fall which took place in our negotiations with France, during the next two years. After Mr. Lincoln's death, a new and less friendly tone is apparent in our correspondence with France. Mr. Lincoln's prudence, and his reliance upon the good faith of the Emperor, no longer guided our councils; and in the autumn of 1865, the wisest among us apprehended a collision with our ancient ally. Such an event—a war with the most powerful nation in the world, in the then unsettled state of the country, and the derangement of our finances, was something too terrible to anticipate; and yet it appeared but too probable.

"General Webb arrived at Lisbon on his way home, at the close of October, 1865, and wrote from Lisbon to the Emperor, announcing his intention to sail in a few days for New York, from Liverpool, and inquiring what he could do in regard to the Mexican question. On arrival at Southampton, he received a telegram from

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the Emperor, urging him to visit Paris. He went accordingly, and, on his arrival at the Hotel Bristol, on the evening of the 9th of November, was met by an invitation or command, to breakfast with the Emperor at St. Cloud on the following morning. Of course, he went accordingly, and, after breakfast, spent more than two hours with His Majesty. The result was an agreement between the parties, subject to the approval of the President, that the French troops should be withdrawn from Mexico in twelve, eighteen, and twenty four months.

"It was stipulated by the Emperor, that our minister in France should know nothing of this arrangement; and to guard against its becoming public by the action of our Congress, even Mr. Seward was not to have knowledge of it officially. And it was further agreed that if President Johnson approved of what had been arranged, General Webb should write to the Emperor to that effect, and thus prevent the arrangement getting into the Foreign Office of either country—the emperor pledging himself to announce the fact in April, 1866, through the Moniteur.

"General Webb arrived here, after a stormy passage of seventeen days, on the 5th of December, 1865, seriously ill with gout. He was prohibited from putting pen to paper on the subject; and although the thermometer was but little above zero, he repaired to Washington the same night, and immediately made this report. On the evening of the 6th December, 1865, Mr. Seward called on General Webb and informed him that the President approved of his arrangement with the Emperor Napoleon, and authorized him to write to the Emperor in his (the President's) name, and express his cordial approbation of the proposed settlement of the Mexican question.

"General Webb wrote accordingly; and in April, 1865, the Moniteur contained the promised announcement of the Emperor's intention to withdraw his troops from Mexico.

"Thus it will appear, that the Department of State had nothing whatever to do with the settlement of the Mexican question; and

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it is most unjust to Napoleon III. to permit, uncontradicted, the uni-
versally received idea, that the French troops were withdrawn from
Mexico in consequence of the *threatening* letter from Mr. Seward
to the Marquis de Montholon, which bears date December 6, and
was sent to him on the 11th. As a matter of course, both in this
country and in Europe, the public could attribute the withdrawal
from Mexico, to no other cause; but as it now appears that the let-
ter referred to, was written *after* Mr. Seward had been officially
notified of the settlement of this all-important question, and *after* he
had directed General Webb, in the name of the President, to com-
municate to the Emperor the President's approval and acceptance of
such settlement thus agreed upon, public sentiment both here and in
France, will do justice to the Emperor and vindicate him from the
reproach of having been *driven* out of Mexico by any thing that
could be construed into a threat.

"It seems clear, from the documentary evidence which has been submitted to us in this matter, that as early as the 22d of May, 1863, the Emperor in his letter to General Webb, declared that he desired very much to withdraw from the Mexican business, and expressed his determination to retire his troops just as soon as he could do so with honor, and without wounding the sensitive pride of the French people. From that determination he never swerved; and Mr. Lincoln died in the full faith that he would fulfill this understanding, and that the Mexican question would thus be settled. After Mr. Lincoln's death, the subject became one of political agitation; and we seemed to be on the eve of a rupture with France, when the personal relations which General Webb had maintained with the Emperor, enabled him in an unofficial and friendly interview, to effect an understanding which would have been found much more difficult, if not absolutely impossible of attainment, through the ordinary channels of diplomatic intercourse.

"General Webb, from whom we have these facts, and who has permitted us to read the correspondence, examine the original telegrams, etc., and to make public this statement from them, may be

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censured by some persons for having so long suppressed these im-
portant developments, due alike to our country and Napoleon.
But it must be borne in mind that General Webb was an officer
of the State Department, and could not, without a great breach of
official etiquette and a violation of duty, make any revelations on
the subject until Mr. Johnson and Mr. Seward had retired from
office. He has, however, never failed to vindicate the Emperor of
France from the reproach that he was induced to retire from Mexico
by reason of threats fulminated more than two years *after* he had
voluntarily given a written pledge to retire, and *after* he had
specifically named the *manner* as well as the *time* of his retiring.
‘The Emperor,’ says General Webb, ‘not only carried out the
arrangement made by him in its true *spirit*, but when it became
apparent that he must retire all his forces at once to insure
their safety, and not by detachments, instead of fixing upon
eighteen months, as the average of the time agreed upon, he
voluntarily named sixteen months (March, 1867), as the period
for withdrawing.’

"General Webb maintains that no official personage ever kept faith better than has Louis Napoleon in this Mexican affair; and he asserts, what the public will be gratified to learn, that the Emperor was among the first who perceived his error in going to Mexico, and at once voluntarily pledged himself to withdraw as soon as he could do so without compromising the honor of the French.

"It is scarcely necessary to add, that General Webb, who is now on his return to Brazil, has placed these facts at our disposal, to be used immediately after the fourth of March as an act of justice to one who has conducted himself throughout this affair with a frankness and good faith which are conspicuous in the whole transaction."

Mr. Raymond discovered that he had, most unexpectedly, called
upon himself the denunciations of Mr. Seward's friends. They
pronounced the entire statement *false*; and Mr. Seward's organ in

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Auburn, gave notice that Mr. Seward was preparing a reply. No reply, however, appeared; and Mr. Raymond was called upon to produce Napoleon's letter of March 22, 1863, which they said was a myth. General Webb was then in Brazil closing up his triumphant mission; and Mr. Raymond patiently awaited his return, in order to vindicate himself from the abuse heaped upon him for having, as one editor said, "robbed his friend Seward of all claims to any "success in the management of the State Department. We all know "that he perfected no negotiation with England, save the surrender "of Mason and Slidell; and that he left the *Alabama* question all "unsettled. If, then, he is to be deprived of the credit of having "settled the Mexican question with the Emperor Napoleon, and if, "as the editor of the *Times* declares, he did not even *know* of the "negotiation until after it was closed, and was in terms excluded "from any such knowledge, his position is far from being an envi- "able one, in view of his threatening letter to the French Minister, "written, as is now charged, *after* the affair had been arranged."

Mr. Raymond anxiously awaited the return of General Webb from Brazil. He did return; but only to find his friend Raymond in his coffin, and in time to act as one of his pall-bearers.

It having been denied that there ever was any such letter from the Emperor as that described by Mr. Raymond, and which he had read after it had been five years in the archives of the State Department, we now, in justice to the memory of Mr. Raymond, give a literal translation of that important paper.

### NAPOLEON III. TO GENERAL WEBB.

[Translation.]

PARIS, March 22, 1863.

MY DEAR GENERAL—

I received your letter of March 3, and the interesting note included therein, which, after perusal, I burned immediately,* according to your wishes, and without mentioning the subject to any one. The questions you treat of, are very important and very delicate;

* This alludes to a copy of an official dispatch from General Webb to Mr. Seward, urging the application of the Monroe Doctrine to Napoleon, and the giving notice that his remaining in Mexico would be considered by the United States an act of war.

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

53

still I will answer them in all frankness. You are greatly mistaken if you believe that any motive of ambition or cupidity has led me into Mexico. Engaged in this enterprise by Spain, and led by the doings of Junoes, I reluctantly sent, first, two thousand men; afterward, the national honor being compromised, my troops were increased to eight thousand; finally the repulse at Puebla having engaged our military honor, I sent over thirty-five thousand men. It is, therefore, much against my inclination, that I am compelled to wage war at such a distance from France; and it is in no way for the purpose of taking possession of the mines of the Sonora that my soldiers are fighting. But now that the French flag is in Mexico, it is difficult for me to fortell what may happen; at all events, my intention is to withdraw as soon as honor and the interests now engaged, allow me. It would be wrong in the United States, therefore, to make my being there a subject of dispute; for a menace would then change all my plans, which now are disinterested. As regards the war which desolates your country, I profoundly regret it; for I do not see how and when it will end, and it is not the interest of France that the United States should be weakened by a struggle without any good results possible. In a country as sensible as America, it is not by arms that domestic quarrels should be settled, but by votes, meetings, and assemblies. In Europe, too, we have many causes of disturbance—many grave questions to solve. For this purpose, France needs the alliance of England; hence my efforts have always been directed toward maintaining the ties of good understanding, often in spite of the ill-will of the English government. I have now sincerely explained my position to you; and in that way, you see, I reciprocate the perfect frankness of your communication. Be always persuaded, my dear General, of my interest in your country, as well as my friendship and the high esteem which I profess for your character. With these sentiments, I remain,

Yours very affectionately,

NAPOLEON.

We have thus grouped together some of the more prominent features of the distinguished public career of James Watson Webb. The restrictions imposed upon us in regard to space have necessitated a more concise and sententious style of composition than accords either with the dignity of the subject, or our own ideas of good taste. The memoir would have been worthier and more satisfactory, if we could have had more room. But the conditions of publishers are inflexible, and we must bring our biography to a close by summarizing the principal characteristics, mental and moral, of General Webb. The writer has known him long and well; has watched his course as the leading Whig editor of the country, for more than a quarter of a century; and subsequently, while representing the government at the most important court on the American continent, at a critical period in our national history. How he bore himself under circumstances of great difficulty and delicacy,

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the foregoing imperfect sketch will inform the reader. He was the same outspoken, fearless, and determined man when officially guarding the honor and interests of the nation, as he has ever shown himself in vindicating his personal rights. Of an ardent temperament, in early life somewhat inclined to impetuity, he is a liberal-minded and eminently just man. Sanguine and confident, his opinions were apt to settle into convictions; but his instincts were all on the side of liberality and fair dealing; and he had that innate sense of rectitude, that excluded the possibility of a dishonorable or unmanly act. He was always prompt to acknowledge and repair any wrong committed under a hasty impulse. He has a degree of sensibility and tenderness, almost feminine; and no appeal to his feelings of kindness and generosity is ever made in vain. The brilliant successes achieved during his mission to Brazil were due in large measure to his idiosyncracies of character. Bold and unhesitating, even to the verge of rashness, no apprehension of consequences, of any description, prevented him from denouncing iniquity and indirection wherever discovered; and when he penetrated the insidious designs of the rebels, promoted as they were by the malign influence that dominated the court of Brazil, he threw himself into the breach, and baffled and routed the conspirators with a dash and audacity that stunned and bewildered the government at Washington. Mr. Seward, naturally a timid and undecided man, frequently hesitated about approving the positive and determined conduct of General Webb; but was finally compelled by public opinion to indorse his conduct in every exigency that was sprung upon him.

For a quarter of a century at least, General Webb was the best abused man in the country. Early in his editorial career he abandoned the Democratic party for the reason that, in his judgment, the policy of the administration was prejudicial to the best interests of the country. For this he was abused and calumniated for a long series of years, with a persistent malignity and vindictiveness such as few men have ever been subjected to. But General Webb is a

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JAMES WATSON WEBB.

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singularly self-contained and independent man, and he bore the reiterated assaults of his slanderers with a degree of composure and indifference, quite surprising to those of his friends who were aware of his hasty temper and general habit of resenting insults and chasťising impertinence. But conscious of his integrity and the uprightness of his motives, he submitted in comparative silence, confident that he could live down the calumnies, and that history would ultimately do him justice. The result has justified his expectations. Those who originated and repeated the aspersions upon his reputation have passed away; and no man lives who would utter one word of reproach or disparagement of his character. General Webb is a man of uncommon tenacity of purpose, and infinite perseverance. He has rarely failed in any undertaking. He wastes no time in unavailing regrets. In his earlier days he had bitter enemies and warm friends; the former he never pursued vindictively or ungenerously—the latter he never forsook or neglected. He never permitted his political differences to interfere with his personal relations. Calhoun and Cass, although opposed to him in politics for many years, remained his fast friends until they died.

Intellectually he is no common man. His perceptions are rapid and acute, and his mind has a grasp and logical power that placed him in a position of great advantage as a newspaper editor. He is a fine judge of men, and has rarely been mistaken in the selection of his friends and confidants. He gathered around him in the editorial rooms of the *Courier and Enquirer* men of extensive acquirements and brilliant powers, but they were all subordinate to his will. He was supreme in the conduct of his paper, and always held himself responsible for what appeared in its columns. He wrote with great facility, and always with logical force and precision. He understood politics generally, and personal politics specially, as well as any man in the country; and there was a species of magnetism about him, that gave him the power to impress with uncommon force those with whom he came in contact. In the early stage of his editorial life, he had an inclination for controversial

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