The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 1

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Daniel Webster. The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 1

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. BY EDWARD EVERETT

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII.23

CHAPTER IX

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND.33

NOTES

NOTE A

NOTE B

THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.53

THE COMPLETION. of. THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

THE COMPLETION OF THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.61

NOTE

ADAMS AND JEFFERSON

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.68

NOTE

THE ELECTION OF 1825

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

THE ELECTION OF 1825.84

DINNER AT FANEUIL HALL

THE BOSTON MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION.89

PUBLIC DINNER AT NEW YORK

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

PUBLIC DINNER AT NEW YORK

THE CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON.95

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION AT WORCESTER.97

RECEPTION AT BUFFALO.100

RECEPTION AT PITTSBURG

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

RECEPTION AT PITTSBURG.101

RECEPTION AT BANGOR.102

PRESENTATION OF A VASE

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

PRESENTATION OF A VASE.103

RECEPTION AT NEW YORK

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

RECEPTION AT NEW YORK.105

RECEPTION AT WHEELING.107

RECEPTION AT MADISON

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

RECEPTION AT MADISON.109

PUBLIC DINNER IN FANEUIL HALL

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

PUBLIC DINNER IN FANEUIL HALL.112

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.116

THE AGRICULTURE OF ENGLAND.117

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The first collection of Mr. Webster’s speeches in the Congress of the United States and on various public occasions was published in Boston, in one volume octavo, in 1830. This volume was more than once reprinted, and in 1835 a second volume was published, containing the speeches made up to that time, and not included in the first collection. Several impressions of these two volumes were called for by the public. In 1843 a third volume was prepared, containing a selection from the speeches of Mr. Webster from the year 1835 till his entrance into the cabinet of General Harrison. In the year 1848 appeared a fourth volume of diplomatic papers, containing a portion of Mr. Webster’s official correspondence as Secretary of State.

The great favor with which these volumes have been received throughout the country, and the importance of the subjects discussed in the Senate of the United States after Mr. Webster’s return to that body in 1845, have led his friends to think that a valuable service would be rendered to the community xiv by bringing together his speeches of a later date than those contained in the third volume of the former collection, and on political subjects arising since that time. Few periods of our history will be entitled to be remembered by events of greater moment, such as the admission of Texas to the Union, the settlement of the Oregon controversy, the Mexican war, the acquisition of California and other Mexican provinces, and the exciting questions which have grown out of the sudden extension of the territory of the United States. Rarely have public discussions been carried on with greater earnestness, with more important consequences visibly at stake, or with greater ability. The speeches made by Mr. Webster in the Senate, and on public occasions of various kinds, during the progress of these controversies, are more than sufficient to fill two new volumes. The opportunity of their collection has been taken by the enterprising publishers, in compliance with opinions often expressed by the most respectable individuals, and with a manifest public demand, to bring out a new edition of Mr. Webster’s speeches in uniform style. Such is the object of the present publication. The first two volumes contain the speeches delivered by him on a great variety of public occasions, commencing with his discourse at Plymouth in December, 1820. Three succeeding volumes embrace the greater part of the speeches delivered in the Massachusetts Convention and in the two houses of Congress, beginning with the speech on the Bank of the United States in 1816. The sixth and last volume contains the legal arguments and addresses to the jury, the diplomatic papers, and letters addressed to various persons on important political questions.

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The political motives alluded to caused the bill to be made as acceptable as possible to Pennsylvania and the other Middle States, and as unfavorable as possible to the leading interests lxxxv of New England. The depression of the woollen manufactures had originally caused the revision of the tariff at this session. A heavy duty on the raw material was one of the features of the bill. But this was represented as due to the agricultural interest. The East, although it had now become eminently a manufacturing region, was still the seat of an active commerce, and largely concerned in the fisheries. The duty on molasses, a great article of consumption with the mariners and fishermen of the East, both in its natural form and that of cheap spirits, was doubled; but this, it was said, was required for the benefit of the grain-growers of the Middle States. Other provisions of this kind were introduced into the bill, in all cases with the assistance of the votes of its opponents, given in such a way as to render the bill as unpalatable as possible to the Northeastern manufacturers. Mr. Webster addressed the Senate, while the bill was before that body, exposing the objectionable features to which we have alluded. Believing, however, that the great article of woollens required the protection given it by the bill, and regarding the general system of protection as the established policy of the country and of the government, and feeling that the capital which had been invited into manufactures by former acts of legislation was now entitled to be sustained against the glut of foreign markets, fraudulent invoices, and the competition of foreign labor working at starvation wages, he gave his vote for the bill, and has ever since supported the policy of moderate protection. He has been accused of inconsistency in this respect; and by none more earnestly than by the friends of Mr. Calhoun, who was one of those influential statesmen of the South by whom, in the Fourteenth Congress, the foundation of a protective tariff was laid on the corner-stone of the square-yard duty on domestic cotton fabrics. But he has been sustained by the great majority of his constituents and of the people of the Northern, Middle, and Northwestern States; and should the prospects of success be fulfilled with which manufactures have been attempted at the South, there is little doubt that she will at length perceive that her own interest would be promoted by upholding the same policy.

When the speech of Mr. Webster of 1824, in which he assigned his reasons for voting against the tariff law of that year, lxxxvi is carefully compared with his speech of 1828, just referred to, it will be found that there is no other diversity than that which was induced by the change in the state of the country itself in reference to its manufacturing interests, and by the course pursued in reference to the details of the bill by those opposed to protection in toto. It is the best proof of this, that, in the former edition of Mr. Webster’s works, the two speeches were, for more easy comparison, placed side by side.

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