[Speech of Daniel Webster at the dinner of the New England Society
in the City of New York, December 23, 1850. The early published
form of this address is very rare. It bears the following
title-page: "Speech of Mr. Webster at the Celebration of the New
York New England Society, December 23, 1850. Washington: printed by
Gideon & Co., 1851." The presiding officer of the celebration,
Moses H. Grinnell, asked attention of the company to a toast not on
the catalogue. He gave, "The Constitution and the Union, and their
Chief Defender." This sentiment was received with great applause,
which became most tumultuous when Mr. Webster rose to respond.]
MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE NEW YORK NEW ENGLAND
SOCIETY:--Ye sons of New England! Ye brethren of the kindred tie! I
have come hither to-night, not without some inconvenience, that I might
behold a congregation whose faces bear lineaments of a New England
origin, and whose hearts beat with full New England pulsations.
[Cheers.] I willingly make the sacrifice. I am here, to meet this
assembly of the great off-shoot of the Pilgrim Society of Massachusetts,
the Pilgrim Society of New York. And, gentlemen, I shall begin what I
have to say, which is but little, by tendering to you my thanks for the
invitation extended to me, and by wishing you, one and all, every kind
of happiness and prosperity.
Gentlemen, this has been a stormy, a cold, a boisterous and inclement
day. The winds have been harsh, the skies have been severe; and if we
had no houses over our heads; if we had no shelter against this howling
and freezing tempest; if we were wan and worn out; if half of us were
sick and tired, and ready to descend into the grave; if we were on the
bleak coast of Plymouth, houseless, homeless, with nothing over our
heads but the Heavens, and that God who sits above the Heavens; if we
had distressed wives on our arms, and hungry and shivering children
clinging to our skirts, we should see something, and feel something, of
that scene, which, in the providence of God, was enacted at Plymouth on
December 22, 1620.
[Illustration: _THE NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FOREFATHERS_
_Photogravure after a photograph_
The corner-stone of the National Monument to the Forefathers at
Plymouth, Mass., was laid August 2, 1859. The monument was
completed in October, 1888, and dedicated with appropriate
ceremonies, August 1, 1889. It is built entirely of granite. The
plan of the principal pedestal is octagonal, with four small, and
four large faces; from the small faces project four buttresses. On
the main pedestal stands the heroic figure of Faith, said to be the
largest and finest piece of granite statuary in the world. The
sculptor was Joseph Archie, a Spaniard. Upon the four buttresses
are seated figures emblematical of the principles upon which the
Pilgrims founded their Commonwealth--Morality, Education, Law, and
Freedom. Each was wrought from a solid block of granite. On the
face of the buttresses, beneath these figures are alto-reliefs in
marble, representing scenes from Pilgrim history. Upon the four
faces of the main pedestal are large panels for records. The right
and left panels contain the names of those who came over in the
Mayflower. The rear panel is plain, being reserved for an
inscription at some future day. The front panel is inscribed as
follows: "National Monument to the Forefathers. Erected by a
grateful people in remembrance of their labors, sacrifices and
sufferings for the cause of civil and religious liberty."]
Thanks to Almighty God, who from that distressed, early condition of our
fathers, has raised us to a height of prosperity and of happiness, which
they neither enjoyed, nor could have anticipated! We have learned much
of them; they could have foreseen little of us. Would to God, my
friends, would to God, that when we carry our affections and our
recollections back to that period, we could arm ourselves with something
of the stern virtues which supported them, in that hour of peril, and
exposure, and suffering. Would to God that we possessed that
unconquerable resolution, stronger than bars of brass or iron, which
nerved their hearts; that patience, "sovereign o'er transmuted ill,"
and, above all, that faith, that religious faith, which, with eyes fast
fixed upon Heaven, tramples all things earthly beneath her triumphant
feet! [Applause.]
Gentlemen, the scenes of this world change. What our ancestors saw and
felt, we shall not see nor feel. What they achieved, it is denied to us
even to attempt. The severer duties of life, requiring the exercise of
the stern and unbending virtues, were theirs. They were called upon for
the exhibition of those austere qualities, which, before they came to
the Western wilderness, had made them what they were. Things have
changed. In the progress of society, the fashions, the habits of life,
and all its conditions, have changed. Their rigid sentiments, and their
tenets, apparently harsh and exclusive, we are not called on, in every
respect, to imitate or commend; or rather to imitate, for we should
commend them always, when we consider that state of society in which
they had been adopted, and in which they seemed necessary. Our fathers
had that religious sentiment, that trust in Providence, that
determination to do right, and to seek, through every degree of toil and
suffering, the honor of God, and the preservation of their liberties,
which we shall do well to cherish, to imitate, and to equal, so far as
God may enable us. It may be true, and it is true, that in the progress
of society the milder virtues have come to belong more especially to our
day and our condition. The Pilgrims had been great sufferers from
intolerance; it was not unnatural that their own faith and practice, as
a consequence, should become somewhat intolerant. This is the common
infirmity of human nature. Man retaliates on man. It is to be hoped,
however, that the greater spread of the benignant principles of
religion, and of the divine charity of Christianity, has, to some
extent, improved the sentiments which prevailed in the world at that
time. No doubt the "first comers," as they were called, were attached to
their own forms of public worship and to their own particular and
strongly cherished religious sentiments. No doubt they esteemed those
sentiments, and the observances which they practised, to be absolutely
binding on all, by the authority of the word of God. It is true, I
think, in the general advancement of human intelligence, that we find
what they do not seem to have found, that a greater toleration of
religious opinion, a more friendly feeling toward all who profess
reverence for God, and obedience to His commands, is not inconsistent
with the great and fundamental principles of religion--I might rather
say is, itself, one of those fundamental principles. So we see in our
day, I think, without any departure from the essential principles of our
fathers, a more enlarged and comprehensive Christian philanthropy. It
seems to be the American destiny, the mission which God has intrusted to
us here on this shore of the Atlantic, the great conception and the
great duty to which we are born, to show that all sects, and all
denominations, professing reverence for the authority of the Author of
our being, and belief in His Revelations, may be safely tolerated
without prejudice either to our religion or to our liberties. [Cheers.]
We are Protestants, generally speaking; but you all know that there
presides at the head of the Supreme Judicature of the United States a
Roman Catholic; and no man, I suppose, through the whole United States,
imagines that the judicature of the country is less safe, that the
administration of public justice is less respectable or less secure,
because the Chief Justice of the United States has been, and is, an
ardent adherent to that religion. And so it is in every department of
society amongst us. In both Houses of Congress, in all public offices,
and all public affairs, we proceed on the idea that a man's religious
belief is a matter above human law; that it is a question to be settled
between him and his Maker, because he is responsible to none but his
Maker for adopting or rejecting revealed truth. And here is the great
distinction which is sometimes overlooked, and which I am afraid is now
too often overlooked, in this land, the glorious inheritance of the sons
of the Pilgrims. Men, for their religious sentiments, are accountable to
God, and to God only. Religion is both a communication and a tie between
man and his Maker; and to his own master every man standeth or falleth.
But when men come together in society, establish social relations, and
form governments for the protection of the rights of all, then it is
indispensable that this right of private judgment should in some measure
be relinquished and made subservient to the judgment of the whole.
Religion may exist while every man is left responsible only to God.
Society, civil rule, the civil state, cannot exist, while every man is
responsible to nobody and to nothing but to his own opinion. And our New
England ancestors understood all this quite well. Gentlemen, there is
the "Constitution" which was adopted on board the Mayflower in November,
1620, while that bark of immortal memory was riding at anchor in the
harbor of Cape Cod. What is it? Its authors honored God; they professed
to obey all His commandments, and to live ever and in all things in His
obedience. But they say, nevertheless, that for the establishment of a
civil polity, for the greater security and preservation of their civil
rights and liberties, they agree that the laws and ordinances, and I am
glad they put in the word "constitutions," invoking the name of the
Deity on their resolution; they say, that these laws and ordinances, and
constitutions, which may be established by those they should appoint to
enact them, they, in all due submission and obedience, will support.
This constitution is not long. I will read it. It invokes a religious
sanction and the authority of God on their civil obligations; for it was
no doctrine of theirs that civil obedience was a mere matter of
expediency. Here it is:
"In the name of God, Amen: We whose names are underwritten, the
loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the
Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, and
Defender of the Faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of
God and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King
and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the heathen
parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in
the presence of God and of one another, covenant and combine
ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better
ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid,
and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and
equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time
to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the
general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due
submission and obedience."
The right of private judgment in matters between the Creator and
himself, and submission and obedience to the will of the whole, upon
whatsoever respects civil polity and the administration of such affairs
as concerned the colony about to be established, they regarded as
entirely consistent; and the common sense of mankind, lettered and
unlettered, everywhere establishes and confirms this sentiment. Indeed,
all must see, that it is the very ligament, the very tie, which connects
man to man, in the social system; and these sentiments are embodied in
that constitution. Gentlemen, discourse on this topic might be enlarged,
but I pass from it.
Gentlemen, we are now two hundred and thirty years from that great
event. There is the Mayflower [pointing to a small figure of a ship, in
the form of confectionery, that stood before him]. There is a little
resemblance, but a correct one, of the Mayflower. Sons of New England!
there was in ancient times a ship that carried Jason to the acquisition
of the Golden Fleece. There was a flag-ship at the battle of Actium
which made Augustus Cæsar master of the world. In modern times, there
have been flag-ships which have carried Hawkes, and Howe, and Nelson on
the other continent, and Hull, and Decatur, and Stewart, on this, to
triumph. What are they all; what are they all, in the chance of
remembrance among men, to that little bark, the Mayflower, which reached
these shores on December 22, 1620. Yes, brethren of New England, yes!
that Mayflower was a flower destined to be of perpetual bloom! [Cheers.]
Its verdure will stand the sultry blasts of summer, and the chilling
winds of autumn. It will defy winter; it will defy all climate, and all
time, and will continue to spread its petals to the world, and to
exhale an ever-living odor and fragrance to the last syllable of
recorded time. [Cheers.]
Gentlemen, brethren, ye of New England! whom I have come some hundreds
of miles to meet this night, let me present to you one of the most
distinguished of those personages who came hither on the deck of the
Mayflower. Let me fancy that I now see Elder William Brewster entering
the door at the further end of this hall. A tall and erect figure, of
plain dress, of no elegance of manner beyond a respectful bow, mild and
cheerful, but of no merriment that reaches beyond a smile. Let me
suppose that his image stood now before us, or that it was looking in
upon this assembly.
"Are ye, are ye," he would say, with a voice of exultation, and yet
softened with melancholy, "Are ye our children? Does this scene of
refinement, of elegance, of riches, of luxury, does all this come from
our labors? Is this magnificent city, the like of which we never saw nor
heard of on either continent, is this but an offshoot from Plymouth
Rock?
"'... Quis jam locus ...
Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?'
"Is this one part of the great reward, for which my brethren and myself
endured lives of toil and of hardship? We had faith and hope. God
granted us the spirit to look forward, and we did look forward. But this
scene we never anticipated. Our hopes were on another life. Of earthly
gratifications we tasted little; for human honors we had little
expectation. Our bones lie on the hill in Plymouth churchyard, obscure,
unmarked, secreted to preserve our graves from the knowledge of savage
foes. No stone tells where we lie. And yet, let me say to you, who are
our descendants, who possess this glorious country, and all it contains,
who enjoy this hour of prosperity, and the thousand blessings showered
upon it by the God of your fathers, we envy you not; we reproach you
not. Be rich, be prosperous, be enlightened. Live in pleasure, if such
be your allotment on earth; but live, also, always to God and to duty.
Spread yourselves and your children over the continent; accomplish the
whole of your great destiny; and if so be, that through the whole you
carry Puritan hearts with you; if you still cherish an undying love of
civil and religious liberty, and mean to enjoy them yourselves, and are
willing to shed your heart's blood to transmit them to your posterity,
then are you worthy descendants of Carver and Allerton and Bradford, and
the rest of those who landed from stormy seas on the rock of Plymouth."
[Loud and prolonged cheers.]
Gentlemen, that little vessel, on December 22, 1620, made her safe
landing on the shore of Plymouth. She had been tossed on a tempestuous
ocean; she approached the New England coast under circumstances of great
distress and trouble; yet amidst all the disasters of her voyage, she
accomplished her end, and she placed the feet of a hundred precious
souls on the shore of the New World.
Gentlemen, let her be considered this night as an emblem of New England,
as New England now is. New England is a ship, stanch, strong,
well-built, and particularly well-manned. She may be occasionally thrown
into the trough of the sea, by the violence of winds and waves, and may
wallow there for a time; but, depend upon it, she will right herself.
She will, ere long, come round to the wind, and will obey her helm.
[Cheers and applause.]
We have hardly begun, my brethren, to realize the vast importance, on
human society, and on the history and happiness of the world, of the
voyage of that little vessel which brought the love of civil and
religious liberty hither, and the Bible, the Word of God, for the
instruction of the future generations of men. We have hardly begun to
realize the consequences of that voyage. Heretofore the extension of our
race, following our New England ancestry, has crept along the shore. But
now the race has extended. It has crossed the continent. It has not only
transcended the Alleghany, but has capped the Rocky Mountains. It is now
upon the shores of the Pacific; and on this day, or if not on this day,
then this day twelvemonth, descendants of New England will there
celebrate the landing--[A Voice: "To-day; they celebrate to-day."]
God bless them! Here's to the health and success of the California
Society of Pilgrims assembled on the shores of the Pacific. [Prolonged
applause.] And it shall yet go hard, if the three hundred millions of
people of China--if they are intelligent enough to understand
anything--shall not one day hear and know something of the Rock of
Plymouth too! [Laughter and cheers.]
But, gentlemen, I am trespassing too long on your time. [Cries of "No,
no! Go on!"] I am taking too much of what belongs to others. My voice is
neither a new voice, nor is it the voice of a young man. It has been
heard before in this place, and the most that I have thought or felt
concerning New England history and New England principles, has been
before, in the course of my life, said here or elsewhere.
Your sentiment, Mr. President, which called me up before this meeting,
is of a larger and more comprehensive nature. It speaks of the
Constitution under which we live; of the Union, which for sixty years
has been over us, and made us associates, fellow-citizens of those who
settled at Yorktown and the mouth of the Mississippi and their
descendants, and now, at last, of those who have come from all corners
of the earth and assembled in California. I confess I have had my doubts
whether the republican system under which we live could be so vastly
extended without danger of dissolution. Thus far, I willingly admit, my
apprehensions have not been realized. The distance is immense; the
intervening country is vast. But the principle on which our Government
is established, the representative system, seems to be indefinitely
expansive; and wherever it does extend, it seems to create a strong
attachment to the Union and the Constitution that protects it. I believe
California and New Mexico have had new life inspired into all their
people. They consider themselves subjects of a new being, a new
creation, a new existence. They are not the men they thought themselves
to be, now that they find they are members of this great Government, and
hailed as citizens of the United States of America. I hope, in the
providence of God, as this system of States and representative
governments shall extend, that it will be strengthened. In some respects
the tendency is to strengthen it. Local agitations will disturb it less.
If there has been on the Atlantic coast, somewhere south of the
Potomac--and I will not define further where it is--if there has been
dissatisfaction, that dissatisfaction has not been felt in California;
it has not been felt that side the Rocky Mountains. It is a localism,
and I am one of those who believe that our system of government is not
to be destroyed by localisms, North or South! [Cheers.] No; we have our
private opinions, State prejudices, local ideas; but over all,
submerging all, drowning all, is that great sentiment, that always, and
nevertheless, we are all Americans. It is as Americans that we are
known, the whole world over. Who asks what State you are from, in
Europe, or in Africa, or in Asia? Is he an American--is he of us? Does
he belong to the flag of the country? Does that flag protect him? Does
he rest under the eagle and the Stars and Stripes? If he does, if he is,
all else is subordinate and worthy of little concern. [Cheers.]
Now it is our duty, while we live on the earth, to cherish this
sentiment, to make it prevail over the whole country, even if that
country should spread over the whole continent. It is our duty to carry
English principles--I mean, sir [said Mr. Webster turning to Sir Henry
Bulwer], Anglo-Saxon American principles, over the whole continent--the
great principles of Magna Charta, of the English revolution, and
especially of the American Revolution, and of the English language. Our
children will hear Shakespeare and Milton recited on the shores of the
Pacific. Nay, before that, American ideas, which are essentially and
originally English ideas, will penetrate the Mexican--the Spanish mind;
and Mexicans and Spaniards will thank God that they have been brought to
know something of civil liberty, of the trial by jury, and of security
for personal rights.
As for the rest, let us take courage. The day-spring from on high has
visited us; the country has been called back, to conscience and to duty.
There is no longer imminent danger of dissolution in these United
States. [Loud and repeated cheers.] We shall live, and not die. We shall
live as united Americans; and those who have supposed that they could
sever us, that they could rend one American heart from another, and that
speculation and hypothesis, that secession and metaphysics, could tear
us asunder, will find themselves dreadfully mistaken. [Cheers.]
Let the mind of the sober American people remain sober. Let it not
inflame itself. Let it do justice to all. And the truest course, and
the surest course, to disappoint those who meditate disunion, is just to
leave them to themselves, and see what they can make of it. No,
gentlemen; the time for meditated secession is past. Americans, North
and South, will be hereafter more and more united. There is a sternness
and severity in the public mind lately aroused. I believe that, North
and South, there has been, in the last year, a renovation of public
sentiment, an animated revival of the spirit of Union, and, more than
all, of attachment to the Constitution, regarding it as indispensably
necessary; and if we would preserve our nationality, it is indispensable
that the spirit of devotion should be still more largely increased. And
who doubts it? If we give up that Constitution, what are we? You are a
Manhattan man; I am a Boston man. Another is a Connecticut, and another
a Rhode Island man. Is it not a great deal better, standing hand to
hand, and clasping hands, that we should remain as we have been for
sixty years--citizens of the same country, members of the same
Government, united all--united now and united forever? That we shall be,
gentlemen. There have been difficulties, contentions, controversies--angry
controversies; but I tell you that, in my judgment,--
"those opposed eyes,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in th' intestine shock,
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
March all one way."
[Mr. Webster, on closing, was greeted with the most hearty, prolonged,
and tumultuous applause.]