This prophetic glance, not merely at the impending, but the distant
future, this reliance on the fulfillment of the great design of
Providence, illustrated through our whole history, to lavish upon
the people of this country the accumulated blessings of all former
stages of human progress, made Webster more tolerant of the tardy and
irregular advances and temporary wanderings from the path of what he
deemed a wise and sound policy, than those fervid spirits, who dwell
exclusively in the present, and make less allowance for the gradual
operation of moral influences. This was the case in reference to the
great sectional controversy, which now so sharply divides and so
violently agitates the country. He not only confidently anticipated,
what the lapse of seven years since his decease has witnessed and
is witnessing, that the newly acquired and the newly organized
territories of the Union would grow up into free States; but in
common with all or nearly all the statesmen of the last generation,
he believed that free labor would ultimately prevail throughout the
country. He thought he saw that, in the operation of the same causes
which have produced this result in the Middle and Eastern States, it
was visibly taking place in the States north of the cotton-growing
region; and he inclined to the opinion that there also, under the
influence of physical and economical causes, free labor would
eventually be found more productive, and would therefore be ultimately
established.
For these reasons, bearing in mind, what all admit, that the complete
solution of the mighty problem, which now so greatly tasks the
prudence and patriotism of the wisest and best in the land, is beyond
the delegated powers of the general government; that it depends, as
far as the States are concerned, on their independent legislation,
and that it is of all others a subject, in reference to which public
opinion and public sentiment will most powerfully influence the law;
that much in the lapse of time, without law, is likely to be brought
about by degrees, and gradually done and permitted, as in Missouri,
at the present day, while nothing is to be hoped from external
interference, whether of exhortation or rebuke; that in all human
affairs controlled by self-governing communities extreme opinions
and extreme courses, on the one hand, generally lead to extreme
opinions and extreme courses on the other; and that nothing will more
contribute to the earliest practicable relief of the country from this
most prolific source of conflict and estrangement, than to prevent its
being introduced into our party organizations, he deprecated its being
allowed to find a place among the political issues of the day, north
or south, and seeking a platform on which honest and patriotic men
might meet and stand, he thought he had found it, where our fathers
did, in the Constitution.
It is true that, in interpreting the fundamental law on this subject,
a diversity of opinion between the two sections of the Union presents
itself. This has ever been the case, first or last, in relation
to every great question which has divided the country. It is the
unfailing incident of constitutions, written or unwritten; an evil to
be dealt with in good faith, by prudent and enlightened men, in both
sections of the Union, seeking, as Washington sought, the public good,
and giving expression to the patriotic common-sense of the people.
Such, I have reason to believe, were the principles entertained by
Mr. Webster; not certainly those best calculated to win a temporary
popularity in any part of the Union, in times of passionate sectional
agitation which, between the extremes of opinion, leaves no middle
ground for moderate counsels. If any one could have found and could
have trodden such ground with success, he would seem to have been
qualified to do it, by his transcendent talent, his mature experience,
his approved temper and calmness, and his tried patriotism. If he
failed of finding such a path for himself or the country--while we
thoughtfully await what time and an all-wise Providence has in store
for ourselves and our children--let us remember that his attempt
was the highest and the purest which can engage the thoughts of a
Statesman and a Patriot: peace on earth, good-will toward men, harmony
and brotherly love among the children of our common country.