"In one respect, Gentlemen, your present oppresses me. It assigns to me
a character of which I feel I am not worthy. 'The Defender of the
Constitution' is a title quite too high for me. He who shall prove
himself the ablest among the able men of the country, he who shall
serve it longest among those who may serve it long, he on whose labors
all the stars of benignant fortune shall shed their selectest
influence, will have praise enough, and reward enough, if, at the end
of his political and earthly career, though that career may have been
as bright as the track of the sun across the sky, the marble under
which he sleeps, and that much better record, the grateful breasts of
his living countrymen, shall pronounce him 'the Defender of the
Constitution.' It is enough for me, Gentlemen, to be connected, in the
most humble manner, with the defence and maintenance of this great
wonder of modern times, and this certain wonder of all future times. It
is enough for me to stand in the ranks, and only to be counted as one
of its defenders."
Cf. Curtis's _Life of Webster_, Ch. XIX.; Lodge's _Webster_, Ch. VII.;
Address of Dr. Hudson on the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of
Daniel Webster, June 18, 1882.
* * * * *
_SPEECH AT SARATOGA_.
August, 1840.
Mr. Webster had been in almost continual public service since 1813, and
during that period the two great questions which demanded the attention
of statesmen were the tariff and the currency. The history of the
former is to be found in the Reply to Hayne and the Reply to Calhoun;
the history of the latter, in that memorable series of speeches during
the session of 1831-1833 on the policy of President Jackson regarding
the United States Bank. Out of this great controversy the Whig party
arose, and its first nominee for the presidency was William Henry
Harrison in 1835, but the friends of Jackson were strong, and Van Buren
was elected. He continued the financial policy of his predecessor, or
at least made no effort to remedy the evils which it had brought upon
the country. Mr. Webster gave himself to the task of exposing the
financial heresies of the administration and of preventing further
injurious legislation. In the summer of 1839 he visited England for
rest, and was everywhere received with the honor due to his high
position and his distinguished attainments; he received courtesies
usually confined to ambassadors and foreign ministers. On his return he
found that the Whigs had again nominated Harrison. Although he had
reason to expect his own nomination, for this was the desire of _the
people_, he at once threw himself into the campaign in support of the
nominee. The people from all sections of the country wished to hear and
see the man who had done such noble service for them in Congress. His
speeches during this campaign are a fit supplement to those which he
had just completed on the subject of the bank. The theme was
essentially the same, but the audience was in many respects a more
difficult one to reach. In the familiarity with financial questions Mr.
Webster had shown himself second only to Hamilton himself, and in
presenting the subject to a popular audience he reached the high-water
mark of political oratory; there is no cant, no bluster, no personal
abuse, but the dignity and simplicity of the simple and dignified
friend of the people.
On the 19th of August, 1840, he addressed the citizens of New York in a
mass meeting at Saratoga. Of all the great speeches of this campaign
this best represents the mind and art of Mr. Webster, and is especially
interesting in this year (1892) when essentially the same
questions--the tariff and the currency--are before the people, and when
the nominee of the party, which is the child of the old Whig party, is
Benjamin Harrison.
[1]P. 331, l. 28. 1. The history of banking in the United States is
interesting as a chapter in the general history of banking. It began
with that great financier, Alexander Hamilton. When Secretary of the
Treasury he conceived the plan of a great national bank, which should
take charge of the disbursement of the revenues, and which should
furnish a paper circulation,--founded on national resources,--which
should be current all over the country. After a prolonged opposition by
the Anti-federalists, who claimed that the establishment of such a bank
would be unconstitutional, he prevailed upon Washington to sign the
bill of incorporation, and in 1791 the bank began its work. It
continued its existence until 1811, when the Anti-federalists refused
to recharter it. Owing to the disordered currency resulting from the
War of 1812, Mr. Madison brought the matter before Congress in his
message, and in 1816 the second Bank of the United States was
established.
[2]P. 333, l. 27. 1. Cf. Sumner's _Life of Andrew Jackson_, Chs. XIII.,
XIV.
[3]P. 334, l. 20. 1. In the session of 1831-1832 the bank applied for a
new charter, and here began the great struggle with President Jackson.
The bill to recharter the bank passed both Houses in 1832, and was
vetoed by the President. Mr. Webster made a notable speech against the
veto, and at once took the lead as an authority on questions of
finance. The following year the President struck his hardest blow
against the bank, by ordering the removal of the deposits. The Senate
passed resolutions condemning the act, and Mr. Webster, on presenting
resolutions to the same effect from Boston, made a most powerful speech
in which he depicted the great commercial distress resulting from the
removal and from the institution of State banks. Between the time of
this speech and the close of the session he spoke on the subject of the
bank and national finance over sixty times. No other such exhibition of
intellectual power and grasp of intricate problems, united with
commanding eloquence, has ever been made in our history. As a result of
the censure by the Senate, the President sent a protest in which he
argued that the Senate had exceeded its power. Mr. Webster replied to
this in what is now considered the greatest of all his speeches during
the great struggle.
[4]P. 335, l. 26. 1. After the removal of the deposits, effected by
Jackson, State banks were formed in large numbers, and certain of these
became deposit banks. The notes of State banks were used for the
purchase of public lands from the United States, and the treasury was
thus accumulating paper currency of doubtful value. The Secretary of
the Treasury (1836) issued the so-called "Specie Circular," ordering
the government agents to receive in future only gold and silver. Only
those banks which held government revenue deposits could furnish coin,
and widespread bankruptcy was the result.
[5]P. 337, l. 17. 1. Cf. Gay's _Life of James Madison_.
[6]P. 339, l. 9, 1. Jackson had never questioned the right of the
government to regulate the currency, but had asserted it when he made
certain State banks banks of deposit. Van Buren was obliged either to
return to the policy of a national bank, or to renounce all rights of
the Government to regulate the currency. He chose the latter, and by
means of the "Sub-Treasury Scheme" completed the separation of "bank
and State." The speech of Mr. Webster on the "Sub-Treasury" is the most
complete and convincing of all his speeches on the right of the
Government to regulate the currency.
[7]P. 346, l. 24. 1. Mr. Webster was living at this time at Marshfield,
Massachusetts.
Cf. Curtis's _Life of Webster_, Chs. XIX.-XXIII.; Lodge's _Webster_,
Ch. VII.; _Works of Daniel Webster_, Vols. III., IV.; _Private
Correspondence of Daniel Webster_, Vol. II., p. 83.
* * * * *
_MR. JUSTICE STORY_.
September, 1845.
Of the many friends of Webster during his long political career, there
was no one more constant in his attentions, more sympathetic in his
judgments, or more helpful in his counsels than was Mr. Justice Story.
Ever since they had acted together in the Massachusetts Convention in
1820 they had maintained for each other's character and attainments the
most generous and cordial enthusiasm. The death of Mr. Story on the
10th of September, 1845, was a great affliction to Mr. Webster, and
cast a gloom over his Marshfield home, where they had passed so many
delightful hours together.
At a meeting of the Suffolk Bar held in the Circuit Court Room, on the
morning of the 12th of September, the day of the funeral, Chief Justice
Shaw having taken the chair and announced the object of the meeting,
Mr. Webster pronounced the following noble and beautiful eulogium.
The following letter of dedication to the mother of Judge Story
accompanied these remarks in the original edition:--
"BOSTON, September 15, 1845.
"Venerable Madam,--I pray you to allow me to present to you the brief
remarks which I made before the Suffolk Bar, on the 12 instant, at a
meeting occasioned by the sudden and afflicting death of your
distinguished son. I trust, dear Madam, that as you enjoyed through his
whole life constant proofs of his profound respect and ardent filial
affection, so you may yet live long to enjoy the remembrance of his
virtue and his exalted reputation.
"I am with very great regard, your obedient servant,
"DANIEL WEBSTER.
"To Madam Story."
[1]P. 358, l. 28. 1. Cf. _Life and Works of Judge Story_.
[2]P. 362, l. 10. 1. The following inscription, which Mr. Webster wrote
with his own hand a short time before his death, and which he desired
to have placed on his monument, is interesting in connection with these
closing words of the eulogy:--
"LORD, I BELIEVE; HELP THOU
MINE UNBELIEF."
Philosophical
argument, especially
that drawn from the vastness of
the Universe, in comparison with the
apparent insignificance of this globe, has some-
times shaken my reason for the faith which is in me;
but my heart has always assured and reassured me, that the
Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a Divine Reality. The
Sermon on the Mount cannot be a merely human
production. This belief enters into the
very depth of my conscience.
The whole history of man
proves it.