(1782-1852)
[Illustration: Daniel Webster. [TN]]
Daniel Webster, the American statesman, was born in the town of
Salisbury, in the county of Merrimack, New Hampshire, America, on
January 18, 1782. His mother, a woman of deep piety, was his first
teacher; his father was a man of singular but quiet energy, and the
training of the youthful statesman was well fitted to prepare him, at
least in some respects, for the work which it fell to his lot to
perform. From his mother's lips were first received the vital truths of
the Bible; and the first copy of that book ever owned by Webster was her
gift. Long subsequent to this period, and in the full blaze of his
fame, he could say that he had never been able to recollect the time
when he could not read the Bible, and supposed that his first
schoolmistress began to teach him when he was three or four years of
age. His first school-house was built of logs, and stood about half a
mile from his father's house, not very far from the beautiful Merrimack.
All was then humble enough with this great American statesman. He
attended school only during the winter months, and assisted his father
in the business of his farm and his mill as soon as he had strength for
doing so. He was, however, the brightest boy at school; and when the
tempting reward of a knife was promised to the scholar who committed to
memory the greatest number of verses from the Bible, Daniel came with
whole chapters, which the master could not find time to hear him repeat
in full. The boy secured the knife, and his delighted teacher
subsequently told the father of that child that "he would do God's work
injustice" if gifts so promising were not nurtured at college.
But that consummation was not to be very soon realized. For some time
Daniel had to assist his father at a saw-mill; but so resolute was he in
acquiring knowledge and training the mind while toiling with the body,
that the operations at the mill were systematically interspersed with
studies well fitted to form and to brace the embryo patriot for his
great life-work. The saw took about ten minutes to cleave a log, and
young Webster, after setting the mill in motion, learned to fill up
these ten minutes with reading. As a patriot, a statesman, an orator,
and a scholar, he became famous, and was called the greatest
intellectual character of his country; and we see where he laid the
foundation of his greatness--by persistent and invincible ardor even in
early boyhood. That magnanimous kindliness and tenderness of heart,
which entered so largely into his character, was fostered amid such
scenes; and of all the men whose memories we are fain to embalm, he
ranks among the least indebted to casualty, and the most to
indefatigable earnestness, for the position to which he eventually rose.
Amid the forest wilds of America his perseverance laid the foundation of
power, of learning, of fame, and of goodness.
A simple incident which happened about this period decided his
life-pursuit. He discovered a copy of the "Constitution of the United
States," as drawn up by some of her ablest statesmen. It was printed
upon a cotton handkerchief which he purchased in a country store with
what was then his all, and which amounted to twenty-five cents. He was
about eight years of age when that took place, and learned then, for
the first time, either that there were United States, or that they had a
Constitution.
From this date, or about the year 1790, his path through life was
decided, not formally, but really, not by any avowal, but by a fostered
predilection. Meanwhile other influences were at work. The father of
this New Hampshire boy was strict in his religious opinions and
observances, and the son had to conform, sometimes with a grudge at the
restraint, but with effects of a vitally beneficial nature to the future
patriot. His father then kept a place of entertainment, where teamsters
halted to bait, and the attractions of the place were increased by the
fact that young Webster often regaled those visitors by his readings.
The Psalms of David were his favorite, and there, when only about seven
years of age, he first imparted that pleasure by his oratory which he
afterward carried up to the highest level which an American citizen can
reach. To that humble abode Webster once returned in his declining
years, and with streaming eyes descanted on the various events of the
home of his youth.
The school which he attended during the winter months was about three
miles from his father's house, and he had often to travel thither
through deep snow. At the age of fourteen he attended a somewhat more
advanced academy for a few months, and his first effort at public
speaking there was a failure. He burst into tears; his antipathy to
public declamation appeared insurmountable, and neither frowns nor
smiles could overcome the reluctance. It was overcome, for when young
Webster felt the power which was in him, he boldly employed it. At
first, however, he was a failure as a public speaker. With all this, he
went forward in the acquisition of knowledge and the bracing of his
mind; and in his fifteenth year he once undertook to repeat five hundred
lines of Virgil, if his teacher would consent to listen.
About this time the elder Webster disclosed to his son his purpose to
send him to college. The talents of the boy and the counsels of friends
pointed out that as a proper path, and that son himself will describe
the effects of his father's information. "I could not speak," he says.
"How could my father, I thought, with so large a family, and in such
narrow circumstances, think of incurring so great an expense for me, and
I laid my head on his shoulder and wept." That boy, however, had further
difficulties to surmount. He had to leave one of his schools to assist
his father in the hay harvest; he had, moreover, the hindrance of a
slender and sickly constitution; but the Bible, side by side with some
standard authors, had now become his English classics, while Cicero,
Virgil, Horace, Demosthenes, and others, were his manuals in ancient
literature. It was knowledge pursued under unusual difficulties, but, in
spite of all, acquired to an unusual extent. So indomitable and
persistent was the boy that in a few months he mastered the difficulties
of the Greek tongue, and finally graduated at Dartmouth when he was
eighteen years of age. Incidents are recorded which show that during his
residence at college he was determined to hold the first place or none.
It was at Dartmouth that Webster's patriotism first flashed forth with
true American ardor, a harbinger to his whole future career. He had now
mastered his boyish aversion to oratory, and on July 4, 1800, the
twenty-fourth anniversary of American Independence, he delivered an
oration full of patriotic sentiment, manifesting the decided bent of his
mind, and deserving a place, in the opinion of some, among the works
which he subsequently published. He was then only eighteen years of age.
To increase the straitened funds of the family, Daniel Webster for some
time kept a school at Freyburg, in Maine. His income there, eked out by
other means, which were the wages of indomitable industry, enabled him
to send his brother, Ezekiel, to college--the grand object which he had
in view in becoming a schoolmaster. He was, however, all the while
prosecuting his studies in law, and in the year 1805 entered on the
duties of a legal practitioner at Boston. His familiar title in the
country where he resided was "All eyes," and he used them with singular
advantage. In Boston, at Portsmouth, and elsewhere, he continued these
pursuits, and he thus early adopted some of the maxims which guided him
through life. "There are evils greater than poverty;" "What bread you
eat, let it be the bread of independence;" "Live on no man's favor;"
"Pursue your profession;" "Make yourself useful to the world.... You
will have nothing to fear." Such were his convictions, and he embodied
them in deeds. One instance of his generosity is recorded at this
period. His father had become embarrassed; the devoted son hastened to
liquidate his father's debt, and he did it with a decision like that
which signalized him all his days. He resided as a lawyer at Portsmouth
for about nine years.
It was in the year 1812 that Webster was first elected a member of
Congress, and he reached that elevation by his masterly ability in the
affairs of his profession. By persistent patience first, and then by
resistless power, he took up the foremost position in the sphere in
which he moved. He appeared in the majesty of intellectual grandeur,
like one who was all might and soul, and poured forth the stores of an
opulent mind in a manner which was entirely his own. His words had both
weight and fire; and the contrast is now great between the boy who broke
down and wept at his first declamation, and the man, bending opponents
to his will by his energy and indomitable zeal. The laurel of victory,
it has been fondly said, was proffered to him by all, and bound his brow
for one exploit till he went forth to another. In his thirtieth year he
entered the field of politics, like one who had made up his mind to be
decided, firm, and straightforward; and such was the serenity of this
great soul, amid wild commotions, that the enthusiast mistook it for
apathy, the fierce for lukewarmness. It was the great calm of profound
conviction, borne up by a thorough reliance on the right--the right as
to time, as to degree, and as to resources for the battle of life. From
the day on which he threw himself into the political arena, he belonged
to the United States, and not to his native county alone. Crowds soon
gathered round one who had mastered so many difficulties, and taken his
place among the kingly men who rule the spirits whom they are born first
to subdue, and then to bind to themselves by the spell of genius.
It is well known that this man, so humble in his origin, yet so masterly
in his mind, passed through all the gradations of rank that are open to
an American citizen, up to the right hand of the highest. We have seen
when he entered Congress. In 1841 he became Secretary of State, and from
that period bore the place in American politics which would be readily
conceded, in this ardent country, to one who was deemed and called "the
master mind of the world." In his love of freedom, Webster has been
likened to Washington, or expressly called his equal in regard to
patriotism and true greatness. It is not wonderful, therefore, that this
patriot's friends proposed him as President of the United States. He
failed, and felt the failure, but soothed his disappointment by the
conviction that no man "could take away from him what he had done for
his country." Those who loved and admired him thought that the word
president would have dimmed the lustre of the name of Daniel Webster;
and they add, in regard to his disappointment, "if we must sorrow that
what men expected can never come to pass, let us not weep for him but
for our country." Others, however, were of opinion that Webster was
"rejected and lost"; while those who look deeper at the causes of events
may see, in that disappointment, the needful antidote administered by
the Supreme Wisdom to ward off the danger of too universal a success.
This gifted and ambitious man was suffered to take an active part in the
government of one of the greatest of the nations. By his bold and manly
grasp of American interests, he did much to weld the different States
more closely into one. He negotiated, on the part of his country, some
of the most important treaties which promote the peace and the amity of
nations, for example, what is called the Ashburton treaty with Great
Britain; and it would have seemed too much for one mortal, successful as
Webster had already been, to be lifted to an official level with
princes. That was denied him; his empire was not countries--it was
minds. He was to be trained for a nobler exaltation than a throne.
Little has yet been said regarding Webster as an orator. It was mainly
in that respect, however, that he surpassed his fellows, and mainly by
that means was he enabled to ascend to the high position which he held
so long. The versatility of his powers was very great, and the mode in
which he sometimes employed them was not a little remarkable. He had, on
one occasion, spent several hours with his colleagues in adjusting some
important questions involving the interests of kingdoms; and on
returning home he sportively sallied forth and purchased some eggs, on
the principle of seeing how extremes meet, in regard to occupation as
well as in other respects. But there were serious things mixed with his
jests; and as an orator, Webster stands in the first rank, if not
foremost, in the New World. When it was known that he was to speak, the
excitement sometimes amounted to a furor, and a hundred dollars have
been paid for a ticket of admission to hear him. Meanwhile the avenues
that led to his arena were blocked up by the crowds pressing for
admittance; and when he did appear, it was to rouse, to agitate, and
convulse. He felt what he said in his inmost soul, and his words were
winged with fire, even while they were massively powerful, and connected
with a logic which tolerated no breaks in the chain.
Webster reached the allotted term of mortal existence, and in his
seventy-first year passed away alike from the frowns and the applause
of mortals. On the morning of Sabbath, October 24, 1852, he was summoned
away. Though much enfeebled, his mind was calm, and he died with the
confidence of a little child, reposing on the mercy of his God as
revealed in the Saviour. Among his last utterances was this, "Heavenly
Father, forgive my sins, and welcome me to thyself through Christ
Jesus." His very last words were, "I still live," and his loving,
weeping friends took them up as a prediction of that immortality on
which he was about to enter. Through life he had hallowed the Sabbath,
and he died upon it. The autumn was his favorite season, and he passed
away amid its mellow glories, after affectionately and solemnly taking
leave of his weeping wife, children, kindred, and friends, down to the
humblest members of his household. His death, it is supposed, was
hastened by injuries received by the breaking down of his carriage; but
it did not find him unprepared. Long years before he had erected his own
tomb; and there, on a plain marble slab over the door, the visitor reads
the simple inscription--DANIEL WEBSTER.
Some ten thousand friends, countrymen, and lovers, helped to lay him
there, and one of the orations pronounced in connection with his
departure was thus touchingly closed: "The clasped hands--the dying
prayers--oh, my fellow-citizens, this is a consummation over which tears
of pious sympathy will be shed, after the glories of the forum and the
senate are forgotten."
The following letter to a friend on the choice of a profession, written
by Webster when only twenty years of age, is reprinted from "The Life of
Daniel Webster" by George Ticknor Curtis, through the courtesy of D.
Appleton & Co., the publishers, and with the permission of the widow and
heirs of the author.
"What shall I do? Shall I say, 'Yes, gentlemen,' and sit down here to
spend my days in a kind of a comfortable privacy, or shall I relinquish
these prospects, and enter into a profession, where my feelings will be
constantly harrowed by objects either of dishonesty or misfortune, where
my living must be squeezed from penury (for rich folks seldom go to
law), and my moral principle continually be at hazard? I agree with you
that the law is well calculated to draw forth the powers of the mind,
but what are its effects on the heart? Are they equally propitious? Does
it inspire benevolence, and awake tenderness; or does it, by a frequent
repetition of wretched objects, blunt sensibility, and stifle the still
small voice of mercy?
"The talent with which Heaven has intrusted me is small, very small, yet
I feel responsible for the use of it, and am not willing to pervert it
to purposes reproachful and unjust; nor to hide it, like the slothful
servant, in a napkin.
"Now, I will enumerate the inducements that draw me toward the law:
First, and principally, it is my father's wish. He does not dictate, it
is true, but how much short of dictation is the mere wish of a parent,
whose labors of life are wasted on favors to his children? Even the
delicacy with which the wish is expressed gives it more effect than it
would have in the form of a command. Secondly, my friends generally wish
it. They are urgent and pressing. My father even offers me--I will
sometime tell you what--and Mr. Thompson offers my tuition gratis, and
to relinquish his stand to me.
"On the whole, I imagine I shall make one more trial in the ensuing
autumn. If I prosecute the profession, I pray God to fortify me against
its temptations. To the winds I dismiss those light hopes of eminence
which ambition inspired, and vanity fostered. To be 'honest, to be
capable, to be faithful' to my client and my conscience, I earnestly
hope will be my first endeavor. I believe you, my worthy boy, when you
tell me what are your intentions. I have long known and long loved the
honesty of your heart. But let us not rely too much on ourselves; let us
look to some less fallible guide to direct us among the temptations that
surround us."