"_Washington, February 13, 1844._
"SIR,--Enclosed is a copy of certain proceedings of a meeting held in
reference to your argument in the Supreme Court of the case arising out
of the late Mr. Girard's will. In communicating to you the request
contained in the second resolution, we take leave to express our earnest
hope that you may find it convenient to comply with that request.
"We are, Sir, with high consideration, yours, very respectfully,
"P.R. FENDALL, }
HORACE STRINGFELLOW,}
JOSHUA N. DANFORTH, }
R.R. GURLEY, }
WILLIAM RUGGLES, } _Committee._
JOEL S. BACON, }
THOMAS SEWALL, }
WILLIAM B. EDWARDS, }
"HON. DANIEL WEBSTER."
"At a meeting of a number of citizens, belonging to different religious
denominations, of Washington and its vicinity, convened to consider the
expediency of procuring the publication of so much of Mr. Webster's
argument before the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of
François F. Vidal et al., Appellants, v. The Mayor, Aldermen, and
Citizens of Philadelphia, and Stephen Girard's Executors, as relates to
that part of Mr. Girard's will which excludes ministers of religion from
any station or duty in the college directed by the testator to be
founded, and denies to them the right of visiting said college; the
object of the meeting having been stated by Professor Sewall in a few
appropriate remarks, the Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth was elected chairman,
and the Rev. Isaac S. Tinsley secretary.
"Whereupon it was, on motion, unanimously resolved,
"1st. That, in the opinion of this meeting, the powerful and eloquent
argument of Mr. Webster, on the before-mentioned clause of Mr. Girard's
will, demonstrates the vital importance of Christianity to the success
of our free institutions, and its necessity as the basis of all useful
moral education; and that the general diffusion of that argument among
the people of the United States is a matter of deep public interest.
"2d. That a committee of eight persons, of the several Christian
denominations represented in this meeting, be appointed to wait on Mr.
Webster, and, in the name and on behalf of this meeting, to request him
to prepare for the press the portion referred to of his argument in the
Girard case; and, should he consent to do so, to cause it to be speedily
published and extensively disseminated.
"The following gentlemen were appointed the committee under the second
resolution: Philip R. Fendall, Esq., Rev. Horace Stringfellow, Rev.
Joshua N. Danforth, Rev. R. Randolph Gurley, Professor William Ruggles,
Rev. President J.S. Bacon, Doctor Thomas Sewall, Rev. William B.
Edwards.
"The meeting then adjourned.
"H.L. ELLSWORTH, _Chairman_
"ISAAC S. TINSLEY, _Secretary_."
"_Washington, February 13, 1844._
"GENTLEMEN,--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
communication. Gentlemen connected with the public press have, I
believe, reported my speech in the case arising under Mr. Girard's will.
I will look over the report of that part of it to which you refer, so
far as to see that it is free from material errors, but I have not
leisure so to revise it as to give it the form of a careful or regular
composition.
"I am, Gentlemen, with very true regard, your obedient servant,
"DANIEL WEBSTER.
"To Messrs. P.R. FENDALL,
HORACE STRINGFELLOW,
JOSHUA N. DANFORTH,
R.R. GURLEY,
WILLIAM RUGGLES,
JOEL S. BACON,
THOMAS SEWALL,
WILLIAM B. EDWARDS."]
The following mottoes were prefixed to this speech, in the original
pamphlet edition.
"_Socrates._ If, then, you wish public measures to be right and
noble, _virtue_ must be given by you to the citizens.
"_Alcibiades._ How could any one deny that?
"_Socrates._ _Virtue_, therefore, is that which is to be first
possessed, both by you and by every other person who would have
direction and care, not only for himself and things dear to
himself, but for the state and things dear to the state.
"_Alcibiades._ You speak truly.
"_Socrates._ To act justly and wisely (both you and the state), YOU
MUST ACT ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD.
"_Alcibiades._ It is so."--_Plato._
"Sic igitur hoc a principio persuasum civibus, dominos esse omnium
rerum ac moderatores, deos."--_Cicero de Legibus._
"We shall never be such fools as to call in an enemy to the
substance of any system, to supply its defects, or to perfect its
construction."
"If our religious tenets should ever want a further elucidation, we
shall not call on atheism to explain them. We shall not light up
our temple from that unhallowed fire."
"We know, and it is our pride to know, that man is, by his
constitution, a religious animal."--_Burke._