John Randolph, of Roanoke, and other sketches
of character, including William Wirt together with tales of real life |
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DEATH OF MR. WEBSTER.
AN ORIGINAL LETTER FROM HIM. |
 | John Randolph, of Roanoke, and other sketches
of character, including William Wirt |  |
DEATH OF MR. WEBSTER.
AN ORIGINAL LETTER FROM HIM.
The last of the triumvirate (composed of Calhoun,
Clay, and Webster), the great expounder of
the constitution, is no more. Though his death
has just occurred, the telegraphic wires have transmitted
the sorrowful fact to every intelligent mind
in the Union.
How impressibly the lesson strikes us! Calhoun
—what a deep pulsation there was in the public
heart over his ashes! And then, again, how profound
and universal the sorrowing for Mr. Clay!
And now, the last of the immortal three has departed;
and while all parties lament his death, the
conviction of what the country has suffered lately
in the loss of her greatest citizens, crowds upon
every mind.
Lord Morpeth has said, that in one respect at
least the republican experiment has failed, and
reach our highest office—the Presidential chair.
Be this as it may, it does seem truly singular that
neither of them reached it; though they were all
for a long time eager aspirants for its honors.
This is a subject for moral as well as for political
reflection, and may well exercise the judgments
and the consciences of the thoughtful men of all
creeds, as well as of all parties.
In intellect Mr. Webster was superior to either
of his illustrious rivals. He had more expansion
of mind and information, perhaps, than Mr. Calhoun,
and much greater power of argumentation
than Mr. Clay; but he had not Mr. Calhoun's or
Mr. Clay's quick intuitive readiness, nor would
he as boldly rush into responsibility, but when he
did take his position, what he said of himself was
true, he “took no step backwards.” He could not
see at a glance results like Mr. Clay, nor would
he defend an abstraction like Mr. Calhoun on his
own resources and responsibility. He was emphatically
the “great expounder.” To expound
and explain a great political truth was his great
power. And in this respect, particularly in the
exposition of constitutional law, he was without a
rival. Wirt, Clay, Calhoun, Pinkney, of Maryland,
even Marshall was not his equal; for to the
powers of the greatest of these—Pinkney and
Marshall, the first celebrated for his intellectual
latter for his judgment—he added a transparent
clearness of style superior to either of them—an
earnest, and at the same time poetic diction, at
times reminding one of the Bible.
In a bad cause, he was not calculated to be successful.
Many a county court lawyer would have
won from him the ordinary run of cases. Truth
looked him so brightly and boldly in the face, that
she put him out of countenance when he turned
from her side. But by her side, in law or on a
constitutional question, all opposition paled before
him; as, for instance, when, on the question of Nullification,
he met Mr. Hayne in the United States
Senate, and not only buried that question on the
spot, but delivered, in our opinion, the greatest
speech, intellectually, recorded in the English language.
The profound statesmanship exhibited by Mr.
Webster in the Ashburton treaty, has elicited the
praise of the statesmen of the Old as well as of the
New World.
As we contemplate the mighty dead, now gone
to another judgment than that of their fellow-men,
we marvel that they should have troubled so much
themselves and others with aspirations which are
mere dust and ashes, and no more. We wonder that
they did not look more at the one thing needful.
But this wonder strikes us at so many death-beds!
the tolling bell, the muffled drum, and the funeral
display, proclaim a nation's honor.
It is a gratification to know that Mr. Webster's
last hours were cheered by the presence of his
family and friends; and that he died calmly, after
an earnest prayer to Him through whose intercession
only the proudest as well as the humblest can
be saved.
But we would introduce, we trust not ungracefully,
an original letter upon an interesting subject,
from Mr. Webster. The letter speaks for itself,
and was handed to us to publish if we wished. It
was written in answer to an invitation from Mr.
F. D. Anderson and others to attend a celebration
of the Temperance cause, in Harford County,
Maryland. The motto on the seal is—“Vera pro
gratis.” The letter is here first published.
Gentlemen: It is a matter of deep regret to me, that I
did not receive your kind letter of the 9th of August till a
very late day. I was in the mountains of New Hampshire,
taking a breath of my native air, and it was the last of
August before I returned. I know not whether, if I had
received your communication sooner, it would have been
in my power to attend the meeting to which I was invited,
but I should have been able to have given a more timely
answer.
There can be no question that the Temperance movement,
in the United States, has done infinite good. The
everywhere felt, and always with beneficial results. In
some cases, it is true, the Temperance measures have been
carried to excess, where they have invoked legislative
penalties, and sought to enforce the virtue of Temperance
by the power of the Law. To a certain extent, this, no
doubt, is justifiable and useful; but it is the moral principle
of Temperance, it is the conscientious duty which it
teaches, to abstain from intoxicating draughts, such as are
hurtful both to mind and body, which are the great agents
for the reformation of manners in this respect.
Your order is quite right in connecting benevolence and
charity with Temperance. They may well go hand-in-hand.
He whose faculties are never debauched or stupefied,
whose mind is always active and alert, and who practises
self-denial, is naturally drawn to consider the deserving
objects which are about him, that may be poor, or sick,
or diseased.
Love, Purity, and Fidelity, are considered Christian
virtues; and I hope that those “banners” which bear
these words for their motto may rise higher and higher,
and float more and more widely through this and all other
countries.
You have invited me, gentlemen, if I could attend the
meeting, to address the members of your order on the
great subject of Union. I should have done so with pleasure,
although I do not propose to continue the practice
of addressing great multitudes of men; yet I could not have
refused to have expressed my opinions on the great topics
of the day, in the State of Maryland. Out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh.
I pray you to be assured, gentlemen, that I value highly
the opinion you have expressed for my public character
and conduct; and I indulge the hope that I may ere long
meet some of you in the city where my public duties are
I, and your children and my children will remain fellow-citizens
of one great united Republic, so long as society
shall exist among us. While I live, every effort in my
power, whether made in public or in private life, will be
devoted to the promotion of that great end.
I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obliged friend
and fellow-citizen,
| John Randolph, of Roanoke, and other sketches
of character, including William Wirt | |