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Show When Death Came f n iprvUaniel i n ' -- -j Daniel f CvJ -u-- t Webster 4 ' i J ?M "Webster Replying to Ha-yne yfhy X) ' , A. it ; and it will fall at last, If fall it must, amidst B ttlA ' "s X' " the proudest monuments of its own glory and on s Ny ''"'r V the very sPot of its origin" Xt"'- Uv-'''-C?'?' VX'X Then followed this peroration: ""-Cj V 4'' A "When my ees shall have turned to behold for -V?f- 'VA h.m shining on the broken and dishonored frag- -Tr --y - - , 5 4 ments of a once-glorious Union ; on states dis- lJV'" "'"""rS'fl' seered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent ite ' J-" t', with ciil feuds, or dienched, it may be, in fra- STl A " " kX' ternal blood. Let their last feeble and lingering 't " fSSS 0 &&&&& glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Sr? , - f.?,'sfe Republic, now known and honored through the I Vi Zs " p Z ,CV''I earth, still full high adanced, its arms and 1 JLCH J . ! ' . Ifl trophies streaming in their original luster, not i - "Ojf a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star ob- J ' T''J -v - t V scured, bearing for its motto no such miserable SltAo, ; Zyf' 1 t- "' interrogatory as 'What is all this worth?' nor 4" Ai T i those other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty l1 ' f ! V ??" 3? " ;i. I first and Union afterwards,' but eerywhere, ',t,C " If' 4 "Zt j I ''n"'' spread all oer in characters of liing light, t, -4 &,'!??T '""' blazing on all its ample folds as they float over V ' '' f,, it'y t?" i V, the sea and oer the land, and in every wind J U tZJH if 'Jy '"S" under the whole heaens, tint other sentiment, v'' " ," c- C0ar to eery true American heart Liberty and I I J ' " JJ Union, now and foreer, one and Inseparable." v:-, S,, t.'V' V Webster was born on a New Hampshire farm , , ' ' 4V'",T i?'-'. 1' 't' ' 1 January IS, 17S2 so this jear is the one hun- " " ' ' .-L '. ,, 'kSu 4J dred and fifth anniersary of his birth as well , v u s as the seentieth annnersary of his famous t fes's"i " "( speech Ills parents were poor, but they w-ere Z&0MrtMtN' - -s , - - - - -x' determined their son should hae an education. lillJltiti'r "S,v' Z.-v TJ Accordinglv, Webster was entered first at Exe- BB IB I """ ' tpr nn( (loni n 1797 at Dartmouth college. f lllll r----A ''-- - r :. -y-. V: -.-i , After winning his decree he served briefly as I HIS I 'C' f vjsW- schoolm.ister at Irjebuig, Maine Cut in 1S04 VS ' lllll k. "','v' vv'.''A',ei' to"" 1P took the dccisie step and went to Boston, 3lSl VSs.X', '7 ' ' ' ' - - " s whore he entered the law olhce of Christopher bSN y80 AtV. 1'' ' , i -r-" vr 2"'Z"""'I Ooie an excellent lawjer wlio siw in Webster Vti-T:: harbis sew, no qualifications far bevond those of an ordinary Steit-ue, of Dan.iel "Webster law ck"'k- ,. f ,. t. , , ., . it ; and it will fall at last, If fall it must, amidst the proudest monuments of Its own glory and on the very spot of its origin." Then followed this peroration : "When my eyes shall have turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments frag-ments of a once-glorious Union ; on states dissevered, dis-severed, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal fra-ternal blood. Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored through the earth, still full-high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, ob-scured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 'YShat is all this worth?' nor those other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and Union afterwards,' but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds as they float over the sea and over the land, nnd in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and Inseparable." Webster was born on a New Hampshire farm January 18, 17S2 so this year is the one hundred hun-dred and fifth anniversary of his birth as well as the seventieth anniversary of his famous speech. Ills parents were poor, but they were determined their son should have an education. Accordinglv, Webster was entered first nt Exeter Exe-ter anil then, In 1797, at Dartmouth college. After winning his decree he served briefly as schoolmaster nt I ryehurg, Maine. But in 1S04 he took the decisive step nnd went to Boston, where he entered the law olhce of Christopher Gore nn excellent lawyer who saw in Webster qualifications far bevond those of nn ordinary law clerk. Diligent in his studies, the dark, noble-browed, handsome young Webster was not long in being ndiiiitted to the Boston bar and shortly after his father died he assumed the elder Webster's debts, removed to Boscawnn, N. II., and then transferred trans-ferred his lnw business to his brother, Ezckiel. lie himself went to Portsmouth, where he came in contact, among others, with Jeremiah Mason, one of the outstanding lawyers of the time. On opposing sides, Mason and Webster were to make legal history. People came miles to henr them argue their cases. Webster attained his first fame shortly thereafter there-after when he expressed most clearly the views of a large section of the people against the War of 1812. It was Webster, ns a delegate to a convention held In August of 1812 by the citizens of Rockingham county to oppose the war against England, who wrote the famous Rockingham Memorial. Massachusetts rewarded him for this service by sending him to congress in 1S13 nnd there, although ho was only thirty-one years of nge, his legal reputation was so great that Henry Clay, who was speaker of the house, made him a member of the committee on foreign relations. He was re-elected but at the conclusion of his second term In 1S17 he left congress to return to his law practice. In 1S22 he was returned to congress, where he became n supporter of that, "tariff of nbomln-ntions" nbomln-ntions" which so outraged Calhoun, nnd In 1827 he was prevailed upon to nccept the United States senatorshlp from Massachusetts. From that time on his fame Increased constantly, con-stantly, becoming international In Its scope. But although amhllion turned his eyes toward the While House, he wns never to realize the attainment at-tainment of that goal. When the Whig party was organized, Wehsler hern me one of lis leaders; lead-ers; hut, just as that parly failed to offer the Presidency to Its other great leader, Henry Clay, so It failed to offer It to Webster. Ho could have had the Vice Presidency, but refused It ; he was, however, secretary of slate under both Harrison anil Tyler. 10 by Wi'MtiM-n NrwMpupor llnluu.) t By ELMO SCOTT WATSON "-y T WAS just 70 years ago that there passed from the American scene a great American statesman and one of the most famous orators in all history. For It was on a Sunday morning, October 24, 1S52, that death came for Daniel Webster the "godlike Webster" one of his contemporaries once called him. With his wife and his last remaln-i remaln-i ing son beside his bed and knowing that the end was neur, he half-rose. From the Hps whose eloquence had played upon the emotions of millions came the final words: "I still live!" And thus he passed prophetic Judgment upon his own career. For this man who had aspired to the Presidency Presi-dency and had twice failed Is remembered and will be remembered when lesser men who gained that goal are long since forgotten. He Is remembered remem-bered as the greatest defender of the Constitution Constitu-tion of the United States for, In the words of a recent biographer. Gamaliel Bradford, "So long as these states hold together in a unified government, gov-ernment, so long as the Stars and Stripes float over a great American Republic, so long should the citizens of that Republic, of whatsoever origin or creed, remember that few men did more to establish or maintain their country than Daniel Webster." But even If he were not remembered for what he did, he would still he remembered for what he was-r-"the Demosthenes of America," even though more than a century has passed since Webster stood In the United States senate nnd participated In the debate which grew out of n resolution Introduced by Senator Foote of Connecticut Con-necticut which had to do with the sale of public lands In the West. Companil ively unimportant in Itself, tin; subject of the resolution was made the excuse for a sectional controversy between Webster and Senator Ila.yno of South Carolina In which the doctrine of nulli Ilea I ion of federal power by the states had become the dominant issue. After an oratorical exchange between the two men which lasted throughout several days Daniel Dan-iel Webster finally arose for his now-famous reply to Hayne. There was a three-fold purpose pur-pose in his speech: to answer Hayne's personal per-sonal taunts, to vindicate Massachusetts in her participation in the Hartford convention during the War of 1812 where the doctrine of nullification nullifi-cation had made Its first appearance In our history; and to show that the Constitution was not a mere compact between sovereign states nnd to expose the fallacy of attempting to turn the natural right of revolution ngainst the government gov-ernment Into a right reserved under the Constitution Consti-tution to overturn the government itself. Then it was that "the godlike Webster" uttered ut-tered the words which have come ringing down the years as a masterpiece of oratory, from which these two passages are forever famous: "Mr. President, 1 shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she stands. Behold her nnd judge for yourself. There is her history; the world knows It by heart. The past, at least, is secure. There is Boston, and Concord, and Lexington, nnd Bunker Hill; and there they will remain forever. The bones of her sons, falling In the great struggle for Independence, now lie mingled with the soil of every state, from New England to Georgia ; nnd there they will lie forever. And, sir, where American liberty raised Its first voice, nnd where its youth was nurtured, nnd sustained, there It still lives In the strength of Its manhood and full of Its original spirit. If discord nnd disunion shall wound it, If party strife and blind ambition ambi-tion shall hawk nt anil tear It, If folly and madness, mad-ness, If uneasiness under necessary nnd salutary restraint shall succeed In separating It from that Union by which alone Its existence Is made sure, It will slnnd, In the end, by the side of that cradle In which lis Infancy was rocked; It will slrclch forth lis arm with whatever vigor It may still retain, over the friends who gather round |