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Show When Death Game : - for D aniel !w:.'r..s.9' :. 7-.';-is.;.t". ":." .... t t "fe , f i '-5 7--, - I .v:f:M Daniel fkV SnJL .viiv - , i l . Webster . ji 1 1 rrF If i "Webster Repl-ying to Haijne S TROM WE PAINTING BY HEOLY Prftl?f ' - it, and it will tall at last, If fall it must, amidst S " s X tIle Proudest monuments of its own glory and on JWiJ V '"A the very spot of its origin " , snL ' Then folloned this peroration- SS?-25 TtiV '" the last time the sun in heaven may I not ses iWti' v;' him shmme on tlle broken and dishonored frag- ' ' iL, 'C "V Cll ments of a once-slonous Union, on states dls- 'JkV "t 'fwt'f severed, discordant, belligerent, on a land rent V 12&$Z?' wlth civil feuds or drenched It may be, in fra- - " -s &J-yS4k ternal blood Let their last feeble and lingering " - "ywg, 0 's - glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the SfPt s x " Si'P-q Republic, now known and honored through the ,hv -PS ' f3f-lraAJit earth' stl11 fullh'Sh advanced its arms and J"f"! v n 3) SVv-ji.'t -T trophies streaming in their original luster, not , ssM , 2 t IFSS? a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star ob- 5 "t HVS scured, hearing for its motto no such miserable V-iUv 'KsiV --' S? interrogatory as 'What is all tins worth?' nor A hVJh t those other words of deluslon and folly' 'Liberty LWXTr4 I S Ki? first and Umon afterwards,' but everywhere, TVj Jil-Ws.- 4. W-M3pTf spread all over In characters of living light, LV VCN XV1 -WV7i xC b,azlnS on all its ample folds as they float over y ! WJtp3) -Hffi iNL- tl-f "I the sea and over the land and in every wind i -V k-f ' " L. CV J under the whole heavens that other sentiment, J ?sr $ JLlm LHC $1 dear t0 eery tr"e American heart Liberty and &! J!' ''-j.'Afc l&$t jsi aj?iv- T Union now and forever, one and inseparable." v4t K ! ''-S "fe1 sTr -J Webster was born on a ew Hampshire farm f C-"'" jvivi , W.sv I Jmuary 13 1TS2 so this jear is the one hun- -, Vf'S bnKlL .lSTJl t J dred and fifth anniversary of his birth as well ft,',v. j - - kl, as the seventleth anniversary of his famous F '-'Si' 5 speech His parents were poor, but they were LjuSy" " s ,'" " " "". , 1? determined their son should have an education. iiMbA '!"vV-W'Sa!' -2S? i-'w'iisilAi Accordinglv Webster was entered first at Exe- T!T I SI ' , ter and then, In 1707, at Dartmouth college. ' SS1S..!, - After winning his decree he served briefly as 1 11 1 8 IS!?'- ' -"r, "1: schoolmaster at Frjeburg Mime But in 1S04 ' lllll W5S?;:s - " he took the decisive step and went to Boston, n8S88 "vf - -s 4 ' where he entered the law oflice of Christopher IN VJjJSvl yVCV' ' x ;i ittrTfti"'! Gore an excellent 'a'1"61' saw In Webster 'L vrJAifit wK'Ttw ss:;-sii:?s:;r' ' "'""""iin mi""'"! i ii'i'V " " qualifications far beyond those of an ordinary StELtue Of Daniel Webster '"nmS In his studies, the dark, noble-browed, 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 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, 1S32, that death came for Daniel Webster the "godlike Webster" one of his contemporaries once called him. With his wife and his last remaining remain-ing son beside his bed and knowing that the end was near, he half-rose. From the lips 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 i,e remembered for what he was-"the Demosthenes of America." even though more than a century has passed since Webster stood in the Unite.l Slates senate and participated in the debate which grew out of a resolution Unreduced bv Senator Foote of Con-nee Con-nee .cut vv ch had to do with the sale of public amis n the West. Comparatively unimportant In Itself, the subject of the resolution was made the excuse for a sectional controvert- between Webster and Senator Hayne of South Carolina in which the doctrine of nullification 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 1S12 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 and to expose the fallacy of attempting to turn the natural right of revolution against 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, I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs none. There she stands. Behold her and 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, and Bunker Hill - and there they will remain forever. The hone's of her sons, falling in the great struggle for independence, now lie minted with the soil of every state, from New England to Oeor.-.a; and there thev will lie forever. And. sir. where American liberty raised its first voice, and where Its vonth was nurtured, and sustained, there it st'ill lives in the strength of Its manhood and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it. if party strife ami blind ambition ambi-tion shall hawk at and tear it. if folly and madness. mad-ness. If uneasiness under necessary and salutary restraint shall succeed in separating it from that Union by which alone its existence is made sure. It will stand, in the end. by the side of that cradle in which its infancy was rocked: it will stretch forth its arm with whatever viL-or it may still retain, over the friends who gather rounJ 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 ses 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, hearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as 'What 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, and 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 ew 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. His parents were poor, but they were determined their son should have an education. Accordinglv. W ebster was entered first at Exeter Exe-ter and then, In 1707, at Dartmouth college. After winning his degree he served briefly as schoolmaster at Fryeburg. Maine. But In 1S04 he took the decisive step and went to Boston, where he entered the law oflice of Christopher Gore an excellent lawyer who saw In Webster qualifications far beyond those of an ordinary law clerk. Diligent In his studies, the dark, noble-browed, handsome young Webster was not long in being admitted to the Boston bar and shortly after his father died he assumed the elder Webster's debts, removed to Boscawan, N. H., and then transferred trans-ferred his law business to his brother, Ezeklel. He 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 hear 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, as a delegate to a convention held in August of 1SI2 by the citizens of Rockingham county to oppose the war against England, who wrote the famous Rockinghaji Memorial. Massachusetts rewarded him for this service by sending him to congress In 1813 and there, although he was only thirty-one years of age, bis lo'-ral 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 hut at the conclusion of his second term in IS 7 he left congress to return to his law practice. In 122 he was returned to congress, where he became a supporter of that "tariff of abominations" abomin-ations" which so outraged Calhoun, and In 1827 he was prevailed upon to accept the United States senntorship from Massachusetts. From that time on his fame Increased con slantly. becoming international in its scope. Hut although ambition turned his eyes toward the White House, he was never to realize the attainment at-tainment of that goal. When the Whig party was or'.n nized, Webster became one of Its leaders; lead-ers; but, just as that party failed to offer the Pres;donv to its other treat leader, Henry Clay, so it failed to offer It to Webster. He coul' have had the Vice Presidency, but refused it; he was, however, secretary of state under both Harrison and Tyler. by Western Newspaper Union.) |