(C) Mannig 8 Ewin By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS just 70 years ago that thery 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, 1852, that death came for Daniel Webster— the “godlike Webster® one of his contemporaries once called him, With his wife and his last 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 prophetie Judgment upon his own career, For this man who had aspired to the 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 remem bered as the greatest defender of the 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 gov- ernment, so long as the Stars and Stripes float over a great American Republic, so long should the citizens of that Republie, of whatsoever origin or creed, remember that few men did more to establish or maintain their country than Daniel Webster.” jut even If he were not remembered for what he did, he would still be remembered for what he was—"the Demosthenes of America,” even though more than a century has passed since Webster stood In the United States senate and participated In the debate which grew out of a resolution Introduced by Senator Foote of Cone necticut which had to do with the sale of public lands In the West, Comparatively unimportant in itself, the subject of the resolution was made the, excuse for a sectional controversy between Webster and Senator Hayne of South Carolina in which the doctrine of nullifieation of federal power by the states had become the dominant issue. After an oratorical exchange between the two men which lasted throughout several days Dane fel Webster finally arose for his now-famous reply to Hayne. There was a threefold pur pose in his speech: to answer Haynes per sonal taunts, to vindicate Massachusetts in her participation in the Hartford convention during the War of 1512 where the doctrine of 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 gov ernment into a right reserved under the Constl- tution to overturn the government itself, Then it was that “the godlike Webster” ub 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 encominm 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 bones of her sons, falling In the great struggle for independence, now lle mingled with the soil of every state, from New England to Georgia; and there they will lle forever. And, sir, where American liberty ralsed its first voice, and where fts youth wns nurtured, and sustained, there ft still lives In the strength of its manhood and full of its original spirit. If discord and disunion shall wound it, if party strife and blind ambi- tion shall hawk at and tear it, If folly and 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 eradle in which Its Infancy was rocked; It will streteh forth its arm with whatever vigor it may still retain, over the friends who gather round THROM THE PRIsTIMNG BY MEMY it: ar the | the After wins 1 3 schoolmaster at burg, Maine. But In 1804 he took the dec! 1 Boston, where he entered fice of Christopher Gore, an excellent law) sho saw tn Webster qualifications far those of an ordinary law clerk. Diligent in his studies, the dark, ne handsome young Webster was not long In being admitted to the Boston bar and shortly father died he assumed the elder Webster's debts, removed to Boscawan, N, H. and then trans. ferred his law business to his brother, Ezekiel 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. them argue their cases Webster attained his first fame shortly there after when he expressed most clearly the views le-hrowed, of 1812 It was Webster, as a delegnte to 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 seniling him to congress in 1813 and there, although he was only thirty-one years of age, his legal reputation was so great that Henry a member of the committee on foreign relations, second term in 1817 he left congress to return to his law practice. In 1822 he was returned to congress, where he became a supporter of that “tariff of abomin. ations” which so outraged Calhoun, and in 1827 he was prevailed upon to accept the United tates senntorship from Massachusetts, From that time on his fame increased con. stantly, becoming international In its scope. But although ambition turned his eyes toward the White House, he was never to realize the at talnment of that goal. When the Whig party was organized, Webster became one of its lead. era: but, just ms that pariy falled to offer the Presidency to its other great leader, Henry Clay, go It falled to offer it to Webster. He eonld have had the Vice Presidency, but refused it; he was, however, secretary of state under both Harrison and Tyler, (© by Western Newipaper Union.) in Few Minutes Due to important, scientific de- 5 1 world-famous almost IN- headacl velopment: Proprietors: You $i UINE BA Price 25¢. Olympic Clockwork Joy the feverish ir ude of hope and fear, the pressure of want, the de sertion of friends, 1 would fain leave the erring soul of my fellow — Longfellow, His Good Qaality Judge—But, madam, how could burglar? Witness—Oh, your honor, he was go quiet in the house. When men look reminiscent while you are telling your story they are arranging the one they are going to tell when yours is ended, Power means responsibility, The Parade “Do you enjoy a parade?” “Immensely,”™ answered Senator pects to hear is the band, and no- body would be so silly as to try to heckle the music” Te Enjoy Idling It is Impossible to enjoy idling On the money of the United States A politician isn't trying to make the world as it ought to be; he Is sat- isfled to work In It as it Is cans 07, rE
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers