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was capable of instructing the most experienced financier in the elements and principles of his own profession. But his instructions were not entirely popular at home. There was a large class of his fellow-citizens, who, though all combined could not match him in knowledge of these subjects, deemed themselves above the advice of him who instructed all other men. The American who came nearest to him, in knowledge, in experience, in wisdom upon these topics, was Mr. Calhoun; and yet that gentleman, in general so candid and so able, was trammeled apon this subject by his political relations, and by an unfortu nate inconsistency which had occurred in his opinions between the earlier and later periods of his life. Mr. Calhoun, in fact, was the only gentleman in the senate capable of taking up the argument, with any prospect of tolerable success, against Mr. Webster. He did take it up; and, after replying, as well as he could, to the facts and the logic introduced by Mr. Webster, he sought to cast odium upon his antagonist by accusing him, or hinting that he might accuse him, if time permitted, of hav ing maintained no great amount of consistency as a statesman. Had he time to do so, he said, he might say something about Mr. Webster's first and subsequent course in relation to the late war. This insinuation, made toward the close of Mr. Calhoun's reply, brought Mr. Webster immediately to his feet. After answering the arguments of his opponent, he met this insinuation in a manner peculiar to himself, in a way forever to silence the tongue of slander on that subject, and after a fashion, one would think, to bring blushes of regret, if no other blushes, on Mr. Calhoun's cheek: "But, sir, before attempting that, he, [Mr. Calhoun] has something else to say. He had prepared, it seems, to draw comparisons himself. He had intended to say something if time had allowed, upon our respective opinions and conduct in regard to the war. If time had allowed! Sir, time does allow, time must allow. A general remark of that kind ought not to be, cannot be, left to proN*

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duce its effect, when that effect is obviously intended to be unfavorable. Why did the gentleman allude to my votes or my opinions respecting the war at all, unless he had something to say? Does he wish to leave an undefined impression that something was done, or something said, by me, not now capa ble of defense or justification? something not reconcilable with true patriotism? He means that, or nothing. And now, sir, let him bring the matter forth; let him take the responsibility of the accusation; let him state his facts. I am here to answer; I am here, this day, to answer. Now is the time, and now the hour. I think we read, sir, that one of the good spirits would not bring against the arch-enemy of mankind a railing accusation; and what is railing but general reproach, an imputation without fact, time, or circumstance? Sir, I call for particulars. The gentleman knows my whole conduct well; indeed, the journals show it all, from the moment I came into congress till the peace. If I have done, then, sir, anything unpatriotic, anything which, as far as love to country goes, will not bear comparison with his or any man's conduct, let it now be stated. Give me the fact, the time, the manner. He speaks of the war; that which we call the late war, though it is now twenty-five years since it terminated. He would leave an im pression that I opposed it. How? I was not in congress when war was declared, nor in public life anywhere. I was pursuing my profession, keeping company with judges and jurors, and plaintiffs and defendants. If I had been in congress, and had enjoyed the benefit of hearing the honorable gentleman's speeches, for aught I can say, I might have concurred with him. But I was not in public life. I never had been, for a single hour; and was in no situation, therefore, to oppose or to support the declaration of war. I am speaking to the fact, sir; and if the gentleman has any fact, let us know it.

“Well, sir, I came into congress during the war. I found it

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waged, and raging. And what did I do here to oppose it? Look to the journals. Let the honorable gentleman tax his memory. Bring up anything, if there be anything to bring up, not showing error of opinion, but showing want of loyalty or fidelity to the country. I did not agree to all that was proposed, nor did the honorable member. I did not approve of every measure, nor did he. The war had been preceded by the restrictive system and the embargo. As a private indi vidual, I certainly did not think well of these measures. It appeared to me that the embargo annoyed ourselves as much as our enemies, while it destroyed the business and cramped the spirits of the people. In this opinion, I may have been right or wrong, but the gentleman was himself of the same opinion. He told us the other day, as a proof of his independence of party on great questions, that he differed with his friends on the subject of the embargo. He was decidedly and unalterably opposed to it. It furnishes, in his judgment, therefore, no imputation either on my patriotism, or on the soundness of my political opinions, that I was opposed to it also. I mean opposed in opinion; for I was not in congress, and had nothing to do with the act creating the embargo. And as to opposition to measures for carrying on the war, after I came into congress, I again say, let the gentleman specify; let him lay his finger on anything calling for an answer, and he shall have an snswer.

"Mr. President, you were yourself in the house during a con siderable part of this time. The honorable gentleman may make a witness of you. He may make a witness of any body else. He may be his own witness. Give us but some fact, some charge, something capable in itself either of being proved or disproved. Prove anything, state anything, not consistent with honorable and patriotic conduct, and I am ready to answer it. Sir, I am glad this subject has been alluded to in a manner which justifies me in taking public notice of it;

because I am well aware that, for ten years past, infinite pains has been taken to find something, in the range of these topics, which might create prejudice against me in the country. The journals have all been pored over, and the reports ransacked, and scraps of paragraphs and half-sentences have been collected, fraudulently put together, and then made to flare out as if there had been some discovery. But all this failed. The next resort was to supposed correspondence. My letters were sought for, to learn if, in the confidence of private friendship, I had ever said anything which an enemy could make use of. With this view, the vicinity of my former residence has been searched, as with a lighted candle. New Hampshire has been explored from the mouth of the Merrimack to the White Hills. In one instance, a gentleman had left the state, gone five hundred miles off, and died. His papers were examined; a letter was found, and, I have understood, it was brought to Washington; a conclave was held to consider it, and the result was, that, if there was nothing else against Mr. Webster, the matter had better be let alone. Sir, I hope to make everybody of that opinion who brings against me a charge of want of patriotism. Errors of opinion can be found, doubtless, on many subjects; but as conduct flows from the feelings which animate the heart, I know that no act of my life has had its origin in the want of ardent love of country."

Notwithstanding the warmth of this rejoinder, and the warmth of the entire debate between the two great champions of the senate, of the north and of the south, at this time, as at all other times, there was never for a moment, probably, any want of mutual regard and sincere personal esteem between them. Each always spoke of the other as the most formidable of his opponents among all the politicians and statesmen of the country; Mr. Webster always admired Mr. Calhoun for his boldness and ability in avowing and maintaining his opinions; and Mr. Calhoun, it is well known, declared on his death-bed, after

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giving utterance to other high compliments, that, "of all the public men of the day, there was no one, whose political course had been more strongly marked by a strict regard to truth and honor than Mr. Webster's." Indeed, such had been the hon. esty, the singleness of purpose, as well as the masterly ability of Mr. Webster's political career, from the first, that he had been constantly rising, up to the very time now under consideration, in the honorable esteem, not only of his political friends, but of his political opponents. Setting aside his opinions, in which there will always be more or less difference among men of the greatest eminence, he was now acknowl edged, on all hands, as the first of American statesmen, and the pride of the American republic. On nearly every subject, which had not been incorporated into the creeds of the parties, his opinion was about of the same force as a law, to a great majority of his countrymen. The whole country followed him with regard, admiration, and eulogiums. Not a line could fall from his pen, not a word could drop from his lips, that was not caught and received as worthy of repetition and record. Whenever he met his fellow-citizens, on any public occasion, he was thronged by a multitude far greater than could be called together, or had ever been called together, by any man ever upon this continent. His audiences, when no one else was expected to speak, have been estimated, on several occasions, to range from one to two hundred thousand people. In fact, had he taken it into his head to see how a small, quiet, ordinary assembly would appear, out among the people, it would not have been possible for him, for the twenty years preceding this period of his life, to have succeeded in the undertaking. Wherever he came, there the masses of the population would rush together; and, so great was the desire to see him, that anywhere out of Boston and Washington, where he was most familiar, it was almost as impossible for him to enjoy the ordinary rights and im munities of a private citizen. When he wished to walk through